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*May the 4th

In the Real World we have a phrase called Hallmark Holidays that is used to describe the feeling of holidays seemingly forced upon us for the sole reason to sell greeting cards, flowers, and other pieces of merchandise. In the Theme Park World we have the very epitome of a Hallmark Holiday with Star Wars Day. A holiday which exists around the pun of “May the 4th be with you,” each year we get a slew of half-baked souvenirs foisted upon the Star Wars fanbase before they quickly make their way to the Disney Outlet Stores, such as this hat…

For this year Disney did release a pretty cool item for May the 4th that wasn’t given that ridiculous branding. The Salvaged Stormtrooper Helmet was a straight up E-Ticket popcorn bucket that also ties into the overall theme of Star Wars of being in a dingy, war-torn era and items needing to be repurposed. This is one of my favorite Star Wars related items that Disney has ever made.

I wasn’t the only one who liked the popcorn bucket, because the line to purchase the Salvaged Stormtrooper Helmet stretched so far back in Batuu that a Cast Member actually needed to hold a “End Of Line” sign for Kat Saka’s Kettle. Disney has single handedly reduced the unemployment rate in Florida by at least 5%, because many lines in the parks are now stretching long enough that you need a Cast Member holding a sign outside the attraction. These signs are ubiquitous at WDW for attractions, but seeing them for stores – let alone a kiosk selling popcorn – is rare.

The lines were so heavy on May the 4th that guests even got to see an End Of Line sign for Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities gift shop. For me personally, these signs are less of an invitation to join the line and more of a warning that maybe I should come back to the park on another day. No offense to Dok Ondar, but the Den of Antiquities gift shop is not good enough to wait in line for just to get in. But these are the things that happen when you have a resort that has no problem fast tracking hotel rooms but slow walks any attraction in the parks to help capacity issues.

May the 4th also inspires the creativity of the Star Wars fanbase, and we got to see some great LEGO sets created by the @TheHorizoneer based on Disney theme park Star Wars attractions.

This artwork below by Sam Carter wasn’t made for this year’s May the 4th, but it was the first time I actually saw it and I am a HUGE FAN. My all-time favorite pieces of Disney merchandise were the mash-up action figure line which combined Disney characters with Star Wars characters (Donald Duck as a Stormtrooper, Huey, Dewey, & Louie as Jawas, Minnie Mouse as Princes Leia etc) so this artwork featuring Mickey as Luke on Hoth hit me in the sweet spot. You have the added extra details from The Matterhorn which really take this piece over the top. Just brilliant work by Sam.

Let’s head back to the Disney Outlet Stores for a moment. As you can see on the sign below, the Outlets had a “May the Fourth” celebration of their own. I’m honestly blown away by the Star Wars Black line of action figures in that they make such highly detailed (and expensive) figures of many characters no one actually wants to buy. Here we have the character of Morgan Elsbeth from the Disney+ show Ahsoka. To the left of the Morgan Elsbeth figures you can see a NED-B from the Disney+ show Kenobi.

While we were at the Outlets we also saw some more items arrive from the ill-fated Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, including some MagicBands that were originally $29.99, reduced to $12.99.

What’s interesting is that items like this first went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios after the Starcruiser closed in late 2023. I imagine they didn’t sell many to the majority of your average theme park guest because the “Chandrila Star Line” makes no sense now that the Starcruiser is gone.

We also got Foaming Bubble Masks from the Starcruiser. This box includes 8 masks and was available for $32.99 when the Starcruiser “set sail” back in 2022.

The masks have been reduced to $9.99.  There’s some nice touches including the directions showing an alien species using the mask.

Little did I know that this was not going to be the last of the Starcruiser I would see for the month. NAY NAY. On May 19th, the following video was posted by Jenny Nicholson on YouTube and it was like a bomb hitting the theme park community.

On first glance, seeing a video with a run time of over FOUR HOURS would immediately make me think, “No thank you.” But word was going around that this video was worth the time investment, so I figured I would give it a shot and bail if it became too boring.

It turns out that the video was actually a master class on presentation and kept me engaged for the entire run time. The video is broken up into over a dozen segments going over various aspects of the Starcruiser (from marketing, to the actual rooms on the ship, to the cost breakdown and more) making it easy to stop and just pick up viewing at a later time if you can’t make a four hour commitment. You can also just skip sections you have no interest in. Jenny also does many costume changes throughout the video, which also freshens things up for the viewer with such a lengthy time spent on one subject.

For a person like me who never actually went on the Starcruiser, there were a lot of aspects of the ship that I was seeing for the first time. For example, Jenny went in-depth on not only the “space portal” that each room had, but also the in-room TV and what was available on that. I think many people reading this don’t understand why Disney+ isn’t available for all the hotel rooms at Walt Disney World, but it is really bizarre that not only did the $5,000+ Starcruiser rooms not have Disney+, the options they had on their TV were just previews and advertisements for other things.

Throughout the video Jenny brought the receipts that will keep you entertained. For example, in the TV/space portal section she went over how it was other guests who had reported back on things you should bring with you on the Starcruiser to make your trip more enjoyable, such as a roll of Gaffer’s tape to suppress the omnipresent lights that surround the portal in your tiny room.

For me, one of the main selling points of the Starcruiser was the dinner show experience that guests would experience on night one. Jenny’s video showed that her table was inexplicably blocked by a large pole, giving her an obstructed view of the aliens performing. It is mind blowing that the Starcruiser could have been created with something like this, but what’s even more bizarre is that this table continued to be sat with paying guests, as the picture below is from TouringPlans own Guy Selga as he was given the exact same table. Just absolutely bananas!

I grew up in New Hampshire and went to see many Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park. Building a stadium with “sightlines” in consideration didn’t exist back in 1912, so Fenway has plenty of large poles with seats behind them blocking your view of the field. Here’s the thing though, the Red Sox sell those tickets as obstructed view and you get them at a discount. EVERYONE on the Starcruiser is paying a premium price and you have no idea what table you are getting until you are being sat for the show. Even better? Guests at that table were being gaslit by Cast Members saying it was actually a good table, when by any objective measurement it is hands down the worst.

Regardless, “The Pole” story inspired this great LEGO creation…

In fact, Jenny’s video inspired a lot of artists as they drew her in some of the outfits she wore during the course of the video.

During the course of the video Jenny explained that she traveled in character as Amethia Tope, a rich socialite from the planet Coruscant who wanted to help the First Order. I’ve known several people who went onto the Starcruiser in character with elaborate backstories. While cosplaying or LARP (live action role play) isn’t my thing, I totally understood and appreciated the passion they put into these characters. It wasn’t until Jenny’s video that I discovered the Starcruiser couldn’t really handle stuff like that, and almost everyone going “in character” had to just let go of that within the first hour of the experience.

Jenny’s video also inspired @ThemeParkLore to illustrate the various floors of the Starcruiser to help put everything from Jenny’s video into context for those of us who never got a chance to be aboard the “ship.”

So why did the Starcruiser fail? There’s a saying that success has a million fathers while a failure is an orphan, but this example would almost be the opposite of that. By far the biggest problem that the Starcruiser had was its outrageous price point, but as Jenny’s video explains there are many other smaller cuts which didn’t help. From the awful marketing, to not understanding its cosplay/LARP audience, to an overreliance on scanning crates as part of your “story” and more, the Starcruiser was doomed from the start. It took a while to get there because so many people like myself love Star Wars and will overspend on just about anything, but this was an unsustainable business model from Day One.

TPEI SCORE: -10 Jenny’s video gets a plus 50, the points made just make one frustrated by the lack of success by the Starcruiser again. If you haven’t already watched the video, you should go out of your way to check it out by CLICKING HERE. You’ll know within the first 15 minutes if it’s something you want to spend time watching, and at the one hour mark I was like, “Ok, I’m all in at this point.” It’s worth making it to the very end because Jenny makes some great points how the decisions made by Disney management ending up hurting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at the parks only to self-destruct the Starcruiser in less than two years. This is something they will talk about in business classes for years to come if there is any time left in the curriculum after explaining how Elon Musk spent $44B buying Twitter only to immediately start turning off every single advertiser and sane human being from the app.

So that’s it on the Starcruiser video right? No, because the next two weeks after the video was released became ABOUT THE VIDEO. We had various takes on what people took away from the video, such as this one from @DisneyDan which comments on a section of the video where Jenny reached out to Disney via the proper channels from her experience and was ignored and/or dismissed. Jenny then posted her experience on Twitter (and to her 340,000+ followers) only to get an immediate response and satisfaction from Disney. Granted, this is how the Real World works, but its a bad look for Disney when it is exposed to over 6 Million viewers that her Starcruiser video has to date (which is as many viewers who watch things like Game of Thrones and certainly more than any theatrical film has had this year.)

As Jenny’s video was taking off the website ScreenRant posted a response from a former Starcruiser Cast Member which was one for the all time books. Normally I would link to stories so you can make the decision for yourself, but a click bait site like ScreenRant doesn’t get that level of courtesy and the article – which was intended to be a counterpoint to Jenny’s viral video – only served to confirm every legitimate complaint that Jenny had in the first place. Absolutely amazing in its obliviousness. I did enjoy this poster’s reaction to the article and bringing back our beloved pole reference…

Jenny’s video became such a sensation that better websites and news organizations also covered the phenomenon of a four-hour YouTube video going viral. You can’t escape it so you might as well watch it.

*Dreams That Soar

Back in 2016 there was a drone show at Disney Springs called Starbright Holidays which used 300 drones to create images in the sky including a Christmas tree and a dove. It’s important to note that this was the first EVER drone show of this scale in the entire country, let alone Walt Disney World. While mostly a mess, with guests wondering to themselves “what exactly is that supposed to be?” it did give a taste of what could be accomplished with the burgeoning technology.

Over the next 8 years we didn’t really see much use of drone technology at Disney or Universal. However, this year it came back in a major way as Disney Springs became home to the Dreams That Soar show. This show features 800 drones along with a lighting and music package which makes Dreams That Soar much more of an actual fulfilling experience than the Starbright Holidays show years earlier. The results are pretty amazing.

Dreams That Soar takes place every night at Disney Springs’ West Side until Labor Day and has two showings a night 9:00pm and 10:45pm. The second showing on week nights will definitely be your best chance for a stress free experience not just watching the show, but also getting in and out of Disney Springs.

Others have found you can get views of the show from other areas, including the top of the Disney Springs Orange parking garage.

You can also get a great look at the show from the Saratoga Springs resort directly across from Disney Springs. Keep in mind that the images created by the drones will be flipped and the great music package will be muted because you are much farther away from the speakers in Disney Springs and much closer to the actual drones flying overhead.

For those that have a MagicBand+, it will “interact” with the show by lighting up in various colors.

TPEI Score: + 10 Dreams That Soar is absolutely awesome and a great addition to WDW. I remember sailing on the Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas ship last year and seeing a show on the ship which featured drone technology and was completely blown away. It made me anticipate what the parks could do with this technology and Disney did not disappoint. Here’s looking forward to what Universal may do with drones in their upcoming lagoon show at Universal Studios Florida.

*Drawn To Life: Page to Stage Experience

Let’s stay on the West Side of Disney Springs for a moment as Cirque du Soleil began offering a new Page to Stage experience that gives guests a behind-the-scenes look at the Drawn to Life show (which is an absolute must see.)

After seeing a performance of Drawn to Life, guests get a guided backstage tour and see how the Cirque du Soleil show is meticulously and efficiently operated.

One thing that my favorite backstage tours do is let you get close enough to see details most members in the audience will never be able to notice.

The innerworkings of such a complex show like Drawn to Life is pretty fantastic to see in person.

The expression “seeing how the sausage is made” has a negative connotation, but I think its appropriate for tours like this in that you get a whole new understanding of what is involved in the process.

A snack and beverage is included, and in my book you gotta go for the Drawn to Life popcorn bucket.

TPEI SCORE: + 10 Behind-the-scenes opportunities at the parks are my absolute favorite things to do, whether it be the Keys to the Kingdom and Behind the Seeds tours at WDW or Unmasking the Horror at Universal. It is just a fascinating look at how the things we love are actually put together and gives you a new appreciation for the work that goes into providing entertainment. The Page to Stage experience is limited to nine guests and offered following the second performance on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets for the unique experience are $285 for adults and $225 for children, which includes premium seating for a Drawn to Life performance.

*Biggest Downgrade Ever?

Back in 2020 Disney took over running the Morocco Pavilion and has made some shall we say, interesting changes. The first thing they did was remove a phallic-shaped wall that was very popular with guests.

This was done during a time when WDW wasn’t spending money on ANYTHING, but they found the money to replace the wall with a door to nowhere.

You can read more about the replacement of this fan favorite wall in the 2021 In Memoriam article.

That was a pretty big downgrade, but it turns out Disney wasn’t done yet. Let’s check out one of the most iconic features of the Morocco Pavilion, the gorgeous ornate water fountain and nearby planters.

Inside Restaurant Marrakesh you could find framed photos that went over why the detailing in the fountains and planters was so important to the culture.

This was seriously some of the most gorgeous tile work in all of Walt Disney World that people could appreciate the beauty of while sitting on the fountain to use as a footbath.

We even got to see the famous fountain during an episode of Hulk Hogan’s Thunder in Paradise.

Theme park investigative journalist @FiBelleFi noticed that there have been some changes in Morocco, noting “The elaborate planters once handcrafted by the King of Morocco’s artisans has been dumbed down using tile which belongs on the restroom floor at DHS.”

TPEI Score: -20 While we haven’t seen the fountain yet, it’s fair to say it will most likely look just like the planter above. Even worse, the trees have been removed from the planters removing the much needed shade guests would get when taking a break in this area. At this point Disney should just change the Morocco Pavilion to Agrabah, make it completely Aladdin themed, and give up any pretense of actually being related to the country of Morocco. Actually, looking at the tile above maybe it’s more like the Aladdin straight to DVD sequel, the Return of Jafar.

***QUICK HITS***

Usually TPEI is seen on the last Saturday of every month. However, the month of May ended with the 25th Anniversary of Universal’s Islands of Adventure. IOA is a park near and dear to my heart (which you can read about in THIS ARTICLE) so we did a couple articles on IOA and pushed TPEI to Saturday, June 1st. That just happens to be the same day as the third annual STOP HATE Fundraiser by the Permit Princess herself, Alicia Stella.

You can find out more about the fundraiser by CLICKING HERE, and you will be amazed by the amount of artistic talent who have donated their work to the fundraiser, including many artists that we have featured in our Artist Spotlight series. Be sure to go to THIS PAGE featuring all the prints and Buy Buy Buy!!

The amount of artistic talent in the theme park community is pretty awe inspiring, and it’s so wonderful that they can come together for such a good cause. Please check out the STOP HATE Fundraiser where you can donate, purchase prints, and even win prizes!

*Nintendo!

You know its a big month when Universal can drop the details of what is coming to the highly anticipated Super Nintendo World at EPIC Universe and by the end of the month we’re like “Oh yeah, that happened too.”

Universal is going to just PRINT MONEY in this land.

The best reveal was of the Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madness concept art which features a ride that will simulate making a track jump!

Be sure to follow blogger-in-the-sky @bioreconstruct as he continues to give us constant updates of the current status of not just Super Nintendo World, but EVERYTHING taking shape at EPIC Universe as we prepare for the park’s opening next year. Let’s check out a couple of Bio’s more recent photos of Super Nintendo World construction…

Looking good, although Rumors and Innuendo are suggesting construction of EPIC Universe is running more than a month behind…

*New Form of Butterbeer

The debut of Butterbeer back in 2010 completely changed the fortunes of the Universal Orlando Resort as Rumors and Innuendo suggest the monstrous sales of the beverage in the first six months completely paid for the entirety of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade Village. It also transformed how both Universal and Disney look at creating lands in their parks now as the “food and beverage component” went from an after thought to a key part of the theme park experience. From LeFou’s Brew in New Fantasyland, to Night Blossoms in Pandora: The World of Avatar, to the various Minion drinks and Minion Tots in Minion Land, this is the new normal.

While I’m not a big fan of the original Butterbeer, I do love several of the Butterbeer creations that came after it, including Butterbeer ice cream and Hot Butterbeer. Recently a new form made its debut with the frozen Butterbeer ice lolly.

As with just about everything in the Wizarding World, the branding is on-point, even when it comes to frozen novelty packaging.

While I’m not the biggest fan of the Butterbeer ice lolly flavor, you definitely had me with a themed stick.

Also love the fact that the lolly itself looks like a poured cup of Butterbeer.

The Butterbeer ice lolly was created for Butterbeer Season – whatever that means – and may be a limited time offering until June 2nd.

Still can’t get over the themed stick. If Premium Mickey Bars had this I wouldn’t mind overpaying for them!

*One Fine Day On TV

So I was watching On Patrol Live a couple weeks ago on the Peacock streaming service, and imagine my surprise when the cops were doing a search of a car and pulled out a wand from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. One of the cops had absolutely no idea what it was and had to be clued in by a co-worker.

Artist Bryan Bindman caught another show on TV that might interest theme park fans. He watched an episode of the Dark Side of Comedy on Vice TV that focused on the career of Dustin Diamond, better known as the character Screech on NBC’s Saved By the Bell. During the episode, Dustin’s father recounts a time when the family took a trip to Disneyland and a living statue performer “came to life” and inspired Dustin to get into acting.

Seeing the family photos, theme park fans are going to recognize this “living statue” performer as The Dreamfinder with his pal Figment. While Dustin’s dad said this trip was at Disneyland, he may be conflating family vacations as DisTwitter tracked down the spot of this very photo and it was indeed in EPCOT outside of the Imagination Pavilion.

It’s always wild to see the theme parks we know and love show up in areas of media unrelated to the parks. One day you will see my Tsum Tsum collection on an episode of A&E’s Hoarders, so set those DVRs now.

*Coke Celebrates 138th Anniversary! WHAAAAT?!!!

One of the most bonkers signs in the history of theme parks arrived in May at Universal Studios Florida as Schwab’s Pharmacy celebrated the 138th Anniversary of Coca-Cola. This is literally more signage than Universal put up for Islands of Adventures 25th Anniversary. CRAZY.

For those who haven’t been, Schwab’s Pharmacy is like an Old Timey malt shoppe where you can get ice cream sodas and milkshakes.

The 138th Anniversary floats were served in a collectible cup.

They also came with a 138th Anniversary Coke Zero bottle necklace, which pretty  much makes zero sense. You’d think the necklace would have a recreation of a Coke bottle from the beginning of the 20th century, but now it contains a bottle design which didn’t exist until like two years ago.

When it comes to stuff out of nowhere, Disney’s California Adventure topped the Coke Zero necklace with the placement of a Big Al statue at a DVC kiosk. Why Big Al? Who knows, but it’s awesome.

*Indescribably Beautiful

Let’s stay in California for a minute and check out this AMAZING mural at Universal Studios Hollywood. It is for the 60th Anniversary of the park’s famous Studio Tour and was created by none other than Hayden Evans. That’s right, another member of the Artist Spotlight features dun’ good!

There was also a billboard featuring more of Hayden’s studio tour artwork.

Along with a fantastic looking photo-op experience as well. Congrats Hayden, amazing work!!

Artist Brian Cooper also had a huge month with the debut of his latest design for the RSVLTS brand of shirts featuring Scar and the hyenas from The Lion King.

Another piece of art I enjoyed this past month was this Muppets Treasure Island piece by Scott C.

Loved this Flat Earth gag from artist /thelemonsandwich.

Maybe the best piece of art from the entire month came from Howard Bowers, who finally fulfilled a wish we all had years ago when Bob Iger made a bonkers comment about Expedition Everest which you can read about in our coverage of the 2019 Theme Park Turkeys of Year Awards. Look at the details here: the broken track, the sometimes working bird, the hair ties… THIS ONE TRULY HAS IT ALL!!

Another creation that blew my mind this past month was seeing a homemade figure made by Readful Things. Is this insane or what?!! I love it.

Also loved these patches made by Reddit /corgiwarrior. Just fantastic work.

Meanwhile Disney itself put out a pretty cool piece of merchandise with this glow-in-the-dark figure featuring the organ player from the Haunted Mansion. Wow!

There are some items that you didn’t realize you needed until you actually get it, like this Mickey Lollipop Saver found by resident DisTwitter Troll Emeritus @Schmoofy.

Both Disney and Universal offer large lollipops that will fit into this case.

But the BEST Disney product announcement was the upcoming release of a new parks centric LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK which you can pre-order by CLICKING HERE. More of this Disney, please.

*Back to THE OUTLETS!!!

We gave a brief taste of the current offerings at the  Disney Outlet Stores in our earlier section on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Walt Disney World (the Most Magical Place on Earth), but let’s check out some other items we saw as well, including this GREAT Muppets shirt that was reduced to $12.99.

I never got into Loungefly or Dooney & Bourke bags, but I know a lot of people are into that stuff. A whole bunch have made their way to the outlets, including this Avatar bag. Originally $75, now $34.99.

I’d ask, “Who is paying $88 for a Luisa bag?!” but I literally just backed a GI Joe Kickstarter set to the tune of $300, so I’m the last person to talk. This bag has been reduced to $34.99.

Respect the pizza game on this bag. Can’t image why anyone would be seen in public with it, but respect the game nonetheless. From the outside looking in, it seems like a lot of these bags are designed for very young kids, but the price points are at a level only adults with a good amount of discretionary income can afford. Anyway, this bag was reduced to $34.99.

The Princess Half Marathon Weekend Loungefly was originally $88, reduced to $34.99.

Another marathon related item was this headband. Reduced to $9.99.

While this Frozen headband was reduced to $7.99. Interesting artistic choice for the drawings of Anna and Elsa with some really large foreheads. I like it, just not used to seeing them drawn like that.

This figure for Mickey Mouse also comes across as a little weird and I can’t exactly put my hands on “why.” Just seems off to me. I find it hard to believe people would buy this at the original price of $34.99, but it has be reduced to $14.99.

This E-Ticket button up Tiki Room shirt was originally $59.99, reduced to $24.99.

Absolutely love this one.

We started this month off with Star Wars and will finish with Star Wars as the Outlets were home to some interesting items, including a full line of dishware featuring artwork by artist Jeff Granite. I think the retro-inspired artwork feels like the artist Shag, and I love it. This plate set below was reduced to $24.99.

These shot glasses were originally $49.99! Reduced down to a more reasonable $9.99.

Love Star Wars. Love Jeff Granite Artwork. Love Tiki Mugs. NOT A FAN of the one below though.

There’s niche products and then there is niche products. This is the latter. A pride-themed droid set. Remember what I said earlier about the Starcruiser lasting longer than it probably should have because Star Wars fans are used to paying INSANE prices? Well, this set was originally a next level bonkers $69.99, reduced to $29.99. As a person who has paid for MULTIPLE Force FX lightsabers, I don’t judge on overspending when it comes to Star Wars but man, the prices we pay sometimes is just bananas.

Last month’s Theme Park Enjoyment Index: 55
This month’s net change: -10
Current enjoyment level:45

Writer Derek Burgan, when not cleaning Len Testa’s pool, can be found reading comic books, watching professional wrestling, organizing his various Tsum Tsums in alphabetical order, and taking his dog Bacini to Universal and Disney.. He will not, we repeat not, be found at a Disney Outlet Store. An official DisTwitter Influencer, you can interact with him @derekburgan

Digital Artist Scott Walker hails from Scotland and is the fifth most famous person from this country following Alexander Graham Bell, Ewan McGregor, Gerard Butler, and Groundskeeper Willie.