Theme Park Rangers

Orlando Sentinel tourism reporters Dewayne Bevil and Katie Rice dissect the haunted houses at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, ponder the pandemic precautions and sample some pumpkin guts — yum. Oh, and there's a visit from Jack the Clown.

• RIP/VIP access (:36)
• Scare zones (2:53)
• Repeats from 2020 (4:09)
• Intellectual property vs. original houses (9:21)
• The Icons (15:03)
• Jack the Clown visit (19:05)
• Shows & food (21:48)
• Pandemic precautions (24:53)
• Multiple-night passes (28:33)

Orlando Sentinel tourism reporters Dewayne Bevil and Katie Rice discuss Disney World bringing back annual passes and area theme parks gearing up for Halloween amid COVID-19 spike.

• Disney annual passes return (51:28)
• Passes from $399 to $1299 (2:25)
• Reservations stay (6:00)
• Photo & water park passes (8:29)
• Evolution of ticket pricing (10:03)
• Halloween is here. Will it bring revenue? (12:04)
• HHN precautions (15:24)
• HHN job fair (19:01)
• Finally riding Remy's Ratatouille Adventure (21:18)

Orlando Sentinel tourism reporters Dewayne Bevil and Katie Rice dive into the preschool world of "Peppa Pig," a British animated series. Peppa has landed her own attraction — Peppa Pig Theme Park — currently under construction in the Legoland Florida parking lot. Dewayne donned a pink hard hat for a tour of the site.

• Getting to know Peppa Pig (:37)
• Capturing the preschool crowd (3:11)
• Multi-day, multi-night destination? (6:02)
• What's there to do? (7:41)
• Meeting a giant Peppa (10:57)
• Instagramable paradise for parents (12:43)
• Nostalgia factor (15:31)
• Annual pass being sold (16:01)
• "The first of it's kind" (17:47)

"People have complained about Disney World's FastPass/FastPass+, I'm going to say, for more than 20 years. And now we're going to have something new to complain about," Orlando Sentinel theme park reporter Dewayne Bevil summed up the reaction to Disney Genie, a a free planning service launching on the resort's app this fall. Obviously, the free part wasn't what caused the frustration. Disney revealed it was retiring its free FastPass+ and replacing it with a paid service called Lightning Lane.

• Paid services: Genie+/Lightning Lane (1:55)
• Parallel to Disneyland Paris system (4:05)
• Mixed reaction: Neutral to negative (6:08)
• Other parks have similar paid services (9:24)
• What does free Genie access get you? (10:01)
• Will it begin in time for anniversary? (12:51)

Melissa Valiquette, vice president of Magic Kingdom, discusses "Disney Enchantment," the 50 golden character statues, Tron and the revamping of Splash Mountain.

• Melissa's origin story (1:18)
• Defending the cake (5:07)
• 'Making a 50-year old park look new again' (8:41)
• Happy places in the Magic Kingdom (15:22)
• 'Disney Enchantment' (18:08)
• Sleeper hit: Character statues (20:25)
• Beacons of Magic (21:25)
• Nostalgia vs. new things (22:23)
• Jungle Cruise update (23:42)
• Splash Mountain (25:20)
• Tron (28:49)

Shelby Honea, show producer for Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure, joins Orlando Sentinel tourism reporter Dewayne Bevil to discuss ride challenges, creative choices and the revolutionary lockers.

• What is a show producer? (1:12)
• Calculated risks (5:31)
• Location, location, location (6:56)
• Hidden tricks (8:36)
• Care and feeding of raptors (9:11)
• Social media influences design (13:45)
• Revolutionary lockers (17:04)
• New entrance to Jurassic World (18:54)

Orlando Sentinel food writer Amy Drew Thompson and tourism reporter Dewayne Bevil dish on some of the more than 100 food items and 120 beverages at Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival.

• 129 days long (1:18)
• Soup in July? (2:37)
• New offerings (5:36)
• Unusual eating spots with A/C! (10:43)
• Wings and beer (14:51)
• 8 marketplaces opening Oct. 1 (16:26)
• Cider flights (18:44)
• Merchandise (19:42)

"Behind the Attraction," a new series on Disney+, gives the back stories on some theme park favorites sprinkled with sarcasm.

• New Disney+ series (1:15)
• This is not 'The Imagineering Story' (2:50)
• Target audience (5:26)
• Internal struggle of Haunted Mansion (10:21)
• Choosing the featured attractions (14:36)
• From Star Tour to Galaxy's Edge (16:50)

Dewayne Bevil discusses the Fastpass replacement at Disneyland Paris that involves free virtual queues and a paid line-skipping service. What could it mean for Disney World?

• Disney World Fastpass: A look back (1:12)
• Standby Pass (3:24)
• Disney Premier Access (5:17)
• Money grab? (7:35)
• Getting Disney on the record (11:16)
• Epcot Food & Wine Festival menu (14:42)
• Disney Springs Flavors of Florida (19:24)
• New Star Wars food at Hollywood Studios (20:39)
• 'CoCo' joins 'Mickey's PhilharMagic' (22:04)

It takes some planning, the right equipment and a little math to capture the perfect, frozen-in-time image of Disney World fireworks. And sometimes it takes a little luck. Orlando Sentinel senior photographer Joe Burbank shares stories about his experience photographing fireworks and other Disney World icons.

• Challenges of shooting fireworks(1:08)
• Equipment and access (5:49)
• Photography = math (10:00)
• Non-traditional photo (11:24)
• Grand finale pics (14:10)
• Cinderella Castle paint job (17:01)
• Spaceship Earth (19:06)
• Mickey's good side (21:30)
• Fireworks return & new shows (24:00)