In a new report from Deadline, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production President Sean Bailey is stepping down from his role after 15 years.

Walt Disney Studios Executive Departs

Bailey is to be replaced by Searchlight’s co-President David Greenbaum, who will serve in the newly created role of “president of Live Action and 20th Century Studios,” per Variety. He will report to Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman.

Bailey first joined the studio as the producer of 2010’s “TRON Legacy,” and will stay on to produce Joachim Ronning’s “TRON: Ares” before he moves on to “more entrepreneurial endeavors.” Rumors suggested that he was going to take the Head of Film role at Netflix from Scott Stuber, who is also departing his role; this turns out to not be the case, per Deadline.

Greenbaum serves as co-President of Searchlight with Matthew Greenfield. The studio is in the midst of Oscar season with Best Picture nominee “Poor Things” starring Emma Stone.

Bailey has been involved with many of Disney’s live-action remakes, including “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” and “The Jungle Book,” bringing in near $7 billion in global box office revenue. When Disney+ launched in late 2019, Bailey’s role expanded to oversee the streamer’s live-action films, which included reimaginings of “Lady and the Tramp” and “Pinocchio,” as well as “Togo,” “Hocus Pocus 2,” “Disenchanted,” and “Peter Pan & Wendy.”

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Universal Orlando Resort filed a permit for two new Halloween Horror Nights sprung tents next to backstage parade buildings.

Halloween Horror Nights Tents Permit

This map in the permit shows the project location as behind Men In Black: Alien Attack and the former Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone (the map still features some of the KidZone attraction names, although it permanently closed for construction of a new DreamWorks land).

The parade buildings are usually used for Halloween Horror Nights. However, a new parade is expected to debut at Universal Studios Florida later this year as a permanent replacement for the Superstar Parade, which ended in 2022. The buildings would then go back to housing parade floats, hence the two new tents.

The permit reads, “Demolish existing storage areas and install two sprung tent structures with minor site tie-ins. There is no change in total impervious coverage.”

In the permit, the tents are referred to as Sprung No. 3 and No. 4 as there are two other tents nearby, which would mean four total haunted houses in this area. Each tent is approximately 7,200 square feet. The permit contracts SWS Engineering, Inc. for construction.

Universal has not announced any details about Halloween Horror Nights 33 yet. Read our 2023 HHN guide for an idea of what the event is like.

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Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous recently reopened after a months-long refurbishment with a new menu and, as we have learned, a new fry robot employee named Horton.

Horton the Fry Robot

Team Members told us that the Seuss Landing restaurant in Universal Islands of Adventure is using a new robot to make French fries. The FryBot, made by Middleby’s Lab2Fab (L2F) division, collects fries in a basket and then moves them in and out of oil to fry them. Employees have dubbed their robot co-worker Horton, named after the elephant main character in Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who.” The system can fry two foods and up to 30 pounds in each container.

The robot is fully automated, with employees only having to load fries into a large stainless steel ramp and select the operation mode via the included touchpad. The FryBot then picks up the basket of frozen fries and places them in the fryer, which automatically lowers the fries into the oil; once they’re finished cooking, the arm picks the basket back up, lightly shakes off excess oil, and then dumps the fries into a waiting metal tray.

The FryBot can also adjust to its human co-workers, like immediately reducing its speed when it detects a human in its operating range. If an employee were to bump into the robot arm, it can be manually reset.

Though we can’t see Horton in action backstage at Circus McGurkus, L2F does have a public video of a FryBot that you can view below.

FryBot improves the kitchen productivity and creates a safer environment for employees […] Eliminating repetitive close-contact with hot, splattered oil will greatly improve morale and employee retention and safety.

L2F Inc. in a video about the FryBot

The robot heralds things to come at Epic Universe, the third Universal Orlando Resort theme park. Universal Destinations & Experiences CEO Mark Woodbury said Epic Universe would be their “most technologically advanced park” yet. Epic Universe will use facial recognition, and photo validation technology at the entrance gates to create a “frictionless” experience for guests. This technology began testing at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure last year and has now been fully implemented. Universal also filed for a patent for tracking guests in restaurants through facial recognition in late 2023.

Woodbury also said, “We have the benefit of new technology that we’re deploying in terms of managing ticketing, revenue, and revenue management across each of those platforms.”

Epic Universe is scheduled to open in the summer of 2025. Read our most recent Epic Universe construction update.

How do you feel about Horton the fry robot at Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous? Let us know in the comments.

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Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has been named in a new lawsuit filed in Orange County following the death of a patron.

Disney Springs

Raglan Road, an Irish pub and restaurant located in Disney Springs, is also named in the suit.

Jeffrey Piccolo filed the 19-page lawsuit against Disney and Raglan Road after his wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, a doctor at NYU Langone, suddenly passed away on the evening of October 5th, 2023.

The suit alleges that Piccolo, Piccolo’s mother, and Tangsuan visited Raglan Road at Disney Springs for dinner and advised their waiter of Tangsuan’s severe food allergies, requesting allergen-free food. The suit states that the patrons questioned the waiter about menu items “to confirm whether they had allergens in them or not.”

Raglan Road

Per the suit, the waiter went to ask the chef if certain foods could be made allergen-free, then returned to the table and confirmed that they could. The documents indicate that it was confirmed that “Raglan Road would prepare allergen-free food for Kanokporn Tangsuan.”

According to the case, the waiter assured the diners that the food would be allergen-free, and so Tangsuan ordered “Sure I’m Frittered (V)”, “Scallop Forest”, “This Shepherd Went Vegan (V)”, and “Onion Rings”. When the food arrived, the suit says, the diners noticed that the customary allergen flags usually served with allergen-free food were missing, and once again confirmed with the waiter that the items were allergen-free.

Disney Springs

The suit says that around 8PM, Tangsuan and Piccolo’s mother decided to go shopping at Disney Springs while Piccolo returned to their room with their leftover food. The two women then separated for a while, before Tangsuan headed to Planet Hollywood.

Around 8:45PM, the suit alleges, Tangsuan entered Planet Hollywood “while suffering from a severe acute allergic reaction to the food served at Raglan Road.” Emergency medical services were called and were advised that Tangsuan was having an allergic reaction and had administered an Epi-Pen.

Jeffrey Piccolo was later informed that Tangsuan had passed away. According to the medical examiner’s investigation, Kanokporn Tangsuan’s cause of death “was as a result of anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system,” the lawsuit reads.

Disney Springs

Piccolo is seeking damages of more than $50,000 under Florida’s wrongful death act, in addition to mental pain and suffering, loss of income, and funeral expenses. The suit indicated Disney failed to educate, train, and instruct its employees to make sure food, indicated as allergen-free or requested to be made allergen-free, was in fact safe.

Raglan Road

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has received a FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education) Award “for dedication to providing a safe and enjoyable dining experience for vacationing families.”  You can read more about dining with allergies at Disney World here.

DFB has reached out to The Walt Disney Company and Raglan Road for comment on the lawsuit.

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