guest

The biggest hotel guest faux pas have been revealed – including jumping the breakfast buffet queue and stealing from rooms.

Frowned upon acts when staying in a hotel include reserving pool chairs with towels for long periods, leaving rooms excessively messy and being loud in the hallways late at night. Other divisive acts include hanging damp laundry on the balcony, not leaving a review after staying and being rude to hotel staff.

Smoking or vaping in hotel rooms is also considered a no-no, as are putting the incorrect number of guests on the reservation and leaving alarms or phones to ring for long periods of time without turning them off. While not reading reviews when booking and not collecting or cashing in rewards points are also viewed unfavourably.

In response to a survey of 2000 people who have ever stayed in a hotel, Hotels.com, which commissioned the research, is offering holidaymakers £100 in ‘Hotels.comCash’ for future trips after staying for 10 eligible nights through its rewards programme.

Melanie Fish, travel expert and spokesperson for the global marketplace, which has also teamed up with William Hanson for a ‘Grand Etiquette Hotel’ guide, said: “Small tweaks can make a world of a difference.

“Taking the time to check reviews or making the most of rewards can turn a good trip into a great one, and help your travel budget stretch further, too.”

Researchers found the vast majority (90%) consider themselves to be considerate guests – although 39% think residents have become less respectful in recent years.

Sneaking extra guests in and constant public displays of affection around the pool are also frowned upon by hotel guests.

Those polled were also asked which nationalities they consider to be the gold standard for politeness – and which ones they think tend to be rudest.

Japanese tourists were ranked as the most considerate, followed by Sweden in second place, with U.K. respondents placing themselves third.

At the other end of the scale, Americans are regarded as the most impolite.

They ranked just beneath those from Germany, according to Hotels.com research conducted through OnePoll.

William Hanson said: “Better hotel etiquette doesn’t just benefit others, it can directly enhance your own stay.

“At the heart of my guide is the idea that small, thoughtful behaviours add up to big rewards: from a better night’s sleep and improved service to savings on future trips.”

Tokyo isn’t one city. It’s many cities, and each is its own universe.

Occasionally — at a certain subterranean bar big enough for only seven people, or a sushi counter on the fifth floor of a random office building — I feel as if I’m stepping into another time or dimension.

Finding your way to any of the millions of restaurants, cafes, bars and shops (some are micro-businesses in an alley in a village in the city) can be like figuring out a many-layered puzzle. Like Tokyo, each experience is dense.

Use these handy dining guides for all of your summer travel, near and far.

The Japanese word for hospitality is omotenashi. But its meaning goes far beyond just customer service. Even the translations “wholehearted, selfless hospitality” or “flawless care” don’t cover all of the philosophies that make up omotenashi: magokoro (“true heart” or “sincere feeling”), ichigo ichie (“one time, one meeting”) and kuuki wo yomu (“reading the air”). The last refers to the intuitive ability to anticipate guests’ needs before they ask — an idea rooted in tea ceremony, which is rooted in Buddhism. It’s hard to grasp that level of selflessness.

Here are some of our favorite places to lose yourself in Tokyo. — Betty Hallock

THE biggest hotel guest faux pas have been revealed – including jumping the breakfast buffet queue, washing undergarments in kettles and stealing from rooms.

Other frowned upon acts include reserving pool chairs with towels for long periods, leaving rooms excessively messy and being loud in the hallways late at night.

Smoking or vaping in hotel rooms is also considered a no-no, as are putting the incorrect number of guests on the reservation and leaving alarms or phones to ring without turning them off.

While not reading reviews when booking and not collecting or cashing in rewards points are also viewed unfavourably.

In response, Hotels.com, which commissioned the research, is offering holidaymakers £100 in ‘Hotels.comCash’ for future trips after staying for 10 eligible nights through its rewards programme.

Melanie Fish, travel expert and spokesperson for the global marketplace, which has also teamed up with William Hanson for a ‘Grand Etiquette Hotel’ guide, said: “Small tweaks can make a world of a difference.

DIP IN

Best UK holiday resorts with waterparks – rapids and wave pools with 85p kids entry

TAKE OFF

Futuristic new £23.6billion airport to have 260million passengers & ‘no queues’

“Taking the time to check reviews or making the most of rewards can turn a good trip into a great one, and help your travel budget stretch further, too.”

Researchers found the vast majority (90 per cent) consider themselves to be considerate guests – although 39 per cent think residents have become less respectful in recent years.

Other divisive acts include hanging damp laundry on the balcony, not leaving a review after staying and being rude to staff.

Sneaking extra guests in and constant public displays of affection around the pool are also frowned upon by hotel guests.

Those polled were also asked which nationalities they consider to be the gold standard for politeness – and which ones they perceive to be rudest.

Japanese tourists came top for being the most considerate, followed by Sweden in second place, with U.K. respondents placing themselves third.

At the other end of the scale, Americans are regarded as the most impolite, just beneath those from Germany, according to Hotels.com research conducted through OnePoll.

William Hanson said: “Better hotel etiquette doesn’t just benefit others, it can directly enhance your own stay.

“At the heart of my guide is the idea that small, thoughtful behaviours add up to big rewards: from a better night’s sleep and improved service to savings on future trips.”

When the creators behind Universal Studios Hollywood’s soon-to-open “Fast & Furious” coaster discusses the attraction, they speak of it not only as the most grown-up, intense ride at the park, but also as one of the most extreme coasters in Universal‘s global portfolio. That means, in theory, a ride as vaunted as its Florida coasters Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Stardust Racers.

For riders, some of the perception of danger will come from the coaster’s location. Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is set on a hill between the park’s upper and lower lots. It will careen over, under and around guest escalators, and take attendees on a journey that includes multiple inversions and speeds of 72 mph, making it the fastest coaster at any Universal park. A particularly unique facet is the ability for its cars, each meticulously designed after a real vehicle, to rotate 360 degrees.

Plenty of coasters have the capacity to spin, but Universal has been hyping the high-speed “drift” sensation of its cars. Each ride vehicle will have distinct programming along the coaster’s 4,100 feet of track, and the hope is to create the feel of a stunt car just barely maintaining its control.

I like a coaster, but I’m also, I’ll admit, a tad squeamish. Hollywood Drift is expected to open by mid-summer, and at the time of writing, only Universal stakeholders had been on the attraction. Jon Corfino, the park’s lead creative executive, was one of those riders, so as he gave me a tour of the coaster, I pressed him to describe what the experience is like. Here’s what I learned.

So Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is intense. But just how intense is it?

A loop on Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The late, great theme dark designer Eddie Sotto once devised a simple formula for what makes a good coaster: Fear minus death equals fun. I wanted to ask Corfino just how scared I would be. Answer: Pretty frightened. Probably.

“It’s a high level of intensity, absolutely, for sure,” Corfino says.

And yet Corfino tried to calm my nerves. Hollywood Drift, he explained, is designed to feel relatively slick — polished, if you will.

“I’ve ridden coasters that I would say are high intensity, but they’re very aggressive,” he says. “They’re very rough. But if you look at what we tried to achieve here, it’s that you’re in a [car] vehicle. It’s very smooth. It’s not something that would be not natural for a car, if that makes sense.”

Well, except for the whole going upside down part. Based on Corfino’s assessment, we can expect some white knuckles, as Hollywood Drift will lift riders off their seats at multiple points.

“You definitely feel you’re coming out a couple times, and not the least of it is when you’re upside down,” Corfino says. The coaster will utilize a lap restraint that extends from the top.

“You’ll be holding on,” he says. “When you’re upside down, you’re holding on.”

What about the drops?

Unversal Studios’ Hollywood’s Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is set to open this summer.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Corfino didn’t pinpoint the exact steepness of the drops on Hollywood Drift, but riders will encounter one immediately after launch. When exiting the show building, designed to look like a warehouse garage, Hollywood Drift will take a sudden dip off a cliff. The sharp drop is one of many.

Riders will encounter, for instance, a so-called “bunny hop,” which is typically a series of small hills that provide airtime. But Hollywood Drift will play with riders’ expectations through its terrain. Those mid-ride hills are “actually pretty darn steep,” Corfino says. And then before the ride ends, riders will go up, over and under Universal Studios’ most recognizable feature (except perhaps Stuart the Minion): its escalators.

“When you go up over the loop, that’s very steep. You’re coming straight down over the stairway and then underneath the stairway,” Corfino says.

How real are the cars?

The minicars of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The coaster will feature four heavily detailed miniature cars as ride vehicles. These four-seaters — mimicking a Dodge Charger, Mazda RX-7, Nissan Skyline GT-R and Toyota Supra — all come complete with working taillights. And each has its own distinct sound effects, engine and brake noises that match their real cars. Guests will hear brakes each time the vehicle drifts or turns.

The minicars aren’t complete tiny re-creations. The odometers in the coaster cars, for instance, are for show only.

“The truth is I was really laboring,” Corfino says of the accuracy of the coaster cars. “They all have realistic sound effects, and when you hit the bottom, the big launch, I wanted to hear the NOS kick in. But you’re going so fast, at 72 mph, and with the wind, you’re not hearing anything. Quite frankly, your vision is even kind of shaky because you’re going so fast.”

That sort of attention to detail is what separates a Universal or Disney coaster from so much of the industry — even if riders will be clutching their restraints too hard to notice the discrepancies in each car’s engine roar.

I’m eager to get on the ride. I will, however, pretend I didn’t hear Corfino say that thing about “shaky” eyesight.

This week in SoCal theme parks

Dataland is now open in downtown Los Angeles. Theme park fans should give it a look.

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

• “Stranger Things” lives at Halloween Horror Nights. Universal Studios Hollywood’s trickle of announcing haunted houses for its Halloween event continues. After unveiling a “Sinners” house earlier this year, Universal has added “Stranger Things” to the roster. “Stranger Things” is no outsider to the festivities, but this house will be themed specifically to the show’s fifth and final season. Expect, of course, some Demogorgons and other nasty creatures. Halloween Horror Nights is set to launch on Sept. 3.
• Theme park fans, pay attention to this new museum. Now open in downtown Los Angeles is Dataland, which was described by this outlet as a “25,000-square-foot immersive, environmental, generative, multisensory AI arts museum.” While there’s much to discuss and debate regarding the center’s use of AI, Dataland’s inaugural exhibition, “Machine Dreams: Rainforest,” is the kind of all-encompassing, wrap-around display theme parks are known for (I’d argue Dataland is, in fact, more indebted to theme parks than the world of fine arts, but that’s another column). No doubt those in the immersive space are paying close attention as to how Dataland is received.
• “Toy Story 5” has arrived, in theaters and at the Disneyland Resort. Fans of the “Toy Story” franchise will want to make their way to Disneyland’s Pixar Place Hotel, where a second-floor exhibit features drawings and sculptures from the new film. And for hotel guests, coming July 2 is the “Disney Poolside Splash Bash,” a pool party with music, trivia and appearances from Jessie, Bo Peep and Woody. If you’ve seen the movie, I encourage you to check out Amy Nicholson’s review of the work. She found, perhaps, that the toys have overstayed their welcome.
• Bag checks and metal detectors arrive at CityWalk. Universal Studio’s theme park adjacent shopping and dining area is home to a couple should-be cultural institutions: the Los Angeles outpost of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and one of the finer Imax theaters in the nation. Now getting to either comes with an extra hurdle, as Universal has placed CityWalk within the theme park’s security zone. Prepare for bag checks, metal detectors and extra time if you’re heading to a sold-out screening of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” The local film community, as reported by The Wrap, is having a fit.

What I’m thinking about

A media image distributed by Adobe and Walt Disney Imagineering is designed to show how AI software can be used in the design process.

(Adobe / Walt Disney Imagineering)

Generating attention this week was an announcement from Adobe and Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative arm of the company responsible for theme park designs, regarding a new AI partnership. AI is a term I generally believe is rightfully viewed with skepticism, especially when it comes to creative work. As a writer, I view utilizing AI to help craft a story as strictly forbidden; journalism, after all, is a storytelling art. But I’m not above tools that can help accelerate tedious aspects of the process, such as using AI to help transcribe an interview.

So places in which Adobe’s Firefly Foundry could, say, transform drawn 2D renderings into potential 3D models seem not entirely troublesome, especially for an industry in which one of the most time-consuming aspects is the build. And yet there were components of the announcement, as well as the press materials distributed with it, that made me cringe. The generation of on-demand, on-brand assets, for instance — one of the promised abilities of the software — is a job for an artist, not a computer.

And Adobe and WDI proved my point. Accompanying the press release was an image of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride vehicles, the Doombuggies, as re-imagined by the program. A perfect, coffin-like design from Bob Gurr was now bedazzled with garish, grotesque imagery that had little similarity with anything in the Haunted Mansion. That the two companies viewed something this amateurish as a prime example of what the software could achieve should raise an eyebrow.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

Changes are coming to Disneyland’s classic Autopia ride.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Disneyland’s classic Autopia attraction is facing a deadline. The Disneyland Resort has already stated that the gas-powered minicars of Autopia would be on the way out in early 2027. Disneyland officials confirmed just a few weeks ago that the park has an agreement with the California Air Resources Board to retire the current engines next year. No closing or reopening date has been announced, and no details on the new cars have yet been released.

But, thanks to new reporting from environmental reporter (and former Times staffer) Sammy Roth, it’s been revealed that the theme park faces a strict deadline to begin making the switch. In a recent edition of Roth’s Climate Covered Goggles, the writer noted that due to an agreement with the board, Autopia in its current form must shut down by Feb. 1, 2027.

While that doesn’t shed any clarity on when the ride may reopen with refreshed vehicles, it at least provides a timeline as to how long it will likely exist in its current form.

When Jon Corfino was among the first to test ride Universal Studios Hollywood’s new high-speed “Fast & Furious”-inspired coaster, it was the culmination of a convoluted decade-plus journey filled with uncertainty. For before any track was laid, before the ride was even associated with “Fast & Furious” or any film franchise, Corfino, the park’s lead creative executive, didn’t know whether a coaster could even exist.

Universal Studios Hollywood is landlocked, constructed around a working film studio, meaning space is at a premium. And then there’s the problem of noise. Coasters, historically, are loud, and film productions necessitate a quiet environment. The theme park is also nestled against a neighborhood full of homes and apartments.

To make it work at all, the coaster would need to stand on a relatively steep hill, winding over, under and around escalators between the park’s upper and lower lot. It extends significantly beyond guest-accessible areas, visible even from nearby Ventura Boulevard. “It wouldn’t be your first choice,” Corfino says of the topography. “But in a way, it makes it more dynamic that we were able to do it.”

He continues, “Everything we do is a bit of invention.”

When discussion on the project first began a decade or so ago, Universal Studios Hollywood was far from a thrills park. While the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was nearing completion and would open in 2016 — a full-scale re-creation of a fictional world that would alter the tenor of the park — the vast majority of Universal rides were designed to place guests inside the world of stories they had already seen on the screen. Or to let them “ride the movies,” as Steven Spielberg once coined. The park’s portfolio was also dotted with stunt and animal shows.

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will reach speeds of 72 mph and take riders through multiple inversions.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Universal was once heavily dedicated to pulling the curtain back on how movies were made. A coaster simply didn’t fit the vibe.

“It was never a thought,” Corfino says of his earliest days at Universal back in the 1990s. “It was a different ethos. We were going to take you behind the scenes and show you stuff. But during the epic transformation of bringing in ‘Potter,’ and immersing you in different environments, it became more of a reality.”

And so began the process of looking for a franchise to associate with the coaster, one that would still make sense with Universal’s inside-the-movies mindset. At the time, there already was a “Fast & Furious” segment on Universal’s behind-the-scenes tram tour (now shuttered, a replacement is expected to be unveiled in 2027).

“You go through a lot of ‘what ifs,’” Corfino says. “I can say, one of the earlier ‘what ifs’ was ‘what if this,’ in terms of brand. We already had one [‘Fast & Furious’ attraction] on the backlot, but we didn’t know what else we were going to be doing, so you go through a lot of different ideas. But it was early on that we said, ‘This brand speaks to it.’”

The view of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift from Universal Studios Hollywood’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Fast & Furious, the street racing mega-franchise that’s celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, works in part because Universal could theme the coaster around cinematic stunts. Before guests board the ride, they will walk through a twisting queue area that will focus on prop cars with installations designed to show how movie magic is brought to life. Guests will be prodded to scan QR codes to further go behind-the-scenes, that is if they’re not distracted watching the coaster, which will launch directly above them and then go on a journey through multiple inversions on the side of a hill.

And then there was another problem: Would it be too loud? Before land was moved, Universal placed speakers on the old special effects and stunt buildings to see how noise traveled down the hill. “We did recordings all over the place and really established a baseline on which to design,” Corfino says.

Ultimately, the tracks would be complemented with multiple sound walls and shields, the latter clear structures designed to block coaster rumbles and audience screams. And because the cars can rotate 360 degrees, Universal can in theory direct rider yells away from the studio below and the neighborhood nearby. What’s more, the actual track has been filled with pea gravel, designed to minimize nose from any reverberations.

“It’s incredibly quiet,” Corfino says. “We were able to do that by putting materials inside portions of the track to deaden the sound. I’m not sure we would have needed it, but it was important to do the right thing. It’s pea gravel and rocks. It’s quieter than I ever thought it was going to be.”

VP of Universal Creative Jon Corfino, who led the creative development of the Fast & Furious coaster, photographed in 2019.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A 72-mph coaster with 360-degree rotation and multiple loops and inversions that’s relatively muffled? Perhaps. I can only say that as I watched test cars speed by me last week from an upper lot lookout, the soundtrack from the Jurassic World water ride below was certainly louder.

An opening date for the coaster has not yet been set, but it’s soon. The other week the Universal website briefly posted June 26 as a launch date, and while that was once a targeted day, it will not be the coaster’s grand opening, which is now expected after the Fourth of July holiday (the coaster will be open intermittently for tech rehearsals for some time before its official date).

But Corfino is willing to make one promise. “Given the physical realities of putting this on the side of a hill,” he says, “this is the best view in Hollywood.”

That is, if you’ll be brave enough to keep your eyes open to take it all in.

Universal Studios Hollywood first began exploring a high-speed coaster more than a decade ago.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

This week in SoCal theme parks

• Los Angeles loves a parade. Head to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Saturday evening for the Art Parade, which is designed to showcase L.A.’s thriving creative community with a colorful procession down Museum Row. Of particular note: Experiential art firm Meow Wolf, which is in development on its first-ever Los Angeles installation, will be participating. Meow Wolf’s L.A. exhibit, influenced equally be sci-fi and cinema, is on target for a winter opening.
• Disneyland history is Los Angeles history. The Autry Museum of the American West has a new exhibit, “Life, Liberty and Los Angeles.” As part of the show, which highlights how SoCal reflected and contradicted our nation’s founding ideals, guests will come across a 1967 Autopia vehicle from Disneyland. Now perhaps a bit quaint, the ride once exemplified our region’s dreams of an open freeway. Autopia is due next year to be remade with electrical vehicles.
• Plan a tour of Walt Disney’s former Los Feliz home. Disney and his family in the 1930s lived in a storybook mansion. Keepers of the house have announced that it will be open on a few select Saturdays this summer for tours. Though a private residence, tours are led by Disney expert Dusty Sage, who oversees the Micechat website and fan community. I’ve been inside, and can report the house is full of unique design quirks as well as a number of only-in-SoCal historic tales.
• A lively night at Downtown Disney. Head to Downtown Disney on Friday at 5 p.m. for Yardfest 2026, an evening to honor the music and traditions of historically Black colleges and universities. Expect performances from the Texas Southern University Ocean of Soul Marching Band near the area’s live stage, which itself has a unique design paying homage to famed Black architects, as well as specialty food offerings and Mickey Mouse in his drum major outfit.

Ride report

Knott’s Berry Farm has a new show inside the Calico Saloon dubbed “Spirits and Shenanigans.” The production is part of the park’s summer offerings.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s report is on a show. It’s summer season at Knott’s Berry Farm, which means a new storyline for its popular Ghost Town Alive!, a heavily improvised, actor-led experience that unfolds like a live-action role playing game. New this year is a hootin’ and hollerin’ good time of a show in “Spirits and Shenanigans,” which takes place in the Calico Saloon inside the park’s historic Ghost Town.

At 25-minutes, the production centers on the fictional husband-and-wife bar proprietors, who sing of leaving Illinois to open the spot, as well as its boot-tapping, can-can dancing staffers. Just ever-so-slightly risque with a bit of a patriotic feel, it’s a fast-moving ode to drinking holes and the sense of local community they provide. Expect tap dancing as well as numbers that will turn the entire stage into a drum kit. So if you’re heading to Knott’s this summer, “belly up to the bar,” as they sing, and grab a Boysenberry IPA and one of the few inside seats for this lively, can’t-miss production.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

BBC expert Steve Fletcher was given the task of restoring a sentimental item on the latest episode of The Repair Shop.

Emotions were at an all-time high during The Repair Shop as BBC’s Steve Fletcher and Dominic Chinea welcomed Robin into the workshop.

The guest had a large globe with him, which he explained was a ‘world clock’ and was built by his great-grandfather.

He commented: “It’s based on a grandfather clock mechanism. The idea is that the clock makes the globe rotate once every 24 hours. Then, using the numbers on the ring around the equator, you can see what the time is anywhere in the world.”

The BBC stars were blown away as they both called it ‘amazing’ before Robin confessed that he’s never known it to work in his lifetime.

Curious, horologist Steve asked if his great-grandfather was a clock-maker, as the guest explained that he wasn’t, he had been a mechanical engineer, but made the item in his spare time in the 1930s after retirement.

He added: “There’s a little newspaper cutting in here, according to the newspaper it’s supposed to chime every half hour. It took him five years to perfect.”

Sadly, Robin shared that his great-grandfather died when he was one year old, but he has memories of the item in his grandad’s dining room.

When asked what he wanted them to do with the unusual clock, Robin stated the idea would be to get it working, which is something his own father had wanted to do but never was able to.

He added: “If he’d have seen it working, I think it would have really been special to him if I could get it working now, in his memory, but also, grandfather and great-grandfather before that. Just to keep the family legacy going, as it were.

In the end, after the item was worked on by both Steve and Jonathan Wright, it was time for Robin to return to see the final restoration.

When the globe was revealed, which the experts managed to get working once again, Robin was blown away. He commented: “Wow! Well, it looks gorgeous, it really does look gorgeous. I’m… I am stunned, I really am stunned. Thank you. That’s a lovely sound, isn’t it?”

When Steve turned the clock strike on, Robin laughed as he struggled to hold back his emotions. He added: “Wow, that is so sweet. Sorry. I’d have loved my dad to have seen it and heard it. He’d have been thrilled. It’s really, it is emotional.

“Extremely emotional, but it’s magical, fabulous. We shall treasure it until it’s time to hand it on to the next generation.”

Steve added: “It’s been a real great challenge, so thank you very much for bringing it in.

The Repair Shop is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Actor Anthony Head died last week at the age of 72 after complications due to pneumonia.

Last week, the world was shocked and saddened to hear the news that actor Anthony Head had died.

The star was best known for his roles as Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Rupert Mannion in the comedy series Ted Lasso.

On Wednesday’s episode of The One Show (June 10), BBC presenters Angellica Bell and JB Gill spoke about his death to actor Colin Morgan.

The 40-year-old starred alongside Anthony during his time on the children’s fantasy show Merlin, which ran from 2008 to 2012.

Anthony played King Uther Pendragon in the series, while Colin played the title character in the beloved show

Addressing the news of his death last week, host Angellica said to Colin: “Your big break was in the BBC series Merlin alongside the late Anthony Head, and you must have some fond memories of working with him?”

He said: “Yeah, I was so shocked and heartbroken to hear about his loss last week. He was such a pinnacle of a role model to me and all the young cast of Merlin.

“I have such incredible memories of working with him. Right now, my thoughts go out to his daughters, Daisy and Emily.”

JB added: “Yeah, condolences to his family as well.”

The news of his death was confirmed by his daughter in a statement which was released on Friday, June 5.

The said: “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father, Anthony Head.

“He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family. It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed first-hand the impact both he and his work have had on so many.”

Since the announcement of his death, tributes have been flooding in from his former co-stars, including Matt Lucas, Charisma Carpenter and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Alongside a photo of them all years ago, the actress wrote on Instagram: “Tell Giles I figured it out and I’m ok” Well I don’t have it figured out and I’m not ok. But I know I’m the lucky one because I knew you. Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world.

The One Show is available to watch weeknights on BBC One from 7pm

A Welsh couple appeared on A Place in the Sun and broke down in tears after buying a Costa del Sol holiday home to honour their late family member.

A Place in the Sun presenter was moved to tears while discussing a heartbreaking family loss.

During a repeat episode broadcast on Wednesday, June 10, a Welsh couple were searching for a holiday home on the Costa del Sol, enlisting the assistance of host Jean Johansson.

Former body builder Darren and his wife Joanne, had a particularly poignant motivation behind their decision to purchase a property in Spain, wanting somewhere perfect for their three children and wider family.

They also decided to find somewhere following the sad death of Joanne’s brother Matt, with one of their final conversations being him encouraging them to “live the dream”.

Joanne emotionally told Jean: “My brother sadly passed away ten years ago and one of our last conversations was that I had to make sure that we have as much fun as possible and live the dream with our children,” reports Wales Online.

“Because he loved the beach and being abroad so much we thought this would be the perfect way to honour his memory.”

After viewing several properties, with a budget of £205,000, the couple submitted an offer of £170,000 on one apartment they were keen to add to.

At that moment, Joanne shared: “I do feel emotional, I just know this is what my brother would want and I am sure he is just looking down now with a big smile on his face.”

While their initial offer was turned down, their second bid of £178,000 was accepted, leaving Joanne overcome with emotion.

Breaking down, she shared: “This is for you, Matt!”

Expressing her gratitude to Jean, she continued: “We can now live the dream in my brother’s memory.

“The family can come here and think about him, my mum and dad just feel so close to Matt when we are at the beach and they can come here anytime they want now!”

Visibly moved, Jean responded: “I am so happy, I’ve never been happier for a couple.”

Raising a toast, Joanne said: “To Matthew and the family, and to living the dream!”

Jean added to the camera: “That was an emotional end to an exciting search, Darren and Joanne have the dream property for them and the whole family, and I know they are going to have loads of amazing holidays here in Malaga.”

Speaking after the episode originally aired in May 2024, Joanne told A Place In The Sun that they were “definitely living the dream”.

She said they get very emotional when they walk through the door, as the home is so linked to her brother, who loved the beach, but tragically died of cancer at the age of 27.

“We’ve taken out all the children and showed them the places we visited on the TV show, such as Lake Vinuela,” Joanne said.

“It already feels like home and I’d say we are definitely living the dream.”

A Place in The Sun is available to watch on Channel 4.

Six Flags Magic Mountain wants to change its narrative.

Known as a destination for thrill seekers, the coaster-heavy amusement park is putting the emphasis on its animated characters.

Now open is a revamped, kids-focused area in Looney Tunes Land, a remake of the former Bugs Bunny World and Whistlestop Park. All told, it’s a 5-acre space with nine rides, including two kiddie coasters, as well as still-to-come play areas, a live show and an in-development augmented reality experience.

I last walked through the area about two summers ago, and it was in a derelict state. I’m happy to report it’s more welcoming, prettier and dotted with plant life and landscaping.

Gone is the vintage Magic Flyer, once Magic Mountain’s oldest coaster (the park’s eldest thrill seeker is now Gold Rusher). Also among the casualties: Tweety’s Escape, a steel swing that placed children in birdcages that had begun to look like mini jails. It was a grim-appearing ride.

The remaining attractions have all received some much-needed TLC. Some even have added mini storylines. What was Whistlestop Train, for instance, is now Taz’s Tasmanian Train Tours. It follows a narrative in which the ride’s titular character has escaped the zoo and is eluding capture, generally causing havoc on the countryside. It’s a calm, slow-moving ride through a small green space, and we see failed attempts to trap Taz, such as an overgrown mice contraption. The ride concludes with a mechanical not-so-hidden Taz, but not before glimpsing a statue of Tasmanian She-Devil in full kiss mode.

A look into the Bugs Bunny-focused area of Magic Mountain’s new Looney Tunes Land.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The reimagining comes two years after Six Flags Entertainment Corp. and the Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. completed a merger, which in SoCal brought Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm under the same ownership. Six Flags’ corporate creative producer Clayton Lawrence says post-merger, the company pinpointed upping the family appeal at Magic Mountain as among its first orders of business.

That meant last summer devoting resources to improving the Hurricane Harbor water park, which Lawrence says specifically attracts families and grandparents. This year, attention was turned to the primary park in Looney Tunes Land.

“We really thought about what this park needs,” Lawrence says. “What will the parents need? How do we slow the guests down a little bit? This park has so many thrills in it — so many coasters — that we wanted to create a place that was nice to take a break from all the action and also develop areas where grandparents and parents could watch little ones burn off energy.”

It’s safe to say that Magic Mountain’s core audience is likely always going to be thrill seekers. And that fan base will be served next year with the planned opening of a new coaster that will overlook the Looney Tunes area.

The kiddie coaster the Road Runner Express at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Magic Mountain attracted 3.3 million visitors in 2024, according to data released by the Themed Entertainment Assn. While Lawrence was not able to break down which percentage of that number included those traveling with children 12 and under, it’s safe to say that a greater family appeal is viewed as one of the ways to boost a SoCal audience.

“There’s a lot of people who grew up coming up here, or their first ride was inside Bugs Bunny World,” Lawrence says. “A lot of families have a daredevil teen who can go on the rides, but they also have a little one. This is about the multi-demo family.”

Looney Tunes Land is broken into four mini areas — Taz-Mania, Road Runner Ridge, Bugs Bunny Play Park and Camp Duck Amok. While there are no major distinctions between the spaces, there are slight differences. Taz’s footprints, for instance, are found in the gravel-colored pavement of Taz-Mania, and in the Daffy Duck locale the flooring looks a bit like rockwork. A small outback-like trail in Taz-Mania will soon be home to an augmented reality game, and a much-needed green space in the Bugs Bunny spot will later this summer be populated with tunnels and little climbing structures.

Asqwer Turki, 13, poses for a picture with Wile E. Coyote at the new Looney Tunes Land at Magic Mountain.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

There are fun additions to spot on the refreshed rides. The Canyon Cruiser beginner’s coaster, for example, nods to classic Looney Tunes cartoons, specifically prank-filled episodes featuring Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The children’s theater has been remade into Bunny Bowl, and given giant carrots that call the attention of guests.

Such light thematic touches, said Magic Mountain President Brian Oerding, have been missing from parts of the park. They’re vital, he says, in lengthening a guest’s day.

“We’ve learned that softening the hardscape creates a better environment, a better experience, and that means you’re going to want to hang out more,” Oerding says. “Some folks will walk by black asphalt and not think anything about it, but when you look into Looney Tunes Land, and you look at the softness of the pavement and the additional landscaping, we’ve created a happier space. Mom and Dad are happier, and that means they’ll hang out longer.”

Mountain Park President Brian Oerding officially opens the new Looney Tunes Land at Magic Mountain.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Looney Tunes Land has also given Magic Mountain some much-needed in-park entertainment, as the area has been lacking a live show for a number of years. “Vacation Mayhem” comes in at just under 15 minutes and features Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig and Sylvester imagining their perfect getaway spots in song.

Things go wrong, of course, and Bugs even explores some vices by gambling in Las Vegas, which was an odd choice I thought for a kids show, but Looney Tunes did always have a bit of an edge. Nevertheless, the musical numbers, ranging from reworkings of “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money)” to “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter From Camp)” keep it zipping along.

“If we don’t believe that entertainment and character shows are important, we’re missing it,” Oerding says. “Yes, the rides are cool, but we haven’t done an actual entertainment show in here in a long time.”

And Lawrence says Looney Tunes is essentially a model for the entire park. No, that doesn’t necessarily mean more kiddie rides in the coming years, only that Six Flags is looking at other places where the park can use some beautification.

“This is what we want to do for the rest of the park,” Lawrence says. “Disciplined design. Nice hardscape.”

And here’s hoping for some more plants and an additional fountain or two.

This week in SoCal theme parks

Alexis Rosales of Bell gets drenched by Luke Brodowski, performing as Fluke Mayfield at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town Alive! in 2024.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

• It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Knott’s Berry Farm begins its summer season on Friday, and that means the return of Ghost Town Alive! This interactive live show, now a decade old, is unlike anything at any other SoCal park, and in my mind it’s the best summer entertainment available. This hybrid live-action role-playing game and work of interactive theater enables guests to live out mini-Wild West adventures while interacting with more than two dozen actors. Players follow a loose story centered on the drama in the fictional town of Calico, in the park’s Ghost Town area. It’s silly, it’s wacky and there’s even a daily newspaper. Ghost Town Alive! runs on select days, and I’ll see you there Friday.
• World Cup, Lego Style! Carlsbad’s Legoland is celebrating the arrival of the World Cup with a host of limited-time activities and Lego creations. The park, for instance, has built a 30-foot-long re-creation of SoFi Stadium, and elsewhere has created brick versions of a host of soccer stars. There are interactive events as well, such as accuracy challenges and games that have attendees trying to score goals off of Lego minifigures. Legoland’s FIFIA World Cup Experience 2026 launches Thursday and runs through July 19.
• Oogie Boogie Bash tickets drop — and a Haunted Mansion street parade? The Disneyland Resort’s popular after-hours event Oogie Boogie Bash returns Aug. 18, and tickets for Magic Key passholders go on sale June 16 (the general public sale is June 18). New this year to the Disney California Adventure experience is what the resort is calling “Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake.” Though not a full-scale parade, expect Haunted Mansion characters — the concept art shows floats of the attraction’s “stretching room” portraits — as well as ghostly dancers. But with something new, something must depart. “Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake” is replacing the “Frightfully Fun Parade.” Ticket prices vary by day, starting at $139. October dates, for instance, top off at $199.
• “Harry Potter” will hover above Dodger Stadium. A theme park-like drone show is arriving Saturday at Dodger Stadium. More than 1,200 drones will soar over the park as part of a “Harry Potter”-inspired production, which will also feature music, trivia and an appearance from the film’s Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley). Expect re-creations of “Potter” iconography such as Hogwarts Castle, magical creatures, the Sorting Hat and more. The hourlong show begins at 9 p.m. and Butterbeer will be on hand. Tickets start at $52.90 for adults.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

Last week I put out a call for Disneyland fans to share their Carousel of Progress memories. The theater attraction, centered around a rotating auditorium, debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair before making its way to Disneyland in 1967. It was moved to Florida’s Walt Disney World in 1975. The Walt Disney Co. announced recently that the Florida version would be undergoing a top-to-bottom overhaul, but its dedication to technological optimism throughout the decades would remain.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the remembrances. Many cited it as a favorite. “My father was a musician, and it became a family tradition that we’d sit in the back row and sing ‘[There’s] a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow’ loudly at the top of our lungs from the very beginning of the ride, which I’m sure newcomers thought was weird and probably annoying,” wrote one reader. Another noted, “The mid-60s were exciting years to be a kid, as the future seemed so promising and exciting; the [Carousel of Progress] plugged right into that enthusiasm.”

Many shared similar sentiments. “The animated activities of the characters and their dialogue embraced the ‘Happiest Place on Earth” theme that was prevalent throughout Disneyland in those earlier days,” said one fan. A few, however, called out that the attraction was sponsored by General Electric, making it feel a bit like an advertisement. As one reader summarized: “It was incredibly clunky product placement, even to a kid’s ears.”

Tiki, an offshoot of the Midcentury Modern movement, flourished in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, but began to experience a decline in the ’70s. Thus, by the ’90s, there were concerns at Disney that the Enchanted Tiki Room — the pivotal 1963 attraction that pioneered audio-animatronics — was no longer in vogue, its singing birds, totems and flowers a relic of another era.

The company explored some early concepts to remake the Enchanted Tiki Room. One idea was to transform it into an ecological, save-the-rainforest show. Another was to redesign it with a “Lion King” theme.

“Let me tell you, we hated it,” says artist and designer Kevin Kidney of the latter concept.

Kidney, who worked in Disneyland’s art department in the ’90s, says he and his longtime collaborator Jody Daily were “terrified” the Enchanted Tiki Room would disappear, so much so that they began making fliers to advertise the show and putting them up all over L.A., in restaurants, bars and museums. “We started an underground movement to save the Tiki Room even while we were working on these projects. We tried to frame it in a cool, hip way, like, ‘Everyone needs to go and re-experience this amazing show.’”

Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar took its influence from Disneyland’s Adventureland attractions, namely the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and the Enchanted Tiki Room remains to this day a vital piece of Disneyland history. And now with the modern tiki revival, it’s no longer an archival curiosity. In fact, the connection between Disney and tiki may be as strong as it has ever been, as this spring the Disneyland Hotel’s Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar turned 15. Trader Sam’s took its cues heavily from the Adventureland attraction, its bar flanked by tiki totems with slowly wandering eyes. And watching over guests and bartenders is a re-creation of one of the show’s tiki gods.

“The totem pole on the bar, and Koro up in the rafters above the bar, are all original designs and sculpts for the Tiki Room at Disneyland,” Kidney says. “They made new castings for the bar off of the elements from the attraction.”

Kidney and Daily collaborated with Walt Disney Imagineering, the arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences, on some of the early designs for Trader Sam’s. It’s their mug collection, for instance, that was seen in the bar on opening day. And the pair designed a magnificent glowing ship in a bottle, which thanks to a Pepper’s ghost illusion, occasionally looks as if it’s breaking apart and sinking.

Trader Sam’s, says author and historian Sven Kirsten, writer of “The Book of Tiki,” is one of the more influential bars on the modern tiki landscape. Though it didn’t kickstart today’s movement, says Kirsten, it often serves as “a gateway,” introducing Disney’s millions of guests to the scene.

Kirsten says Trader Sam’s has rightfully earned its place among SoCal’s most respected tiki bars. And most popular. An unofficial Instagram page devoted to the bar, keeping tabs on its mug releases and off-menu bartender creations, has more than 39,000 followers.

The erupting volcano “windows” of Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

“In the early 2010s the craft cocktail revival brought forth these so-called tiki bars that thought if they had a tiki cocktail menu they were a tiki bar,” Kirsten says. “But it was basket lamps and palm leaf wallpaper and that was it. Places like Trader Sam’s and Strong Water and Royal Hawaiian are floor-to-ceiling fully decorated. They’re what a tiki bar should be.”

Before the Disneyland Hotel had Trader Sam’s, the space was home to Hook’s Pointe, which was lightly themed to “Peter Pan.” Yet about a decade after the Walt Disney Co. completed a purchase to assume control of the Disneyland Hotel, Hook’s Pointe was earmaked for renovation.

“We were designing a Caribbean-style bar where Trader Sam’s is now, and that was where I said, ‘Let’s rethink this,’” said Kyle Barnes, an Imagineer who was instrumental in the creation of Trader Sam’s. Barnes was speaking at a recent event hosted by Disney’s fan club D23 on the history of Adventureland and Trader Sam’s.

“I said, ‘That’s more East Coast. This is West Coast.’ Hawaii and Midcentury really fit together with the tiki theme,” Barnes said, noting that the park’s Enchanted Tiki Room was initially pitched as a restaurant and once sat next to the Tahitian Terrace, a Polynesian-themed restaurant complete with hula dancers.

Trader Sam’s is home to many show elements. In addition to the sinking ship, there are bar seats that will begin to drop the longer guests sit in them. Also, there are two theatrical windows looking out toward a volcano, which will erupt when guests order a specific drink. The ship in a bottle and dipping barstools, said Barnes, were inspired by the Adventurers Club at Florida’s Walt Disney World, while the volcano windows were influenced by Florida’s version of the Enchanted Tiki Room.

The Kungaloosh cocktail at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The Adventurers Club closed in 2008, but I was fortunate enough to visit it as a child, and it was instrumental in my love of Disney, theater and, well, bars. Full of actors, puppets and walls filled with artifacts that seemed to spring to life, the Adventurers Club was a place of play, and I still remember as a kid being asked by one of the actors to join the imaginary guild. It was a glimpse into a grown-up world full of revelry, silliness and colorful cocktails.

Trader Sam’s fills a similar niche for me today, and as part of its 15th anniversary, it added the Adventurers Club signature drink, the sweetly tropical Kungaloosh, to its menu. As a kid, I longed to enter an adult world. As a grown-up, I love an adult world with a childlike playfulness.

Tiki bars aren’t perfect, and have occasionally come under criticism as escapist fantasy that appropriates Hawaiian or Polynesian iconography. As such, Trader Sam’s has changed over the years. Shrunken heads, for instance, that once hung from the walls, were years ago removed.

Progress, and part of Trader Sam’s enduring appeal. “The jokes that we accepted long ago, they were jokes for only a part of the population,” says Kidney.

And Trader Sam’s remains full of absurdities — spend some time just soaking up the puns and ephemera that dot the walls. Just be prepared to duck when you see the bartenders reach for a spray bottle.

So cheers to another 15 years, and I hope to see you at the bar.

This week in SoCal theme parks

Space Mountain at night.

(Paul Hiffmeyer / Disneyland Resort)

• A refreshed cartoon world. Magic Mountain will on Saturday unveil its new kid-targeted Looney Tunes Land, which is a makeover of its previous Bugs Bunny-focused area. Expect a brand new live show, and spaces designed to represent the personality of characters such as Bugs, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Each of the attractions, such as calming train and balloon rides, has received a tune-up. I’ll take a closer look next week!
• ‘The Odyssey’ comes to Universal. While theme park fans await the opening date of Universal Studios Hollywood’s new “Fast & Furious” coaster, the park is zooming ahead with its Mega Movie Summer promotion. As part of the latter, a ship from Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” will be added to the park’s tram tour. Elsewhere, Minions from “Minions & Monsters” will start meeting with guests, and various dining locations will receive light makeovers to represent films such as “Jaws” and the “Fast & Furious” franchise.
• Changes afoot at CityWalk. Universal’s CityWalk is in the midst of a multiyear transformation. New spaces, such as one from Malibu Brewing Co., are on the way, while some legacy retailers are unfortunately disappearing. The latest: Publisher Dark Horse Comics is closing its Things From Another World retail location. The pop-culture shop is slated to close in September. No word yet on what may move into the space.
• Space Mountain is back! After a brief overlay as the “Star Wars”-themed Hyperspace Mountain, Disneyland’s classic Space Mountain has returned just in time for the busy summer season. The coaster, which tops off at about 32 mph in near total darkness, should be back in all its vintage glory as of today.
• A renewal perk. The Disneyland Resort in a move to create more loyalty among its Magic Key passholders is offering a bonus for those who opt to stick around for another year. A dining promotion, in which annual passholders can receive a dining gift card for as much as $100 if they choose to re-up, is underway through May of next year.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

I’m curious if any longtime Disneyland fans have any memories of the Carousel of Progress. I’d love to hear them. The theater show, built around a rotating auditorium, debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair before making its way to Disneyland in 1967. It was moved to Florida’s Walt Disney World in 1975.

In case anyone missed it, the Walt Disney Co. announced last week that Carousel of Progress would be undergoing a top-to-bottom overhaul to update the show. No longer will it begin in the distant past, as the refreshed attraction will now start in the 1960s and take guests into the ’80s, the late ’90s and beyond. An ode to technological optimism, the original show was overseen by Walt Disney, but had undergone multiple changes throughout the decades, most notably in its final scene.

I’ll miss its glimpses of the 1920s and 1940s, but concede the attraction was notable today more for its Disney history than its cultural relevancy. Thus, I’m cautiously hopeful that this makeover can ensure the Carousel of Progress remains a Disney staple for decades to come.

Sunday Brunch hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer returned with a new guest panel

A Sunday Brunch guest issued an apology on Sunday’s show as they admitted “I sound terrible”.

Tim Lovejoy and his co-host Simon Rimmer once again welcomed several famous faces onto the show, including Boyzone, Michael Ball, Priya Kansara, Anna Dimitriadis, Celyn Jones and Freya Ridings.

As usual, they also served up a variety of delicious dishes for their guests to enjoy, alongside chef Paul Leonard. At the start of the show, Tim and Simon introduced this week’s guests as many viewers were excited about the line-up.

Previously taking to social media, one person said: “What a line up”, as another echoed: “Love Michael Ball so will watch this one.”

However, it wasn’t long before one guest issued an apology live on air after they made a “showing off” admission.

During the introduction today (Sunday, May 30), Welsh actor and director Celyn Jones was asked about his impressive moustache where he revealed it was “for a role I’m doing at the moment.”

He added: “I lost my voice yesterday.” When asked what he had been doing to lose his voice, he continued: “I’m just trying to win another BAFTA really.”

When asked more about how the new role is going, he said: “It’s a film called Oh Magnus”, with a new filmmaker, he then teased: “I play the worst teacher that ever lived.”

Hosts Tim and Simon later sat down with the Welsh actor, who has previously won a BAFTA, who teased his new role, as well as revealing all about upcoming period drama Madfabulous, which will be released in cinemas next week (June 5).

After sitting down for his interview, Celyn added: “I’m so sorry, I sound so terrible. I’m not in pain, I should’ve been more disciplined on set yesterday, I was showing off.” He then continued: “I was over acting.”

A brand new Instagram page was previously set up for the Oh Magnus film account, which shared an exciting post this week of a directing clapper. Captioning the post: “It begins…”, Celyn Jones and others were tagged as excitement starts to build.

One person wrote: “Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait.” Another said: “Don’t know what you’re making but it’s bound to be good!”

A third added: “How exciting, so looking forward to the progress.”

Also on the Sunday Brunch show today was Freya Ridings who opened up about her new album release, which she admitted took three years to perfect, as well as Boyzone who opened up about their final farewell tour.

Sunday Brunch airs every Sunday at 10am on Channel 4

In this week’s episode of The Envelope podcast, we kick off Emmy season with Carrie Preston, who plays an offbeat investigator in Robert and Michelle King’s “Columbo”-inspired comedy “Elsbeth.”

Kelvin Washington: Welcome back to The Envelope. I’m Kelvin Washington, alongside the usual suspects, Yvonne Villarreal, also Mark Olsen. It’s good to have you all here. Everybody doing well?

Mark Olsen: Yeah, I’m doing great.

Yvonne Villarreal: Good to see you.

Washington: Well, first of all, I didn’t get the green [wardrobe] memo. It’s OK. Leave me out.

Villarreal: I’m trying to blend in with the chair.

Olsen: That’s why you pop

Villarreal: You do pop.

Washington: Well, you took what I was going to say. You don’t blend in. You always stand out.

Villarreal: Thank you.

Washington: That’s true. All right, so we’re kicking off Emmy season in here. And there’s obviously a million different things to have seen. We’ll start it off with Yvonne — I’ll go to you. What have you seen? Give me a couple of things that stand out to you that you’re enjoying.

Villarreal: Look, I’m always gonna mention “The Pitt.” Season 2 really captivated me. Also, there’s “Pluribus.” Can never go wrong with Rhea Seehorn. Also, one that — surprisingly for me, just given the subject matter — I really enjoyed this season, is “The Testaments.” And I think it’s because of, you know, the young cast and feeling that sense of hope that these young teenage girls are gonna get us out of this. Those are my picks so far.

Washington: Did you say that we need that?

Villarreal: We do need that.

Washington: OK, I just wanted to make sure.

Villarreal: I won’t mention reality TV, because I know it makes Mark a little…

Washington: Let’s make him a little squirmy.

Olsen: Maybe one of these days, I’ll try!

Villarreal: “One of these days”?

Washington: Twenty-five years into it.

Villarreal: “Real Housewives of Rhode Island” is all I’m going to say. I’ll just leave it there.

Olsen: Rhode Island?

Villarreal: Rhode Island.

Washington: Mark, I’ll go to you next, but just to your point there, Yvonne, I haven’t seen much of it, but I did have some guests at the morning show that I anchor from “Love on the Spectrum.”

Villarreal: Oh yeah.

Washington: Folks love that show. I mean, when I tell you that we had a couple of the guests come in and they’re walking around, people were screaming, “Can I get their picture?” So you’re talking about reality TV, just that, that’s a big one there.

Villarreal: They’re stars. And hearing who’s broken up already. I won’t spoil it, because you should watch that one.

Olsen: Wait a minute, how do people on your morning show rate “The Morning Show”?

Washington: Oh, that’s a good question. Some of the [story] lines or the feel hits a little too real, too close to home at times, that’s for sure. But I think it’s run its course a little bit as far as the watercooler [chatter] around the job a little. You know, it’s had some seasons here. But there are some things that, you know, some us look at each other like, “Clearly someone in the business is on there writing that show because that was too close to home.”

Villarreal: Lots of conniving.

Washington: But that’s all sensationalized. We’re just an ordinary morning show. None of that going on.

Villarreal: There’s no Billy Crudups out there.

Washington: Watch how I turn over here to Mark and we switch subjects. What about you, Mark? What are you watching? What do you enjoy?

Olsen: You know, it’s funny, I find as we’re in sort of like post-peak TV, I definitely find that I’m liking my TV to just feel like TV. And so I definitely like the Bill Lawrence universe, [that] kind of comfort watch — the new show “Rooster” with Steve Carell and Danielle Deadwyler, who’s just like so charming, so good on that show. I have really grown to like that show. I really enjoy the week-to-week. Even as I’ve maybe fallen off with some of his other shows, it’s funny how he’s always giving you a new show, like, “Oh I like this one!” And again [with] the week-to-week, “Oh it’s my day to watch ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’! Let me see what my good friends Jon Hamm and Olivia Munn are all up to.”

Washington: Are your neighbors like that?

Olsen: I have not had any disputes over dogs with my neighbors, no.

Washington: By the way, have you been, you mentioned Steve Carell, like he’s in his ‘zaddy’ era. It’s amazing what a beard does for a lot of people. No one ever necessarily thought of him as a heartthrob and all of a sudden I’ve heard, I’ve seen some things on Threads or whatnot, and they’re like, “Oh girl, I didn’t know Steve Carell…”

Villarreal: Some of us have known all along, OK?

Washington: I digress.

You guys mentioned a couple for me. “The Pitt” is unexpected — I was going to say every episode, really every 10 minutes. So that’s always a wild ride. And in “Paradise,” the shift from the previous season for me, because, you know, it’s not that I’m spoiling it, but just the shift into the outside and prior to, that dynamic to me was interesting. Almost like two different shows between Season 1 and Season 2. That for me is interesting to see how folks do and Sterling K. Brown, where’s he in all of this? So those are the ones that I’m looking at there.

I swing to you, [Yvonne]. You had a chance to speak with Carrie Preston, of course, in “Elsbeth.” Kind of a “Columbo”-style of a show, if you will. Tell us a little bit more about that.

Villarreal: This is the thing. We should never discount what’s happening on broadcast TV.

Washington: Good point.

Villarreal: “Elsbeth” is one of those shows that is so compelling. It really expanded, Robert and Michelle King’s “Good Wife” universe. They’ve had the spin-off, “The Good Fight,” and “Elsbeth” is in that universe, but it feels totally different. It’s this comedy procedural that follows Elsbeth, who we were introduced to as this eccentric lawyer, and in “Elsbeth” she’s moved from Chicago to New York as this NYPD consultant and de facto detective. And she has these really unconventional, unorthodox, eccentric methods to solving cases. And it’s really fun to watch and it was really fun to have this conversation with her.

Washington: All right, well, let’s get into it. Here’s Yvonne and Carrie now.

Carrie Preston, star of CBS’ “Columbo”-esque hit “Elsbeth.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Yvonne Villarreal: I’m always very eager to talk about this character that I’ve spent 15 years tracking. You made your debut as Elsbeth Tascioni in “The Good Wife,” and she leaves a memorable impression early on, with just three minutes [of screen time]. I did time it. What do you remember about the call about this character and what [creators Robert and Michelle King] told you about who she was?

Carrie Preston: They had offered me the role, and I was working on some other things and I had just dyed my hair red, but they didn’t know this yet. And so they all knew me as a blond and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I hope they’re going to be OK with this character being a redhead because in their minds I’m not that.”

But [Robert] called and he said, “We’re thinking about this character like a female Columbo.” I didn’t really watch a lot of “Columbo,” but I understood what he meant, which was, this is a person who is going to be coming at things in an unexpected and unorthodox way and people are going to underestimate her. I took that to heart. But nonetheless, I was going in as a guest. As a guest, you’re going into somebody else’s house, you wanna follow their rules, you don’t wanna jump in their pool and start swimming around without asking permission. So I was a little tentative with it, but I took myself to the set before we started shooting just to show them, “This is what I look like now, are we still good? Because I can’t change the hair right now ’cause I’m doing this other thing.” Luckily, they were like, “Oh I think that actually works really well for the character.” And little did I know, I was gonna then be the redheaded actor for a good 16 years now, or whatever it is. I look back at that time, I was just finding my way with this character and figuring out, “How can I make her something different but not too different that I don’t fit in with the world of the show and the landscape of that universe?” And so looking back, you can see how I was tiptoeing around and it took a little moment before they really let me just let what my instincts were telling me to do, fly.

Villarreal: Because you knew she would be coming back in some capacity.

Preston: I didn’t know. I did two episodes at the end of their first season. Did not get a call at all in Season 2. And I thought, “OK, well, I guess I was a little too weird or I wasn’t really what they were thinking.” You kind of start talking to yourself and then you go, “I can’t read their minds. I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing.” And that was a really fun time. Then they called in Season 3 and that was when they said, “OK, we’re gonna do a little arc; we want this to flesh this character out.”

Villarreal: She went on to appear in many episodes of “The Good Wife” and also [its spin-off] “The Good Fight.” Then they have the idea during the pandemic of, “We want to do a show centered around Elsbeth.” And I imagine that’s a thrilling call to get, just like that first call that you received. As an actor in this sort of fickle industry, where you’ve put in the time, when you get a call like that from these prolific TV producers that are really respected, and they say, “We see you as being able to lead a network series.” How do you wrap your brain around that?

Preston: It was kind of a slow buildup to that because even when I was doing “The Good Wife, “ at the end of that series they were talking about, “How can we spin off the show?” And some people like yourself and people who are in the industry, fans, et cetera, were saying, “Why don’t you spin it off with Elsbeth Tascioni?” And Robert King reached out and said, “Would you be interested in this?” And so I said, “Of course, I would do anything to be be doing that.” Then I heard they’re doing this spin-off and it’s starring Christine Baranski and Rose Leslie and Cush Jumbo — pretty much everybody but me. And I was like, “OK, well, I guess that’s what they’re gonna do.” But I did reach out again and said, “I’d love to be a part of this.” And they said, “Yes, we’re definitely gonna bring you on and have you continue as a guest.” I went and did other things. I did “Claws.” I had already been working on “True Blood.” So I was doing all these other shows and thinking, “OK, I guess this is their spin-off. I’ll just be a guest again, and that’ll be that.”

And again, people would keep calling and saying, “Hey, what if you did a spin-off of the spin-off?” And still I dared not dream. It really wasn’t until 2020 that it felt like it was more plausible, possible. They were coming to the end of “The Good Fight.” They had this idea. And it seemed like a good one, and it seemed like a good business model, frankly, to have Elsbeth Tascioni, maybe one or two other series regulars, and then bring in all these amazing guests. It still took another three years before we actually did a pilot that, then, got picked up. So it was just these many, many steps before we actually got to this. So each time, I tried not to hold on to that dream too much, but at the same time, treasure every moment, even treasuring just the thought that they pitched me as the center of a show to a network that hired them to write a script. Even that, I was like, “Wow, this is incredible.” When we finished the pilot, I looked at the crew and I said, “We need to really honor this moment because this might be it. This might be the last time [I’m] ever playing this character. And we came together, and we made something really special. Whether or not it’s going to go to series, we all know we did something really wonderful.” And I burst into tears. I was so grateful for that opportunity. So every moment is a moment of gratitude and humility, to be honest.

Villarreal: Was there any part of you that thought, “I don’t know if I can do this”? Or because you were reaching for it for that length of time, when it finally happened, you’re like, “I can do this.”

Preston: There is this sense of wanting to make sure that I am doing everything I can to make this situation collaborative, to lead in a way that is not overbearing, to be a part of an ensemble, not just with the cast but with the crew. All of these things that I’ve been meditating on for decades. And I direct as well, so I know what it’s like to lead, and I’ve learned from watching really great leads, and not-so-great ones that get caught up in certain things, that rob them of an opportunity of creating something in a collective way. So I was excited to take all of these things that I’ve learned along the way and funnel them and channel them into this opportunity. Every day is a blessing, every day is challenge, and every day I feel like I do something that I know I can do better the next day. I try to meditate on that, because I want this opportunity that I’m having to be as special for the 300 people that are around me who are doing this with me. That’s really my goal.

Villarreal: In the series, obviously, we’ve come to know Elsbeth as this Chicago lawyer; here she’s a New York City police consultant. I really want to know what Elsbeth would be like in Los Angeles. What do you think that looks like?

Preston: Elsbeth finds beauty wherever she goes. I think it would be tough for her because she so likes to be right in the middle of all of humanity and [in] L.A., you’re isolated a lot in your cars — having to kind of keep yourself sequestered from other people just because that’s how people get around. I bet she’d be on the subway, she’d be on transit, she’d be on buses, she‘d be out in the malls, she would be out on the beaches, meeting people, talking to people, learning about Venice Beach as compared to Sherman Oaks. She would be all about finding all the different vibes and how she fits in.

Villarreal: You’re known for being a scene-stealer supporting player. This role in particular sort of encapsulates that. Is playing a lead rather than a supporting player a particular kind of challenge? Do you have to learn how to have your character take up space differently?

Preston: I approach it the same way that I approach anything I do as a co-star, a supporting actor, a guest star, whatever. I’m there to serve the script and to work with the people who are around me to elevate a scene and make it work. And to make the the job of everyone around me easy. I really feel like when you come at it with that collaborative spirit, you don’t think about, “Oh, I’m the lead.” You don’t think about where you fall into that hierarchy. You’re just there to make the scene work. And I like that. Because then I don’t feel pressure to be something more than what that is. You’re building a house every day, and you’ve got to start with foundation and then move all the way up. You can’t just come in and the house is already built. That takes more than one person. And I like that, and I feel like Elsbeth is like that too. She’s very much about the other person. For me, if you’re ever stuck in an acting scene and you don’t know what you’re doing, you need to just focus on the other person, and then all of that other stuff starts taking care of itself. What does this person need? What am I giving this person? What am trying to get from this person? Just all the like the basic building blocks of acting and then you can get out of your own head and let the choices happen.

Villarreal: Something that’s so striking about the character is her physicality. She sort of darts into frame, or she’s crouching, even the movement of her hands as she’s reenacting what might have happened. What was that like, finding the movement of Elsbeth?

Preston: It started from the beginning. The scripts, at the beginning, would write in these pauses. They would just say “pause” in the middle of a sentence. And I was like, “Huh, what is that?” That became the most fascinating thing to me. “What’s happening there? What’s happening with this woman when she’s not speaking?” And, so, that’s where the physical stuff started coming. And in “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight,” there was a little bit of an evolution of that. The tote bags were brought in very early on by Brooke Kennedy, who was the producing director and one of the main directors on “The Good Wife.” She said, “I want her to always have something going on.” And I was like, “Great, I love that.” That’s a gift for an actor. I’m someone who, if you give me a prop, I’m gonna do something with it. I just like that. It’s fun. I’ve trained for the theater. So I love that idea. There’s a term that sometimes we use — I don’t know if it’s OK to say it — but sometimes we call each other “props-titutes.” If you get a prop, you can’t help it; you’re gonna have to do a thing with a thing. And so the bags and all that stuff — I started thinking, “Oh, I guess [with] this woman, her mouth is saying one thing, her mind is thinking another and her body’s doing a third thing.” As soon as I came up with that little weird math equation, things started locking into place.

Robert King directed the pilot. He created the show with Michelle King. Robert loves any kind of physical comedy. Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Lucille Ball, all of that stuff. He just loves it. He worships that stuff. We were doing a scene and he said, “I don’t want you to just walk up. Let’s have you like lean in like Charlie Chaplin or something.” And I was like, “Great!” So he had me lean into frame and wouldn’t you know, that just became then the signature thing for this new iteration of this character. And it became kind of a metaphor for the whole show. This woman is not ever gonna approach things straight. She’s always gonna approach things at an angle. That’s another fun, creative thing that you can run with. Then the writers and the directors and the other actors, we all just started playing with that. And I have to do these scenes where I sum up the entire crime. Sometimes it’s like a five-page monologue. Well, you don’t have that much time to memorize that stuff because you get the script and I’m learning 50 pages of dialogue every eight or 10 days. So the physicality helps me remember it. And I imagine it helps Elsbeth piece it together.

Villarreal: Are you like at home just [mimics exaggerated movements]?

Preston: Yes, I’m coming up with things.

Villarreal: Is Michael [Emerson, the actor], your husband, like, “What’s going on here?”

Preston: He lets me do my thing. What I’ll say to him is, “I’m gonna go close the door and talk to myself for a while.” And he’ll go, “OK.” I learn my lines by myself. I record my own cue lines. It all has to happen alone. Because I know I have to go back over and over and over again. And when somebody is running lines with me, I’m very concerned about how bored they must be. So I just have to do all that on my own. The funny thing is I learn my lines a lot when I’m on the train. I go back and forth between New York City and the Hudson Valley a lot. It’s like an hour and 20 minutes. So the people on those trains are seeing this crazy lady, because I’ve got my ear things in and I’m looking at my [script].

Villarreal: Do you have your own bags?

Preston: I’ve go my own bags, and I am sure if they don’t recognize me as Elsbeth, they just think I’m another insane person who lives in New York City and no one cares. The kooky redheaded lady on the train.

Villarreal: Let’s talk about that other element that’s so crucial to Elsbeth, which is the hair and the wardrobe. You talked earlier about how you dyed your hair for another role, and you didn’t know you’d be locked in for this long with it, but it’s such a feature of her. Obviously we’ve seen her wear wigs in the show.

Preston: Which was fun, to go back to my original blond look.

Villarreal: And you mentioned Lucy earlier, Elsbeth in the tutu this season was so, so good —

Preston: One of the best compliments that Jon Tolins, our showrunner, ever gave me was when he saw the dailies from that day of the tutu and dancing with the little 6-year-olds. Oh, my God, I was in heaven. He just wrote, “Lucy level.” And I was like [playfully belts a note], “This is a dream.” Because I decided this woman would really want to be trying to do her absolute best. She would really be wanting to try to dance the best way that she knew how, but her body doesn’t know how to do that. But her mind wants to. Plus, I like to entertain the crew. They often don’t laugh because the crew has seen everything and they’ve seen me do a million things. But if I can get them to laugh, that’s a win.

Villarreal: Her style is so intriguing — sometimes I’m like, this is what “And Just Like That” should have had, some of these wardrobe pieces.

Preston: Well, that’s Dan Lawson, our costume designer.

Villarreal: What does that do for you? And please tell me there is a bag closet. I’m obsessed with the bags.

Preston: Oh yes. If you were to walk into the costume shop and see my section, it’s like a circus had a party under a rainbow. There’s four or five racks of clothes, and they go on what seems like a mile. And then there’s [a] whole wall of the totes. And Dan finds special totes that he’ll shop for, but then he also has some of the totes made because he wants them — we decided early on it would be totes, of course, but like after the opera episode, she would then have an opera tote. We had to make very specific totes that would do callbacks to previous cases and things like that. Dan thinks about everything.

Villarreal: Do they put things in the totes?

Preston: They do, but early on there were a lot of things in the totes, and I was starting to have to go to physical therapy because people don’t understand when you’re working on a scene, it takes six hours to shoot a scene, and if I’m coming running in with totes on my shoulders a hundred times it’s gonna take a toll on my body.

Villarreal: But you also need things in them so they don’t fall down easily.

Preston: Carol [McLennan], who’s my on-set costumer, she’s constantly putting top sticks so that they’ll stay. She’s finding creative ways to safety-pin them on. The continuity of the bags, you have to make sure that they’re exactly the way they were for every take. It’s like I have a child — three children, my totes.

Villarreal: Such a feature of the show is obviously the sort of revolving door of guest stars. This season you’ve had Stephen Colbert, Griffin Dunne, Beanie Feldstein and Patti LuPone, who was in the finale. Are you ever just lost in the fact that you’re acting opposite these people? Is there a moment that stands out from that?

Preston: Dianne Wiest. I’m a huge, lifelong fan of Dianne Wiest, like top five. And when I found out she was gonna be in the episode where she plays a nun, a murderous nun, I just thought, “I’m not gonna be able to contain myself.” I usually reach out to everybody before to send them an email or a text or something and just tell them how thrilled I am that they’ve said yes. So I wrote her a thank-you for saying yes/stalker-level fan email. And she wrote back. And she’s like, “Oh, Carrie, I’m so happy to hear that.” It was just like, “Oh, my God, I could just hear her voice.” When she showed up — I mean, she’s Dianne Wiest. And she is wearing a nun’s habit, and I couldn’t stop staring at her face. She would catch me staring at her and then she would just smile, with that sweet gorgeous face of hers and I would say, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know that it’s probably making you uncomfortable. I just am absolutely honored. I do not even understand how I got to be so lucky to have someone like you doing this.” And you could say that for every single person on the show. I fangirl on them in the way that the character fangirls on Diane Lockhart. You know what I mean? The same little spirit lives inside me that is Elsbeth. I have wonder and appreciation. And it’s become more infectious. She has become more infectious the more I play her.

Villarreal: There was the moment where, in the Griffin Dunne episode, where he’s threatening towards her. I’m trying to remember if there’s been a moment like that where I felt threatened for your character. What was that like filming with him?

Preston: It was wonderful. Robin Givens, who was our director, [and] who, as we know, is an actor as well, she was really directing us to reach a pretty scary place. I like it when our show gets scary like that because we have to remember that she’s hanging out one-on-one with murderers. She’s going into their space. And as unthreatening as she is, that in and of itself is threatening. And we need to remind the audience of that from time to time. She pushes buttons because she’s trying to get them to admit something, or she’s pinning the fly to the bulletin board and watching it squirm. And this one, I realized as I was playing it, I was like, “I’ve got to play up the flirtatious side because that’s what he gets really guarded about, the fact that he’s a womanizer. So if I play that up, it’s gonna infuriate him.” And so he backs me up, and then we realize there’s no way out. It’s great, but it’s scary. But she knows that he’s not gonna do anything to her because he still thinks he’s gonna get away with murder. But we added this one [look], and I wanted to make sure [it was kept]. I said, “Please, Robin, please don’t let them cut this.” I look back at him at the very end going, “Gotcha. I got you just where I wanted you. You fell into my trap.” And they kept that in the cut. I was very happy about that because we build these things together, and sometimes they just have to cut them for time. But they didn’t.

Villarreal: Because you’re also thinking with your director’s hat. And I know it must be hard to even think about whether you can direct an episode of “Elsbeth.” But is that something on your bucket list? Or would it just be too difficult to manage?

Preston: I love this job so much. This is the dream job, and I want to make sure that I am doing everything I can to do that in the best way that I can, every day. And I do feel like having directed myself before in the past, in things where I was just a part of the ensemble, the way I choose to direct, I found that I was shortchanging the acting a little bit. I don’t want to do that on this show. I do think it would cost the crew to have me do both things, and I care about them so much. I don’t have to prove that I can do both. The one thing I could do is direct the first episode of the season because I would be able to prep. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to prepare. I feel like I trust our directors. I love our writers. I love our crew and I love how things are going.

Villarreal: We know Elsbeth as this person with a keen ability to read people, who can sniff out liars, murderers. What was so interesting this season was to see her vulnerable side in her personal life. And see that she has her blind spots too. Were you excited when you saw that they were going to explore this side of her? And what was that like to play?

Preston: I think it’s always a good thing to deepen the character as you go along because, you know, we’re a police procedural; we have to figure out how to put a crime each episode, just structurally. But we want texture to the character, and having that vulnerable side really gave us that. As an actor, if you can find the drama in the comedy, it makes the comedy stronger, and vice versa. It was a wonderful way to stretch myself as an actor. It’s important to always show the heart of a character that you’re playing. The more specific you are, the more universal it is. And I think people can relate to her in that way. Everybody has felt heartbreak or confusion or duped or confused or distrustful of their own intuition and all of that stuff. And so the complexity of that was, of course, great to play.

Villarreal: Are you, Carrie, as perceptive as Elsbeth?

Preston: I do have a little bit of an empath in me. I do feel like I can read a room really quickly and I can kind of tell what people are thinking or what people are feeling. A vibe. I don’t know what it is, but it’s an empathic kind of nature. I have way more boundaries than I think Elsbeth does, but I’m not nearly as brilliant as that woman. I don’t know how many people in the world are. That’s what makes her so special. But I key into that side of her and I can relate to it.

Villarreal: Final question for you. The show will return for a fourth season. What do you want to see from Elsbeth? Who’s your dream guest star? It must shift because you guys are getting everybody.

Preston: We’re getting wonderful people who are interested in the show and I’m so proud of that and I know Jon is too. Jon Tolins is our showrunner. We’ve really, both of us, made it our personal missions to create an environment — and he creates scripts — that people want to come and participate in, and a welcoming place where somebody gets to play a delicious character for eight or nine days and then go on with their busy careers. I never would have dreamed that, for example, Steve Buscemi would have wanted to be on a show like “Elsbeth,” but he did and he asked to be on it. That blew our minds and it still is blowing our minds. So I could not even dream of most of the people that have come on. That said, you know, I’ve said this before, I’m a huge Meryl Streep fan. I would love for her to come on. We think often about, maybe we should see a parent of Elsbeth, a mother maybe. So we play around with different ideas for that, and that would be nice to see because we’ve seen Elsbeth as a mother, but we haven’t seen her as a daughter. We’ve seen her as a friend but we haven’t seen deep into her her origin story. So I think that could be a fun thing to tap in Season 4. But I trust Jon and the writers.

Villarreal: I want Diane Lockhart to stop by.

Preston: I know, wouldn’t that be great? Or Alicia. But I don’t know. We got Sarah Steele who played Marissa [in “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.”] That was amazing. But like Michelle King was saying in an interview [for an L.A. Times’ Screen Gab event] yesterday, this show has kind of found its own place separate from that universe. It’s nice if we have people from that universe pop in, but it’s not required. And a lot of our fans never even watched those shows. So that speaks to what Jon and the writers are doing and what we’re, as a collective, bringing to the audience.

Villarreal: Thank you so much for being here. I, for one, can’t wait to see what the bag selection is like in Season 4.

Preston: Me too.

Bradley Walsh is put in his place in the upcoming episode of Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad

Bradley Walsh is hilariously told ‘do you know what you’re doing’ by an ITV show guest this Friday.

Bradley, 65, and Barney, 28, are back on the road once in their hit series Breaking Dad as they head down under for a spectacular Australian adventure in the seventh season of their beloved ITV programme.

In this week’s episode, the boys’ Australian adventure continues and they are in the outback, where they meet a group of local farmers and help them muster their cattle.

The pair then make a pit stop at a local bar, where they end up taking part in a pub quiz. The next day it’s competition time as father and son go head to head in a race on lawnmowers.

Bradley and Barney’s trip then takes them back towards the coast and the beautiful Whitsundays, where a trip on a superyacht awaits them. However, in true show style, the boys won’t be doing any relaxing as they’re expected to work onboard.

In an exclusive first look clip of this Friday’s episode, it shows the moment the boys are thrown into a Below Deck style cocktail making challenge, where they have to make beverages for the superyacht’s passengers.

Bradley is tasked with making a margarita while Barney is asked to make a piña colada. However, Bradley’s cocktail making attempts don’t exactly go to plan as he pours Cointreau directly into the glass as opposed to the cocktail shaker. Noticing his blunder, he quips: “I should have done it in this but don’t worry!”

However, the superyacht’s guests are left apprehensive as one of the passengers squeals: “Does he know what he’s doing?” before another guest offers instructions, saying: “Do you need to put the Cointreau in there to shake it?”

To which Bradley insists: “I don’t really because it’s best if you have the Cointreau sitting at the bottom of the glass. That’s the way the pros do it!”

After mixing his drink, Bradley does a taste test as he exclaims: “Wow! I tell you what, you can run this boat on that!”

Meanwhile, Barney serves up the perfect piña colada to which a superyacht guest praises: “Oh my goodness Barney, you are amazing!”

Wanting feedback, Bradley asks: “Out of ten, would you say the piña colada?” to which the guest exclaims: “I give it 12 out of 10!”

A deflated Bradley then asks: “And the margarita?” with the other passengers admitting: “Three!” to which Barney jokes: “Unlucky!”

However, despite losing the cocktail making competition, Bradley soon gets stuck in as he grabs a piña colada to try himself and says: “Cheers to you all!”

The passengers who had the margaritas then put the drink back down on the bar with Barney joking: “Yeah, you best stay clear of that if I was you!”

Breaking Dad airs on Fridays at 7:30PM on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player

Stephen Colbert’s viral public access spot had former bosses CBS and its parent company Paramount in a brief tizzy over the weekend, mere hours after his buzzy late-night sign-off.

The longtime TV personality, 62, returned to the air on Friday evening on “Only in Monroe,” a public access program in Monroe, Mich., with an hour-long late-night parody episode that featured several guests and took shots at Paramount’s monopolistic aspirations in media. Colbert, previously a one-time host of “Only in Monroe,” began his episode: “It’s been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV, so I am grateful to be able to be here on Monroe Community before they also get acquired by Paramount.”

The “Only in Monroe” episode was broadcast in southeast Michigan, the Associated Press reported, and also published to Colbert’s official YouTube page. News of Colbert’s surprise late-night spot spread online, with social media users reposting the episode in its entirety or sharing clips. Journalist and the Desk founder Matthew Keys shared the episode to his X (formerly Twitter) page, tweeting on Sunday that he received a “frivolous” copyright notice from Paramount Global.

CBS said in a statement shared over the holiday weekend to multiple outlets that the “Only in Monroe” episode was “financed and produced by CBS Studios” and was posted on Colbert’s YouTube page through a collaboration with Monroe Community Media and Colbert’s “The Late Show” YouTube channels. The network, which was home to “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” for more than a decade, said in its statement that it is “regular practice” to copyright-strike “unauthorized websites” that repost its “copyrighted content,” but later added that it’s walking back its actions.

“For this episode, we have decided to waive further enforcement of this standard industry practice until additional review,” the statement said.

A representative for CBS did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Tuesday. A representative for Colbert also did not immediately respond.

Colbert’s guests on Friday included regular “Only in Monroe” hosts Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson, Emmy winners Jeff Daniels and Steve Buscemi, rapper Eminem (via video call) and White Stripes rocker Jack White. Friday’s broadcast ended with a literal bang, with Colbert, Daniels and White taking hammers to the talk show set and setting it ablaze.

“Since they are no longer using this set, it would actually be helpful for me to destroy it,” Colbert said, “which is pretty great news because right now — for no particular reason — I would very much like to break something.”

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” ended its run at CBS after 11 seasons and more than 1,800 episodes. Colbert began his late-night talk series in 2015, succeeding David Letterman. CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show” in July 2025, with chief executive George Cheeks claiming “this is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” Cheeks added at the time.

CBS announced it was parting ways with Colbert, a relentless critic of President Trump, after Paramount settled a lawsuit filed by Trump for $16 million. At the time, media mogul David Ellison’s Skydance Media was also awaiting federal approval to acquire Paramount for $8 billion. Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder, tech billionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison.

Colbert ended his CBS tenure at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Thursday evening, joined by an impressive roster of celebrity guests including Paul Rudd, Bryan Cranston, Tim Meadows, Ryan Reynolds and Paul McCartney. The “Late Show” time slot now hosts media mogul Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” syndicated show.

After late night, Colbert revealed in March that his next project is co-writing a new “Lord of the Rings” movie with his screenwriter son Peter McGee. Even as Colbert begins a new chapter away from late night, work may bring him right back under the Paramount umbrella.

The new “Lord of the Rings” films, including Colbert’s project, will be produced by New Line and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. David Ellison‘s Paramount Skydance is seeking a $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery and its properties.

Times staff writers Greg Braxton and Meg James contributed to this report.

Disneyland is no stranger to patriotism. Reflecting America — both its positives and its “hard facts,” to quote park founder Walt Disney — was part of its mission statement.

Over the years, the Walt Disney Co. in its parks has become more focused on its IP — that is, its film and television properties — rather than looking beyond its gates. But remnants from Disneyland’s past remain. The park still hosts a daily flag retreat, a respectful, music-focused ceremony often with the Dapper Dans and the Disneyland Band to honor veterans. Then there’s the animatronic show “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln,” which is an inspiring, vital work of theme park theater. Using snippets of Lincoln’s most timeless speeches, it illustrates how words can unite rather than divide us, a rarity in today’s partisan-heavy landscape.

I’ve never believed Disney should stay out of politics. I’d argue that’s impossible, anyway, as all art is political. What a company shows — or chooses to leave out of its content — is a reflection of its values.

This summer, Disneyland is leaning all the way into its patriotic tendencies. A Sam Eagle popcorn bucket, complete with a Fourth of July-style stars and stripes cap, is on the way. And the centerpiece of the festivities will arrive July 2, which is when the Disney California Adventure staple Soarin’ Over California transforms into Soarin’ Across America. Key locations on the hang gilder simulator will include Mount Rushmore National Monument, the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty and the Hollywood sign, among many a national park.

Soarin’ Across America shows aerial vistas across the United States, and it’s arriving at a divisive moment in our nation’s political history.

(Disney Parks)

Though designed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding, it’s impossible to ignore that it’s coming at a divisive time in the U.S. Soarin’ Across America’s poster art, as I noted last year when the new version of the attraction was announced, made me cringe, as it features a Statue of Liberty juxtaposed with the American flag and bald eagle — art that conveys a sense of nationalistic pride. In 2026, such emotions are complicated. Our country is disrupting the world, ICE raids have shattered our communities and just the other day, our president was effectively shielded from examination of his finances and legal conduct.

So please forgive me if I don’t exactly want to don the red, white and blue right now. Soarin’ Across America feels like the excited guest showing up to a wedding that’s only happening because the couple can’t get their deposit back.

While I do want to cheer its representation of our national parks — spaces that need all the positive publicity they can get right now, thanks to the administration’s budget cuts and layoffs — I wonder about the inclusion, of, say, Mount Rushmore, which has a long, controversial history, and has been a fascination of President Trump’s.

I’m skeptical, in short, as to how Soarin’ Across America will be read at this moment, a time when many are questioning the relevancy of patriotism and loyalty to a flag. So I was eager to discuss these thoughts with veteran Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald, an executive creative director who recently worked on Main Street, U.S.A.’s Walt Disney animatronic show, who met with me last week.

An attraction poster for Soarin’ Across America released via the Walt Disney Co.’s corporate media site.

(The Walt Disney Co. )

I asked him about potential discomfort around Soarin’ Across America’s patriotic displays. He lightly pushed back, arguing in essence that’s why the attraction is necessary.

“I think we were taking the opposite approach, the optimistic approach, which is what Disney is all about,” Fitzgerald says.

“How can we do something that will help us all celebrate?” he continues. “I know personally when I saw the Artemis II mission recently, I felt like we all came together and said what an astonishing achievement. We were all rooting, going up and coming down. I think that’s more what we wanted to do. Let’s just do a portrait of America, and let the guests go in and just enjoy it. … Let’s just let the audience come in without any preconceived notions and enjoy this four-and-a-half-minute journey.”

I did ask a follow-up, wanting to hear about the conversations that were had at Imagineering to ensure this ride wouldn’t be seen as political, even as it is showing locations such as Mount Rushmore, often a site of protests and criticism from Native Americans.

“I think for us, it’s like, go for the iconic place, and keep it all in the Soarin’ style, with the big music, hang gliding,” Fitzgerland says. “Just make it a journey that just flows from coast to coast.”

A coastal scene from Soarin’ Across America.

(Disney Parks)

Fitzgerald says the ride came together in exactly 12 months, making it a relatively fast, time-crunched project. Yet that also means Disney was aware of the heightened cultural environment it was entering.

The attraction is already open at Florida’s Walt Disney World but I don’t believe in reviewing rides via point-of-view videos, so I’m waiting until July 2 to experience it here. When it lands in Anaheim, I hope I find it an empowering, uplifting work. A number of its locations, including our own Griffith Park, or the Grand Canyon West, Denali National Park, a Maine lighthouse and more, are a reminder of our park wonders. It’s in these scenes that I believe Soarin’ Across American will thrive, and become that “portrait or tapestry of crossing America” that Fitzgerald describes.

Also important: The attraction is a reminder that a theme park such as Disney California Adventure is not so much an escape as an idealized reflection of what is happening beyond its borders. Theme park additions don’t happen in a vacuum, and I applaud its designers for continuing to take risks, especially when they don’t involve pop-culture IP (the IP being explored here is America).

And if Soarin’ Across America can inspire a few trips into our great outdoors, whether that’s an afternoon at the Griffith Observatory or that Grand Canyon trip you’ve been putting off, I’ll take that as a win. But it would have been fine with me if the red, white and blue fireworks had been left in the editing bay.

This week in SoCal theme parks

Halloween season is coming soon. Universal Studios Hollywood announced this week one of its first major haunted houses for 2026’s Halloween Horror Nights.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

• “Sinners” is coming to Halloween Horror Nights. Ryan Coogler’s sexy, scary, music-heavy and politically-infused vampire film “Sinners” is getting the Halloween Horror Nights treatment at Universal Studios Hollywood. The 2025 Warner Bros. Pictures flick is set in the 1930s, and its Horror Nights haunted house will take guests into the film’s bluesy Club Juke. The would-be-safe haven, however, becomes anything but. I’m excited, but I do hope Universal is able to touch on some of the topicality and cultural commentary of the film. Halloween Horror Nights is currently set to launch on Sept. 3.
• Become a Disneyland ‘park ranger.’ Theme parks are stages, and I love when designers create activities to inspire play or exploration. And Disneyland has done just that this summer with its “Mickey’s Park Rangers” activity book. The free, 33-page booklet, available from retail shops near Disneyland’s Rivers of America, is full of puzzles, factoids (I honestly didn’t know there were catfish in the park’s river) and some light scavenger-hunt-like quests. The last will take players through Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, the boats of Rivers of America and the Disneyland Railroad. All told, it’s an excellent way to slow down, play some games and rediscover historic aspects of Disneyland.
• Do puzzles, see some apes. The Los Angeles Zoo on Saturday is hosting a special, game-focused puzzle adventure focused on its ape exhibits. “Zoo Quest: Amazing Apes” is an after-hours event in which participants will work in teams to solve puzzles across the zoo grounds, in this case zeroing in on the park’s ape habitats. The tasks will gradually reveal various ape facts as well as tip guests to the zoo’s conservation efforts. Tickets are $35 for those 12 and older, and $30 for those ages 2-11.
• Park hop to your heart’s content. The Disneyland Resort revealed that on June 9 it is eliminating a rule that prevents park hopping between the Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure before 11 a.m. Guests will still need to make a reservation at one of the Disney parks, but will be able to check in at either park, subject, of course, to availability. This is a positive development, essentially eliminating a pandemic-era rule and allowing guests who pay for the park hopper upgrade to freely move between locales.

The best thing I ate at the parks

A grilled cheese from the Grand Californian’s Hearthstone Lounge.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The signature restaurant at the Disneyland Resort is the Grand Californian’s Napa Rose. But don’t sleep on the hotel’s Hearthstone Lounge, which accepts walk-ups and reservations (bar seats can be hard to come by). Its relaxed casual atmosphere has made it one of my regular stops when at the park for a full day, and its menu ranges from the informal (sandwiches, pizza) to the more upscale (a $72 New York steak). I tend to lean to the former, and opted for the restaurant’s $21 grilled cheese sandwich on a recent visit. With Parmesan-crusted toast, it feels decadent but isn’t too filling, as bits of bacon, arugula and tomato balance out its mildly sweet and not-too-heavy Point Reyes Toma cheese filling.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

“Mouse P.I. for Hire” is a recent video game in a vintage, 1930s-inspired animation style.

(Fumi Games / PlaySide Studios)

One of my non-theme park passions is video games, and I think Disney fans who also enjoy interactive entertainment may want to give a recent release a close look. “Mouse: P.I. for Hire,” essentially available on all platforms, is a well done lighthearted first-person shooter with some stylistic thought behind it. It’s gorgeous, a black-and-white game in the 1930s cartoon feel, and it’s filled with many a sight gag that wouldn’t have been out of place in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”

Its tone is of a noir film, and begins with a missing persons mystery while gradually spinning out to reveal a world full of of fascist, evil mice. When it comes to gameplay, it’s a bit old-fashioned, focusing on the cartoonish aspects of video game shooting rather than anything realistic. It’s good fun and a bit silly, and I like to think of it as something that an alternate world Disney could have dreamed up.

Good Morning Britain paid tribute to Jules Fielder, an inspirational lung cancer campaigner who appeared on the ITV show to raise awareness

Good Morning Britain honoured a campaigner who had featured on the programme multiple times following her tragic passing this month. Jules Fielder, a lung cancer advocate who channelled her own diagnosis into raising public consciousness.

She was recognised for her tireless efforts surrounding the condition. And following her death, the programme delivered a heartfelt tribute.

Jules’ constituency MP, Helena Dollimore, appeared on the show to discuss preserving her work. The GMB Twitter/X account posted a moving message, saying: “Jules Fielder was an inspirational lung cancer campaigner who used her own experience of being diagnosed as a motivator to raise awareness around the symptoms of the disease.

READ MORE: Zoe Ball reveals daughter Nelly has moved in with dad Fatboy Slim saying ‘my house is so quiet’READ MORE: I’m A Celeb’s Gemma Collins poses in swimwear saying ‘confidence is not a dress size’

“Sadly, she passed away earlier this month. Jules appeared twice previously on Good Morning Britain, speaking about her advocacy work.”

During the broadcast, Dollimore stated: “The thing about Jules is she made whoever she spoke to sit up and listen, whether it was the audience here on Good Morning Britain, whether it was politicians, and I raised her case in parliament.

“She met the health secretary, the prime minister, and she also made companies like Boots sit up and listen. And she had this vision that actually companies like Boots had a big role to play in raising awareness of these symptoms.”

She went on: “She won that campaign by getting them to roll out on-shelf awareness labels in 200 stores. So now, when people go into the Boots in Hastings, they see these signs saying, have you had this ough for longer?

“But actually, if Jules were here, she would be saying, okay, what next? Where do we take this next? And is that your job now? And I feel very much that she lit the torch and it’s up to those of us still here to carry that torch forward. There is so much more that could be done.”

Heartfelt tributes flooded in, with one supporter writing: “What a pity she died.” Another shared their own painful experience, posting: “Lung Cancer: my friend was 46 and was diagnosed with lung, liver and bowel cancer. She never smoked or vaped. Started her treatment in August 2023. Passed away January 2023.”

Jules had recently been praised by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In the letter he sent her on March 30, the PM said he was ‘moved’ by Jules’ campaigning.

She had stage 4 lung cancer, the most advanced stage, and was diagnosed with the disease in November 2021. She was aged just 37 and had found a lump in her neck.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Airbnb unveiled a new set of services for guests on Wednesday, adding car rentals, airport pickup and grocery delivery to its online marketplace that connects travelers with local hosts.

Customers can now get groceries delivered to their Airbnb through a partnership with Instacart and have a driver meet them at the airport with Airbnb’s Welcome Pickups. The app is also offering luggage storage in partnership with Bounce and will add in-app car rentals later this summer.

At the same time, Airbnb is ramping up its use of AI by adding AI-powered review summaries and lodging comparisons, the company said.

The company has been expanding beyond lodging since last year, when it introduced Airbnb Experiences & Services, giving guests the option to book private tours and chef-cooked meals through the app.

In an earnings call earlier this month, the company’s chief executive, Brian Chesky, said the company is at “the very, very beginning of how AI is going to change how we all do our jobs.”

The changes are coming in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in 16 cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The company said it is offering exclusive World Cup experiences, such as watch parties and access to stadiums.

“In terms of what we’ve seen in cumulative bookings heading into the event, the World Cup is slated to be the largest event in Airbnb’s history,” the company’s chief financial officer, Ellie Mertz, said on the earnings call.

Airbnb gained popularity for offering travelers unique and homey stays on other people’s property, but it added boutique hotel bookings to its platform late last year. The move had some customers questioning if the app was straying too far from its original purpose.

In its announcement this week, the company said it is partnering with more independent hotels in 20 top destinations, including New York, London and Singapore. On the earnings call, Chesky said hotels on Airbnb could become a multibillion-dollar revenue business.

The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2007 and gave homeowners the opportunity to earn money by renting out their space to travelers seeking something different from a hotel. Airbnb bookings can range from private bedrooms in a shared home to luxury mansions and yachts.

The company’s revenue grew 18% year over year to $2.7 billion in the first quarter, while net income increased slightly to $160 million. Airbnb’s new services and offerings could transform it from a home-sharing platform to a holistic travel marketplace, analysts said.

Shares of the company have increased by 14% over the last six months and fell by less than 1% on Thursday.

Disneyland’s Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has always been a fully realized “Star Wars” toy, an intimate, interactive attraction that focuses on arcade-style joy. A new upgrade opening Friday makes it decidedly slicker, giving the ride enhanced visuals, increased participatory actions and even an injection of cuteness.

Smugglers Run, which opened in 2019, puts six players in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, the ship made famous by Harrison Ford’s Han Solo in the original “Star Wars” trilogy. There’s still no Solo, but there is now Din Djarin, often referred to as simply the Mandalorian, and Grogu, the latter colloquially known as “Baby Yoda.” And although tied to the opening of the new film “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” Smugglers Run version 2.0 smooths out and improves upon many of the attraction’s quirks.

Blessedly, this is one marketing-driven decision that doesn’t feel like a gimmick, bringing unpredictability, humor and even more video game-like zaniness to the ride. Walt Disney Imagineering, the relatively secret division of the company focused on theme park attractions, has clearly listened to guest feedback and zeroed in on ways to not only improve the ride but also make it feel fresh, all while giving players more agency.

“This is an inherently collaborative adventure,” says Asa Kalama, a creative executive with Imagineering. On the ride, groups of six are teamed up to take on various tasks within the Falcon. Kalama says Imagineering was focused on how the various positions of pilot, gunner or engineer interact with one another.

“We took all of those learnings and applied them to enhancements for each and every one of those roles,” Kalama says.

I was a fan of the initial version of the attraction, writing when it opened that it was a heavily detailed blast, especially if one was seated in a pilot’s role (one guest controls the vertical motion of the ship while another focuses on the horizontal). But over time some of the less-than-endearing traits of Smugglers Run started to nag, namely that the two guests assigned to an engineering position had little to do and its storyline was essentially a glorified errand in which we retrieved goods for Hondo Ohnaka, a scoundrel-smuggler who sets the ride in motion.

Concept art of the sci-fi-like planet of Coruscant, a new location in Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

(Disney Parks)

Smugglers Run has always been a technical marvel, but it was a feat of engineering rather than one that forged an emotional connection. The tweaks should fix much of what has long ailed it. Now, instead of a singular fixed mission, guests will have the ability to visit one of three “Star Wars” locations: a planet such as the urban Coruscant, the gas realm of Bespin or the wreckage of the second Death Star near Endor. This decision is made by one of the engineers and levels up the attraction’s ability to surprise.

Using the latest version of Epic’s Unreal Engine, each Smugglers Run locale is heavily detailed, putting us in more of a dogfight as the Mandalorian chases down pirates and ex-Imperial officers. No matter the route, it feels more active and lighthearted. Those who have ridden it before know Smugglers Run has always been responsive, perhaps too much so as inexperienced gamers could spend the entire attraction crashing the ship. Those flight controllers have been softened a bit, meaning guests will still steer but now do so with something of an invisible guided hand.

“We’ve tuned it in such a special way that no matter how skilled or unskilled you might be, you’re always guaranteed to have a flight that feels really cinematic,” says Kalama. In the past, particularly bad fliers could spend the entirety of the attraction being berated by the character of Ohnaka. That element has essentially been removed, with Kalama joking that guests shouldn’t feel as if they are being “chastised.”

Concept art of the Death Star wreckage above Endor, one of the new locales of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

(Disney Parks)

Narratively, after some quick training on the desert-like planet of Tatooine, we join the Mandalorian in an effort to break up a deal between the pirates and the ex-Imperial officers. That’s enough of a setup to inspire some space fights and chase scenes through fantastical locations.

I rode it three times to visit each vista once, and each has a different tone and look. The neon, sci-fi area of Coruscant, for instance, contrasts with the darkened, industrial Death Star wreckage. At various times, I watched the Mandalorian chase down his targets, get the Falcon caught in a tractor beam or careen through magnetic-like fences. Those seated in the gunner or engineer positions will also be treated to additional clips of Grogu via their adjacent flight panels, the young alien here portrayed as something of a playful pet of a child who is exaggeratedly chill during the commotion.

“I think what we were very deliberate about is that actually each of these different planetary locations that you go to has a different vibe,” Kalama says. “If you go to Endor, you’re in the derelict wreckage of the old Death Star 2. The feel of it is really spooky. It’s dark. It’s mysterious. It’s smokey. The music is almost ominous. In contrast to something like Coruscant, which feels very bustling, vibrant and colorful. The goal was not only are you going to a different location from a geographic perspective but to feel emotionally like you’re going on a different adventure.”

Concept art of Tatooine, where the new mission of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run begins.

(Disney Parks)

By emphasizing a chase being driven by the Mandalorian, the tone of the ride feels faster. While it’s the same length of around five minutes, rushing the Falcon through the reddish, fiery atmosphere of Bespin, for instance, where riders will encounter mountainous natural wonders and floating, bulbous structures, gives guests plenty to admire. Smugglers Run has always been full of distractions, as the screen — in front and somewhat above guests — pulls viewers away from the seat-adjacent wall controls. I minded less having my attention ping-ponged around the cockpit with the enhancements, as taking the Falcon into a brief battle creates a more pleasurably hectic tone.

Ultimately, with more choices to make, from which location to visit or whether to focus on Grogu’s antics or the action ahead, Smugglers Run feels more dynamic. “What’s even really kind of extra cool is that in addition to choosing the planets, there are different paths you can take within each location,” says Matt Martin, a senior creative executive with Lucasfilm. “You can choose to go left or choose to go right. And you’re going to see and experience different things.”

The tweaks to Smugglers Run follow big changes to Galaxy’s Edge, as Disney recently expanded the land’s timeline to feature classic, fan-favorite characters such as Darth Vader, Han, Luke and Leia. The character additions bring added life to the area but do take the land away from its original intent as a mythical world where actions unfolded in real time. The dream, however, of a fully interactive theme park experience lives on with Smugglers Run.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride comes out every Tuesday, but we occasionally publish special editions (like this one!) when we have breaking theme park news. Make sure you’ve signed up to be the first to know.

A visitor has filed a $5-million lawsuit against Disneyland for allegedly failing to properly disclose the use of facial-recognition technology at park and collecting sensitive data on guests.

Summer Christine Duffield of Riverside County filed the lawsuit after a May 10 visit to Disneyland and sister park California Adventure, alleging that the resort violates privacy and consumer protection laws collecting biometric data of visitors, without adequate consent.

“Disney does not adequately disclose the use of their biometric collection, so consumers — which almost always include children — have no idea that Disney is collecting this highly sensitive data,” the plaintiff noted in the lawsuit. “Guests should be able to expressly opt in to this type of sensitive facial recognition technology with written consent — the onus of privacy rights should not be on the victim.”

The suit was filed on May 15 in U.S. District Court in New York. The lawsuit cites an article from The Times on consumer reaction to Disney’s use of facial recognition.

The Walt Disney Company didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“People are getting fed up with being force-fed new tech, new AI, new tracking tools,” said Ari Waldman, Professor of Law at the UC Irvine.

Walt Disney Co. rolled out its facial recognition technology in late April across Disneyland Resort to verify tickets. The way it works is guests’ faces are scanned, converted into a numerical identifier and matched with ticket data.

Disney’s privacy policy notes that the identifiers created for identification are deleted within 30 days unless they need to be kept for legal or fraud prevention purposes.

Guests who don’t want to use the technology can enter through a separate entrance marked with a silhouette of a head and shoulders with a slash through it. However, of the dozens of lines to enter Disneyland and California Adventure, there were only four that didn’t use facial recognition, during an April visit.

The sign saying “Use of this technology is optional,” adorn the security checkpoint entrances.

“This technology facilitates ease of reentry into our parks and helps prevent fraud,” the company noted in its website.

Use of facial recognition technology for crowd management and ticketing has become increasingly commonplace.

Dodger Stadium deploys facial recognition for guests using the “Go Ahead Entry” at certain gates without producing a physical or digital ticket to enter the stadium. At Intuit Dome in Inglewood, visitors can use “GameFaceID” to quickly move through a separate lane with their face as their ID.

The lawsuit comes at a time when there is increasing concern of surveillance in public places, and privacy advocates have rallied against the normalization of surveillance. More recently, concerns of the potentially abusive use of artificial intelligence by government to analyze large quantities of data — from texts to facial scans — to surveil U.S citizens resulted in a high-profile showdown between the Pentagon and Anthropic.

I always encourage people to slow down when they visit Disneyland, especially when taking their first few steps under the train tunnel onto Main Street, U.S.A. There’s too much you’ll miss if you’re racing from attraction to attraction. For to set foot in Disneyland is to be guided by many an invisible hand.

Winding, circular and branching paths not only direct guest flow, but create the tone for the experience. The sensation is meant to evoke one of lushness and grandeur, to envelope oneself in a garden as much as a land of play.

A principal in defining the feel of Disneyland — and an influence felt today in all meticulously designed theme parks — is master landscape artist Ruth Shellhorn. A South Pasadena native, her work for decades often went overlooked, spoken of in the shadows of brothers Jack and Bill Evans, horticultural experts who also played an instrumental role in the development of the modern theme park as homes to arboretum-worthy spaces.

It was Shellhorn, however, who used plants and trees to unify the park’s contrasting elements and to help direct guest flow. She even heightened the illusion of magnifying the splendor of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. Her work was an argument that a stroll through a theme park should evoke natural as much as man-made wonder, a journey into fantastical lawns and courtyards.

Shellhorn, who died in 2006, faced her share of discrimination for being one of the sole women in a Disneyland leadership role, says Cindy Mediavilla, a retired lecturer from UCLA’s department of information studies and co-author of the book “The Women Who Made Early Disneyland.”

“She was treated like chopped liver by the men,” says Mediavilla, “but she perseveres, and her work is still relevant to the park today.”

And it’s still being discovered. San Francisco’s Walt Disney Family Museum, home currently to an exhibit on Disneyland’s early days, will host a virtual chat June 17 on her work. Her contributions are also detailed in part in a relatively new behind-the-scenes tour at Disneyland, “Women Who Make the Magic.” The latter, a $110 add-on to a Disneyland day, is part of the park’s initiatives to appeal to those who want to dig deeper into Disneyland history, and also touches on the likes of Mary Blair, Kim Irvine, Martha Blanding and others.

Harper Goff, Bill Evans, Dick Irvine, Walt Disney, Ruth Shellhorn and Joe Fowler examine Disneyland plans in April 1955, just months before the park would open.

(Ruth Patricia Shellhorn Papers, UCLA Library Special Collections / Disney)

What might be most astonishing about the way Shellhorn transformed Disneyland is that she did it all in a matter of months. She was recommended to park founder Walt Disney by a friend and brought onto the Disneyland project about four months before its July 1955 opening.

“The Evans brothers are mostly focused on Adventureland, which is where they can put in all these fabulous plants that they’ve been collecting, but they aren’t as effective in figuring out how to design the other areas of the park,” says Todd James Pierce, a creative writing professor and Disney historian whose book “Three Years in Wonderland” documents early Disneyland.

“Landscape is going to be one of the last things that goes in, and so these problems don’t really present themselves as critical to Walt until the buildings start going up,” says Pierce.

While I went into the Disneyland walking tour familiar with Shellhorn’s work, the guided trek inspired me at last to dig more fully into her contributions. It was Shellhorn, for instance, who finished the floral portrait of Mickey Mouse at the entrance gates, choosing dwarf pink phlox for his tongue, according to Kelly Comras’ 2016 biography of the landscape architect.

Comras documents, too, how Shellhorn helped design Main Street entrance areas, namely the benches and green spaces that surround a flagpole. Shellhorn chose reddish concrete paving, white-flowering trees and perennials in shades of red, white and blue to “embellish Disney’s patriotic theme,” writes Comras.

Photo of blueprints for Disneyland’s tree planting design from a 2005 Times article on Ruth Shellhorn.

(Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

The author notes how weeks before opening, Disney replaced the flagpole with a bandstand. Shellhorn protested, arguing that it disrupted sightlines to the castle and overpowered the space. The landscape architect won.

“Ruth liked a lot of control,” says Pierce. “Walt would call her stubborn and I think that’s probably true.”

Shellhorn’s diaries are in UCLA’s Special Collections, where she privately expresses frustrations about Disneyland’s male-focused chain of command.

“She talks about how upset she gets with other art directors, in terms of them coming into her space,” Pierce says. “Some of that is gendered. It’s a group of men who are designing Disneyland, and here is this high-powered, very professional, extremely talented woman who is coming in to talk about how these men’s different areas are going to work together. There’s a hierarchy that’s a bit difficult.”

And yet Shellhorn successfully tied together multiple disparate spaces.

Disneyland’s centerpiece hub area, the entrance to its core themed lands and gateway to the castle, is, for example, a key area where Shellhorn played a major part. Shellhorn directed the grading of the bulldozers in constructing the moat around the fantasy palace, and also gave the entrance to each land a specific botanical personality — grasslike bamboo, for instance, near Adventureland, as well as jacarandas and senegal date palms to give it tropical bursts of color. Her compositions, writes Comras, “made the area flow together so seamlessly that visitors were unaware of her artistic intervention.”

Shellhorn, it should be noted, was extremely accomplished by the time she came to Disneyland, being named in 1955 a “woman of the year” by this newspaper. Her non-Disneyland work was pivotal in redefining commercial spaces throughout the Los Angeles region. She was perhaps best known for helping define the Southern California look of Midcentury Modern architecture for the now-defunct Bullock’s department store chain, which transformed the American shopping mall from an errand to a social outing.

But it’s her work at Disneyland that endures, and forever elevated the look, tone and feel of the American amusement park. So don’t just stop and smell the flowers next time you’re at Disneyland. Take a moment to remember the woman who initially had the vision for them.

The week in SoCal theme parks

Beginning May 22, new scenes inspired by the film “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will come to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

(Artist concept / Disneyland Resort)

• A new mission for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. The big news in local theme parks this week is the transformation of the arcade-style Millennium Falcon flight simulator ride in Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The refreshed version of the attraction will open Friday with a new storyline and increased levels of interactivity inspired by the film “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” Guests will now have the option to vote upon which “Star Wars” locale to visit as they seek to help the bounty hunter and his little pal break up a deal between a gang of pirates and Imperial officers. I’ll be experiencing the ride this week, so stay tuned to Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride for first impressions.
• Get to know some sharks. San Diego’s Sea World will on Friday unveil a reimagined shark-focused exhibit. “Shark Encounter” still features the park’s signature moving tunnel as well as enhanced visuals to heighten its educational-focused objectives, including a multi-screen video installation to highlight shark diversity and dispel myths about the species. Eleven different varieties are highlighted in the park, including the endangered Australian leopard shark.
• Prepare for liftoff across America. Disney has revealed new details on Soarin’ Across America, which opens at Disney California Adventure on July 2. The reimagined attraction, designed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of America, will feature the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Grand Canyon West, the New England coastline and more. The celebration of patriotism has already opened at Walt Disney World’s Epcot, meaning there’s plenty point-of-view ride videos circulating the web. I’ve opted not to watch them, wanting to go in fresh when it comes to Anaheim, and thus will save my thoughts until I can experience the attraction firsthand.
• It’s water park season! Confession: I have never been to a SoCal water park. Maybe this is the summer I change that? Knott’s Soak City Waterpark is now open in Buena Park, and Hurricane Harbor next door to Magic Mountain in Valencia will begin its summer season on Saturday.
• Give up the dream of a third Disneyland park (for now). Wish-focused articles inspired rumors that the Disneyland Resort was prepping for a third park in Anaheim after permits were filed for its Toy Story Parking lot, land that will no doubt be reimagined after the resort builds a new parking garage on its Eastern side. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don’t bet on a third park coming to Disneyland anytime soon. While the resort recently won approval on its Disneyland Forward project, which paves the way for new attractions, hotels and dining to land in Anaheim, nothing in those plans implies a third park. Instead, they point to expansions of the existing Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, while implying that the current Toy Story lot will be remade into a mixed-use shopping, dining and hotel area. To further dash anyone’s hopes, biz writer Samantha Masunaga has more.

The best thing I ate at the parks

A special Butterbeer cream puff is available until the end of the month at Universal Studios Hollywood.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

It’s Butterbeer season at Universal Studios Hollywood, meaning the theme park is offering a few limited-time Butterbeer-flavored treats through May 31. Butterbeer in drink form isn’t, admittedly, my favorite, as the butterscotch is tempered with vanilla trappings that give it a cream soda-type feel. It’s an acquired taste. But when the park puts Butterbeer in dessert items, they tend to be pure butterscotch decadence. So it was with this rich but pleasing cream puff currently available at the Three Broomsticks in Wizarding World. The $7.99 delectable comes with a soft, doughy shortbread cookie topped with butterscotch-infused whip cream. The sauce — buttery and caramel at its most addictive — extends down into the fluffy cookie, creating a gooey, toffee-shortbread swirl after the first bite. For butterscotch fans, it’s a delight.

Ride report

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was, in 1955, a technological marvel.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

I’ve been working my way through Roland Betancourt’s fascinating book, “Disneyland and the Rise of Automation,” which traces how the park’s early technological innovations would forever change entertainment and influence postwar America. Relatively early Betancourt talks about the importance of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, which inspired me to get back on the ride the other week. Namely, he argues, it elevated the theme park art form in making use of prior patents to create a fully automated, story-driven attraction. Where there had once been simple gags, now there was narrative — and in the case of Mr. Toad’s, a message about drunken, reckless driving. And its effects, while today may seem relatively rudimentary, still work, especially when the vehicle shakes to simulate the traversal of railroad tracks before a mirror effect has us barreling toward a collision with a locomotive.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

A stolen animatronic from Walt Disney World’s Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot is a mystery at the heart of documentary “Stolen Kingdom.”

(Antenna Releasing)

Explore a darker side of Disney fandom via the documentary “Stolen Kingdom.” And by darker, I mean criminal. The film, from writer, director, producer Joshua Bailey, focuses on so-called “urban explorers” — folks who document deserted or abandoned buildings, hoping to give their audience a sort of backstage view of spaces that have been left behind.

Over the years at Walt Disney World, urban explorers have broken into abandoned water parks or areas once dedicated to animal preservation. The film builds to the tale of a stolen animatronic figure from the closed Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot. Some of these items can end up on the increasingly lucrative Disney black market, where once stolen — or sometimes trashed collectibles — can fetch big money via auction. Depending on your point of view of these social media-driven attention seekers, “Stolen Kingdom” will fascinate or infuriate.

The film is screening Thursday at Laemmle North Hollywood and Friday at Brain Dead Studios. Head to the movie’s website to purchase tickets or find other SoCal showings.

A guest on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow was left stunned after the price of her item she kept in an envelope since 1967

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned by a “crazy” valuation.

The BBC programme visited an antiques fair at Belfast’s Botanic Gardens, with Fiona Bruce presenting as usual while guests brought along cherished possessions to discover their worth.

The opening valuation featured a guest clutching a genuine piece of rock and roll history. Expert Raj Bisram was clearly impressed when presented with three autographs from The Jimi Hendrix Experience members, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Scrawled on the reverse of three ordinary-looking tickets were the signatures of the legendary guitarist alongside bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. The guest revealed how she managed to obtain press passes for the Northern Ireland gig back in 1967.

She explained: “I had a friend whose name was Jerry Fox. She was a great Hendrix fan because he had a song called Foxy Lady. She had a friend, who managed to get us backstage press passes for the concert.

“It was part of Queens University Festival Belfast. We were up at the very front. It was very loud. But it was a great concert and he did all his usual of playing his guitar with his teeth. I can’t remember, but I think he smashed his guitar at the end.”

The guest recalled the gig coincided with the All Along The Watchtower musician’s 25th birthday. She added: “The organisers at the festival had arranged to have a birthday cake for him and they presented it to him backstage.

“Because we had press passes, we were allowed to go backstage and he was there. The cake was on a table. “I don’t think he was eating the cake. From what I remember, he was drinking a bottle of whisky.””

Seizing her chance in the presence of music royalty, the guest recalled: “We only had these tickets so we got the three band members to sign the back of the tickets.”

The concert took place in 1967, and the guest revealed the signed tickets had been tucked away in an envelope ever since. Expert Raj explained that the memorabilia had soared in value following Jimi Hendrix’s death at just 27 in January 1969.

Items linked to Jimi command a hefty price tag, thanks to the legendary musician’s enduring and devoted fanbase.

The expert explained: “People do that but then they forget where they put the envelope. To remember it and to keep it is absolutely lovely, because, unfortunately, he died very young, which makes some of this memorabilia that he’s left behind, even more valuable.

“As far as valuation is concerned, obviously Jimi Hendrix is the one that’s the most valuable. But putting all three together, if these went to auction, they would make somewhere between £5,000 – £7,000.”

Stunned by the staggering figure, the guest exclaimed: “What? You’re joking. That’s crazy.”

You can catch up on Antiques Roadshow on BBC iPlayer