Something strange is happening at the portals of Epic Universe — and Mike and EB saw it coming.

Weeks ago, walking out of Isle of Berk, Tom from Louisville spotted three capped utility holes flush in the concrete right at the portal entrance. Nobody knew what they were. This week, Universal installed facial recognition turnstiles in those exact spots. And Universal has said absolutely nothing about why.

Mike and EB break down every theory — per-portal tickets, open Celestial Park access like a City Walk, corporate buyouts locking guests out of entire lands for the night, after-hours experiences, and the unexplained pockets of empty retail space in Celestial Park that have never made sense for a fully ticketed theme park. Nobody has the answer yet. But this is the most interesting story in theme parks right now.

Also this week — Universal Orlando launches Express Now, an app-based Lightning Lane-style line skip at $25 per ride. Yes, including Yoshi's Adventure.

There are layoffs happening across Disney and Six Flags that aren't being reported widely but are affecting people the show knows personally. Six Flags reinstates park presidents at 10 parks — and the list of who made the cut says everything about which parks matter to the new company.

The Stolen Kingdom documentary from the makers of Closed for Storm is coming — including the Buzzy animatronic mystery, the most unresolved crime in theme park history. And a new S&S tower ride is going up at Area 15 in Las Vegas.

Then in the second half — Mike is 48 hours from boarding a plane to Las Vegas, and he's got a very specific list of things to do at night. Universal Horror Unleashed gets the full breakdown — four haunted houses, small group dispatches for maximum scares, a $49 one-time ticket, and a $20 Fraidy Cat option if you just want the bars and atmosphere. Plus Odyssey Manor, the Golden Tiki, the shrunken head induction ceremony that COVID stole from everyone, and an AI-generated Coaster Radio tiki bar t-shirt from Matt the Archivist that Mike is genuinely considering wearing to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

]Tune in next week for the full trip report.

It's a shorter show this week but don't let that fool you — there is a lot happening. Project Purple at Six Flags Great Adventure is going vertical fast. Like, suspiciously fast for a ride that isn't supposed to open until 2027. Mike and EB break down what the unofficial animations are showing — a launch into an upside-down stall, spinning cars, a 375-foot spire that wraps the track sideways around the tower, and absolutely zero consensus in the enthusiast community on whether this is going to be incredible or a complete head-scratcher. Nobody is in the middle on this one.

Also this week — NBA superstar Kevin Durant has purchased the former Six Flags America land through his investment group 35V. All 500 acres of it. What happens next is anyone's guess, but Mike has an extremely optimistic theory involving saving the Wild One that he fully admits is not going to happen. Canada's Wonderland is getting new track on the Mighty Canadian Minebuster AND recycled trains from Six Flags America's old Vekoma hang and bang for a rebranded ride called the Daredeveler. Cedar Point's beloved 50-year-old Monster flat ride is retiring quietly and nobody is going to notice until it's gone. And Six Flags is officially removing the Zamperla Disk'O coasters from their roller coaster counts, which raises the eternal question — was it ever a roller coaster in the first place?

And then EB opens a very special package from Erik and Emma — a collection of Disney's Galactic Star Cruiser memorabilia that you cannot buy anywhere on Earth because the experience no longer exists.

Part two of the Coaster Radio Listener Question Show is here and this one gets personal. Mike and EB answer the question every longtime listener has wanted to ask — what would you tell your 2005 selves knowing what you know now? The answer involves regretting the name, wishing they'd bought Facebook stock, and making friends with Neil Patrick Harris sooner. Standard stuff.

Also this week — is the theme park industry past its peak or is the best still ahead? Where does EB rank on CoasterCount.com and how many coasters has Mike actually ridden? Is Isle of Berk actually better than Galaxy's Edge? A listener from the Netherlands gets a complete Six Flags Great Adventure survival guide including EB's legendary every-90-minutes dining plan strategy that may or may not feed your entire group on one meal ticket. And the full story of the Cedar Point meetup where Mike and EB set up a grill in the parking lot, flew a 24-foot flag made of PVC pipe, and had to be talked down by both park security and the Sandusky Police — saved only by the British charm of Matt from Yorkshire.

Plus Coaster Boy makes a surprise comeback. The Discovery Channel almost gave Mike and EB a TV show three times and ghosted them every time. And what is the biggest thing Coaster Radio has accomplished in 20 years? Spoiler: 800 episodes, one puppet, and one Neil Patrick Harris.

You asked. They answered. Sort of.

The 2026 Coaster Radio Listener Question Show is here and there are so many questions this year that it's taking at least two episodes — possibly three — to get through them all. This week Mike and EB tackle the big ones: If you could only live in one non-Disney, non-Universal theme park for the rest of your life, which would it be? What five existing attractions would you steal for your own park? Would you move your podcast to the middle of a desert for a billion dollars? And what cool sounding job title would you want at a theme park?

Along the way there are strong opinions about concert disappointments, a heated debate about whether Cake deserves to be the worst live act either host has ever seen, a surprisingly deep discussion about animatronic maintenance at regional parks, a quick update on Six Flags Great Adventure's boardwalk glow-up, a reunion of sorts with the Eastern Motors jingle, and a moment where the whole show almost goes completely off the rails trying to figure out the logistics of actually living inside a theme park.

Also this week — YouTube shorts are working, Stardust Racers is finally back up and running, and the Coaster Radio app is your secret weapon for road trips to the parks.

It's the fourth and final chapter of the Orlando Quadrilogy, and Mike and EB close out the trip the way nobody expected — with a surprise day at Epcot and Magic Kingdom, courtesy of friends of the show. Guardians of the Galaxy finally gets crossed off the list. Mission Space straps everyone into a centrifuge and dares them to lift their arms against the G-forces. The Geo 82 Lounge at the top of Spaceship Earth turns out to be one of the best surprises of the entire trip. Space 220 shoots everyone 220 miles above the Earth for lunch. And then it's off to Magic Kingdom, where Tron delivers everything the outside queue promises it won't and Space Mountain delivers everything it shouldn't.

Oh, and somewhere in the middle of all of this, Mike gets mixed up in a REALLY WEIRD situation in the single rider line at Test Track.

Also this week: Sesame Workshop is suing SeaWorld's parent company for unpaid royalties and brand damage — a lawsuit that could end a 45-year partnership. Six Flags Over Georgia posted possibly the strangest ride closure sign in theme park history. Bluey is taking over the world, one rollercoaster and one animal kingdom at a time. And the Raging Cajun Wild Mouse was spotted on a truck heading up Route 295 toward New Jersey. Called it.

It finally happened. After years of aerial photographs, land speculation, and breathless anticipation, Mike and EB walk through the gates of Universal Epic Universe — and it does not disappoint.

Well, mostly. Stardust Racers is still closed, Yoshi's Adventure is aggressively just a Yoshi that meanders, and someone on Twitter says the whole thing might need to be torn down. But other than that? Top five park day. Tom from Louisville said so himself, and Tom from Louisville has been to a lot of parks.

Mike and EB go portal by portal through the whole thing — 1920s Paris at Ministry of Magic (280-minute wait; they waited 20. We said what we said.), Le Cirque Arcanus with the magic tent that's bigger on the inside, Bowser's Challenge being better than advertised, Donkey Kong Country being exactly as fun as a cartoon mine cart should be, Hiccup's Wing Gliders being a surprise contender for ride of the trip, and Monsters Unchained delivering actual honest-to-God jump scares in a theme park.

They also discovered that the Burning Blade Tavern serves drinks in a beaker with what may or may not be microplastics in it. It was delicious.

Plus: Seven Six Flags parks are sold for $342 million — less than the cost of a highway overpass. Disney's parks get a new worldwide president, and they hope he lives long enough to be a hero. Muppet Vision 3D is going to VR, a decision that exactly zero people are satisfied with. And Barracuda Strike opens at SeaWorld San Antonio — the family invert where the artwork shows the track going underwater, but the track does not go underwater.

The Coaster Radio Listener Meetup is OFFICIALLY in the books, and it did not disappoint. Mike and EB take you inside their Sunday at SeaWorld Orlando for the 2026 meetup — Fantastic fans, 11 miles of walking, rain-soaked roller coasters, and a penguin habitat that was a brisk 28 degrees. (They were already wet. It was not fun.)

Ride reviews include Manta, Penguin Trek, Kraken, Mako, Ice Breaker, Expedition Odyssey, and the one everyone was waiting for — Pipeline: The Surf Coaster, which may have just redefined what airtime even means.

Plus: the guys sit down with Banks Lee from SeaWorld's marketing team for an exclusive interview that ends with a riveting riddle, a capitivating clue, and a nugget of breaking news that no one else has. Coaster royalty Taylor Bybee crashes the happy hour. And Bob the Lobster calls in from the deep.

Also on this week's show: Nebraska gets its tallest roller coaster ever (it's 70 feet, and yes, that's a big deal there), Rock N Roller Coaster says goodbye to Aerosmith as the Muppets move in, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift testing footage gets Mike to completely change his tune, and the guys review the animated POV of the new RMC Raptor coming to Myrtle Beach.

Mike and EB are BACK from their most triumphant Central Florida adventure, and they've got stories that'll make your feet hurt just listening. Six parks. Four days. One cursed ride that refused to open (looking at you, Stardust Racers).

This week, the guys kick things off with Mike's absolutely unhinged hotel check-in saga at Cabana Bay. Then it's off to Islands of Adventure, where a wedding-day detour turned into a full-on theme park sprint — Spider-Man, VelociCoaster, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, and The Mummy, all knocked out before anyone had to put on a suit.

Plus: why the Bourne Stuntacular will blow your mind, how Mike accidentally became a Villains-Con Minion Blast addict, and what happens when you ride King Kong alone after two Fire Whiskeys. (Spoiler: there's yelling.) Big news, quick hits, and a juicy SeaWorld tease are all in the mix too.