Joey Fatone Says Fat One's Opens at Universal CityWalk This Month, and the Old Hot Dog Hall of Fame Is Already Wearing the New Signage
Fat One's Hot Dogs & Italian Ice finally has an opening window at Universal CityWalk, and it did not come from Universal. It came from its co-founder. Joey Fatone says the hot dog and Italian ice shop will open this month, and new photos show the old Hot Dog Hall of Fame already wearing its replacement's signage.
Attractions Magazine published the photos on Wednesday, shot on September 1 by its video editor. In them the exterior name panels are up, star artwork in red, white and black runs across the storefront header, and logo banners hang along the walkway outside. The outlet describes the transformation as well underway.
What Fatone actually said
Fat One's posted its own construction update to Instagram on September 1. Attractions Magazine reported the caption as "Yesssssss we are a few weeks away!!!!!!!!! Universal Orlando City Walk, here we come !!!!!" Fatone then got more specific in the comments underneath it.
"I know people are asking about the actual date," he wrote, according to Attractions Magazine. He said the opening "definitely is this month," that the team is still finalizing the exact day, and that he thinks it will land on a weekend. An announcement, he said, is coming "very soon."
Worth keeping the sourcing straight here: those are comments on an Instagram post, relayed by Attractions Magazine. Neither Universal nor Fat One's has announced an opening date, and the weekend part is Fatone's expectation rather than anything on a calendar. The full CityWalk menu has not been released either.
A decade from The Florida Mall to CityWalk
Universal named Fat One's in May as what would take over from Hot Dog Hall of Fame, which had been at CityWalk since 2014 and closed in July. In that announcement, Universal said the menu would feature "creative, flavor-packed hot dogs, Italian ices, and more."
Fatone started the chain with his manager, Joe Mulvihill. A New York native, Fatone landed in the Orlando area in his teens, went to Dr. Phillips High School, and had a performing job at Universal Studios Florida before he found fame with *NSYNC, a group that came together in Orlando during the 1990s. The first Fat One's opened at The Florida Mall in 2016, so the CityWalk shop arrives a decade later at the resort where he once worked.
The bones of the old place survive under the new branding. In the photos the tiered risers of red and blue ballpark seats are still standing beside the storefront, and the green and gray ball field floor treatment is still down.
What is still missing
Two things: a date and a menu. Fatone's own timeline puts the opening inside September and an announcement sooner than that, and the sign is already up, so the wait should be measured in weeks rather than seasons.
Sources
- Attractions Magazine, "Fat One's Universal CityWalk's newest restaurant says it will open in just weeks"
- Inside Universal, "Fat One's Hot Dogs & Italian Ice replacing Hot Dog Hall of Fame at CityWalk Orlando"
Image credits: Both photos by MagicCityMayhem Mikey for Attractions Magazine.
