By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government shutdown has rattled air travel — most recently with an unprecedented effort from the Federal Aviation Administration to cut flights by 10% at airports nationwide. And the disruptions are causing some to instead hit the road or buy a train ticket.

That could mean more business for car rentals, long-haul buses and commuter rails like Amtrak — particularly if flight delays and cancellations continue piling up as the U.S. approaches Thanksgiving and other peak holiday travel.

Amid the latest scramble, Hertz is already reporting a sharp increase in one-way car rentals. One-way reservations have spiked more that 20% through the coming weekend compared with the same period last year, according to the company, which has also pointed to the shutdown’s ongoing strain on travel overall.

“We join the airlines in urging Congress to swiftly pass a clean continuing resolution and restore certainty for travelers,” Hertz CEO Gil West said in a statement. “Every day of delay creates unnecessary disruption.”

Travelers wait in line at the rental car center at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

A press contact for peer-to-peer car-sharing company Turo said Friday that the platform’s nationwide bookings were also up 30% year-over-year. And Avis similarly noted it had also seen “an increase in one-way rental activity as airlines adjust flight schedules,” maintaining that it would continue “to serve customers in the best way possible as travel conditions evolve.”

Amtrak, meanwhile, is predicting record Thanksgiving numbers.

The rail service said it began to see those bookings grow before the shutdown began — but told The Associated Press on Thursday that it was also “reasonable to expect an increased share shift to Amtrak” if flight disruptions mount. Amtrak has maintained that its routes are running normally amid the shutdown.

Flix North America, the parent company of FlixBus and Greyhound, is also preparing for more demand.

“Our message is simple: you still have options,” said Kai Boysan, CEO of Flix North America.

Travelers stand in line at a security checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Boysan maintained that intercity buses are “one of the most dependable ways to get around” — and not impacted by the shutdown like flights are. “We anticipate more travelers may turn to ground transportation in the days ahead, and we’re monitoring demand closely and prepared to add capacity where needed to ensure people can keep moving,” he added.

A Flix spokesperson said Friday that many of its bookings typically occur within 24 to 72 hours of departure, noting that the company should have a “clearer picture” of the overall impact in the coming days.

Still, train and bus routes are sometimes more available in certain parts of the country than others. And some have also encountered sold-out tickets or rentals in recent days — instead turning to other creative options.

Karen Soika from Greenwich, Connecticut, found out Friday morning that her flight out of Newark, New Jersey, was rebooked for an hour earlier. But she later learned her plane was actually leaving from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport instead, at least an hour away.

She unsuccessfully tried to book a rental car to get to Utah for a weekend trip, before settling on another option: booking a U-Haul.

“I’m going to U-Haul and I’m going to drive a truck cross country,” said Soika.

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Meanwhile, others are hoping to avoid lengthy alternatives.

Christina Schlegel, of Arlington, Virginia, is keeping an eye on the Wednesday flight she’s booked to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When word of cancellations broke, her husband suggested they just drive if their flight is among those affected, but Schlegel says she’d rather pivot to a different flight or airport.

“I don’t want to drive 12 hours,” said Schlegel, who is heading to Florida ahead of a Bahamas cruise.

It can be overwhelming for travelers to navigate whether or not their trips will be impacted — particularly if the trip is farther down the road. And the costs of buying backup options can add up overall. That’s caused some to sit on their current bookings.

“Everything is so fluid right now that many travelers are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, especially looking ahead to Thanksgiving travel,” Aixa Diaz, spokesperson for motor group AAA, said in a Friday email.

Diaz urges consumers to stay informed, make flexible backup plans and take steps to reduce future headaches — such as carving out more travel time overall or taking a taxi or public transport to an airport instead of parking your own car, in case your return trip gets canceled or rerouted.

“Controlling what you can is key,” she noted.

Associated Press journalists Matt Sedensky and Charles Sheehan in New York; Rio Yamat in Las Vegas and Ted Shaffrey in New Jersey contributed to this report.

Cecilia Klein assumed a state tournament appearance was likely not in the stars for her high school volleyball career. Not at Cretin-Derham Hall.

When she showed up on campus in 2022, the Raiders were fresh off a 1-24 campaign. The year prior to that, they were 0-10. Klein didn’t know much about the program at the time, but she did hear things to the tune of, “Oh, we lose a lot.”

Great.

Cretin-Derham Hall Cecilia Klein (1) makes a dig against Marshall during the Class 3A girls volleyball semifinals in the State Volleyball Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Friday, Nov. 07, 2025. Marshall won in 3-0 sets. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

But that was pre-Klein. Pre-Taylor Williams, pre-Caroline Banks and Megan Buri. It was also pre-coach Erin Horn. The Gophers alum took over the volleyball program that year, when the current seniors were just freshmen.

“It was a rough first couple years,” Horn noted.

It’s sensational now.

Cretin-Derham Hall reached this year’s Class 3A state semifinals, where it lost in straight sets to powerhouse Marshall (32-2). The top-seeded Tigers, last year’s state runners-up, will meet Benilde-St. Margaret’s in Saturday’s state final at 6:30 p.m. in St. Paul.

Tigers coach Dan Westby had high praise for the Raiders, noting the talent that was evident in film in preparation for the match.

How far the Raiders (27-4) have come.

“It’s been awesome. It’s so fun,” Horn said of the program’s ascent. “I just told the girls in the locker room, ‘Keep your heads high.’ We had nothing to lose. We came out, we battled, we were scrappy, we fought for every point, we weren’t just gonna lay over and die, even when we were down.”

Horn noted she’s excited for the young kids who watched this week’s action and thought, “That can be me in a few years.”

That type of example wasn’t evident for the players of the past. Junior middle blocker Leila Colvin noted she was hardly aware of high school volleyball before coming to Cretin-Derham Hall.

“I didn’t know about the state tournament, I didn’t know we even played five sets,” she said. “I really had no idea.”

Now, there’s a reason for young kids to follow along. Williams’ younger sister is an avid fan. She was in attendance Friday, sporting purple and yellow face paint. Cretin-Derham Hall volleyball is one of her favorite topics of discussion.

“There’s a huge growth and a movement in volleyball in St. Paul,” Horn said.

The Raiders are at least partially to thank. Not only have they won at a high level — the state tournament trips in 2024 and 2025 represent the program’s first since 2011 — but they engage the youth. Colvin’s favorite moments are tossing out bags of candy, high-fiving and taking photos with kids at matches.

Horn has a holistic program philosophy in which the varsity engages frequently with underclassmen through joint practices and buddy programs. Success at the top funnels down, building a base for a brighter future.

“We’re only on the ground level right now, and I feel like the next few years, it’s only going to keep growing,” Klein said. “The next years are going to be so much fun to watch, because of the impact the girls on this team and the senior class have left.”

Cretin-Derham Hall’s bench cheer on their on their team during their match against Marshall in the Class 3A girls volleyball semifinals in the State Volleyball Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Friday, Nov. 07, 2025. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

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Mechanical birds, bears and princesses have chirped, growled and sung in Orlando’s theme parks for more than 50 years. The animatronic trend shows no signs of fading, as new figures arrive in new places at Walt Disney World, and Epic Universe introduces batches of lifelike characters.

The additions range from a planned electronic version of Walt Disney at Magic Kingdom to a lumbering Frankenstein’s monster figure that debuted with Epic in May.

“People still enjoy seeing lifelike figures of their heroes, villains and others come alive,” said Dennis Speigel, CEO of International Theme Park Services. “I think this is one area that continues to evolve, and I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.”

Technological advances are enabling the improved illusion of the figures, said Brian Orr, show systems studio executive with Walt Disney Imagineering.

“The way that we can now simulate, the way that we now design, the way that we now can generate content for these and in style — like it is moving like the character that everybody sees and recognizes from the film … I think that’s really the appeal of like, ‘Wow, not only did I see Elsa on the ride, but I felt like it was Elsa. It moved, it performed, it looked at me,’” Orr said.

In Zootopia: Better Zoogether!, the Tree of Life Theater at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park is the epicenter of a citywide celebration with a livestream watch party of the Zoogether Day festivities. Among the audience of mammals big and small is an all-new Audio-Animatronics figure of off-duty ZPD officer, Benjamin Clawhauser. Guests can see Clawhauser in his new look – sporting glow-in-the-dark necklaces and his favorite Gazelle tee shirt – when the “4D” show opens Nov. 7, 2025. (Walt Disney Co.)

The next new animatronic at Disney World will be Benjamin Clawhauser, a cheetah character that’s part of the “Zootopia: Better Zoogether” show launching at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park on Nov. 7.

“You will see something new and unique from that figure,” Orr said.

Tiki birds, Big Al and beyond: A tour of 10 Disney World animatronics

Other planned figures include Buddy, a support-bot, in the ongoing update for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Rangers Spin at Magic Kingdom; Scooter and other Muppets in the retheming of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; facelifts for Frozen Ever After figures at Epcot; and the addition of Walt Disney himself at the beginning of Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom.

These come on the heels of the first animatronic to represent Walt Disney, which debuted at Disneyland in California this summer.

“I think that has breathed a lot of life back into the animatronics and from the highest level,” Speigel said.

Figures frightening, formidable

Universal Orlando installed animatronics inside Epic Universe’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment ride and elsewhere.

“Everyone has their normal lives that they’re going through, and that comes with people wanting to be transported,” said Gregory Hall, assistant director, creative design for Universal Creative. “We have the opportunity to bring new technology and use it for good and use it to entertain and inspire people.”

The Monsters Unchained ride is peppered with figures in action, including Dracula, Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Frankenstein’s monster and Dr. Victoria Frankenstein are focal points of the preshow leading up to Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment at Epic Universe. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)

A crowd-pleasing scene happens in the Unchained preshow with new character Victoria Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster, who strides into the room. It’s a moment that prompts applause from Epic visitors, Hall said.

“That was the first time we made a figure on that scale walk,” Hall said. “And then he’s right next to Victoria, and they’re using extremely different technology.”

Another big animatronic project was the “erumpent,” a charging beast in the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride.

“We’re really all about, how do we get the fastest, smoothest motion moving this giant thing?” said Anisha Vyas, director of projects for Universal Creative. “It needs to be really visceral. It needs to move really fast. It needs to be moving really fluid,” she said. “Getting it to move and stop is not hard. Getting it to look pretty and gorgeous and realistic? That’s hard.”

And the motion must be repeated for each load of passengers.

“We ensure every guest has the same experience,” Vyas said.

It all started with a bird?

The seed for Disney’s animatronics — the company trademarked the term Audio-Animatronics in the 1960s — goes back to Walt and Lillian Disney’s purchase of a miniature caged-bird decoration that tweeted. That eventually led to Enchanted Tiki Room attractions such as the one at Magic Kingdom, which opened with the park in 1971.

Animatronics got a major boost from “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln,” developed by Disney for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Guests watched the faux former president give a speech, and Speigel witnessed this on a high-school trip to the event.

“When he put his arms on that chair and he stood up and talked, the whole audience, I remember, just gasped,” he said.

The 1960s technology propelled the show’s status, said Bob Rogers, chairman of BRC Imagination Arts. Otherwise, it might have been forgotten quickly, he said.

“The fact that it was just a robot, not a human, was the charm,” Rogers said.

Waiting for Walt

Fast forward to 2025 and the installation of the Walt Disney animatronic at Disneyland. “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” is temporarily taking the place of the Lincoln animatronic presentation there. Some fans have criticized the look of the new figure.

“It looks fine to me from a distance,” said Jeremiah Good, the Florida correspondent for LaughingPlace.com, “But people that were there for the opening that were in the front row filming every bit of it were going that doesn’t look a thing like Walt.”

Critics are more forgiving about animatronic looks for animated beings as opposed to actual humans, Good said. He awaits the Walt Disney figure slated to join Carousel of Progress next year.

“That is supposed to be a little bit older of a Walt, so that’ll be interesting to see,” Good said.

“I think there are some opportunities there for the point in Walt’s life,” said Imagineering’s Orr, who noted that Florida’s animatronic would be seen in shorter but more frequent bursts at Magic Kingdom than its counterpart in California. “I also think there are things just logistically about the run time of shows — if you just look at the run time of the Disneyland, the frequency of that show, versus something like Carousel of Progress that is cycling through.”

Louis the Alligator, Tiana and critters perform inside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at the Magic Kingdom. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Tech talk

After pneumatic and hydraulic phases, animatronics are now settling into an all-electric era with computerized programming.

Last year, Walt Disney Imagineering gave a public peek into the process with an episode of “We Call It Imagineering” on YouTube. This preceded the debut of figures for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the retheming of Splash Mountain at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.

A big challenge was the development of Louis, the trumpet-toting alligator, considered one of WDI’s largest and most dynamic figures.

“There’s a lot of moving parts. “So you have all of these layers, you’ve got fabric and it all has to be in sync,” said Sonny Chapman, principal illusion maker, in the episode. Louis’ big belly, upper torso and arms must work together with the costuming, all while he’s bouncing, looking happy and blinking.

Imagineering has expanded into “stuntronics,” creating figures that can perform elaborate aerial acrobatic feats, including one dressed as Spider-Man at Disney California Adventure theme park. The company has also developed knee-high DBX droids, which made appearances at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this summer.

“They’re wonderful not just because they’re robots, but because they are animated and they are written with stories.” Rogers said. “They express emotions. They’re doing things. They get frustrated when they can’t do what they’re trying to do. … That’s just wonderful.”

Animatronics have proven, multigenerational staying power.

“A lot of our engineers went to school just to work on animated figures. … That’s their thing,” Hall said. “They’re studying their whole lives, and they make their entire lives, and it’s time for their generation to show the next generation how to pass the baton. This is one of those moments that’s even bigger than just [theme] parks.”

Vyas points to their entertainment value.

“I just think they bring so much life to the environment,” she said. “I absolutely love that at Epic Universe we’ve doubled down on that. I really think that it just takes it to the next level.”

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

By JACK BROOK, Associated Press

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to open a national call center to help local and state law enforcement agencies find unaccompanied migrant children who entered the country illegally, according to a federal contracting document released this week.

ICE said it has an “immediate need” to establish an around-the-clock call center in Nashville, Tennessee, capable of handling 6,000 to 7,000 daily calls to help law enforcement with “locating unaccompanied alien children.”

ICE seeks to open the call center by the end of March and be fully operational by June. It requests information on the number of interested vendors and what technology they can use to “maximize call efficiency.”

FILE – A protester holds a sign as law enforcement officers stand outside a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

ICE also issued another notice seeking information on vendors able to transport thousands of detainees daily from across Texas, where a new state law taking effect next year mandates all counties with a jail enter into ICE partnerships.

The proposed call center and transport programs come as the government pours $170 billion into immigration and border security following the passage of the Republican Party’s big bill which President Donald Trump signed into law in July. There has been an explosion of partnerships with local and state law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws.

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has also included several policy changes focused on unaccompanied minors and ramped up attempts to deport them. About 2,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody as of July.

An unaccompanied migrant child is defined by the U.S. government as someone who is under 18, lacks lawful immigration status and has no parent or guardian in the country to take custody of them.

FILE – A person walks near the stage during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hiring fair in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minor children have traveled to the U.S. southern border in recent years. When they enter the country, Border Patrol transfers the children to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement which houses them in a network of shelters across the country. They can be released from the shelter system to stay with sponsors who are generally parents, relatives or family friends.

The Trump administration has been conducting a nationwide review of the 450,000 migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents during President Joe Biden’s term. Federal agents have intensified scrutiny on migrant children’s sponsors, requiring them to submit to DNA tests and fingerprinting among other measures. While the administration has said these efforts are intended to ensure the safety, migrant advocates are dubious given Trump’s zero-tolerance approach to immigration and mass deportation agenda.

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The ICE notice did not specify why the greater Nashville area was chosen as the intended site. But CoreCivic Inc., one of the largest private detention contractors in the U.S., is headquartered there. The company, which has donated millions to GOP candidates at all levels of government, has benefited from a surge in ICE contracts.

A spokesperson for CoreCivic spokesperson did not comment on whether it would be contracted for the call center.

ICE is also searching for vendors capable of transporting detainees from anywhere in Texas, including hospitals, private residences and traffic stops, to one of 36 different ICE offices within 30 minutes.

ICE said it anticipates six trips daily transporting around 30 detainees in SUVs under armed guard from regional hubs near each county jail, according to federal contracting documents. The vendor would be required to establish its own transport hubs within six months of receiving a contract.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.