WEBVTT
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This is Green Tag Theme Park and thirty. Normally, on
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Green Tag we cover the top theme park news from
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each week and discuss why it matters to you. We
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may not have all the answers, but we try to
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ask the right questions and start a discussion. However, this
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week is a little different. As you can tell, I'm
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not joined by Scott this week. Normally, my co host
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for this is Scott Swinston of Scott Swinson Craig Development,
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and we go back and forth and do kind of
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like a news commentary style show. This week, I am
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bringing you actually a recording from the last AYAPA Expo. Now,
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this is the IAPA fireside Chat inspiring minds of the Industry.
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We actually talked about this session during our roundup episode
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from AYAPA, so we discuss some of the key takeaways
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from this discussion. But this is the actual recording, a
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live from my camera in the room discussing this. You're
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going to hear the President of AYAPA, Jacob Wall, as
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well as Kayaline Walters from Microsoft and Scott O'Neill, the
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CEO of Merlin Entertainment, plus Robert Doll and Steve Thomas.
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So you might be wondering why we are doing it
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this way this week, and the reason is because Scott
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is still in the hospital. Last week he had some
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pain in his back and he's in the hospital today
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and he's unable to record. He should be doing fine.
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I will update you all with Scott's progress, so please
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send him your thoughts and prayers, but please don't panic,
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and we will look to get back to our regular
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styled show as soon as we can. But I didn't
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want to leave you all empty handed, so I wanted
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to bring you this recording for you to listen to
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and get the full insights, and then you can listen
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to our post discussion again if you'd like to see
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what we were thinking with this. And also for those
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of you some of you were asking how I'm doing
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with the fires. I'm not under an evacuation order yet,
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but we're kind of waiting through Wednesday because the winds
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are going to continue through Wednesday, so fingers crossed. I
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haven't had to evacuate yet, but we're kind of in
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the red flag watch to see what's going to happen.
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And I'm just sending positive thought out there that everything's
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gonna be fine with both Scott and I that's enough
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of me gammering. We will hopefully see you next week.
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But in the meantime, enjoy this IAPA fireside chat that
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was recorded by myself live during IAPA Expo this past November.
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Now sit back last and its fires presentation.
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And it's great, good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very much
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for coming. We hope you had a wonderful first day.
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And I'm an export and thank you very.
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Much for joining this this session with for the moments
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we wanted for people, and you might want to miscoutinate.
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There's fourth chair which sends people book.
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Back and throughout the year, I have a blessing in
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my world to see many people, to meet with many people,
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to see many facilities which I found very inspiring.
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And we have a fantastic education team.
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There are somewhere wanning around here Sean and Max, and
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they usually start planning next year's education program next week,
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so by early January they have all the programs at
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and then thumbs.
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Like in May and eight July. I come to them
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and say, hey, do you have a space for those
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tools speakers? And I say you are six months to
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lay checks, And then I say, can.
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You give me a slot where I just invite some
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people I would like to have a nice chats and
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that is why we're hitting.
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So thank you very much all of you for joining.
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And I have three guests here which have all done
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amazing things in their jobs, which have done attractions which
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you neque to see, which all have.
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Their inspiring story in very different ways. And next to
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me is Robert Dale.
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Alb is visionary and it's always hard to explain wherever
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comes from because he has a strawberry fund and I
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always say it's a long term family business with which
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sold drawbacks and then people came to big store berries
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and then people came to stay for a coffee and cake,
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and then they stay for attractions.
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And he's building hotels. You have now eight ocations, seven locations.
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I think ten more on the planning, and you were
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planning the big jump across upon.
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To North America.
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And if you have not seen any of his attractions
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and he saw I don't offend any other operator group.
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I would say it's the best retail team which we
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have in our industry. So thank you very much for coming.
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Next to me is Scott o'deil.
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I don't think I have to introduce about the last
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Scott the CEO of Merland Entertainment and one of the
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biggest giants in this industry and one of the largest
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operators which we have worldwide. And it's hard to have
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an exact pound of attractions because you opened some every minion.
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Fields across the world. And Scott has been with Merlin
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Low for approximately two years to that and he has a.
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Few shot back around on the sports industry and very
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happy to have scotch again. And then on the side
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they let Eve Thomas from Darmont Park in San Diego
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seem actually is one I was once the years of
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of the safety committee and they're always looking up to
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speak because they said he's one of the few maintenance
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managers who made it to general manager ten It only
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took him ten months.
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He started in twenty seventeen as maintenance manager, became ten
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months later the general manager and CEO of Belmont Park.
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And we will talk about it later because it's also
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a fascinating story to see and how that has event
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So thank you all for joining. First question and maybe
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we start in the row. How is two thousand many
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four for you? How has this season been?
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What's cool?
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Once we had to a mid season at open Hu
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Park twenty sort of March this year.
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And due to a lot of r the we are happy, you're.
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Happy, we are happy, good you will I think.
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Not many say and yet to get into school just
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say you're happy.
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I wasn't doesn't happen. I don't love that idea. Twenty
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four was not a bad year. As I talked to
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my colleagues Jerald Brow and I talked to our friends
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in the industry, I think people generally have the same
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read and feel. I think inflations generally caught up with.
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The new collar worker and that stuck a little life
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out of market lead to take price. Most of us
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also be generally interested rode, most of us like held
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on Boinemes. But also a good year of year over
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year for sure, robust October which was which is a
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nice pleasant surprise. But but if you're just talking about trading,
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this is not one that will make the Hall of
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Fame books.
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If you're talking about the progress that's made in the company,
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I would hear I'm very happy. I mean laying the
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foundation in terms of data.
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We've had incredible upgrades in terms of our design and
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creative capability, and that thing generally. You know, we had
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an announcement today ter a brand partnership sort an all
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the time high.
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The business is going certainly in the right direction. But
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things are good.
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For nothing.
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Very simple for us at Belmont, we had a flat
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attendance wise year. Actually per caps spend was down about
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two dollars and seventy seven cents per person in which
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for us was about five mile blocks that we were
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down this year versus our expectation four twenty twenty four.
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But also similar we moved forward. And I was talking
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to somebody recently that was walking through the Bellbock Park which.
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Is in San Diego.
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We're going to sing to Bay in the Pacific Ocean,
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and they're like, hen, they're always moving forward here. It
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feels like you're always moving forward. So its fight us
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having a flat year. We were still moving forward, and
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then the perception of everybody else around us was like,
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we're still pushing and innovating in the park and we're
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still looking to improve overall, so good things can I
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also just.
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Add that I have the sitting and work of my
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team is like never waste a good crisis, and and
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this is the industry that's that's sometimes short on humility,
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not for these food but for everybody else.
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And I think that when you when you go through
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a period.
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Where you have higher aspirations and expectations in which you
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might hit from a bunch of standpoint, it leaves you
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a chance to really like sit back and think about
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how I leveraging this position was better for the future.
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And it was like that for me, that was the
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best outcome for twenty four. Yeah. I actually have a
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pretty interesting learning over this year, which was, you know,
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we went into it.
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You had all those pressure coming out of COVID to
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raise prices and I'm just going up.
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You're dealing with costom goods increasing on the food that
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other side, and so every year you're you're pushed to.
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Raise prices, should raise price, raise prices, and this year
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and be like a ton of bricks, because what we
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saw happened was we have a free open bark. You
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can buy tickets, you can buy a risk band, you
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can buy an anual pass, and we usually see a.
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Ton of band or a ton of risk bands being sold.
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We saw everybody shift from the wristband.
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We priced it what I think was too high ultimately,
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and we saw a ton of people shifting out of
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the wristband back in a single ticket purchases and decreasing
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expends significantly, and there's definitely a huge running for you
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because we got to vote for who we are the core,
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which is simple, valuable, cost effective. We want everybody to
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enjoy the park, and when we deviated from that, we
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felt there's a lot of pressure.
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Coming out and refinished spent coming out of code. I agree.
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I think I think a lot of.
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Us maybe missed curve in terms of persons.
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But when you have a different counts up, you have
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free entrance and maybe oscos who if you has s
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been ever to costs?
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Okay, is anybody VOLA cheering to try to expand successful
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cost Have you been to costs?
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Yes?
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No, then it would be difficult for you to explain. Finel,
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do you want to explain you have a life for
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ninyl do Thanks good he see your MC.
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Kind of.
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Wonderful volunteer with the DIAPA. So if it's something that.
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Touches show hard when you're when you're entered there, the
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entrance is almost three and.
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You can see what passion and what creativity the armsted.
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It's all based on the love for strawberries, and.
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You can even see it on Robert's arm. There's a strawberry,
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and that's.
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The only one we still see.
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I visited a few years ago in Berlin, and I
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think I told everyone that I met the year after.
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To go there to see and to experience it, said,
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it's just all.
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Thank you, madam, And what would you agree with this description?
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I'd love him, thank you very much. Yeah, it's we
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started cards as a we actually as a retailer. We
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are a retailer, and then to encourage more people to
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come visit us. We started with our first playgrounds and
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so many years ago, but then into someone eight we
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also edited a small ride to track the ride and
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floud out that people that liked it a lot and
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play what we came into the park. But still we
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lose sixty percent of our yearly revenue with retail and
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but in terms of Abida, food finding, hospitality and ticketing
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is about eating is the same like retailer have be done.
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So now we are kind of a mixture between amusement
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park and retailer.
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What comes from the first story retail or attractions. That's
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a pretty much.
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I love this story telling about my job is to
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no matter if it's a.
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Story about a real great product which we sell, or
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about the mad world or ride or something that people eat.
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So storytelling I love most and I think but the
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main reason why people come visiting cards is a mixture
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of it. I wouldn't say that people become especially to
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row for all rights or especially to go shopping.
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They love this easy mixture.
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And it's easy to decide to visit cards because you
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have to pay an entrance figure.
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I can enjoy a lot of things for you.
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Is it a little bit like like here principle and
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it just really pay the cash?