June 2, 2025

Family Culture or Central Control? Herschend’s Acquisition & Six Flags’ Silo Smash

Herschend finalized its acquisition of Palace Entertainment’s 24 U.S. attractions with a $1.1 billion leveraged loan—and vows 2025 will be a “listening year.”

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TrendsSix FlagsStrategyHerschend

Herschend finalized its acquisition of Palace Entertainment’s 24 U.S. attractions with a $1.1 billion leveraged loan—and vows 2025 will be a “listening year.” Meanwhile, Six Flags fired every park president overnight, favoring a regional management model instead of a local one. We unpack whether family culture can outshine heavy debt, how a headless org might finally smash Six Flags’ notorious silos, and why both moves reshape the post-merger map where just four companies now control most regional parks.

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WEBVTT

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Okay from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.

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This is green Tag Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip.

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I'm joined as always by my co host Scott Swinston

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of Scott Swinson Crety Development. On Green Tag, we break

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down the top theme part news for each week and

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explain why it matters to professionals. And this week we're

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going to talk about the Hershind finalizing its acquisition.

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Exciting.

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I don't know why I made that sound. That's not

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a Hershein sound at all.

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I don't know. Well, God, there's hirsh and hands.

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Those are like jazz hands. I don't know.

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Okay, So just a little bit recap. We did talk

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about this news when it was first announced, but it's

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now been officially completed, and Hershind is officially completed its

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acquisition of Palace Entertainment's twenty four US attractions, solidifying plans

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first shared in March. As of today or the recording

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previously this week, hershend operates forty nine properties with twenty

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two thousand hosts serving nearling twenty million guests annually. This

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milestone moment also coincides with Hershein's seventy fifth anniversary to

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defining moments that underscore Hershian's commitment to innovation and strategic growth,

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aligning with its purpose of bringing families closer together by

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creating memories worth repeating trademark, So.

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They did mention that sentence, Philip, that would have been

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a tough one for you. I know sentence is worth

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repeating anyway, Memories worth repeating.

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Okay.

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The press release says this season will be all about listening, learning,

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and building relationships. Guests can expect the same familiar attractions

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and hospitality they've come to know and love. Hershan's current

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focus is supporting its hosts and empowering them to deliver

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exceptional guest experiences. So yet again they're underscoring that nothing

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is going to change, which we talked about last time,

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but is important because some of the brands have very

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different approaches to specific things, like to me, I always

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sent course about Halloween, and like some of the brands

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are family friendly only and some are spooky, And I

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think they're emphasizing nothing's gonna change this year, so don't

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freak out, and this is a more long term strategy

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versus well, just a long term strategy. So they can

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figure out what to do.

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I also think it's important to recognize that many of

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the Palace Entertainment parks are operating as from a from

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a guest facing standpoint, they appear to be quote unquote

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independent parks or family parks, or parks that have been

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around for quite some time, which have a great deal

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of tradition. So it makes it makes sense that they're

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not going to come in and just say, yes, we're

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gonna you know, we're gonna whitewash everything with with with

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Dollywood or whatever their you know, whatever their big brands are,

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which I think is Dollywood, but Hershend. So Hershen though

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has an interesting history though, and the fact that they

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have they do they have a similar approach. They have

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a lot of different things. Because when we say Hershend,

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if you're not in the industry, people would go who

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you know, they they or they may they may think

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of Dollywood, they may think of you know, one or

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two of the larger properties, but they wouldn't think of

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Hershand as a key player certainly, or recognize them by name,

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nor would they have recognized Palace Entertainment by name. They

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recognize Six Flags, Disney Universal, maybe SeaWorld, probably.

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Not as.

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United parks and resorts yet, but they recognize they recognize

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big players by the names that the big players have

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put forward. Hershand has not really done that. So it

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seems like a pretty good match to be able to

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operate a bunch like for example, I mean, this is

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a weird it's a weird analogy, but they're not too

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far from us. I was just walking the dog and

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not too far from us. There as a ghost Kitchen

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now Ghost Kitchen. It is a basically a depot for

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door Dash and Uber eats to pick up from. These

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restaurants that they're picking up from do not exist. They

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only exist. They're all part of a company called Ghost Brands.

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And so if you order from a place called a

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place called Maddie Meltz, Maddie Meltz is a grilled cheese

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place that only delivers. There is no Maddie Meltz restaurant.

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It's just this ghost kitchen. So they come and pick

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it up. They've got a logo, they've got the whole

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line there. That's kind of what HERSCHEANDT has done. You know,

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they've been the they've been the operator, they've been the

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owner of all of these different brands, these different parks

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that have a different guest facing approach, and so has Palace,

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So it kind of makes sense. I mean, if Palace

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was going to be purchased I'm sorry, if the US

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parks that Palace had, we're going to be purchased by

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someone Hershean seems to be like a really good choice.

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I agree, And I also think that it helps them

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secure a position kind of in this consolidation of the

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top brands that we're seeing.

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I mean, you listed all.

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Of them, but basically that puts them up there, maybe

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in a close third or fourth when compared to you

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United Parks, right, so it kind of they're overall attendance.

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I think the biggest challenge is the integration. But as

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you just said, right like, it's the fit in terms

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of the fit wise like it fits in that all

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of these were celebrated as local places, local parks, and

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local things, and that's what they're good at. The Financially,

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there's a big challenge too. It's a one point one

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billion dollar leveraged loan and it kind of triggered an

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S and P downgrade in their credit rating to B plus,

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which basically just means that the near term, leverage is high,

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like they've leveraged assets pretty high up, so the leverage

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ratio is pretty high. And right now, since they haven't

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really put out a strategic plan or any sort of

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you know, they're they're listening this year for which is good.

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But in the short term, the big risks are like,

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you've increased the debt that you owe and your attendance

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and your revenue is not necessarily increasing, so you've taken

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on more debt but not necessarily anymore attendance or revenue.

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And because there's no plan, that's why it's been downgraded.

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But we assume that they're, you know, next year, they

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will release a plan in the way that Six Flags

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did after a while, and they will adjust projections, or

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they'll say this is how we're going to increase attendance

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or do this or that, or because their family owned,

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maybe they won't like That's the other side of this

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is maybe they're just gonna say, we're going to focus

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on making each one local and keep you know, keep

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the local presidents in place, unlike Six Flags getting rid

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of all of them, and just kind of make sure

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that each park independently can be profitable. And we will

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slowly pay back this thing. That could also be an approach.

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You Yeah, I you know, it's funny because I almost

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hope that that is the approach. Yeah, I hope that.

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You know, these these more more regional parks, I mean,

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that's what the vast majority of them are, you know,

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like like compounds. For example, that's that's a form Palace Park,

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which is now a Hershand Park, is a started as

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a you know, a trolley stop park. They were the

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they were the local, the only local game in town really,

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and they had a unique, you know, a unique way

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of approaching it. So I'm hoping that that we can

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maintain some of that charm, some of that historical content,

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and some of that unique way of doing business because

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I think that we'll make a more diverse product for them.

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I let me let me put it this way. If

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I were going to run, if I were going to say, okay,

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if Herschand all of a sudden came and said, hey, Scott,

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run our conglomerate for me, would you I don't think

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they would, So I'm really not holding my breath. But

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and if they did, probably shouldn't. But if they if

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they were to come to me, I'd say, yeah, let's

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see how much we can maintain of the individual uniqueness

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and and charm of each park while giving it a

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much stronger UH position within the world, so that they

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can have we can give them, you know, ordering leverage,

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we can give them supply leverage. It's you know, how

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can we how can we make them still unique to

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the guest with a much stronger support team from behind.

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Yep.

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Well, like you said, there there are I think you're

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saying too, there's also synergy. Like it's that balance between

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like there are synergy possibilities where like you're saying, with

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the consolidated hiring, leveraged buying, all that kind of stuff,

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But there's also synergy and that they have a portfolio,

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and they have things that are not just the parks.

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I mean, it's a wider portfolio.

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They have, you know, the globetrotters, they have the festivals

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that they differentiate all of that. So it's possible too

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that there's some thing that they could incorporate.

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They have ips, they have access ips.

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And and they have and to to homogenize all of

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those ips under one name may or may not be

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beneficial at this point, because again, no one says hey

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let's they'll say let's go to They won't say, hey,

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let's go to herscheld.

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You know.

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So I think it's important to maintain those ips, maintain

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the integrity of some of those parks. It's the same

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reason that when Bush Entertainment Corporation, even though at the

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time the Bush Gardens parks were the juggernauts of the system,

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they chose the SeaWorld name because SeaWorld was better known,

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it was more immediately recognized. And now it's like there,

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I'm guessing, but it's like United Parks is kind of

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gone the opposite to try to make the corporate umbrella

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less important and the multiple brands of the parks more important.

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So it provides more variety to the guests and again

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diversifies their portfolio.

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Yeah, well, it seems was there anything else? Let's see,

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I think that we talked about, you know, seasonal stuff

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could be an issue later, but maybe not. I mean,

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if they're going to end up keeping each thing individually,

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you could see where they would just say that these

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parts have always done scary, so we're going to let

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them continue to do scary well.

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And the quest you know, we all know that that Hershand. Well,

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not everybody, I guess, but most people in the industry

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know that Hershand is incredibly family friendly based on their

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they're well the religious background and the morality background of

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the point.

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We talked about that last time.

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Yeah, yeah, I just want to you know, that's that's

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the only thing that I think might be a little

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bit of a hiccup for some of the adult stuff.

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But again, I guess it depends on the sensitivity of

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you know, what is what is too much. You know,

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even when I do adult stuff, I don't go I

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don't go anti religion. So but that's that's my own

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personal cross to Barra, so to speak. Now that's my

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that's my own personal approach. So we'll see, we'll see.

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There there are the part of this acquisition does include

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some smaller water parks than FECs, and there are some people,

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some analysts that are thinking that they might close those

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or those out. But you know, I think that's the

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same thing we see with six Flag or just any

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you know, you have to analyze to see if they

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think they can keep the asset profitable or whatnot. That's

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that's to be determined, you know, in the future. For

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these right, and in order to have in order to

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have that sort of unified buying power, you have to

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evaluate and see, you know, what are the parameters? Do

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the parameters go from you know, a mile to three

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quarters of a mile? Is that the is that the

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world we're living in? To make it so that you

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can have that that that buying power.

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Well, let's go.

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I want to transition over to the next story, which

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is I think directly related in that it creates a

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great contrast. So last week, after we did our analysis

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about six Flags, then uh, a few days after, they

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announced that they're removing all their part presidents. So they've

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chosen to do a new regional management model.

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Where so effectively.

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We talked about this in the past a little bit

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where they first experimented with this with their PR teams.

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So like one PR team was managing media relations for

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several theme parks in a region, and now they're doing

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the same thing with their park presidents. So like one

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park presidents, they're going to have just one president. It's

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going to manage multiple like whole regions. Right, And I

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think there's been a lot of pushback about this as usual,

234
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but it is interesting because I think the best criticisms

235
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I've seen have pointed out that this is fundamentally different

236
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in that like having someone that's accountable for the park,

237
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like the buck stops here in individual park is pretty

238
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critical to any company. And you know you can it's

239
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kind of like you can share lower roles, but can

240
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you really share the president role for the area. And

241
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then I think the best quote I'm going to read

242
00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:56.960
here from a forum that was from the Theme Park

243
00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.919
Insider article, and here's like the best quote I thought was,

244
00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:04.200
these are theme parks we are talking about, not Chipotle locations.

245
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Each one has a different department of employees and thousands

246
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of people. How can you operate a theme park and

247
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adjacent water parks for most parks without having someone directly

248
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responsible for it? Which I think is a great encapsulation

249
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of the whole challenge. So, yeah, Scott, is this Chipotle

250
00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:20.399
or is it a theme park?

251
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And so so it's interesting when I first heard this,

252
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I had the exact same response. However, as I think,

253
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as I've let it sync in and kind of looked

254
00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:34.480
at it, tried tried to look at it from a

255
00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:39.399
more open point of view, I'm questioning and I'm not

256
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one hundred percent convinced yet. But if there is no

257
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:48.600
buck stops Here president, there is a regional manager who

258
00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:54.399
is the buckstops Here regional manager? Is this Will this

259
00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.919
not encourage those people who are the vice president of culinary,

260
00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.639
the vice president of merchant, the vice president of operations.

261
00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:05.399
Will it not force them to work together more? Will

262
00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:09.799
this break down silos, which is in my opinion, one

263
00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:15.440
of the first one of the first earmarks of Hey,

264
00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.759
this park's in trouble is when their silos get too

265
00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:20.639
strong and it doesn't become what's good for the park.

266
00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.639
It becomes what's good for the culinary bottom line, or

267
00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:26.720
the merchandise bottom line, or the the you know, the

268
00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:31.360
operational budget or whatever. So will this break down some

269
00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.399
of those walls between departments? And I don't know whether

270
00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.799
it will or not, but I know that if I

271
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.200
were working in a park and I were the vice

272
00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.200
president of entertainment, and all of a sudden there was

273
00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:43.960
no chief on grounds, we now had to report directly to,

274
00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:48.879
in essence corporate, I would be I would be going

275
00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:53.879
to my peers in the park and making friends real fast.

276
00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.279
I would also be going to my peers in the

277
00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:04.240
region and making friends real fast. So I think there's

278
00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.759
a possibility, and I don't know this for sure, but

279
00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:12.039
there's a possibility that this could help eliminate some of

280
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the silo situation, help eliminate some of the one department

281
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.840
fighting another. And this doesn't mean anything unless you've worked

282
00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:20.200
in a theme park. But once you've worked in a

283
00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:23.200
theme park, you're gonna go, oh, everybody has silos. Yes,

284
00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:25.759
every park has silos. Doesn't matter how big, doesn't matter

285
00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:27.679
how small. It doesn't matter whether you're a theme park,

286
00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:32.000
a zoo, a museum, any large attraction that has multiple departments.

287
00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:35.240
There are silos. And some of them have very thick

288
00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.159
walls that you never know what the other one's doing.

289
00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.000
And some of them are pretty good about talking to

290
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.679
one another. But when you don't have a buck stops

291
00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:46.519
here who can take all the blame, then all of

292
00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:50.240
a sudden, you gotta work together. It's sort of like

293
00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.919
if you've got you know, you got three kids are

294
00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.720
being babysat by the same person, the babysitter gets up

295
00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.120
and leaves. Those kids have to be resourceful, they have

296
00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:01.759
to find a way to keep going. So I'm curious

297
00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.320
to see if this is going to happen. I'm not

298
00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.919
saying it will happen, but I'm saying it is a possibility.

299
00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:09.159
And I'm saying, you know, if I were involved here,

300
00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:12.919
I would immediately break down all those walls if they

301
00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:16.240
hadn't been broken down already, and say, gosh, guys, you know,

302
00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:19.440
we can't hide behind our park president anymore. Our work

303
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:24.480
is going to be completely transparent to the next level up.

304
00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:31.600
And so there's a possibility then it may change the

305
00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:34.279
way the parks operate and it may make them operate

306
00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:35.000
more efficiently.

307
00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:41.679
Yeah, I really like this idea, and I hadn't thought

308
00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:44.200
about it and that lens, but I really like it

309
00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:48.279
because I'm just thinking about that as you're saying it.

310
00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.120
So you're in this department, you're needing to work to

311
00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.440
each other because then it becomes well, we want to

312
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.120
do this thing for Halloween. We have to all work

313
00:16:56.159 --> 00:17:00.159
together to pitch it to the regional person because and

314
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.399
I think it also the.

315
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.879
Regional park all have to be on the same page. Yeah,

316
00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:07.480
we all have to pitch it to you know, regional boss.

317
00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.200
To get the budget. You have to do that more accurately.

318
00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:11.599
We in the region have to all be on the

319
00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:12.319
same page.

320
00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:14.119
Yeah, that's what I like about it too.

321
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.920
I like having you have like one person who sees

322
00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:22.559
everything from every from their whole parks and their whole jurisdiction,

323
00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:26.000
and they're able to make a decision that's not just

324
00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:28.720
for one like it's you know, you're you're balancing multiple things.

325
00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.640
And then to your point, if the people on the ground,

326
00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.000
like the merchandise person at this park, is having to

327
00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:39.200
go and argue directly to the regional person, then it

328
00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.240
might give the regional person much more visibility on the

329
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.519
day to day working. So it will almost like shorten,

330
00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.039
you know, shorten the strategy window where you're not having

331
00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:49.599
a whole layer you have to go through.

332
00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:52.839
And after they get over the after they get over

333
00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:56.960
the the initial shock of the change, they're going to

334
00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.799
become much more comfortable with their regionals so that they

335
00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.240
will not feel as though they have to hide information

336
00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:04.440
from them. And the only reason I say that is

337
00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:06.799
back a thousand years ago when I was working retail,

338
00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:10.599
I worked for a major department store, and the major

339
00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:15.359
department store chain had a regional It had a park

340
00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:18.960
or a park, it had a store, a store general manager,

341
00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.279
but then also had a regional manager, and it just

342
00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.799
happened that the regional manager's office was in our store.

343
00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:28.559
So we were very comfortable with the regional manager. We

344
00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:30.839
saw him all the time, you know, we would say hi,

345
00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.079
he would ask us a question, we would give a straight,

346
00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:36.440
honest answer. We didn't. We were empowered by our store

347
00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.359
manager not to you know, not to fib to him,

348
00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:41.319
to be straightforward, to be honest, because we didn't have

349
00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:45.359
anything to hide. And I think, just by the nature

350
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:50.400
of hierarchy, when you eliminate that level, it will put

351
00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:54.319
the regional manager much more in control and have a

352
00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:58.240
much more realistic understanding of what's going on in the region.

353
00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:04.559
Yeah, that's interesting, that's really you know, I feel like

354
00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.519
that's very similar to what even thirteenth Florida does, which

355
00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.559
is a totally random example, but I just think even there,

356
00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:13.440
you see it where it's like they have read you know,

357
00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.920
the regional director that and even on the entertainment front,

358
00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:20.160
it allows them to coordinate entertainment across a whole region,

359
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:23.839
you know, especially when they have multiple shows in one

360
00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:27.880
metro area, even you to be able to coordinate resources,

361
00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:29.960
coordinate the shows, theming.

362
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.440
That's another thing I was thinking of too, is you know, say,

363
00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:36.759
for example, Philip, you and I are both vice presidents

364
00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.160
of entertainment and two parks in the same region, and

365
00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:42.279
we are both sharing our information with our regional head

366
00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:45.119
and he says, hey, you know what, Philip's doing something

367
00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.640
really cool that he's got a great he's found a

368
00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:51.160
great vendor. Maybe you want to tap into that because

369
00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:53.680
you know, he's already found it, it's already working well

370
00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:54.920
for him, and we might be able to get a

371
00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:56.400
price break if we can get you both buying the

372
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:56.799
same thing.

373
00:19:57.319 --> 00:20:01.440
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then also staffing, you know, being

374
00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:07.119
able to even potentially share staffing strategies, stare your recruitment ideas,

375
00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:07.559
you know, and.

376
00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:10.359
Sharing staff I mean, I know that sounds crazy, but

377
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.599
but you could do it. I mean there's uh, you know,

378
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:16.359
restaurants have done it. Restaurants with chains have done it

379
00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.799
for years, where they would after you get to a

380
00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.799
certain level, having been with the company for a certain

381
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.960
number of years, you can go shadow another location. Or

382
00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:28.119
they can even call and say and retail establishments do

383
00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.160
this too. They can call and say, hey, I need

384
00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:36.000
I've had my assistant manager is out on maternity leave

385
00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.079
and I've had five call ins today, can you send

386
00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:40.960
somebody over here? And basically, if it's someone to come

387
00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:43.759
over and run a register, they can do it and

388
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:45.920
they pay mileage and they ship you over to another store.

389
00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:51.079
So that would handle although I know staffing is getting better,

390
00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.079
but that would handle some of the staffing challenges if

391
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:55.920
they you know, rear their ugly heads again. Yep.

392
00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:57.079
Well it's not just that.

393
00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:00.920
It's also the idea of like you you produce a show,

394
00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.279
you make a show, you know, you could potentially move

395
00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:05.480
the show over if you needed to you to fill

396
00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:07.519
up something, or there's a weather thing over here, you

397
00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:11.119
could read deploy. Yeah, it's a lot, that's yeah, that's interesting.

398
00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.599
I really like this idea because even when I was

399
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:16.880
back when I was talking to the different entertainment teams

400
00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:19.880
at the different universals, you know, and there's not even

401
00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:22.599
that many universals really, I mean not compared to forty

402
00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:25.319
two parks, you know, I mean there's only so many,

403
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:28.440
and there's only two in the US and I and

404
00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:30.519
what shocked me even then.

405
00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:32.400
Was about what there's four in Florida.

406
00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:37.319
Yeah, of course, God, but how they just didn't talk

407
00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.440
to each other at all, And even when it came

408
00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:43.079
down to the Halloween people and they would ask me,

409
00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:47.480
like back when we're doing the magazine to send them

410
00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.440
versions of the magazine so they could like look at

411
00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:53.319
what the costumes looked like for this show that this

412
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.960
person did because they didn't know. And I was like,

413
00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:00.400
can't you just call the costumer at Universal that you

414
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.000
need to talk to? And because you both work at

415
00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:04.519
the same company, that like doesn't work like that. You

416
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.519
can't talk to people at the other places.

417
00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:07.680
That's crazy.

418
00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.119
It breaks down those it breaks down those walls, It

419
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.960
breaks down those silos, and you know, if the if

420
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.839
the business model is let's let's make it so that

421
00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:19.279
you know they are they're gonna they're going to own

422
00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.799
the regional park, say say six Flags goal is to

423
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:24.680
own the regional park market, not to be the destination location,

424
00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:26.960
but to be the location, to be more of the

425
00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:30.960
fast food than the once a year high end restaurant.

426
00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.519
Then making sure that the quality is comparable with throughout

427
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.440
the region is going to benefit that model. And it's

428
00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.880
going to benefit that model because yeah, I was telling

429
00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:44.519
Philip just before we started recording that, uh, later this month,

430
00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:48.640
my husband and I are going to the Chicagoland area,

431
00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:50.519
and I'm going to visit Great America, which I grew

432
00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:53.319
up going to, and when I bought a season pass

433
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:57.279
to go, they gave me all of the information on

434
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:00.160
buying passes and the upgrades to go to all the

435
00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:04.720
other six Flags parks, which is you know, really really cool.

436
00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:06.880
And if they're going to do Philip had mentioned the

437
00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:08.920
possibility of maybe doing a regional version, which I think

438
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:13.240
would be really smart. If that does indeed happen, then

439
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.279
there's there's a great This makes an awful lot of sense.

440
00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:23.240
It's scary as hell right now, and it seems counterintuitive

441
00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:27.839
and quite honestly, to all those people who have you know,

442
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:30.079
lost their positions. My heart goes out to trust me.

443
00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:34.680
I've been there. I understand you, Cameron. I'm going to

444
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:37.200
say it again, don't panic, just pivot. One of our

445
00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:39.000
listeners loves it when I say that because he hasn't

446
00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:42.880
posted in his office. But don't panic, just pivot, and

447
00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.839
you you know, you've you've got a great deal of

448
00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.880
skills and you can continue to work because there's you know,

449
00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:53.039
plenty of plenty of theme parks in the country right now,

450
00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:56.799
and now only a few companies to work for to

451
00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.400
to make that happen, so it makes your job search

452
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:00.000
a lot easier.

453
00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:05.519
Well, I guess my question. Do you think that they're

454
00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.440
going for like what we talked about with Hersheen, where

455
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:10.759
it's like they're trying to make each park have its

456
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:14.039
own distinct like family brand, or are they going for

457
00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:17.640
more of a Chipotle ESK model where you can expect

458
00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:22.359
certain like quality standards across like every six Flags name.

459
00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:26.319
I can't speak, I can't speak knowledgeably about that. I

460
00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:28.519
can give you hypothetical and how I would approach it

461
00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:32.359
if it were if it were my choice, because the

462
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:35.119
parks in some in some regions, the parks are not

463
00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:38.079
far away, they're very close to one another. Yeah, like

464
00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:41.599
six Flags and Knots and Knots. I would make sure

465
00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:47.000
that the regional parks maintain their own individual qualities. But

466
00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:50.880
I would make sure that the the experience that you

467
00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.480
had at and you've said it yourself, Magic Mountain, the

468
00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:56.559
experience at Magic Mountain, the experience a Knots are very

469
00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:00.400
very different. And I would make certain that you just

470
00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.599
as comfortable going to Magic Mountain as you would going

471
00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:06.359
to Nott's, that the restrooms were all clean that the

472
00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:13.559
security made you feel safe, that the rides were all

473
00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:17.160
properly updated and maintained, properly operated, all that kind of

474
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:20.240
stuff so that guests will feel comfortable. I mean, if

475
00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:23.480
you think about it, it's not that different from Walt

476
00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:27.160
disney World, only it's a regional approach instead of everything

477
00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:29.039
being in one place where you have to go to

478
00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:31.039
a hotel and spend money on a hotel, you go

479
00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:32.920
back to your house, and then you go off in

480
00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:34.759
this direction to another park, and then you go back

481
00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:36.519
to your house, and two days later you go off

482
00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:39.319
to another park. And you know that when you're in

483
00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.920
the mood, you can get a variety of the experiences,

484
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.400
but all the money goes to the same company. So

485
00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:49.039
that's what if I were a regional manager, that's what

486
00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:50.799
I would try to do, is to make certain that

487
00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:55.759
the all of the parks didn't duplicate but complimented each other.

488
00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:59.920
Because again, if you look at just the hard good,

489
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:02.640
it's the hard assets of Magic Mountain and the hard

490
00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:07.279
assets of Knots, they're very different. They're very very different,

491
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:11.079
and the vibe of both of those parks is very different.

492
00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:14.759
I would try to enhance that difference well once again,

493
00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:19.200
giving that that regional regional buying power.

494
00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:22.599
Yeah, and a regional person instead of a parking president

495
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.359
model could do that because the regional person then is

496
00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:28.720
making that they responsible for all of them, so they

497
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:32.920
can more you know, enhance and balance and versus if

498
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:36.119
they were park presidents, they wouldn't know the information to

499
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.720
be siloed. But then also the park presidents would be like,

500
00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:42.119
well we they it's like two focused on just one,

501
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:44.799
I guess, versus like balancing a region.

502
00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:47.400
And there's also that human nature thing, you know, park presidents.

503
00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:49.200
If you have a park president with two parks in

504
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:54.160
the same region, they're going to be competitive with each other. Yeah,

505
00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:56.720
a regional will not. They will be supportive of each

506
00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:01.000
other because the success of their region is more important

507
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:04.799
than the success of Indian individual park. Yeah. I don't

508
00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.039
and again this is all I just want to really

509
00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:10.240
really clarify. This is all hypothetical because I don't know

510
00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:12.480
whether this is the plan or not. I don't know

511
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:14.880
whether it would work. But since we're having this discussion,

512
00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:17.079
you know, we've said for many many years we start

513
00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:19.240
with the facts. But the idea is we want to

514
00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:21.440
make sure that people are talking and asking the right questions,

515
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:26.000
and this is just a possibility, and I think that

516
00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:28.839
it's a viable one. The more I talk about it,

517
00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:31.000
the more we chat about it, the more interesting it

518
00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:34.680
sounds to me. But you're right, Philip, as you said

519
00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:38.279
at the very beginning of this segment, it's a different approach.

520
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:41.279
It's a very different approach. And because it's very different,

521
00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:45.759
it's scary and seems either unique or crazy. But once again,

522
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:50.000
going back to one of my dearest mentors, she used

523
00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:51.720
to look at me and go, first, break all the rules,

524
00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:56.960
you know, go back and blow something up. Another one

525
00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:59.119
of my mentors would use the phrase, you know, you'd

526
00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:00.680
look at them and you go, if it ain't broke,

527
00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.000
don't fix it. And his response is, if it ain't broke,

528
00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:06.720
break it and rebuild it, because that's how you make

529
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:10.839
it better, you know it Just getting by it is

530
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.039
a is the best, the best way to stop progress.

531
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:18.119
If you are, if you are, if a modicum of success,

532
00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:22.039
if you're moderately successful, you're never going to get better

533
00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:25.720
because you're gonna go, hey, we're successful, we're good, we're good.

534
00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:29.240
So this is this is a unique approach, and I'm

535
00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:32.000
curious to see how it's how it's going to pan out.

536
00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:35.319
I hope. I mean, obviously it's for the industry, so

537
00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:38.480
I hope it does well. And you know, those of

538
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:40.519
you who those of you who have been directly affected

539
00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:44.240
by this, I'm sorry. I know how it hurts. Believe me,

540
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.640
I know on a personal level how it hurts. But

541
00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:51.200
at the same time, it is doing the same thing

542
00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:53.240
to you. It is opening you up to new possibilities.

543
00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:57.680
And in my particular case, had it not happened, had

544
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:01.039
I not been restructured a way, which is exactly what's

545
00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.240
happening here, you know, recognize, first you didn't do anything wrong.

546
00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:07.359
This was not your fault. This is a restructuring for

547
00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:09.759
the betterment of the company. And if you get restructured

548
00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:12.480
to another part of the company, dive in with the

549
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:14.240
same fervor that you did before. And if you move

550
00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:16.319
on to a different company, dive in with the same

551
00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:20.119
fervor because your experience is valuable. So just something that's

552
00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:22.839
important to remember, because this does impact impact people. And

553
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:24.799
I don't want people to contact us later and say

554
00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:26.880
how heartless can you be to say it's okay to

555
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:29.720
get rid of all of these jobs. It's it's hard.

556
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:30.519
It's a hard time.

557
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:34.119
I think that's exactly from what I read online that

558
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:37.359
that was what mostly is what everybody was saying. But

559
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:39.400
I think, you know, you can, like you said, take

560
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.079
a step back, and I would also argue, I mean,

561
00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:44.240
I know this is also terrible and people are gonna that.

562
00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:47.519
I would say the people that are part presidents of

563
00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:50.200
those parks probably are pretty high skilled individuals.

564
00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:52.079
Of course they are. They wouldn't be where they are

565
00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:53.359
if they're not correct.

566
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:57.000
Yeah, I think that's that's also the thing too. But yeah,

567
00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:00.400
we're at time and I think on our page Treon

568
00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:03.680
show after this, which you can find by just going

569
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:07.000
to Patreon and searching green tag or just looking at

570
00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:08.319
the link in our show notes. So we're going to

571
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.680
be discussing a little bit more what's going on, and

572
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.519
then next week we're going to talk about trends.

573
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:16.599
Great, yeah, because there's been a lot of trends in

574
00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:18.160
the industry, and we do this every now and then.

575
00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:20.400
We kind of do like a taking our pulse, taking

576
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:23.720
the pulse of the industry, and so we hope you've

577
00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:26.079
enjoyed this week. I know I have. This has been

578
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:28.359
a good, good show for me. I like this, but

579
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.799
we hope you've enjoyed it as well, and we also

580
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.319
hope to see you all next week here on green

581
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:35.839
Tag Theme Parking thirty
Scott Swenson, ICAE Profile Photo
Scott Swenson, ICAE

For over 30 years, Scott Swenson has been bringing stories to life as a writer, director, producer, and performer. His work in theme parks, consumer events, live theatre, and television has given him a broad spectrum of experiences. In 2014, after 21 years with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Scott formed Scott Swenson Creative Development. Since then he has been providing impactful experiences for clients around the world. Whether he is installing shows on cruise ships or creating seasonal festivals for theme parks, writing educational presentations for zoos and museums or training the next generation of attractions professionals, Scott is always finding new ways to tell stories that engage, educate and entertain.

Philip Hernandez, ICAE Profile Photo
Philip Hernandez, ICAE

CEO of Gantom, Publisher of Haunted Attraction Network

Philip is a journalist reporting on the Haunted House Industry, Horror events, Theme Parks, and Halloween. He is also the CEO of Gantom Lighting and Founder / Publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network, the haunted attraction industry's most prominent news media source. He is based in Los Angeles.