Aug. 26, 2024

Global Attractions Attendance Report 2023: Takeaways

The 2023 Global Attractions Attendance Report from TEA/AECOM just dropped, and we are exploring its findings.

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The 2023 Global Attractions Attendance Report from TEA/AECOM just dropped, and we are diving deep into its findings. The report highlights the recovery of the global attractions industry after the pandemic and the performance of different theme parks worldwide. It also explores the trends in attendance and spending and the potential for growth in other regions. Scott and Philip draw attention to the impact of weather on attendance, the need for parks to focus on guest experience and creature comforts, the significance of Halloween events, and the potential for special events to drive demand throughout the year.

SOURCES
Read more about the report here.

Takeaways

  • The global attractions industry is recovering after the pandemic, with parks turning their attention to the future.
  • Parks that invested regularly throughout the pandemic performed better over time.
  • Asian parks showed great year-over-year rebounds, but it remains to be seen if the growth will continue.
  • The merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair created the largest regional amusement park operator in the Americas.
  • Magic Kingdom remained the world's most visited theme park, followed closely by Disneyland and Universal Studios Osaka.
  • Yas Island in the Middle East saw significant attendance in a short period of time, indicating potential for growth.
  • Per capita spending has increased in some regions, driven by a focus on guest experience and an inflationary market.
  • Parks are turning to automation to reduce staffing costs.
  • Halloween events have revolutionized the theme park calendar, and parks are exploring other special events to drive demand throughout the year.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Announcement of Bonus Episodes
02:22 Overview of the 2023 Global Attractions Attendance Report
05:48 Merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair
10:26 Top Visited Theme Parks Worldwide
14:45 Potential for Growth in the Middle East
23:55 Challenges and Modest Increase in North American Attendance
29:43 The Impact of Halloween Events and Special Events

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.

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I'm Philip and I'm joined as always on my cost

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Scott Swans and Scott's sins and great development. Before we

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get rolling into the news today, just one announcement that

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we do have bonus episodes. If thirty minutes is not

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enough and you want to hear us get even more

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unhinged as the coffee wears off, then there are bonus

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episodes available where we kind of start the recording as

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soon as the main recording finishes.

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That's going to be available.

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On the on Spotify and I believe iTunes relatively soon

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in the Patreon, so I'll put links to those. You

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can subscribe for a monthly need to get access to

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most episodestis can.

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Get pretty dicey. I'm just saying, yeah, we just so,

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Philip and I just just in full transparency, Philip and

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I just had a two hour long conversation before we

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started shooting this, which we did not record because we're idiots.

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But but yeah, it's when we get wound up on stuff.

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If you hear either of us of sitting on our

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hands or moving on. The bonus stuff is exactly where

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that comes out, where we get to talk about Wait

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a minute, we didn't say that thing in the in

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the show boy, I wish we'd said that. So it's

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it's much I will say. I think it's fair to

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say it is much less less polished. It is much

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less professional, but it is you'll you'll learn a bit

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more about both Philip and I and where we stand

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on things.

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If you really want to know what we think about

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something and go to the subscribe the bonus content.

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That's what I'm going to say, you know.

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Because we got to be polished here but less polished there,

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and those will be up shortly so you all can

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get access to this. Also, we don't have a plan

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for this at all, so I think especially in the

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Patreon where there's ability for you guys to comment, we

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will be taking suggestions for topics.

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Yeah, if there's something you want us to talk about

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with the gloves off, put those in those comments and

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we will do everything we can to make that work

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for you.

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So today's episode is mostly going to be related to

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the twenty three Global Attractions attendance stuff. This is a

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report that the Tea and a comm release every year.

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It's kind of the It is the benchmark, kind of

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industry standard for understanding the global attractions industry. It's a

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lot again, so I recommend you if you want to

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read look at the Grass Everything.

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It's about eighty pages.

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So what I did was I look through everything and

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I took out the bits I thought were most relevant

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for our audience. We're only going to look at the

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theme park section. It does also cover museums and zoos

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and aquariums and FECs, and it looks at every individual

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region plus the global the global industry and looks it looks.

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At a lot of a lot of data, a lot

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of materials.

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I would suggest if you're interested in any of that,

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that you just look at the report. It's free download,

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so you can download it yourself and look at that.

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But we'll just hone in on just this one segment,

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which is the theme park segment, and we will primarily

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be talking about North America because that's where a lot

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of our where we both live, so which is kind.

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Of there's that there's that.

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By saying all of you, I just want you to

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whisper quietly as you're listening. Thank you Philip, because Scott

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never would have dug dug into all of this. It

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was a while and Philip, Philip thrives on this kind

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of thing. So kudos to Philip, and thank you for

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putting it all, putting it into a digestible format for

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me first and then for all of you.

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Yeah, well, okay, well, I will read basically excerpts from it,

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a little excerpts and over all, though, if I'm going

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to like TILDR this whole episode, Scott and I told

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you so is the TILDR for all of this, because

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I feel like nothing in here isn't isn't something we've

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already discussed in some fashion, and you will hear a

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lot of the same things we've talked about but echoed

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in here. So but it's good that someone with real

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knowledge validates are yeah Marines, So I appreciate this. It

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actually The report starts off by just straight up saying

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that twenty twenty three marked a turning point for the

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global attractions industry because pandemic related operating restrictions are gone

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and attractions could turn their attention from recovery and focus

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on the future. This year, the report returned to the

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normal process of ranking. The industry has basically returned to

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its pre pandemic position, so that's kind of how they

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start off. And we've talked about that Agnausium about how

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this is our The twenty twenty three is our like

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finally reset year, So that's the first portion. Generally, parks

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that invested regularly throughout the pandemic years tended to perform

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better over time. Gee, that sounds familiar. Asian parks most

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dramatically affected by pandemic restrictions showed great year over year rebounds.

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But it remains to be seen if the great growth

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of the Asian market that we saw pre pandemic will

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continue in coming years. We've also talked about this. We've

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talked about not only the concept of investing even while

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your park is closed, which Scott talked about extensively, especially yeah,

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way too much, Yeah, but also the concept that Asia

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recently reopened. So on paper, the numbers look ridiculous, but

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their point about like the Asia economies are not as recovered.

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I mean they're not saying this, I'm saying this, the

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Asia economies are not as recovered as the US because

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our economy is relatively recovered for the G seven but

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China especially struggling, so again remains to be seen. Right.

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How much of the number rebound is is their revenge travel?

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How much of you know, how will SU spending be sustained,

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that's why they put in here remains to be seen.

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And the last point, of course is see six flags

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of the affair. Complete at merger in twenty twenty four,

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the newly formed company, now the largest regional amusement park

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operator in the America's by number of parks, have a

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combined twenty twenty three attendants that would rank fifth in

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the world, but still under some of these other park operators,

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which I think is all of a sudden we've talked

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about with just this dichotomy, right where like, they have

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the most parks in the Americas all combined together, and

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they still can't beat Disney Universal and Fanta Fantau, Phanta

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Wild and Merlin, Right. I mean that's kind of like

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that's interesting, right, So, but we've talked about that too.

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Right, And I think I just just to pause on

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that for sec a second. I think what that shows

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to me is not necessarily gush their suck and wind.

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What it says to me is there's a great deal

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of potential here. Because this merger is relatively new, they

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haven't really been able to parlay the number of parks

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and the buying power that they now have into expanded marketing.

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I would definitely keep my eye on this company because

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they now have you know, they have they have a

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lot more they have a lot more crayons in their

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box than they've ever had before as individual companies. So

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keep an eye on it because this is it's not

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to say, Haha, look they've got all these parks and

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they still can't make all the revenue. What it really

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says to me at least is look at the opportunity

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they have here to continue to grow. I think it's

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also important to point out that the vast not vast majority,

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but the majority I believe a large number I have

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in fact checked this. A large number of these parks

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are seasonal based on where they are in the country.

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So it's also important to recognize that we are comparing,

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you know, when you start comparing Disney, Disney does not

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have seasonal parks in Florida or California, and so we

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have to factor that in as well. However, Fanto Wild

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and Merlin do have seasonal parks.

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So yeah, yeah, I agree. I think I like the

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phrase remains to be seen. I think that is exactly

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it for both of these, Like, you know, will this

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approach of having a lot of different parks all over

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an area all of the Americas to diversify so that

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if there's bad weather in one area, then you still

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have you know, thirteen parks. It doesn't even it doesn't

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matter if there's hurricanes. You got so many parks. Parcs

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come out of every which way, so it's a little diversification.

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And if they're able to extend their IPS, like they're

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trying with Halloween to really drive interest in regions that

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don't have any IP representation at all, you know, I

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think that could be very I just think, to me,

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what's most interesting is much like with the problems, I

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don't want to say problems, but kind of the American

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market where you have a shrinking middle class. That's to

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me what it looks like, you know, reminds me of

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where you have like you have Disney and then even

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under it, you have Universal and then you kind of

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have every you have everybody else kind of struggling for

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So it's just to me, it seems disproportionate. I guess

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it is more what I meant, more like disproportionate attention

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at the like, like the big parks have a lot

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of attention and everyone else kind of has, like, you know,

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much less than that.

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But well, and let's.

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Forget that Six Flags tried to do this on their

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own once before Six Flags went through a and this

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was what early early two thousands, was it early two thousands,

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they where they basically went on a buying spree and

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they bought up tons and tons and tons and tons

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of parks. And then after they had bought up tons

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and tons and tons and tons of parks, they had

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no capital money to bring those parks up to standard,

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or up to even the six Flag standard at the time,

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so they ended up selling off many of those parks. So,

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you know, it remains to be seen. I think that

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this approach makes more sense to me than let's just

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buy up all the independent parks that happened to be

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for sale, because both six Flags and Cedar Fair have

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had a recognizable quality level, and so it'll it will

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be interesting. I think there is once again, the phrase

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I'm going to keep using is there's a great deal

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of potential here and we'll see how they will see

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how they take advantage of that.

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Why I already hinted it this, But let's talk about

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the numbers, which is the next section of the report.

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Magic Kingdom continued as the world's most visited theme park

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last year, drawing of reported seventeen point seven million visitors.

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So again that's just one year, seventeen point seven million. However,

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Disneyland in California trailed by less than half a million visitors,

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with Universe Studios Osaka in Japan coming in third with

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sixteen million, so very very close. It also mentioned that

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a theme park in the Middle East appeared on the

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Index attendance list for the first time this year, with

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Warner Brothers World Abidabi making the top twenty list in

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the EMEA region. And the key here is that the

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Yas Island theme Park drew one point seven five million

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visitors in twenty twenty three, which just opened in May,

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so like that's only what like six seven months, and

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they saw one point seven five million visitors at the

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Yas Island region, So that's again think of the time

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lag in this. So you know, these are twenty twenty

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three numbers, but we're already almost through twenty twenty four,

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so it's a time lag. So I think their point

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in that is that there's a lot of potential there

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for growth, and we're not sure how quickly that reasion

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is going to grow, but that's a lot. I mean,

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one point seventy five million already puts them ranking in

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the top twenty and it was just half a year, right.

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I think the important thing to recognize is with and

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again I only say this because I was there for

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a while and had a chance to actually not just

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look at the numbers but live it. Yas Island is

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ready for very large numbers of tourists. They have invested

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the money to build all of the parks on Yas Island, which,

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just to put things into perspective, Yas Island is sort

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of like a Walt Disney World, but it's not. Well,

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it is all owned by the same company, but it's

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not it's not necessarily it doesn't appear to be. So

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you've got Warner Brothers, You've got SeaWorld, You've got Yas

230
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water World, and you've got Ferrari World. So you've got

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four different parks in one very close area, really within

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walking distance of each other. They are working on transportation

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to get you from one to the other. There are

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hotels located throughout Yas Island, it is all concentrated in

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one part of Abu Dhabi. So they're ready. So this

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number actually doesn't surprise me simply because they built it

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not necessarily because they had to, or not necessarily in

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a way that they had to expand it as needed.

239
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They built it to accommodate a very large group of people.

240
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The challenge that they're going to have, I think is operationally,

241
00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:47.279
but that's a whole nother story and probably a whole

242
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other show. But when it comes to the hard goods

243
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and the queues, the available hotel rooms, the surrounding restaurants

244
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and yes bars, because Yas Island does have the ability

245
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to get alcohol, which the rest of the UAE or

246
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much of the UE does not have. At the moment,

247
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it's it is uh, it's ready. It's ready for tourism.

248
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And if it would if the floodgates were to open,

249
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from a hard goods standpoint, they could, they could take

250
00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.559
it all. They'd still just like Walt Disney World when

251
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it first opened. Because I attended Walt Disney World as

252
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a child, and they were not ready from an operational

253
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standpoint to get the deluge of guests that they got.

254
00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.440
They had some some harsh learning curves that they had

255
00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:40.159
to learn. But I will say that the government in

256
00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.919
in the uae IS is very interested in continued training,

257
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and I know that because I've written some courses for

258
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the at least, But they're very interested to continue training

259
00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.360
so that they can address this problem problem quote unquote

260
00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.080
when it happens. I mean, we all say, what a

261
00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:56.879
terrible problem when you all of a sudden get too

262
00:13:56.919 --> 00:13:58.279
many guests that you don't know quite how to handle.

263
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From an operational standpoint, That can be fixed and can

264
00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:04.559
be fixed relatively quickly. What's much harder is to fix

265
00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:06.960
it if you build a park that can only take

266
00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:10.559
in one hundred guests a day and you have a thousand.

267
00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:13.120
That's a bigger, much bigger problem. That is not the

268
00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:14.519
problem on Yas Island.

269
00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:17.759
We will talk about that.

270
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Soon, because that's I think that same idea of the

271
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:27.000
preparation for Yas Island is a interesting thing. Later as

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you look at some of the numbers so top ten

273
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companies Disney, Fanto, Wild, Merlin, Universal Chime, Long, which is

274
00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:38.600
maybe for our US listeners a little surprising if you

275
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look at the top parks here if they have like

276
00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:44.799
a nice world map and they also have like a

277
00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:47.879
picture of the a little charts of the top parks.

278
00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.960
So we have Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Japan took

279
00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:52.759
your Disneyland, Shanghai Disney are the top five.

280
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And then.

281
00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.080
Just again just giving the location here, just so so

282
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if you look at where the top ten theme parks

283
00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:10.840
in the world are located, you have Florida, California, Japan, Japan, China, China, Japan, Florida, France, Florida.

284
00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:14.840
So it's very it's very interesting that it's like there

285
00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.440
is so much in the Asia region, which I think

286
00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:21.159
they you know, they hinted at, but I think we

287
00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:25.960
again that was going to be, you know, the next

288
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.519
theme park capital. So it's it's especially with the recovery

289
00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.600
of Japan and all that area, it's just there's a

290
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.960
lot of people in those markets, and just like there's

291
00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.399
a lot of people in the Middle East, and I think,

292
00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.639
you know, with when that like Scott's point, when it

293
00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.000
gets gearing up, I mean, this is.

294
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This is all just so interesting to me when you.

295
00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:44.720
Think about the context, especially of the D twenty three

296
00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:46.879
and how much they're investing in Florida. And I think

297
00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:50.559
it might be exactly to Scott's point about like, so

298
00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:52.919
I'm getting ahead of myself.

299
00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:55.080
D twenty three. They're shooting where the ducks are flying.

300
00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:56.720
Yeah, so let's put a pin in that.

301
00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.080
But if you look at the top parks, right, so

302
00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:03.559
Magic came seventeen point seven million, Disneyland seventeen point two million.

303
00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:06.120
Now, Philip, let me, can I just how.

304
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.960
Much larger is Magic Kingdom that Disneyland?

305
00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:12.120
Well, and when you say Magic Kingdom, what I don't see,

306
00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.679
again being a Floridian, what I don't see is Epcot,

307
00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:17.559
Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios.

308
00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.159
Those are on the list.

309
00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:21.279
Yes, they are on the list, but they are considered

310
00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:22.519
separate individual.

311
00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:25.200
Parks, correct, And they're much further down the list.

312
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.240
Now I understand that. I just want to clarify that.

313
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:28.399
I just want to clarify that.

314
00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:32.240
Yeah, I just think that it's those things are the

315
00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:34.879
most interesting to me. And you actually, when you look

316
00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:36.279
at this, I think D twenty three makes a lot

317
00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:39.960
of sense because Magic Kingdom again seventeen point seven million.

318
00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:43.720
The next one, to Scott's point, would be Epcot at

319
00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:48.360
only eleven million. So if you already, if they're already

320
00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:52.720
pushing in what like six million people more in Magic Kingdom,

321
00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:55.240
then why not expand it? And if they have the

322
00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:57.919
room in the infrastructure, just Scot's pointing about the Yas Island,

323
00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:03.480
then why not. To me, what's astounding is that Disneyland

324
00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:06.759
at its size is able to put through that many people.

325
00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:10.279
I mean, it is so much smaller than Magic Kingdom

326
00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:11.920
and they're able to put through that many people. I

327
00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.359
mean it's no wonder exact capacity, you know, and that

328
00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.640
it's completely landlocked. And same thing with the Universal Studio

329
00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:19.839
as Japan. I mean that was shocking to me that

330
00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:25.319
USJ is the number three park. I mean, it shouldn't

331
00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:27.519
be shocking because we're in this industry. But when you

332
00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:30.359
look at the numbers, like sixteen million, that's a small park.

333
00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:33.880
That's a tiny park, and they're putting through sixteen million.

334
00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.720
I mean it's really an argument I think for just

335
00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:40.920
places that have a density of people. We look at

336
00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:44.559
Tokyo as well, fifteen million. I mean like, so.

337
00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:49.200
Where does yeah that where does California Adventure fall? Since

338
00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:51.200
they're separating out the Disney parks and the locations.

339
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.200
Yeah, much much much for the don the list, it's

340
00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:57.039
number eleven because it only is only posting ten million.

341
00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:02.599
Epcot is beating California Adventure. Yes, And then take into

342
00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:07.039
consideration here is when you take Disneyland and California Adventure

343
00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:09.519
and add them together, because let's face it, that would

344
00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:10.079
be a guest.

345
00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:12.519
It wouldn't even if you add all that together.

346
00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.759
It's not even as big as Magic Kingdom if you

347
00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.559
had what all together, if you add both, if you

348
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.839
had Disneyland and Disney Californian Venture together, they're not the

349
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.519
size of Magic Kingdom.

350
00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:25.279
Correct.

351
00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:28.880
But what I'm saying, my point being is you've got

352
00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:30.839
I think it is interesting to get.

353
00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.319
A land size, is what I meant. They're not the

354
00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:36.680
land size. So like I would I see your point

355
00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:40.319
where you're splitting out each park, and I'm just saying,

356
00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:43.880
I'm like, that's crazy to me that, like it's such

357
00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:47.240
a small amount of space looking at these two parks

358
00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:49.759
that are literally been walking distance of each other versus

359
00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:51.960
like Magic Kingdom and Epcot where you have to take

360
00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:53.799
a shuttle or a transit or I mean they're not

361
00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:55.599
in walking distance of each other.

362
00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.519
But if we're looking at it from a tourism standpoint,

363
00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:02.480
and I'm not sure, I'm not sure how this breaks down.

364
00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.119
You've you've looked at the numbers, but how much your local,

365
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:07.000
how much your tourists whatever. But if you're looking at

366
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.240
it from a tourism standpoint, what you really need to

367
00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:13.079
do if you're looking at these locations as far as numbers,

368
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.960
is to look at all the parks in the location.

369
00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:19.400
So take Disneyland and California Adventure and put those numbers together,

370
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:27.240
and then take Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Studios, yeah,

371
00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.920
mbly and probably the water parks as well, and add

372
00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.039
those all together, because each one of those is a

373
00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:34.200
separate click of admission.

374
00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:39.160
Correct, we do have a the Worldwide Map does give

375
00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:42.799
us those numbers, so I can tell you. And also

376
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.160
the other thing to keep in mind here, so D

377
00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:46.960
twenty three makes a lot more sense. First of all,

378
00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.920
if you look at again Chewing with the ducks are

379
00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.359
flying this cosspoint, there's already seventeen million people going into

380
00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:54.079
Magic Kingdom, and so they're like, well, just kind of

381
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:55.279
put more assitement there.

382
00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:57.000
And you look at DCA, that's.

383
00:19:56.839 --> 00:20:00.319
Where they have some announcements of expansions in California. What

384
00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.039
so you look at that makes sense. It is puzzling

385
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:05.799
to me a little bit that they're not banking more

386
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.480
on the Asia market, but they might be just waiting

387
00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:11.240
to see how sustained this is going to be in

388
00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:13.279
Asia versus the Middle East and how that's going to

389
00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:15.759
play out. And they know again that people are going

390
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:17.680
to go to Disney to Magic Kingdoms, might as well

391
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:19.240
just to build more stuff there to get more people in,

392
00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:21.440
because sensibly they could fit more there than they can

393
00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:23.400
at Disneyland, because you can't. I can't imagine you could

394
00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:25.039
double the Disneyland attendants.

395
00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:27.359
That's you have to look at what where can you

396
00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:28.799
where do you have room for expansion?

397
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:30.839
Yeah, you don't have room there.

398
00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:33.640
You've got tiny little parks. You've got USJ And so

399
00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.799
that explains why, you know, not a whole lot of

400
00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.240
the parks are small. The parks are small, you know,

401
00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:43.440
Disneyland and USJ are small, and so you there's not

402
00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:44.640
room for expansion there.

403
00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:45.319
Yeah.

404
00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:47.960
So when you go to the world map, the worldwide map,

405
00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:50.119
because I just scrolled down, I cheated, and you look

406
00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:52.119
at you look at Florida, which.

407
00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:54.519
Is uh yeah, so the eight.

408
00:20:54.359 --> 00:20:59.480
Point five versus California, which is thirty six point nine exactly. Yes,

409
00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:02.160
And that was my point in adding the parks together,

410
00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:06.279
because there are people who only come to magic, who

411
00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:09.240
only come to Walt Disney World in Florida thinking that

412
00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:13.960
it's Magic Kingdom, Yeah, which is way wrong, but that's

413
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:14.720
all they can budget.

414
00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:15.759
Yeah.

415
00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:18.720
Yeah, I think a lot of these.

416
00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:21.279
It's just so interesting again to look at the combination

417
00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:25.079
of those. To Scott's point, so in ranking, it would

418
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:30.039
go the Florida area with almost seventy million visitors in

419
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:34.359
twenty three, and keep in mind that's still a little

420
00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:38.480
bit modulating, right, like there's still that's even without weather

421
00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.119
and with all the other things people say with slowing

422
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.839
attendants and everything. But so you look at Florida, and

423
00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:46.079
then the next one would be China with fifty million

424
00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:49.720
and six parts. So Florida with six parks and also

425
00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:53.640
roughly seventy million, and then China with also six parks

426
00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:56.119
and roughly fifty million, And then you would actually go

427
00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.240
to Japan, which only has three parks but averages forty

428
00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.519
just forty three million, right, and then California, which has

429
00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:07.480
three parks and thirty six million, So those are your

430
00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:10.359
big regions, right, and then if you really look at

431
00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:13.680
everything else, it's so much less than those numbers, like

432
00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:17.039
then you're dropping down to sixteen million for France. And

433
00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.039
so yeah, there definitely are hubs. And if you kind

434
00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.960
of look at these hubs, you see the D twenty

435
00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:25.359
three announcements kind.

436
00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.319
Of almost aligning.

437
00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.839
Very well, you know with these, I think with the

438
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.680
exception really of China, and I think that's just because

439
00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:35.839
Disney doesn't have as much of a footprint there. I mean,

440
00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:38.400
all those are chime long, you know. I mean, it's not.

441
00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:41.559
The reason they're not looking at those is because they

442
00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:43.039
don't have full ownership.

443
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:44.160
Of those, correct yep.

444
00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:47.640
And then if you look at the also the announcements

445
00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:52.559
right from Universal it also you see right epic, where's

446
00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:55.000
that going in the main hub? Right? And then beyond that,

447
00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:58.799
they're looking at expansions into some of the other underserves

448
00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:03.720
market and potentially they're banking on this EMEA or you know,

449
00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:06.960
they're banking on the UK region which doesn't really have

450
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:12.880
any competition, but they must identified potential competition there so

451
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.559
or potential you know, the only one they list there

452
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:18.640
is like Europa park in that whole region, but your

453
00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:24.759
park and then Eftilene. So yeah, so that's the numbers.

454
00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:27.839
Looking at spending in start.

455
00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:30.119
Contrast with the rest of the world, attendance at North

456
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:32.799
American theme parks was somewhat stagnant for twenty twenty three,

457
00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.240
showing a collective and modest increase of about three percent

458
00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:37.599
for twenty twenty two. In other time periods of three

459
00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:40.759
percent gain would be applauded, but North American parks fell

460
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:44.279
short of fully regaining their twenty nineteen pre pandemic attendance.

461
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.519
Much of this was likely tied to predicted declines and

462
00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:50.160
levels of pent up demand, slower than expected return of

463
00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:53.039
their national visitors, and the timing of and levels of

464
00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:57.680
investment in new attractions. Per capital, spending has been steadily increasing,

465
00:23:57.720 --> 00:23:59.880
a trend continuing from the first few quarters when parks

466
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.960
open for the pandemic. The secret seems to be putting

467
00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:06.920
focus on the guests experience and finding ways to translate

468
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.519
that into more spending. Some of this increase likely comes

469
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:12.240
from being in an inflationary market, which I was going

470
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:13.440
to say, and then they put it in their report

471
00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:16.200
and I was like, okay. Also from an increased number

472
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:19.960
of transactions. So it's like they make it sound like

473
00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:24.440
it's rocket science here, but about just increasing the spending,

474
00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:27.440
you know. But what's interesting is that, you know, this

475
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.880
is a good point here, which is the slower than

476
00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.519
expected return of international visitors, and that is most likely

477
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:37.359
due to the dollar being so strong as compared to

478
00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:40.640
other visitors, and so Orlando relies heavily on international visitors.

479
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:42.880
And so I think you could also see again back

480
00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:46.799
to the investment in Orlando, when when the other places

481
00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:50.039
start to recover, international tourism does return, you could see

482
00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:53.400
all of those parks get a bump from that international

483
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:56.880
return to tourism, whereas California is not going to see

484
00:24:56.920 --> 00:24:59.920
that bump because like that's not as much of a

485
00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:03.720
market in California for that. Yeah, but that bump could

486
00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:06.319
also again remains to be seen. How much tourism will

487
00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:09.119
return to China remains to be seen. Right, So will

488
00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:12.160
that bump, Yeah, where will that bump we see that manifest?

489
00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.720
Well, kind of going back to the we told you

490
00:25:14.759 --> 00:25:18.720
so comment that Philip made at the beginning, one of

491
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:21.519
the things that I that we said very very early

492
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.640
on was when we come out of the pandemic. We

493
00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:26.480
are not going to go back to the way things were.

494
00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:28.119
We are going to go forward to the way things

495
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.279
are going to be. And I think that's what we're

496
00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:34.319
discovering right now. Everybody keeps making these comparisons because that's

497
00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:37.640
what financial people do, is make the comparisons to twenty

498
00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:41.440
nineteen when we didn't have a pandemic. There's so many

499
00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:44.920
factors that aren't being figured in there that what them.

500
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.680
How the pandemic changed the way we live, and how

501
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:50.680
the pandemic changed what we like to do and the

502
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:54.319
importance that we put on family and the importance we

503
00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:56.240
put on things that we do together. And I think

504
00:25:56.279 --> 00:25:58.799
we're still learning that. I think we are equaling out.

505
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:00.960
I do. I really think we are kind of finding

506
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:06.960
that median, which I think will be great. But I

507
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.680
think that we have to we have to look forward

508
00:26:11.319 --> 00:26:13.480
to find out where we're going, just as much as

509
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.599
we are looking backward to compare us to twenty nineteen.

510
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:16.640
That's my point.

511
00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:23.920
Well, I have no response to that.

512
00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:27.559
I think, if anything, I think some of their trends

513
00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:31.160
they say do look forward, But again their trends, I

514
00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:33.039
think we know we've been talking about one trend I

515
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.960
didn't really put in here, but maybe speaks to Scott's

516
00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:38.359
point about that is that they talk about how like

517
00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:42.200
wellness areas are on an uptick, but not in the

518
00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:45.920
North American market, but wellness areas where like communal experiences

519
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:48.799
with people and you know, like places where you wrap

520
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:52.200
in some sort of wellness thing into an fec or

521
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:53.359
into even a theme part.

522
00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:57.680
Yeah. I think that the I think is what is

523
00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:01.480
going to be appealing to the market. Yeah, it has

524
00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:04.599
shifted since since COVID, and I don't think we know

525
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.359
exactly what that is yet. I do know that we

526
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:11.279
need to certainly look at at creature comfort in the parks,

527
00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:15.240
and especially because so many of the parks when they

528
00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:17.519
are trying to justify why their numbers are not where

529
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.519
they where their investors want them to be, is because

530
00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:23.319
of weather. You know, I think that's very very important.

531
00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:27.680
But going back to what we were talking about earlier,

532
00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:31.559
you know, we'll we'll see how the diversification of climate

533
00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:35.240
for six Flags, we'll see how that helps or hinders

534
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.480
them as a company as a whole.

535
00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:40.000
There was a section for weather in the report, but

536
00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:45.160
it really didn't talk about anything, which you know, even

537
00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:47.759
reports like this are political in their in their way,

538
00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:50.039
so I'm not you know, you know, so I think

539
00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:52.279
that might have been a weird not sure how to

540
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:55.319
put it basically politically, but they did just mention that,

541
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.759
like a potential strategy, right, could be six flags of

542
00:27:58.759 --> 00:28:01.680
strategy of just having parks in different areas because then

543
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.559
you know, yeah, some parks that are shut down, then

544
00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:07.079
other parks are open and could help you device diversefy

545
00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:07.640
your revenue.

546
00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:08.559
But they.

547
00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:14.319
Didn't square that with the concept that clearly were not

548
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:18.599
diversified because the vast majority of the tourism in the

549
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.039
United States is just on two coasts, right like we

550
00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:23.759
see the map right there, So they didn't really square

551
00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:25.640
that circle in their report.

552
00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:27.839
And going back going back to what we talked about,

553
00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:30.240
or going back to the UAE, which we mentioned, you

554
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:33.880
know earlier, all the parks in Yas Island are all

555
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.079
indoors because they learned from the Dubai parks, some of

556
00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:42.920
which have closed motion gate is sucking wind of all

557
00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:45.640
of those parks that are outdoors. They realize they cannot

558
00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:49.079
operate the me around because they are just so incredibly uncomfortable.

559
00:28:49.319 --> 00:28:53.000
So they took in the in the initial design, they

560
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:56.480
took creature comfort, human comfort, the ability to be out

561
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.480
in one hundred and twenty degree heat into consideration in

562
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:02.599
the actual construction of the parks. So I think as

563
00:29:02.599 --> 00:29:04.319
we look forward, more and more parks need to take

564
00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:09.640
that into consideration, like Philip has mentioned, shaded areas, cooling areas,

565
00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:13.480
indoor areas, especially in the Florida market because it's getting

566
00:29:13.480 --> 00:29:14.200
warmer and warmer.

567
00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:15.519
YEP.

568
00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:19.119
The last section here to finish off that they mentioned

569
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:23.079
in the trends obviously inflation, we talked about increased costs,

570
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:25.920
turning to automation to reduce staffing, which we've talked about

571
00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:29.079
Agnovium as well. And then of course Halloween events have

572
00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:32.359
revolutionized at the park calendar. Parks are trying to create

573
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:34.519
that same level of demand through other special events hell

574
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:38.000
throughout the season. We talked about that a lot because

575
00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:42.000
it's exactly what we both work in and that's exactly true, right,

576
00:29:42.039 --> 00:29:45.519
So have all these balances out where they're trying to

577
00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:49.839
even out their shoulder seasons with other events to replicate Halloween.

578
00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:53.400
Although interesting in the past, at least this past year,

579
00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:56.039
where there's just been an interesting swing of the pendulum

580
00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:00.039
the other way where they're starting to include Halloween the

581
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:02.519
same way they include Christmas, which would kind of be

582
00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:04.200
pushing it back in the opposidression.

583
00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:06.880
Yeah, I will say that is a regional that is

584
00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:09.440
a regional thing, because in Florida they're pushing it hard

585
00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:13.319
the other way. They're continuing to make it part of

586
00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:18.200
a separate ticketed admission. As we all know here and again,

587
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:19.680
it just kind of proves the point that Philip and

588
00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:22.440
I have talked about again way too much, is that

589
00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:25.359
Halloween is sort of the gateway drug to the seasonal event.

590
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:27.960
And I think part of the reason that Halloween works

591
00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:30.200
so well as a separate ticketed event is because you

592
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.400
can take your brand and show a different side of it.

593
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.279
You can show a different facet. And everybody's been trying,

594
00:30:36.519 --> 00:30:38.079
as long as I've been in the industry, has been

595
00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:41.839
trying to find a way to recreate what Halloween does.

596
00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:45.519
And I think they've been trying too hard to find

597
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:47.640
things that are too much like their day product, and

598
00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:49.440
I think they need to look more into things that

599
00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:51.920
are less like their day product to offer a more

600
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:55.160
diverse overall offering so that they can bring in guests

601
00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:58.279
with different likes, different tastes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

602
00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:01.000
But once again that in of itself is a whole

603
00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:04.160
nother show, and this is not that show because we

604
00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:06.480
are out of time, so on behalf of Philip Bernandez

605
00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:08.640
and myself, Scott Swinson. This is Green Tag Theme Park

606
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.839
in thirty and we will see you next week