Feb. 28, 2024

Do Cedar Fair's Earnings Matter?

Cedar Fair reported a loss during the last earnings, but does it matter?

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Cedar Fair reported a loss during the last earnings, but does it matter? We also discuss Six Flags Great Adventure’s Savannah Sunset glamping resort and the Dungeons & Dragons’ off-Broadway show.

Show Outline:

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 01:01 Cedar Fair Earnings
  • 04:15 Theme Park Profit Models
  • 15:30 Six Flags Great Adventure’s Savannah Sunset glamping
  • 25:15 ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ off-Broadway show coming to New York City

SOURCES

  • Cedar Fair: https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202402/10048/
  • Six Flags Glamping: https://attractionsmagazine.com/six-flags-great-adventure-savhannah-sunset-glamping-resort-opening-june/
  • Dungeons and Dragons: https://attractionsmagazine.com/dungeons-dragons-off-broadway-show-new-york-city/
WEBVTT

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Los Angeles and someplace in Texas.
This is green Tag, they bark in

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there. I am Philip, and
I am joined as always on my co

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host Scott Swinson, a Scott Swinson
Crery Development and Green Tag is all about

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us taking the top stories in theme
park from each week and asking questions and

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puzzling through them together. And Scott
is he's somewhere and I don't know,

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he's always Texas. You know,
it seems like it's always busy season now.

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I don't know. For Scott.
Yeah, it used to be.

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It used to be only fourth quarter, and boy is that changed. But

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yes, I am in. I'm
just outside of San Antonio. I'm in

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New BRONFORLDS Texas, and I'm doing
some work here for my wonderful friends at

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Natural Bridge Cavern. So so yes, I am in this adorable little airbnb

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here in somewhere. As Philip so
adequately or so adequately that was really a

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cutdown, so so so, as
Stuteley noted, I am somewhere in tech

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perfect. Okay, today day we're
going to start off trying to figure out

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if the earnings from six Flags actually
matter, because I have been, I

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have been. Really it's like,
we had a pre show discussion and I'm

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like, does this matter? I
don't know, and Scott was like,

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let's just start recording. So this
yeah, because again we were having before

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we started recording the show, we
were having this intense, in depth conversation

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and I said, wait a minute, this is good content. Let's share

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this with So here we go.
This could this could fly or it could

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flop, but we're going to still
have the same So here we go.

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So six, so Cedar Fair released
their earnings, and the tail dr version

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of this is I'm not sure if
it even matters because it's kind of like

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it's a little bit like a like
a well, we'll talk about it.

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So, So, first of all, their attendance dipped slightly, only slightly,

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from twenty six point seven in twenty
twenty three million people to twenty six

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point nine million in twenty twenty two, so that's a slight flightlight dip.

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Their revenue also dipped a little bit. In park per capital spending was down

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one percent. It was partially offset
by a five percent increase and out of

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park revenues. Okay, here's the
interesting part though. So basically metrics are

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down from the previous years, but
only by like a tiny bit. The

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interesting part was that they had a
record five point eight million guests in the

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final four months of twenty twenty three, which is a nine percent increase over

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the same period in twenty twenty two. However, the spend during that time

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decreased. They also reported a loss
in that same quarter of ten million,

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driven by costs associated with the merger
with six lags. Okay, So I

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was trying to puzzle out with thought. I was like, okay, Like,

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so TLDR their numbers are slightly down, but we've talked about why all

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the numbers kind of should be down
because there was revenge travel that was still

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happening in the quarter of their referencing, and now it's like adjusting. We've

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talked about adjustment forever. And then
basically they're making tickets cheaper to get people

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into the parks during the holiday season. So yeah, like, yeah,

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their attendance is much higher and the
per spend because that's just how it works.

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More more people come into the park, so on average they spend less.

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Like sure, right, Uh,
I think well, there was I

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mean, there was an old way
of approaching attendance and theme park revenue.

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Uh there it was always there was
always this sort of arm wrestle back and

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forth of is it more important to
have clicks of the turnstile or is it

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more important to actually uh make make
more money on the ticket sales? And

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this has been, this has been
so I'm going fight back and forth what

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what what I was when we were
trying to figure out when we're trying to

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figure out that this is important not
is basically, and this is why I

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need Scott's help on because you know, the way I understand it as like

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a you know, much newer to
the theme park world. The veterans.

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He's the veteran. Okay, the
veteran, not that type of veteran.

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So I was wondering, Okay,
so here's what I thought. I see

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that there's almost like there's like three
kind of tiers to this. Tier.

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One is just like you you learn
in restaurants school, because I was in

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that first and and it is butts
and seats basically is what our chef used

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to say, which basically is we
had to get people into the park,

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and the more people that are in
the park, the more chance we had

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that they will buy things. We
have higher margin on okay, So that

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to me that was like the original
as a few years maybe like from the

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last decade or whatever. That was
like the Tier one. Tier two was

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like they discovered this thing called the
second Gate, and that was Halloween,

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and Universal has made it its own
separate quarter and now everyone else literally everyone,

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like remember last season when we talked
about you know, coming near you

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lights on everything like insert x here. So everyone has decided that Q four

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they could charge, they could make
two gates, they could double their inventory,

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right essentially, because the problem with
the problem with number one is that

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just like in restaurants, it expires. You can't get the day back.

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So if you don't sell out every
single day, you've lost your inventory and

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you can't get it back. But
now Tier two we discovered, hey,

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actually we could just invent new inventory. They could do the single the second

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gate, invent new inventory. And
people are like, aren't the guests going

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to get upset that we're having their
day that used to be twelve hours and

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now it's only like six and they're
like, apparently not so. And this

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is a uniquely American thing. We
talked about that too. And then Tier

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three, I think is where we
were getting to write like at the Crest

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of the Peak, which I think
it's really just Disney that has been journey

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into the new Frontier, which i'd
call Tier three, which is like if

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our parks sell out and our gates
sell out, they're like, you know,

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they're after dark events, a gimbig
bash, all that selling out,

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what can we possibly do? Oh, we could add entirely new properties that

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are luxury experiences that we could sell
outside of the park, and that would

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include the sar Cruiser some of those
items that they're doing. That is how

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I understand it did correct, right, So that's how I understood it.

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Not so much well, but I
think we could. Honestly, I think

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we can say that Universal is starting
to sort of dip their toe into that

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as well with the New Vegas Experience. You know, things that are outside

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the confines of their park, or
different different approaches to park like the Family

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Park, you know those kinds of
things. So yes, I think you're

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absolutely right in that. The the
back back in the day, it was

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you know, if we build it, they will come. And what we

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need to do is get as many
clicks on the turnstile as we possibly can

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but even back then, like I
said, there was still an arm wrestling

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going on. There was still a
fight going on between do we look at

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real money or do we look at
attendance? And what usually ended up happening

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is by the end of the year
whichever was higher. That was the matrix

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that we chose to use when we
were reporting it to this to anybody else

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like the stockholders or the media or
whatever. So, yes, our attendance

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is up. What we wouldn't say
is but our revenue is down because we

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took we cut our ticket price in
half. So to that end, it

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apparently is still an ongoing battle back
and forth. But in what you in

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what we've just talked about and what
we've reported here, seems like it's the

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same thing, right, Like nothing
has changed exactly, Like this is business

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as usual? Is how I read
this? Right? And I think,

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yeah, exactly exactly. And and
the way I look at it is we

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had a slight down tick at Cedar
Fair. We had a slight down tick

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and what really, but what really, what is the light at the end

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of the tunnel is we had significantly
we had a nine percent increase of clicks

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of the turnstile. But we did
it at a lower per person a per

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capita, so we did a lower
per cap and that's not necessarily the wrong

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thing to do if you are on
a recovery, if you have a long

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term recovery plan, the more people
you can get in, the more they

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can have fun. What we what
really and then to really make it sort

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of a this is more of a
wash is their losses. Many of their

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losses are attributed to the merger,
which is going to create in theory,

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a great deal of growth in theory. So yeah, but yeah, because

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we just we really don't know.
We really don't know. I actually,

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my gut tells me that the Cedar
Fair six Flags merger is a good thing.

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I think it is going to be. I think they I think both

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companies having some sort of familiarity with
both companies. I think both companies have

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things the other one doesn't have.
So if they're able to pull the strength

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from both, I think they will
make a better merged company. But it's

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not going to happen instantly. And
you know, like I like, like

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I mentioned to Philip before we even
started recording, as I said, at

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this point, from what I can
see, Cedar Fair is still acting like

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Cedar Fair and six Flags is still
acting like six Flags, and they're in

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the process of coming together. But
when you take two big behemoth companies like

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this, it is a slow process. There is so so much legally is

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that they have to go through before
they can start acting like, you know,

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a nice smoothly running machine, you
know. So they're still figuring that

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out, and I think, you
know, I think we can only give

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them the time to do that.
But you know, now that we've gone

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through it, and after we've had
our both our pre recording discussions and are

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on air discussions, I kind of
look at this and go, yeah,

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they had a downtick, right,
yeah, yeah, so I guess yeah,

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I think that so basically like it
is news, but I think for

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our audience it's not really important because
it's just business as usual. I think

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the only important thing might be to
understand that they are still struggling with that

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tier one right, like, like
they they haven't gotten to the point where

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they can Yes, they're not selling
out, correct, they're not selling and

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they're not selling out, but they've
learned that by reducing their by reducing their

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gate, by reducing their ticket price, that they can drive attendance, So

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it depends on what they do from
this point. You know, this is

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information, This is interesting information to
evaluate, for them to evaluate and to

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have. Do they need to reduce
their spend so that this new lower ticket

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price. Do they need to increase
opportunities for in park upsell? Do you

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know there's a lot of there's a
lot of factors that come into play here,

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but it is interesting information. I
won't say, you know, it's

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it's unimportant for our listeners. I
think it is important for us to recognize

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that all too often with large corporations, the moment there is something that is

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not yea a growth, everyone freaking
out. I look at it. A

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catastrophe. Yeah, everyone freaks out. It's a down tick. That's not

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where you want to be and you
can't sustain that. But the information that

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they have is good. Say it
and this leads into our I guess,

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I guess the related story, but
I don't know. I think it's it's

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also clear that they haven't figured out
really a way to make more second gates,

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and I think that's that was my
You know, if you look at

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tier two, which is second gates, you know, Disney, this is

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something Disney is becoming very good at, which we've reported on previously. But

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you know they're they're doing now they
have Star Wars nights and they're it's all

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like it's like they have second gates
year round now and they are selling out

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and and so they're really finding a
way to make that Tier two work.

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Well, they're selling out in California. Let's let's be clear here, California

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is you have a You have a
very different perspective of of what Disney is

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doing than than I do. Disney
is even though they have more than one

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park, But in California, Disney
is a park. It's a park that

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has two haves in my opinion.
In Florida, it is a resort,

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so it required it's a multi,
a multi hotel resort with significantly more parks,

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significantly more land, and it is
not filling up. So I think

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that when we talk about Disney,
we kind of have to make that distinction.

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You're right, Disney, California,
they can't take the capacity. But

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let's be honest, that park was
never built for the capacity that it was

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supposed to that it's that it could
potentially have. Now it's a tiny park,

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it's got no queue, it's got
no you know, it's got doesn't

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have enough parking. There's a lot
of things. So the whole idea of

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the reservation concept there, you know, that's how they're managing. They're actually

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at the opposite they're having the opposite
challenge of Tier one. They have too

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many potential people in the park and
to try to diversify that. That's why

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I think is driving the second gate, to try to say, Okay,

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well you can't get in during the
day, but here's another here's some more

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ticket media that we'll put out at
night, which is much more, much

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sexier to a Disney fan, to
say, come to this exclusive event.

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Then we're going to open the park. We're going to have a day ticket

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and a night ticket. Yeah,
for the same product that I think that

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was exactly what I said. I
mean, I think that's kind of how

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I sorted this discussion, which is
that I just wanted to clarify that that

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is only true in California. Yeah, but I'm not true it Disney in

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Florida. So I had agree with
that. I mean, I think that

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clearly they're scaling back the reservation system
in Florida. So you know, and

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we know that it's not been a
capacity and they don't have I guess this

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is where my knowledge is lacking.
But I don't believe that they have as

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many second gate options year round as
Disneyland does in Florida. Like at this

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point, we have like a after
we have a second gate option like almost

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every month here in California. And
I don't think that's true. But to

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your point, to your point,
for the part of the reason they don't

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is because they haven't correct. I
mean, I'm painting this as a progression.

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I'm paying this as like an ideal
progression for business models in theme park

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area. And I think that it's
this might have been maybe what Bob was

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mentioning when we talked about last week. It's like, is this the thing

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he's talking about when he's like,
we're putting all this money into increasing capacity,

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Like, does he mean part of
it trying to max out the capacity

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in Florida? You know what?
Possibly? Possibly, And it could be

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also that the capacity or the the
expanding capacity is the second Yeah. So

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related to all this, of course, talking about this concept of like a

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second gate and whatnot. So six
Flags has made some two announcements. I

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was trying to tie them to the
first one, but I think now that

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we've talked about it, I don't
think it. It doesn't really fit because

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you almost see like the thing like
six Flag, it's like Cedar Fair.

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Sorry, Cedar Fair is still struggling
to get enough people in the parks.

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But six Flags, I would argue
they're also struggling to do that, but

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they're also trying to do second things
into the parks at a full ticket price,

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because as we've reported, they can
get people at the parks. They

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had a nine percent increase at a
lower so Six Flags they had two things

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that came out of they're interesting.
First is that they're doing a glamping resort

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that's opening June fourteenth. And this
this is that I believe that's at actually

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two locations, but the one that
I have here in the show notes is

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from the Great Adventure in Savannah,
and basically it's an overnight glamping property.

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It's going to have twenty suites.
Then it can cater to couples up with

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up the two guests, or you
know, for smaller families. So they

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come with a daily breakfast, Giraft
free feeding and park admission to six Flags

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Great Adventure, six Flags Hurricane Harbor
Park and the Wild Safari Adventure for every

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person on the reservation. If they
already have park admission, they oversee front

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line access the parkingstead, which I
would say is not really a great deal.

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And A Trash's Magazine is the one
that brought the story and they did

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a mock checkout and they said that
the prices for two nights on opening weekend

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this June is fourteen hundred in a
couple suite and twenty two hundred in a

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family suite. So it's basically it
definitely is a pre a whole property that's

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designed to be a premium property,
So it definitely would be them trying,

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you know, I think that tier
two type of thing on the six Flag

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side. It's also interesting to note
that they went that six Flags Magic Mountain

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here in California has announced they are
bringing back Screen Break. It's coming back

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March twenty second through April thirteenth,
and this is the second year that they're

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and have done this and the main
difference is between last year and this year

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is that they've gone from fourteen nights
last year to eight nights this year.

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And last year they offered a multi
night ticket. This year there's no multi

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night ticket. It is forty dollars
per person plus parking unless you are a

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passholder. If you're a pass holder, you can get entry for free,

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but it is limited, like it's
first come, first serve, and it's

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limited, so you can reserve online. If the online reservations sell out,

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you can show up at the park
in person before the event and try and

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get a ticket from guest services if
you have an annual pass if but basically

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once they're gone, they're gone,
and then you would have to buy a

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ticket to come to the night event
of screen Break. And this year screen

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Break the offerings are relatively the same. There's two hunted houses, three scare

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zones, two DJ areas, and
they have themed food and beverage and whatnot.

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And last year we talked about how
I actually think they did an excellent

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job making at a new event,
like when when you went last year it

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was monsters, it was gouls gone
wild. It was actually like a screen

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Break theme. It wasn't just Halloween. It was actually like monsters on a

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spring break, and it was excellent. It was actually really well done.

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I talked about it last year about
how I think it's because they had access

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to talents that they don't normally have. This year, they've announced that they're

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going to just bring back all the
themes and the same stuff. They're going

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to change out one of the haunted
houses to be saw instead. So Theirica

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Saw was a really popular one.
And again ips all that, so they

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must have had the license to last
through screen break, which shows some future

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planning. But yeah, I mean, essentially it's seems to me like very

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similar where you know, they did
the test the first year and it went

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mediums, they're going to do it
again. It was enough to do it

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again, but clearly they're reducing the
nights to just being on the Friday Saturday,

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not Sunday, and they are trying
to make the per spend guest higher

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by reducing the ticket options and probably
limiting the amount of free tickets that can

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come in. But ultimately they're still
trying to get more people to come in

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for a second gate and trying to
spend more money on the food and beverage

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and all that stuff. Well,
it sounds to me exactly what you were

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talking about in your Tier one discussion. They're trying to max out the capacity

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for fewer nights. I mean,
that's that just is quite honestly good business.

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Now, whether it creates a good
product, that's a whole nother story.

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How can they manage the larger crowds
on the on the fewer nights,

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et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera. That goes back to our old

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you know, the old song and
dance that we always do. What about

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what about our execution? What's the
execution going to be? So it seems

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like they're they're doing that. I
mean, I think it sounds like a

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good idea. If it was a
good event last year, let's hope that

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it's a good event this year.
I think they're they're finding a way that

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they can max out that that capacity
over eight nights versus fourteen nights, which

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seems like a good business move.
I want to step back just a little

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bit to the glamping resort experience.
So high end has Star Cruiser vibes in

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my opinion for sure, well it
has it has. I mean, being

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being from Florida, it has.
It has Animal Kingdom Lodge vibes. To

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me. It's also something that at
one point in time six Flags in Tampa.

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I'm sorry, Bush Gardens in Tampa
talked about experimenting with as well.

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So here are here are the things. This goes back to my Not only

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is it it's not really a new
idea, it's something that that has been

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done before, and it's been done
by Disney, which they, you know,

290
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have a a bit better track record
with the the the higher end experiences,

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not necessarily including glac Star Cruiser.
But so it's I'm curious. I

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hope that six is almost outsourcing this
because six Flags forgive me six Flags friends,

293
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but six Flags is not the first
company, not the first theme part

294
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company I think of when I think
of high end exclusive experiences. Now,

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maybe this is a turning point for
them. Maybe this is something that is

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coming about because of the Cedar Fair
merger. You know, maybe they're starting

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00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:33.920
to, as a combined company explore
these options for more high end exclusive experiences.

298
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I don't know. I will say
it sounds really cool and the concept

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art that I've seen looks really cool. And no, I don't have any

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sort of behind the scenes access,
it's what's been published. But but I'm

301
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just again, it comes back to
that execution, and is this this seems

302
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.119
it. Just when I saw this
announcement, the first thing I thought was,

303
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this seems out of character for six
Flags. This seems out of character

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for six Legs. Now, I'm
not saying they can't do it. I'm

305
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not saying they won't do it.
Well, I'm saying it just seems out

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of character based on their previous track
record and the way they've kind of positioned

307
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themselves in the industry. You know, they've always positioned themselves as very much

308
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an amusement park. You know,
Yes they have ips, yes they have

309
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themed areas, but for the most
part, it's an amusement park with a

310
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couple of themed areas and some ips, which, as a coaster nerd like

311
00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:34.960
myself, I love Six Flags exactly
for that. So I'm curious. This,

312
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like I said, seems out of
a little bit off brand. But

313
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is this the sign of the new
six Flags, the new six Flags Cedar

314
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Fair merger. I don't know.
We'll see. Yeah, I don't know.

315
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Cool. I agree with you on
all those. I also would say

316
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that I think the price point is
pretty high for the area that they are

317
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in, like the the Yeah,
I mean it, I mean, just

318
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looking at that ma checkout, like
fourteen hundred and a couple suite and twenty

319
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:12.720
two hundred in the family suite.
I don't know, like twenty two one

320
00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:21.880
hundred dollars for two nights. And
this is in Savannah, like I don't

321
00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.359
when it is and stuff, But
it better, Like I said, I

322
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want, I want my car washed
when I come out. I mean,

323
00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:33.480
they it better be. It better
have every bell and every whistle. Now,

324
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.799
granted, if there are only twenty
suitets, it is possible that they

325
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:42.359
are able to give them the kind
of service that you deserve for that level,

326
00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:48.000
for that price level. And you
know, a giraffe and a giraffe

327
00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:49.880
feeding, you know what does that
mean? Are you doing it from your

328
00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:56.039
balcony or are you schlepping out to
the chain link fence that holds the giraffe?

329
00:23:56.359 --> 00:24:00.599
Two very different experiences. So I
don't I just think this would be

330
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.759
maybe not. I mean, I
just think that this would even be expensive

331
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in California, right, you know? And and well it breaks down to

332
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:15.200
what for a family would be eleven
hundred to night for a couple, seven

333
00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:22.000
hundred for a couple. Yeah,
seven hundred per night. So yeah,

334
00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:25.880
that's especially when you're not like you're
not. You could go to like the

335
00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:30.079
Ritz Carlton right for like up a
similar price, right, and then you

336
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.680
just buy a ticket to go into
the park, you know, like and

337
00:24:32.839 --> 00:24:36.960
take an over there. Like it's
not like I don't, I don't know.

338
00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:37.839
I don't know. I don't know. Well, whatever, we'll see

339
00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:41.640
as as you said, execution,
but you know, it does include it

340
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.160
does include the it does include the
park admissions. Yeah, but so I

341
00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.599
have to kind of back that out. It's not that high. I get

342
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.559
it, I get it. No, I I, like I said,

343
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if the it comes down to execution, like we always always always say,

344
00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.000
I don't. I don't know whether
it's a thing that I would do.

345
00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.279
But if someone came back to me
and said, oh my gosh, you

346
00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:08.359
would never believe this was on a
six Flags property because they take care of

347
00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.000
us like gold, all right,
consider it, okay, I don't know.

348
00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:17.079
We'll have to see yeah, yes
or no. I think the section

349
00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:21.720
should be called the gamification of improvisation. And this is the story is that

350
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:25.000
the Dungeons and Dragons, an off
Broadway show, is coming to New York

351
00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:29.319
City. The op Broadway show Dungeons
and Dragons, the twenty Sided Tavern is

352
00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:33.279
an interactive theatrical production that allows the
audience to participate in a live, officially

353
00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:38.319
licensed Dungeons and Dragons fantasy quest.
The plot is driven by audience decisions and

354
00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:42.720
the show features a cast of five
actors play playing over thirty unique characters in

355
00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:47.640
a popular forgotten realm setting. Each
performance is unique, with the audience voting

356
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:52.079
on key stories decisions throughout through the
use of an app so the audience empts

357
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:55.599
can decide which characters appear and help
them overcome puzzles, riddles, and combat

358
00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:59.400
experiences. Additionally, some audience members
will be chosen to join the cast on

359
00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:03.599
stage in various activities, including trivia
characters and fantasy beer pong. So,

360
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:08.400
for those that haven't played Dungeons and
Dragons before, I'm sure you're familiar with

361
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:11.480
the whole concept of the D twenty
system and all that, But essentially Dungeons

362
00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:15.599
and Dragons is like you make your
character and then you go through you know,

363
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:18.559
generally it's a tabletop game, uh, And that means that everything is

364
00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:22.279
done in the imagination and on paper, and generally what you're doing is you

365
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:26.480
make, you make a character,
and then you know, you act or

366
00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:33.599
you role play through situations and whenever
you want to do something or you know,

367
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:37.160
use a skill or whatever. You
know, like you want to try

368
00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:40.519
and convince someone to do something,
so you have to roll a persuasion skill

369
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.680
or whatever you're rolling dice to determine
how how well you will succeed at the

370
00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.119
item or whether you'll succeed in fail
or fail right, and you get certain

371
00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:52.279
boosts to what you do. So
basically what this is doing is is taking

372
00:26:52.319 --> 00:27:00.480
that the portion of the rolling thing
and allowing the audience to participate in that

373
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:04.160
through the app, and then that
influences the outcome in real time of what's

374
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:11.039
happening on stage. Yeah, and
the thing that I think is interesting and

375
00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:12.240
that it's not really mentioned in this
story, so I'm curious to see how

376
00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:18.279
how it plays out is actually having
the game master who is the one who

377
00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:26.720
helps facilitate the forward movement of the
show. There are so many things about

378
00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:33.480
this particular story that I really really
like. First off, it it ties

379
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:36.920
into what we've been talking about for
several weeks now, and that is how

380
00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:41.160
powerful the gamer's market is right now. More powerful, more vibrant, touching

381
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:48.599
more people, opening more wallets than
movies, you know, than what's happening

382
00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:52.319
in Hollywood. And again, it
wasn't until I went to gen Con that

383
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:57.559
I truly saw the power of gamers
and the power of the gaming culture.

384
00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:03.440
So that I think is really exciting. Secondly, this is truly immersive.

385
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:07.119
You know, you've heard me use
my phrase. I get tired of people

386
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:11.279
saying things are immersive when they're just
three hundred and sixty degrees or something you

387
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:15.519
walk through. Something is immersive when
the participants or the audience members actually can

388
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:22.799
impact the forward momentum of the presentation, can actually change what's happening. This

389
00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:26.400
is clearly what's happening here. So
I think that's I think that's really fun.

390
00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:30.920
The third thing that I'm excited about
is this is a wonderful from what

391
00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:36.319
it's how it's described here. It's
a wonderful melding of technology from the game

392
00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:41.119
app and live performance from bringing people
up on stage to play fantasy beer pong.

393
00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:45.599
This is this is just like yep, super simple. Love it easy

394
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:49.759
to do and easy to make to
make work. And the fourth reason is

395
00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:57.079
completely selfish. So two years ago
at Tampa Fringe or three years ago at

396
00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:00.960
Tampa Fringe. I got a chance
to sit in as a guest in a

397
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:07.799
fringe show that was very, very
similar to this in concept. It was

398
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.880
not licensed by Dungeons and Dragons.
It was not It was a completely different

399
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.440
scenario, completely scripted for the show, but it did exactly the same thing.

400
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There were only four of us.
There was a game master and four

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actors, and we were all improv
actors, and we utilized the exact same

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concepts, the rolling of dice,
the but and then the audience. Because

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we didn't have an app with a
fringe show, the audience actually had a

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die that they could roll at certain
key moments and and change, and we

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had to all adapt to the changes
that were being made within the realm,

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within the world with the the reintroduction
of Dungeons and Dragons through Stranger Things.

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I think this this really taps into
a multi generational audience. And I'm very

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very excited about this, and I'm
excited that it's it's getting attention. I'm

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excited that it's coming to New York, and I'm hoping again with good executions,

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I agree with all that success.
Very quickly, I wanted to just

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add that you know you mentioned about
the real time interactive pulling you through the

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story. I also want to highlight
that a big part of D and D

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as consequences and the dice help enforce
consequences, right, and so I think

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that So I think that's a big
piece of it that's clearly going to be

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in there, because the characters will
face consequences demand how well you roll it

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00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:32.880
don't roll. And also it's when
you said the technology pairing, I think

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it's important to point out we've talked
about this before, but this is this

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is technology helping the story. It's
not the other way around. And I

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think that's right. That's critical because
you know, it's like you could not

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00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:48.759
do this without technology. That's when
technology should be used. You know,

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can you tell the story in a
better way, a more seamless way through

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00:30:53.799 --> 00:30:59.720
technology or is it or is it
putting a layer that distracts you? And

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this is not that. This is
like we are using it to make sure

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that the improv actors can do something
without skipping a beat, and that everybody

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can truly everybody can just pay quickly
and just make it frictionless. And I

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think that's that's those are my two
points. Yep. Yep, and I

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00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:18.839
think those are great points, Philip, thank you for sharing. And as

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far as friction lists, we are
going to slide right on out of this

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00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:25.559
show because we are out of time. So yeah, I'll get better at

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00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:26.480
my transition. I keep saying that, I've said that for the last three

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00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:30.400
weeks that I'll get better with my
transitions. I haven't. The show's over,

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00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:34.000
so I'll keep working on them on
behalf of Philipernandez with Gantam Lighting and

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00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.759
the Haunted Attraction Network and myself Scott
Swinson with Scott Swinson Creative Development. This

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00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:42.519
once again is Green Tag Theme Park
in thirty ish and we promise that we

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will see you again next week