Hasbro City & Crystal Tower Open

WEBVTT

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From our studios in Los Angeles and
Tampa. This is Green Tag theme Park

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in thirty I'm Philip, He's Scott
and this week we'll start off talking about

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the Hasbro City opening in Mexico.
Hasbro City's extensive entertainment offering includes ride such

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as Monopoly The Ride, a speeded
roller coaster which carries the rail all the

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way as to the top and where
passengers can control the speed, Power Rangers

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Battle, a state of the art
pumpers cars ride with three sixty degree turns,

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Zip's Royal Flight, among many others. There's also going to be entertainment

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offerings such as character shows, interactive
in virtual roundy attractions, active place bases,

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fund games, themed food, beverage, as well as at first Hasbro

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themed store in the region. We
are excited to welcome guests to Hasbro City

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and to continue our blueprint two point
oh strategy offering more meaningful ways for families

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to engage with our brands, said
Matt from the VP of Location based Entertainment

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at Hasbro. We talked about this
story when it was announced, originally about

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the concept of Hasbro opening up a
fec slash mini theme park type of deal

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in this area, not only again, like they said, it is an

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expansion into the Mexican Mexico region and
the first kind of store in that area.

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So that's one big portion of it. I think the bigger portion is

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exactly what that quote said, which
is basically more meaningful ways to engage with

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our brand. I also interviewed the
Hasbro team when they're at License Nextbo and

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they were actively looking for more expansions
of their brand, and I think that's

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exactly it. They're looking for ways
for guests, families. Really they're targeting

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like the families, like the people, like like we had talked about this

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where Hasbro, a lot of these
ips are older, so it's really like

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it's like the parents. You're almost
targeting the parents, and then they're trying

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to get their kids interested in the
toys and in the understanding by taking them

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to these experiences. So yeah,
I used to love to play with my

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Mighty morphrom Power Rangers when I was
a kid. Let's go to let me

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take you and we'll go to the
Yeah. Yeah, that's I mean,

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that's what it's all about. Um, I think I agree with you one

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hundred percent, Philip. I mean, this is this is great. But

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I think one of the things that
I really want to make sure nobody misses

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on this, there's actually a position
with Hasbro called the vice president of Location

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Based Entertainment UM a toy company.
Now this is this is I won't say

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this is brand new, but this
is something that is becoming more becoming more

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and more commonplace for non quote unquote
entertainment brands, and that is to have

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a location based entertainment coordinator, vice
president, director, whatever, because again,

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they're they're reaching out to make it
so that it's not just the toys

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or the board games or the the
next newest interation iteration of those. I

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mean, there's only so much you
can do to bring Monopoly into the current

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the current environment, and they've already
done that with, you know, doing

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all sorts of themed Monopoly games.
They've done it with all sorts of video

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versions and electronic gaming version. So
now they have to create it so that

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you can experience in yet another way
in the ride. So it's to have

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a position in a company that their
sole focus is location based entertainment, first

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of all, is incredibly smart on
behalf of Hasbro, and secondly, becoming

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more and more common even in things
that you don't necessarily expect. I have

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several friends who for and I can't
really talk about the companies, but for

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companies that you wouldn't think of would
be necessarily related to entertainment, they are

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now responsible for finding new ways to
get their brand in front of people in

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live situations or in interactive situations,
or you know, how can how can

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we get how can we get the
brand and the product and the IP in

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the faces of people so that they're
not just having to rely on advertising to

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reinforce the brand or quality of product
to reinforce the brand. Now they can

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create this sort of fun hybrid m
bridge between live interactive entertainment and board games

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or action figures or um other less
obvious brands and ips. I think that's

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I think that's really smart. I
think it's really cool. Um you know

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it's it's sort of like it's it's
a weird sort of twist on what they

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used to do with films, where
companies would would actually try to pitch to

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get product placement in movies. You
know, they would they would pitch that.

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My favorite story is Eminem's Turned Down, UM turned Down ET, but

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Reese's pieces didn't, and it's why
Reese's Pieces, what they claim is why

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Reese's Pieces actually became a popular candy. Otherwise it would have faded into obscurity

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had it not been for Elliott and
Et laying down the Reese's Pieces. For

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those of you who aren't old enough
to remember the movie, stream it so

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anyway. But it was one of
those product placement things. This is kind

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of the opposite. This is how
do we instead of doing product placement,

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how do we use our product to
reinforce the live, interactive experience. And

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I think it's really smart to have
people doing that. So if you are

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an independent owner or an owner of
a smaller park and you don't feel like

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you can play with the big boys, check with some of the companies around

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you. They may not have somebody
completely assigned to it, but there's going

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to be a trickle down of this
mentality of having someone who is hired to

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seek out those live engagements. So
look for those, look for those in

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your area. Because it doesn't necessarily
have to be the largest international IP brand.

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This same concept will work on smaller
ips or even local ips. So

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just keep that in mind as you're
as you're looking for ways to not only

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you know, find ways to financially
support your organization, but also to bring

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in a larger audience because you can
build not only on your fans, but

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also the ends of whatever other product
or IP is out there. It's interesting

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that you mentioned the product placement thing, because in my brain, this is

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the new media version of product placement. It's just it's crazy that you're It's

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like, it's like you mentioned it
as the opposite, but I actually think

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it's more like the way it's done
this year or this year, this this

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this year, Next year it'll be
done differently this this era or whatever.

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Yeah, next year it will be
aar or it'll be like in the whatever

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Google thing. Now. It's just
interesting because when I think about it,

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I think about this happens all the
time, you know in LA, whether

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it's a pop up for a whole
pop up little mini experience, or it's

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them doing something at conventions or you
know whatever. There's all these brand extensions

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that happen all the time, activations, and I feel like the purpose really

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is to get people excited. Yes, but if you talk to the marketing

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team, they're like, how many
story shares did we get? How many

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mentions did we get, Like that's
what they're tracking, attracting the mentions,

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and then you think about how many
you know, aggers did we invite.

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And the vloggers all do their own
bit with whatever, Like look at Comic

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Con and last year of the American
horseed or a little garden thing like you

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know, they had all the press
go through, And I mean that's like

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that to me is really from the
marketing standpoint why they're doing it. They're

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doing it for product placement essentially in
all of these new media, you know,

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getting in people's stories on Instagram and
getting in people's videos on YouTube,

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right, And it's it used to
be back in the day when we were

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looking at because we even did this
to a certain extent a thousand years ago

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at Hell of Scream at Bush Gardens
in Tampa. We would get sponsorship from

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brands, either local we would usually
get from them from local distributors of national

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and international brands. So for example, we would go and talk to Duncan

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Donuts and ask what is it that
you that you want out of this,

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and they very simply wanted to make
certain that people knew they had good coffee.

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Because this was right when Duncan was
long their coffee. So what they

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did was, we said, great, give us X amount of dollars,

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give us um anything you have that
says Duncan Donuts, which I used to

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set decor and the haunt that they
that they sponsored um. And then at

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the end of the night they did
Duncan Donut coffee samples to guests as they

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were leaving at two o'clock in the
morning, which was perfect. I mean,

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it was just a perfect tie into
the guest experience as well as showing

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people, hey, Duncan Donuts has
great coffee. And because again at the

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end of the night, people are
either tired or dare I say, drunk,

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um, and they needed a little
little caffeine pick me up um before

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heading on home. And so it
worked out, It worked out beautifully.

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Hasbro, of course, has taken
this to a completely new level. So

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it's not just the sponsorship of a
single haunt, but it is the integration

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into an entire park and I and
I it just it just all makes way

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way way too much sense to me. This is this is exactly what should

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happen. So it doesn't seem like, you know, if you're if you're

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an old guy like me. You
think of to old television and the old

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television commercials where you'd hear and now
a word from our sponsor, where they

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would completely separate from the show.
Um, it's not the case anymore.

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This is actually going back to even
before my time on television, where entire

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shows we're sponsored by specific brands.
UM. So it's it's it's that full

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integration. Of course, it's the
pendulum swinging back and forth, but it's

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full integration. Yeah, it's the
full integration of the of the brand into

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the experience. Um. And this
is something of course, as we all

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know that Disney has always done.
Um and, but now it's going outside

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of the world of entertainment, into
the world of toys, into the world

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of you know, I just came
from Ferrari World in Abudhabi, the world

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of cars. Uh. It's there
are parks being built based on pretty much

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any any brand you can think of. So coming in twenty twenty five Windex

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World where all the everything's made of
glass and it's super clean. I don't

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know, but that could be a
thing. I'm I'm actually I have ideas

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for that now. Actually, either
we go it could be like an r

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experience and you know it's that,
or it could be like a haunt where

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it's like a mirror thing and you
don't know and you just like hit paints

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of glass and you smudge that.
You do it up in a you do

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it up in a mountain and uh
and you do this whole you know,

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glass walkway that goes out and gives
you this this beautiful view of everything,

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and um. Yeah. The haunt
ideas is very much like what what was

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that thirteen ghosts something like that in
an escape room and you have to clean

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the right spot, Yeah, exactly
exactly where what you do is it all

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the window looks dirty until then there's
messages on it days. Yeah, yeah,

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okay, all right, we're gonna
charge the Royal TV for that.

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And so there we go. All
right, thank you windex Well, now

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that we're in the spooky realm,
well, I don't know, this is

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sort of spooky. But anyway,
here's an update a story we talked about.

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We talked about this so many times, but Glenwood Caverns. Remember that

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there was the unfortunate fatality back in
twenty twenty one there and essentially after the

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investigation what happened is Glenwood Caverns has
a had a Haunted Mind drop and it

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was a drop ride. It was
very low capacity. But essentially what had

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happened was there was a small girl
who sat on top of the restraint and

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then when they went to cycle it, there was an air message that came

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up. But the right operator thought
that he reset it because he kind of

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you know, she was sitting on
top of the restraint and she put the

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excess over her to make it look
like she was dropped in and they reset

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it. So the right out like
Manu went in reset it because of course

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there's always an error, like you
have to cycle every seat right, so

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he didn't cycle the seat. He
reset the ride and said it goes up

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and she falls out and dies.
So it was it was bad. Obviously

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it was a terrible incident, but
it triggered a lot of safety and whatnot.

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We talked about that was two years
ago. Since then, they we

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talked about last Sayapa, we saw
that some we saw some previews of the

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retheming they had decided to do and
now they have officially reopened that section.

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It's now called the Crystal Tower and
it's everything's inside has been rethemed, the

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queuing, the restraints, the instruction
and signage, lighting, operator control panel

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placement, everything was redesigned to give
a much they say, a much clearer

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view of the right experience. There
were two things I thought were interesting about

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the story. One is that they
don't want to talk about it. Out

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of respect for everyone involved, we
will not be giving interviews or distributing further

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information, so they just kind of
um, they're They're like, we've reopened

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it. It's called Crystal Tower period. You know. That's that's basically it.

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And the next thing is really what
they've done some of the specifics.

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They did list out the specifics very
like bullet points specifics, so it kind

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of the opposite of usually what we
get with fluffy. There's like there's no

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fluffy. It's like we've done these
things and we've done it. But I

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thought it was interesting they focused on
transparency kind of of the of the like

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how the loading and all the operating
system is happening. But also they've kind

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of redone to make it a three
point restraint system. So instead of it

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being a belt that goes across your
bottom, now right, it's a full

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like harness like in a in a
car, so a full like harness that

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goes over. So I think essentially
what they're thinking is it's much harder than

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you know with the with the red
with the panel being redone and the news

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security systems in place, and then
with this panel, it'll be much more

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difficult to I mean, it's very
it's even more clear at that point the

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harness is on or not right,
it's not you can't be half on the

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harness. So it's interesting that they
talked. When Scott and I talked about

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the story last time, we talked
about really the key being the training here

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and how it ties into the staffing
thing. And what was interesting is nowhere

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really in this that I see them
talking about how they have redone their training.

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They were like, oh, we've
we've you know, we're doing training,

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blah blah blah blah. You know, they all the basic stuff,

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but they haven't sat down and say
this was the fundamental problem we found with

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our training and how we are resolving
it. They didn't say that. Instead,

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they're like, we readed the restraint
system, we readed the theme you

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and all that. So I don't
know. So it's interesting because this story

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is. I was not aware that
they had reopened until we started going through

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the notes for the show today that
obviously Philip puts together. And when I

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when I was reading this and as
you started to talk about it, I

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started to think the exact same thing. I was, like, you know,

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they're talking about all of the bullet
point issues of we did this to

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improve the harness, we did this, but none of these were the reason

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it happened. Yes, the reason
it happened was because of operator error.

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Yes, And I think that's I
think it's fair. And saying that without

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without I'm not I'm not casting shade
in any way, shape or form.

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But it seems like after everything we
have read, based on the information that

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I have, let me put it
that way, based on the information I

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have regarding this particular incident, it
sounds to me as though the real cause

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was operator error. It wasn't a
failure of the the restraint. It wasn't

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a failure of the UM, even
of the monitoring system of said restraint.

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It was it was a it was
a failure on behalf of the operator of

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the operator UM. And again my
heart goes out to obviously to the family

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of the victim here, and um, you know, there is a part

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of me that it's like, why
would you try to intentionally bypass a restraint?

220
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Um? I don't understand that either, But that's that's a whole another

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story. Um. But here,
in this particular case, what they have

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done, it sounds to me what
they have done is they have spelled out,

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in as you say, bullet point
format, all of the concrete hardened

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fast things. They can say,
look we did this, and look we

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did this, and look we did
this. But training is very very nebulous,

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um have to be. But in
most cases it is because when they're

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I mean, let's let's be honest, folks, those of you who are

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listening, and have we ever worked
in a theme part? You know that

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when you got to get somebody out
there, training gets either postponed or sped

230
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up or whatever. And even safety
training, which it shouldn't, but it

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does, and it becomes just a
checklist of things that you have to do

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in order to go out and be
part of the team. And when you

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are running with half of your your
budgeted staff, you know that that training

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gets shorter and quicker. So it's
clear that what they've done here is they've

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They've just led with here's all the
things that we've done that we can show

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you and take pictures of, and
you can take pictures of, and but

237
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none of it, you know,
none of it says we've increased our safety

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training by X, Y and Z. Now, there are a couple of

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reasons. Number one, like I
say, this is very nebulous and really

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hard to hard to pin down.
And number two, if they had led

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with this, it opens up the
door once again to show that it was

242
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operator error. I think that's also
part of the reason that they are not

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giving interviews. I think that's part
of the reason that they are. They

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are spitting out. They're trying to
save an asset, which I completely your

245
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stand. They're trying to save an
asset that UM really was not broken.

246
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There was nothing wrong with the attraction
or the ride itself. UM. But

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it's much easier for them, and
it's a puts them in a much um

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safer political place, or or not
even political, but marketing from a marketing

249
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standpoint puts them in a much safer
place to say, look at all of

250
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the restraints that we've added and all
of the but it's not what caused the

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problem in the first place. So
again I just want to I just I'm

252
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not and I'm not even I'm not
even slamming them for it. I'm explaining

253
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why I think it's going on.
But I think we all need to kind

254
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of look at these things and those
of you, you know, if for

255
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:48.079
for our listeners who work in HRUM, this is a perfect example of why

256
00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:51.960
training is so important and if you
need to go back and prove it to

257
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the powers that be going up your
food chain, um, then this is

258
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a great example to site uh,
and that is that training can not be

259
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pushed off to the side. Yeah, I just want to further on that,

260
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just to clarify, you know,
Scott said, like basically, the

261
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police report made it very clear that
it was it was the error of the

262
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staff Like there was no like this, this this isn't like that. To

263
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me, is what goes counter to
what Scott was saying. Like, I

264
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think in the context of understanding that
the police official police report against your attraction

265
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said that it was staffing, it
was user, it was the error of

266
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this and it wasn't It didn't actually
even blame the right operator if you remember,

267
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it was like, look, they
didn't get enough training by the supervisors

268
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of the park team to make this
happen. That to me, I feel

269
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like they should have said something just
because of the context of there's official police

270
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report out there that anybody can bring
up that says that it was their fault

271
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for training. I just feel like
there was a disconnect there. And and

272
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yeah, they said like even their
officials says all structural and procedural changes have

273
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been performed by engineers that specialize in
advanced amusement ride design, as well as

274
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independent righte safety experts with experience inspecting
rides around the world. That did not

275
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address at all that. So I
guess what I would like to have seen

276
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is a nod to that in some
way and something of a like, I

277
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get Scott's point about you get into
weird legal areas if you go down this

278
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road. So I don't know,
but like maybe so you know, I

279
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again not an attorney, so would
have to consult them. But what I

280
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would have liked to see some nod
to that, And I would like to

281
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see something that is a like,
we're you know, we're only allowing this

282
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level tier of operator or something they
have to have training that's sort or whatever,

283
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like it's not going to just be
the trurocart person on their break that's

284
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going to go down and run this
ride because we're short staffed. I would

285
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like some kind of like, you
know, we have redone our internal policies

286
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to reflect that we acknowledge that there
needs to be more that this is a

287
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position that requires training based is what
I would like to see, right,

288
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And I think and I think we
would all love to see that. However,

289
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I was just explaining why the park
themselves chose not to go down that

290
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route because they can't guarantee that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well,

291
00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:17.480
anyway, here we are. It's
reopened. It's called Crystal Tower Nolfin and

292
00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:21.359
months ago. Check it out.
Let us know what the Crystal How Crystal

293
00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:26.680
Tower is all? Right? Our
next story, Oh, it's a spoaky

294
00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:30.559
one. So the Mall of America
is going to make a new haunt.

295
00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:33.799
So they've partnered with American Monsters and
they're set to open a new haunt this

296
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Halloween season. It's called Onion Heads
Revenge, which I don't know about that.

297
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It's a forty five thousand square foot
immersive haunt and we'll bring together dozens

298
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of life scharacters and legendary creatures in
terrifying evocative sets, combined with media base

299
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:52.839
scare moments, theatrical lighting, special
effects, and an original soundtrack that will

300
00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:59.640
transport guests into a never before experienced
realm of horror. It'll also feature specialty

301
00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:03.000
bar with them cocktails and food.
More than a great Haunt, this is

302
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:06.960
a truly exciting night out. After
a shot of liquid courage, guest will

303
00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:10.680
step inside a world of creepy Louisiana
bayous and graveyards and come face to face

304
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:15.559
with supernatural terror and a creature out
for revenge, said CEO of American Monsters.

305
00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:22.119
Yeah. So what was interesting to
me is this came out of left

306
00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:26.680
field and also this is a partnership
with um we didn't mention it in here,

307
00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:34.039
but music Er Entertainment Group, the
themed entertainment producers, and also the

308
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:38.640
people who put together the Haunted Hotel
in San Diego. So it's like it's

309
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:44.240
like the Mall. Plus it seems
like American Monsters is like the Shell Corp.

310
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But you know it's it's basically we
have all these entities, the Mall

311
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:49.720
of America, the American Monster people, but also the people who do the

312
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:55.240
Haunted hotel stuff out in San Diego
and then the themed entertainment fabrication studio.

313
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So it's an interesting pairing of people. And it's interesting that from the gate

314
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.960
they're doing the you know, the
full night entertainment blah blah blah. And

315
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.440
also that it's such a large footprint. I'm not sure about any of this.

316
00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:14.680
UM, forty five thousand square foot
is a lot. Yeah, it's

317
00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:17.640
just it's it's so again, I
guess, I guess this all depends on

318
00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:19.799
the execution. But I'm seeing a
lot of things in here that are suss

319
00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:22.960
Like, I'm like, m,
can you fill forty five thousand square foot

320
00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:27.000
square feet in year one? Um? Also, the thing the entertainment studio

321
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.240
you're hiring doesn't have a track record
and haunts there a theme park people,

322
00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:34.240
So maybe it's it's more of a
you know, like a more of a

323
00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:37.160
permanent installation that I don't know.
I don't know, I don't know sky

324
00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:41.799
what anything. Well, first of
all, I don't know who onion Head

325
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:45.119
is, but yeah, I know
that was also I quite honestly, I

326
00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.759
see I love the name. It
intrigues me. I want to know who

327
00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.480
onion Head is and why do they
need revenge, That's my question. And

328
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.519
again I'm sure that there there is
someone knows who onion Head is and what

329
00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.640
character it is, and but I
don't new to me. So if if

330
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.720
they're if they're trying to build their
own IP, more power to them.

331
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.599
And if it is an existing IP
that they got really cheap, more power

332
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.240
to them. So there we go. Um. The one thing that I

333
00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:15.880
will say that I found, as
you say, Philip, a little suss

334
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:21.160
is when you're when you're looking at
their description, it's it's basically it's going

335
00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:23.839
to be a haunted house, which
has and then they list all these things

336
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:29.160
which basically means a haunted house.
Like theatrical lighting. I was like,

337
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:32.640
as opposed to what type? Opposed
to you know, a lamp or two,

338
00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:37.200
Um, I don't know, terrifyingly
evocative sets. So it's going to

339
00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:44.799
have scenic lighting, scare moments,
special effects, and music pretty much everything

340
00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:48.519
every haunt has ever had ever since
the Dawn Time exactly. So what makes

341
00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.920
it immersive is the question, and
what makes it and what makes it what

342
00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:55.160
makes it cut through the noise of
all the other Halloween stuff. Now I

343
00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:56.839
will say I was I was with
you the moment you said forty five thousand

344
00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:03.319
square foot, I was like,
the hub, Yeah, that's gigantic and

345
00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:10.519
working on multiple haunts at as we
speak, as we record this UM looking

346
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:15.759
at staffing. Trying to staff enough
performers to have an impactful haunt that is

347
00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:22.039
forty five thousand square feet is going
to be very challenging unless they are able

348
00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:27.799
to utilize some some we'll call them
space suck. We need some they need

349
00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:32.000
some giant things that will eat up
some of that space. Whether that is

350
00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:41.160
a massive um, a massive animation
or a huge sort of cage maze or

351
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:42.160
whatever. I don't know. They're
going to have to eat up some of

352
00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:47.640
that footprint because to try to fill
all of that with actor scares is going

353
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:51.119
to be darknier impossible. Yeah,
I just I agree with that one hundred

354
00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:56.880
percent. And I'm wondering if the
angle they're going is more like permanent themed

355
00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:00.319
area experienced type of thing that then
they'll reuse or because I just for context,

356
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:03.200
right, um, and there's just
so many there's also some weird stuff

357
00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:08.599
about this and make a little bit
suss like so Missicer Entertainment UM. Originally

358
00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.480
they were mentioned in the original release
right, but so so, But then

359
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:17.759
this American Monsters thing, so American
Monsters, the CEO of American Monsters,

360
00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:22.839
Charlotte Charlotte Huggins, is also the
CEO of Missica Entertainment. I'm like,

361
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:27.240
coincidence, I think not? So
it seems almost like Missicer, which is

362
00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:32.599
a big firm. A Missicer worked
on the new Puppets that just debuted at

363
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:37.079
knots Um, the new the new
area there. They did the daytime parade.

364
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:41.839
They've done parades all over, They've
done stuff for Chimelong. I mean,

365
00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:44.880
so they do specialize in like the
terminent roses. I mean, they

366
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.119
do specialize in big like theme entertainment
installations, right, so right, but

367
00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:55.240
it's just like why why So It's
like they're making this new American Monsters brand.

368
00:25:55.960 --> 00:26:00.240
It sounds like to couch some of
the spooky things under question mark and

369
00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:03.079
then putting that, you know,
taking it. So, I mean,

370
00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:07.039
is this like their foray you know, just like our w as or another

371
00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:11.720
firm, you know, is this
their foray into doing spooky things? And

372
00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:15.519
maybe the concept is we're going to
bring it into places that have high foot

373
00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:19.039
traffic and make it more like a
mini theme parked or themed experienced type of

374
00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:25.000
thing. I mean, I don't
know. Yeah, it's it's it's it's

375
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:27.960
hard to say. I will also
say that the only thing that makes the

376
00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:33.799
forty five thousand square feet kind of
makes sense is walking through pretty much any

377
00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:37.680
other mall right now and looking at
all of the empty, empty spaces.

378
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:45.400
Um, you know, the the
retail spaces that are either sitting dormant um.

379
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:48.880
And that's pretty much true of every
mall, you know. I was

380
00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:53.039
just in Chicago not too long ago
and was walking down Michigan Avenue, which

381
00:26:53.160 --> 00:26:57.160
used to be the the prime prime
shopping location in the city of Chicago,

382
00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:06.519
and it's kind of empty. Um, So there's it makes sense that they

383
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:08.319
they've got they yeah, they've got
the space. They've got the unused,

384
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:14.160
unused retail space, so they can
dedicate you know, a huge amount to

385
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:19.279
this because breaking mortar stores, you
know, aren't nearly as important or impactful

386
00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:23.440
as they once were. So um. But yeah, I'm curious. You

387
00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:26.039
know. I don't want to.
I don't want to come out of the

388
00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:29.720
out of the gate raising eyebrows and
going well, this is a croca crap.

389
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.200
It's not it looks it looks legit. They're just I just wish that

390
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:38.119
they had chosen to position themselves in
a more unique manner because right now,

391
00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:42.759
UM, and I don't know how
far mall of America is from, Um,

392
00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:48.720
from blooming to Minnesota. Yeah,
I don't know where Bloomington, Minnesota

393
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:52.880
is in comparison to the Cedar Fair
Park that's up there. But UM,

394
00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.079
you know, I I think that
they just need to keep in mind there

395
00:27:56.119 --> 00:28:00.279
there there is a great deal of
competition I'm assuming in that market. I

396
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:03.160
don't know, Yeah, but um, yeah, it's there's a lot in

397
00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:08.680
Indiana. Yeah, yeah, I
think I agree with you. On the

398
00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:11.839
plus side, I'm thrilled that they're
doing a haunt. I love it.

399
00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:14.680
I'm thrilled that they're doing a haunt
of great magnitude. I love that.

400
00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:18.079
Um. I'm curious to see,
you know I I I kind of hope

401
00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:22.960
you're right, Philip. And the
fact that, um, they are building

402
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:26.119
the they're attempting to build the American
Monsters brand, and that will be something

403
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:30.240
that they can then turn and market
to other clients around the country and perhaps

404
00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:34.359
around the world. UM, because
Universal Monsters, you know, is tapped

405
00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:41.799
out so UM and obviously owned by
Universal, But you know, American Monsters

406
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:45.720
has a could have a cachet in
the future. Who knows. Yeah,

407
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.920
it says there they're thing they're about, says American Monsters is the team of

408
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:53.240
experts in the development and operations of
haunted attractions, trained in story based worlds

409
00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:56.400
of Disney Universal and theme parks around
the globe. The company is a joint

410
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:02.839
venture of Global Entertainment and Trash and
developer Misguaranty and Nationally Relound Creators, operators

411
00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:06.680
of the Haunted Hotel. Yeah,
so I think I agree with you one

412
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:11.359
hundred scent. Like on the pro
side, bringing a big experience into them,

413
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:12.720
all of this. You know where
there's foot traffic. We've talked about

414
00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:18.480
that foot traffic is great, fear
traction and utilizing these spaces that are you

415
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.759
know, that are struggling right now, I think that's that's a good angle.

416
00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:23.319
On the negative side, again,
to your point, they said nothing

417
00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:30.000
in any of this that makes me
think that this is more than an average

418
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.079
haunt. And also you know,
the the nature of the businesses against them,

419
00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:37.240
just just the facts right, like
you know, like a year one

420
00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:41.400
haunt trying to fill forty five thousand
square foot, the tide is against you

421
00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:44.079
in a competitive market. It's just
just the facts, right, It's not

422
00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:48.279
a good business and it's hard.
It's a huge investment in year one and

423
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:51.240
to try and fill that amount of
space only interesting. And also I would

424
00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:55.880
say they're using a lot of adjectives
and you know, we're building a top

425
00:29:55.960 --> 00:30:00.880
haunt, like that's none of these
things are guaranteed. You like, you

426
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:03.039
don't become a top Haunt until after
you premiere, and you be like,

427
00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:07.279
you know, you can't be like
we're a top Haunt when you haven't even

428
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:11.160
built the haunt yet, right.
One of the it's interesting because one of

429
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:14.000
the projects that I'm working on for
this Haunt season is brand new. It

430
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.759
is its first year exactly, and
I've been working with the marketing team to

431
00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:19.079
make certain that we don't come out
and I said, the last thing I

432
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.319
want to do is come out and
say we are going to be the scariest,

433
00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:27.039
most terrifying, most horrifying, because
that's all well a subjective and be

434
00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:30.559
a crop of crap because we don't
know, um that it's the event is

435
00:30:30.599 --> 00:30:34.759
new. What I have been really
focusing on whenever I'm working with that marketing

436
00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:38.920
team is to make certain that we
are specifically saying what is new to the

437
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:45.000
market, what is different um And
you know, even even one of my

438
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.480
my my quotes that I sent them
for for the press release is, um,

439
00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:55.759
the Chicagoland market has a huge number
of excellent haunted attractions. We want

440
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:59.079
to make it personal, you know. It's it's that we want to offer

441
00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:04.279
a more personal um fright experience to
mix. So it's not coming in saying

442
00:31:04.359 --> 00:31:07.960
we are bestest, we are mostest, we are biggest, we are fastest,

443
00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:10.960
we are no. It's saying here's
what, Here is our differentiator,

444
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:12.839
and here's something that's going to make
it union and that's nowhere in this.

445
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:17.119
That's that's exactly. That's a phenomenal
way painted Scott. That's exactly it.

446
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:21.759
Nowhere in this do we understand it
all? What makes them different from any

447
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:26.559
other average attraction? I mean,
like with use theatrical lighting? Okay,

448
00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:30.039
yeah, Well and if and if
forty five thousand square feet that's the only

449
00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.839
thing that sticks out as unique and
unusual to me, then that should have

450
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.000
been led leaned into a little heavier
and maybe plump in Indiana or something largest

451
00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:41.720
India. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how to do that,

452
00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:44.359
or again, all of the marketing
people deal with that um. But

453
00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:47.359
anyway, speaking of leaning into,
we've leaned into this show as much as

454
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:52.000
we possibly can because we are now
out of time. So on behalf of

455
00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:56.480
Philipernandez with Gantum Lighting and Hard at
Attraction Network and myself Scott Swinson with Scott

456
00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:59.799
Swenson Creative Development. This is Green
Tag Theme Park in thirty and we will

457
00:31:59.799 --> 00:32:00.319
see see you all next week