Iger on the Writer's Strike, Streaming, and Theme Park Demand

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Oh, from our studios in Los
Angeles and Tampa. This is a green

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tag to theme Park in thirty.
I'm Philip, he is Scott Swinson and

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Scott oh gosh. You know,
last week we talked about Iger's extension and

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we talked about how that really was
not a surprise at all, right to

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us. But since his extension there's
been a lot of interviews with him where

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he has released a lot of more
information about not only the strategy going forward,

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but given his takes on stuff happening. And while these stories are a

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little bit old, we didn't want
to talk about them until we kind of

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look to see what all was going
to come out like as we do.

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Right, So here we are.
I think it's safe now to start digging

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into these and I think they're in
three buckets. So he got blasted for

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his comments on the SAG and after
strike, so we can talk about that,

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the Writers Guild and SAG after strike. He has put some of the

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properties on sale, which we talked
a little bit about. You know,

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turns out that prediction from that firm
was on because he has put some stuff

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on sale, right, And then
he did talk about the parks in the

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direction for the parks, So yes, we just take them one a time,

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we'll dive in. Okay, So
first on the Writer's Guild of America

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and the SAG after US strike.
So basically he I think the quote that's

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that's caused the most debate was this
one here where Iger said, we managed

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as an industry to negotiate a very
good deal with the Director's Guild that reflects

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the value that the directors contribute to
the get great businesses. We wanted to

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do the same thing with the writers, and we liked the same thing with

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the actors. There's a level of
expectation that they have that is just not

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realistic, and they are adding to
a set of challenges that this business is

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already facing that is quite frankly,
very disruptive. So so it's a little

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bit of poking the bearer, it
sounds like. But that's but that's a

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whole nother story. Yeah. I
wow, this is so difficult. It's

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such an interesting, difficult thing,
and it's just interesting that I think the

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theme parks are going to get really
I think the things are going to get

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drawn into it. As with I
think everybody in the entertainment industry, like

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I do feel like this is you
know, you hear a lot from from

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there from the Writer's Guild president talking
about how this everyone is watching them,

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and I think that is accurate.
Everybody in entertainment is watching this, And

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I do think that Eiger has no
ground to comment on. I mean,

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his comment should have been we're working. We want everyone to receive equal pay

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and we're working on it. That's
what his comment should have been. So

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I think that was a huge mistake, but I do acknowledge. I do

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think he's right in terms of like
streaming, their streaming business is struggling.

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All streaming is struggling, right,
All videos cable is struggling. Streaming is

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struggling, like all all of the
entertainment in that space is struggling. And

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it's because of what we've talked about, because of TikTok, It's because of

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Instagram. It's because now the various
entry is so low on content creation and

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you have so many people that want
to do it. You know, it's

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it's one of the number one ranked
jobs for graduating high schoolers is to become

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a YouTube star. So look at
all the extra content that is being created,

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and it almost doesn't really matter if
it's all terrible to an extent,

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right, because it's almost creating that
situation where there's blockbuster movies and there's the

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big series, and then there's everything
else that makes zero money, right,

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And it's like, if you happen
to get into one of those, you

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make you make a good living,
and you don't. So I think that's

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the challenges he's referring to. But
I also, at the same time,

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I also believe that everybody deserves a
fair waight, So I honestly, I

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feel like the real problem is the
discrepancy between how much people at the top

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are making the best paid actors and
the best paid studio executives and the best

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paid theme park executives. I think
that's and then the difference between that and

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then the salary of the people at
the bottom. I think that's that's the

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bigger problem, is the inequity,
because I do believe that you should.

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You know, we talked about that
again him all the time, which is

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I talked about I feel like I
talked about this already and I keep coming

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back to it, that everyone should
deserves a living wage. So I it's

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just difficult because I feel like he
shouldn't have said it. But I also

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kind of feel like I'm not sure
anything they do is going to save streaming

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or save this industry. There's it's
just too much content. Well, this

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is this is a much more complex
situation than it appears on the surface.

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Yeah, I think I think that
both sides are trying to oversimplify the situation.

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Um, you know, based on
what you just said, if you

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take it back to the very and
again you've heard me. Yeah, if

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you've ever listened to me or or
any attended any of my sessions or whatever,

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you know that I am not the
whiz kid when it comes to business.

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So everything has to be simplistic for
me. This is business one on

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one. It's supply and demand.
Yeah, you know you've got As you

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just said, we have more content
out there than we could ever consume in

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a million years. And it's because
anybody with a phone or a laptop can

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create content that can be seen,
can be edited, a great deal of

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competition for time out there. I
would slightly change a phrase before I agree

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with it. I don't think everyone
deserves a living wage. I think everyone

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deserves the ability to earn a living
wage, because when you say everybody deserves

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a living wage. To me,
that basically says it doesn't matter whether you

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are producing high quality or low quality, you deserve a living wage. I

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think you deserve the ability to earn
a living wage. As a freelancer working

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in this industry, I have been
told over and over again that my rates

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are at the lower end for someone
with my experience, and and I am

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okay with that, because for me, that is a living wage. Do

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I at the moment you compare what
I, as a writer, director,

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producer for a show is making in
comparison to the CEO, the CFO,

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the chief marketing officer, whatever the
moment you make those kinds of comparisons.

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Of course, when you take it
out of context, that looks completely inequitable.

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But it's not. That's my feeling. It's not because I'm not taking

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any of the risks that the CEO
or the CFO is taking. I am

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a freelancer. I go in,
I negotiate a what I believe to be

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a fair price, and then I
leave. You know, now, is

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that is that what's happening with writers
and actors? I really don't know,

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and I don't know how much they
can negotiate within the realm of the business

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process for these folks. But I
agree with you. I think everyone should

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have the ability or the opportunity to
earn a living wage. Completely agree with

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that, But I think that it's
a little too simplistic to say they're just

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screwing us over and that's what I'm
hearing a lot. Unfortunately. I think

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the reason we're hearing that is it
makes it so that people who are stupid

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at business, like me can understand
it. You know. It's the political

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parties do the same thing. They
try to make things as basic and simplistic

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as possible. They take them completely
out of context to make them horrible.

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Now, having said that, do
I feel that writers should be paid more

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as someone who creates content for hire, so, in other words, work

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for higher so that I will write
stuff and somebody will own it and they

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can continue to earn money off of
it forever and forever and forever. Yes,

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that should be taken into consideration.
If that's not going to be taken

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into consideration, there's also the option
of creating something that you have the right.

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You have the rights to this for
ten years. After ten years,

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we can renegotiate so that as the
writer, if you're going to continue to

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make money off of it for you
know, one hundred years as a company,

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you know, perhaps I should think
about. But what you have to

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realize is when you make those kinds
of negotiations, you also have to recognize,

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um, there is there is a
bit more potential, but there's also

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a bit more Um you're not going
to get as much uprot let's put.

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Yeah there's risk. Yeah, there's
there's some risk. So um yeah,

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I think that from a from a
writer's standpoint. And again this is I

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don't mean to oversimplify the challenge there
is and and and I know that there

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are going to be writers out there
and and sag after actors out there because

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quite honestly, I have a bunch
of friends who are right and um and

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I support them. I support them
because I think that you know the I

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think that what needs to happen is
again, open this discussion, Open these

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kinds of but open them with with
a realistic sense. Now, unfortunately we

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live in such a divisive world no
matter where we are, no matter what

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industry we're in, that it's I
want everything, No, I want everything,

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And guess what, there's not enough
everything to go around. So I

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think that in order to to make
this happen, these discussions have to continue

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in a way that is respectful,
is understanding of both sides, and something

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that you also mentioned I'm going to
build on. Um. I think Eiger

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in his tone, was not contributing
to coming to the table with a mutual

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understanding of what's going on. When
he started out with you know, the

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directors and and how the value that
they contribute to the business, that was

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great. That's that's exactly right.
And you know, we've we've been through

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writer strikes before. We'll call it
the great reality TV series boom, Um,

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We've done that. Um, and
having the writers and actors both on

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strike is you know, is very
difficult for the industry. One of my

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favorite, um, one of my
favorite things I've seen on social media is

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during this right, go see some
live theater. But um, but it

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clearly, you know, as we've
all seen this this past weekend, based

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on the time this is recorded,
it clearly didn't slow down. A whole

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lot of people go into the theaters
to to to see Barbieheimer or up and

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Barbie or you know, yeah,
yeah, Well, I think on that

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um, you know the the the
president, um of the writer scuilld of

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that she did say that it was
fine for people to still support to to

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go to movies, right she did. She didn't say that. So it

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wasn't like, um that they weren't
recommending that consumers stop supporting that that content,

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right, that that's not so?
Um, I just I wanted to

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get your take though on like,
but that's but isn't that the opposite of

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a strike? You know? I
don't know why, you know, I

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I I think it helped me understand. Maybe maybe I'm just not getting no,

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no, no no. I I
think that this again gets back to

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the crux of the problem. Right, So so they're like, they're like,

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we're going on strike, but also
you should still consume content. And

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why should you still consume content?
Oh? Because they I think to some

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degree they understand or they have an
inkling of the competition that's really out there.

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Is if people stop going to the
movies, or if they stop watching

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Netflix, if they stop watching cable
more, if they if they somehow help

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accelerate that, it's going to be
overall worse for all of them. Because

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no one pays TikTokers, you know, and so that's like late night TV.

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That's the argument. That's the argu
want to say, you know,

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band, stop watching TikTok Yes,
exactly. And I think I think like,

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like, no one's going to do
that. No one is going to

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do that. And content creators you
know when you say, when you it

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boggles my mind because I talk to
a lot of young people and yes,

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their their career goals are to be
an influencer. Yeah, their career goals

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are you know. Um, and
this is a whole and because these exist,

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and because they can be monetized,
and because people can make a lot

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of money with very very little risk
or investment. Yes it is. It

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is sexy as hell, Yeah it
really is. But it's it's what has

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created the situation where legitimate professional writers
and actors and directors and other people you

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know, editors you when you get
into the film industry, Uh, there's

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a bunch of that going on out
there. Um. But well, yeah,

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it's creating a challenge in a whole
new world. But I think that

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people that both sides of this particular
strike issue need to come to the table

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with the understanding that neither side can
control that that UM correct user generated content.

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Yeah stuff. Yeah, honestly,
yeah, honestly, I think both

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sides need to come to the table
and say, hey, let's um,

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let's look at charging the AI companies
if they're going to scrape any of our

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stuff. Like if if an AI
company is going to use material that we

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have written that for a studio,
then the studio needs to help the writer

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and they all together need to get
revenue from that, you know. And

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they need to look at redefining ownership
of content. I mean, they look

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at like protections for ownership of content
and for all this kind of stuff.

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And I mean I think that's more
what what you need, what it needs

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to be going down, and and
it's it's just so difficult because I agree

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again, you know, with points
that both sides have, right, and

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so I'm just like, oh,
but like that's not the problem. And

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in my view, even as a
content creator, I feel the same almost

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the same way a lot of times, because I think we talked about this

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too with a theme parks especially.
I feel like I put a lot of

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effort and time and skill and resources
into creating my content just like these folks

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do, right, But then you
get into an environment where, um,

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you know, it's like you throw
a rock anywhere and you're going to hit

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a content creator for theme parks or
for whatever. And so why wouldn't a

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theme park just invite like, you
know, all the people who will pay

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to come make content, Like they
will pay to work, They will pay

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you to work. Why would you
pay me to come out when you when

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somebody else would pay you? Like, it's a it's a whole invert because

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again it's applying demand thing. It's
a whole inverse. And just look at

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look at a knots a berry farm. Right, they open their applications up

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for ambassadors, and the application processes
you you should submit a whole list of

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ideas to them and then submit a
five minute video presentation summary to be considered

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to attend their media night. And
it's like, that's I'm glad that they

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that were in a position where people
can do that. I guess I'm glad

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that a park can you know that
there's enough people that can do that.

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But at the same time, you're
like, oh, this is exactly what.

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It's like a microcosm of this larger
situation, which is you pay for

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ideas, you know, the whole
AI situation. AI situation is exactly what

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happened in the theme park industry.
UM when animatronics became a thing, When

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UM, you know, VR became
a thing. You know, they were

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like, oh my gosh, we're
gonna we're gonna deplete UM all of the

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performers in the in the theme park
industry, and did it for a short

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period of time. Yep, yep. And so I'm not sure what's going

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to happen with AI. I Eventually, you know, we could, we

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could. It's possible that with technology, we could see an entire industry disappear.

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I mean, looking looking down the
road, it is possible that in

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the future we will be able to
UM type rom com with UH with happy

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ending, strange twist because of gay
roommate blah blah blah blah blah, and

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a whole a whole script is spit
out, and then we take that script,

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put it into a different AI program
and it then casts it it then

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and we lose all movie stars,
we lose all actors in the film industry.

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But you know what, something is
going to replace it. I don't

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know what that's going to be,
but something is going to replace it and

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eventually that AI. You know,
just because we can do things technologically doesn't

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mean we necessarily should. And I
think that that's another thing that the consumer

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needs to look out for, and
I think it's something that we all need

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to track as as theme park and
events industry people, because AI is still

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not It's great, it's great,
but it's still not great enough to to

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engage with guests as quickly as your
human being can. Yeah, I think

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um to that point. Just this
week, right, Google and several other

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five other large technology companies did say
they were looking to put together regulations or

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AI which could include like a watermark
in the content and or you know whatever.

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I want to bring it back to
theme parks. I think we touched

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on it a little bit, but
I want to bring this whole thing back.

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And I think especially Scott with your
perspective, having been an actor,

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having been having worked in done some
commercial work for acting, having written,

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I mean, I feel like you
have seen every piece of this pie and

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the theme parks, corporate theme park
individual haunts. I mean, what how

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do you think this will impact the
theme park in trash and space or what

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should people be watching out for?
Like I mean, obviously you still gonna

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need writers, right or AI will
just write this. I mean you need

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in person actors because we're theme parks, right so, and people need to

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do it in person, So that's
good. Well, and again I wish

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when I very first started talking about
this, I said, it's a very

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complex situation. It's got it's got
many legs, and they're all twisted around

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each other. So I'm not I'm
not quite certain I can simplify a solution.

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I would say that for the theme
parks, what I would recommend is,

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let's let's double down on the things
that we can do that film cannot,

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and that is in person, one
on one, in agement, interaction,

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immersion, whatever, because I think
that you know, watching watching an

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AI created video versus engaging with a
human being playing a character in a in

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a real space. I rl is
there are two different things, and I

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think the more we can lean into
the fact that they are different, I

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think the more we will be able
to as parks continue to offer job opportunities

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for talented artists. Yeah yeah,
well, I think it goes back to

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just what we wave a few episodes
back. I'm reminded of again the Born

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scentacular where they have that actor who
is paid just in case the show goes

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dark. They could have an automated
thing like Disney that just says we're experiencing

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technical dificulties. But again, they
took that as an opportunity to put an

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extra role there, an extra paid
acting role that I think, in my

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opinion, made makes the show incredible. It wasn't like it made the show

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going down like a great experience.
So I think a very a very minuscule

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example. I just finished an event
this past weekend UM called The Vault of

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Dreams, and it was it's basically
a high end immersive cocktail party. That's

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the easiest way to describe it.
And but it's got live performers, it's

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got live music, it's got themed
food, themed cocktails, etcetera, etcetera,

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etcetera. And this is at the
Vault and Tampa. But two of

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the characters, for the most part, spend the night. They will just

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kind of dance with each other to
the music, and then out of nowhere

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they will go into this really cool
gymnastic lift or trick and the audience just

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all of a sudden realizes, oh
my gosh, I'm living in a world

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where this kind of magical silliness can
happen. I don't. I don't think

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you can do that as much in
a in a film setting. So I

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think it's important to recognize. That's
what I mean by leaning. Let's lean

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into those things that we as theme
park people can do when it comes to

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performance, when it comes to even
even writing, because although that's not written,

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it's conceptualized. Yea. So yeah, yeah, okay, Um,

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Well, on that note, we
have two more dimensions and to cover from

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from the post interview with Iger that
various outlets have done. Okay, First

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is I think exactly what we were
just talking about, which is really his

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continued realignment of Disney, and part
of that will include the sale of several

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Disney's properties. So Iger put roughly
a third of the company up for sale

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this week, declaring Disney's linear TV
assets non core to the business that includes

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TV Network's ABC, FX and free
Form. He also say Disney is looking

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for a strategic partner for ESPN,
that he's not willing to sell the entire

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thing and on. So there's that, which is kind of we just talked

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about that element. I think we've
talked about this a lot, and we

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talked about it previously, but basically, you know, his his return to

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IP focus and to the creation of
great stories and great in person experiences,

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and again just under but again just
underscoring, like if Disney doesn't think that

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the linear TV is useful, that's
a that almost proves the point of the

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whole. You know. It's like
people are arguing over our struggling industry.

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It's like, well, you know, Disney's not even to hold onto these

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assets because they're not It's it's it's
going downhill. So and it's a pendulum.

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It's a pendulum. It's going to
swing back and forth. We see

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these large companies expand and contract on
a regular basis. We've seen it happen

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before and we will see it happen
again. They keep you know, Disney

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was at a time where they were
like, oh, we need we need

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more levels, we need more levels, we need more levels. And we've

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talked about it on the show too. The power the power of the onion,

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you know, the with the the
multiple different ways to experience the content.

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But now they're recognizing, well,
ABC isn't isn't getting our content out

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there the way some of our other
options or other opportunities are so let's get

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rid of it. And what's interesting
is going back to the strike. I'm

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sure there are people out there who
are saying, oh my gosh, I

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curse you Disney for getting rid of
this great way to hire higher actors and

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higher writers. But it's supply and
demand. If if the you know,

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and there is everybody says big companies
are heartless. No, big companies are

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there to make money. That's that's
free enterprise. That's the way it exists.

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Now. More and more, more
and more companies are starting to have

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more heart and more compassion, which
is great. But ultimately they can have

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all the heart and compassion in the
world, but if they don't have the

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dollars to continue to enact the ideas
of that compassion, then they cease to

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exist. Yeah, they seem to
exist completely. And as I say,

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whenever anything is taken away, something
else rushes into fill the void. Ye,

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yep, I agree with that too. Yeah, I mean it might

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be even just so what we've talked
about, you know, like there's I

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feel like the in person, the
opportunity is pretty great right now, and

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even and everybody seems to be agreeing
with that, right, Like, look

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at the expansion Epic Universe, look
at the so many eighteen parts of have

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an announced for twenty twenty six just
this week that we won't get to,

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but you know all those are going
to require in person performers, So it's

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right, yeah, and those are
whole venues that did not exis And look

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at Horror Knights expand to forty eight
nights. We just talked about that they're

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hiring what two thousand two, it's
like two thousand A lot of people.

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They're hiring a lot of people.
But so anyway, the last portion of

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this is a Iger did speak to
a few different outlets about what he thinks

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is the a little bit more about
the park specifically, which I think for

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our audience is very important. So
first, there was some reporting that came

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out that basically said that on the
whole, the numbers for Disney World are

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lowered than they were in two thousand
nineteen. It's like they're trending down for

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00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.839
summer. It's not doing well.
And I think Iger kind of shot back

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and argued with those findings to a
few outlets, and his point was that

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wealth easy world and widespread reporting specifically
about low weight times on July fourth.

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Iger said that measuring attendance at Disney
World on July four didn't really factor in

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temperature, which is about one hundred
degrees and nine he made on that day,

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so kind of like he was kind
of like arguing. He was like,

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00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:27.880
well, you know, there was
like mitigating factors that dirty up the

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00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:33.880
data, so you're so the reporting
is incorrect. That was his one point.

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He also continued on further to say, basically, there's more competition now,

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you know. He was like,
Florida opened up early during COVID,

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and they created huge demand and didn't
have competition because there were a number of

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other places and states that were not
open yet. There's a lot more competition

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today. So against twenty twenty two, the state of Florida has been down.

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So against twenty twenty two, it's
been down because there's more competition.

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Basically, we actually track hotel tax
revenue across the state, which is publicly

347
00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:04.480
a matter of public record, and
there they are continues their counties in Florida

348
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that have been down six or seven
percent recently. We also know that our

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competitors are discounting in that state.
Discounting ticket prices, right, So there

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are near term issues in Florida that
I don't think I have any to do

351
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with politics, and not about pricing. He also basically went on to say

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in a few other interviews that despite
having said earlier that their pricing was too

353
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aggressive, he's now thinks that there's
nothing there's pricing is not an issue basically.

354
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So so it's just it's interesting also
because if you remember we've talked about

355
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:40.599
previously, one of their main points
previously was that there were too many people

356
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in the parks, right, so
we're kind of we're talking about how they

357
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were increasing that to even out the
demand. So it's like, I think

358
00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:55.559
this is another poor opportunity is or
I think Eiger also misspoke in about the

359
00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:57.400
theme park thing, because it's kind
of like you either have too many people

360
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or you don't right or you know
what I mean, or like pick pick

361
00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:06.440
a lane, pick a lane,
Bob, Like it's like either there are

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00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:08.759
too many people and you know,
now you're at the right price point so

363
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:12.720
that it's it's a good experience for
the guests, or you're complaining that your

364
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:15.640
numbers are too little. I mean, you know, like pick pick a

365
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point. And then the only other
mitigating thing I would add is that I'm

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not sure I believe Iger's argument about
the like, I know it's hot there,

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but like I feel like it's more
like that that might be a symptom

368
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:33.960
of a larger problem. The larger
problem being that it's been a record heat

369
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wave this season everywhere. And I
mean, Scott, you just came back

370
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from an area that deals with this, and what do they do. They

371
00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:44.240
put everything inside, and none of
our parks are inside. So what are

372
00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:47.839
we going to do when this becomes
the norm for all summer and it gets

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00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:51.359
it's five degrees hotter, it's on
written five. I was I was just

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gonna say, you know, in
Dubai, having visited Motion Gate, which

375
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:57.359
is an outdoor theme park, and
seeing how empty it was. Yeah,

376
00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:03.200
and then the park that was literally
across the entertainment complex from it, Bollywood,

377
00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:07.599
closed and they're claiming, you know, they're going to retheem it to

378
00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:08.960
a new park, But it's going
to help when it's too hot to be

379
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.200
outside. It's not going to help
when it's too hot to be out there.

380
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.640
Um, even even things like one
of the top rated attractions in the

381
00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:22.000
UAE right now, which is Global
Village. Even they closed during the summer.

382
00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:25.000
You know, we talk about we
talk about seasonality here with parks in

383
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:27.400
the States, and you know they
close during the winter. Um over there

384
00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:32.880
they closed during the summer. So
I think that See, I actually think

385
00:27:32.920 --> 00:27:36.000
that heat is an issue. I
actually think it's a huge issue, and

386
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:37.960
it's one that's probably not going to
go away. We're not going to get

387
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.640
onto a whole big discussion of climate
change, but I don't think it's going

388
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:45.480
to be something that's going to imagine, never going to get better. It's

389
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:49.400
it's only going to get worse.
So it has to be taken into consideration,

390
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.759
has to be taken into consideration.
Now has Disney taken into consideration enough

391
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:57.680
yet, Well, obviously not if
it's obviously not in there exactly if it's

392
00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:02.160
a factor, if it's a factor
in there pricing so or in their in

393
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.279
their profitability. So I think it's
important to recognize that. And for you

394
00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:07.519
know, for those of you who
are listening who don't work for Disney,

395
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:11.160
who don't work for Universal but work
for a smaller park or a smaller chain,

396
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:15.279
um, you know, this is
something that you need to take into

397
00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.079
consideration. And it's not just heat. It is guest comfort. If guests

398
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:22.880
feel comfortable, whether that is safety, whether that is the seats in your

399
00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.880
theaters, whether that is the temperature
outside, whether that is the accessibility to

400
00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:33.240
water ways to cool down, how
safe they feel as an individual visiting your

401
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:36.759
park. Based on your politics,
you know, all of these things don't

402
00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:40.880
even start to get into your content, your IP or whatever. It is

403
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:44.799
basic guest comfort. And I think
that is something that you need to lead

404
00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:48.319
with in everything that you do,
because that's what's really going to break down

405
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:52.640
your attendance and and certainly break down
your ratings as far as you know,

406
00:28:52.720 --> 00:29:00.799
as far as competition. We talked
about when when COVID first starts and everything

407
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started shutting down. We talked about
when it reopened that parks were going to

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do everything they could to get people
back in to make up for lost time.

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So you know, let's not just
look at let's not just look at

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this tiny little microcosm. Let's back
up just a little bit and say,

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okay, so they stayed closed for
you know, a year. I'm overstating,

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but they stayed closed for a long
period of time, and then they

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had to make up for that,
and now they have to adjust again.

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You know, it is constantly as
a state of looking at where we are

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now, what's going to happen in
the future. One of the things that

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we learned over and over and over
again is the only way to deal with

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00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.680
the next challenge to your business,
the next global challenge to your business,

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is to plan for it now and
to plan multiple strategies as you move forward,

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because these things are not going to
change. There's always going to be

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something that's going to come up.
Plan for heat and plan for competition,

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basically exactly and exactly. And we've
been saying that for how long, you

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know, We've been saying that at
some point they're going to have to look

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at the Guess experience and make it
better or they're going to become not competitive.

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And I think the same thing's going
to happen with the heat everywhere.

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You know, there's just not Magic
Kingdom is miserable because there's not enough natural

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shade. There's not enough like I
mean, it's just not Magic. Kingdom

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00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:26.920
was never built to have the number
of guests either. Yes, you know,

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even even in the expansions that they've
done. It's part of the reason,

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00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.839
you know, part of the reason
that so much of the virtual queuing

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and such takes place in California is
because they don't have an option if they're

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00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:40.359
great, if they want to do
the numbers of people that they want to

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do, as opposed to just being
a marketing tool for a movie studio,

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00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:48.279
which is not what it is anymore. Yeah it is. It is now

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00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:51.799
its own attraction. They're going to
have to find ways to keep guest comfort

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00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:55.720
in front of mind. So to
kind of sum all this up, in

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00:30:55.759 --> 00:31:00.480
my opinion, um, Eiger is
stating things that are very true. The

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00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:06.440
heat was a factor, the competition
is a factory, and I'm glad he's

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00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:11.039
addressing it because he ain't stupid,
and the Disney team is not stupid.

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00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:12.839
They're looking at that going okay,
these are the factors. We need to

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00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:18.039
address these and look at the moving
forward. So in that case, think

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00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.440
think like Eiger in that regard if
that is indeed what he's doing, and

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00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:26.039
and plan ahead going look at guest
comfort, Look at guest comfort, look

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00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:29.839
at competition, look at what the
threats are in a suat analysis, look

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00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:33.880
at what your potential threats are and
address them early and be ready to keep

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00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:37.519
out your thumb on the pulse so
that you can keep moving forward. Wow,

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00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:41.079
okay, we really got we really
gotten the rabbit hole there. But

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00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:45.200
again, staying true to what we've
set out to do with this show from

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00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:48.839
the very beginning, we are out
of time. So this is theme Park

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00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:51.680
in thirty. This is Green Tag
theme Park in thirty and on behalf of

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00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:56.119
Philiprnandez with Gantum Lighting and the Haunted
Attraction Network and myself Scot Swenson with Scot

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00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.240
Swinson Creative Development. Thank you so
so much for watching and listen, and

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00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:00.519
we will see you next week.