Knott’s Scary Farm Celebrates 50 Years of Never-Ending Nightmares

WEBVTT

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

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in thirty. I'm Philip and I'm
joined as always by my co host,

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Scott Swinson, a Scott Swinson Created
development. Ah, well it's a it's

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almost September, Scott, we have
this. Our big story start off this

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week is talking about Not Scary Farm
and their fiftieth anniversary. It kind of

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we've kind of got They waited a
little bit to give us all the details,

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but there are a lot of details
and they were all revealed during their

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Nightmares Revealed event, which was a
new event that just happened this past week

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on the twenty fourth, So it
was kind of like given via presentation that

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was live stream, so people got
to watch the live stream and then they

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sent out press releases and if you
were there in person, you got to

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watch it in person. So didn't
you say it was also open to the

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Yeah, So the event, the
Nightmares Revealed event, was a new event

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this year that was open to anybody, you know, season past holders,

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regular people, and then they were
invited media and there was a ticket fee

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for it. So we'll talk about
that. So I think we we'll break

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it up we can talk about the
announcements first, and then we can talk

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about the event itself, because we
you know, we just talked about events

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like these with the taste of terror
and and why this could be important for

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kind of drawing out a little bit, like kind of extending the Halloween season

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a little bit. So well,
and I think I think the Halloween season

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is extending on its own, so
I think events like this are even more

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important to kind of give people a
little a little wayfinding for the rest of

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the season. You know, it's
like, here's what's here's what's coming up,

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Here's what's going to happen, because
it's already starting before the mass populace

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is even thinking about Halloween. But
but again that's why they have all the

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cool tie ins. And then you
know, of course this being a big

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year for for for Knots. You
know, Big five, Oh, the

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Big five. Oh Okay, I
was going to make a five O birthday

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joke, but okay, so thanks
for not doing it, because you know

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that was a long time ago for
me. Jerk all right, So then

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the Knots Scary Farm fiftieth anniversary will
include three new mazes, which for a

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total of ten there's just there's seven
returning and three new mazes. It's gonna

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be five scare zones and four shows. It's a lot of there's a lot

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of shows. It's a lot of
entertainment. It'll begin September twenty feet,

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which is the latest event start date
for the ones in so cool, but

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you know, in terms of the
country of independent haunts, it's not it's

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not that late. But horror nights. Of course, we'll kick everything off

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in Orlando on the first, and
then Hollywood on the eighth, and then

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uh see World tend Ao and whatnot
that that weekend and then the other part.

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So so they basically they'll have a
few weeks before everybody else, after

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everyone else opened, before they get
going and there, which I don't think

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is necessarily a bad plan. I
think the idea of you know, let's

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let's not all. I think they've
recognized the crowd the same. There's no

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point in everybody trying to exactly there's
no point in trying to compete directly with

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everything, and after everyone's had the
opportunity, after the you know, the

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the avid fans have had the opportunity
to experience other stuff, then they can

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go to it's going to run for
twenty nine nights, and there's a lot

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in this event. I think the
things I only want to highlight the things

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that are most interested. You can
open the show notes and read the entire

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announcement. But the things that are
most interesting to me are the three new

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mazes. Not that there are through
new mazes, but what's interesting is the

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stories behind the new mazes, specifically
two of them. So there's one that's

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in Miss Slasher, which is just
kind of amons to Slasher films. The

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one that's most interesting is called the
Chilling Chambers, and this is going to

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be like a fiftieth anniversary celebration maze
where there's the keeper who has been keeping

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and collecting some of the secrets from
from years gone by, and you're going

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to walk through the chambers and into
different scenes from the history of the of

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Scary Farm. So I think that's
an excellent idea, and I think when

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I was reading it, it kind
of reminded me of what you talk about,

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which is reutilizing your assets. You
know, if it's like, oh,

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if there's a way for you to
use a bunch of the props you

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still have in storage without having to
write a new story really to connect them

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all. The story is they've been
collected by a collector who is putting them

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together. I mean it works,
I think in this context or the fiftieth

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it is. It is smart on
both ends. It's using assets and it's

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it's also kind of allowing nods to
the fans. And if you'd just come

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right out and say it new and
the keeper, by the way, is

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they're new iconic characters. They're rolling
him into the park as a whole.

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But then he gets this maze,
which is you know where he gets to

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give a nod to scary farms passed
while terrorizing the audience of today. Well,

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and it makes total sense really because
you know it's if we if someone

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hadn't done this, uh, you
know, if they hadn't done a let's

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call it the best of clip show
maze. You know, I think people

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would have been disappointed. They would
have said, well, so what are

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they doing? That's fiftieth related.
And the nice thing about introducing a new

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character that has been in the shadows
collecting all this stuff, it gives It

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gives the character great depth. It
creates the illusion of the character has always

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been there. Even though it's brand
new, and so, yeah, I

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agree with you. I think this
is kind of a clever, clever way

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to not only reutilize, but also
give the fans, give the avid fans

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exactly what they want without without really
damaging any of the storyline issues at all.

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I do think also, I'm sure
that Knots team would never admit to

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this, but as a reporter and
as a like a observer, I would

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say that Knots has a little bit
of a a history of always kind of

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doing like a nod, you know, kind of like a nod to the

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culture. Right. Uh, the
hanging is back this year, we'll talk

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about that, but that was.
They were kind of infamous in that show

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for that kind of thing. And
I think, you know, again dark

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Ride. You know, I haven't
going through a dark Ride in southern California.

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That was. I mean, there's
lots of nods to this. I

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think a lot of the stuff they're
doing is a nod. I mean,

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so you know, if we we
just heard this year, right that the

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Fantom of the Opera was coming to
Universal, and now suddenly there's the keeper

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who lives in a cathedral but like
underground and it's been watching nuts for like,

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I mean, come on, you
know it's it's you know and and

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and you know it's it's also no
secret that the same actor that that plays

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Monty Volta at the Lahy Ride as
the keeper uh here, it's it's it's

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It's pretty clear because the character tones
are so similar and obviously it's the same

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it's the same thing. But so
I think even that even trying to work

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that in, you know, working
in like a nod to the hay Ride

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with the with a similar character and
working in like a nod like this is

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their a fan of the op,
you know what I mean? Like,

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I think these are fun nods well
and and nods ass And again I have

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not been to not Scary Farm in
many, many years, but even back

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you know, over twenty years ago
when I went the which was the last

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time the their whole their whole approach
was sort of the the nods to the

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insiders, you know, I think
that, And they've played it really really

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smoothly, I think, at least
from from my perspective, in the fact

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that they can they're making it nods
to the insiders without being exclusive to those

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people who are not insiders. In
the haunt industry. Yea, you know

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they're they're they're playing to a core
audience without without without shunning a broader a

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broader spectrum or a less a less
I don't want to use the word educated,

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but a less immersed audience. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

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I think they're I think we've been
very wise in doing that, and I

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think it's what helps maintain their you
know, as one of the oldest theme

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park Halloween events, they they're still
maintaining a certain level of cool without without

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throwing out their their history. You
know, it's I think it's a very

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wise approach. And then together when
I want to highlight was Room thirteen,

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which basically if you follow again again
they it's another one that stands on its

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own, but it's for the super
fans because there's this green elixir that they've

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been It started off as in just
promo commercials in you're kind of like,

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what is that green elixer? Right, and then it got its own scare

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zone a few years ago called the
Gore and Twenties, which our friend Ted

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worked on, which we talked about
on the show. Because they had little

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performances and there's you know, it
was very immersive, you know, for

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for for scare zones, you know, and and now the Haunt is exploring

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the backstory of the creation of that
elixir, so they're kind of kind of

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tying, you know, they're really
bringing it full circle in that. So

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again it's the same we talk about. It's like following the story. It's

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like, you know, do you
you know, people are interested in the

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scaremads. It's doing well, and
now you can kind of back up and

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you don't have to retcond anything,
but you can, you know, tell

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the story of the device that people
are carrying around, which really I think

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probably started off as just a narrative
plot point to kind of tie it together,

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because if it's the goreing twenties,
then this is you know, this

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is the alcohol stand in but but
evil, right, so you know,

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so I think it's absent from Hell. Yeah, that's what it was exactly.

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So I think it started off as
a as a plot point. But

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as as you know, the fandom
for that scare zone grew you and I

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think this is again, this is
exactly what we talk about. It's like,

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you know, you kind of sometimes
you put out your story and you

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wait to see what people are interested
in. Then you can if it's a

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good story, there's always you know, more to it, so you can

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broaden it from there. Once people
show they care about what this green liquid

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is right right, and the fact
that, you know, the fact that

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they're doing sort of a it sounds
like they're doing sort of a prequel because

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they need to, because they want
to explain it's the inception of this green

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liquid, how it was created.
Prequel sequels, It's something that's been going

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on in horror films forever, and
I think it's it's perfect fodder for the

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development and expansion of you know,
a hunt branding within within a haunted attraction.

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I will say the thing that I'm
most excited because I you know,

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I never read your notes before we
start the show. I should, but

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I don't. But I will say
the thing I was most excited about,

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though, is to see that the
Hanging up is coming back. When I,

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you know, twenty or twenty years
ago, twenty three years ago,

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twenty two years ago, when I
was last at Nuts, the Hanging was

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in its heyday and it was,
in my opinion, the most irreverent and

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bombastic, like nothing nothing was sacred, no holds barred, over the top

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Halloween show I had ever seen,
and you know it, in my opinion

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at that time, it was so
much more compelling because they really didn't give

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a crap about who they offended.
They didn't care about what what toes they

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stepped on. It was it sort
of blue sorry Universal Friends, kind of

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blue Bill and Tad out of the
water because they didn't they didn't follow any

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real I didn't get the feeling thing
were following any corporatey standard standards. I'm

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hoping that is the case as it
returns, because it is. But it

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was by far the most irreverent of
all the Halloween shows I'd ever seen.

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Yeah, it was interesting because remember
it was previously written by Ken Parks,

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who as I moved over to the
corporate entertainment side. So so I'd be

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curious to know who was working on
writing it now, you know, as

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in like if it's you know,
because it was kind of like Ken's brain

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child. So I don't know.
If anyone knows, please let us know,

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because I'm curious. If I if
I know Ken, he probably has

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a finger or two in it,
at least at least throwing in some ideas,

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because Ken Ken is an amazing writer
and his his conceptualization for storytelling is

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is wonderful. And I've had the
great pleasure of working with him on a

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couple of different occasions and he's just
he's amazing. So I hope look it

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this way. I hope whoever is
writing it was smart enough to go to

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Ken and say, hey, Ken, you're the one who's really the mastermind

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behind this kind of thing, what
do you think of this? And see

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what see what he was able to
Let's see also also so looking more at

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the event as a whole and and
some of the larger components of it.

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I think season passes are back,
and that they have not been back for

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a while if I remember correctly.
And we just talked about this when we

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talked about Disney doing the opposite right
where Mickey's not so scary, isn't offering

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a season past. They're just they're
just relying on people to buy day tickets

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and sell out and it's working.
And you know, August, the sellout

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dates continue to creep, as Scott
said, from the end and the beginning,

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and might meet in the middle of
sometime in September. So this is

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kind of the opposite approach, and
I think the season passes like one hundred

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and forty forty dollars, or I
think it's it's very reasonable, it's it's

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shockingly reasonable. I think, like, I think I've seen independent haunts that

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have a more expensive season pass.
So so I'm not sure if they're not

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worried about capacity or or I don't
know because I feel like, you know

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it, I think that the Disney
direction is to try and get you know,

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the day rates. So I'm not
sure if they just are Yeah,

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I'm not sure. It's it's interesting. We'll see how it turns out.

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Well. Generally speaking, there are
two approaches to do an event of any

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kind in a theme park, and
one approach is to make your money on

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the gate, and the other is
to make your money on the merchandise,

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the culinary, the return, visitation, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It

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clearly sounds like this is an example
of the gate is not where they plan

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to make their profitability. It is
every time somebody comes back, they'll buy

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X, Y, and Z,
they'll do up charges, they'll they'll visit

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some of the retail establishments and may
not purchasings the first visit, but may

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purchase something much larger the second visit
because they come back and go, oh,

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I've been thinking about that, I
really want it. Yeah. So

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again that's what it sounds like,
just based on super basic theme park theory.

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When it comes to profitability, it's
not about the number of tickets you

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sell. It's about the the in
park spend. Or it is about the

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number of tickets you you sell and
to heck with the in park spends.

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So those are the two main focuses, and it sounds like they are definitely

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looking at getting people into the park
so that they will spend money there.

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Well, speaking exactly to that Scott, this year they have a legacy store,

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So I guess it's for those listening
to this podcast they should be aware

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of the Tribute store in Orlando.
And I think this is really going down

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that that same vibe, and you
know what, it's working for universals.

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So it's like, it's it's this
you know, we talked about on the

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show a lot. It's it's never
you know, it's like copying can be

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flattery and it you know, if
you're in a different market, it can

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work for you you know, and
and I think this is a very I

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mean, I'll just put this way. No nobody else in SoCal is doing

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a tribute store, tribute sor a
leg sorry legacy store. Nobody else in

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in SoCal is doing a agacy store
to this scale, by by any stretch

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of the I mean, this is
all just like in Orlando. It is

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a full installation, and this year
it features again scenes from mazes in the

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past, or they brought in pieces
of the mazes and put them in there

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to make photo ops and put whatnot. And it is accessible from the marketplace

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and from the park, which means
it can be open every single day,

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even days that Scary Farmer is not
open. So it's open every single day

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from now through the close of the
event through Halloween. And you know,

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I mean Disney, you know,
they set up their merch and it looks

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great, and you know, but
Hollywood doesn't do this here, you know,

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and Six liveses and do this here. So it's really I think in

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terms of the social area, it's
a test of to see how this will

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go. And now this is in
addition to the art show that's coming back.

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I mean it they move this whole
thing, and they really focus on

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this. So I think to your
point exactly what you just said. I

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mean, they're they're really leaning to
the march and the experience of the merch

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well. And you know, we've
talked about retail attainment for a very long

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time, and you know the retail
attainment that started in the theme park,

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went outside the theme park and went
to the mall, is now coming back

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to the theme park. So you
know, everything is cyclical. I I

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don't think you know. I every
time I write anything, I always I

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always include a retail component, and
even I have even written, just recently

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even written shows that are there there
purpose is twofold. It's number one,

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it's to add an additional element to
an event. But number two, it

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is also to bring a crowd in
so that the retail side of of the

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area is focused and has a bunch
of people that are already there ready to

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buy, because it becomes interacting.
I think, yeah, go for it.

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I think you can. I agree
that one hundred percent. I think

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the order I usually tell people,
though, is like when I work with

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my clients, the same thing.
It's like, you you have to make

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your product good first. The product
that has to be good, right,

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but then beyond that, you know, these are our ways and they should

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be really as good, and they
should be tied into the story. I

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mean you should, you're you know
again, just look at Universal. I

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mean, really, your food should
tie into what you're doing. It should.

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Your food should be an experience and
it should tie into the story.

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And your march should be the same
thing. It should be an experience and

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it should tie in to what you're
trying to do there. So you know,

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like at at you know, at
hush you know we do the themed

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bars, but all the drinks and
all this stuff ties in to the zone

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they're in. And then for merch
this year, you know, you have

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the hush Falls Hotel. We have
hush Fall Hotel keys. You can get

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a key card, you know,
you can get a room key to show

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that you've been into the hush Fall. I mean, just things that they

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have to They don't have to be
you know, break the bank, right

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if you don't have theme park budgets, But they should really tie into the

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story. It should be a piece
of the story that the guests and have

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to remind them. Well, Tara
Roulette is doing the exact same thing this

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year, and it's a brand new
haunt, you know, in a very

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crowded market. But the merchandise,
I'm very excited. I'm seeing some of

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the preliminary sketches of the merch and
I'm hoping that I'm hoping it all gets

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produced the way I'm seeing it,
because some of it is is blatant and

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some of it is completely story tied
and that guests won't know unless they actually

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have experienced the the the attraction.
So I'm I'm excited to see where that

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goes. And it's it's not it's
not quite a full legacy store because well

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there's no point in doing legacy for
something that's just opening this year, but

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it will be you know, there
they will be pieces that will go,

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oh that was from year one when
X y Z happened, and I think

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that could be really cool. So
well, yeah, and on I think

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I would be remiss to not mentioned
some of the the new merch So there's

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a there's like a not scary farm
monopoly Scariopoly set that was developed, which

285
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is great, and there's also i
think the big thing they're pushing this year

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is for this lantern and again it
fits into the story because if you remember

287
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the conductor who came out of how
years ago, he's always infamous for having

288
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his lantern, so it fits into
the lore of Knots. But this lantern,

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it's basically like a glow with the
show. It really reminds me of

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the stuff we worked on that we
worked on from Ghantum with Knots many years

291
00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:34.839
ago. About the interactivity. The
premise is that guests can buy this lantern

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for forty dollars and they can carry
it with them through the entire event,

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including into the mazes and into those
areas, and it has a static show

294
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mode which is of the regular lantern
glow, and then there's a hundred instances

295
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around the event as a whole where
it performs some interactive thing. So I'm

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really curious to get your feedback because
I've heard already from from some naysayers that

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say that they think it's going to
ruin the maze experience of everybody's holding lanterns

298
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that are all lighting the maze,
blah blah blah. Me personally, I

299
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think it looks really cool, and
I think that from a content standpoint,

300
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I just think that it's a cool. It's like you're giving everybody a prop

301
00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:29.039
that this is a weird thing.
Scott's gonna rolls lies, But it's I

302
00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.119
think you're giving everybody a prop they
can take great photos with. And then

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00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:34.440
you know, when they hold it
up to their face, it lights their

304
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face, so it makes better photos. That's that's my dick away and how

305
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I've always done a lot of a
lot of sexy content with that lanterns.

306
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.799
Yes, yes, So here's my
thing. You when you hit it,

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00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:56.200
I think you. I think you
hit the nail on the head when you

308
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.839
said when you said it there,
it's like giving everybody a prop. To

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00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:06.559
me, it makes visually, it
will make the guests walking through the haunted

310
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the Haunted mazes look like they are
part of the the experience. They're not

311
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just passive observers. They are now
part of the part of the haunt.

312
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:23.039
And if they're smart, they will
throw in some characters who are carrying the

313
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lantern as well to sort of blur
the line between guest and uh and staff

314
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or guest and cast. But I
yeah, no, I love it.

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I think that by giving by making
the the the guest a part of the

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story, a part of the experience, it's great and the truth be told,

317
00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.200
you know, everybody's before it's even
happened. There are those naysayers that

318
00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:51.160
are saying, well, I'm concerned
that it's going to light up the haunt

319
00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:53.440
too much. But keep in mind
that, you know, if there are

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areas that they don't want it to
light up, they can easily program it

321
00:22:57.319 --> 00:23:00.519
that it goes off. You know, they can easily program it. So

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00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:04.200
at this point in time, it's
strokes to make it even more disorienting.

323
00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.880
You know, my my issue with
any of these sort of interactive things is

324
00:23:11.880 --> 00:23:14.799
don't use it to do anything that
you can use a proximity sensor correct to

325
00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:18.079
do correct, because nobody will know. Yeah, well, that's exactly the

326
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:22.119
problem that we had with with our
torch stuff back in the day. Right.

327
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:23.960
It was like, even though we
worked on knots, we worked with

328
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:30.799
knots to redo the trick or treat
maze, people didn't know that the flashlight

329
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:33.599
was the thing triggering the stuff that
you know, it looks like a proximity

330
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:37.279
senser. Yeah, yeah, so
so yeah, I agree with all that.

331
00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:40.279
And then of course food, they
have a lot of food offerings.

332
00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:42.240
I don't want to go into them. You can read the the thing for

333
00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:45.480
that, and parking parking is race
at thirty five dollars a car this year,

334
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:48.640
which you know, I think if
you have a parking pass, it

335
00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.880
doesn't apply to you. But yeahs, and then you can you know,

336
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.680
read the article. There's a lot
of there's hotel packages, there's the buffet,

337
00:23:56.680 --> 00:23:57.680
there's all these other things. Read
the article for that. Those are

338
00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.680
the things I thought was most interesting. As I mentioned at the top of

339
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:04.440
the show, though, this whole
thing was an event, and the event

340
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was open to the public. It
was on August twenty fourth. It was

341
00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:11.640
twenty dollars per person, regardless of
whether you had a pass or whatnot.

342
00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:17.599
Media was invited, so they basically
tried to do this announcement event for the

343
00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:22.960
first time ever and a media night
at the same time. So as you

344
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:27.720
can guess, there were some like
logistical hiccups because the first year event it

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00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:30.200
just we talked about with Taste of
Terror, right remember my doctor Taste of

346
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.720
Terror. I was like they didn't
have enough tables. They had to like

347
00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.519
move stuff around, right. Well, I mean, anytime anytime you try

348
00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:41.160
to be a servant to two masters, somebody is going to be left out

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00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:45.519
in the cold, whether that is
the media or or the guests who paid

350
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to be there, and you know
you have to be careful. I'm sure

351
00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:52.119
there was a great bit of learning
as to how they can improve and how

352
00:24:52.119 --> 00:25:02.319
they can tweak and massage and perhaps
expand or divide or whatever for this event.

353
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:07.319
I on the one hand, I
love the idea of having actual guests

354
00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:11.519
at a media event. At the
same time, I think that actually takes

355
00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.039
money out of your pocket because the
media can't do what they're necessarily there to

356
00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:22.160
do. I'm a huge proponent that
you make media events a strong representation of

357
00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:26.559
the product, an honest representation of
the product, but in the best possible

358
00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.440
light, so that the media can
get what they need to get in order

359
00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:34.319
to promote your experience. And I've
been through many a media day, and

360
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:41.319
I'm involved with two and two three
this year for different clients, and we've

361
00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:45.279
talked a lot about making certain that
in the media day, you don't just

362
00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:48.839
decide what you're going to do as
the company. You decide what are the

363
00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:52.200
guests going to do, how what
is the what is the moment to moment

364
00:25:53.240 --> 00:26:00.680
experience of the media, and does
it differ between broadcast media and social media

365
00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:07.880
does it differ between radio and print
media and television media. So you really

366
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:15.039
have to have somebody who is who
is concerned about how do we get this

367
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.200
person, what does their night look
like? Not just what are we offering

368
00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:19.920
them, but what does their night
look like? And how do we make

369
00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:26.240
certain that they get everything they need
in order to promote promote your experience.

370
00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:32.160
And I just I strongly recommend that
for any sort of media night, you

371
00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:34.319
know, you look at you take
a moment to sit down and go,

372
00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:38.279
Okay, they arrive, now what, and you'll find that there are places

373
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:45.400
that you either need additional bodies to
help to help media wayfind or additional signage,

374
00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:48.319
or you know, you all of
a sudden forgot, oh gosh,

375
00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:49.359
they're signing in here, but we
don't have a table. I mean,

376
00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:52.759
it's it comes down to things that
are that basic, or we don't have

377
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:57.279
enough tables, or we don't have
enough food or beverage or whatever whatever it

378
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:06.000
is. And I just strongly,
strongly recommend that no matter whether you are

379
00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:08.440
a theme park or an independent haunt, or you know, an independent Christmas

380
00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:12.119
event or a theme park Christmas event
or whatever, whenever you're doing a media

381
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:17.599
experience. Make sure you take that, you do that litmus test, that

382
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:21.720
double check, where you take it
from the point of view of the media

383
00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.160
person, and you know exactly what
they're going to have happen, in what

384
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:29.359
order, who takes them from from
where to where, and that will help

385
00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:33.160
make in most cases, make for
a much smoother night and much kinder media.

386
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:38.400
It's perfect on hundred percent agree with
that. I think it definitely did

387
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:42.519
feel like they were It was almost
two separate events. One was like a

388
00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:47.880
media preview and one was this preview
for the public, and the events didn't

389
00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:51.400
feel like they really talked to each
other. And and as a result,

390
00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:53.319
I think that there was a lot
of frustrated media. I know, as

391
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:56.039
a member of the media, I
didn't get what I needed to get,

392
00:27:56.920 --> 00:28:00.400
and none of the media that I
know got what they needed to get either,

393
00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:04.000
and including some of the broadcast people
that I know, it's from the

394
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:07.319
local TV stations. To your point, Scott, I mean, you know

395
00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:10.799
the you know, I spoke with
a few of them and they were,

396
00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:12.279
you know, they just they couldn't
they couldn't get what they what they need

397
00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:15.000
to get for those reasons, you
know, of going through it but so

398
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:21.039
I yeah. But for those people
listening that are thinking of doing some sort

399
00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:23.400
of preview event, I we talked. We've been talking about previous events and

400
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:30.200
why they're important for a while.
I just want to give the the overview

401
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:33.319
of what the event offered for people
listening. I think this event was.

402
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:37.559
It's definitely to my knowledge, I
think this this will actually be the largest

403
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:41.400
preview event for a Halloweing attraction.
I think because Taste or Terror was just

404
00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:45.200
food, right, So I think
this is this is the largest thing that

405
00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:48.319
anyone has tried so far, and
it was you know, for a one

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night event that's a month before they
open. It was a pretty big lift,

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I think. So the biggest thing
to me was that there was the

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the ghost Town area was filled with
fog and scare actors. So we had

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scare actors out. You know,
it really felt like you're walking through the

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full show. Lighting was on,
the fog was in, there were actors

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out. They had three photo ops, including one with the keepers, so

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they had the icon character for this
year that was out. They did a

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lights on walking tour of their old
maze origins from last year that kind of

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tells the story of knots. They
were doing makeup demos on stage, show

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people how they were transformed into characters. They were doing not scary farm trivia.

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They were even doing a fifty year
retrospective hosted by Ted Dougherty, our

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friend Ted. They were doing previews
of the Legacy store they had. The

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wardrobe department was out doing presentations on
the costuming. You could buy your lantern

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and start testing it out, and
of course you could ride Ghostwriter even and

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00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.839
you could buy food. It was
it was a massive event for three hours,

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00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:53.599
right, so it was and a
month before the show opened. So

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yeah, and again just hearing it, and I did not attend the event,

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so I cannot say whether this is
this was the case or not.

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00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:06.160
For me, that would mean that
there was too much. I wouldn't know

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00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:10.119
where to go and I wouldn't get
I wouldn't know what I missed exactly how

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I felt. So and again I
did not attend the event, So I

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00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:19.839
have no idea. But I applaud
them for the robustness, but I would

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have challenged them to say, let's
focus and look at what are what we

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want our end results to be.
And but again I'm sure there are people

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00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:32.119
who went and said, oh my
gosh, I got to do everything,

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00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:33.599
and I got to see everything,
and everything was available to me, and

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that's and that's wonderful as well.
So anyway, just just make sure that

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as you're planning these kinds of events
that you you look at it from the

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00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:48.720
participants standpoint, not just from the
host standpoint looking at things from our host

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00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:52.480
standpoint. We're all ready out of
time, can you believe it? Thirty

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00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:56.079
minutes just went by like that and
we've done nothing but talk about not Scary

437
00:30:56.119 --> 00:30:57.720
Farm. But it is a big
event, and it is their fiftieth anniversary,

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so I think that's only fair.
Tune in next week when we will

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00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:07.200
be back to talk about more things
theme park and attraction based with my friend

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00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:10.680
and co host Philip Bernandez and myself
Scott Swenson. Until next week, this

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is Green Tag Theme Park in thirty
and we'll see you then.