March 13, 2026

Middle East Tourism: The Elephant in the Room

Middle East Tourism: The Elephant in the Room
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Six Flags has officially named Travis Kelce as a brand ambassador. Kelce, who joined investor group Jana Partners when they acquired a 9% stake in the company last October, will provide marketing support across Six Flags' portfolio of parks — including digital content on his own social media platforms and the use of his name, image, and likeness in broadcast, streaming, and in-park marketing.

We also tackle what listeners have been asking us about for weeks: the impact of the Middle East situation on tourism and the attractions industry. IAAPA has canceled its Middle East expo, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and the inflationary ripple effects of higher oil prices could squeeze discretionary spending. Scott and Philip disagree on whether that helps or hurts regional parks like Six Flags, and we talk through what parallel planning actually looks like for operators right now.

Plus, Disney Experiences announces its post-D'Amaro leadership team: Thomas Mazloum as chairman, Jill Estorino to Disneyland Resort, Tasia Filippatos to Parks International, and Lisa Baldzicki to Consumer Products.

For the full conversation and our deeper takes, check out this week's bonus episode on Patreon.

WEBVTT

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Okay from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.

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This is Green Tagged Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip

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from Gantum Mighty and Controls, and I'm joined by my

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delightful co host Scott Swinson of Scott Swinson Crey Development.

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On Green tag Theme Parking thirty, we look at the

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top news each week and discuss why it matters to

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industry professionals in the theme park and theme entertainment spaces.

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This week, we're gonna touch on a little bit of

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updates from six Flags, and then we're gonna get into

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the elephant in the room of the Middle East tourism impact,

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and then finish with some of the changes that Disney

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has made to its executive team. And we want to

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just note that this week's episode is brought to you

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by Spinach Espresso.

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Who sent.

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There.

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It is Spinach Espresso. It's not everyone's cup of tea.

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We've had several people who have reached out, not you know,

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I would love to say thousands up on thousands, but

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we've had a couple folks reach out and ask about

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Spinach Espresso and you can you get Spinach Espresso swag

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and merchandise, and now yes you can. I don't know

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why this has become such a thing, but.

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I've just had a great time with it, developed a

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logo and so this this episode is brought to you

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by Spinach Espresso. It's not everyone's cup of tea. But

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if you'd like a mug or a T shirt or

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I think there's maybe onesies or something like that. I mean,

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all kinds of stupidness with the Spinach Espresso logo on it.

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And the T shirts actually have the green tag logo

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on the back too, which is kind of fun. Yeah,

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but if you want those, you can go to zazzle

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dot com just search Spinach Espresso and it will come up.

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But I didn't Yeah, I didn't know this was a

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thing until they had just appeared. And it's like, okay,

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Scott ran with it. I think it's so stupid, it's fun.

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I don't know. But there again, had nobody mentioned it,

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had I been the only one laughing, then I would

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have said, oh screw it, we'll let this go. But

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there's a couple of you out there, you know who

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you are, and I appreciate and I appreciate you commenting

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Spinach Espresso because that was a random made up thing

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at the time, and you know we're gonna we're gonna

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see if we can make it a thing. Yep or yes,

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I don't know. At least I have a mug and

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a T shirt. So but if you too would like

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a mug or a T shirt, it's at zazzl dot com.

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Just search Spinach Espresso and I will tell you it

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is print on demand. So it is not the most

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cost effective way to do things, but I have I

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promise you it is set on the absolute minimum amount

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of profit. I think I make two percent off of

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each each thing sold. So if you want to play

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along and have a good time, and if you do

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get something, please take a photo and post it on

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you know, post it in the comments for our our

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YouTube too, just because we would love to see you

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and your Spinach Espresso gear. Yes, it's stupid and fun

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all right. Now back to things that are serious.

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Yes, speaking of of serious brand activations.

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Oh, that could be a good segue.

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That was a good smooth, good smooth transit there.

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It's almost as smooth as the espresso in spinisch Espress anyway.

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So but if not everyone's company, that's.

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No it's not everyone's company in either of this show

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or our chuckleheadedness over here. So Travis Kelsey has been

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officially named as a brand and brand ambassador for six Flags.

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If y'all remember back in October, we talked about how

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Kelsey had joined the investor group of Jena Partners when

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they bought a nine percent stake in the company, So

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he had already we'd already talked about that in the past,

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and remember that at that time, Six Flags teased that

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they were going to be doing something with Travis Kelcey

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that was going to be like this. So they rolled

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out officially what it means, and I'm just going to

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read exactly from the press release. It says Kelsey will

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partner with six Flags provide a marketing support to the

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company's portfolio of parks, including supplying digital content across various

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social media platforms. Six Flags has also has the right

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to utilize Kelsey's name, image, and likeness across a variety

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of approved channels, including broadcast media, streaming platforms, and in

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park market outlets. In a separate press release that Dorian

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Lake sent out, which was forwarded to me by the

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editor of Trashus, magazine. They said in that that Kelsey

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was going to be promoting Six Flags in his social

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media platforms as well, and so it sounds like it's

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a it's both where he'll be talking about going to

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Six Flags and having fun there on his social media platforms,

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and then the park will also be able to use

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his image, likeness and content that he's developing in their

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stuff on social but also in the park as well.

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So it's I think this is I think this is

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really interesting because it's it's not it's it's a finding

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finding a way to do marketing that's not traditional marketing,

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that is current marketing, and that benefits the person. You know,

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there have been for years. They have always tried to

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find spokespeople for parks, or representatives or brand ambassadors for

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for certain areas. Yas Island tried desperately to find a

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different brand ambassador or for different different things, and to

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my knowledge, they've gone through I think three and nothing

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really stuck. So I think that this is just another

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example of how a person of notoriety can actually invest

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in a company and then contribute to that to the

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well being of that investment by continuing to use their

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notoriety to keep the Six Flags name out there in

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social media, both provided by the company and on their

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own social media platform. So this this seems like the

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next step in the marketing evolution that's happening when it

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comes to theme parks, especially but kind of in general.

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So I think this is wise and see it works.

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They did not disclose any financial information about the deal,

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but to Scott's point, you could see how essentially, since

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he is an investor, if he makes the company more valuable,

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then he that's how he gets he gets compensated.

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Right, I mean, he's got a nine percent stake in

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the company, so yeah, it's in his best interest to

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continue to promote it.

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Yeah, so we'll continue to follow this. I think it'll

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be more interesting once we actually see what the campaigns

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look like. So I'll be curious to watch when it

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starts showing up in the parks and we start to

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see if it actually moves the needle or not. So

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you know, we'll we'll we'll watch for that. So okay,

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let's move on now to the elephant in the room.

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So several people have asked about this in the last

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several episodes for us to talk about the what's going

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on in the Middle East, and Scott and I have,

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in classic Scott and I fashion, been avoiding talking about

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it until at least a little bit more information is

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out there. And we have talked about it in our

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Patreon show where we've bounced ideas back and forth, and

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we've heard from a lot of listener, like an enormous

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amount of listeners about this topic. So I think for me,

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I just want to keep it in our lanes because

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we're not geopolitical experts.

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But I was set to be.

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In the Middle East, so with Scott, I was vending

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at Ayapa in the Middle East, and Ayappa has canceled

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its show in the Middle East, and they, as I predicted,

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offered two options. You could get a refund minus twenty percent,

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or you could put your money towards next year and

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hold your spot for next year. So gantum, we're going

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to be holding our spot for next year because I think,

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I don't you know, even if I took that twenty

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percent and invested it, We're like, what, You're not really

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gonna make up for that loss. To me, it mostly

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was the travel and those type of expenses. But anyway

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I am, I am holding moving the money and moving

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towards that, and from a strategic standpoint at Gantum, what

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I'm looking at here, I think it's mostly a waiting

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game of sorts because it all depends on how long

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and how long to my For me right now, I

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think it all depends on how long the straight actually

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remains closed. That's to me the biggest thing, and that's because,

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right an enormous amount of our oil comes through that

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and so twenty percent of the world's oil goes through

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that straight, right it does disproportionately impact Europe and Asia.

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Eighty percent of China's oil comes from that twenty percent

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that comes through that straight, but also a significant portion

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of the UK and Italy and Japan. Those places are

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going to be more or impacted by it. But on

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a rit large level, the amount of time that that

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strait remains closed could increase oil prices. So the longer

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it's closed, the higher oil prices go. If oil prices

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go high, that doesn't just impact those people, it impacts

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us and tourism. And that's because higher oil prices are inflationary.

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Because everything requires transit, especially in America, like food materials.

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Everything has to move on trucks, or move through the

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air or somehow get around, and so it's not just

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inflationary in terms of it costing more at the pump,

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but it's inflationary for all sorts of items. So that's

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what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about, how how long

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is this straight going to be closed? How many drones

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do they have? They just released a statement today, actually,

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the new Supreme Leader release the statement today saying that

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he in full like their main mission.

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Is to keep that straight closed.

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So if it remains, the longer it mains closed, the

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more inflationary it is. If it's too inflationary, that could

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not only impact our economy, but impact everyone's economy in

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a tourism sense. In my opinion, what that does is

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make places like six Flags especially vulnerable because, as we

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have talked about writ large, the higher inflation is that

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means less discretionary income for the value minded consumer, which

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is who six Flags is targeting. I think this will

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be less of an impact to Disney, and I think

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Universe will sit somewhere in the middle.

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I'm done, Scott.

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Well, okay, now, this is one of those few times

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that Philip and I don't necessarily see eye to eye.

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On this particular point, I actually think that higher fuel prices,

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especially when it comes to gasoline, is actually going to

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benefit a six Flag situation because they have a lot

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more local parks. People will not be doing the major

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destination travels if it holds true with previous previous situations

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where travel has either been impacted because of COVID or

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fear of retaliation or gas prices or whatever. So it's

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the local parks that actually have a little bit of

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a boost, and it's the destination parks that take a

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little bit of a hit because people don't travel for

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their once a year visit to Walt Disney World in

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Florida or Disneyland in California. They instead go to their

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local parks. So this I believe that this just might

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be a benefit for six Flags to get people to

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come to the local parks because people are more often

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because people are not willing to travel long distances because

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of the cost. Now whether that is true or not,

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I don't know. Like like Philip said, we are not

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experts in this, but this is something that I'm just

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looking back. You know, in five years of doing this show,

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we have covered some pretty major catastrophes, some pretty major situations,

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whether it's been you know COVID or well going.

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Two COVID.

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Yeah, yeah, there's basically basically, I think the most important

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thing for our listeners to remember is make sure that

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your plan you're doing parallel planning so that no matter

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which situation does come to be, whether it is I mean,

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perfect example, Philip and I both have very similar backgrounds,

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we have very we have access to very similar resources,

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and we have drawn two slightly different conclusions. We don't

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know which is right. We don't know which one is

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going to be true. I think the same is going

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to be true in your industry as well. So make

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sure that you are planning a lot of what ifs

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and continue to plan in parallel, not with the idea

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of well, I'm going to shift when I need to

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be able to shift smoothly, because the more smoothly you

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can shift between one parallel plan and the next, the

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less likely it is to impact to impact your industry

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negatively or impact your company negatively. So yeah, with all

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sort of post crisis leadership, the only kind of christ

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leadership there really is is really good planning so that

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you have multiple options and you are right now, not

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when it happens, but right now, exploring as many options

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as possible that will reduce the costs your transportation costs

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for goods and to increase your your local awareness so

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that people won't have to travel as far. You know,

238
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keep all of those things in play so that you

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can just shift lanes as opposed to stop one project

240
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and start a whole new one. That's going to be

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my biggest piece of advice.

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I yes, I agree with actually most of what Scott said.

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I just want to clarify it's not simply gas prices.

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So actually having that straight closed, I think I think

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a lot. When I first started researching it, I thought

246
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it would just be like price at the pump. But

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the more I researched from economists, the more I learned

248
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that it's not just that. Because everything requires gas to move,

249
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so goods coming in and out out.

250
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It's much transportation of goods, but.

251
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It's not so I think my point was groceries will

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be more expensive as well as gas, so if a

253
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family that's already struggling with income, they're going to be

254
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facing multiple So though I didn't think about to your point,

255
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that means though that like it, probably I could definitely

256
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see the argument where if you know, if you're a zoo,

257
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a local zoo, and you have families that you know

258
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are on the you know, in the lower income set,

259
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and their groceries are getting more expensive, I could see

260
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how you could offer them a deal and say, hey,

261
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we're right right nearby. You could just ye, it's it's

262
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it's cheap and easy for you to get here, there's transit, whatever,

263
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you could encourage people to come in. I can see

264
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that argument. So I didn't think about that, Lens Scott,

265
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but I completely and the only.

266
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Reason, the only reason I bring it up, the only

267
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reason I bring it up is is during nine to eleven,

268
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Bush Gardens had a very strong We were at a

269
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nice fifty to fifty balance between a very strong local

270
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and a very strong tourist base. So the local base

271
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helped us keep moving forward because we already had it.

272
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We didn't have to we didn't have to garner it,

273
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we didn't have to try to gather it last minute.

274
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And as you say, food's going up, everything that you

275
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buy is going to go up because t interpretation is

276
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going to be and so therefore household incomes are going

277
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to be stretched thinner and thinner and thinner. So those

278
00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:29.639
big trips, those big signature trips in my imagination, may

279
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be reduced. Now the human psyche is a very weird

280
00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:36.759
thing and we can't always track it. It's also possible

281
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that they may not do anything locally and decide I'll

282
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be damned if for given up on our Disney. So

283
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I don't know, but I think I think this is

284
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a perfect example though, of what I'm trying to explain,

285
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and that is have plans that you can shift between

286
00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:54.840
smoothly and evenly that are already in place. So it's not,

287
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oh crap, we're not getting our tourism business. We have

288
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to shift to locals. Now is the time to figure

289
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what do you do with locals? And I would even

290
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say start to enact it.

291
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Yeah, So in a way, I think we're almost saying

292
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the same thing that we were saying previously to this

293
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in that we had talked about in our Trend's episode. Previously,

294
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we had talked about how in the industry it seems

295
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like it's bifurcating in that you know your people are

296
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looking at how can we make our offering seem more

297
00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:24.000
valuable even haunted houses, like making sure people can spend

298
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more time there, and if they're going to spend.

299
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Money, they get a whole evening out of entertainment out

300
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of it.

301
00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.159
And as Scott mentioned, all of the efforts from the

302
00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:33.240
zoos and the smaller attractions, but we've also seen this

303
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.720
expansion in luxury offerings, and that's because the highest growing

304
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demographic in America is millionaires.

305
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So here's the thing.

306
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You know, if the highest growing demographic in America is millionaires,

307
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they're not going to really be impacted by any of this.

308
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Like most economists that I read predict that if the

309
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.440
Strait remains closed for longer, we could see three to

310
00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:52.320
five percent inflation.

311
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That's not going to impact a millionaire.

312
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They're still going to go to Disney and they're still

313
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going to buy premium experiences. So I think it basically

314
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.919
what we've been saying is like your parallel planning and

315
00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.279
that you're you're looking at your value offerings or you're

316
00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:05.799
also looking at luxury offerings.

317
00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.879
If you if that's the thing that you offer, and

318
00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:09.120
if you already.

319
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.600
Have that in your in your wheelhouse, and if you don't,

320
00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.080
maybe it's something to explore right now. I think the

321
00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:15.600
other thing we have to look about look at in

322
00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:17.480
the Middle East. Is the Middle East was on the

323
00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:21.399
precipice of becoming a major explosive and I'm sorry for

324
00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.080
using that word, but an explosive player in the attractions

325
00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:28.840
and it's a good word. Yeah. Sorry. I realized as

326
00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:30.559
I was saying it that it was the wrong choice,

327
00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:35.320
but that they they had, you know, they had their goals.

328
00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:39.039
You know, that they wanted to be the hub of

329
00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:42.480
entertainment with things like Kadia City in Saudi Arabia, with

330
00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:48.360
things like Yeaes Island in Uae, even smaller projects in

331
00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.200
in uh Qatar. You know, there's a there's a lot

332
00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:53.799
of a lot of things happening, a lot of moving

333
00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.720
and shaking going on in that region because the government

334
00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:01.480
is looking to sort of expand its portfolio of revenue

335
00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:06.079
generating industries and because they have you know, dry, warm

336
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.799
weather year round and are a relatively easy flight from

337
00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.599
European nations and a lot of well everything in that hemisphere.

338
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Really that they wanted to continue to expand and make

339
00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:24.519
people recognize that the Middle East is a decent place

340
00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.960
to come and play in theme parks, which is why.

341
00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:30.200
And yes, they all realize they have to overcome the

342
00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:33.400
stigma which I won't even go into, but they had to.

343
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They realized they had to do that. And the way

344
00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:39.720
they were going to do that is by the st factor, biggest, fastest, longest,

345
00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.759
all of that. And they had the deep pockets to

346
00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:45.039
do it, and they had the government support to make

347
00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:47.000
it happen, which is why, going back to our Six

348
00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:51.920
Flag stories, why Six Flags was so eager to partner

349
00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:57.839
with them in Kadea City. So, I, as far as

350
00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:00.960
where is that going to go right now with my

351
00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:04.400
friends who are living there at the moment, Yas Island

352
00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:07.400
has not closed in in Abu Dhabi, those parks are

353
00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:12.480
still operational. The Kadia City is still opening. Aqua Arabia

354
00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:17.400
is still scheduled to open on time. So and and

355
00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.839
I have you know, one of my friends on my

356
00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:24.680
WhatsApp group in UAE said, yeah, it's it's business as

357
00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:27.680
usual today. We heard a couple of booms this morning. Now,

358
00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:29.920
of course, being an American that makes me nervous anyway,

359
00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:36.200
but apparently there you know, there is a a shelter

360
00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:40.960
in place recommendation, but you know the I signed up

361
00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:44.000
because again I do business in multiple parts of the world.

362
00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:47.440
I am signed up for all of the State Department

363
00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:52.599
recommendations for travel to these places. And it's interesting because

364
00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:55.960
they are at level three right now, which is reconsider

365
00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:01.039
your travel, and that's all of the Middle East, obviously,

366
00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:04.480
with the exception of Israel and Iran, that is, do

367
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.559
not travel simply. But what's very interesting to me is

368
00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:09.920
each one of these and I get probably two to

369
00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:13.759
three a day, each one of these emails will say

370
00:19:14.279 --> 00:19:16.559
our number one priority is to get all American citizens

371
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:20.839
out of the country. So whether they are recommending that,

372
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:23.640
you you know, no matter what the level is, the

373
00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:27.079
focus of the State Department is to get American citizens

374
00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:30.200
out of these countries. The other thing that they started

375
00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:33.160
to remind people of is the local laws because they

376
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:37.519
are different and in Ue, for example, one of the

377
00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.839
things that came up in this morning's email from the

378
00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:45.000
State Department basically said, just as a reminder, posting any

379
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:49.799
sort of propaganda or any sort of video of attacks

380
00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:54.240
is illegal in the UAE. So they just kind of

381
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:57.880
reminding people, don't make it look worse than everybody already

382
00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:01.759
thinks it is, because again they're trying to control the

383
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:07.160
narrative a wee bit so and again we want to say, oh,

384
00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:10.960
that's horrible, and we do it here too, So I

385
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.400
just think it's I just think it's important to recognize that,

386
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:17.279
like we've said, with the Middle East and those attractions

387
00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:20.599
that are continuing to expand and explore explode there, Sorry,

388
00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.759
another bad choice of words, but the ones that are

389
00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:29.480
starting to expand at a very high rate and being

390
00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:35.160
built very quickly to compete with parks in other places

391
00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:38.440
in the world. I don't think that's going to stop.

392
00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:42.519
I think it may. It may go on pause for

393
00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.920
a hot second or two, but it might also and

394
00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:48.559
this is going to sound counterintuitive, but it might also

395
00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:50.680
give them a little bit of extra time to make

396
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:53.559
certain that things are running properly before it opens up

397
00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:54.599
to a world market. Again.

398
00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:57.720
That's right, That's right. Yeah.

399
00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:03.200
So we're asked quite a few times, you know what

400
00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:06.160
we thought about exactly what Scott's just said, and I

401
00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:08.599
think that I agree with everything Scott said. I'm just

402
00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:11.680
going to add that we I don't think anybody ultimately knows,

403
00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:14.640
like we said, it's about parallel planning, and it's about

404
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.680
recognizing that it's the likelihood of different scenarios is going

405
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.839
to change depend on how long things take and and

406
00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:24.160
what happens. But I think right now I agree with

407
00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:27.000
Scott in that. That's why again I can say what

408
00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.200
we're doing as a company and what where I'm doing

409
00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:31.400
is rolling over my money into twenty twenty seven because

410
00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.079
I believe in what Scott is saying that that area will.

411
00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.519
This might be a speed bump right now things are

412
00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:38.759
right now, This might be a tourism speed bump, but

413
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.079
I don't think it's going to derail the tourism plans

414
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:44.240
for that area. So right now that is our plan

415
00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:47.279
is to exhibit there next year for the IAPA Middle

416
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:49.359
East that will be in April of twenty twenty seven.

417
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:52.440
And I can also say that what we're doing is

418
00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:55.400
I took a little bit of the funding that we

419
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.240
had and I signed up for IAPA Expo Europe this

420
00:21:58.359 --> 00:22:01.559
year because that kind of diversifies my region.

421
00:22:01.640 --> 00:22:05.079
And again, even though the UK could.

422
00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:07.240
Be negatively also impacted by the inflation due to the

423
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:09.119
oil and how long that could take, whatever, et cetera,

424
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.680
you know, I still think that the universal project there

425
00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:14.480
is proceeding for as much as we can tell. And

426
00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:16.640
also that being said, all the designers that I know

427
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:19.519
that are designing stuff for the Middle East. Are still designing.

428
00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:21.960
They might be designing from here, but they are They're

429
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:22.440
still working.

430
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:24.880
Most the ones I know are still there. Most of

431
00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:27.079
the ones I know are still there, and they have

432
00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:30.839
chosen not to leave. So yeah, I think the thing

433
00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:35.759
that we have to recognize is when when Saudi, especially

434
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:37.880
I'm gonna use Saudi as a microcosm because I don't

435
00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:39.599
want to lump Saudi and Ua together because they have

436
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.319
a very different approach to this. But with Saudi, this

437
00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:44.839
was a long term plan. I mean, this was not

438
00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:47.920
a get rich quick because they don't need to get rich.

439
00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:51.640
They're already rich. Okay, So the governments that are funding

440
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.160
these these projects, and yes they are for the most

441
00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.960
part government owned, even though they are leasing the six

442
00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:01.680
Flags name or leasing the other ip names that are

443
00:23:01.720 --> 00:23:05.160
going to be there. But it was a long term plan.

444
00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:07.599
It was not a gosh, we have to earn our

445
00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:10.680
profit back in the first year. They're trying to change

446
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:15.920
not only the world's perception of what their country is

447
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.000
known for, but also the perception of the type of

448
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.400
people their country is attracting. And I think that that's

449
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.880
going to continue. And I'm that is assuming that you know,

450
00:23:27.960 --> 00:23:31.000
we are looking at a war that will end within

451
00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:32.759
and when I was about to say shortly, but I

452
00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:36.799
was going to say end within three years, which in

453
00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:39.440
the grand scheme of things is relatively shortly, and we've

454
00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:41.759
been doing the show longer than that, so you know, well,

455
00:23:43.720 --> 00:23:45.799
but I think that I think that there's still going

456
00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.680
to be a viable market there because again, this was

457
00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:51.640
not short term, and they have invested a great deal

458
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.359
of time money, and they have a lot more planned

459
00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:57.640
for the future. So and we'll see, yep.

460
00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:01.599
Okay, I suppose if you all have more questions about that,

461
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.839
you can add comments on there, or if there's anything

462
00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:06.519
that you are seeing, people you know that are working

463
00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:08.319
in the areas or whatnot, you're welcome to add more

464
00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:11.680
into this. It's obviously developing story, and everything that we

465
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:13.559
have said is based off of when we're recording, and

466
00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:16.000
we are recording early. Just I'm going to put this

467
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:19.559
disclaimer on here. We are recording on Thursday the twelfth,

468
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.680
So if something has happened since then and you're listening

469
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:25.039
to us and you're like, oh my god, then that's why,

470
00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:28.319
because we're talking to you from the past or the future.

471
00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:32.720
No, the past. I don't know where we are. What's time.

472
00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.759
Okay, let's our last story. We're not going to get

473
00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.079
to finish the entire story, but we're going to start

474
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:43.240
on this. The last thing is that Disney Experiences has

475
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:48.359
announced leadership changes. So in brief, of course, we already

476
00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:51.880
discussed about how Josh Tomorrow it's going to be Disney's

477
00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.480
new CEO beginning March eighteenth. We talked about that and

478
00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.680
about what that meant for Disney. Really more investing in

479
00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:04.799
the parks side versus the classic I guess film's side

480
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:06.240
or how it used to work in the past, so

481
00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:08.799
kind of looking at how acknowledging how valuable the parks

482
00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:09.160
have become.

483
00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:10.160
Basically we're talking about that.

484
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:14.680
So uh, now they've announced the rest of the transitions.

485
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:19.000
So Thomas Maslom is going to succeed tomorrow as chairman

486
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.640
of Disney Experiences. The three other leadership changes is that

487
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.200
Jail Astoriano will be the president's land resort.

488
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:31.920
Tassia can't announce that. I'm gonna butt you this, Lae.

489
00:25:32.839 --> 00:25:34.559
We'll just call her Tassia our buddy.

490
00:25:35.079 --> 00:25:37.720
Yeah, Tassia, our buddy is going to be the president.

491
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.039
Philipotos I believe is the pronunciation. But I'm not.

492
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.440
Philippotas okay, and Lisa Balziki. It's going to be the

493
00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:52.160
president of Disney Consumer Products. So I'm gonna we can

494
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:54.759
get I want. I have notes to get into each

495
00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:58.039
person individually, but I think in interest of time and

496
00:25:58.119 --> 00:25:59.920
just to tie to what we were just talking about

497
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.920
writ large, my opinion of all of this is that

498
00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:09.599
what it does is signal, like highlights Disney's investment in

499
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:14.279
the more signature premium experiences and also the acknowledgment of

500
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:17.119
the strong ip and the stuff that the parks have,

501
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:23.720
and not just of course in you have here Thomas's background,

502
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:27.240
I mean most of Thomas's background, like out of his

503
00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:30.599
twenty eight years or whatnot, maybe four working parks. Everything

504
00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.880
else was cruises, hotels, food and beverage and luxury hospitalities.

505
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:36.640
You kind of kind of get that sense from his

506
00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:41.559
direct background. And then if you look at Jill, Jill

507
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:47.440
who I met on a plane randomly, you know, in Asia,

508
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:50.480
and who I watched her speak multiple times, she is

509
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.759
she's she's incredible, She's she's absolutely incredible, she's brilliant, she's

510
00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:57.480
an incredible leader, incredible woman.

511
00:26:57.559 --> 00:26:59.599
She's so kind, she's so nice.

512
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:05.039
And her big thing, of course was overseeing the Asia region,

513
00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:07.519
and she was the one that oversaw the Duffy and

514
00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:10.799
Friends and that expansion. And that's the example that Scott

515
00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:13.160
and I. Scott brought up when we talked about the

516
00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:16.759
Disney where the Duffy has now transitioned from a theme

517
00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:21.079
park and now going into the film and going into animation.

518
00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:24.359
So it's the complete inverse of what the old Flywill

519
00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:28.920
used to be. And so she explained how they you know,

520
00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:34.519
they basically made new characters that target specifically the biggest

521
00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:36.720
demographic groups in the park. I mean, she has a

522
00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:39.160
great mind from merchandising for all that, and now she's

523
00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:42.119
moving to Disneyland, which is kind of the seat of

524
00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:44.319
where they are doing a lot of the you know,

525
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:47.279
sixty billion dollar, you know us renovation, that kind of thing.

526
00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:50.640
So I Scott's what's what's your take?

527
00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:55.720
No, I think you're absolutely right. I think that from

528
00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:58.839
from what I've seen here, the people that they're putting

529
00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:01.640
in place other than I think I will say that

530
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:05.200
I think Thomas Meslom only wanted to put people in

531
00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:07.799
whose names were harder to pronounce than his So I

532
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:10.480
think that was one of the biggest factors. But other

533
00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:13.240
than that, you know, looking at their at their experiences,

534
00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:16.079
I think you're absolutely right. I think that the focus

535
00:28:16.119 --> 00:28:19.559
is going to be on the premium experience, at least

536
00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:23.880
short term. And my guess is there's somebody sitting in

537
00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:28.039
an office somewhere going, oh God, Galactic Star Cruisers should

538
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:30.839
have waited another five years and we would have been huge,

539
00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.759
We would have been gigantic. But that said, I mean

540
00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:40.119
you also see that diversification. You know, Iappa has has

541
00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:43.720
started to incorporate cruise lines Disney of course with the

542
00:28:43.720 --> 00:28:48.039
Disney Adventure and Singapore routes that that's continuing to expand

543
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:52.519
the Disney chunk of that, and quite honestly, you know,

544
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.240
even even Disney Abu Dhabi is is is part of

545
00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:00.200
that expansion. Part of that Let's get the brand out

546
00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:04.400
there to people with higher incomes. Now, the thing that

547
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.200
I know you always are you always get concerned about,

548
00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:08.039
and you've mentioned it multiple times in the course of

549
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.279
this show, and that is, you know, where is are

550
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.480
we creating two level too high a level of exclusivity

551
00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:20.519
for these parks, And that is possible, but I think

552
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:23.240
it's also necessary if we're going to get into a

553
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:26.440
situation where and once again we are not experts, but

554
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:28.680
if we're going to get into a situation where the

555
00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:33.200
economy is such that the average family or the mean

556
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:37.119
income family is not able to travel, then the businesses

557
00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:39.000
have to find a way to make up that money somewhere,

558
00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:42.279
and the only people they can target are the people

559
00:29:42.279 --> 00:29:45.200
who have the higher income who are not impacted as

560
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:49.000
much by the shift in the price of gasoline to

561
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:50.960
the pumps, the price of bread and the grocery stores,

562
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:56.079
the price of eggs, whatever, whatever, whatever. So yeah, I

563
00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.359
think this is I think Disney is ahead of the curve,

564
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:01.440
and what I think they're doing is exactly what we've

565
00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:06.240
talked about. These things have I'm pretty sure have been well.

566
00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:08.119
As with Disney, they've been in the pipeline before they

567
00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:11.640
ever announced them. So they've been in the pipeline. Now

568
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:14.759
they're bringing them to the surface. And so they've been

569
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:19.920
following that multipath we'll call it pre crisis leadership, not

570
00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:23.640
even post crisis leadership, pre crisis leadership from the get go,

571
00:30:23.720 --> 00:30:25.119
and they've brought in the people that can make that

572
00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:27.839
happen and make it work. So I think it sounds

573
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:30.279
like they're making some good business decisions. I don't know

574
00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.480
whether they will be popular with the mass populace of

575
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.119
Disney fans, but I think I think they will definitely

576
00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:42.319
keep the company afloat so that in the future, excuse me,

577
00:30:42.359 --> 00:30:45.440
in the future, when things normalize, or if they normalize,

578
00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:49.680
at least, the company will still be there. So the

579
00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:51.799
question is is it better to make it only for

580
00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:53.759
the rich for a short period of time or lose

581
00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:57.440
the company completely? And those are those are the challenges

582
00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:00.160
that I think we're gonna We're gonna see here. I

583
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:02.599
also see here that we are out of time. So

584
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:05.200
once again, I just want to say thank you everybody.

585
00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:08.160
The vast majority of this show came from your suggestions

586
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.400
and your comments. And when Philip and I started the

587
00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:13.640
show five years ago, over five years ago now, we

588
00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:15.400
wanted very badly to make it so that we would

589
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:17.559
open up a form so people within the industry could

590
00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:19.599
find a place that they could hear our takes and

591
00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:22.160
then continue to chat and discuss with each other. And

592
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:24.960
we are seeing that happen so much on the YouTube channel,

593
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:27.079
and I just wanted to say how much we appreciate

594
00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.079
it and We hope that you all keep listening, keep

595
00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:36.680
paying attention, share us to friends, family, tolerable, enemies, and

596
00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:38.680
we will continue to putting out this information. We will

597
00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:41.200
see you all next week here on green tag theme

598
00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:42.960
Herkin thirty