Pride Nite at Disneyland & The Last of Us at Horror Nights

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

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

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Scott Swinson of Scott Swinson Created Development
and Scott I thought this week we'd

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start off by talking about Disney's first
ever Pride event, Pride Night at Disneyland,

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which I attended. It was only
two nice light hit it the first

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night. Very cool, very cool. Yes, I've read bits and pieces

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about it, So how was your
experience? Well, you know, we

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talked about it a little bit before, of course the event. We covered

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it on the show when it was
first announced, and I think at that

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time my big question that we were
talking about is always with these things,

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it's the execution. Was it going
to look like? When I actually and

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we talked up a little bit about
I think your point was that the characters.

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You don't want to make the characters
gay, or you know, you

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don't want to change the lore basically
of the brand or kind of move the

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brand around. So it's all about
how the line between how do you authentically

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celebrate the LGBTQ I A culture but
maintain the brand integrity right, so I

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actually thought that how they So I
don't know. I thought the event was

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very well done. I was actually
I was shocked. I was quite shocked.

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And I'm really not alone. I
think the reception across the board has

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been very, very positive about this
event. And I talked to a lot

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of guests while I was there,
asking about their opinions and whatnot. And

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what surprised me was two things.
One was that how much the regular guest

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understood that this was a historic moment. You know, It's like I kind

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of was, like, you know, in US, as theme park people,

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we were looking at it, and
we knew it was going to be

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historic because it's really Disney as we've
talked about taking the stand, because you

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know, we've talked about this agnosy
about this, but about the political ramifications

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of it. It's really them taking
the stand about doing an event and blah

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blah blah. And so we knew
it was historic. We talked about that,

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and we talked about back about the
gay days at Disney World and how

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they tried to divorce themselves from it
and put the signs out and all that

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stuff. So I was shocked that
the regular guest was also aware of this

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and just how so many people were
there because of that reason. Well,

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and you know, the times have
changed so much, and you know,

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and I guess the more things change, the way they stay the same.

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But because we've entered a world,
certainly in the United States and I think

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the world in general, of intense
polarization, I think that the acceptance of

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the LGBTQ plus community as just another
faction or another you know, another crayon

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on the box, so to speak, is just a given in many many

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places. And I think that the
fact that it is becoming just an accepted

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given is why those who are so
opposed to it are are getting more and

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more frightened because it's no longer they
have They're having a lot of trouble vilifying

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the the LGBTQ plus community and it's
just, um, it's just terrifying for

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some of them. So you know, it makes sense. It completely makes

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sense that California, and we've said
this before, was going to be the

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park that leapt into a Pride night. I will say I just got back

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a few hours ago. Actually,
I got back to Tampa from Chicago,

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and Pride Fast is going on there
as well. Um, I didn't get

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a chance to attend, but I
did see some of the coverage of it,

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and you know, one of the
things that always works so well with

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Pride. And again, I've attended
Pride events for many, many, many

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many years, and the tone has
shifted. The tone has shifted from this

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is the time where um, you
know, members of the community come out

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and say, you know, we're
here where queer get used to it,

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to here's where we celebrate the great
weakness and the the accomplishments of the the

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LGBTQ plus community. So, you
know, I think that the the tone

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has shifted. It's now a big
party um. Like for example, in

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the Chicago the Chicago PrideFest. Yes, there were drag shows, but there

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were also concerts and dance parties and
and uh you know organizations. Uh there

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was a whole pet walk, um, you know, a whole um you

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know, members of the community with
their pets going out and showing that you

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know, it's just it's it's no
longer a we have to show that we

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exist. It's that we just are
celebrating who we are and our allies.

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Yeah, you know. So it's
it's an interesting it's an interesting shift in

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tone and from what I've seen,
and I don't know, you may you

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may prove me wrong because you were
actually there, But from what I've seen

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in the coverage, Disneyland was kind
of that same tone. It was like,

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let's let's celebrate this culture as opposed
to um let's either set them on

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a pet us or make it so
that this is something other than a part

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of the community. Does that make
it? Yeah, I do want to

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get into that, and I agree. Overall, I thought they pulled off

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that component of celebrating the community but
also making it uniquely Disney, you know,

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and that's that's that's so tricky to
do with a brand like Disney,

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because of the political context and because
of all these contacts. But but I

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agree, I think they did do
that. So let's going through the offerings.

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They did do a fireworks show.
It was a welcome, a fireworks

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welcome instead of a fireworks ending.
It was a welcome, and it was

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a kind of a six minute instead
of twelve minute. But it was a

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custom music experience, you know,
and it was very really like evoked individuality

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and you know, like like playing
like this is me from the Greatest Showman,

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you know, it was. It
was very like curated well, it

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was curated well to be like,
you know, not um again like we

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talked about obviously not talking about characters
that are gay, but more just like

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celebration of individuality and celebration of belonging. So I thought that was done really

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well. They had a Pride flag
projection mapping that ran all night and it

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ran on Main Street. There were
pieces of it on the castle and on

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the It's a Small World facade,
and that was also kind of interesting because

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it was running the entire event,
which is unusual, but also it worked

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very well. You know, at
any time, you walk down Main Street

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and it's just is a giant Pride
flag down Main Street, and then you

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go to Small World and it's just
a giant experience. It's there the entire

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time, setting the tone. And
they did a cavalcade and it's it's called

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a cavalcade, but really it was
more like a half parade. It was

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it was quite long for a cavalcade. It was multiple vehicles, but really

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they had they had a parade float. They were decked out with bright balloons

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and whatnot. But again that that
line right, all the cares were just

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kind of dressed in rainbow esche type
of thing, but they weren't doing anything.

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They weren't holding any like, they
weren't doing anything that was like that

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was really like making them look like
they were part of the community. Instead,

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what they did was rely on the
dancers and the performers in between the

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characters, and they had rainbows,
you know, painted on their faces,

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and they had streamers, and they
were the ones that were really leaning into

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it, like really leaning into the
culture whatnot. And the interesting thing too,

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is that when the Pride, when
the cavalcade went through, like hundreds

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and hundreds of guests followed it to
the very end, so it almost became

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its own Pride parade, which was
one of those things where I'm like,

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well, what are we gonna you
know, they're gonna get it to a

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dead end at some point. I
don't know where all these people are going

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to go. But it was there
were a lot of moments like that that

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really to me, like you could
just tell that the event was a success

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because because of those moments, because
the guests, on their own, of

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their own volition, hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of them lined up to just

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follow the cavalcade, you know,
because at the end of the night,

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they're you know, as a crowd
gathered on Main Street, they were waiting

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for the fireworks at the beginning,
and they broke out into an Abbas sing

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along. Like those moments that just
spontaneously happened with the guests, or so

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many of those moments. And that's
how I think that, above anything,

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is how you could tell like they
really they really hid it in that in

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those a good way. Also the
character interactions, you know, they really

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did a good job of mixing them
together because you know, the the classic

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complaint is that you don't want to
spend your entire event waiting in a character

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line. So they did a mix
of them. They had characters face characters

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just wandering around, like the Queen
of Hearts, who was a face character

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and she was just being a queen, which was again all these things that

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are like they're good pairings, but
it's not, you know she you know,

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she was she was saying queenly things, bow down and you should,

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you know, all these things,
and people were loving character. The character.

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The character of the Queen of Hearts
is very much a demanding drag queen.

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I mean, if you think about
it, it's it's it's been emulated

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by by so many drag performers that
it just it just makes sense. Um.

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The same with the same with the
Muses. You know, the muses

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are are the are the pageant the
pageant queens, so they didn't have to

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change the characters. In fact,
they are the original characters that so many

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of the drag personas have have emulated
and based their characters on. So yeah,

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I'm glad to see that they were
able to embrace that and wreckage and

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they just put there. And then
of course the biggest part was of course,

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it's like, as you mentioned in
Chicago, the dance portion. They

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had three dance parties. They had
one that really was on rivers of America.

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There was a DJ floating on the
water and they had streamers and they

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had lights, and it really,
honestly, I was a little shocked.

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It felt like a rave And I'm
not sure whether that was like the people

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that were kind of making it,
or whether it was the set up or

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I had never seen those type of
DJ installations kind of set up in rivers

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America, and and it was just
a mosh pit down there. It was

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it was that was that was interesting. Um, guests came, even though

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they weren't supposed to technically, guests
did come in costume, and you saw

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a lot of I saw quite a
few drag aerials, you know, drag

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characters that were kind of dressed up
as princesses, drag princesses. Um.

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I'm not sure. That's the thing
where I'm not sure that there they might

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modify some of the rules for those
type of things in the future because a

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lot of those a lot of those
guests had were had lines. Your lines

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are for me to take pictures with
the guests, and you know, that's

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that's a tricky thing for Disney just
because of how it all works. But

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the dance was where they were all
collected, right. It is a difficult

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thing. However, you know,
if you think about it, the idea

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of modified Disney cosplay is not new. I mean Dapper Days at you know,

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do they do that in California?
Do they do that here in Florida?

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So you know, Dapper Days are, you know there are they are,

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They're just not recognized the characters,
which is why it's okay for Dapper

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Day, but for people to be
dressing with we've also done it with villains.

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They've also done it. Um,
They've also done it with Star Wars

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characters. They've also done it,
you know, so the idea of cosplay

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is not completely new to them.
Um. And as you say, you

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know, the thing that I'm hearing
from you that I absolutely love it is

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the success of this event was half
what Disney did and half the attitude of

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the attendee and and the mindset and
the willingness to participate and follow the cavalcade

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and start the spontaneous thing along and
you know those kinds of things. That's

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that is a great celebration. When
the missing character is the guest, you

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know, that is true immersion.
That's really excited. It was great.

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So that kind of summarizes it.
The only thing I'll add on that last

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note is that they did have a
lot of specialty food. A lot of

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it was you know, rainbow stuff, so that wasn't available normally, all

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of which, as typical, sold
out quickly. So I went to get

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the rainbow gray stuff and it sold
out about like an hour in and of

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course we were waiting in line,
and I knew it. I felt like

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it was sold out, so I
went to ask the people and they're like,

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yeah, we just sold out of
it, and I was like,

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yeah, of course, So I
took a picture of it. They were

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serving to somebody else and I took
a picture of it so I could have

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it for records and for the little
video that we're making. And then we

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got out of line and left and
went and sat down to eat somewhere else,

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and somebody, a guest, came
up to me and offered and just

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gave me his rainbow gray stuff and
was like, I saw that you tried

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to get it, and you didn't
get anything, ran out and I just

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want to give this to you and
for you to share it with your friends

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and have a good evening. And
that's it. And then just walked away

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and it was just a regular guest. It wasn't a cast member. Yeah.

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See, that's that's the sign of
a great festival. UM. That's

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the sign of a you know,
a great celebration of this type UM.

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And you know the one thing that
that I always we've and we've talked about

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it on the show before. UM, anytime anybody does anything that is UM

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for whatever, for whatever, uh, for whatever part of society, whether

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it is a nationality, whether it
is for the LGBTQ plus community, whatever,

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UM, we always want to make
certain that, uh, it's not

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just the surface way to make money. Now, obviously Disney is not UM.

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They they strongly support in their hiring
practices, in their staffing practices,

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UM, in their retention practices,
in their insurance practices for their employees.

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I mean, it's not just it's
not just let's paint rainbows on everything.

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It truly is a visualization of what
they believe as a company. And I

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and I think that that's really important
to mention because all too often, just

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like just like organizations that you know, appropriate certain um, certain ethnic cultures,

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there are also those who will appropriate
the the LGBTQ plus community and just

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you know, say, oh,
it's pride, So we got to put

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rainbow flags on everything. And yet
their their practices or their their standard operating

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procedure does not really support the community. So I just want to make sure

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that we mentioned that this that's not
the case with Disney. Disney clearly has

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gone to bat um in courts now
for for for their practices, and so

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this is not one of those This
is not one of those Hey, let's

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make money off of the let's make
money off the LGBTQ plus community just by

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putting rainbows on everything. Yeah,
so I hundred percent agree. I also

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talk to some of the I'll talked
to a lot of people in a lot

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of cast members, and there was
definitely I'm not the stories that I got

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differ on how precisely they did it, but there was a lot of interest

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in working this event from the staff
standpoint, so they did kind of like

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most of the team members that were
there that light were part of the community

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as well, so it was like
from both ends, the guests and the

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operators. It sounds like they had
they had a council they put together to

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make sure that all the content.
I mean, they did a lot of

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work to make sure and that's just
exactly what you're saying. They did a

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lot of work at a lot of
expense, and they had a lot of

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employee input to make sure that it
was something that authentically represented both Disney and

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the community. So it was good. It's a good job. That's great.

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That's absolutely okay. Well, let's
let's switch gears entirely. You talk

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about a little bit about Halloween,
because we had a major announcement drop from

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Universal Halloween Horror Nights. There's guests
to survive The Last of Us as Naughty

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Dog and PlayStation's award winning post pandemic
video game come to life for the first

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time as an all new haunted house
on both coasts set in the ravaged civilization

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were infected and hardened survivors run rampant
Naughty Dog and PlayStations. The Last of

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Us video game, which celebrates its
tenth anniversary this year, has captivated audiences

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since its release, and now guests
can immerse themselves in a real life experience

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that puts them directly into the game's
frightening world. Guests will encounter the infected

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Runners, Stalkers, and Clickers,
along with the Hunters, a band of

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hostile humans that they will need to
navigate the Pittsburgh quarantine Zone, including iconic

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locations from the video game, such
as the creepy and desolated Hotel Grand and

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the Labyrinth of Dark Tunnels. So
I so interesting. This was a very

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interesting announcement, and my hot take
on this is that this is a continuation

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of the thing that we talked about
last year, which when they announced the

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weekend partnership, which is Universal's attempt
to begin bridging the gap between like the

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classic IP would think about Hana House
scary IP and more mainstream horror adjacent ips.

240
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Because really the Last of Us is, I mean, it is it.

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It's very popular in the e gaming
space, so it is a fantastic

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like to get that segment, which
is much broader appealed in thin parks.

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Like many more people engage in e
gaming then go to thin parks, so

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it's a very good way to tie
into that. It's also on HBO,

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so it's a good way. You
have a lot of visuals and then but

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you know, the thing that I
hear most about The Last of Us is

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people that watch it go this is
really isn't a horror It's more like a

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romance drama thing that is still really
good. And that is the key I

249
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think, you know, it's that
it's like horror light. You know,

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there's these there's a larger story that
they're I think they're trying to get those

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those more mainstream for lacking a better
word audience, I think, to engage

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with them. And so that that's
my take is that it seems like of

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anything this is going to be that
like that big IP that's going to try

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and bring in more than mainstream crowds
into Horror Knights. And I did a

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conduct a poll for so I on
Instagram. I have I have a channel

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that listeners can participate in where I
put polls that we use in the show,

257
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and I kind of ask them basically
to grade the idea, like what

258
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they thought about it, And seventy
percent said they thought it was an amazing

259
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idea and the rest in then varying
degrees, but nobody thought it was a

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bad idea. Of the several hundreds
that voted, well, And here's here's

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the thing. I mean am I
am not a gamer as we well know,

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and I know the last of us
IP. Because of the series,

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the television series, and the way
it has been interpreted for the TV series,

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I think it truly is horror,
and especially certain elements of it,

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it clearly is. I mean,
I don't want to be too cynical about

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it, because I actually actually really
like the television ip UM, but it's

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it's, oh, look, it's
another way to do zombies. It's a

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it's it's a fresh spin on zombies, which is great. I mean,

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you know, let's keep that let's
keep that that going. But to me,

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it's even more basic than let's bring
in the the the more neutral,

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the more neutral viewer. To me, it's we've got something that is a

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huge game. We've got something that's
a very popular television show. Let's keep

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adding different, you know, different
incarnations of it um so that we can

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a keep the ip fresh and alive, and b playoff of the success from

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both gamers and from the the the
HBO viewers. You know, it's it's

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it's already got. It's it's marketing
done because people are playing the game on

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a regular basis and inge watching the
show, so you know, they don't

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they don't have to work too hard
to market it. That's what Universal has

279
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always done really really well when it
comes to selecting their ips. Now,

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sometimes the execution, you know,
we use that phrase a lot, execution,

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execution, excution. Sometimes the execution, certainly in Florida, has been

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me on some really great ipsum And
other times they take ips that you think,

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I don't know, how's this going
to work, and they just knock

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it out of the park. You
know, it goes back to and I've

285
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mentioned on this show, when it
goes back to American Werewolf in London.

286
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When they did the American Werewolf in
London house, I thought, oh,

287
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it's it's way too late to do
that, and it's not going to be

288
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any good. And it was.
It was amazing. Yeah, it was

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one of their best IP houses I
think in many, many, many years,

290
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because this was a while ago.
But you know, I think that

291
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I think it makes I think it
just it seems to make total sense to

292
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me that this is if they had
not done it, I would have been

293
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surprised. Let me put it that
way, because it is already so popular

294
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in two different mediums, it makes
total sense to bring it life. I

295
00:20:59.319 --> 00:21:03.279
agree with you on that it does
make total sense. But it's more like

296
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I wonder if we're looking at it
like in hindsight, right, we're like,

297
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oh, well, yeah, because
I still think this is a little

298
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bit of a departure from what the
normal game is because you say about strengthening

299
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the IP, but it's not their
ip, Like, you know, they

300
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don't have anything to gain by strengthening
the last of us IP. So it's

301
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like, that's not that's not the
m O here. And usually, you

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know, usually, as we talked
about with the Disney model. The m

303
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is for them to to bring up
something from the unit, from the universal

304
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catalog that they have that they're doing
a new version of or whatever, and

305
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to you know, create an IP
experience for that that then drives revenue for

306
00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:42.160
merch or tickets or whatnot. But
this, this to me, is just

307
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like the Weekend. It's a classic. It's more of a play using someone

308
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else's IP to make the event bigger
and to bring in a new audience.

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I think, which is you know
a little bit different than than them doing

310
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you know, taking something from the
catalog. Yeah, I don't see this.

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00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:03.359
I I personally, because I'm not
familiar with the gaming IP. Um,

312
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I don't see this. This seems
to be much more in line than

313
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the Weekend. The Weekend I thought
was just way out of left field and

314
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didn't appeal to me at all.
Let me just put it that way.

315
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Um, this I find much more
appealing. And this seems a lot.

316
00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:22.799
I mean, it is it is
horror, it is about It is horror.

317
00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:26.920
There's no question there are there are
scenes in it that are absolutely horrifying.

318
00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.319
Yeah, it's much more horror than
the Weekend. But but I'm just

319
00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:34.799
saying, like the at least the
series didn't have elements of drama in it.

320
00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.799
You know, it's about the people. It's not about the zombies,

321
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:40.759
if that makes sense. It's about
the people surviving. I agree, I

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00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:44.920
agree, but it's you know,
at the same time you mentioned that it's

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00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:49.440
they don't have anything to gain by
by elevating the IP, but the holders

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00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.279
of the IP exactly. So I'm
sure that that is. I'm sure that

325
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:57.000
that has worked into the deal and
the licensing agreement that they have with Universal

326
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Um because they see they can see
some great gain and freshness in this as

327
00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:11.240
well. So whether it is Universal
that is directly or indirectly UM profiting by

328
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:18.240
by enlivening this IP, it's uh. I think it's kind of a win

329
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:22.519
win. Yeah. Well, the
next story is it really in the same

330
00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:26.960
vein at speaking about IP, and
it is that Baby Shark surfaces at Ocean

331
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Park in new partnership the pink Fong
Can I put out really quickly that you

332
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just put the last of Us and
Baby Shark in the same vein. I

333
00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:41.279
don't know quite how that happens.
They're both I you know, I understand,

334
00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:45.359
but I don't think anyone has ever
used the phrase in the same vein

335
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:49.319
as the last of us. Baby
Baby Shark. Yeah, Baby Baby Shark

336
00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:56.759
is coming to a theme park near
you if you live in China. So

337
00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.240
the Pingfong Company, the global entertainment
company behind Baby Shark, has partnered with

338
00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:08.000
Hi Chung Ocean Park in China to
bring the Baby Shark Festival to more than

339
00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:14.720
thirty cities in China. So just
as a recap that the song that they

340
00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:18.400
release, Baby Shark is the currently
the most viewed YouTube video of all time,

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amassing over twelve billion views. And
the experiences will include a daily parade

342
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with mascots of the park, interactive
live shows, underwater world themed walls,

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and there's also an in park restaurant
where fans and families can enjoy delicious Pingfong

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and Baby Shark inspired menus, enjoying
the mini live show featuring fan favorite Baby

345
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Shark songs and dances during their meal. In addition, the collaboration will offer

346
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:48.160
one of a kind staycation experience to
the Baby Shark themed suite at the Ocean

347
00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:51.880
Park Resort Hotel, where every corner
of the room is decorated with adorable underwater

348
00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:59.920
characters. So I think we just
talked last week about how you know Disney's

349
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.480
partnership with Apple and the new vision
pro excent it reality where they're kind of

350
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like, look ips are going to
carry us. And I feel like both

351
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of these stories are the same thing, you know, universal going to the

352
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last of us or however they work
together to create a thing. And then

353
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Baby Shark, even if it's just
a two minute video that has created a

354
00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:22.799
whole culture because of the amount of
views it's getting, has now spawned a

355
00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:26.440
whole festival. And that's a lot
of programming. You know, it's not

356
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.160
just like a photo op that this
is. This is like, I think,

357
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a full slated programming that they're rolling
out to all of the Ocean park

358
00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:37.039
locations in China in over thirty cities. So well, and once, what

359
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.920
I've seen, what I've discovered with
children, And again I don't have kids,

360
00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:41.279
but I work with them a lot. And I was sitting in front

361
00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:48.319
of one flying home today in the
plane and the once children finding they weren't

362
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:53.079
watching Baby Shark. However, once
they lock into a melody that they like

363
00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:59.880
and can replicate and can identify,
they don't get tired of it. Parents

364
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.519
want to pull their hair out,
but the kids don't tire of it,

365
00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:07.279
so you know, to do um
Disney did it a gazillion years ago with

366
00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:11.640
It's a Small Whirld. You know, the moment somebody starts singing that song,

367
00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:17.599
it becomes ingrained in your very soul, kind of like asbestos. And

368
00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:19.720
but it just you just can't get
rid of it. I mean, it

369
00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:23.000
just it just gets stuck in your
you know, like it's like it's like

370
00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:29.400
taking fiberglass and rubbing it in your
face. It's never coming out. Weird,

371
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:33.559
weird connections were drying in this show. I know. I know.

372
00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:37.960
Well again in the same vein as
zombies. Let's talk about baby sharks are

373
00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:48.160
similar. They can eat zombies probably, but then do they become zombie sharks?

374
00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:53.039
No, I sor right, oh
goodness, oh good I'm gonna get

375
00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:57.319
a cease and desist from singing that. I'll stop now. But no,

376
00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:00.680
I again, I think it's brilliant. I think it is absolutely brilliant.

377
00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:04.839
And what to me, it's UM. To me, it's very much in

378
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:12.480
line with UM, the the affiliation
between Legoland and Pepper Pig. It is,

379
00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:18.799
you know, let's let's take these
things that are UM very popular with

380
00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:22.720
a very focused audience. And now
I realize this is very popular with a

381
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.400
very broad audience, but it's a
very focused age demographic um, and it's

382
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:30.920
an age demographic that if the you
know, if the kids want to go

383
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:37.440
experience baby Shark of peluza Um,
then their parents are going to take them.

384
00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:40.720
You know. Yes, I think
it's just called a baby Shark festival.

385
00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:51.640
There's any no, not than either
just a festival. Well, I

386
00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.400
won't name baby sar festivals anymore.
I'm sorry, I just want to do

387
00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:59.640
it. So okay, let's uh. I think the last story we can

388
00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:02.640
squee in here is from six Flags, and this is to me, this

389
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:06.200
is the contrast. This is like
the other approach because you know we've talked

390
00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:11.440
about of course six Flags not really
leaningt ip really just capitalizing on thrills and

391
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.000
you know, building coasters or whatnot
is their main business model. So they've

392
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:19.960
introduced a new thing called six Flags
Plus, which is which people would stop

393
00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:26.240
using that and basically it seems to
thank you for watching, Yeah, thank

394
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:32.359
you for watching. We're gonna lunch
that through Greek type pro plus. It

395
00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:34.759
gives you, it seems like it
gives you. It basically is a monthly

396
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:41.279
version of their Diamond Pass, which
just a little bit different perks, just

397
00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:45.000
slightly like slightly less. So it
gets you unlimited access to all the theme

398
00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:51.200
parks and water rights in the chain, general parking, and fifteen percent off

399
00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:56.960
of stuff versus the Diamond Pass,
which gives you twenty percent off and better

400
00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:59.720
parking blah blah. So they're very
close. It's twelve nine nine a month

401
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:03.519
is the other Diamond Pass, which
is fourteen just over fourteen dollars a month.

402
00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:08.519
So to me, this is like
maybe them trying to do a little

403
00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:14.039
bit more of an economical option to
get people in that just want to scent

404
00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:15.799
dan and lining go on rides.
I don't I don't know what you think's

405
00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:22.519
got to me? This is this
whole thing has become very popular in multiple

406
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:25.799
parks, and six Flags is not
the first to do a pay as you

407
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:27.720
go monthly kind of thing. I
think it's the fact that the culture has

408
00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:33.200
changed to a subscription series model,
and I think that in many of the

409
00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:36.759
many other areas of their lives,
not the theme park necessarily, but you

410
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:42.039
know, you you subscribe to so
many things online and so many streaming services

411
00:29:42.039 --> 00:29:45.519
and so many, so many that
that it's it's just kind of playing into

412
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:48.519
you know, when you when you
look at like, for example, the

413
00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:52.119
Diamond Pass, if you put it
all together, it's one hundred and seventy

414
00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:55.720
bucks, but if you break it
down, it's fourteen seventeen a month.

415
00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:00.240
Fourteen seventeen a month sounds so much
more accessible than one hundred and how many

416
00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:03.640
bucks to some families. So it's
it's playing into the subscription model. It's

417
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:07.839
it's breaking it down. And and
I think that all too often there has

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00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:12.200
been a fear with season passes.
It's like, well, I'll buy it

419
00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:15.680
and I'll only go once. And
that was kind of the the hope,

420
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.400
quite honestly, by many theme park
chains. It was it was let's make

421
00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:25.160
our money on breakage um or unused
you know, unused tickets. Uh.

422
00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:30.519
I think it's why we're also seeing
pricing on on seasoned passes come down to

423
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.839
roughly a ticket price. Now,
this is something that Bush Gardens did a

424
00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:40.039
long long time ago. Um and
it the world wasn't quite ready for it

425
00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:44.359
back then, quite honestly, but
um, it was. It's something that

426
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:48.079
I think we're I think parks are
looking at how do we how do we

427
00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:51.640
meet, how do we shoot where
the ducks are flying? How do we

428
00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:55.279
meet the populace? And how they're
spent and what they're spending habits are because

429
00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:59.440
if they're willing to spend X amount
per month to subscribe to you know,

430
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:06.680
ten or fifteen different streaming services,
then why not a theme park streaming service?

431
00:31:06.680 --> 00:31:08.920
Why not a theme park pay as
you go. So I think it's

432
00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:14.599
just trying to meet guests where they
where they're living and make it comfortable for

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00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:18.799
them and make it seem more economical
than it really is. I also believe

434
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:21.880
that they're banking on the fact that
if you only pay twelve ninety nine a

435
00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:26.480
month, you'll have some extra cash
in your pocket to buy more to buy

436
00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:30.880
more stuff when you're there. I
really do. I really think that it's

437
00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:33.839
you know, we have a cheaper
we have cheaper access, so let's just

438
00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.359
go there for dinner. And I
know that I did that. I did

439
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:40.880
that Nabu Dhabi when I had my
Yes Island pass, so I can totally

440
00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.480
I can totally see how that would
work. Um. I could also totally

441
00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:49.960
see how green tagged pro Plus Shark
Festival Pelooza is done. For this week

442
00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:55.000
because we are out of time.
So once again, everybody, thank you

443
00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:59.319
so much for listening to us ramble
on about silliness. I don't know about

444
00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:02.160
you, Philip, but I'm really
happy to be back home again and doing

445
00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:07.759
another another episode from from our studios. It's great. It's great. Um

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00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:13.799
So everyone please check us out anywhere
you can either listen or watch our videos,

447
00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:19.480
or especially share what you're hearing with
other people. We would love to

448
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:22.519
continue to grow our audience and we
can only do that with your help.

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00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:24.799
So on behalf of Philip Ernandez and
myself Scott Swenson. This is Green Tag

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00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:28.559
Theme Park in thirty and we will
see you next week