Oct. 3, 2023

Shrek's Swamp, NERF Land, ESports, and Media Nights

Shrek's Swamp, NERF Land, ESports, and Media Nights

This week: Spend the night in Shrek’s Swamp, now on Airbnb; Beto Carrero World introduces the world’s first NERF-themed land in a theme park; Cedar Point Esports: New gaming facility to open in Sandusky on October 6; Scott and Philip discuss their...

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This week: Spend the night in Shrek’s Swamp, now on Airbnb; Beto Carrero World introduces the world’s first NERF-themed land in a theme park; Cedar Point Esports: New gaming facility to open in Sandusky on October 6; Scott and Philip discuss their work for Hush Haunted Attraction.

WEBVTT

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Uh, from our studios in Detroit
this week and Tampa. This is green

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tag them Barkin thirty. I'm Philip. My co host is, as always,

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the Glorious Scott Swinson of Scott Swinson
Created Development. Some people have different,

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you know, precursors to their name. Mine apparently is glorious. I

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like that. I'm gonna start putting
that on on business cards. Glorious and

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glamorous, glamorously glorious Scott Swinson.
I'm not real sure I believe either one

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of those. Anyway. Well,
it's October, so you know, but

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I appreciate that. Thank you.
Welcome to October listeners. We are still

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wait, I don't even know,
very deep, almost underwater with projects,

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but we are here for you because
that's what we do. And we have

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three stories that I thought kind of
thought was the most interesting, and they

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are continuations of that we've talked about
before, so we thought we'd bring them

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up. The first is that you
listener, can you can spend the night

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in Shrek's Swamp, which is now
available on Airbnb and it will be opening

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for bookings on the thirteenth of October. So basically the storyline behind this is

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that Donkey is house sitting, and
of course while he's house sitting, he's

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going to throw a party, and
of course you're invited to the party to

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come in. So there's a little
bit of story. And this appears to

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be an actual, you know,
charity partnership with Airbnb and DreamWorks because DreamWorks

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is listed in here DreamWorks Animation,
Shrek and it. So it seems to

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be a I guess a mix between
like a fundraiser and a PR event and

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an IP installation happening out here in
Scotland. And it looks like a full

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fabrication of Donkey's house of Shrek's house
on the Shrek's House. It looks it

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looks fantastic and I'm sure that some
of the folks from our industry helped put

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this together because it has that you
know, fiberglass professional feel. So what

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do you think, Scott, Well, you know, we talk a lot

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about and and certainly I talk a
lot with a lot of my clients about

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immersive entertainment, and this is this
is quintessential. I mean, this is

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you You're not just you're not just
going there for the day, You're actually

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spending the night. You're getting a
chance to to uh, not just look

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at but live in part of the
part of the story. And and I

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think that's really exciting. I love
the fact that you know it. It

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kind of seems and I don't know, I'm reading and I'm reading between the

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lines here, but it kind of
seems as though they're using this, this

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charity partnership to sort of test out
the possibility or feasibility. It's like a

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feasibility study that that goes to a
good cause. Does that make sense?

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And then I think, I think
you're right. Everything that I've read about

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it, it looks like it is
truly a partnership. It's like some some

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company scabbing off the Shrek name.
And the nice thing is, you know

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it because they clearly use Shrek and
they clearly use donkey. Now donkey you

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can pretty much use anywhere because you
can't copyright that word. But but Shrek's

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pretty straightforward. And uh, and
the imagery, you know, some of

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this stuff when you look at it, I don't know whether they could have

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gotten that detailed just from from trying
to pull stills from a film or you

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know, it's because it's really it
looks like it's really, really well done,

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and I would be I would be
curious to say, there the one

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thing I didn't see and maybe you
saw it in there. Where where is

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it located? How far is it? How far out in the middle of

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nowhere is it? Or is it
just a small area close to close to

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town so to speak? It looks
pretty far. So it's located among the

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hills of the Scottish Highlands, and
it's it's on It looks like it's on

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a property. To look more into
that, because it it there's that little

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export. The property is indepenently owned, operated by ard. Oh I can't

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even pronounce that by an estate.
So it's an a state facility and it's

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on here like please note the bathroom
is located twenty meters in the main living

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area in a standalone facility, so
it's it's you know, so it's got

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a glorified out house. That's that's
actually right on brand, really, you

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know, other than just going out
in the swamp and letting it all go.

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But yeah, no, it looks
it looks like an awful lot of

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fun. I wish there were more
opportunities to do this kind of thing.

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I mean, obviously this is what
what Disney did with with Star Cruiser,

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and that was, you know,
on a much grander scale. But it's

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the idea of not just going to
to an ip installation, but actually living

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in it. And I and I
think there's something. I think there's something

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very fun. I also didn't see
how many does it sleep? So yeah,

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it there's a lot of details that
are kind of missing from this and

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I'm wondering, you know, on
its surface, it's presented as a press

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release from Donkey, like putting this
up, you know, for that,

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and then it has the a lot
of the attributes of a traditional Airbnb stay

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because it says you know about the
stay and you know it's you know,

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for zero pounds a night. A
nod to the priceless refugee shreck Swamp has

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provided fairytale creatures for all of all
kinds. They'll be able to request a

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book an exclusive two night Swamp stay
for up to three guests October twenty seventh

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to twenty ninth. So so up
to three guests for a two night's day.

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So is it just three people total? Yeah, that's kind of what

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it looks like. So if you're
if you're going as a family, it's

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mom dad, and you have to
pick your favorite kid if you more have

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more than one. So yeah,
that was what I was curious about because

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it looked like, just based on
the images and some of the verbiage that

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I read quickly through that oh there's
the there's the outhouse too. Yeah,

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this is very interesting and I agree
it's all. I think it's a test.

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And we've talked about it because we've
talked about some of our you know,

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a little Spider creations talking about how
their Airbnb business has picked up significantly

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in the theme. And I could
see it, you know again, we

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could see it working like what's the
next logical extension for some of these brands,

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Well, it's to do these some
of these in person experiences. And

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I could see partnering with Airbnb on
a lot of IPS to make exclusive stays

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later on that are you know,
themed to IP. I could see it

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very much working. And just for
context, this estate, it is a

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it is a castle estate. Basically, it's a Victorian Gothic manner and it

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is so if you're looking at the
the UK, it's it's up I guess

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to the north past Edinburgh, so
it is not in a is not really

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near anything or in an easily accessible
area. Bat All, I mean it's

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not anyway, So it's something like
you'd have to fly into Glassglow or to

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Edinburgh and and you know drive or
taxi up there to it. So interesting.

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Yeah, yeah, it looks like
tons of fun. Yeah. So

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it's about two and a half hours
north of Edinburgh, so yeah, so

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it just very interesting that there's these
a little test going on. Well,

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okay, keeping I guess with our
little international theme here we have our next

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story is having to do with the
first NERF themed land in a theme park.

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And the first NERF themed land opens
October twelfth, and it's at Betto

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Carrero World, which is in Brazil. So we got the whole release here.

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But basically, to break it down, it's like it's a it's one

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section in this theme park and it
has it's like a themed land. There

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are multiple rides. I think there
are two rides. There's the eatery and

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then there's some merch area, so
it's a kind of a full land in

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that regard, and it's all themed
around the Nerf IP and it's as Nerve

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maybe as a collaboration between Bedocre World
and Hasbro. The expansive themed area of

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over fourteen thousand square meters was designed
by Design Studio in Singapore and New York,

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known for their experience in creating the
theme parks. So, you know,

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we cannot wait for consumers of all
ages to experience the first ever NERF

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themed land at bet o'crero World.
And this opening is just a start of

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what's to come. And of course
we've heard a lot from Hasbro right because

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we have the Crayola Center. I
mean, this seems to be kind of

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the next step of them of that
brand, kind of rolling out ips I

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have. You know, again,
it's in a park I've never been to,

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and I've heard very little of this
property in this area, so I'm

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not sure about that part. But
I think overall, this trend seems to

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be exactly what we're talking about for
the expansion of these you know, classic

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games into you know, it's like
it's like the next what is the next

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extension of doing these individual pop ups, Well, now it's to try a

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themed area anthy park. Right.
Well, once they started to do Hasbro

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game nights on cruise ships, you
kind of knew that this was this was

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the direction. Sorry, Hasbro game
nights on stage on in in cruise ships.

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Then you you kind of knew that
this was the next thing. And

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you know, we've talked about it
before. Gaming and play is becoming larger

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and larger intellectual properties than than even
movies or or or television. I mean

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obviously video gaming, but even even
things like Nerve or Lego or you know,

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the classic Hasbro games. You'll look
at you look at like gen Con,

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which is this Jimingo convention. Significantly
more people attend it than any of

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the or most of the the other
more more theatrically based ips. So you

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know, there's there's clearly a huge
fan base here, so it makes an

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awful lot of sense. I'm also
excited that the the first Nerve theme land

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is in a now I don't know
the size of Better Carrero World, but

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is not in one of the the
almighty parks that we know, you know,

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as a household name somewhere you know, like you said, yeah,

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yeah, yeah, yeah, and
kind of proving what we said before.

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Not only is it a test,
it's also if you do the right sort

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of negotiation, a park of any
any size can can find a way to

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incorporate a well known ip. Yeah, Scott, to your point when I

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was going to say about the quote
unquote tractions, you know, they're not

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really rides, but but basically it's
like their play experiences, I think,

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is how I would describe them.
I mean, again, we're gonna have

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to wait until it opens so we
can actually see a video about these and

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see what, you know, what
it actually looks like, because just reading

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reading it doesn't I don't think that's
I'm not clear, but it says they're

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two there are two spin Blast and
super Soaker Splash, and the spin Blast

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it says, is a giant disc
for forty people spinning atop a wave shaped

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truck. This exclusive attraction in the
Brazilian market is designed to accommodate over six

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hundred people per hour. And the
other one was they're both imported from Italy,

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I guess and brought over. So
that's not clear to me what that

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looks like, you know, specifically, but it's clear that it's a play

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experience like it is. It's not
like a roller coaster, right, it

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is a it is something to do
interactive play, which again fits with what

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you just said and with the nerve
concept. Yeah, I'm wondering if it's

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if it's similar. I'm wondering if
it's a ride element that had that would

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be similar at least in its main
guest support area to the The Riddler ride

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at at Warner Brothers World. Oh
yeah, which is a big spinning disk

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where you all face out and it
has water elements to it. Actually has

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fog elements to it, but you
could add water elements to it so that

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you know, you as you spin, you you get splashed or whatever.

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I don't know, I'm guessing.
I'm guessing, but the way the way

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you described it kind of sounds that
way. And if it can take you

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said sixty guests at a time at
six hundred per hour. Yeah, but

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then then you said per per people
per Yeah, that sounds about the same

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size. The only difference is that
one is on a track. Yeah,

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that is kind of an up and
down roller coaster style track. So yeah,

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yeah, they do have a classic
arcade there as well. I mean,

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it's sounds it sounds that one sounds
more like a classic laser tag type

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of thing because they have digital blasters
where they can have fun with their friends

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as who can rack up the most
points you know, it's a classic nerve

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experience in a new dimension. You
know. That's so it sounds like they

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have these play experiences plus the arcade
and then plus the food. So well,

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and what's fun with nerve is,
you know if your nerve has different

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meanings to different generations too. You
know, if if you're an old guy

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like me, you think you did
a whole area about spongeballs, I don't

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get it, but you know,
the NERF blasters and the NERF water stuff

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is all, you know, all
viable and really fun to play with an

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expand upon in a in a theme
park environment. So yeah, I think

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that I think that has some legs
that could be very interesting. We should

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keep keep an eye on that one. Yep. And again in that same

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vein of the gaming. We talked
about this story a while back, but

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now we're finally to the opening stage
for it. So Cedar point Esports,

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the new gaming facility there at Cedar
Point is opening in Sandusky, Ohio on

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October sixth. Cedar Point Esports will
offer thirty two compare of gaming stations and

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cover an area of more than one
thousand square feet, which it's not actually

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that pig within the existing theater point
at that point, you just don't want

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to put the number into the pressure. Yeah, I was like, cos

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in covers a good area. Yeah. Yeah, So that's basically what it

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is. Officials say. The first
phase of the development will include thirty two

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say the art gaming stations, each
equipped with the latest hardware and peripherals.

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The goal is to establish dynamic hubs
for gaming enthusiasts and competitive gamers, offering

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them a world class platform to nurture
their gaming passion. Yeah. I mean,

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there's more to it, but that's
basically it. So it's if you

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look at the photos, you know, they're they're just renderings, but it's

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renderings of just like an esports area. So I was just there at Cedar

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Point yesterday and you know, they
just opened up the new Grand Pavilion,

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which is very nice and very large. That's their food area, And it

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seems to me, I guess on
the on the overall spectrum, right that

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Cedar Point seems to be leaning more
heavily into the amusement park area. Amusement

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park vibe. You know, they
have the boardwalk and they've expanded the boardwalk

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with the with this eatery, and
they have alcohol options, you know,

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and the Grand Pavilion is the latest
bar open and usually that's open until closing

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time of the of the park,
and they have you know, they're they're

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really dialing, and how they have
the different beer options and the craft options

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and the cocktails and you have all
that everywhere. And I can see now

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with this addition, how it's like, Okay, the family can come and

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the parents can hang out in the
pavilion and then the kids can do competitive

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gaming or you know whatever that makes
or if they're older gamers, and they

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can drink as well, and they
walk around and I would say that,

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you know, the theming portions,
so I would put this amusement park not

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a theme park, right because the
there's really not any theming anywhere in terms

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of there's no dark rides, there's
not that kind of thing. And even

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when I was there for the Hallow
Weekends event, right, the scare zones

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were not open on Sundays, but
the bars were open, you know what

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I mean, Like it the focus
was like, you know, the scare

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zones were only are only opens Fridays
and Saturdays. And the houses are you

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know, not not the most themed, they're they're really just kind of some

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recycles from other parks that have just
gone through. So it it just feels

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like they're really leaning much more into
this, the gaming and the drinking and

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this kind of that atmosphere. Well, it makes total sense if you look

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at them over overall brand. I
mean, it's always been it's always been

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sort of the Seaside Park mentality,
or in this particular case, the Lakeside

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Park. But it's the idea is
that you are, you know, at

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a I don't want to even say
turn of the century, but that's been

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a lot of their it's been a
lot of their their design with the breakers

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and you know, playing up the
whole the whole story of the park,

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and I to me it makes sense. I also think that this is another

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opportunity to draw in I won't call
them conventions, but larger competitions. This

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is the this is the gamer's version
of you know, Disney's high school choral

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program, because they specifically mentioned in
the press release at some point high school

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and collegiate gamers. They want to
make this an opportunity to be a state

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of the art location and if they
can bring in you know, X number

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of families to stay in one of
the nearby hotels are obviously going to go

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to the park at some point in
time to see the esport competition that's going

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to happen with either the college level
or the or the high school level.

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And I would actually think that even
high school level would have a higher number

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of families that would want to come
and see it, So it just kind

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of increases could potentially increase their their
daily attendance as well. What I'm curious

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to see is, you know,
in a in a facility like this,

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and Philip, maybe you understand this
better. In a facility like this,

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what is it's how much of the
day is it actually in use? And

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when it's not actually in use,
is it open to the public for other

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things? Is it or is it
just for you know, the competitive esports

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or is there a running loop of
games that guests can go in and play.

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How how does that work? Or
do you know? So from my

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experience at these facilities, it's both
of those options. You know, generally,

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if you're having a competition of some
kind, then the units are like

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you know, locked down, because
it's just like you would have any other

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competition or any any other type of
sports competition right for during during the actual

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tournaments, you know, the units
are usually locked down, so they're just

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open to that one particular game mode
that you're going to be competing in.

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And then it's just like everything.
You have the teams line up and everybody's

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starts at the same time, and
you have the same run time, and

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you know you're competing actively at the
same time, and then your groups rotate

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through and then generally there the stations
are like unlocked, you know, out

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in the regular time, and it's
usually like free play, just like at

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conventions, it's like free play.
You know, they just walk up and

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but that brings up your question,
brings up my I think my biggest concern

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with stuff like this is thirty It
says thirty two. Thirty two to me

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is not a lot, you know. I mean I've I've been to coffee

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shops that have more than thirty two
gaming stations, you know, So I

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just the capacity concerns me. The
capacity is in like, if you're really

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trying to make this a gaming dedicated
hub, then I think you would need

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a lot more capacity than that,
because the thing is, you know,

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gamers, that's what they do,
right, so they I mean you could

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you could be talking hours for you
know, a group of four if they're

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each on it, you know,
that's four stations if they're playing independently,

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and then if they're going to play
a few games, it's like two hours

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at a time. That's a very
low throughput. So I don't know.

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I'm just really interested to see how
this is going to work with the theme

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park model. You know, are
they gonna are they going to put a

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time limit on there and then say, you know, your group can only

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be there for thirty minutes, so
then they play a game, then they

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go eat, and they get back
in line to play, or how is

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the QE gonna work? Is it
going to be a virtual queue like it

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seems it seems right now like it's
almost like the arcade mentality, and from

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my experience, the arcades and gaming
are not the same thing. Well,

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it's interesting because it the way it
read to me, and again there's enough,

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there's a few details that I think
you're right, we're we're not seeing

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or we haven't seen yet. The
way it read to me is that it

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was leaning more towards the competitive gaming. The trend was that they wanted to

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try to book it not necessarily for
public use, but for competitions. Now,

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maybe I maybe I misunderstood that.
But when they when they specifically refer

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to it as esports, and they
specifically mentioned, you know, high school

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and collegiate e athletes, I don't
know what you call them competitive gamers?

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Yeah, you're right, You're right, it says in here later we aim

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to bring innovative gaming experiences to the
players and fans. This facility will not

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only serve as a competitive battleground for
esports athletes, but also as a nurturing

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ground for anyone interested in gaming.
So it seems like they're going to try

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and do both models. I just
don't know how. You know, the

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competitive model is easy because there are
regulations and there are you know that that's

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how it works. It's like in
sports, it's the it's the other half,

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you know, for anyone new to
new to it. That's the part

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that I'm not I'm not sure.
They may they may be taking a page

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from Las Vegas or even the cruise
ships when it comes to casinos, and

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that is that they'll do the they'll
do the training classes to get people hooked

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so that they then become you know, it's like here, kid, you

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want to taste, you know,
it's it's giving them a sample and it

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becomes sort of the gateway to being
a true esports esports competitive gamer. Yeah,

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well I agree, it's another thing
to watch. We've been watching it

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since it was first announced and then
you know, we'll we'll see how it

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develops. Okay, Well, well, you know, Philip, it's funny

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we talk a lot about what my
projects are, but you are in Detroit.

305
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.720
You want to share a little bit. I know, you just went

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00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:34.839
through a media day and a media
event, which you know is always harrowing.

307
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They never they always go They always
go fine, they usually turn out

308
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better than we ever anticipated, but
they never ever ever go as planned.

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So, h what what project?
And the only reason I'm asking this,

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I'm not gonna be too kg because
I also had a little tiny, teeny

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itsy bitsy part in this project.
And but this is one of the few

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00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:56.680
projects that Philip and I have actually
worked both worked on, and so I

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00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.599
figure tell them a little bit about
what what was, what's going on up

314
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:03.519
there and how the media they went. Yeah, so I'm in Detroit because

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I'm up here at Hush Haunted attraction, which is in Westland, which is

316
00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:12.640
maybe twenty minutes away from the airport. And we Scott and I worked on

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this together, but not together,
you know practically, you know where Scott

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worked on the script the top line
creative and some and the scripts for the

319
00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:29.880
interior. I guess the entry experience
to the Haunt, but yeah, essentially,

320
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Hush Haunt Attraction is a forty thousand
square foot indoor facility and there's you

321
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know three it's a linear Haunt experience
and there's three inside, but there's also

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the Q Line midway area and that's
outside. So the concept is you arrive

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00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:48.799
to the downtown Hush Falls and that's
when you enter. You intnt to the

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00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.319
Q Line. The Q Line is
themed to be a downtown Hush Falls and

325
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you're there for the Harvest Festival.
That that's a lot of the portions that

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00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.119
Scott wrote was the Harvest Festival,
and that the mean for that and the

327
00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:03.039
character scripts and whatnot. And then
when you check into the hotel to stay

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00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:06.240
the night, things go terribly wrong, and that's when you enter into the

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first of three attractions. As you
try and work your way, you're trying

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to escape the hotel and then you
try and wander around the areas you're trying

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to get out of town before eventually
running into the main antagonists in the third

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experience. And Hush has three themed
bars which they opened last year and they

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00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:29.039
kind of re themed and expanded them
this year. The first one is before

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00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:33.400
you enter in the queue area,
and then there's two inside the Haunt as

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00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:37.519
you go throughout the experience. So
this year they really cleaned up all of

336
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:41.599
that logistics. There are two separate
dedicated lines the kind of fork, so

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00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:45.960
you know, as you're walking through
the Haunt, there'll be a security guard

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00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:49.440
dressed in regular clothes that will check
if you have the bar passes and if

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00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.440
you have a bar pass and a
wristband over twenty one, then you could

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00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.799
you enter like a separate line to
take you into the bar, and then

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you do the bar experience and then
you can exit back into the main Haunt

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00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:07.400
line. So you know, logistically
it's it's challenging to fit all that into

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one. But so what I was
doing this year for Hush, I do

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the I guess all the PR and
marketing, so generating the videos and handling

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00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:21.279
all the PR and whatnot, and
so we had our media night on Saturday,

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00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:23.359
but I had been reaching out to
media for a while, as one

347
00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:26.960
does, right and try and confirm
everybody. So it ended up being that

348
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a lot of the media weren't available
on that Saturday, so we're having to

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00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.920
kind of split them up. So
I ended up having two crews come and

350
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.799
film on Friday, which is opening
night, which was always our favorite thing

351
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:45.000
is when the media says we can
only come on opening night. Yeah,

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yeah, I can think of nothing
worse, quite honestly, but there you

353
00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:53.079
go. Yeah, that was that
was fun, right, And then we

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00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:59.039
had our media night on the Saturday, and the concept was, you know,

355
00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:03.160
as usual things were. There were
some challenges, but you know,

356
00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:06.759
we got through it, and overall
it was supposed to be with the media

357
00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:10.079
would show up early for a little
bit of reception and we would do remarks

358
00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:15.799
from the owner, Cody, and
then we would do they'd get dedicated showings

359
00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:19.920
of the different skits that Scott wrote, so they could film them and they

360
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:25.160
could have them before the you know, before the attraction opened. And then

361
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:30.680
the attraction opened early just for media
to start going through because it's it's probably

362
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:36.440
about a thirty minute walk without the
bars, but all the media are obviously

363
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:38.079
you know, they want to stop
at the bars. So we knew they

364
00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:41.240
were going to spend about an hour
going through the Haunt itself once they started,

365
00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:44.720
so we wanted to give them a
head start so that they could start

366
00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:49.119
going through before the lines started building
up outside and guests started entering with them.

367
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.440
So that was kind of the rough
plan of the night. And then

368
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we don't allow filming inside the attraction
for safety reasons, for the performers and

369
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.359
for all the reasons we've talked about
on the show. So if media wanted

370
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:07.240
to do filming, we had scare
cam slots that we kind of set up

371
00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:11.640
for them where I would accompany them
and do scarecam footage of particular areas.

372
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I mean, they could have the
entire haunt if they wanted to, but

373
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I kind of suggested like the second
area, the first or second area for

374
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:22.640
them because it's easier logistically them in
it now and it takes less time,

375
00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:27.920
you know, and realistically media does
not need a thirty minute scarecam that's like

376
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.640
too much footage. They'll never use
it. They'll never use it all.

377
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:36.519
Yeah, so we kind of we
trimmed it down to particular areas that I

378
00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:40.200
think are the best for media.
But they had the option of having the

379
00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:42.279
whole thing, and we did have
two channels at one of the whole thing

380
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:48.440
because their specialty is a YouTube.
And in that case, I delivered the

381
00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:52.519
footage to them and we edited out
any sensitive things that we didn't want to

382
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:56.720
reveal. But the edits out were
really like minimal. It was just some

383
00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:03.680
sensitive scenes we wanted to you know, that the new the new that there's

384
00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.720
a new ending this year, and
we didn't want we don't want that secret

385
00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:11.720
to be out there before kind of
like mid October. So when we delivered

386
00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:15.960
the full walkthrough for those people,
we kind of cut that out. And

387
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:18.319
I warned them of that all ahead
of time. You know, we we

388
00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:21.480
I talked with every outlet individually to
let them know what we were planning.

389
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:26.599
So so yeah, it was it
happened. Yeah, yeah, well,

390
00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.759
and and again I think in listening
to not only what you've just described,

391
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:33.839
but the little bit that we chatted
about before we started recording today, it's

392
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.680
a it's a perfect example. You
know, I know that some some some

393
00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:42.119
independent groups, some independent haunts or
independent attractions. We'll say, well,

394
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:45.240
I can't afford to have someone come
in and do my marketing, or I

395
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.759
can't afford to have someone come in
and do my my media day. And

396
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:51.559
I would flip that on its head
and say, you really can't afford not

397
00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:56.640
to because as the owner operator of
any sort of small attraction, your opening

398
00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:02.400
is is huge. I mean,
that's that's going to pull you to put

399
00:29:02.440 --> 00:29:06.359
out more fires than you can ever
imagine. And if you are the owner

400
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or the creative director or whomever,
it sets you up and frees you up

401
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.319
to do to do interviews if necessary, to talk about the haunt if necessary,

402
00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.279
to make certain that the people who
are going to talk about the Haunt

403
00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:22.200
have all the information they need,
have all the you know, support that

404
00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:26.359
they need from you internally. So
I think it's something that you really have

405
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.160
to take into consideration when you're looking
at gush. Do I hire an outside

406
00:29:30.200 --> 00:29:34.720
marketing or PR person to help me? Because it will, I promise.

407
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.279
And I've seen this happen over and
over and over again. And I am

408
00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:41.599
not I'm not saying this just because
you know this is what Philip does,

409
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.759
but it's I know other people who
do this as well, and I've seen

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00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:52.160
it happen that it just increases the
visibility, and then once the visibility is

411
00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:56.599
increased, it translates into clicks of
the turnstile. And so so I strongly

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00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:00.559
recommend for not only your sanity,
if you are an owner operator of any

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00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:06.519
smaller attraction like this, if you
don't have a dedicated marketing team who is

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00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:08.720
experienced and can reach out and can
produce, you know, all the things

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00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:15.839
that Philip has produced from a visual
standpoint, look into finding someone like Philip

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00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:19.240
or other companies that can do the
pr stuff, because there's there're people out

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00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:22.039
there and they can make it work
for your budget and it'll come back to

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00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:25.880
you. The last thing I know
right time, The last thing I want

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00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.119
to say to underscore that is that
a lot of the just like just like

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00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.319
theater point and all these other places, we wanted to reach a wider more

421
00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:36.920
general We didn't We didn't want just
Haunt fans to come out. We wanted

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00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:38.599
the food bloggers and whatnot. And
a lot of these people do not know

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00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:42.079
how to capture content at haundhouses.
And that's another reason to add on to

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00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:45.839
this, and a big thing I
had to do as the media person,

425
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:52.680
I had to rent lighting and rent
gear for the haunt for that thing where

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00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:56.160
we are open early, I went
around and added light to the areas and

427
00:30:56.359 --> 00:31:00.799
set up photo moments with the characters
because because I had and I had to

428
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:03.480
take the media almost like by the
hand and bring them to the mayor and

429
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:07.319
be like, oh, wouldn't you
like to meet our mayor the Hush Falls

430
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:10.200
mayor, And then he did a
little bit with so media got all that,

431
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:12.799
and we had to add light and
whatnot for the in the queue line

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00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:17.680
because it's not set up for these
type of videos. And also food bloggers

433
00:31:17.720 --> 00:31:21.640
don't know how to take pictures with
a haunted house actor or a scare actors,

434
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:23.960
so we had to show them how
to do that. And that's the

435
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:26.400
only thing I would add to that
is that, you know, don't don't

436
00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:30.160
assume the media are going to even
know how to make content at your house

437
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:33.559
because they probably in small areas they
only have one haunted house and they remember,

438
00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:37.400
and you know what, expertise is
well worth the money you spend on

439
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:40.839
it. So with that little bit
of with that little tidbit of information,

440
00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:45.319
that is the end of this week's
show on behalf of Philip and myself This

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00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:49.599
is Green Tag Theme Park in almost
thirty two, close to thirty and hopefully

442
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.279
you enjoyed the show. Come back
next week and we'll have even more for

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00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:53.279
you. Take care,