May 26, 2025

Six Flags Presses “Reset”

"The Great Reset," Six Flags' new strategic plan, aims to reach 58 million in annual attendance and $3.8 billion in revenue by 2028.

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Six Flags Strategy

"The Great Reset," Six Flags' new strategic plan, aims to reach 58 million in annual attendance and $3.8 billion in revenue by 2028. The 88-slide presentation boils down to one thing: a better product makes more money. The plan gives concrete examples of what industry professionals have known for decades—improving the guest experience means guests will want to come back and spend more, convert to annual passes, bring their friends, and grow market penetration. And Six Flags has laid out an excellent plan, complete with benchmarks, examples, and research. But - can the newly merged mega-chain deliver? It sounds simple, but executing doesn't always work out. Plus: why Falcon’s Beyond buying Oceaneering tips the turnkey arms race, and what IAAPA’s board thinks about staffing, storms, and tariffs. Tune in—then catch the gloves-off debate in Green Tagged Unhinged on Patreon .

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

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

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and I'm joined as always by my co host Scott

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Swinton of Scott Swinston Creed Development. On Green tag we

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break down the top theme park news each week and

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explain why it matters to professionals. And this week, of course,

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we have to talk about the Great Reset from six Flags.

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I'm sorry you've.

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Been a way too many grand openings recently. I don't

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know you had to do like, you know, jazz fingers

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and we'll do a drone show over the top Reset.

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Oh my god, reset everything today.

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Six Flags near you the Great Reset.

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Everything needs a name.

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Yeah, yeah, everything needs a name. I'm sorry, I'm not

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dissing it. So let's get into this story. So basically,

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on May twentieth, six Flags hosted a day long investor day,

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and as part of this investor day, they unveiled a

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strategic plan and like this, this is what I've.

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Been waiting for.

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Actually, the thing is though it was about two and

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a half hours long, which is this eighty eight slide

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presentation going through all of the plans and case studies

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and all this. It's it's fascinating material. I did not

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have time to watch the entire web cast, but I

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will before we release our newsletters, so just you know,

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I'm like, so, I'm like processing it, okay. But I

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did go through the entire slide deck and I read

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what some of our other colleagues said about it, and

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they had some really great insights on there, especially Tyler

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Rizzo on LinkedIn there's just some and of course Scene

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Parkingsider and Attraction Magazine there's.

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Some great stuff about it. So, in other words, you've

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done more research than almost any other media person who's

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reporting on this, but you still haven't watched it.

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I'm getting to it, you know, and cause I got

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to make sure that everything is one hundred percent right,

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because for.

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Those of you who don't know Philip personally, this is

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exactly the way he is. If Philip says something, you

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can pretty much believe that he's got as much data. No,

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he's got a spreadsheet to back it up. And even

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if it's just gosh, you know, my favorite kind of

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coffee is this, he'll have a spreadsheet on it. So

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when we were talking about it before the show, he

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said I haven't, but I haven't watched it, and I

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don't know whether we should do it. And my feeling

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at the time was, Philip, I trust the fact that

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you have viewed the whole presentation, you've read other commentary.

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I trust his semi prepared better than I trust most

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people's fully prepared. So although I think it is important

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to give this caveat, I think it's also important for

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you all who are listening, who don't know Philip personally,

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to recognize that this is we're not going to say

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anything on here that's going to be so completely off.

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There may be something you disagree with, There may be

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something that we don't represent in a way that is

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the way we are intending. But I can promise you

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that pretty much everything we're going to say here is

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pretty darn close to fact. Okay, So moving on this

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and where.

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We can, of course, we're going to be pulling from

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the slides directly of the presentation deck directly, and I

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will try and put those images in the YouTube version

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of this so that you can see that. But if not,

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if you're listening to the podcast version, you can go

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to the link in the show notes to download the

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eighty eight page slide deck if you want to.

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Which but why that's really kind of the purpose of

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the show, so you don't have to, you know, that's

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the reason.

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There's pretty pictures.

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Okay, okay, if you if you are a data nerd

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like Philip, you can download the eighty eight pages or

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you've just listened to this half hour.

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So actually I'm gonna pull from Tyler Rizzo here who

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posted this on his LinkedIn, and this is probably the

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best summation of the entire thing, which is surprise, Surprise,

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happy guests or turn more often. I think that should

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have been the title of the plant, because okay, this

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is let me just say, this is a great plan.

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Going through the slide deck, I found nothing that was

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out of step with the industry as a whole and

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with trends, and it's just everything in here is like,

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it makes good sense. I have flashbacks the last time

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we talked about this kind of thing, where it's like,

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now can they execute on it? Which is I think

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the main question. But in terms of the strategy, like,

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I think it's a great strategy. Everything here makes sense.

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It all.

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If you believe they're telling the truth.

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That it all, it all tracks and I think that

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the highlights for me was how they they did kind

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of admit or point to areas.

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You know.

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It wasn't like everything is sunshine and rainbows, you know,

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which can sometimes like what did the Disney one where

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they're just kind of like they're, you know, plastering over

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the softening market in China and distracting you with other things.

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I mean, this was like, this was like, look, here's

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all all the parks, here's all the properties. We might

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change more stuff. We're going to cut people and labor

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and costs, and we're going to trim down. But they

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also looked at said, look, we have underperforming parks where

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there are parks in markets that should be doing better

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based off of how our best performing parks perform and

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the market penetration percentage. And basically they're like, look, here's

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big markets. We have parks in these markets and they

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should be penetrating more and they're not. And we think

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the reason why is because the guest experience is not

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good at those parks, and what do we mean by

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guest experience? They actually broke it down for us and

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they're like, this is what we mean by guest experience,

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you know, we mean the.

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And they put it out.

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They put a little chart here, but they're basically like,

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how can we improve the guest experience, expand rights per guest,

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enhance quality and availability of in park revenue offerings, thrill,

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family of water, rotation area development, family family entertainment, and

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of course seasonal events that drive season pass value. And

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they talked about how season pass value is an enormous

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part of their plan. And there's even slide about the

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potential about any potential downturn in in the recession or

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recession economy, that kind of thing. There's a slide about that.

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And basically the argument is if we can get guests

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to come back and encourage them to get a season pass,

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then that will help us no matter the environment, even

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if it's recessionary, because people want to come back because

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they see value in it. In order to do that,

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we need to make sure that all these things are good,

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like actually good food and beverage that doesn't rip off guests,

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you know, making sure that the rides are operational, like capacity,

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all these creature comfort things, you know. Invest This is

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where they talked about the investment in the toilets, and

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I'm like, yes, like you know, all this stuff is

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here and it all makes sense. And I guess the

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question is didn't our investors buying it and are they

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going to actually execute? But it sounds like they're going

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to execute on their the California once first, Like they

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specifically called out Magic Mountain and they basically are like,

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you know, Knots is doing great, and we did great

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things with Knots and Magic Mountains underperforming and it's and

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you know, and this is where it's my personal take.

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I never go to Magic Mountain. It is fifteen minutes

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away and I never go because the park, the guest

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experience is terrible. You know, it's like it's hot dogs

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that are eighteen dollars. It's like kids putting you into

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rides and not following safety protocols. It's like only one

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ride vehicle if that running, or they just shut down

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parks they don't have to. I mean it's every from

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from eightzy. Everything's terrible at that part.

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So they agree with you, So there, yeah. I mean

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one thing that I think is really important before we

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dive into this too much, is one thing I think

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we have to recognize is in essence. This is this

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is a brand new company with a great deal of expectation.

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In other words, you know, we don't espid well, I don't.

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People in the industry don't. Investors don't know what this

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company is going to be all about. We've had a

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lot of speculation. We've done some on this show where

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we've talked about here's you know, if they can take

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this from one company and this from the other company

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and put it together in some magical way, then they

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can create something that's going to be successful. So I

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think part of the reason they went into such great

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detail to say something incredibly simple is is because this

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is the first time out of the gate. This is

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the first time as the new company they have reached

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out with a strategic plan, and so I think they

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have to kind of over in my opinion, they have

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to kind of over exaggerate the detail. They have to

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get into the minutia, and you know, I, like you, Philip,

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I kind of find that refreshing. I think that's a

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I think it's a wise approach. I think it is.

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I think it is fair to say that they also

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are listening to what the perception, the guest perception is

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of some of their properties, and that is, like you

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just mentioned with with the Magic Mountain that it's it's

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a it's a crap hole. I mean, it's they're just

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not they're not living up to what they could be.

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And I think the fact that you know, mentioning that

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in a in an earnings presentation or in a strategic

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planning presentation is a very wise choice to basically say,

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you know, we recognize because if you come out to

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investors and say, oh, no, everything at Magic Mountain is great,

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all of the all of the rides are always open,

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and the food is is stellar, then they seem to believe, oh, okay,

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so this is what they think great is, and that's

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clearly not the case because they recognize it. So when

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they call out Magic Mountain by name, I think that's

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a very wise business choice, especially when you're talking primarily

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to investors. There are times that you have to break

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things down into such minutia so that you can recompile

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it into surprise, surprise, good guest experience, excuse me, equal sire, attendance.

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I mean, sometimes you have to break it down in

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order to get to that. So you have to understand

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it well enough to make it to simplify it, and

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it sounds like, you know, and based on what I've

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read that you've compiled here, it appears as though that's

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exactly what they've done.

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Yep, they never said that, well, I don't think they

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said that. Of course I start to listen to the presentation,

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but I'm not sure they said it that plainly. But

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I think that to Scott's point earlier about like they

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don't need to.

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Speak they don't need to say it that plainly. Yeah,

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they just need to do it. If they say it

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that plainly, then it's it's then it becomes suspect. But

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if they just shut up and do it, which it

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sounds like they've done. And again, based on the language

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that I've read, you know, it sounds like that's kind

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of their approach. Yep.

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Yeah, I think effectively they made they took us through

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I don't say, like twenty slides or so, or just

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articulating and proving that exact concept, which of course, again

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we know, I mean, we know. It's also nice to

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see somebody prove something that we know, because I think

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we take it for granted. But then, as Scott you like,

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how many means have you been in where you're like

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where they start questioning does quality really matter absolutely?

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Or they'll say the one that I get quite often

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is so how important is it really to have a

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marketable storyline for this event? You know, it's things that

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have been proven over and over and over again. And

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the thing I like about seeing this kind of of

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presentation is it shows that people very high up on

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the food chain understand that this is necessary. They understand

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that it's necessary. They are basically telling the people who

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are not in the industry, because let's face it, the

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vast majority of their investors are not in the attractions industry,

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and they're basically explaining to them, we understand creature comforts,

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we understand the new toilets, we understand affordable and quality food,

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we understand reliability of rides and attractions. You know, all

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of those things are things that well, quite honestly, some

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six Flags parks and a couple of couple of seater

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fair parks, but some of their properties have been accused

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of very negatively in the past. So the fact that

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they are identifying them and saying here's where we have

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room for improvement, here's where we can grow, I think

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it's the right. I think it's the right approach based

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on what I've seen, because I have not listened to

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it either, but based on the charts and the graphs

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and the data and the commentary that Philip has put together,

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it appears as though it appears as though this is

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a smart choice, a very let's put it this way,

246
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it's a very grounded choice, yep. To basically, let's break

247
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it down to the simplest possible terms and then bring

248
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it all back together to say, hey, good park experience

249
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equals high attendance. Yep, yep.

250
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And again I like even that they're able to show

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the graphs about it, which is.

252
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Well, of course you do, well, of course I do.

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But I think it's also important for investors to actually

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like they had the because these are people that not

255
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aren't necessarily from the theme park space. And I think

256
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you also have to explain and you have to show,

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like page thirty five has like this little arrow and

258
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the bubbles on it, and it's like, look like as

259
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guest satisfaction increases, the penetration in the market increases. And

260
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then they're like, so, look, here's all the markets were in.

261
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This is the size of the markets. That's our current

262
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penetration for those individual markets. And if you follow this

263
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errow and we're able to increase, guest has saction that

264
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increases And so it's I think they took us step

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by step, which I appreciate, and this is all culminating

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in their main goal here, which is also good like

267
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to also like all I mean this is I don't

268
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want to say this is like textbook. I mean, like

269
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we've heard before the concept of a big hairy audacious

270
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goal a b HAG. Right, that's a business concept and

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I think that's critical for investors because if you're able

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to say this is our b HAG, and this is

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also how we're going to get there, and this is

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proving what we're saying is correct, that is all what

275
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you're supposed to do. And their b HAG here is

276
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to say that the goal is fifty eight million in

277
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annual attendance and three point eight billion in revenue by

278
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twenty twenty eight, and they're saying basically like, look, if

279
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we're able to just increase our penetration in these markets

280
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where we should have higher penetration by just this percentage,

281
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then we're going to be able to get to this goal.

282
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And how do we do that? Guess as action, how

283
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do we do that? Here are three pronged approaches, and

284
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then how do we do each one of these xyz right?

285
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And so.

286
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A particular note was the food because that was you know,

287
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so basically it's like three in order to to increase plantration,

288
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they need to increase guest ass fashion. They're defining guests

289
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has fashion by three pronged approaches, and of course one

290
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of those prongs is rights per guess, but also the

291
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food basically, which is they're in experiences and then there's Haunt,

292
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the Halloween stuff and the seasonal overlays, right, and then

293
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there's the family entertainment and those expansions.

294
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And so.

295
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I thought the food was particularly interesting because that's kind

296
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of what Nots is known for. And that's the almost

297
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the biggest criticism with a lot of the other parts

298
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is that the food is terrible. And we know, as

299
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we've talked about on the show, stuff like this is

300
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critical because it increases spend per guess. So they're making

301
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both arguments, you know, They're like, we could increase transactions

302
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per guest if we made these things better, but also

303
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it increases guest hashashion, and I think that's true. I'm

304
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like yes, one hundred percent. We've been saying that.

305
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Good good things get more people to buy them.

306
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Yeah, which then also makes the people happier. It's not

307
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just that they you get their money, but it also

308
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increases their satisfaction. And I liked that they were arguing

309
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these dual points here, Like I like that they're like,

310
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this isn't just a revenue thing in terms of we

311
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make a better thing, so it sells more. We make

312
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a better thing, so it sells more, so there's a

313
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higher margin. So also, guests are overall happier. Guests are

314
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overall happier, which means that they come more often, which

315
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means they bring their friends, which means we convert those

316
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to more annual pass holders, which means we get more penetration.

317
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But again, this is this is I guess to sum

318
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this up from from the from my perspective, I look

319
00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.919
at this and I go, this is a beautiful, granular

320
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evaluation of something that is very basic. But it is

321
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:48.240
refreshing to see a company go into this kind of

322
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detail and and pretty much candidly to say, you know,

323
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here's what we need to work on, here's what and

324
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the and the more happy, the happier our guests can be,

325
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the more successful will be. It is. It's something that

326
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you know, those of us in the industry, many of

327
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us in the industry have said for years, and that is,

328
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you know, we our job is. Our job is to

329
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provide memories. And the better those memories are, the more

330
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successful we are financially. Those two are tied together. And

331
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they've basically broken it down from what I've seen and

332
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even more granularly than I have actually experienced in the

333
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in the summation that I've read, and I find that refreshing.

334
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I find it nice that we're not just talking investor speak.

335
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We are talking investor speak with grounded principles as to

336
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here's what hear's how Now are they going to be

337
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able to do it? That's a whole nother story, But

338
00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.319
that's the next story. Yeah, that's the next step. But

339
00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.279
we can't we can't slap them on the hand for

340
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saying they're going to do it right without giving the

341
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chance to do it right correct exactly.

342
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And I think this is a good faith like try

343
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or a good faith like like you said. They're starting

344
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of a place where they're being candid about it, which

345
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is refreshing. But some of the surprising things. So we've

346
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covered already.

347
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:03.680
Like.

348
00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:06.920
You know why, we don't need to rehash all that.

349
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I think maybe ending on this story some would be

350
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just some of the surprising slides for me. And one

351
00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:16.319
of the most surprising slides I found that I was like, Oh,

352
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that's interesting is the value proposition versus other entertainment choices,

353
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which is interesting because that is, well, there's a lot

354
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of things to like about this chart. I love charts

355
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in general, so you know, but so what and of

356
00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:34.960
course that they you know, they cite the research, so

357
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like Guggenheim research. I'm like, oh, this is so well vetted.

358
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But basically they're making the argument where if you look

359
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at their regional park pricing and a cost per hour,

360
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and so they're trying to equalize entertainment on the per

361
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hour cost, and then they're putting it up against other choices.

362
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So it's like sporting events, broadway shows, ski resorts, destination

363
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theme parks, indoor entertainment, imax museums, and so they're basically

364
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making the argument in that like they're the best value

365
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of all these things because they're eight dollars per hour

366
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on entertainment cost. And then if you look at museums

367
00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:12.759
are like ten dollars per hour, and Imax is ten dollars,

368
00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.079
and the intero entertainment it goes up and up. And

369
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this was fascinating to me because I'm like most parks,

370
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you know, you're like doing this bace off your competitors.

371
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But we've always said on the show, like those are

372
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not your real competition. Real competition is like Netflix, you know,

373
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and Imax and movie theaters. And this is especially because

374
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they're the biggest chain now. I mean, so they're in

375
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every market, so they almost can't you can't do you

376
00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:41.759
can't you can't compare it because there's too many parks

377
00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:43.720
to compare. So this is a great way of being like,

378
00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:47.200
just break down entertainment per hour, this is our average pricing.

379
00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:49.880
And but this is a pure value play. This is

380
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.000
exactly what we've been talking about, where like, you know,

381
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.200
recession ish proof value play. Eight dollars per hour, that's

382
00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:58.079
pretty good.

383
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.039
Well, and because they're in every market, if they tried

384
00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:02.960
to run like a Disney or a Universal, that would

385
00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.279
be absolutely asinine. That would be stupid. Yeah, because you know,

386
00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:08.759
I think back and some people can afford most people

387
00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:10.880
can't afford that. Well, they not only can't they afford it,

388
00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:14.079
Why would you want to try to maintain, you know,

389
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.799
something that's comparable to a Disney park in all of

390
00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:21.000
their locations. You can't do that, nor would you, nor

391
00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.640
would you even try. I think back to what they

392
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:25.799
finally gotten to the point where when I was a kid,

393
00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:27.680
I'd have Great America during the summer, and then once

394
00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:30.480
every two or three years, three or four years, we'd

395
00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.880
go to Florida and do well Disney World. So I

396
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:36.440
had my season pass to six Flags Great America. Well,

397
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:41.400
actually it was let's see Marriott's Great America, Paramounts Great

398
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:43.440
it was all those different Great Americas, and then eventually

399
00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:46.880
six Flags Great America i'd have. I'd have my season

400
00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:49.720
pass to that, and then the destination location was a

401
00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.559
Disney Park or a Universal park. And I think that

402
00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:55.839
is exactly where they should be. But I also believe

403
00:20:56.119 --> 00:21:00.160
that if they can up there, their guest experience, the

404
00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:02.880
quality of their guest experience, so it's not something that's

405
00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.480
only tolerable for twelve year old children. I think that

406
00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:07.400
it's going to be a great I think it's a

407
00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:08.079
great move for them.

408
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:13.920
Yep, yeah, exactly The other interesting thing was basically if

409
00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:20.079
they increase their penetration by only it's like, if you

410
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.400
look at their they basically would like rank them. They're like, okay,

411
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.599
high performing parks as defined by parks that have a

412
00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:29.720
high market penetration and low performing parks by low penetration.

413
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:32.960
Then they're like, if we take the low performing parks

414
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:36.759
and we just increase them to half the point of

415
00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:39.920
the high performing parks, then we can get to the goal.

416
00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:41.920
And I thought that was a great way of framing

417
00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:43.839
it because it's because I think it would have been

418
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:46.960
a stretch, right to say like that, effectively, we're going

419
00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:50.119
to take six flags within the next you know, three years,

420
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:52.759
and we're going to turn it into as good as

421
00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:54.880
not very farm I mean like that, I think that

422
00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:57.599
would have been like a stretch, you know. And and

423
00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:00.440
but instead they're like, we don't need to get it good,

424
00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:01.480
it just needs to be.

425
00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:02.039
Half as good.

426
00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:04.920
And you're like, oh, that's actually you know it it

427
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.279
deframing on that I thought was I was like, oh,

428
00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:10.119
you know, I could I can buy that, right, That's

429
00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:12.240
and that's the thing is you're like, it's still an

430
00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:15.880
enormous goal. So it still like inspires people, but it

431
00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:18.240
feels reasonable because you're like, oh, it only has to

432
00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:18.880
be half as good.

433
00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:19.960
Well okay, well.

434
00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:23.400
In that case, yep.

435
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:30.960
And so let's is there anything else, Scott you thought

436
00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:31.640
was interesting?

437
00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.200
I think I think that. Yeah. I think we've I

438
00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:34.960
think we've hit the nail on the head and pounded

439
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.319
it well into the two by four. So uh yeah,

440
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:40.160
I think I think that again basically looks like a

441
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:44.400
pretty good, uh, pretty good investor speak, pretty good investor presentation.

442
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:49.400
And they it's as we've both said, it is refreshing

443
00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:52.319
to see that they are actually reaffirming what we know

444
00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:55.359
works and presenting it in a way that people who

445
00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:57.640
aren't in the industry can understand. Yep.

446
00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:01.200
Perfect, and and uh, like I said, we will on

447
00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:04.839
our newsletter, Green Tight Insights, I'll have a try and

448
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:07.000
summarize any of the key points that we missed in

449
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.759
that or whatnot, and I'll have reviewed everything before then.

450
00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:15.920
So next up, this is news. I think that didn't

451
00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:19.160
get picked up broadly, but it is critical for our

452
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.519
industry in particular, and of course that is the Falcons

453
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:30.119
beyond acquisition of oceaneering entertainment systems, and I think you know,

454
00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:32.720
I mean, there's the whole pressurease we'll link to in it.

455
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.519
It's a lot of pressurely speak. But to me, the

456
00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:38.839
biggest thing about this, and Scott can correct me if

457
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.599
I'm wrong, because I haven't worked directly with either of these,

458
00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:44.000
But the way I understand it is that what this

459
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.799
does is it gives Falcons beyond the ability now to

460
00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:51.559
make like whole turn key attractions because the oceaneering folks

461
00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:56.279
are like ride vehicles, but Falcons is like theming and

462
00:23:56.279 --> 00:23:58.880
fabrication and creative and so they put those together and

463
00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:01.759
now you can do a whole ride and the facilities

464
00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:02.400
surrounding it.

465
00:24:02.920 --> 00:24:05.279
Yeah. My guess, and this is pure speculation, but my

466
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:07.759
guess is they have worked together so many times that

467
00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:09.839
they finally decided we need to be in the same house,

468
00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.319
you know, because what's what that's going to do is

469
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:17.640
it's going to find some cost efficiencies number one. Number two,

470
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.960
it's going to basically make them the go to people

471
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.720
for specific kinds of attractions because they can do it

472
00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:27.680
from stem to stern. They can do it from you know, uh,

473
00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:34.200
thematic design through ride engineering, and it makes a lot

474
00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:38.119
of sense, you know. I that's the that's the plus

475
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.599
side of this, whenever any of these kinds of mergers

476
00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:48.039
or purchases or acquisitions happen. My only concern occasionally is, well,

477
00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:52.519
that means that every single oceaneering ride will look like

478
00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:57.200
a Falcon's beyond piece, which is not bad. I mean,

479
00:24:57.240 --> 00:24:58.880
this is top we're too We're talking about really top

480
00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:01.279
quality companies here, so it's not bad. It just means

481
00:25:01.319 --> 00:25:07.200
that there's less opportunity for variation in most cases. So

482
00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:09.880
I'm curious to see. It depends on how I guess

483
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:14.240
it depends on how closely they operate the to the

484
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:16.960
two companies, if they keep them as separate entities, uh

485
00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:19.880
and clear separate entities so that they can work together

486
00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:25.079
or they can work independently. Yeah, interesting, that'd be the

487
00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:26.960
but that would be the only downside I could see,

488
00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:31.880
and even that's minimal. So just I just wanted to

489
00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:33.920
to bring that to the surface. So you guys talk

490
00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:37.160
amongst yourselves, because it's because it's happened with other with

491
00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:40.720
other large companies where you know, we're real strong at this,

492
00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:42.519
we're real strong at this, and then we come together

493
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:46.240
and then you get a really strong product, but you

494
00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:51.519
don't have the opportunity. You lose flexibility. You lose flexibility.

495
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:53.480
I don't need somebody to build a ride system. I've

496
00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:55.240
got a ride system I needed to be re themed.

497
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.279
Oh well, it can't be. We can't do it unless

498
00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:59.759
we bring in them to redo your ride system as well,

499
00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:02.960
and then it outprices them. So that's that's the only

500
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.880
the only cautionary tale I would share. But at the

501
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:09.119
same time, I think it's a great I think it's

502
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:12.440
a great culmination of two really strong companies.

503
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:14.960
This is.

504
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:21.119
Also I mean, we've seen quite a few acquisitions and

505
00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:24.359
mergers and stuff in the in our side of the

506
00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:29.200
you know, the services sector as well, right, which I

507
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:31.480
think is again the whole pendulum, because not only are

508
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:35.400
the park chains consolidating, but so are the people on

509
00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:39.839
our side. So I mean that's somewhat dangerous. Well, I

510
00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:42.680
guess we know it'll it's just the normal thing. It'll

511
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:46.519
split up eventually when something you know explodes, Like okay.

512
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:50.519
Well, but I mean, let's let's talk about a success

513
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:53.839
story here. You know, we talk about we've talked about

514
00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.279
our WS in the past, at our WS Global. I

515
00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.759
think we have to say now because I just opened

516
00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:01.640
their new office in Dubai and which is super smart.

517
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.000
Once again, Ryan Stanna does something super smart. What a surprise.

518
00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:09.119
But you know, but what they've done is throughout the

519
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.680
course of the history of that company is they have

520
00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:14.240
bought and sold. They have bought things, they have brought

521
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.559
things into in house, worked with them for a while,

522
00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:22.440
in many cases, elevated their value, and sold them off again.

523
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:26.400
This was particularly true with some of their their ips,

524
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:29.799
some of their intellectual properties. But you know, when it

525
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.599
comes to when it comes to purchasing or mergers, I

526
00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:36.440
just think it's important to recognize that you keep you

527
00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:38.680
just keep a sharp eye on when is it time

528
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:42.720
to separate again, because it may or may not come.

529
00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:45.160
You know, we've talked about the pendulum. We've talked about

530
00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:47.559
the pendulum. We were talking about the pendulum with cable

531
00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:50.880
and streaming networks. I think it was last week or

532
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:53.960
two weeks ago. I think the same is true with acquisitions.

533
00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:55.720
I think that you know, you can put everybody under

534
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:57.839
one under one roof, but then there's going to come

535
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:01.160
a time where maybe one of those elements is not

536
00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:03.000
as popular as it once was, so it's time to

537
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:04.759
get rid of that and sell it off or maybe

538
00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:08.640
the technology is no longer valid or is no longer popular,

539
00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:10.799
so it's time to sell that off. You just have

540
00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:13.119
to be aware of it. But again that's down the

541
00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:15.400
road for this particular story. We're really getting ahead of

542
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:20.400
ourselves here and talking sort of theoretically. But the idea

543
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:25.599
is that with these two companies them coming together in

544
00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:28.119
the short in the short term, and potential long term

545
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:31.160
depending on again how they operate, this are these are

546
00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:34.920
two strong, heavy hitters in the industry coming together to

547
00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:36.279
produce a turnkey product.

548
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.440
Smart Well, the last time we're going to wrap up

549
00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:44.400
here is one we didn't cover when it came out

550
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:45.680
because we kind of bumped it, but we put it

551
00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:47.680
in our newsletter. But just to recap here on the show,

552
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:51.960
I opt to release an article on May twelfth about

553
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:56.079
the state of the global attractions industry. And it's interesting

554
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:58.599
because they gave a press conference recently and it felt

555
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:01.359
like these were two different takes, So I'm that's a

556
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:07.799
little interesting. But basically for the industry, which would be us,

557
00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:10.680
you look at the state of the global trash industry,

558
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:13.400
and they kind of pitched it as like optimism tempered

559
00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:16.319
by volatility. They did mention the terrorists, the weather swings,

560
00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:21.200
and they mentioned the politics, you know, cloud forecasting and

561
00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:25.920
that kind of thing. They did again lean into the

562
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:31.160
festivalization as now they're calling it and the lodging surge right,

563
00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:34.920
and saying how North American parks are cushioning shoulder seasons

564
00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:37.240
with food and wine festival and new on site hotels,

565
00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:40.759
length and stay what you talked about. They did say,

566
00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:42.440
for the first time in years, this is the most

567
00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:44.559
interesting takeaway from this whole global thing because everything else

568
00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:46.839
we talked about. The most interesting thing is that, for

569
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.960
the first time in years, many US parks say seasonal

570
00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:54.160
staffing is stable, yet board members still flag workforce as

571
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:57.079
a top constraint, validating what we've said here on the show,

572
00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:01.559
of course, but yeah, it we've also hinted at this.

573
00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:04.279
But it's interesting because for this article, what they did

574
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.960
was they pulled opinions from their board of directors and

575
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:09.039
they kind of put together an analysis. So these are

576
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:12.559
people that are actually doing the war. You know, it's

577
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:16.000
not a reporter. This is coming from people who are

578
00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:19.960
doing the hiring. So hearing that staffing is returning is

579
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:21.759
stabilizing for those was interesting.

580
00:30:22.039 --> 00:30:25.000
Seasonal staffing, Yeah, for seasonal, just for seasonal.

581
00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:28.279
It's important to recognize that because one of the biggest

582
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:31.480
challenges for full time staffing or year round staffing is

583
00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:36.160
the workforce. The workforce has been trained, thanks to so

584
00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:39.039
many factors that I won't even pretend that I understand,

585
00:30:39.799 --> 00:30:44.519
but has basically been trained to shift jobs when they

586
00:30:44.519 --> 00:30:46.839
get tired of one, move on to the next. You know,

587
00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:49.160
the idea of twenty five years in a gold watch

588
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.039
are out the window. Nobody does that anymore, especially nobody

589
00:30:53.240 --> 00:30:57.799
under the age of thirty. So that's why seasonal staffing

590
00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:01.240
has come back to its strength, which is great. I

591
00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:03.799
think that's wonderful. But I do think that, you know,

592
00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:08.640
we're going to continue to find challenges and as the

593
00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:12.279
new booming areas, whether that be the Middle East or

594
00:31:12.359 --> 00:31:15.039
China or whatever, where the new booming areas in this

595
00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:19.359
industry start to explode, that's where there are going to

596
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:21.920
be more and more opportunities for those people who actually

597
00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:26.920
want full time positions. So we'll see and maybe they'll

598
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.079
come back to the US. You know, again, everything is cyclical.

599
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:32.400
Anybody who says they know exactly what's going to happen

600
00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:36.599
is probably lying to you. In some way. So it's

601
00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:39.759
a it's a guess. It's a guess, but I think

602
00:31:39.799 --> 00:31:43.599
that I think that with this press conference, I think

603
00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:48.559
IYAPPA did. I think Yaka was very clear and was

604
00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:52.519
very positive, was very positive and brought, as you say,

605
00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:57.240
not just not just opinions from other people in the media,

606
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.839
but but people from the board. And you know, i

607
00:32:00.920 --> 00:32:06.000
APPA itself is continuing to expand, so it's it's clearly

608
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.079
going to where the work is and where they need

609
00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:10.880
to be supportive, which I think is great, which I

610
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:12.640
think is great. All right, well, we have expanded to

611
00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:15.200
our thirty minutes, so we are we are done for

612
00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:18.839
the week. Please if you would like to hear us

613
00:32:18.920 --> 00:32:21.960
ramble on a bit more, please find our Patreon show

614
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.839
which is green tagged Unhinged, and we're going to start

615
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:27.920
recording that right now. And it's always interesting because we

616
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:29.519
get all of our you know, we get all of

617
00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:31.839
our data out in this show, and then in that

618
00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:34.960
show we share a lot more opinion and in a

619
00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:39.319
very sort of I don't know, gloves, the gloves are

620
00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:41.039
off in that show. So if you if you want

621
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:43.119
to hear us talk about things in a way that's

622
00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:46.880
not quite so appropriate, please join us, please find us.

623
00:32:47.559 --> 00:32:50.920
It's it's that show continues to grow in the comments

624
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:52.960
that we get continue to be very very interesting, so

625
00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:56.559
so we appreciate that. But for this week, for you guys,

626
00:32:57.160 --> 00:32:59.160
this is the end, so thank you very much. On

627
00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:01.599
behalf of Philiperna and myself Scott Swinson. This is Green

628
00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:04.079
Tag Theme Park in thirty and we will see you

629
00:33:04.119 --> 00:33:04.640
next week
Scott Swenson, ICAE Profile Photo
Scott Swenson, ICAE

For over 30 years, Scott Swenson has been bringing stories to life as a writer, director, producer, and performer. His work in theme parks, consumer events, live theatre, and television has given him a broad spectrum of experiences. In 2014, after 21 years with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Scott formed Scott Swenson Creative Development. Since then he has been providing impactful experiences for clients around the world. Whether he is installing shows on cruise ships or creating seasonal festivals for theme parks, writing educational presentations for zoos and museums or training the next generation of attractions professionals, Scott is always finding new ways to tell stories that engage, educate and entertain.

Philip Hernandez, ICAE Profile Photo
Philip Hernandez, ICAE

CEO of Gantom, Publisher of Haunted Attraction Network

Philip is a journalist reporting on the Haunted House Industry, Horror events, Theme Parks, and Halloween. He is also the CEO of Gantom Lighting and Founder / Publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network, the haunted attraction industry's most prominent news media source. He is based in Los Angeles.