Feb. 23, 2025

SPECIAL: LIVE From The IAAPA Middle East Trade Summit in Riyadh

Come with us to IAAPA's Middle East Trade Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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IAAPAMiddle EastSaudi Arabia

Come with us to IAAPA's Middle East Trade Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This episode is presented as a series of diaries over the course of three days, so you can hear our reactions in real-time to Qiddiya City and BLVD World.

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All right, So Philip and I are actually walking through

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a tour of the new six Flags Park in Kadea.

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It is gigantic.

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We would love to show you pictures, but we would

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be shot fired escorted out, which is fine.

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I you know, I totally understand that.

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But the most impactful thing to me is the fact

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that we are in a giant canyon. If you know,

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these great rock walls behind us. It is a looks

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like a very large park. It is very much under construction.

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I don't know, just very first impression. Since we're actually

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recording this as we walk through, what do you what

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do you think, Philip? What are your what is your

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top top three takeaways? I'm putting you on the spot.

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Oh okay, yeah, top three takeaways? Okay, I think that

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for six Flags Park. I was shocked at how like

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robust the offerings are because we have you know, they

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have each land you know has like a has a

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sit down table, a restaurant, there's quick service restaurants.

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We also have dark rides in it.

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So like all the offerings are very robust, and the

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theming I think doesn't be my thing.

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Yeah, yeah, I.

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Was gonna say, I think the theming I think the

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theming is really amazing.

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The fact that they have a hy.

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Have basically a central hub and then multiple lands that

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come off from that central.

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Hub, which I think is really.

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Really impactful and kind of unique for a Flags park.

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I realized Flags does do themed lands, but this seems

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far more. This is this is a step up, This

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is kind of this is kind of similar to what

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the what happened well, quite honestly, what happened even with

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with with SeaWorld and Yes Island.

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I think that they, you know, they.

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Stepped up their game, and it is very clear that

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that's happening here as well. The it's it's a construction zone.

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That's the thing that's most impactful to me is that

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it's got a ways to go.

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I think. But you know, standing we just came.

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Around the corner and are now looking up at the

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new tallest, fastest st coaster.

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Yea and math it's huge. It's mad. It's like you're

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falling off a mountain. And I really do believe they're

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going to use the full queue for that. I think

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they're going to use a full que for that.

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But I think they're gonna use a full que for that,

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he said, they only have an indoor queue set for

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two hours.

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Yeah, and then I think talking about it, so it's

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an outdoor park, but they're planning to be opened later.

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And then also they have at least all the queue

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lines and the restaurant and the food. Anywhere people seem

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to be waiting seems to be covered, including the central hub,

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which I think is interesting. Central hub isn't a giant tent,

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so so we will see how well it does. But

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if they're operating hours start at four and go until

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one or two in the morning, that's certainly something that

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is not only cultural, because.

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The people in this part of the world are.

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As one of our tour guides says, it's like it's

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like living with a bunch of owls because they're all

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night dwellers. But it's also because of the heat, so

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that makes total sense. But I just wanted to capture

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a moment of us with some of the ambient noise

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in the back of us actually walking through. We are

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one of the first major public groups to get a

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chance to do this, so thank you to Ayappa for

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making that happen. And so anyway, now you get a

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little little sense of what it's like which we can't

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take pictures, we'll at least we at least talked about it.

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So that's our our top reviews.

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We'll go into this in much greater depth in the show,

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but that's kind of our top thoughts and takeaways as

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we walk through six Flags in Kadia City.

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Here in Saudi Arabia.

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So right now we're standing in Rioda City, which is

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sort of like a I don't know, how would you

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define Riod City, Boulevard City, Boulevard City, Sorry I say

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Riot City.

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Sorry, I'm I'm oblivious.

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We're in Riod at Boulevard City, what Philip said?

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Yeah, so how would you?

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How would you how would you describe Boulevard City in

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comparison to other areas.

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So we did Boulevard World and then we took the

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cable car over to Boulevard City, and I think that,

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like you said.

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Earlier, that Boulevard World is kind of.

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Like a mix between Epcot and Global Village.

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Village.

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Yeah, and so it's like more temporary starchis But I

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really like Boulevard City, and the more I hear about it,

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it's just the idea. It's like a city walk, you know,

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where they do have temporary buildings that change around, but

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they also have a lot of so they're able to

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bring in a lot of new things, like they had

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a Detective Conan thing that have bin insive Freddy's, and

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I was saying, I think that's more what Sin Parsne

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did incorporate actually, because it allows it to become like

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a public square, and then it allows them to be

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able to adjust according to what's happening, you know. I mean,

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d'cona is huge right now, like all these things are huge.

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Like I think it's a.

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It's that kind of stuff I think would invigorate lights,

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you know, into some of our.

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Well and even Boulevard World, which is more like a

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theme park even there which and basically for those of

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you who've never been to Boulevard World, Boulevard World is

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a but they have different areas dedicated or representative of

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different parts of the world. And what's really interesting about

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that is even those are changeable, they change out, they're temporary,

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they last you know, three or four seasons or two

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to three seasons. Sometimes they have some basic rides, but yeah,

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it's all basic.

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Yeah, I think Boulevard World is the theme park, and

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then Boulevard city is the city Walk basically.

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But Boulevard World. I was shocked.

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I know Scott's been here before, but I was shocked

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at the detail of the like quote unquote temporary infrastructure.

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I mean, like, honestly, I know, if if you go

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up and you inspect it, you know, we can tell

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that it's not permanent fiberglass, but like there's no way

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that guests are gonna know. And it looks gorgeous. And

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also each area is cinematic, right, there's like views, there's vistas.

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It's like they really thought about making sure that there's

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a picturesque moment in every land, you know, and so

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in that way, I think it's a perfect you know,

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we were saying it was like retail tayment on steroids,

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you know, because there's so much retail and food and

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then there's little performances, but you mainly just go to

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hang out and do those things and then take pictures.

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Right.

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And one of the things that they brought up is,

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you know, they're trying to make certain that there is

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ease of access for even very large families, which is

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very common in this part of the world. So you know,

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if you have a low they basically have a low

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entry fee, and then have individual pricing for ticketing for

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each of the rides or attractions within the experience. So

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you can come and just hang out with your family

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and make it that that town square that we were

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talking about, or you can you can actually do everything,

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and it's it's and maybe you do everything on those

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special occasions, you know, so you're there regularly, but it's

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it's kind of like they've right sized, they've right sized

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their attractions industry to the attention span of their guests.

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Yeah, you know it's open only open for six months

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out of the year. Well that's because of heat.

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Mainly, yes, And it's an evening element, so you kind

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like after work, I guess, and you stay until later

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one in the morning.

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So it's described to me as we were in Riodd's

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or living in a world of owls.

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Everybody's you know, everybody's attention span and and uh, the

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way they do things is all based on when it

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gets cool enough to come outside, which I think is

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really important. The other cool thing about the temporary nature

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of Boulevard World is they were saying that the basic

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structures are made of shipping containers and.

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Then there's scenic. That is, they do the basic you know.

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What's going to hold the building up or what's going

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to hold the facade up, and then they do all

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the the overlay is carved, carved and coded foam and

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sometimes it's coded in you know, sometimes it's coded in

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hard code.

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Sometimes it's coated in concrete. But it's it's all very

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we'll call it what we would.

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What we would call uh, you know, sort of temporarily permanent,

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permanently temporary, so that they can change.

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It out as the as the whim or as the

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season desires.

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So it honestly reminds me a lot of the haunted

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house mentality it is.

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That's that's very that's very true, and especially the ones

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that are you know, the ongoing, ongoing haunts that want

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to change out something every season.

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Yes, yeah, exactly, that's exactly, and they change it out.

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And it's that whole idea where you know, you're open

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for six months and then it like encourages people to

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come in to see what's new, and then everything is

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is not the cost upfront isn't as bad, so you're

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able to make back the revenue. It was described to

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us as sustainable and I think that's an excellent way

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of framing it. It's like, how do we make it sustainable?

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Because the metrics were eighty percent from the local city,

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from Riot and twenty percent from Sadi, So no one's

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coming here for this, like no one's coming from another

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country or from out even outside of Saudi.

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To see this, which means it has to be sustainable

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for the locals. And I think it is.

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Yeah, well, and it's the it's kind of the exact

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opposite business model that we experienced when we were touring

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six Flags and Aquarabia in Kadea. Kadea is going to

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be a global destination. It will be a reason to

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come to.

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This part of the world.

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Boulevard world is not, but I can see that it

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would definitely definitely kind of get a little halo effect

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when that starts to happen, because no one's gonna come

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to Riod to see that, but.

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If they're here, it's really fun. Yeah, you know.

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The and the and the vibe is the vibe is

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such that you're gonna bring your family, You're gonna shop,

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you're gonna eat, You're gonna go see a couple of shows.

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You may do one or two rides or attractions and

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uh and that's you know, and then it's two o'clock

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and they close they close down the park.

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Ye.

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Yeah, I think that's a great way.

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I mean, I know that it's at least it seems

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to me like there's some competition going on between these

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two entities.

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In some way.

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But first of all, I think I understand the scale

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of Kadia City is all of Walt Disney World, So

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it's not.

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Like, well the scale the scale of Kadea City is

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all of Orlando. Yes, I mean, that's.

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That's that's what That's what I think our guests need

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to understand is Kadia City is not a theme park.

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Kadea City is a city.

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It is literally they're building a city to be an

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entertainment destination. They're planning on five hundred thousand people living

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there in addition to their so there's gonna be home,

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so it's gonna be buildings and so they're it's not

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just them building everything. They're bringing in people to build

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other businesses and make it. You know, they eating the

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full city and they're extending the train We found out

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last night they are extending the train stop. So they're

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gonna be able to take the train directly from the

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airport to uh the Kadia City, which is going to

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be excellent for people flying in and it's just a

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whole man made construction. So like, I think there's no

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reason for that com for it to them to compete

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because one, the scale is no way they're going to.

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Compete, nor is the audience, nor is the audience. It doesn't.

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I don't think there's a reason to because the thing is,

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you're never going to come into Riad for these boulevard areas,

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but you're gonna come to Riad for Kadia.

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And then hopefully what they can do is capture put

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up tour groups together and get buses to pick people

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up in Kadia and drive them over here.

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And that's what I would recommend, and I think we

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would do it.

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And I think and I think one of the things

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that's going to happen is in Kadia City they're going

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to have tours of Rhoda, you know, because people are

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going to want to see the city of Riod and

251
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they're going to want to come.

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Over here and experience what Riod has to offer.

253
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But I think that I think that Boulevard City and

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Boulevard World are targeting significantly more targeted to the locals,

255
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and I think Kadia City then will bring in people

256
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globally to make them aware of this exploding tourism industry

257
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in this part of the world.

258
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Yeah, and it also makes sense to have the different

259
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contrasting views because Scott talked it last time about how

260
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six Flags they're trying to like make a succise fit

261
00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:26.000
in Saudi and in a way, I think, you know,

262
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Aqua Arabia is different because it is, but it's still

263
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like how do we make a water part fit here?

264
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And so it's you know, it's also different mindset in

265
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terms of like this is shaping around.

266
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The local culture is what this is, and that's like

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we're trying to fit a thing into the culture. Right,

268
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So they're there.

269
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I do think that from an even when a North

270
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Star standpoint, they're different approaches.

271
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Yeah, they're they're different business models and they should be

272
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and there's and there's room for both of them.

273
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So I think I think it's we're getting a nice unique.

274
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Sort of dim sum approach of the different the different

275
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approaches that are happening in this industry.

276
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But I will tell you it is it's blowing up.

277
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So yeah, and I think in the short term though,

278
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I do think, I honestly do think in the short

279
00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:09.120
term that you're going to have an awkward period where

280
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six flags in Acaabia open and they're going to have

281
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less people than Boulevard City because Boulevard City is at

282
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its peak.

283
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It's already three years in. They hit thirty thousand people

284
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a day, is what we were hearing.

285
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And I don't think that you're going to hit thirty

286
00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.840
thousand at those places when they first open, because it's

287
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going to take a while because the subway stop isn't

288
00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:27.919
open yet. I mean, it's going to take a while

289
00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:29.960
for people to trickle into those areas well.

290
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And this is happening. This is happening in Abu Daw two.

291
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You have to hit critical mass before you can start

292
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with WB.

293
00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:40.000
WB was like so busy, but SeaWorld was still less busy.

294
00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:40.440
Yep.

295
00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:45.120
So we're now standing in Boulevard City in Riyad, and

296
00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:51.159
we have just recently completed our our first session of

297
00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:55.720
education sessions here as part of the summit, and it

298
00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.080
was interesting because it was multiple speakers. They were back

299
00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.720
to back to back to back to back, and really,

300
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I mean, it was interesting to see the unique combination

301
00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.240
of people that they brought in, both from the region

302
00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:07.960
and from just outside the region.

303
00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:08.559
They brought in some.

304
00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:12.600
European points of view, but it was it was nice

305
00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:16.720
to see that sort of regional focus, which is exactly

306
00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:20.279
what it should be here. But you know, so Philip,

307
00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:21.919
what did you what did you think overall? I mean,

308
00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:24.279
just sort of thirty thousand feet what did you think

309
00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:28.240
of the of the content and its intent? I mean,

310
00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:30.120
because I'll share with you my I don't want to

311
00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:31.879
put you on the spot, so I'll share my mind. First,

312
00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:35.200
I thought that what we were listening to was things

313
00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:40.799
that there was nothing, nothing that was particularly revolutionary. For me,

314
00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:44.200
it was great reinforcement. And as I was sitting there,

315
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:47.039
I'm thinking, well, gosh, no, we've we've progressed further than this.

316
00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.120
But then I had this realization in this market, we

317
00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:52.960
have it. You know, this is all new for an

318
00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:57.639
industry that didn't exist two years ago here in Saudi

319
00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.960
and this information is very very important for them to hear,

320
00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:06.159
and to be fair, it's still viable for people outside

321
00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:08.039
this region to be reinforced upon.

322
00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:12.519
But I think that all the information was good.

323
00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.039
I don't know necessarily whether I felt that all the

324
00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:20.840
information was progressive, but it was progressive for this market.

325
00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:22.919
I think that's the only fair way I can say it,

326
00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:24.159
because I don't want to. I don't want to say

327
00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:28.039
that anything was bad or wrong. It wasn't, but it

328
00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:31.320
was nothing that I hadn't heard in some form or

329
00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.279
another before. I don't know, how did you feel about that?

330
00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:36.480
That's a really good description. I think I agree with

331
00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:36.879
all of that.

332
00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:41.080
I think again, we talked about this a lot. I'm

333
00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:42.480
not sure who.

334
00:14:42.279 --> 00:14:46.360
This was for, because the people that took your sessions,

335
00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:49.519
you know that you taught before the started, and the

336
00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.559
people who had the full summit, you know, I don't

337
00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:56.039
think that we needed anything in that room except the

338
00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:58.799
very beginning, which I thought was great because the very

339
00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.440
beginning they gave us actual this is what people in

340
00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:03.879
the region want, this is what they're looking for, this

341
00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:06.200
is how many days. And then actually, when I heard

342
00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:09.120
those data points, suddenly so much made sense to me.

343
00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:13.799
And about talking about how they're looking for residences for

344
00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:17.879
you know, multiple food options, and for things that last

345
00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.799
whole days are multiple days and all these you know,

346
00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:23.799
like you hear the survey data they got from the

347
00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:26.679
Saudi region and then you're like, oh, and how young

348
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:28.159
the population is and all this stuff, and you're like, oh,

349
00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:30.919
this makes sense. Like that we should have got maybe

350
00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.240
before the EDU tours, and that would have given us

351
00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.879
the context we needed to understand the venues we went to.

352
00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.000
Yeah, that's a very good point. I mean, it helped

353
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:38.840
define the north Star.

354
00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:40.960
I mean, just to go back to my old terminology,

355
00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:43.200
it helped define the north Star so we could understand

356
00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:44.720
a little bit more about what it was.

357
00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:49.159
I also, though, think that you know, even the the.

358
00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:59.200
Even Darryl's presentation, which was all basically about the.

359
00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:58.720
The importance of a really good guest service.

360
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:02.879
Yeah, but I think all that was, like I said,

361
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:04.440
nothing particularly.

362
00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:06.039
New, but it's solid.

363
00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:09.000
It was solid information, and it was solid information that

364
00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:09.720
the people in.

365
00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.000
That room, if they hadn't heard before, needed to hear.

366
00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:16.919
His presentation was, in my opinion, the best by far. Yes,

367
00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.039
I agree, Well, it's also the most polished. Me it

368
00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:19.919
was the most polished.

369
00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.960
It was engaging, He used good storytelling techniques, absolutely told stories.

370
00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.720
He made it relevant, He got people moving their arms

371
00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:28.039
and energetic and engaged.

372
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.080
It was by far the best twenty minutes.

373
00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.279
But I would say, though everything else just seemed like,

374
00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:38.159
you know, I like, it's that weird mix where it's

375
00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:42.120
like it's I'm not sure who it was supposed to before,

376
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:45.320
whether it was I think Scott's point about it being

377
00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:48.360
maybe meant as like like this could have been an

378
00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:53.840
introduction to tourism and thing entertainment of course basically, but I.

379
00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:55.919
Think that's exactly what it was. I really do. I

380
00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:57.159
think it's also the fact.

381
00:16:56.919 --> 00:17:00.519
That was that what it was marketed to or what

382
00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:01.879
it was supposed to be, you know.

383
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:04.799
Well, but I mean, to be completely fair, neither of

384
00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:06.799
us are the market for this. Neither of us are

385
00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:10.559
the market for this summit. We are not necessarily you know,

386
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:13.359
we're we're going to be ancillary parts of this, of

387
00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:17.400
this the industry in this area, but we're not the ones.

388
00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:18.839
We're not going to be the movers and shakers.

389
00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.759
Well, I also think, in a paradoxical way, I also

390
00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:25.640
think that some of the topics, like the hr umbrella,

391
00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:27.480
you know, like it's like it's like they kind of

392
00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:29.680
gave a really brief overview that almost you could read

393
00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:32.759
off of Wikipedia as like best practices. But the problem

394
00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.960
I thought was even though they were like basic principles

395
00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.319
like HR you should hire for attitude, not for skill,

396
00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:41.119
and all these things that you know I learned when

397
00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:44.079
I worked at Disney, But like you like, it's like

398
00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.079
each of these things could have been a module, and

399
00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:50.200
so there's no way they really realistically could have covered

400
00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:53.319
even the basics of training, Like they go up there

401
00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:55.319
and it's nice to just say you need to hire

402
00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:57.599
for this and not for this. Okay, tell me how

403
00:17:57.640 --> 00:17:59.680
to do that, but they never answered that. And so

404
00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:02.640
I think think the one that we just talked about,

405
00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:05.240
you know, the guest satistascian one, was the only one

406
00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.440
that connected the full circle and said, here's a practical

407
00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:11.039
story and a practical tip for each thing I'm gonna

408
00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:12.920
share to you but everyone else, And it was almost

409
00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.720
an impossible ask, right, how do you get someone to

410
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.720
how do you summarize all of HR hiring practices in

411
00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:19.359
twenty minutes?

412
00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.200
And also it's a panel discussion with three people. Well,

413
00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:25.720
but I've also gone back and yes, I agree with you.

414
00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:27.680
I do agree with you. And you know, those of

415
00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:28.799
you who have taken.

416
00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:31.559
Any sessions for seminars from me, you know that I

417
00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:34.200
always want to do theory and practice. I mean, that's

418
00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.039
always something that's very important to me. But I think

419
00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:38.559
in this format, to your point, I'm not sure that

420
00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:40.519
would have been possible in twenty minutes.

421
00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:43.839
When then miagureant would have been what's the north star for?

422
00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:45.519
But I think the north star for this is to

423
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.640
whet your appetite because, like we've said, I think this

424
00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:52.920
is the beta test for Middle East Expo next year.

425
00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:55.440
But then why couldn't this have been an online class.

426
00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:57.799
Because it doesn't get people here. It doesn't give us

427
00:18:57.799 --> 00:18:59.599
the opportunity to do the edge of tours. It doesn't

428
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:02.279
give us the opportunity to network and start to make

429
00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:04.799
those connections that were all saying, hey, well, I see

430
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:05.920
you in Abu Dhabi next year.

431
00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.160
I think the people that were on the education tours

432
00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:11.759
probably didn't need these sessions. It's what I would say,

433
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:13.519
because the people at least that we've been on the

434
00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.880
groups with the education tours seemed a lot more experience.

435
00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:18.319
That's why they were on the education tours and they

436
00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:19.200
had separate tickets.

437
00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:19.440
Right.

438
00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:21.400
We met a lot of people there just the first

439
00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:23.440
time being here so well, and that may be, and

440
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:25.799
that may be exactly who these were targeting. Is it

441
00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:28.200
not necessary, not really really for us, it's not really

442
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.680
for the full but as I think every speaker said,

443
00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.359
all of their topics are only going to work if

444
00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:38.279
they are implemented from the top down. So leadership needed

445
00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:40.559
to hear this, to hear what their frontline people were hearing,

446
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:42.559
or what their middle management was hearing, even though they

447
00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:46.079
already knew it. And just the optics of seeing you know,

448
00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:49.440
the owners of the parks and to seeing you know,

449
00:19:49.559 --> 00:19:52.319
the head of Europa Park and they head Yakub up there,

450
00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:55.200
and it was it was important for people to see

451
00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:59.039
them participating, so that it's not just here's information for

452
00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.400
you young startups, it's information that we all believe in.

453
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.599
Was there anything that you that we heard that I

454
00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:10.319
don't know? Is there anything that was not like you

455
00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:12.599
think at that introductoral level, I mean, besides the introduction

456
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:16.759
where they gave proprietary research about the middle about the

457
00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.720
Thadi see.

458
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:19.079
And I felt that was I felt even that was

459
00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:21.680
google able. I felt even that was something that you

460
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:24.799
could find, you know online, But you know me, stats

461
00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:28.440
are stats are stats, their their tools to accomplish something

462
00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:28.960
much greater.

463
00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:33.000
But what about the keynote panel, You know, I mean,

464
00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:36.079
Jakab was up there. But I think even in that,

465
00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:38.119
I think that they were just kind of overviewing.

466
00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:40.559
Agreed, agreed, But I think that was the optics.

467
00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:42.160
I think that was I think that was what we

468
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:45.799
were supposed to see is here's because this is again,

469
00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:49.200
this is an industry that did not exist two years ago,

470
00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.839
and they have to you can't what's what's the old line?

471
00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:56.839
The biggest biggest enemy to education as expertise. So you

472
00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.680
have to be able to bring people in. You have

473
00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:01.720
to meet them where they are in order to elevate

474
00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:02.559
them to where they need to be.

475
00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:05.599
You know, I think if you viewed it from Matt Lens,

476
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.279
then maybe that's what we were supposed to get from it.

477
00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:10.920
It's that we were supposed to get an understanding of

478
00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:12.119
where this market is.

479
00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:15.319
I think that's for us. I think that's why I

480
00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:16.240
think it's probably right.

481
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.960
So I now have a better understanding, because I mean,

482
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.039
to be fair, When I walked out, I looked at

483
00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.880
Philip and I said, I feel like I just went

484
00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:26.200
in a time machine about about fifteen years ten to

485
00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:28.599
fifteen years back, because it's stuff that we've you know,

486
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:31.960
we've both heard and said at the same time, you know,

487
00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.000
let's let's get down off our high horse for a

488
00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:37.960
hot second and and say, yeah, but these people haven't

489
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:38.920
had that experience.

490
00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:40.960
Yeah, especially like the HR stuff where you're like, well,

491
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:43.000
you should hire for attitude and you know you should

492
00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:44.039
you know, which.

493
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:46.240
I will say is is very unique here. There's still

494
00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.039
they're still very focused on what does your CV say?

495
00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:51.240
And and this was that's revolutionary for some of the

496
00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:52.079
folks in this market.

497
00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:54.079
I think maybe that is the point, you know, where

498
00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:56.640
they're like all these things that we take for granted,

499
00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.200
we're like, hire for attitude, you know, you should be

500
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.240
you know, you should keep what you like and Garrett,

501
00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:04.720
which I'm all these you know, practicing skills, talking to

502
00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:06.839
your staff, making sure that you take care of your staff,

503
00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:07.640
they'll take care of your guests.

504
00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:09.160
I mean, this has been saying that for decades.

505
00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:10.960
But I think that's the point, is that they're just

506
00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:14.720
introducing these now to this market because this market is

507
00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:18.519
young enough that they're just starting to actually make career paths.

508
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:20.960
They didn't even have career paths. We did learn that.

509
00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:22.799
We did learn they didn't have career paths or people.

510
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:24.640
They didn't have anybody in the area, they knew anything

511
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:27.000
about tourism, kids didn't want to work in the field.

512
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.559
They had to send people off to UCF, to those

513
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:32.960
fifty five college students to learn and then come back

514
00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:33.960
and write benchmarks.

515
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:36.079
So it's kind of it is like a wayback machine.

516
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:37.799
But maybe that's what we're supposed to take away, is

517
00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:40.559
where like they're just barely now understanding this. So when

518
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:42.960
in turn, if Scott and I were to work with

519
00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:45.599
these people, we can't take for granted that they care

520
00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:47.880
about their employees or that, you know, we have to

521
00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.880
come with the almost like a beginner's mindset, right, And it.

522
00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:54.160
Was actually, in fairness, it was beneficial to me since

523
00:22:54.160 --> 00:23:00.880
I'm writing content right now for for the UH, for

524
00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:02.759
some training classes that I'll be doing here later.

525
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.839
I now have a better understanding.

526
00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:08.160
Of where the ducks are flying, you know, at what

527
00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:10.920
level they're at, and at what level I can start

528
00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:15.799
the training. Which is and they tried very strongly when

529
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:19.359
I was putting together the concept on the RFP, they said, now,

530
00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:21.200
don't make it, don't make it too childish. This is

531
00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:23.799
for middle management. But now I understand now where middle

532
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:27.720
management is. If this is, if this is the litmus

533
00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:30.079
test now. I'll be curious to see and we'll find

534
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.640
out over the next day or so if those people

535
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:34.680
in middle management felt that this was too.

536
00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:38.000
Remedial for them.

537
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:40.079
Interesting to ask, that will be actually to ask the

538
00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:41.880
one thing I was gonna say to wrap up, I

539
00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.240
think my biggest takeaway from this is that is understanding

540
00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:48.160
where they are. But also for me, understanding I don't

541
00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.559
need a dealer here, you know, because they're not at

542
00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:52.720
the point where they would be using my product yet

543
00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:53.440
in this stuff.

544
00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:54.240
They're not ready for it.

545
00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:56.680
They don't have the integrators, the talent like all of

546
00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.960
their lighting integration people, and all that stuff is going

547
00:23:59.039 --> 00:23:59.880
to come from somewhere else.

548
00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:01.880
I'm just gonna say, Yeah, it's gonna get it's gonna

549
00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:03.839
get specked out in a design done by somebody in

550
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:04.359
another country.

551
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:06.440
Yeah, because there's the talent's not here, the firms aren't here,

552
00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:09.480
nothing's here. And like I could, I should probably be

553
00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:11.680
in the in the UAE, and I should just know

554
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:14.240
that the UAE is gonna be leading this area for

555
00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:16.200
a little bit and if they need talent, they're gonna

556
00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:17.880
get it from the UAE, and they're gonna bring it

557
00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:19.880
in here and it will develop here eventually, and they're

558
00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:23.720
probably gonna put offices in Ti Kadia City, I imagine.

559
00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:26.720
But that's not happening then well, and I.

560
00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:29.920
Would also say that it's when it I guess. I

561
00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:34.279
guess my takeaway from it is they are at this level,

562
00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.480
but they are going to that they are going to

563
00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:41.640
skyrocket past this level very very quickly. It's not going

564
00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:43.119
to take as long as it took in the US

565
00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:46.920
to adapt some of these ideas. And uh, because again

566
00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:49.880
they have they have deep pockets, they have strong interest,

567
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.519
and they're they're pulling from some of the best of

568
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.720
the best from around the world. So I think it's

569
00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:56.720
it's one of those we may not need it today,

570
00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.480
but be prepped because it could happen as early as tomorrow.

571
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:02.440
Yeah, I I think it will. That's with any technology

572
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.880
and with anything like that. Just look at Halloween. You know,

573
00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:07.799
when it jumped across to Asia, it jumped across already

574
00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:10.839
and it's like commercial form and it already jumped across

575
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.240
as like a festival. That's you know all that, and

576
00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:16.200
it took us what like decades to get to that model.

577
00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:18.279
And the same is true with all sorts of technology.

578
00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:20.960
That's why the infrastructure in a lot of newer areas,

579
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:23.039
like the Dubai infrastructure is so much better than the

580
00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:26.440
American infrastructure because they learned from America.

581
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:27.880
And I think that you're going to see that here.

582
00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:31.759
Their starting point is where we are now because we're

583
00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:34.640
here to help them and they're and they're hiring us

584
00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:37.599
to help them. So you know, there's there's that so

585
00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:40.799
that that kind of keeps things, keep things in keeps

586
00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:43.039
things in perspective. So I think that's I think that

587
00:25:43.160 --> 00:25:46.079
the the basically, I think what we're both saying is

588
00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:48.599
that the educational seminar so there was absolutely nothing wrong.

589
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.839
It was it was a good for those of us

590
00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:52.319
who have been through it in years. It was a

591
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:55.240
good reinforcement. But it was also a really good reminder

592
00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.839
as to where the local market is when it comes

593
00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:02.279
to the attractions industry and how quickly they couldn't potentially

594
00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:05.039
grow if this is their if this is their baseline,

595
00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.440
you know, so we'll see, we'll see where it goes.

596
00:26:08.359 --> 00:26:11.960
And now the final education session is over, you're going

597
00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:15.279
off to go back to Boulevard World. I'm actually going

598
00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:17.720
back to the hotel and get ready to head back

599
00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:21.720
to Tampa. So in this last session, the I think

600
00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:23.799
they touched on some really important points.

601
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:24.519
You know.

602
00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:27.279
Once again they talked about staffing and how staffing is

603
00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:30.440
an ongoing challenge really around the world, and how it's

604
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:33.519
going to be even more so here in Saudi because.

605
00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:37.440
Again, the the industry is relatively new.

606
00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:43.839
They it's well, I guess, I guess the biggest takeaways

607
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.880
for me is that the Saudi culture is looking for

608
00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:51.839
things that will integrate and represent the Saudi culture.

609
00:26:52.119 --> 00:26:54.279
I mean, that's just kind of an overarching theme over

610
00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:55.200
and over and over again.

611
00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:58.799
They need to and they're they're utilizing their relationships with

612
00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:04.799
outside contractors, outside companies, people from people from different parts

613
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:07.359
of the world, but it has to come back and

614
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:09.440
resonate with the Saudis. And I think we heard that

615
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:11.119
over and over and over again when it comes to

616
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:14.960
park development, when it comes to training and basically taking

617
00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:21.599
what is inherently Saudi, which is the sense of welcoming

618
00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.039
and politeness and hospitality, and finding a way to make

619
00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:28.480
that leap from I'm being nice too, I'm doing good

620
00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:31.720
actions for you as a as a member of the

621
00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:35.039
attractions industry. That's the thing that just kind of it

622
00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:37.000
keeps coming back over and over and over again in

623
00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:39.759
many of these in many different ways. There was also

624
00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:42.400
a presentation that I saw that I think Philip unfortunately

625
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.480
Philip missed, was on on AI and the importance of

626
00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:47.759
that and how that is going to be it's going

627
00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:49.720
to be a part. There's it's not even a question

628
00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:51.440
of how it's going to it is going to be

629
00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:54.640
a part. It's not if it's now, it's not when

630
00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:58.359
it is happening as we speak and continuing to grow.

631
00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:01.359
And I found that the the most interesting takeaway I

632
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:07.200
found from that was how how it's how it's already

633
00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:09.920
here and it's moving so quickly that the future is

634
00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:10.559
really hard.

635
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.920
To predict because it's going to happen within the next

636
00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:15.319
year and a half, you know. So it's it's going

637
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:17.759
to be that's going to be part of it. That's

638
00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:19.200
really going to be impactful.

639
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:27.359
But but you actually liked the the globalization Versus Nationalization.

640
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:31.279
Seminar. What what did you take away from that one? Yeah? Yeah,

641
00:28:31.400 --> 00:28:33.279
I liked that one. Fight. How many were there today?

642
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:33.839
They are four?

643
00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:36.839
Yeah, the four total, the instress one and then the

644
00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:38.720
globalization was second. Then it was AI and then the

645
00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.839
last one was like a recap kind of end cap

646
00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:44.680
for it. Yeah, and what I liked about that one

647
00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.480
I thought, you know that there were some I thought

648
00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:48.160
it was very complicated, but I think if I were

649
00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:50.720
just still it down essentially what we've been talking about forever,

650
00:28:50.759 --> 00:28:53.440
which is immersion, which is tying back to following the

651
00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:55.920
story and understanding the context that the guests is walking through.

652
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:57.119
That's basically what it was.

653
00:28:57.480 --> 00:28:59.640
And what the thing I thought was most interesting though,

654
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.039
was talking about the idea that it's a continuum and

655
00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:05.519
it doesn't have to be all American. It doesn't have

656
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:07.519
to be all the local culture. It can be somewhere

657
00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:10.039
in the middle. And I like the idea of using

658
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.640
Disney to illustrate that because we're we're all pretty familiar

659
00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:15.799
with it, so we understand, you know that Disney that

660
00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:18.200
main street, but then we understand that, you know, Shanghai,

661
00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:20.119
which is the newest one, didn't have a main street, right.

662
00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:23.519
I like that concept, and I think it's especially interesting

663
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.480
with in the context of what Scott just said. If

664
00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:30.079
everything has to come back to the local Saudi culture,

665
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:32.640
but they also want to attract in outside visitors, then

666
00:29:32.680 --> 00:29:34.279
it's a continuum and it's.

667
00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:35.359
Where on that line do we fall?

668
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:38.920
How do we integrate the Saudi culture into something while

669
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:40.880
it You know, so if we're again like the six Flags,

670
00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:45.079
we're going to bring six Flags into Saudi, how much

671
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:47.039
of that is six Flags?

672
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:49.559
How much of it is Saudi culture? Where is the line?

673
00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:51.640
And the thing is, you know, it's continuum and there's

674
00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:53.480
a flighting scale. And I think the way that a

675
00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:56.240
lot of these facilities we've seen have chosen to do

676
00:29:56.359 --> 00:30:01.319
that is a land approach, and by dedicating certain lands

677
00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:04.119
and certain aspects one hundred percent to Saudi culture and

678
00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:07.359
then trying to kind of you know, have mixed zones.

679
00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:09.640
But even the mixed zones, as he was saying with

680
00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:12.680
his motion Gate example was you know, even with the

681
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:14.920
How to Train Your Dragon and then going in and saying, well,

682
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:17.599
the food doesn't match because well, they're trying to have.

683
00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:19.519
Saudi food here because Sadi people want satty food.

684
00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:21.440
And I think that's a good question that he brought

685
00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:23.640
up on stage, which is like, I mean, he didn't

686
00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:25.599
bring it up. I'm bringing it up for him, which

687
00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:29.359
is in situations like that, you have a themed land

688
00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:33.839
that really should have the food from that culture, but

689
00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:36.279
you know that this is for Saudi people and thought

690
00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:39.039
he wanted to be here in Saudi, like Saudi food, do

691
00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:42.440
you bring in outside food or do you keep it local?

692
00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:45.480
Well, and it's funny because in what there's actually there

693
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:47.759
was actually another session in there that we that I

694
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:51.400
forgot to mention. No, and yeah, would I know, we're

695
00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:52.519
we're so polished.

696
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.400
Well even checked my notes and I didn't know.

697
00:30:54.839 --> 00:30:57.519
But it was the session on how to take an

698
00:30:57.559 --> 00:31:00.519
event and make it sustainable, so like taking a uh

699
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:02.119
well there was the fashion I meth the miss that,

700
00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:04.839
Yeah you missed that one, but it was taking it

701
00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:07.599
was basically she did a lovely job, but it was

702
00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:13.160
basically how do you take something like the opening of

703
00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:16.519
the Olympics, which can last three to four hours and

704
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:18.400
make it something that is sustainable that people come back

705
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:21.160
to month after month after month. And it was all

706
00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:23.640
pretty much the same thing. It was making the emotional connection.

707
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:26.519
But one of the things that she brought into it,

708
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:30.160
and this is where it triggered that I forgot. Oh yeah,

709
00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:33.039
she was there, But the thing that I forgot was

710
00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:38.359
she mentioned the factor that you cannot ignore is it

711
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:39.839
has to be economically sound.

712
00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:43.319
So if you have a situation if you have, well, it.

713
00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:45.720
Does have to be economically sound, because otherwise it's a hobby,

714
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.119
not a career, you know, it's not a job.

715
00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:50.480
Last but that's my point about.

716
00:31:50.279 --> 00:31:54.160
The food though, if they're if in Dubai, because that's

717
00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:56.960
and I do not want for a moment to say

718
00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.680
that the Saudi culture and Dubai culture are the same.

719
00:31:58.720 --> 00:31:59.160
They are not.

720
00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:02.200
They are very very different and they cannot be lumped together.

721
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:06.240
But and what I'm discovering is just in the people

722
00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:08.440
that I've met here, and I should explore this even

723
00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:11.079
more in the coming months, is even the culture between

724
00:32:11.160 --> 00:32:14.960
Rihod and Jedda are completely different, very very different. But

725
00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:18.480
ultimately they still have to sell food. Ultimately, they still

726
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:20.759
have to to make their F and B numbers. And

727
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.200
so if if salmon and Swedish meatballs aren't going to

728
00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:27.880
make as much as chicken fingers and burgers, then guess

729
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:28.599
what they're gonna sell?

730
00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:28.880
You know.

731
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:31.839
Yeah, And well I think that's something I think universally

732
00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:34.839
we can all like identify with that type of thing,

733
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:36.599
you know, your turkey, like example from lunch. I mean

734
00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:38.319
there's like you know, it's gotta just you know, doesn't

735
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:40.839
matter if it's not spooky, it's you know, it's gonna work.

736
00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:45.319
But I think also that the big takeaway Scott started

737
00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:49.240
this off by explaining, you know, some of the large

738
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:53.839
context of the situation, and I think overall, we're seeing

739
00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:58.000
a sector that is evolving so rapidly it's hard for

740
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.599
me as an American to even comprehend. You know, where

741
00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:03.200
they had no cinema six only six years ago and

742
00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:05.440
now here where we are, and so they are going

743
00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:08.799
to go evolve very quickly. But right now, you know,

744
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:10.960
it's still a little bit further. But I would say

745
00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:14.519
I got the impression from the morning session, the second

746
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:18.519
session of the morning about the government funding projects, where

747
00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:21.880
it's kind of like they were saying, initially the government

748
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.039
is going to invest in this, but we're going to

749
00:33:24.039 --> 00:33:27.599
we want other individuals to come in and the government's

750
00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:29.559
going to start taking a back seat. And I talked

751
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:32.720
to some of the other attendees about that, and what

752
00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:34.920
I got was more a little more nuanced picture, which

753
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:38.039
is essentially outside investment does not want to come in

754
00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:40.000
right now because it's not.

755
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:42.759
A business decision right now, it's not a proven commodity.

756
00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:45.480
Yeah, and because right now you're going to compete against

757
00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:48.319
the government when they have endless money, and you know,

758
00:33:48.440 --> 00:33:50.440
even the talent. Like I was talking to some firms

759
00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:53.720
who will not put offices here because the government will

760
00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:56.000
poach those people and offer them two or three times

761
00:33:56.039 --> 00:33:58.319
as much to the same job, and they just can't compete.

762
00:33:58.359 --> 00:34:00.480
So I think I think at some point the government's

763
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:03.480
gonna have to, like, if the government wants outside people

764
00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:05.599
to come in and make it, they're going to need

765
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:08.440
to pull back to allow competition to come in. And

766
00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:10.679
when competition comes in, it's the Scott's point. It's gonna

767
00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:13.000
be business decisions at that point. And they did talk

768
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:15.519
about that premise where basically they're like, we are saying

769
00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:19.159
up projects where foreign investors and foreign companies can come

770
00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:20.880
in and participate in those projects.

771
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:23.000
But so like the government's like, we're gonna make.

772
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:24.760
The sandbox, and you come and plan in our sandbox

773
00:34:24.880 --> 00:34:27.280
and we'll get out so that you can actually play well.

774
00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:29.079
And I mean there are a few exceptions to that.

775
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:31.880
I mean, for example, Europa Park has already been brought

776
00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:36.480
in to start the whatever the theme park Training University,

777
00:34:36.519 --> 00:34:41.719
whatever it is, the talent training as have a couple

778
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:47.199
of other big outside parks and what's also happening internally,

779
00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:51.480
and I know this because of my work here. They're

780
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.920
also using some of the they're also funding some of

781
00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:58.800
the local holding companies, so the local businesses are making

782
00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:00.920
money off of the government as opposed to sending all

783
00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:02.960
that government money outside of the country.

784
00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:05.800
So it is, it is.

785
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:07.880
It is a land of great opportunity. But you know what,

786
00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:09.920
just like the wild wild West, there's a lot of

787
00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:10.840
confusion still.

788
00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:11.800
Things have not settled.

789
00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:13.119
And I think that goes back to what Philip was

790
00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:15.480
saying as far as outside companies not willing to come

791
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:18.199
in and make major investments here yet because the dust

792
00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:20.639
hasn't settled. They don't know quite what it is yet. Yeah,

793
00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:23.039
and I would add to it too. I agree with

794
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:23.320
all that.

795
00:35:23.400 --> 00:35:25.840
I just think I want to underscore that it's not

796
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:28.599
not every decision here right now is being based pure

797
00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:29.480
laf of does that make.

798
00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:29.880
Money or not.

799
00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:33.400
You know, there's a lot there, and I think that's

800
00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:36.360
the problem is that we as a foreign entity would

801
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:38.599
come in and be like, what's the business case? But

802
00:35:38.679 --> 00:35:40.360
it's like there are different rules here. The rules of

803
00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:41.360
the game are different here.

804
00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:43.119
You cannot look at it and We've said this to

805
00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:44.800
each other constantly. You cannot look at it from an

806
00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:47.360
American point of view. But I will say that even

807
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:50.800
some of the folks who have been operating Boulevard City,

808
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:52.480
which is where most of this has been taking place,

809
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:55.920
and Boulevard World, have also said, when we were looking

810
00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:58.280
at some of the larger projects, how is this going

811
00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:00.760
to be sustainable? And so it needs to start thinking

812
00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:01.800
about this.

813
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:02.159
Morning.

814
00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:06.079
For example, we toured we toured a gigantic, beautiful, the

815
00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:11.639
world's largest indoor sports stadium in worse stadium as far

816
00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:15.199
as as far as seating capacity goes, but as Philip

817
00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:18.400
did some additional research, discovered that it wasn't really large

818
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:22.079
enough to do to compete with the outdoor venues or

819
00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:24.840
some of the other So it's.

820
00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:28.079
It's a perfect example. So there's this enormous indoor stadium.

821
00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:29.159
It fits it.

822
00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:32.679
Initially eighteen thousand people. They expanded it to twenty seven thousand,

823
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:34.880
so they would be the world record holder for the

824
00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.639
largest seated indoor stadium. So you have this giant stadium,

825
00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:39.199
and the thing they wanted to do was to have

826
00:36:39.320 --> 00:36:40.920
real grass, So it has real grass.

827
00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:42.519
You can play in all indoors.

828
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:44.559
It's crazy, But then you have to think about it

829
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:47.000
in the larger context. That's still like half the size

830
00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:49.119
of Wimbledon and some of the other places. So it's

831
00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:51.960
actually not big enough to attract some of the largest

832
00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:54.719
sports events. And so what does that leave you with.

833
00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:57.960
It leaves you with like a really good concert venue,

834
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.119
but you have grass, so where you actually in order

835
00:37:01.159 --> 00:37:04.719
to make it again sustainable, you're gonna have to maybe

836
00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:06.719
cover the grass or can't change that around. But that

837
00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:08.519
was like one of the original selling points is that

838
00:37:08.679 --> 00:37:11.360
was like a giant grass indoor thing. And so that's

839
00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:16.079
a great example of how they started initially to be

840
00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:18.000
like the biggest, the best of this thing, and then

841
00:37:18.039 --> 00:37:21.039
you're like, oh, well, maybe it isn't well positioned in

842
00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:22.039
this individual market.

843
00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:22.559
I think the.

844
00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:25.719
Biggest challenge they're going to be facing is they have

845
00:37:25.800 --> 00:37:30.280
to find that balance between creating that great, big, exciting,

846
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:35.480
sparkly thing, that big sparkly thing that's going to draw

847
00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:40.840
in attention from international guests, while still actually figuring out

848
00:37:40.840 --> 00:37:43.239
how do we right size for what we need And

849
00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:46.400
that's going to be the sustainable issue. So hopefully the

850
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:51.719
big mega projects like Kadia City are going to are

851
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:53.719
going to draw the attention and then they will then

852
00:37:53.880 --> 00:37:56.480
start to focus in on how do we maintain I mean,

853
00:37:56.519 --> 00:37:59.960
these are things that we've talked about with with Dubai

854
00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:03.440
and motion Gate and how you know, and the Bollywood

855
00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:04.559
Park which is now closed.

856
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:07.760
They didn't exactly think it through. They didn't actually go

857
00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:09.000
to the final product.

858
00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:11.480
They should have reversed, engineered a little bit more and

859
00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:13.440
thought what do the guests really need? What can we

860
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:16.280
really sustain and build to that. That doesn't mean that

861
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:19.239
you still can't create the biggest and best, but do

862
00:38:19.320 --> 00:38:21.840
it in a way that is sustainable, and that makes

863
00:38:22.119 --> 00:38:24.880
that is far more challenging to find that balance than

864
00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:26.480
to just say we're going to be the biggest and

865
00:38:26.519 --> 00:38:26.840
the best.

866
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:29.000
You know what I'm saying, Yeah, I got some insight

867
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.039
on that, and I think this will personalize everything for

868
00:38:31.079 --> 00:38:34.320
people here. You know, this is a lot of these

869
00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:39.920
venues also just for context too, the entire population here

870
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:42.079
is not like Saudi, right. You have a lot of

871
00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:43.719
workforce people, you have a lot of that. All this

872
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:47.000
stuff is built only for Saudi nationals. And that's another

873
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.920
reason why that culture it's important and a lot of

874
00:38:49.960 --> 00:38:52.159
it I've been talking about and the honest answer I'm

875
00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:54.679
getting is because those workers and the other people here

876
00:38:54.719 --> 00:38:57.320
don't get paid enough to even afford to go, and

877
00:38:57.360 --> 00:39:00.119
so it's really built for just one portion of the

878
00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:03.039
population and for foreigners, right. And so then you look

879
00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:06.079
at something like Bollywood, not enough Indian people can afford

880
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:07.719
to go to it, and the sid of people don't

881
00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:09.239
care enough about Indian culture.

882
00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:09.840
To drive and go do that.

883
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:11.920
And so that was one of those elements like, oh,

884
00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:15.000
it wasn't sustainable because there wasn't enough people in the

885
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:17.480
market that could afford that. Because xyz, even though if

886
00:39:17.480 --> 00:39:20.239
you look at the pere numbers, how many Indians are here,

887
00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:21.960
Oh my god, there's so many of them. We need

888
00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:22.400
a whole thing.

889
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:25.199
Well, but that's you a but yeah, yeah, that was

890
00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:26.639
the Yeah. Is that there?

891
00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:29.199
Yes, yes, But that's what I mean, like the context

892
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.639
of it, Like it's the same for these two regions

893
00:39:31.679 --> 00:39:34.199
where you have these the working kind of working folks

894
00:39:34.199 --> 00:39:36.119
that don't make fine enough. But it's a huge population,

895
00:39:36.440 --> 00:39:38.119
and so who is it really for it for a

896
00:39:38.119 --> 00:39:39.239
subset of each population.

897
00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:42.599
Well, and that's also why instead of doing the high

898
00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:46.199
ticket price that includes everything, the model of doing an

899
00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:49.760
entry a low entry fee, and then individual helps reduce

900
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:52.400
the barrier of who can experience it and who can't.

901
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:54.960
And it was explained to us the other day.

902
00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:59.119
You know, families here in Saudi are traditionally larger. So

903
00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:01.480
if you've got a family of eight and you have

904
00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:04.320
to pay one hundred dollars a day to come into

905
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:07.760
a theme park, guess what you're Nope, they're not going.

906
00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:10.079
But if you can do it so that you've got

907
00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:14.920
a cheaper entry gate and then you can do uncertain days,

908
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:18.079
do different things and add add on, it makes it

909
00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:24.400
far more palatable and reasonable for larger families. So and

910
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:26.199
one more thing before we go, I think it's really

911
00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:28.360
important that we do point out that.

912
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:31.880
This is that they have haunted houses here. They do

913
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:34.320
have haunted houses here, Yes, yes they do.

914
00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:37.199
But I think it's important also to recognize part of

915
00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:39.480
the reason this is I think even more of a

916
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:47.639
crapshoot is sixty three percent of the population here is young,

917
00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:49.800
very very very young.

918
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:51.480
So there's a lot of there's a.

919
00:40:51.480 --> 00:40:53.320
Lot eighty percent of them are looking to do some

920
00:40:53.400 --> 00:40:54.679
repeat immersive experiences.

921
00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:59.199
I thought, exactly exactly, So it you know, we can't

922
00:40:59.239 --> 00:41:01.719
we can't necessarily just look at the past data.

923
00:41:01.719 --> 00:41:03.880
We have to look at the current and future data.

924
00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:04.880
What do the kids want?

925
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:08.760
I don't know, Scott, I've never known what the kids

926
00:41:08.760 --> 00:41:09.880
want anyway.

927
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:14.079
Well, so we're wrapping up here in Riod.

928
00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:17.639
I strongly recommend, however, that if you'd like to hear

929
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:20.880
us speak about this in a bit more, I don't

930
00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:23.719
know focused manner, because.

931
00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:25.760
The focus is just going to be unfiltered.

932
00:41:25.800 --> 00:41:27.840
Well, I think unfiltered we'll probably be more focused than

933
00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:29.239
we are right now because I'm still tired.

934
00:41:29.280 --> 00:41:30.800
I don't know about you, but I'm still tired.

935
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:33.719
But anyway, what we're gonna do and unfiltered is we're

936
00:41:33.719 --> 00:41:36.119
actually going to record that when we get back into

937
00:41:36.199 --> 00:41:39.480
the States and when we can actually kind of digest

938
00:41:39.559 --> 00:41:42.159
and deep dive into all the things that we touched.

939
00:41:41.880 --> 00:41:43.119
On while we were here.

940
00:41:43.400 --> 00:41:47.199
But I hope you've enjoyed our recap of the AYAPPA

941
00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:51.639
Middle East Summit here in Riod. And this is green

942
00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:53.480
Tag Feene Park in thirty and we will see you

943
00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:54.360
all 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.