Super Nintendo World at EPIC Universe, and Universal's Earnings

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From our studios, this time in
Ohio, Cleveland and Tampa. This is

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Green Tag Theme Parking thirty. I'm
Philip, but I'm joined as always by

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my WONDERFOCA host Scott Swinson of Scott
Swenson Creative Development. The big news this

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week, of course, is that
Universal Orlando unveiled the some details for Superintendo

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World which is coming to Epic Universe. We don't want to talk too much

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about this because if, of course
listeners to the show, you I'm sure

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most of you, probably all of
you have been to one of the Superintendo

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worlds World's already, so you are
aware of what this is. Okay,

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you haven't, Scott, Are you
serious? You haven't been to any of

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them? I haven't any of them. Nope, Nope, nope. I'm

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sorry this because time maybe me sound
like a total journal I'm too busy to

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play in theme park so i just
walk in them. But I know I

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have not. I have not.
I've I've studied them. I've seen exactly

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how they you know what's going on, but uh, I'm it's also a

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brand that is that I'm a little
too old for to be completely honest.

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H does not does not strike the
home court with me that it does with

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some other people. But at the
same time, I'm very excited to see

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that it's coming and i know that
it's going to be a huge element for

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driving attendance at Epic Universe. Okay, So I'm still reeling from that from

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that that you've never been there yet, Okay, Okay, Right, So

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I will say the thing to me
about this land and from from the press

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release here we have everything that we've
seen before, which is Bowser's Challenge,

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Yoshi's Adventure, the Tostal Cafe,
the Yoshi Snack Island, and Turbo Boost

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Treats, One Up Factory, Mario
Motors Meet and Greeds, and of course

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the iconic Green Pipe which you're entering. So that part is all going to

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be I think, stuff that we've
at least seen before in videos or you

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know, you you've you've seen what
it looks like. The big piece that

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they're launching Epic in Verse with,
of course, is the Donkey Kong country,

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which we just talked about how Japan's
is Chris being delayed and so you

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know, we will have an idea
by the time Epic opens as to what

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the Donkey Kong area is going to
look like because it will have opened in

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Japan, so we'll be able to
see, you know, videos at least

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of what of what it looks like. The big ride there is going to

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be the mine Cart Madness, and
it says here the guests will hop into

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mine Car and koreem through the jungle
to help Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong protect

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the coveted Golden Banana on this first
of its kind family coaster. Utilizing unprecedented

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ride system, intodow technology and a
unique coaster design, Minecart Madness will send

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drivers on a thrilling adventure. Well, they will experience the jaw dropping maneuvers

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that they've seen a Donkey Kong and
the mine Car's perform in the video games,

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including getting blasted out of a barrel, seemingly jumping over gaps as they

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speed along a rickety track, and
so much more. So that's the big

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unique element of that land so far
that we know about that's going to be

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different. And I will just mention
the biggest takeaway for me on in terms

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of how this land is is just
different overall for all theme park stuff,

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is you know, I think Universal's
ability. It's like to me it was

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Harry Potter. We've talked about that
where Harry Potter was the first thing where

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Universal really like came into the scene
where people were like, oh, this

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is Disney if not better to some
audiences who resonate with that ip. I

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think they did the same with Super
Mario World when it launched. That was

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a big, a clear push for
them, And it's because it's it's so

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difficult to translate a video game a
cartoon into reality because you know, even

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speaking from the lighting world and the
color world, those like light that there's

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no there's no sources. I mean, the light is just everything is lit

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and there's no sources for it.
And these colors just do not exist really,

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you know in the real world.
I mean there's so much that doesn't

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exist that you really have to it's
artificial. It's that line, you know,

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like basically walking then Uncanny Valley.
You're trying to create something that is

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it looks real and that it's a
real video game, but it also needs

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to look like a video game,
and that is a really really difficult line

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to walk. And I think Universal, that to me is the thing that's

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super that these gaming worlds I think
are on the level of design complexity of

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Harry Potter, if not more design
complex because of what they need to accomplish.

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And I think Universal again kicked it
out of the park with these and

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that's why they're putting them everywhere and
and and you know they're wildly popular,

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rightfully so because they have achieved this
design. I mean, Scott, I

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really hope you really should go.
I mean, it is it's breath taking,

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absolutely, Oh I will, it's
breathtaking. I'll get there. But

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but again, I think that I
think that despite the fact that the IP

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does not resonate with me as much
as it does with gazillions of other people

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on the planet, I do recognize
the the the the power of the I

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P. And I also want to
just kind of build off of what you

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just said, Philip, which is, you know, in anything animated the

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world, the law of laws of
physics don't apply. So when it comes

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to either lighting or uh, the
you know, I've seen some of the

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some of the design schematics for the
the track jumping moment in the coaster,

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which is pretty incredible. I mean, it's it's pretty exciting because they're they're

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creating a complete sense of fantasy and
perceived danger that it is more effective that

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just based on what I've seen,
looks like it's going to be more effective

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than anything that has ever been done
before. You know, I know we've

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done. There have been tracks on
coasters where it looks like you're heading towards

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a gnarl track and then all of
a sudden to go backwards or whatever.

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But this is you don't go backwards, you go right over it, and

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the technology behind it looks really really
cool. I can just I can only

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imagine from a from a lighting standpoint. I can remember back when I was

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in college and one of my assignments
was we were given famous paintings and had

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to create lighting designs to replicate the
lighting and the paintings. Well, just

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like animation in paintings, you don't
have the laws of physics. You light

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can bend in ways that it doesn't
normally bend, it can emit from places

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that it doesn't normally emit from.
And so to your point, Philip,

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the challenge of creating something that is
created as either a game or an animated

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series, it doesn't exist in really
in three dimensions or tangible dimensions at all,

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where physics do apply would be a
huge challenge, So I am I'm

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excited to see that that again they're
they're replicating this and making it successful in

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multiple locations. And you know,
the question is you've always heard me say,

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what are they going to do?
That becomes the draw that no one

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that you can't experience anywhere else.
And of course the whole Donkey Kong overlay

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is is exactly that for for Epic
Universe. So it sounds like they're doing

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everything right. They're creating something that
they've had great success with elsewhere and they're

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going to bring it bring it.
Plus, you know, they say the

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best way to pitch a new concept
in any form of entertainment is to say

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it's just like something, only it
has this added to it. And that's

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exactly what they're doing here, which
is great. Well, all that being

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said, Universal's earnings did slipt during
their last earnings call. Let's talk about

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that a little bit. Even though
I do think I think this is important

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to cover, but I'm not sure
that it's really a big story for us

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in the in the insiders, because
we understand the context of what's happening.

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But I think it's more or for
like yeah, Wall Street that doesn't read

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all of these press releases and understand
what they're building. But let's see this.

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This is I'm reading some excerpts here
from Theme Park Insider, who is

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excerpting pieces of the earnings call,
but it says Comcast reported that it's Steam

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Park segment saw at one point five
percent increase in revenue, so that's good

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for the quarter. However, higher
operating costs drove the adjusted EBITA down three

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point nine percent, which is that's
a down. We continue, and the

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quote here from Comcast is that we
continue to see strong underlying demand in both

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Hollywood in Japan, where healthy attendance
and per capita levels were once again driven

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by the success of Supernintendo World.
We just talked about that building on our

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momentum. Later this year, we're
opening our newest Nintendo themed land, Donkey

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Kong Country, which we just talked
about, which will increase the size as

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the Superintendo World in Japan by seventy
percent, the big expansion switching gears to

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Orland. We started to feel some
pressure on attendance levels late in the first

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quarter, which tends to occur in
tandem with the ebbs and flows of the

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new attractions in the market, which
we've also talked about the shoulder season the

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concept. Right now we happen to
be lapping the multi year surgeon attendance from

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our opening of new attractions and prior
periods, but we remain confident about our

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longer term growth opportunities, especially as
we look ahead to next year with the

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opening of Epic Universe. Epic will
enable us to offer a full week's vacation

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experience to even more Guess Universe will
also blame the negative impact from weakness on

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the Japanese yen against the dollar for
driving the decline in earnings for theme parks,

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which otherwise would have been flat for
the quarter. So think you just

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gelt repeated things we've talked about on
the show here already. I think the

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thing I highlighted in this notes was
the last his last statement there, which

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that it will enable a full week's
vacation. Scott has talked about this before.

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It's about the concept we've talked about
forever, which is Disney wants to

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own your entire day, and if
they can creep into your phones and on

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your TV and put you to sleep
at night, they would like to do

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that too. But Universal has not
been able to capitalize on the full week

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of guest visiting because they haven't had
the offerings to balance that out. And

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now they will and I think that
is a huge I think I think a

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lot of you know, for us, especially locals, and for us in

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the industry, it's I often think
that we have a different view of things

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because we're we've been there so many
times, we've worked with them, you

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know, like we're in the weeds. We're thinking about how this land is

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going to be different, and the
textures and the color and the lighting and

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all that. But from a macro
sense, they're saying, look, people

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that have never been to Orlando before, which is a lot of people and

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have never been here, they're now
going to be able to do a Universal

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only vacation to Orlando. And that
is a huge deal where every dollar is

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spent, where every dollars spent goes
into Universal's pocket. Yeah, I will

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say that this is this is a
huge this is hugely important. You know,

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they have been adding without a great
deal of hoopla, they have been

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adding additional hotels on Universal property.
I mean, there have been press releases

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and if you're in the industry.
You know that they're happening, but there

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hasn't been a hey, look we're
opening a new hotel because they want to

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keep all the focus on Epic Universe. I will say the one thing I

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am curious to see when it comes
to the I want to capture every every

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time that you spend while you are
in Orlando. The one thing I am

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curious to see is because of the
location of Epic Universe in comparison to the

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rest of the Universal properties, because
it is a separate entity, you actually

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have to leave property in order to
get to it. And I'm assuming they

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are from the hotels are going to
be providing shuttles and transport, et cetera,

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et cetera, et cetera. But
I am curious because there is still

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that I'm going to call it creature
comfort, the creature comfort aspect. One

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of the things about Disney property,
and part of the reason that they installed

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the Skyliner, the cable car system
that connects pretty much everything on property now,

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was to make it so that you
don't have to stop your vacation to

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get in the car and drive somewhere. You can actually keep your vacation going,

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especially if you have kids, because
riding the riding the skyline, riding

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the cable cars from one hotel to
a park is super exciting. And it's

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not like, you know, the
kids are screaming in the car because they

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want to get there. No,
they've already started something. It's it's pregate

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experience or fully immersive experience for the
guests. I'm hoping Universal can capture some

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of that as well. I'm not
saying that that the park itself, that

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Epic Universe, is going to be
anything less than spectacular. I think it's

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going to be amazing. But I
think that is the one area that for

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I'm sure logistical reasons, my guess
is they wanted very badly to own the

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land adjacent to and someday, who
knows, they may. The only challenge

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is that crosses a couple of major
roads. But you know, it's nothing's

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impossible when you've got the when you've
got the bucks to make it happen.

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But I think that's the only real
challenge, you know. To kind of

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build off of what Philip just said
on the we are we have those of

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us in the industry get into the
weeds and we start talking about texture and

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how cool the ip is and blah
blah blah blah blah. One of the

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things that I always tell my clients
is I am the guest experience advocate.

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So I will say this is a
this is a great presentation, or this

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is a great ride, but it's
painfully uncomfortable to sit in and that's going

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to lower your ratings. Or getting
in here is difficult, or the que

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line is dull as dishwater, So
you've got to find something to make it

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interesting and fun. Now, when
it comes to Q lines, that's nothing.

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That's something Universal will probably never have
to worry about because half their experiences,

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ever since opening a Wizarding World of
Harry Potter, half the experience of

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any attraction is the que itself,
and it's because they're super richly done and

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very exciting. But all too often
people in the industry go, well,

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no, we're really just building the
ride. We don't need to worry about

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the Q experience or the no you
do because when you're standing there and I

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don't have children, but if you're
standing next to a family that has,

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you know, two kids, one
of them is seven, one of them

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is twelve, and they have to
wait in que for an hour, Their

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darnwell better be something fun for them
to do while they're there. So creature

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comforts are exceedingly important. And I'm
hoping that and I mentioned that only because

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of the transportation issue to get to
Epic Universe. I'm sure that they have

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figured that out. I'm sure there
is something in the works for people who

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are staying, and it's clear that
they are at least alluding to it in

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this press release by saying offering guests
a full week long easier to offer guests

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a full week long experience. And
I also think, as we talked about

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before, all this is within moderation, right. We talked about before how

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the supply chains have been solving things
down, So it might be a thing

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where they're not it. Maybe that
piece won't be figured out at the time

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of opening, but it's in the
plan or in the works, or there's

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some like design that's you know,
been allocated for that you know in some

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way. Because again, something like
like that the skyline would be perfect.

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I mean, you don't want to
rely on the the vehicles if you can,

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because you know, things get so
congested and in the in Orlando with

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driving, you can't control traffic once
you get exactly yeah, you can't control

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the traffic once you get off property. And the fact that you have to

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drive across a couple of major roads
to get from one property to the other,

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that's something that is is going to
be challenging. I would also if

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it were if it were Scott's at
the Universe, which it's not, I

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would also suggest that you have significantly
more Phillips laughing because it's like no,

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But I would suggest that you have
significantly more vehicles than you think you need,

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because waiting for a vehicle at a
hotel is they'll they'll sit there for

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you know, if you have to
wait more than half an hour, They'll

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be like, well, wait,
I could have driven there. Why am

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I sitting here? Why am I
sitting here waiting for this for this bus

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to take me? And once they
get in their car and they get off

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property, then they're not going to
eat on property. Then they're going to

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say, well, we've got our
car, let's just go over to let's

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go over to McDonald's and grab chicken
McNuggets for the kids, and then we'll

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go back to the park. And
then they end up not going back to

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the park. They end up going
back to the hotel and swimming in the

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pool. That's exactly well, that's
exactly the bleed that happens, you know.

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And yeah, especially because you know
there's so much surrounding it, you

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just it's not a very far drive
to get to, you know, like

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a Walgreens or to get to a
thing where you can buy suffer so much

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cheaper, that's more convenient. Yeah, that's normal. Yep. Okay,

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let's move over now to six Flags. So six Flags, I know we

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talked about it in the past.
They had they had mentioned this kind of

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vague investment in technology that they've been
touting around for a while, and we

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finally got some more details on what
that specifically is going to look like.

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I'm going to read through these summaries
here and then we'll talk about them.

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I'm going to try and go quickly
because there are quite a few, but

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I think there's only a few that
matter. So first of all, I

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think the most important is going to
be what they're calling speedy Parking, which

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is a new a toll plaza with
automated entry that uses computer vision and AI

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to recognize registered license plates, allowing
automatic car entry within three seconds. They

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talk a lot about revamping their mobile
apps for easier usage, blah blah blah

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about the digital wallet, which will
enable guests to access their loyalty benefits and

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use their favorite paying methods via the
app, which, to be honest,

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should feel like they should already be
able to do that and or just let

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people use Google wall in. I
don't know why that's a thing. New

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integrated say the art real time video
and photo capturing technology on the roller coasters.

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I think the I think the video
portion of that could be interesting.

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If they could figure out a way
to deliver real time videos of you on

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a coaster to a person, could
be could be pretty cool. Food and

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beverage self service chios. Now here's
one food and beverage self service kios,

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so I think that self service part. They also talked about ordering food using

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the NFC technology at tables, so
they could just you don't need to have

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the app for it, so you
just order it via the end NFC technology

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and then it would appear without having
to use the app, which I think

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is also important. And then retail
self checkout options. I think those are

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the big ones. The food and
beverage self checkout and the retail one.

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We talked about the retail one previously, where there was a few pilot locations

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that we're testing where they would have
stores where essentially similar to what you see

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at some airports, where you would
just you know, they're just coded so

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you just walk up and you can
walk out of them. You know,

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you scan your card to walk in
and then and you pick up the items

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and you walk out and it just
charges you. Here's the thing that I

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was thinking, which is something that
Scott brings up all the time, and

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I was reading this, I couldn't
help getting Scott's little voice out of my

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head, which is that all of
these to me sound like great ways to

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eliminate staff. That's what it sounds
like to me. Hey, we don't

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need people at the toll plaza anymore, we don't need people staffing any of

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our stores anymore. We don't need
people doing any of these things. You

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know. And you know what,
fine, I will say, though just

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as a I get it, it
means less overall. It might be a

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good thing, though, because let
me say, for those of you that

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have not been to six Flags but
recently, I struggle to find a good

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experience for the last time I've been
to six Flags Magic Mountain, and it's

278
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more like all of these things are
the things that are difficult at six Lags

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because they can't get the staff that
are reliable enough to be there, and

280
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so what happens is your food line
to just you know, get a drink

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is twenty minutes and it's ridiculous.
And so if they can get rid of

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all that by just letting you walk
in and out and you don't need to

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sit there at the toll plaza that
backs up all the way to the highway

284
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up to the five for miles.
So I do think it can be a

285
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good thing. But as Scott always
says, it is going to eliminate jobs.

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00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:29.640
There's no way around it. I
mean, but that's kind of the

287
00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.799
point, I guess, because they
can't fill the jobs. So here we

288
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go. Well, and the funny
thing is, I don't know whether it's

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00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:37.680
going to eliminate jobs as much as
it's going to help them with the fact

290
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:41.160
that you can fill them anyway,
it will eventually they can't fill them anyway.

291
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So basically what they're doing is they're
eliminating jobs that they can't fill.

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If that makes any sense at all, you know, and for those of

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you who are who are listening,
who are just starting in the theme park

294
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industry, it will mean that they
are going to be fewer and fewer entry

295
00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:02.440
level positions. But but I want
to make this very very clear, with

296
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especially things like merchandise and culinary it
means that their focus will be less and

297
00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.759
less on people who can punch buttons
on a on a register and more and

298
00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:18.319
more on people who have great customer
service. Because in theory, now I'm

299
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not going to say this is necessarily
what's going to happen in practice, but

300
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in theory, to help to help
overcome what Philip was just talking about of

301
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having a good guest experience in the
parks, this will mean that the person

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00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.119
the people, because there are always
going to be somebody there to assist to

303
00:21:32.359 --> 00:21:36.079
explain the technology, especially at the
beginning. You know, even in the

304
00:21:36.200 --> 00:21:40.200
even in the the the beta testing
that's going on in in airports really around

305
00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:45.400
the country, there's still somebody there
to kind of help explain if there's anybody

306
00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.880
who doesn't quite get it. But
what happens is like even even in the

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00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:56.200
places that aren't that are now exclusively
paid on kiosks because there are several several

308
00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:00.920
stores, several merchandise locations in airports
are like that. They will have four

309
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:07.640
self service kiosks that one person mans, so you can have you know,

310
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:10.400
the people who don't need help can
just go boop boop boop and walk out.

311
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I love that because that's what I
do. I even make that little

312
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.640
sound anyway. But you know,
so it means that the people who are

313
00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:22.559
working there, it's going to be
far more important that they have great customer

314
00:22:22.599 --> 00:22:27.640
service experience, that they have great
customer service abilities, so that the technology

315
00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:34.720
is is actually making a difference the
parking technology. This boggles my mind that

316
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.359
if they can capture, they can
capture on a toll road. I mean

317
00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:44.480
in Florida, there are no toll
booths anymore, they don't exist. It's

318
00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.039
it's all pay by plate. And
I'm assuming it's that way in other places

319
00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:51.480
around the country and perhaps around the
world. It's all pay by plate.

320
00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:56.200
I don't know why that that just
can't be implemented in all theme parks.

321
00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:00.839
That that was one that I read, and I was like, I you

322
00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.119
know, sometimes you forget, you
know, because you're so used to it.

323
00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:07.559
I think you know, even at
Lax are new parking economy. Parking

324
00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:12.079
in Lax, you you can go
online and reserve the spot and then when

325
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:15.279
you drive up, like it reads
your plate and it like welcomes you and

326
00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.519
just opens it. And I'm like, here's the thing, Like I think

327
00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:22.960
we forget that they don't have this. There are still like the majority of

328
00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.480
thing parts in the US who still
drive up where there is a person who

329
00:23:26.759 --> 00:23:32.960
like asks you tay and it's process
because they're like, you know, did

330
00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:37.319
you have a pass going on?
It's crazy and it's things like this where

331
00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.720
it kind of wakes you up to
realize, oh my gosh, like what

332
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.240
yeah, yeah, Like I said, if I can if I can drive

333
00:23:47.319 --> 00:23:49.400
down, if I can drive down
the toll way here in Florida at fifty

334
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:52.160
five miles or sixty five or seventy
miles an hour, depending on how late

335
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.920
I am, If I can drive
that on the toll way and it just

336
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:00.599
automatically takes it off my son pass
or bills me a home for it.

337
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:04.480
You know, all of the fact
that even that that they can that they

338
00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:08.640
know that I have a son Pass
which is prepaid, or if they don't,

339
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.640
it's a little bit more, but
they build me at home. So

340
00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:15.079
that's the difference between having a pass, a season pass, and not having

341
00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:19.240
a season pass. And it's all
based on recognizing the plates, you know.

342
00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:22.160
And if there are people who don't
want to do that, great,

343
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:26.960
have one lane open, let them
wait for hours. But for the rest

344
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:30.559
of us, just drive on through, put it on my card. Done,

345
00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:33.880
love it, you know. And
maybe it's you know, maybe it's

346
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:38.519
something that you just beta test with
with only pass holders, and that kind

347
00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:44.200
of this is that's kind of way
here a registered car, beta test it

348
00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:48.200
with pass So you have a registered
you have a registered car. You have

349
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:52.880
but again that's what a license plate
is is a registration for your car.

350
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:56.200
So you know, all they have
to do is tap into you know,

351
00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:00.720
DMV and they know who you are, they know where you live. It

352
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.000
is you know, it's the same
thing I talked about years and years ago

353
00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:07.640
when they first started doing Disney Magic
bands. It's basically low jack. You

354
00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:10.279
know, they know where you are, they can find you, and they

355
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.640
can charge you. Done. Make
it, you know, make it simple.

356
00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:17.799
Okay, that's it. On the
new technology, I think we're excited

357
00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:22.599
about all those I don't want to
belabor the point too much. Let's move

358
00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:26.880
on to I think our last story. Yeah, you want to move on.

359
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:30.880
You were just you were just rubbing
elbows with crazy people. Fancy fancy

360
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:36.680
Okay. So Sbnb announced their summer
release series. I was there in person.

361
00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:40.160
I got to go cover the event
for another outlet and I was there

362
00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.839
in person. Let me tell you, Brian Cheskey, the CEO of Airbnb,

363
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.640
is so handsome. That was my
big takeaway is I was like,

364
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:56.119
okay, and thank you, the
show done. I was wholly unprepared for

365
00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:57.960
the event. I didn't know what
it was going to be, the deal

366
00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:00.279
that was going to be. I
was just going to cover some stuff.

367
00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:06.400
But anyway, the thing where this
ties into Thinged Entertainment is that essentially what

368
00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:11.839
air Baby is doing, they're calling
them icons and it's eleven experiences that's celebrating

369
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:18.359
culture from music, through sports,
through entertainment and all that, so all

370
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.359
cultural. So they choosing they have
eleven they've launched so far, they're going

371
00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:26.240
to be launching more and this is
a summer launch series. And there are

372
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:32.200
three of particular interest I think for
our audiences. First, they partnered with

373
00:26:32.359 --> 00:26:37.160
Disney and to celebrate up the fifteenth
anniversary where they recreated the house from up

374
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:44.960
and it is insane. I just
can't even comprehend it still, I'm still

375
00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:48.440
baffled by it. But essentially it's
the house is built in New Mexico and

376
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:53.240
it is a replica, like a
two detailed replica. Everything from the everything's

377
00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:57.119
been recreated in there, and it's
a replica. It does float. There

378
00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:03.440
is a giant crane that is usually
used to lift wind turbines into position that

379
00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:08.160
is attached to the house. There's
eight thousand balloons that are attached to the

380
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:11.960
top of it, and the crane
cables are like hidden behind the balloons.

381
00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:17.799
And essentially that they had to build
the house out of a steel support structure

382
00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:21.519
so that it could actually be lifted. Just to clarify, though, you

383
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:25.880
are not like sleeping in the air, like like I posted this video,

384
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:27.559
a lot of people are like where
does the poop go? And I'm like,

385
00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:32.319
calm down, guys, Like you
arrive and you know, it gets

386
00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:34.039
it's like up in the air and
then like they lower it down or whatever,

387
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:37.079
and then you like sleep on the
ground, like come on, be

388
00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:41.559
sensible here, like gout grief.
So I just love the fact that the

389
00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:47.599
question come on, people stop.
It does come with its own Wilderness Explorer

390
00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:53.160
who greets you and will take you
through little challenges throughout the day. They're

391
00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:56.960
all themed to it. The other
ones that are of interest to our group,

392
00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:02.640
of course, is they recreated the
expand Mansion and they painted it to

393
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:07.079
look like a comic book, and
it does come with like a personal trainer

394
00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:11.119
basically who trains you in like your
X Men training, which is bananas.

395
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:18.759
And they've recreated the headquarters from inside
out to where each bedroom is themed to

396
00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:21.200
a different emotion that you can stay
in and you have the console, the

397
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:25.240
emotion console and all this kind of
thing. I just think it's very It's

398
00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:30.759
just it's so in our alley because
it's not only is it combining themed spaces,

399
00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:33.799
which we're all about, but it
also they're making the effort to make

400
00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:37.880
it immersive and make it to tie
the experience to the connection by having the

401
00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:42.079
Wilderness Explorer there and having the Explorer
take you through the things each one,

402
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:45.440
you know, having the trainer there
to help discover your X Men powers and

403
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:48.839
train you through what a routine would
look like for them. They've really put

404
00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:52.160
thought into all the details of this, which is which are all absolutely incredible.

405
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:57.160
The final detail, of course,
is that in a very willy Wonka

406
00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:03.240
fashion, these are all free or
very cheap, like under one hundred dollars

407
00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:07.519
for a whole stay. And you
go online which you can now and reserve

408
00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:11.480
the first three and you essentially apply. You write a little personal essay and

409
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.839
you put that in there and they
choose. I think each location will except

410
00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:21.319
up to twenty different groups and they'll
choose. They'll choose a group, and

411
00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:26.920
they give you a golden ticket to
show that you have been chosen to stay

412
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:32.240
in one of these places. So
there's no criteria. They're not saying what

413
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:33.839
the criteria is, but essentially,
yeah, anybody, even right right now,

414
00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:37.680
our listeners right now can go and
apply to stay at the Uphouse or

415
00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:42.160
the x Men Mansion right now through
May thirteenth, and you put in It's

416
00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:45.359
really easy. You can do it
on the website or on the app,

417
00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.599
and you select the time that you
would prefer, and you write your personal

418
00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:56.680
essay and you submit and that's it. And the Uphouse is free. What

419
00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.559
is the so what is the sustainable? What is the sustainable? It's no

420
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:06.680
I couldn't. There's no Airbnb isn't
listening, but they probably are, so

421
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:12.039
it's a marketing Yes. I couldn't
get an answer from anybody other than Brian

422
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:18.279
is a designer by trade and loves
to create experiences, and that this fits

423
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:23.160
with the Airbnb ethos of kind of
you know, discovering new places. And

424
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:26.920
I'm like, those aren't business planning, Like those are not answering my question.

425
00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:30.599
Actually those are Like those are so
basically what I'm hearing is and I

426
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:33.440
talked to some of the reporters.
By me, my sense is that this

427
00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:37.960
is all a branding play, like
they're just creating these spaces and it's not.

428
00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:41.039
And it's not the first time they've
done it. If you remember last

429
00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:48.000
year they recreated Trek's Swamp for this
same type of project. So it really

430
00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:52.920
seems to me like they're trying to
lean into the fact that their CEO is

431
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:56.400
a designer by trade, and they're
trying to to me, they're trying to

432
00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:02.119
bring Airbnb closer to like that Disney
and Universal thing by being like, here's

433
00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:07.319
you know, we're we're capable of
encouraging possibility. I did ask, No

434
00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:11.119
one gave me answers. Again,
I did kind of was like, might

435
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:18.200
there be a future potential to partner
with Universal or somebody and help, you

436
00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:22.359
know, create I mean, look
at all the expans that Universal is doing.

437
00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.440
Couldn't you easily see where they're going
to go to Texas and they're going

438
00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:30.160
to do some Airbnb experiences around the
same area that the Texas Park is or

439
00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.960
in Vegas or whatnot. No,
obviously nobody would give me any answers at

440
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:37.160
all, so well, and maybe
Airbnb would like to buy Galactic Stark,

441
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:41.839
right, Yeah, but anyway,
uh, because that's exactly what this is.

442
00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:45.319
That's exactly what this is. This
is this is fully immersive spend the

443
00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:51.720
night, stay in the world,
stay in the world that has been created

444
00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:52.960
for you. And I think that
it kind of ties back to what we

445
00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.359
talked about earlier in the show is
you know, stay in the stay in

446
00:31:56.400 --> 00:31:59.599
the world of Disney, stay in
the world of Universal. And this is

447
00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:02.039
stay in the stay in the House
of Up. But unfortunately we can't stay

448
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:06.599
in the world of our show because
we're out of time. So on behalf

449
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:09.000
of Philipernandez and myself Scott Swentz,
and this is green tag theme park in

450
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:14.240
thirty and we will see all of
you plus you each are required to bring

451
00:32:14.279 --> 00:32:16.880
a friend next time, but we
will see all of you next weekend or

452
00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:17.960
next week. Bye.