Sept. 28, 2023
Takeaways: Knott's Scary Farm and Terror Roulette
Scott and Philip are busy installing shows for Halloween, and this week they're sharing takeaways.
Scott and Philip are busy installing shows for Halloween, and this week they're sharing takeaways.
WEBVTT
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From our studios in North Carolina and
Scott even where are you? I mean,
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I'm I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Okay, I'm in I'm in nor
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Crine for the next like three hours
and I'm in Indianapolis till tomorrow morning.
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So there you go. Well,
yes, so it is it's hot season.
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We are both running around working and
we thought this episode what we're going
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to do is share some takeaways from
the experiences that we have been attending or
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involved in, or you know,
worked on some way in the past week.
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And we'll start off with Knots Scary
Farm, which just opened for its
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fiftieth year in Buena Park, California. And I attended the media night with
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another channel under another channel, just
to help them out as a camera camera
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camera assistant. So but I got
to experience everything. And this year's fiftieth
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they added quite a lot of entertainment
to the park. There's three new haunted
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houses they had, They brought back
the Hanging, they brought back a few
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smaller shows in the Bird Cage Theater. They also brought a new forty five
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minute music comedy monster show to the
Walter Not Theater, which is where they
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used to have Elvira, and of
course they changed around their scare zones and
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and did all that. So there, to me, what I was thinking,
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and really the conversation we had as
a team trying to cover the event
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was how do we cover the entire
event? I think we spent four hours
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just trying to make a plan that
included maps of how to you know,
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how we're going to do this.
And it's because Heaven. You were in
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seventh Heaven. You love planning those
kinds of map I loved it. I
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love maps, spreadsheet approach to the
to attending a haunted attraction. They so
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and that's because they now they have
four four stage shows that are going between
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you know, the big stage plus
the Calico Mind Stage and then their smaller
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birdcage. They have four entertainment pieces, and then you have on top of
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that all of the haunts and the
scare zones. And also this year they
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had their new interactive lanterns. So
I got to experience all of that,
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and I think to me that the
big, big, big takeaway was just
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their overall the return to entertainment of
how much entertainment there was, which is
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really in contrast to what Disney is
doing, which we've talked about here.
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You know, we've talked about how
like Rogers is really the big thing they
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brought back, and how that's going
away, you know, and you know,
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we still don't have Lion King back, but but here we have not
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Springing in a forty five minute show. And their forty five minutes show was
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a mix of dancing and comedy with
you know, hosted by a host,
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and it tied into the history where
it brought back. The gimmick is the
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Greenwich is sacrificing somebody from the audience
and she's doing that to cast a spell
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to return back the hosts of the
previous years. So it's one it's the
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one guy who's a comedian and then
he basically just impersonates the previous host and
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it ends with an Elvira bit,
which of course right, so it's a
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drag a Lyra basically at the end. So which is you know, there's
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a lot of kind interaction. Yeah, yeah, there was a lot of
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Yeah, there was a lot of
that going on. The interesting thing to
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me too, is the hanging you
know, I think it's the first time
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they were utilizing that wagon stage that's
at the front of the park during Scary
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Farms, they really max at all
their stages at least though in the in
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terms of attendance, I heard the
Hanging and the other shows you know,
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sold out pretty quickly sold out.
I mean like people were lining up forty
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five minutes before the show in all
of those cases. For the one I
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went to, the Fort had the
new show, the Music and Monsters,
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that one there, I think it's
about a two thousand and seat theater,
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and there was still about half the
seats available. So it seemed like,
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you know, and I think some
people, you know, nobody had any
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idea what it was, you know, so when people started realizing it was
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a comedy type of show, they
were like some of them, you know,
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opted out, you know, and
there was a lot of heckling.
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But the people that stayed seemed to
really get into it, really enjoy it.
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And there were two two moments where
the host kind of goes in the
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crowd and talks to people individually,
right and then the lanterns. The lanterns
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were something where during the press conference, if you remember, I talked about
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how they ran. They were running
late, so they didn't get to the
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lanterns, so we never really still
to this date, we never really have
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had somebody, you know, really
pitched the lanterns to us to explained really
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what they're going to do. And
I got to say, I was I
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thought the lanterns were very interesting,
just a zy, they were interesting.
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So they're these big lanterns. I
mean they're they're large. They're the lanterns
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that the Conductor character has, so
they're they're relatively large footprint, and they
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have a show mode basically that you
put them in mode one and basically,
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you know, the guests can take
them around and they just they just change
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color depending on the zone. And
they're pretty they're pretty on it, you
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know, like there's a the zones
seem to be the Scare zones seemed to
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be different colors this year, like
there's a blue one and a green one
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and a red one and blah blah, and the lantern changes to mash color,
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you know. And what I noticed
most was that the Scare actors were
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highly trained to go to the lanterns. And you know, just like likes
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moss to a flame, right,
they would go to the whoever was holding
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a lantern. It's like guaranteed to
get interactions from these characters are going to
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them, they're interacting with them,
they're studying the lanterns, they're asking people,
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what are they what's going on?
You know, the actors are all
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playing it up. And the haunted
houses some of them, some of them
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they ask some of them they do
ask you to turn the lantern off when
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they're going through the house, which
you know, I'm not sure about that
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because Scott and I talked about how
they should be able to turn them off,
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so I'm not sure what's going on
there logistically, But there were a
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few houses where there was interaction,
mainly the new houses, the Chilling Chambers
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one and whatnot. So so yeah, yeah, I thought that was I
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thought just interesting, just overall just
interesting. We have this, we have
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these interactions, we have this extra
entertainment that we've added to the vent of
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the whole. And then of course
you get the all the haunts and all
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the scare zones, and we talked
about the new haunts already this year or
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so, so just out of curiosity. With the lanterns, it's just a
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it's just a light lighting change effect
with the lantern is that correct or doesn't
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actually trigger anything else. Or does
it do anything else. It's just a
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know, it's glow with the show
basically, and how does and how does
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that and how does that work?
Are they purchased? Are they rented?
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Are they an up charge that you
then return? How are they? How
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are they what's what's the guest engagement
or the guests contact point for them?
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Yeah, they're forty dollars for the
lantern thirty nine ninety nine and you can
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purchase them from any of the main
stores and that's it. I mean,
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you get a little brief introduction to
them from hopefully you get a brief introduction
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when you purchase it. And they
say there's over one hundred interactive points around
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the park. That's the that's like
the marketing tag that's on there, and
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they, you know, they really
don't specify what those interaction points are,
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which I think was on purpose,
right, I think that I think they
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probably didn't want to commit to what's
working and what's not working, and so
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they're like one hundred interactive points and
you don't know, like our actors interactive
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points, you know, what what
what exactly is it? Right? Right?
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Well, when I put on my
when I put on my business hat,
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when I put on my parks hat. The first thing I think of
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is I love it because it sort
of blurs that line between entertainment and merchandise,
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which I'm always all about. I
think that's really neat. I'm curious
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to see what the fans and the
purchases purchasers of them say about them,
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if they feel that they got enough, if they feel that there wasn't enough.
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The nice thing though, is it
pretty much guarantees a souvenir by So
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that's that's kind of cool. I
like the fact that you know, as
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you mentioned, the actors were trained
to be drawn to them, to interact
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with them. That's really smart because
that doesn't require any additional technology or really
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cost on behalf of the part.
Uh. I think that's I think that's
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a really neat thing. And again, it reinforces that that interactivity, even
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though it's in my opinion a changing
light is kind of a mild interactive,
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but it's still interactivity. And then
going back to the shows that you were
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talking about, the and the return. First of all, I'm so glad
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the Hanging came back because I haven't
been to not a gazillion years, and
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that was one of my favorite elements
of the entire event was the hanging.
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But with shows again putting on the
industry cap and and this is something that
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I think is is important for our
industry compatriots to think about, is these
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shows are ways to well their their
attendants suck, they pull people off the
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pathways, they make the they give
people something to do instead of just standing
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in queue for the next haunt.
And you say, well, you know,
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the one seat was one theater was
two thousand seats. You know,
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it's a way to increase the increase
the number of elements that will pull people
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off the sidewalks to reduce crowds in
park or seem to reduce crowds in park
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without just building more and more and
more haunts. And it's also a way
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to diversify your audience so that you
can get not only people who are walk
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through Maze people, walk through haunt
people, but also people who want to
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take a rest, sit down.
I remember, and I don't know if
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this is still the case, but
I remember vending was huge at the at
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the Hanging when I was there last
time. So again another opportunity to create,
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to create or reinforce a revenue stream
which I think is neat and again
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tying that entertainment to revenue, even
if it's just you know, we have
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to wait. You know, you
mentioned people started to queue up for for
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the hanging. Even if you have
to wait in line or wait in the
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theater before it starts. It's always
good to have vending there to get drinks
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and food and that sort of thing. That's that's just printing money in my
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opinion, because you're shooting ducks and
a barrel, so to speak. I
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would say I agree with all of
that. I think, you know,
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operationally, the one thing I kept
hearing over and over which I I agree,
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like penantly came to this conclusion.
Then I heard it from a few
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other people that attended as well,
which is that, you know, it's
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that theory of if you buy a
fast pass or you know, you pay
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for these events where you get the
fast pass or whatever the rap, the
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top of the thing is, you
should be able to experience the whole event.
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That's and that's kind of an ideology. And I heard I do kind
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of believe that just because you know, when I travel to places I want
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to be like, you know,
if I how much do I have to
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pay to make sure I get to
see everything, and that was not an
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option at this event. And I'm
not sure if that's by design where they
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want you to buy two nights of
the highest paying ticket, or if that
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is operational failure. I'm not sure
which one it is. And especially the
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shows, there's no reserve heating for
people with RAP or for any of the
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top tier tickets, and there's no
there's no like separate line for them.
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So when people start lining up forty
five minutes early, you know, even
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the media with our media access,
we had to so it took you maybe
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three hours then to see this,
just those two shows, and the event
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is six hours, right, So
yeah, I think, And so you're
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adding forty five minutes of standing.
Yeah. From a show standpoint, that
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sounds like operational failure to me,
and what I would if I were to
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guess, and again not affiliated in
any way, shape or form with that
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particular attraction or that park, but
I will say that what it sounds like
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to me is that the show team
and the operations team did not necessarily or
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the show team and the rip team, whoever handles that end of the the
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or that element within the experience weren't
necessarily in communication. You you have to
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if you're going to incorporate shows,
you've got to make certain that your rip
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guests can experience them. And you
know, one one option, and I've
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seen this done several places, is
to hold to hold reserved seating until showtime,
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and then once showtime hits, that
reserved seating is pulled and they can
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fill in. Yes, it is
a little bit chaotic in the first five
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minutes, but still it gives the
guests who have paid for the rip experience.
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And if you need to up the
charge of the rip experience in order
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to facilitate the labor or whatever it
is to to do that, then you
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know, that's it's it's really pennies
on the dollar, quite honestly, but
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you can still elevate that. I
mean, it takes two maybe three staff
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members to hold four rows of theater, you know, and and then just
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pull those signs. Well, you
multiply that of the full number of rip
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tickets that you sell, and it's
it's pennies on the ticket. It's you
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know, it's it's virtually nothing.
And guests, yeah, way going,
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we got everything, We got to
see everything. Now it could be you
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know, to your point, it
could be by design which will work short
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term but not long term. Yeah, I agree, because to me,
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the worst part of my night was
having to wait forty five minutes in a
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line for the show, you know
when when we had the top pass,
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and I just thought to myself,
I would not I wouldn't not pay for
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this and I would tell people not
to pay for it if that's the case,
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you know, I would, I
would put a huge disclaimer on paying
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for it. And it's just,
you know, the way you described,
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that's how it works at Universal,
right. They they it's holding and it
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says on your thing. It's like, if you're not here before showtime,
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then you you know, you los
your spot. It doesn't matter. We're
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going to fill it in with people. And I think that's a relatively easy
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fix. So I just think operationally, and going back to the lanterns,
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that's another thing. I think operationally. You know, I heard that from
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a lot of guests. We got
a lot of feedback when I posted online
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about asking about it. Over a
lot of people that were told to turn
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them off in mazes and some weren't, you know, somewhere some weren't.
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There's all this inconsistency in when going
through the mazes, you know, because
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lights aren't allowed in the mazes and
so it's a light. But but it's
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just you know, when you have
an interactive lantern that is you know,
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sold by the park for the event, you know, and your staff is
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not sure when it's supposed to be
on or off, that's I think that's
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just operational. I'm sure that'll get
cleaned up as the show run continues.
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You know, it was the first
night, right, so so was there
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any discussion about having to lug around
the lantern all night? Was there anybody
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that fount because you said they were
large? Was that an inconvenience for anyone
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or did they just not care?
So I'm not sure. Obviously for people
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on the whole, I didn't run
any pulls on that that topic, but
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I know for our team it started
to become an issue at the end of
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the night just because it is so
large. It it takes a whole hand.
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Really, it's like the whole time, you know, and you if
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you don't have a backpack, which
which again if you remember, we talked
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about this last time, but there's
no bags allowed at all this year.
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Side scary farm nothing, so you're
really you have nothing to do with that
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lantern but hold it because you don't
have a bag to put it in,
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so so you're you're taking up a
hand the entire night. So it's it's
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it's a I think it's a dedication
right to to doing it. And I
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know that within our group, the
lantern bearer, you know, was at
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the end of the night they were
tired from just holding the lantern because you
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know, you're holding it up and
you're you know, trying to you know,
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you know, make it look cool, and it's it's a lot over
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six hours, you know, when
you're walking and going through parking and whatnot.
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So yeah, now, maybe you
know, maybe those folks who are
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dedicated enough to purchase the lantern don't
care. I mean, I've you know,
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I've been to to multiple conventions where
cost players dressing the most ridiculously uncomfortable
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or cumbersome costumes and they wear them
all day because they thoroughly enjoy it and
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they like being part of the creating
a fantasy and creating part of that world.
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So it may not be an issue. I was just I was just
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curious if you had heard anything because
I think that's I think that's something that
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could conceivably be a little bit of
backlash. I don't know, I don't
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know, but no, I'm I'm
glad to see that. I'm glad to
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see that haunts are and and by
haunts, not well haunts, no,
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because we're we're about to talk about
some that are even not involved with with
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theme parks or attractions, but we're
seeing some. I'm glad to see that
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haunts are starting to swing back towards
incorporating more entertainment and obviously incorporating more interactivity.
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Yeah, yeah, it was.
And to me also, it felt
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a little bit differentiated as a theme
park event from the other local theme park
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events. And I think that's what
you want, you know, because the
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addition of the entertainment, you know, I don't I don't know how to
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I'm sure our audience knows, but
you know, the the hanging is is,
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you know, it's I don't know, I don't know how. It's
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like a commentary comedy, you know. I mean it's it's a style of
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comedy that is very knots like they
kind of pokes funded a lot of things.
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And it could be it could be
considered offensive. But you know it's
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the hanging, right, that's you
should expect that, and that goes very
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contrary, you know to the other
parks programming. You're certainly not gonna see
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anything like that at Disney, right, and you're not going to see anything
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really at Universal they have the Purge
and it's the perch could be considered offensive,
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but not because of the dialogue,
just because of the blood, right,
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So right, So yeah, the
hanging was more in line with things
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like like Bill and Ted or things
like gosh well fiends for for Hello Scream
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at Bush Gardens, you know,
the political commentary style show, and it's
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sort of set up the tone for
that. Yeah, yeah, I agree,
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and I would say the new music
show they have is in the same
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vein. It is very you know, there's it's you know, the people
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had stayed loved it. A lot
of people did not like it. And
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I don't think that's a bad thing
necessarily, you know, I think that
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it really really just depends on who. Yeah, not necessarily a bad thing,
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but you know, there was a
lot of there was a lot of
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masturbation jokes, you know, there
was a lot of just heckling of the
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audience that it was very it was
it was very raunchy, it was very
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in that vein. There were political
jokes, you know, I was kind
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of those things where it's like,
you know, it is what it is.
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It's that style of comedy. I
think there was one political joke that
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went a little bit too far because
it was making fun of a medical disability,
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and I don't think you should ever. I don't think comedians should ever
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make fun of medical disabilities because they're
out of the person. Once again,
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though, going back to going back
to the early or the previous days,
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or previous experiences with the hanging,
or previous experiences with Bill and Ted,
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or previous experiences with Fiends, which
is no longer, you know, no
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longer around year, that was part
of it. That was how far could
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we push him? You know I
could. I will never forget going to
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Universal each year and seeing Bill and
Ted and seeing even what kind of language
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could be used, you know it
when they when they dropped, when they
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dropped. Damn the first time we
all went, you know, those of
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us who were in the theme park, and then it just each year it
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got more and more more and more
vulgar, and finally you know, f
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bombs were dropped before the before the
end of the show the last time I
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saw it, and so it was
it became more and more offensive, and
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they tried to figure out, what
can we say that is too much so
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that you know, we can continue
to keep our street cred. I honestly
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think that the pendulum is now swinging
back, and I think that's why some
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of those shows have gone away.
But you know, this may be a
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very short pendulum swing. And and
and we're right back to it with with
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the Hanging because Knots realized nobody else
is doing this anymore, so let's us
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do it. So I don't know, I think I think it's Yeah,
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I think it's a unique opportunity.
And we'll see what the guests say.
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Yeah, exactly exactly, and that
that's kind of my point, you know.
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My point is that both of those
shows that Hanging on the Music Show
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are both in that same vein of
comedy, and that's very differentiated from the
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Purd Show at Universal and from the
Disney Bookie Bash. I mean, it's
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it's you know, it's really filling
a niche that is not being served by
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any other of their competitors. And
you know, and they have two shows
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in that same niche, so you
know, we'll see what it says.
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But at least it's differentiated, right, it's different, Like you can't you
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can't know there's not a Bill and
Ted happening somewhere else, right, there's
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nothing else in that region that is
that same comedy, and they have two
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of them. So so it's very
different. We've said it on this show
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before. You know, if somebody
is doing something, don't try to do
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it better, try to do try
to fill the niche that's empty, not
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the one that's already full. So
we'll see how it works. We'll see
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how it works. Well, speaking
of different niches, you know, the
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reason I'm traveling is because I'm I've
been installing different haunt venues really across the
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well throughout the Midwest right now.
And I was in excuse me, I
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was in Barring to South Barrington,
Illinois, which is a suburb northwest of
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Chicago, and I was installing a
brand new Haunted attraction called terror Roulette,
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which also plays into what we're talking
about here as far as the interactive quality.
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Now, once again I have to
do my full disclaimer and full transparency.
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I was the writer and director of
Tera Roulette, so I do have
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a certain bias. But we just
completed our media day, got some great
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coverage. It opens at the end
of end of September. It opens on
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the twenty ninth, so you can
go to Tara Roulette dot com to find
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out more. But I just wanted
to talk a little bit about what we
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tried to do and what the response
was from the from the media day,
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which was only a preview sample of
three of the rooms. There are twenty
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two different rooms in this experience,
but guests will only experience seventeen of them
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based on the cards that they are
given. So it's a it's a multi
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room experience, multi run experience,
but you will never see more than eight
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guests, which is the group that
you're with, and that eight those eight
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guests are divided into groups of four
and four and six and two and even
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seven and one. So there are
experiences that you have to make it through
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on your own, by yourself.
I don't want this to become a commercial,
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but I want to talk a little
bit about theory and why we did
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things a certain way, and that
was we wanted to again differentiate ourselves.
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Going into the Chicago Land Market,
the Haunt the Hunt scene there is very
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crowded and filled with a lot of
really good haunted attractions, so we felt
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that instead of trying to do what
they did only better, we wanted to
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do something different. So that's why
we have this more interactive, more theatrical
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experience. It's significantly more like immersive
theater with seventeen really short scenes. One
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of the without prompting, one of
the people who came through on media day
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said, I just went through a
very short, three act piece of dark
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theater, and I was like,
oh, you made my night, because
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that was great. It meant that
we had to train the actors a little
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bit differently. It meant that there
was some technology that we had to figure
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out. But it's based on the
based on the initial the initial response from
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media, it is something that they're
very welcoming in that market as something that
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is very very different. They've and
pretty much everyone who came through said it
346
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was scary. But it was scary
because we didn't quite know how it was
347
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working and how it should work and
what was next. So we also have
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made it so that it is not
just a passive haunt where you walk through
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and look at things. You must
do things, you must engage with the
350
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scenic. You must in some cases
eat things, drink things, engage with
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live animals. I mean, it's
it's a it's a full out theatrical experience
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that requires you to become a character
within that world. And so I'm really
353
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I'm really excited based on all the
excitement of the of the media day,
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I will say that as the writer
and director, I'm a little saddened that
355
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I never actually get to see it
in full operation because just we got through
356
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all of our rehearsals and then I
had to move on to the next project,
357
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which is what brought me to Indianapolis. So taking the same ideas of
358
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interactivity and applying them to a completely
different experience, completely different content experience.
359
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The Indianapolis Zoo is doing an event
called Zubu, which I am also the
360
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creative director for and it is very
family friendly. But one of the things
361
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that they wanted me to continue to
experiment with is the interactivity and putting the
362
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decisions and controls in the hands of
the guests. So even the one small
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stage show stage experience that they have, the act the actor has been trained
364
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to. Her name is Auntie Guzzle, and she is a potion mistress and
365
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she creates all of the potions based
completely on what the guests say. Even
366
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the incantation is based on the sounds
of that animals make, and the animals
367
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are decided by the audience by what
the children's favorite animals are. So,
368
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you know, I think everyone is
focusing now to try to find that way
369
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to create just a little bit more
interactivity, a little bit more the phrase
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that I like to use as mastery
and control. People like to be able
371
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to control their environment. And so
with adults, if you can pull that
372
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control away as we do in terror
Roulette, or with children, if you
373
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can give them more control, it
becomes a more engaging experience. So I
374
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think that I think that both of
these, both of these projects, although
375
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at opposite ends of the spectrum,
are utilizing the same sort of trends that
376
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we're seeing it not and that we're
seeing in other other haunted attractions, and
377
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that is bringing back that entertainment,
that interactivity and not just walking through haunted
378
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attractions where things jump out and go
boo and their drop doors. So I
379
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think that's I think that's something that
everybody can kind of gather into you know.
380
00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:21.759
Yeah, well, I think it's
the same thing that they talked about,
381
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right with the Galactic star Cruiser,
you know, And I think that
382
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again, just like we talked about
that was that was needed. I think
383
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in the industry, I still think
it was needed because you need to see,
384
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you know, how much what's the
ceiling or how much you know,
385
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where where's the breakage point for people
and how much you know, can people
386
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:45.079
really afford for that type of you
know, interaction and and what is needed
387
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and what is not needed. And
I think that what we're seeing now is
388
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that all these attractions are finding ways
to do these things, but on a
389
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more economical scale and it's still a
great individual experience. And you know,
390
00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:03.279
I went out to What's a Terror
for their it was their thirty second year
391
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this year, and I just went
out to meet with them this weekend.
392
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That's why I'm in North Carolina instead
of So Cal obviously, so and you
393
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know, I interviewed him and it's
his thirty second year, and I kind
394
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of was like, you know,
what do you do? Where are we
395
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going? You know, what where
are you going? Where do you see
396
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it going? You know what do
you see your legacy, you know,
397
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when you retire this and that and
and are you you know what do you
398
00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:29.359
And he brought up Ai he said, you know a lot of people are
399
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worried about that, and he's not
worried about it because what there, what
400
00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:41.960
their solution is is continue to hire
and recruit good actors and create moments with
401
00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:45.759
the audience. And that's why,
you know, it's it's a you know,
402
00:28:45.799 --> 00:28:49.839
he starts out every night where the
owner himself goes on stage and sings
403
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.519
the national anthem to to start off
the night, and then they have the
404
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:56.519
monster prey that you see a lot
of other places, but you know,
405
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the monsters do much more interacting with
people. And you know he I mean
406
00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:04.960
basically he's he's like, we're not
worried because we think that in person entertainment
407
00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:10.319
is not something that it's going to
be replaced by anything that's happening in the
408
00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:14.440
world. And that's exactly what we've
talked about with with the theme park stuff.
409
00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:18.119
Is the same type of thing,
is that that person to person interaction,
410
00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:23.359
that physical interaction at experiences. So
I think you're even seeing it in
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00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:29.240
in these are in this area for
independent haunts, that that same thinking and
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00:29:29.319 --> 00:29:32.599
that same drift towards that. Yeah, and I think that, you know,
413
00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:34.039
I think that makes total sense.
It's completely in line with what we've
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said. You know. One of
the one of the things that I'm most
415
00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:41.759
proud of in the haunts that I
actually get to direct, because I do
416
00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:44.240
a lot of just writing for people, but in the ones that I actually
417
00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:48.079
get to direct, and part of
the casting is no matter whether it is
418
00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:52.000
to terrify you or to make you
giggle or to just startle you a little
419
00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.640
bit, like with Zoo Tampa or
whatever, the response that we get from
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00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:03.039
the guests that I really love is
we we are we are engaged when we
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come. The actors make us feel
as though we are part of the experience,
422
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and that takes good, strong actors, and it's something that AI can't
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really do on a visceral or emotional
level. Speaking of visceral or emotional I'm
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really sad to say We're out of
time. Boy, that was one of
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00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.359
the weakest transitions I think I've ever
done. Anyway, we are out of
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time. So once again, thank
you for listening to this episode or watching
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00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.079
this episode of Green Tag Theme Park. In thirty on behalf of Philip Fernandez
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00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:36.200
and myself Scott Swenson. We will
see you next week. Bye bye,
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From our studios in North Carolina and
Scott even where are you? I mean,
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I'm I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Okay, I'm in I'm in nor
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Crine for the next like three hours
and I'm in Indianapolis till tomorrow morning.
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So there you go. Well,
yes, so it is it's hot season.
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We are both running around working and
we thought this episode what we're going
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to do is share some takeaways from
the experiences that we have been attending or
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involved in, or you know,
worked on some way in the past week.
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And we'll start off with Knots Scary
Farm, which just opened for its
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fiftieth year in Buena Park, California. And I attended the media night with
10
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another channel under another channel, just
to help them out as a camera camera
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camera assistant. So but I got
to experience everything. And this year's fiftieth
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they added quite a lot of entertainment
to the park. There's three new haunted
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houses they had, They brought back
the Hanging, they brought back a few
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smaller shows in the Bird Cage Theater. They also brought a new forty five
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minute music comedy monster show to the
Walter Not Theater, which is where they
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used to have Elvira, and of
course they changed around their scare zones and
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and did all that. So there, to me, what I was thinking,
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and really the conversation we had as
a team trying to cover the event
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was how do we cover the entire
event? I think we spent four hours
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just trying to make a plan that
included maps of how to you know,
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how we're going to do this.
And it's because Heaven. You were in
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seventh Heaven. You love planning those
kinds of map I loved it. I
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love maps, spreadsheet approach to the
to attending a haunted attraction. They so
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and that's because they now they have
four four stage shows that are going between
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you know, the big stage plus
the Calico Mind Stage and then their smaller
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birdcage. They have four entertainment pieces, and then you have on top of
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that all of the haunts and the
scare zones. And also this year they
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had their new interactive lanterns. So
I got to experience all of that,
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and I think to me that the
big, big, big takeaway was just
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their overall the return to entertainment of
how much entertainment there was, which is
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really in contrast to what Disney is
doing, which we've talked about here.
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You know, we've talked about how
like Rogers is really the big thing they
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brought back, and how that's going
away, you know, and you know,
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we still don't have Lion King back, but but here we have not
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Springing in a forty five minute show. And their forty five minutes show was
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a mix of dancing and comedy with
you know, hosted by a host,
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and it tied into the history where
it brought back. The gimmick is the
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Greenwich is sacrificing somebody from the audience
and she's doing that to cast a spell
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to return back the hosts of the
previous years. So it's one it's the
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one guy who's a comedian and then
he basically just impersonates the previous host and
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it ends with an Elvira bit,
which of course right, so it's a
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drag a Lyra basically at the end. So which is you know, there's
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a lot of kind interaction. Yeah, yeah, there was a lot of
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Yeah, there was a lot of
that going on. The interesting thing to
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me too, is the hanging you
know, I think it's the first time
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they were utilizing that wagon stage that's
at the front of the park during Scary
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Farms, they really max at all
their stages at least though in the in
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terms of attendance, I heard the
Hanging and the other shows you know,
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sold out pretty quickly sold out.
I mean like people were lining up forty
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five minutes before the show in all
of those cases. For the one I
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went to, the Fort had the
new show, the Music and Monsters,
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that one there, I think it's
about a two thousand and seat theater,
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and there was still about half the
seats available. So it seemed like,
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you know, and I think some
people, you know, nobody had any
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idea what it was, you know, so when people started realizing it was
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a comedy type of show, they
were like some of them, you know,
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opted out, you know, and
there was a lot of heckling.
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But the people that stayed seemed to
really get into it, really enjoy it.
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And there were two two moments where
the host kind of goes in the
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crowd and talks to people individually,
right and then the lanterns. The lanterns
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were something where during the press conference, if you remember, I talked about
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how they ran. They were running
late, so they didn't get to the
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lanterns, so we never really still
to this date, we never really have
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had somebody, you know, really
pitched the lanterns to us to explained really
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what they're going to do. And
I got to say, I was I
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thought the lanterns were very interesting,
just a zy, they were interesting.
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So they're these big lanterns. I
mean they're they're large. They're the lanterns
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that the Conductor character has, so
they're they're relatively large footprint, and they
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have a show mode basically that you
put them in mode one and basically,
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you know, the guests can take
them around and they just they just change
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color depending on the zone. And
they're pretty they're pretty on it, you
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know, like there's a the zones
seem to be the Scare zones seemed to
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be different colors this year, like
there's a blue one and a green one
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and a red one and blah blah, and the lantern changes to mash color,
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you know. And what I noticed
most was that the Scare actors were
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highly trained to go to the lanterns. And you know, just like likes
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moss to a flame, right,
they would go to the whoever was holding
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a lantern. It's like guaranteed to
get interactions from these characters are going to
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them, they're interacting with them,
they're studying the lanterns, they're asking people,
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what are they what's going on?
You know, the actors are all
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playing it up. And the haunted
houses some of them, some of them
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they ask some of them they do
ask you to turn the lantern off when
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they're going through the house, which
you know, I'm not sure about that
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because Scott and I talked about how
they should be able to turn them off,
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so I'm not sure what's going on
there logistically, But there were a
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few houses where there was interaction,
mainly the new houses, the Chilling Chambers
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one and whatnot. So so yeah, yeah, I thought that was I
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thought just interesting, just overall just
interesting. We have this, we have
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these interactions, we have this extra
entertainment that we've added to the vent of
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the whole. And then of course
you get the all the haunts and all
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the scare zones, and we talked
about the new haunts already this year or
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so, so just out of curiosity. With the lanterns, it's just a
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it's just a light lighting change effect
with the lantern is that correct or doesn't
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actually trigger anything else. Or does
it do anything else. It's just a
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know, it's glow with the show
basically, and how does and how does
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that and how does that work?
Are they purchased? Are they rented?
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Are they an up charge that you
then return? How are they? How
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are they what's what's the guest engagement
or the guests contact point for them?
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Yeah, they're forty dollars for the
lantern thirty nine ninety nine and you can
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purchase them from any of the main
stores and that's it. I mean,
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you get a little brief introduction to
them from hopefully you get a brief introduction
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when you purchase it. And they
say there's over one hundred interactive points around
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the park. That's the that's like
the marketing tag that's on there, and
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they, you know, they really
don't specify what those interaction points are,
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which I think was on purpose,
right, I think that I think they
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probably didn't want to commit to what's
working and what's not working, and so
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they're like one hundred interactive points and
you don't know, like our actors interactive
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points, you know, what what
what exactly is it? Right? Right?
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Well, when I put on my
when I put on my business hat,
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when I put on my parks hat. The first thing I think of
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is I love it because it sort
of blurs that line between entertainment and merchandise,
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which I'm always all about. I
think that's really neat. I'm curious
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to see what the fans and the
purchases purchasers of them say about them,
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if they feel that they got enough, if they feel that there wasn't enough.
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The nice thing though, is it
pretty much guarantees a souvenir by So
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that's that's kind of cool. I
like the fact that you know, as
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you mentioned, the actors were trained
to be drawn to them, to interact
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with them. That's really smart because
that doesn't require any additional technology or really
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cost on behalf of the part.
Uh. I think that's I think that's
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a really neat thing. And again, it reinforces that that interactivity, even
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though it's in my opinion a changing
light is kind of a mild interactive,
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but it's still interactivity. And then
going back to the shows that you were
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talking about, the and the return. First of all, I'm so glad
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the Hanging came back because I haven't
been to not a gazillion years, and
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that was one of my favorite elements
of the entire event was the hanging.
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But with shows again putting on the
industry cap and and this is something that
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I think is is important for our
industry compatriots to think about, is these
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shows are ways to well their their
attendants suck, they pull people off the
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pathways, they make the they give
people something to do instead of just standing
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in queue for the next haunt.
And you say, well, you know,
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the one seat was one theater was
two thousand seats. You know,
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it's a way to increase the increase
the number of elements that will pull people
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off the sidewalks to reduce crowds in
park or seem to reduce crowds in park
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without just building more and more and
more haunts. And it's also a way
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to diversify your audience so that you
can get not only people who are walk
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through Maze people, walk through haunt
people, but also people who want to
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take a rest, sit down.
I remember, and I don't know if
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this is still the case, but
I remember vending was huge at the at
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the Hanging when I was there last
time. So again another opportunity to create,
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00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.960
to create or reinforce a revenue stream
which I think is neat and again
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tying that entertainment to revenue, even
if it's just you know, we have
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to wait. You know, you
mentioned people started to queue up for for
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the hanging. Even if you have
to wait in line or wait in the
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theater before it starts. It's always
good to have vending there to get drinks
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00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:45.159
and food and that sort of thing. That's that's just printing money in my
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00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.000
opinion, because you're shooting ducks and
a barrel, so to speak. I
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would say I agree with all of
that. I think, you know,
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operationally, the one thing I kept
hearing over and over which I I agree,
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like penantly came to this conclusion.
Then I heard it from a few
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00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:05.480
other people that attended as well,
which is that, you know, it's
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00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:09.039
that theory of if you buy a
fast pass or you know, you pay
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00:11:09.080 --> 00:11:13.639
for these events where you get the
fast pass or whatever the rap, the
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top of the thing is, you
should be able to experience the whole event.
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That's and that's kind of an ideology. And I heard I do kind
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00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:24.159
of believe that just because you know, when I travel to places I want
156
00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.600
to be like, you know,
if I how much do I have to
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00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:30.879
pay to make sure I get to
see everything, and that was not an
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00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.480
option at this event. And I'm
not sure if that's by design where they
159
00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:39.039
want you to buy two nights of
the highest paying ticket, or if that
160
00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:43.600
is operational failure. I'm not sure
which one it is. And especially the
161
00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:50.480
shows, there's no reserve heating for
people with RAP or for any of the
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00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:54.559
top tier tickets, and there's no
there's no like separate line for them.
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00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.480
So when people start lining up forty
five minutes early, you know, even
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00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:03.480
the media with our media access,
we had to so it took you maybe
165
00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:09.360
three hours then to see this,
just those two shows, and the event
166
00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:13.679
is six hours, right, So
yeah, I think, And so you're
167
00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:18.639
adding forty five minutes of standing.
Yeah. From a show standpoint, that
168
00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:22.200
sounds like operational failure to me,
and what I would if I were to
169
00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:24.399
guess, and again not affiliated in
any way, shape or form with that
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00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:31.039
particular attraction or that park, but
I will say that what it sounds like
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to me is that the show team
and the operations team did not necessarily or
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00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:39.600
the show team and the rip team, whoever handles that end of the the
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00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:46.000
or that element within the experience weren't
necessarily in communication. You you have to
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00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:50.919
if you're going to incorporate shows,
you've got to make certain that your rip
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guests can experience them. And you
know, one one option, and I've
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00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:01.960
seen this done several places, is
to hold to hold reserved seating until showtime,
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00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:05.519
and then once showtime hits, that
reserved seating is pulled and they can
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00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:09.440
fill in. Yes, it is
a little bit chaotic in the first five
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00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:13.120
minutes, but still it gives the
guests who have paid for the rip experience.
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00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.000
And if you need to up the
charge of the rip experience in order
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00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:22.519
to facilitate the labor or whatever it
is to to do that, then you
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know, that's it's it's really pennies
on the dollar, quite honestly, but
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you can still elevate that. I
mean, it takes two maybe three staff
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members to hold four rows of theater, you know, and and then just
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pull those signs. Well, you
multiply that of the full number of rip
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tickets that you sell, and it's
it's pennies on the ticket. It's you
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know, it's it's virtually nothing.
And guests, yeah, way going,
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we got everything, We got to
see everything. Now it could be you
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know, to your point, it
could be by design which will work short
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term but not long term. Yeah, I agree, because to me,
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the worst part of my night was
having to wait forty five minutes in a
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line for the show, you know
when when we had the top pass,
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and I just thought to myself,
I would not I wouldn't not pay for
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this and I would tell people not
to pay for it if that's the case,
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you know, I would, I
would put a huge disclaimer on paying
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for it. And it's just,
you know, the way you described,
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that's how it works at Universal,
right. They they it's holding and it
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says on your thing. It's like, if you're not here before showtime,
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then you you know, you los
your spot. It doesn't matter. We're
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going to fill it in with people. And I think that's a relatively easy
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fix. So I just think operationally, and going back to the lanterns,
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that's another thing. I think operationally. You know, I heard that from
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a lot of guests. We got
a lot of feedback when I posted online
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about asking about it. Over a
lot of people that were told to turn
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them off in mazes and some weren't, you know, somewhere some weren't.
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There's all this inconsistency in when going
through the mazes, you know, because
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lights aren't allowed in the mazes and
so it's a light. But but it's
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just you know, when you have
an interactive lantern that is you know,
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sold by the park for the event, you know, and your staff is
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not sure when it's supposed to be
on or off, that's I think that's
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just operational. I'm sure that'll get
cleaned up as the show run continues.
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You know, it was the first
night, right, so so was there
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any discussion about having to lug around
the lantern all night? Was there anybody
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that fount because you said they were
large? Was that an inconvenience for anyone
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or did they just not care?
So I'm not sure. Obviously for people
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on the whole, I didn't run
any pulls on that that topic, but
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I know for our team it started
to become an issue at the end of
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the night just because it is so
large. It it takes a whole hand.
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Really, it's like the whole time, you know, and you if
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you don't have a backpack, which
which again if you remember, we talked
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about this last time, but there's
no bags allowed at all this year.
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Side scary farm nothing, so you're
really you have nothing to do with that
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lantern but hold it because you don't
have a bag to put it in,
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so so you're you're taking up a
hand the entire night. So it's it's
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it's a I think it's a dedication
right to to doing it. And I
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know that within our group, the
lantern bearer, you know, was at
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the end of the night they were
tired from just holding the lantern because you
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know, you're holding it up and
you're you know, trying to you know,
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you know, make it look cool, and it's it's a lot over
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six hours, you know, when
you're walking and going through parking and whatnot.
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So yeah, now, maybe you
know, maybe those folks who are
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dedicated enough to purchase the lantern don't
care. I mean, I've you know,
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I've been to to multiple conventions where
cost players dressing the most ridiculously uncomfortable
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or cumbersome costumes and they wear them
all day because they thoroughly enjoy it and
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they like being part of the creating
a fantasy and creating part of that world.
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So it may not be an issue. I was just I was just
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curious if you had heard anything because
I think that's I think that's something that
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could conceivably be a little bit of
backlash. I don't know, I don't
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know, but no, I'm I'm
glad to see that. I'm glad to
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see that haunts are and and by
haunts, not well haunts, no,
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because we're we're about to talk about
some that are even not involved with with
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theme parks or attractions, but we're
seeing some. I'm glad to see that
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haunts are starting to swing back towards
incorporating more entertainment and obviously incorporating more interactivity.
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Yeah, yeah, it was.
And to me also, it felt
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a little bit differentiated as a theme
park event from the other local theme park
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events. And I think that's what
you want, you know, because the
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addition of the entertainment, you know, I don't I don't know how to
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I'm sure our audience knows, but
you know, the the hanging is is,
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you know, it's I don't know, I don't know how. It's
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like a commentary comedy, you know. I mean it's it's a style of
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comedy that is very knots like they
kind of pokes funded a lot of things.
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And it could be it could be
considered offensive. But you know it's
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the hanging, right, that's you
should expect that, and that goes very
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contrary, you know to the other
parks programming. You're certainly not gonna see
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anything like that at Disney, right, and you're not going to see anything
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really at Universal they have the Purge
and it's the perch could be considered offensive,
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but not because of the dialogue,
just because of the blood, right,
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So right, So yeah, the
hanging was more in line with things
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like like Bill and Ted or things
like gosh well fiends for for Hello Scream
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at Bush Gardens, you know,
the political commentary style show, and it's
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sort of set up the tone for
that. Yeah, yeah, I agree,
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and I would say the new music
show they have is in the same
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vein. It is very you know, there's it's you know, the people
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had stayed loved it. A lot
of people did not like it. And
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I don't think that's a bad thing
necessarily, you know, I think that
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it really really just depends on who. Yeah, not necessarily a bad thing,
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but you know, there was a
lot of there was a lot of
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masturbation jokes, you know, there
was a lot of just heckling of the
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audience that it was very it was
it was very raunchy, it was very
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in that vein. There were political
jokes, you know, I was kind
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of those things where it's like,
you know, it is what it is.
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It's that style of comedy. I
think there was one political joke that
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went a little bit too far because
it was making fun of a medical disability,
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and I don't think you should ever. I don't think comedians should ever
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make fun of medical disabilities because they're
out of the person. Once again,
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though, going back to going back
to the early or the previous days,
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or previous experiences with the hanging,
or previous experiences with Bill and Ted,
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or previous experiences with Fiends, which
is no longer, you know, no
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longer around year, that was part
of it. That was how far could
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we push him? You know I
could. I will never forget going to
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Universal each year and seeing Bill and
Ted and seeing even what kind of language
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could be used, you know it
when they when they dropped, when they
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dropped. Damn the first time we
all went, you know, those of
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us who were in the theme park, and then it just each year it
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got more and more more and more
vulgar, and finally you know, f
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bombs were dropped before the before the
end of the show the last time I
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saw it, and so it was
it became more and more offensive, and
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they tried to figure out, what
can we say that is too much so
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that you know, we can continue
to keep our street cred. I honestly
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think that the pendulum is now swinging
back, and I think that's why some
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of those shows have gone away.
But you know, this may be a
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very short pendulum swing. And and
and we're right back to it with with
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the Hanging because Knots realized nobody else
is doing this anymore, so let's us
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do it. So I don't know, I think I think it's Yeah,
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I think it's a unique opportunity.
And we'll see what the guests say.
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Yeah, exactly exactly, and that
that's kind of my point, you know.
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My point is that both of those
shows that Hanging on the Music Show
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are both in that same vein of
comedy, and that's very differentiated from the
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Purd Show at Universal and from the
Disney Bookie Bash. I mean, it's
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it's you know, it's really filling
a niche that is not being served by
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any other of their competitors. And
you know, and they have two shows
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in that same niche, so you
know, we'll see what it says.
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But at least it's differentiated, right, it's different, Like you can't you
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can't know there's not a Bill and
Ted happening somewhere else, right, there's
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nothing else in that region that is
that same comedy, and they have two
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of them. So so it's very
different. We've said it on this show
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before. You know, if somebody
is doing something, don't try to do
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it better, try to do try
to fill the niche that's empty, not
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the one that's already full. So
we'll see how it works. We'll see
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how it works. Well, speaking
of different niches, you know, the
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reason I'm traveling is because I'm I've
been installing different haunt venues really across the
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well throughout the Midwest right now.
And I was in excuse me, I
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was in Barring to South Barrington,
Illinois, which is a suburb northwest of
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Chicago, and I was installing a
brand new Haunted attraction called terror Roulette,
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which also plays into what we're talking
about here as far as the interactive quality.
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Now, once again I have to
do my full disclaimer and full transparency.
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I was the writer and director of
Tera Roulette, so I do have
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a certain bias. But we just
completed our media day, got some great
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coverage. It opens at the end
of end of September. It opens on
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the twenty ninth, so you can
go to Tara Roulette dot com to find
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out more. But I just wanted
to talk a little bit about what we
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tried to do and what the response
was from the from the media day,
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which was only a preview sample of
three of the rooms. There are twenty
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two different rooms in this experience,
but guests will only experience seventeen of them
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based on the cards that they are
given. So it's a it's a multi
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room experience, multi run experience,
but you will never see more than eight
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guests, which is the group that
you're with, and that eight those eight
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guests are divided into groups of four
and four and six and two and even
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seven and one. So there are
experiences that you have to make it through
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on your own, by yourself.
I don't want this to become a commercial,
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but I want to talk a little
bit about theory and why we did
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things a certain way, and that
was we wanted to again differentiate ourselves.
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Going into the Chicago Land Market,
the Haunt the Hunt scene there is very
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crowded and filled with a lot of
really good haunted attractions, so we felt
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that instead of trying to do what
they did only better, we wanted to
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do something different. So that's why
we have this more interactive, more theatrical
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experience. It's significantly more like immersive
theater with seventeen really short scenes. One
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of the without prompting, one of
the people who came through on media day
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said, I just went through a
very short, three act piece of dark
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theater, and I was like,
oh, you made my night, because
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that was great. It meant that
we had to train the actors a little
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bit differently. It meant that there
was some technology that we had to figure
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out. But it's based on the
based on the initial the initial response from
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media, it is something that they're
very welcoming in that market as something that
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is very very different. They've and
pretty much everyone who came through said it
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was scary. But it was scary
because we didn't quite know how it was
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working and how it should work and
what was next. So we also have
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made it so that it is not
just a passive haunt where you walk through
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and look at things. You must
do things, you must engage with the
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scenic. You must in some cases
eat things, drink things, engage with
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live animals. I mean, it's
it's a it's a full out theatrical experience
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that requires you to become a character
within that world. And so I'm really
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I'm really excited based on all the
excitement of the of the media day,
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I will say that as the writer
and director, I'm a little saddened that
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I never actually get to see it
in full operation because just we got through
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all of our rehearsals and then I
had to move on to the next project,
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which is what brought me to Indianapolis. So taking the same ideas of
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interactivity and applying them to a completely
different experience, completely different content experience.
359
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The Indianapolis Zoo is doing an event
called Zubu, which I am also the
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creative director for and it is very
family friendly. But one of the things
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that they wanted me to continue to
experiment with is the interactivity and putting the
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decisions and controls in the hands of
the guests. So even the one small
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stage show stage experience that they have, the act the actor has been trained
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to. Her name is Auntie Guzzle, and she is a potion mistress and
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she creates all of the potions based
completely on what the guests say. Even
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the incantation is based on the sounds
of that animals make, and the animals
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are decided by the audience by what
the children's favorite animals are. So,
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you know, I think everyone is
focusing now to try to find that way
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to create just a little bit more
interactivity, a little bit more the phrase
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that I like to use as mastery
and control. People like to be able
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to control their environment. And so
with adults, if you can pull that
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control away as we do in terror
Roulette, or with children, if you
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can give them more control, it
becomes a more engaging experience. So I
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think that I think that both of
these, both of these projects, although
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at opposite ends of the spectrum,
are utilizing the same sort of trends that
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we're seeing it not and that we're
seeing in other other haunted attractions, and
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that is bringing back that entertainment,
that interactivity and not just walking through haunted
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attractions where things jump out and go
boo and their drop doors. So I
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think that's I think that's something that
everybody can kind of gather into you know.
380
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Yeah, well, I think it's
the same thing that they talked about,
381
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right with the Galactic star Cruiser,
you know, And I think that
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again, just like we talked about
that was that was needed. I think
383
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in the industry, I still think
it was needed because you need to see,
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you know, how much what's the
ceiling or how much you know,
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where where's the breakage point for people
and how much you know, can people
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really afford for that type of you
know, interaction and and what is needed
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and what is not needed. And
I think that what we're seeing now is
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that all these attractions are finding ways
to do these things, but on a
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more economical scale and it's still a
great individual experience. And you know,
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I went out to What's a Terror
for their it was their thirty second year
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this year, and I just went
out to meet with them this weekend.
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That's why I'm in North Carolina instead
of So Cal obviously, so and you
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know, I interviewed him and it's
his thirty second year, and I kind
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of was like, you know,
what do you do? Where are we
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going? You know, what where
are you going? Where do you see
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it going? You know what do
you see your legacy, you know,
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when you retire this and that and
and are you you know what do you
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And he brought up Ai he said, you know a lot of people are
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worried about that, and he's not
worried about it because what there, what
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their solution is is continue to hire
and recruit good actors and create moments with
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the audience. And that's why,
you know, it's it's a you know,
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he starts out every night where the
owner himself goes on stage and sings
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the national anthem to to start off
the night, and then they have the
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monster prey that you see a lot
of other places, but you know,
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the monsters do much more interacting with
people. And you know he I mean
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basically he's he's like, we're not
worried because we think that in person entertainment
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is not something that it's going to
be replaced by anything that's happening in the
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world. And that's exactly what we've
talked about with with the theme park stuff.
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Is the same type of thing,
is that that person to person interaction,
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that physical interaction at experiences. So
I think you're even seeing it in
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in these are in this area for
independent haunts, that that same thinking and
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that same drift towards that. Yeah, and I think that, you know,
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I think that makes total sense.
It's completely in line with what we've
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said. You know. One of
the one of the things that I'm most
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proud of in the haunts that I
actually get to direct, because I do
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a lot of just writing for people, but in the ones that I actually
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get to direct, and part of
the casting is no matter whether it is
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to terrify you or to make you
giggle or to just startle you a little
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bit, like with Zoo Tampa or
whatever, the response that we get from
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the guests that I really love is
we we are we are engaged when we
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come. The actors make us feel
as though we are part of the experience,
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and that takes good, strong actors, and it's something that AI can't
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really do on a visceral or emotional
level. Speaking of visceral or emotional I'm
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really sad to say We're out of
time. Boy, that was one of
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00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.359
the weakest transitions I think I've ever
done. Anyway, we are out of
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time. So once again, thank
you for listening to this episode or watching
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00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.079
this episode of Green Tag Theme Park. In thirty on behalf of Philip Fernandez
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and myself Scott Swenson. We will
see you next week. Bye bye,
