The 2023 Golden Tickets and Dark Nights at Hersheypark Opens

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From our studios, this time in
Chicago and Philadelphia. Oh my gosh,

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this is a green Tag theme park
in thirty I'm Philip and I'm joined as

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always by my co host Scott Swinson
of Scott Swinson Created Development. Oh my

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goodness, it's deep in hant season. That's why we're both traveling. We're

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both very busy, very very busy. Anyway, let's get to the news.

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So you're doing, You're doing media
day, I'm doing I'm doing install

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It's yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, And this is just you know,

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you're traveling, You're traveling all over
the place. I'm traveling all over

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the place. And but I'm pretty
sure that you may be having more fun.

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I don't know. I don't know, although it is fun to install.

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I will be honest, I will
be honest. Yeah, I'm here.

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I'm here in Chicago. Actually,
to be completely honest, I'm in

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South Barrington, which is a suburb
of Chicago, and I'm working on the

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install for Terror Roulette. And it's
it's so exciting to see it go from

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paper to the concept to now installation. You know that feeling, and so

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many of our listeners know that feeling. But but anyway, that's why we're

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all over the place. So that's
what's what's so cool about it. Well,

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let's talk about something else. It's
all over the place, which is

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the Golden Ticket Award winners have been
announced and there are winners from well kind

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of all over but really not really. So the tickets the Golden Ticket winners

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were announced, and you know,
Scott and I were looking at this at

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a time and a little refresher.
Uh. The way they are selected is

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amusement Today relies on a panel of
voters from all over the world, consisting

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of experienced theme park enthusiasts. The
ballots are divided into four geographical regions,

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with approximately the same number of voters
in each region. Okay, so so

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that makes it even more interesting because
when I was looking at the list,

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my big takeaway was there really is
not hardly anybody on like the western half

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of the country at all. There's
There's water Park in Texas, and then

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there is the Mario Kart ride at
Universal Studios, Hollywood, and that's it

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and everything else is is is to
the east of Texas, you know,

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in that that whole, that whole
vein there on the east coast, that

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so that immediately was my big takeaway, and especially when you consider that they're

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they're you know, they're they're voted
on by zone, which means that people

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from those zones are voting for parks
not in their zone. Basically, it's

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kind of what I'm thinking. So, but Scott, what were your takeaways?

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I just the fact that, you
know, it's it's very clear when

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you look down the winners, Dollywood
swept the night. I mean, you

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know, it's it's we talked about. We talk about like most awards shows

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like Oscar Winners and that sort of
thing, and there's always one recipient that

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just kind of sweeps, and it's
quite clear that this year it was Dollywood.

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You know, not only not only
did they take best Amusement Park,

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but it was also best Kids Area
Guest Experience. Yea, you know,

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just just one thing after another after
another, and not just and not just

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single attractions. It was like Christmas
as well. Yeah, I mean,

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just big, big, big,
big awards. And so I'm starting to

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think, well, what does that
mean? What does that mean for the

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industry, because you know, that
is clearly Dollywood is a very very family

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friendly park, and it seems that
that is, at least based on the

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on the data we're seeing in these
awards, that is clearly a trend.

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That is, and even you know, even with with Universal on your coast,

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even with Mario Kart, a very
family friendly attraction, it's uh so,

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it kind of shows that the pendulum
seems to be swinging that way,

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you know, it seems to be
going towards the more family friendly. Now

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granted, best Halloween event was still
Halloween Hornights in Orlando, which we totally

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understand, but it seems to be
headed in that direction. The other thing

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that I thought, The thing I
thought was interesting was the like things like

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best New Coaster and new water Ride, and a lot of these were smaller

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parks. Yep, yep. That's
the other big breakout that I had because

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you know, we've been covering the
earnings calls, we've been covering the announcements

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from all of the major park chains
that have to report those type of things,

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and we talked about the investment that
some of the parts were making and

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how Bush Gardens is investing in thrills, and six Flags continues to push that.

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Like six Flags, the whole stance
is, you know, thrills and

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get them into the thrills and they're
trying to shift their their age, you

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know, up higher and whatnot.
And Six Flags didn't receive a single award

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on here right, and and Bush
Gardens it was only the one Busch Gards

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Williams work that one for most Beautiful
Park, which it has one, I

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mean multiple times, you know,
consistently. So so we have two major

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chains that didn't place in these at
all. And then you have a regional

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park that received four of the twenty
awards, you know, percentage wise.

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And then I mean, yeah,
you have you have Disney in there quite

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a few times for rides. But
I think if you look at all that,

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yeah, I mean Universal Orlando winning
Halloween. I mean, Halloween is

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We've talked about this. Halloween is
not a family event. You know,

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Halloween is a is well, it
can be, it can be, depending

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can be. But I mean traditionally
Halloween Hornits does not approach it from a

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family standpoint. But the Indianapolis Zoo, for example, does Franklin Frights,

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Right, there's a lot of family
there's a lot of family friendly stuff.

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But I think I think what I
meant was more like the category would would

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lean more towards because it's not it's
not family hall Halloween event. It is

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Halloween overloween, so written large.
But I'm saying that goes with your trend

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because if you look at all the
other parks, I mean they're all Dutch

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Wonderland and who Nobles won something,
Carowin's one something. You know, these

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are all you know, Smoky Mountain, Christmas and Nobles again. You know

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point there's a lot of fun Spot
America's in here. I mean, there's

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a lot of stuff that really is
in the family trend. I think if

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you if you understand that the Halloween
category is generic and not family prefaced,

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and you take that out, that
really you're looking at a lot of family

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focus and it's it's especially interesting that
none of the big parks won anything related

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to the guest experience. We just
talked about that even though Disney's brand is

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family, they did not win an
experience because, as we've talked about,

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you know, the creature comforts are
I'm assuming because the creature comforts are not

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there because I feel like we've we've
talked about that about how it's they're not

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a fun experience to go to the
big parks anymore. Yeah, and I

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think that you know the reason,
Philip and I had this discussion prior to

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taping this show about how are these
how are these awards adjudicated, how are

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they decided upon, And the fact
that it is theme park enthusiasts, not

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theme park professionals or theme park experts, so these are I actually find a

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great deal of validity in this because
these are experiences, or these are awards

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based on the experience of the guest. This is the end result. These

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are the kind of end result awards, and I think that's really cool.

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I think that this is a nice
litmus test to show you don't have to

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be a Disney or a Universal in
order to get your guests to have a

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good time, because, let's be
honest, that is the end result.

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That is, you know, everyone
says no, the end result is money,

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but I'll say that the end result
is guests having a good time because

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that will sustainably provide you with finance
throughout the rest of the healthy history of

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the park. You know. Yeah, Well, well, the full list,

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if you want to read them,
will be in the show notes wherever

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you are watching or listening to this. And I think it's a nice segue.

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We should transition now because the reason
I am in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area

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is I'm going to the Hershey Park
Halloween and Dark Knights at Hershey Media Night,

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which is today the seventeenth to day
that we're recording this, and I

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thought I would share briefly just some
of the things that I think are most

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interesting about this year's event. We
got of course ahead of time, they

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send you over all your you know, all your packets for reading and all

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that, and so I was reading
through you know, what they want the

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media to focus on, which is
you know, usually what they kind of

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what they highlight, uh, you
know, at the top of what of

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what they're doing. And it's just
it's interesting because of on this family theme,

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right, this supposed to be an
experiment in a younger Halloween horn Nights

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basically like a younger a family horror
night type of thing where you had areas

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that were you know, haunted houses, but they were they were really meant

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for a younger crowd. So they're
not as you know, graphic and as

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you know, there's no blood,
they're not you know, they're they're really

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more for families. And then you're
supposed to have the rest of the park

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available. So what they've done this
year is they've added more days and hours

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and they've made it a simpler ticketing
experience. So if you have a ticket

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to Hershey Park Halloween, which is
kind of the daytime thing, you get

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access to the Haunted houses at night. It's no longer like split tickets.

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It's like if you're buying a ticket
for Halloween, it's all Halloween. And

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they have divided it still, so
there's different there's slightly different hours. So

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the houses don't open until six pm
on and then they close it either ten

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or eleven, depending on whether it's
a Friday or Saturday or Sunday, and

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that is a slightly different So the
Hurst Park Halloween closes an hour before the

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houses do, so the general Halloween
stuff will will conclude a little bit earlier

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and the houses will stay open longer, but it will be one ticket for

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everything. And they've added a fifth
Haunted House this year, which they got

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some top line creative and story help
from our friends at Epic Entertainment to produce.

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So it's a it's going to fit
into the narrative of the park,

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and they have added a lot of
food to this event. I think it's

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something like thirty seven food items that
are on here there. Understand when you

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say thirty seven food imes, is
that thirty seven food ims specific to the

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Halloween event. Yes, so I
find it's like a whole park menu just

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for just for the Halloween event.
Speaking of full park menu, there is,

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there's a full tasting car for it. So a quick overview of the

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Dark Knights. There's five hundred houses
now and that's joining the three scare zones.

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So it's a relatively large footprint for
the Dark Knight's portion. And that's

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in addition to the regular Halloween And
of course the daytime Halloween has the treat

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trails and has the stuff and then
all their rides, so they have over

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fifty rides are open during the time. So it's beginning to really shape up

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into a much larger event. And
here's their dining experience. Okay, so

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the dining experience, they have a
new tasting pass so guests can taste some

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of the some of the food offerings
during Dark Nights with the Dark Knight's Tasting

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Pass, which includes a choice up
to five menu especially many items from the

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thirty five options that are only available
during the Dark Knights event. The tasting

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passes thirty five dollars. They also
now are offering an rip dinner buffet and

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they're offering a rooftop bar at the
Chocolate Teer restaurant, so you can basically

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go up for a special rooftop bar
dining experience, and you enter from the

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Dark Knight side, like not from
the street sides. You enter from that

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Dark Knight side. So so they've
let's see and overall, if you're to

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combine everything together, they're saying that
there's seventy five scary good eats that are

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available for both the Halloween and the
Dark Knights combined together, and then Dark

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Knights has a separate tasting pass.
So to me, that is a huge

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expansion of you know, so they're
adding an extra house, and keep in

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minds this is the other thing.
They're adding an extra house, but they're

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making it more affordable because they're like, they're not charging separately. So they're

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adding an extra house, but it's
included in the Halloween event, and so

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you could go from Halloween starts at
noon on most of those days, you

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can show up at noon and stay
until eleven PM. They're adding an extra

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house and and then they're adding a
whole cornucopia of food items with tasting passes

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well, and to me, that
stream's family absolutely absolutely, And what I

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think it's also doing is it's it's
there because they're, as you say,

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making it more economical on the on
the front side, they're hoping that with

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these unique and limited, limited food
offerings that yess will will kick in the

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additional revenue on the back end.
You know, food seems to be a

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big thing this year with Halloween in
general. I mean, you know we've

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reported here when you went to the
Universal Food Tasting Experience, and now there's

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and now Hershey is doing Hershey Park
is doing gigantic food. Now here's my

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question. And I've not seen the
list, Philip, so I'm I'm completely

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blind to this. But with the
food tasting, how many of them include

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chocolate? I mean, that's what
I'm curious about. It's like, is

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are they are they really leaning in
to the brand? Because I've done a

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little bit of preliminary work with with
Hershey on a couple of projects, and

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it's usually all about the chocolate.
It's usually all about the let's lean into

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the core brand. Is that the
case with the food this year, So

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it's not or it's better to say
they're not find to that. So I

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think it even from last year.
They did food last year, but I

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don't think it was to this extent. Certainly it wasn't pushed to the media

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to this extent, So I'm not
sure, you know, but the thing

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that strikes that strikes me is that
where they're leaning a chocolate is in the

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cocktail experience because it's at their new
restaurant. It's at the Chocolate Tier restaurant,

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which was part of the the the
New Entryway expansion, you know that

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was that was the new restaurant,
the Chocolate Tier that was built during the

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last expansion, and it's it's on
the rooftop of that. And it seems

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like they say that the spirits both
real and reimagined, from smoking cocktails and

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octopus inspired Buddy Mary's to absinthe creations
and libations that literally popped table side,

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So that seems to have more a
little bit more fun chocolate inspired into it.

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But they have a lot of savor
items that don't really tie like like

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they're not they're not letting the chocolate
hold them back, I think, right,

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you know, they're they're doing just
the stuff just looks good. You

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know. They have sweet and tangy
meatballs, they have fried brott worst,

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they have black bean salsa and guacamole. They have oven baked pork chops,

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they have chicken brass, they have
beasts brisket, they have honey spiced carrots,

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they have Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes. Like there's really like it doesn't

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seem like it's which, which I
think is is good because again it's actually

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creature comfort. Thing we talked about, you know, when we talked about

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nots to savor items, you know, all trying to have an exotic meat

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in them. This one it's like
it's like they're just focused on making stuff

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that is fun and good that doesn't
necessarily have a chocolate tie in. And

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it seems like the chocolate tie in
comes really with the desserts as opposed to

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doing something like a chocolate something like
that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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it's so. And the other thing
that I that as you go through that

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that menu list, the thing that
echoes back in my head is if you

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had said even fifteen to twenty years
ago this was going to be theme park

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food fair. People would have laughed
at you. You know, we didn't.

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We didn't once in that menu hear
the word corn dog burger. Uh,

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you know all I'm sure those things
are available as well, but they're

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really really diving into real food,
you know. I mean, and especially

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if which kind of makes sense.
Really, if you're going to be there,

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you know, say you do from
from rope drop to clothes. You

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know you're gonna be there from noon
to eleven, You're gonna want a variety

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of things. You're gonna want.
The opportunity and the fact that there's carrots,

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there's brussel sprouts, there's all these
things also suggests to me on a

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much subtler, on a much suther
way, that it is going family.

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Yeah, because it's like parents are
going to go. I don't want my

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kids to be eating fried crap all
day. Yeah. Well, and even

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on your on your point right for
the beverages, right, they have a

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cold brew, Fine, but they
have pumpkin punch and they have a blueberry

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boba tea. I mean, can
you imagine I mean boba tea, you

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know, like at a theme park. You know, back to your point

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right, it's I agree, you
know, and just just the They have

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the basics, but they have the
pulled port slider, they have the hot

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chicken, you know, they have
the pig gulls, which are like a

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local, more local thing. They
have garlic knots. I mean, they

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have the empanadas. So so I
think they really are trying to make it

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a little bit more of an Epcot
vibe where it's you know, food that

238
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is meant to be authentic food.
Yeah, it sounds it sounds great.

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I mean, as we're recording this, I haven't eaten yet today and I'm

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starving now, so that sounds really
good. Uh yeah, So so that's

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that's what's going on with Hershey.
Again, it fits into that theme of

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of I think what we're putting in
where Scott and I are enforcing the theme

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of family onto it. But but
moving on six Flags, this was just

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something I wanted to note on here
because we're in the middle of installs and

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what You're in the middle of installs
and I'm in the middle of going to

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events. But some news that came
out this week was that the houses at

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six Flags Magic Mountain are going to
be delayed and specifically the ones that are

248
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IP, which we talked about when
it was announced. We talked about this

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is the first time that six Flags
is experimenting with IPS, and they have

250
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a saw X and a Condurine house. Both of those are delayed, and

251
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the Condurine house doesn't have an open
date. It was supposed to open on

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September thirtieth, and now they don't
have an open date for it. And

253
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I just want to put in a
context. Six Flags Mountain open their Freight

254
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Fest on September eighth, So now
we're talking about what you're let's just clarify

255
00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:45.440
this. Yeah, so they open
their Halloween event without their houses, yes,

256
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yes, And it doesn't seem like
they will be opening the Condurine until

257
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October, so a month after the
event opens, the headline house right for

258
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the Condurine will open. You know, I don't know. I've had several

259
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:06.680
reporters go out to the event to
verify this. I haven't gone out in

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person myself, despite living twenty minutes
away, but I don't have a pass

261
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and and and they won't allow media
out before the houses are open, so

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which is another thing that's odd.
Right, So their media coverage isn't going

263
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to start until October because they're not
allowing media out because you know, the

264
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event isn't open fully so right,
they don't have all the elements in place

265
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right, which is understandable, but
it's also going to delay the the I

266
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mean sometimes it takes media two weeks
to get it up. So if you

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if we go out on October eighth, then we're talking Halloween that we're going

268
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to get our coverage up. So
I can't imagine that's going to help.

269
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We'll have a great push. It'll
be all over that. No. Well,

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And the interesting thing is this is
this is a my heart goes out

271
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to them because this is a being
on being on my side of the the

272
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situation where you know, my focus
is always on getting things up and running.

273
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I don't run events. I plan
and install them and then leave them

274
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to an operational team to to keep
them going. And I will say there

275
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have been some rather significant delays in
places that we have not experienced for many,

276
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many many of my clients. Things
like shipping delays, things like manufacturing

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delays, especially in the haunted attractions
industry. Anything that is a seasonal industry

278
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that supplies materials to a seasonal industry, whether it's Halloween or Christmas or whatever.

279
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They if they get overbooked, they
start to really hurt. I mean,

280
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for example, our friends at VFX
have already said, you can't buy

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anything for this season right now.
They're they're done. They have to they

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have to get everything produced, everything
ship, which quite honestly, as an

283
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industry as on the industry side,
I would much rather have that statement made

284
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than to continue to take my order
so that I but they won't be able

285
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to deliver it until after I'm open. You know, that's a that's a

286
00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.920
frustration, but it's not They're not
alone. The other element that I think

287
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maybe a factor here is because they
are the intellectual property houses. Has there

288
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been a breakdown in the negotiation of
the intellectual property materials? You know,

289
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is there is there a situation where
either they didn't get the IP And I'm

290
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not saying this is true because I
don't know. I just want to clarify

291
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that right up front, But is
it possible that they didn't get the IP

292
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signed off on before they started construction
or is it because they were in the

293
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process of and thought it was all
going to happen and then all of a

294
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sudden because intellectual property negotiation is a
bear, it is really really challenging,

295
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and because there's quite often many many, many, many factors, many holders,

296
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many producers, executive producers, owners
of said IP who have it in

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their contracts that it can't be used
without my approval or can only be used

298
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in a way that I approve,
etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So in

299
00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.279
some cases it can be a really
really slippery slope and a really winding road

300
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to get that kind of negotiation buttoned
up before you can actually open. So

301
00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:15.200
again I say I, on the
one hand, yes, it seems foolish

302
00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:21.039
that they would open their event,
and there is there perhaps could be something

303
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about you know, what was their
planning and what was their timeline. There

304
00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:27.400
may be there may be a fault
there. At the same time, what

305
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:33.200
I'm experiencing this year is there have
been many unexpected twists and turns, and

306
00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:38.759
so instead of I think there is
a little bit of you can raise it

307
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:42.119
one eyebrow, but don't raise both
because there may be something that may be

308
00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:48.480
completely out of their control and that
has has snuck up on them. Because

309
00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:52.559
again I'm seeing that in very small
I mean not to the point of not

310
00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:56.200
to the point of, you know, simply not opening. But I've seen

311
00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.359
that sneak up on a couple of
couple of projects that I'm working on as

312
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:06.640
well. So I wish them well. I hope that I hope that they

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00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.559
can get all the things they need
to get sorted out sorted out, and

314
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I hope this is the This is
the biggest takeaway that from from my standpoint,

315
00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:18.359
because again, I've been in this
situation before and where you kind of

316
00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:26.359
gore we're in essence screwed, and
I and I think that I think that

317
00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:33.759
the most important thing that can happen
here is learn from this, learn how

318
00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.119
you can, you know, go
back in your timeline and learn how you

319
00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:41.240
can make certain this won't happen.
Yeah, you know now. At the

320
00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:45.359
same time, because I'm not involved
with that project, it is very possible.

321
00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:49.559
It is very possible that it was
part of the plan on along and

322
00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:53.039
they just wanted to save labor.
Labor may also be an issue. They

323
00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:57.240
may not be able to cast it. They may and they're trying desperately to

324
00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.039
get that. I don't know.
It could be a bunch of different factors,

325
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.799
but I think the issue is let's
not just say, gosh, they're

326
00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:08.279
they're really screwing up because they're not
opening on time. There's they want nothing

327
00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:11.720
more than to open on time.
I can promise you that. And I'm

328
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.319
not involved, like I said,
not involved, but every park wants to

329
00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.880
open when they say they're going to
open. That is no. No park

330
00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:23.599
will say let's let's be nefarious,
you know. No, they want to

331
00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:27.519
because it doesn't look good for them. It's not good for their for their

332
00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:33.160
marketing campaign, it's not good for
their overall brand. So there there's I

333
00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:37.720
can promise you. Right now,
they are scrambling to get this stuff done

334
00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:45.160
and to get it open. Everything
that I've heard from uh, you know,

335
00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.160
of course these are not people that
are going on record. I haven't

336
00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:51.079
done interviews with anybody, but everything
that I've heard from from people around suggests

337
00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:56.200
that everything Scott said is correct as
in as in it's one of those things

338
00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:00.680
that is I almost like a cash
Twain two type of cycle where there are

339
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:04.319
a production delays to create the house, which and then because it's IP,

340
00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:08.359
they can't just open it. So
it's like there's delays to create it and

341
00:25:08.359 --> 00:25:12.119
then you have to get it approved
and then when you need to make changes,

342
00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:15.720
it makes it even longer because there's
delays on the changes because of the

343
00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:19.839
production delays. So that's from what
I've heard. More the problem. I've

344
00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:23.960
heard that staffing is also a problem
at the park, but that it's not

345
00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:27.599
as dire, especially now because they're
opening later. They have longer to hire

346
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:32.319
because they're they're kind of like continuously
hiring, so they have longer to staff

347
00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:36.440
it and get staff ready. Now
their scare zones are in operation, of

348
00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:38.480
course, so there's still stuff that
happens there at the park. We have

349
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:42.400
the videos of that up and of
the stuff going on, so they are

350
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:47.240
it's not like they've shut the entire
event down, but that's what I understand.

351
00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.920
It's really just production delays that are
backing up, and then because of

352
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:56.039
the IP and because they have not
done this process before with IP clearance.

353
00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.839
That's that's what it is now.
You know, you could argue that they

354
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.640
should have built these first, but
but you know, I guess I peace

355
00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:08.960
complicate everything, Yeah, I piece, And you also have to recognize that

356
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:15.640
the holders of the IPS are not
on the same timeline that haunted attractions are,

357
00:26:15.160 --> 00:26:21.640
and so their response, their response
time. Sometimes it's a back and

358
00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:25.640
forth of three to five times as
far as communication goes to get an approval.

359
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:30.480
Yeah, I know this from working
with specific select ellectual properties in my

360
00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:37.519
in my previous life. And you
have to there are brand holders. Intellectual

361
00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:45.319
property holders are like this for a
reason. Their brand the moment it's misrepresented

362
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:49.519
becomes weaker. You know. One
of the some of the most i'll put

363
00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:56.079
this in air quotes challenging I piece
to work with are the ones that are

364
00:26:56.079 --> 00:26:59.359
the most successful because they keep a
strong hand on it. You know,

365
00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:04.319
I know that that anything anything Potter
related, anything Harry Potter related, has

366
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:10.640
so many levels. And then you
know from what I've heard from my cohorts.

367
00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:12.759
Again nothing on record, but from
what I've heard, then JK.

368
00:27:12.920 --> 00:27:17.160
Rowling can come through and go nope, and it's you're back to square one.

369
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:22.680
So no matter how much, no
matter how much planning you do to

370
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:25.839
make sure that that that approval process
is done, the moment there is a

371
00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:29.119
delay and the moment there is a
change, you can have all that approval

372
00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:33.160
done and then the moment there's a
change, you're back to step one and

373
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:36.359
you have to go through all those
layers again. So it is. It

374
00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:38.119
is challenging and especially if you're not
used to it, especially if you're not

375
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:44.400
But but again, six Flags has
done this with other other ips for their

376
00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:48.160
day product, so it's not like
they're completely new to it. Yeah,

377
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:51.440
well, yeah, let's have we
have one more story to get through,

378
00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:53.480
so, you know, let's because
we're not sure. We'll bring you news

379
00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:56.920
when we hear news from six Flags
as to what's going on. If we

380
00:27:56.920 --> 00:27:59.839
hear from anybody, we'll bring that
back to the show. So the last

381
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:03.880
here is I did check out the
opening night of Fear Factory in Salt Lake

382
00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:07.279
City with our friend Spencer, who
is the hundred Trash Association board president,

383
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:14.079
it's the current sitting president. And
it was a shocker of an opening night

384
00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:19.119
because of one the crowd was.
They had a line out and this is

385
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:22.200
September fifteenth in Salt Lake City,
Utah folks, just for reference, They

386
00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:26.359
had a line out the door to
get in. They sold two of their

387
00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:30.400
VIP tickets, which are two hundred
and fifty dollars tickets. They sold two

388
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:33.839
of those for their opening night,
which you know, it's one of those

389
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.519
like why would you buy it for
opening night? Because the crowds are not

390
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:40.920
as savage as Halloween, but they
sold two of those tickets, so they've

391
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:44.720
been doing that part. It seems
to be doing pretty well for them,

392
00:28:44.759 --> 00:28:49.200
and this year they had a huge
speaking of talent and speaking of refurbishment,

393
00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:55.960
they hired four additional on staff builders
throughout the year, which almost I think

394
00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:00.559
doubled more than doubled their team to
refurb the Haunt. And what they focused

395
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:07.799
on was improving the lighting and taking
their areas and dividing it into thirteen zones

396
00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:12.160
so that there is a clear delineation
between each zone, and they added a

397
00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:18.279
whole storyline to it. Now,
the storyline is not really conveyed to the

398
00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:22.279
guests or on the website. It's
more conveyed in local media and conveyed in

399
00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:27.599
the Haunt itself, which is probably
a discussion for another time, or listen

400
00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:30.279
to my interview with Spencer because I
asked them about that. But but essentially,

401
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:33.319
what they've done is they've made a
story where the factory is alive,

402
00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:40.200
and the top line is the factory
is alive, and you are going into

403
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:44.079
the factory, and each zone is
an opportunity for you to face your fear

404
00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:47.440
if you do not succeed in facing
your fear, then you become a sacrifice

405
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for the factory. Like the factory
keeps you, but if you're able to

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master your fear, you can escape. Otherwise it we'll keep you. So

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each zone is a different phobia and
then you walk into a zone. It's

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marked by a door, a factory
door that's opened for you for the new

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challenge, with some voice voiceovers that
are there for it. And there's a

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new actor in each zone that kind
of like a lead actor that will give

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you a few lines to set the
premise for it. And the big new

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theme, which is fantastic, is
a giant bleeding heart right when you enter

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the factory to show that the factories
alive with gears and it's just pumping,

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and you know, you get a
person that's telling you how you have to

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face your fears or they're going to
sacrifice you. So so it's a it's

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a it's a very big departure from
what they've done in the past. That's

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really Yeah, it's really cool.
Well, I will I will say that

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00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:36.519
Spencer's is super smart. His team
is super smart, and the way that

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they approach pretty much everything and continue
to expand and focus on refining, utilizing,

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00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:47.920
reutilizing the assets that they already have, and of course the brand,

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00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:52.119
the brand extension or the brand refinement
to create a strong storyline that ties it

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all together. We all know how
important that is to me. What is

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also important to me is that we
stay true to our name. So we

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are done. We've we've for more
than thirty minutes. So we're going to

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00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:07.920
sign off on behalf of Philip Fernandez
with the Audited excuse me, Audit Attraction

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00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:11.359
Network and gant him lighting in myself. Scott Swenson from Scott Swenson Creative Development.

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00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:14.400
This is Green Tag Theme Park in
thirty and we will see you next week