July 8, 2024

The Six Flags & Cedar Fair Merger is Complete

Following approval from the DOJ, the newly merged Six Flags operates 27 amusement parks and 15 water parks across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

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Following approval from the DOJ, the newly merged Six Flags operates 27 amusement parks and 15 water parks across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. All 42 parks will retain their legacy branding for now, and the company has signaled new investment in rides and enhanced park offerings through intellectual property. Also, Dark Nights at Hersheypark has added a fifth haunted house for the upcoming Halloween season, all while keeping access free for passholders. And—Seaworld Orlando’s “no re-entry” policy.

SHOW OUTLINE

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 00:07 Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merger Approved
  • 20:18 Dark Nights at Hersheypark
  • 27:49 SeaWorld Orlando's “no re-entry” policy

SOURCES

WEBVTT

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From our studios in Los Angeles and
Tampa. This is Green Tag Theme Park

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in thirty. I'm Philip and I'm
joined as always, I'm my glorious co

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host Scott Swinson of Scott Swinson Creative
Development. Here for another week breaking down

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the top theme park news and discussing
why it should matter to you. So

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this week we will talk about something
we hinted at last week, but it

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has finally been approved, the six
Flags and Cedar for a merger. This

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has been a story we talked about
when it was first announced, and then

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we hinted at it last week with
the IP integration that six Flags is doing.

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And now I am here to tell
you that the DOJ has approved the

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merger and we've gotten a few more
details but not many, about how it's

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all going to operate. But as
these things are, as we've talked about,

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you know where, it's going to
be a little bit of news now

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and then you're going to see really
the changes over the next several years as

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they reorganize everything. And I think
a lot of changes we're not going to

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see externally. But we'll start off
with what the current CEO of the Cedar

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Fair Parks has Richard Zimmerman about what
he gave. In the statements that he

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gave, he said that with an
anticipated pro forma enterprise value of approximately eight

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billion, the combined company is well
positioned to drive future growth. Our enhanced

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financial flexibility will enable us to invest
in new rides, attractions, food and

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beverage options, and state of the
art consumer technologies, ensuring continuous improvement and

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innovation, and that each park visit
is more exciting and memorable than the last.

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Our merger establishes a new six Flags
entertainment corporation with a highly diversified footprint

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and robust operating model, enhancing park
offerings and performance through the complementary portfolio of

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attractive assets and intellectual property from each
Cedar Fair and former six Flags. Following

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the merger, the combined company operates
twenty seven amusement parks and fifteen water parks

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across US, Canada and Mexico,
and six Flags stated that all forty two

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parks will retain their previous branding,
with no changes to park names currently currently

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asterisk there being planned or contemplated.
When asked about season passes, they did

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say that there's no plan to make
an all access as in like a forty

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two park pass is not in the
works for twenty twenty four, but it

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might be a possibility in the future, and most of the executive team will

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be comprised of current Cedar Fair leaders, and the company's headquarters will be relocated

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to the Cedar Fair's' current HQ in
Charlotte, North Carolina, as opposed to

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the Texas kind of base that Six
Flags was previously. So yeah, it

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is a really interesting movement around.
To me, the things that stand out

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the most, fortunately or unfortunately,
are that no real mention of live entertainment

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was really brought to the forefront.
It's clear that they were focusing on the

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rides, which makes sense because Cedar
Fair has been you know, well,

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I think six Flags both of those
parks have been really toting the thrill capital

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of the whatever whatever. So I
think it's clear they have an eye towards

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the rides, and they have an
eye towards technology, which we have talked

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about in many stories over the years, like about the walk in and walk

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out chios and the scanning that some
of them are piloting. So you could

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see where they could really integrate all
the parks together and make a much more

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guess comfort level experience at these parks
if they can get the staffing to figure

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that out, and if they can
get the line jumping all those kind of

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things under control, which we also
talked about. So there's a lot of

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challenges I think to making it what
they say here about about making it a

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good experience, because so many of
them have just wildly different experiences paying where

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you are, and that's going to
I think it's going to be a big

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problem. I also think the other
big flag is the intellectual property. I

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mean, we know that Cedar Fair
and six Flags have different ips, and

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so it seems like they're hinting here
that there might be the ability to move

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those between the whole portfolio, so
that you're gonna start to see, you

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know, like a DC thing at
Knots or something, you know, where

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they can able to move stuff around. So Scott, what do you think?

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Well, I think there's a couple
things I think are very interesting about

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this. Number One because you and
I both have friends who work for both

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of these companies and well now the
single company, but former separate companies,

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and based on what I have seen
them post publicly, so I'm not sharing

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any I'm not betraying any internal trust. This is all stuff that has been

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shared publicly. Everyone seems to be
very enthusiastic about the merger, and people

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who have come from both sides,
both from the former six Flag side and

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the Cedar Fair side. I will
say that both parks been struggling, so

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to bring them together, to bring
them together, they're looking at it as

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here's here's another potential savior of the
industry, or not the industry, but

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of this corporation or these corporations.
I think it's interesting too because with the

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number of parks I mean, obviously
they now have pretty much the just as

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far as numbers of parks, if
we're just talking numbers, they're if not

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the top in the US, they're
very close to it. I mean they

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have saved significantly more parks than Disney
or Universal have, and significantly more parks

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than than than the former SeaWorld Parks
and Entertainment has. So their business models

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I think going to be interesting.
I'm curious to see it should be.

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In my opinion, they should focus
on the the non tourist. They should

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focus on the local. I would
think that part of the reason that they

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don't want to do a grand and
glorious season pass everybody is, because it's

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not their business model, at least
not at the moment. And I would

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think that they would want to remain
as the purveyor of everyone's quote unquote hometown

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theme park because you know, I, like I grew up with with well,

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it was Paramount when I first started, but what eventually became six Flags

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Great America in Gurnee, and I, you know, I would have a

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season pass every year and I would
go multiple times, and that was that

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was what we did in the summer, you know, that was it was

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a seasonal park. That's what we
did. So it seems to me that

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that would be instead of making it
an ultimate destination because they are so spread

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out. You know, obviously with
Disney, they want to get you to

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Florida or California because that way,
every time you spend goes back to them.

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But if six Flags is planning to
follow this business model, which it

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doesn't seem as though they are,
I don't think that's a wise choice because

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you know, you've got if you've
got these now now six Flags parks all

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over the country, your focus is
not let's bring people across the country.

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Your focus is let's own, let's
have six Flags Great America, own the

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Chicagoland market, you know, let's
have And so it's interesting because when you

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have that mindset, when you have
that business model of we're going to own

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the local market, but you are
national or international. Really you're international,

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and you have the clout and the
opportunity to get some of those things that

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you wouldn't be able to have as
a small park, but you can focus

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them into a small park mentality.
That could be a very very interesting and

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profitable business model. So let's see
how that shakes out. Because again,

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I would not expect to see here
in Florida, for example, I would

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not expect to see a marketing campaign
that says, come to Gurney, Illinois

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for six Flags Great America. I
just don't see that happening, and nor

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do I think it should. So
I think it's going to be the small

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town park with the big town cloud, and I think that could be a

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very interesting business model for them.
We'll see how that works. I really

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like the idea of pointing out that
this is a business model we really maybe

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have not seen before in the industry. You know, to because, like

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you said, the scale of this
is so different that I think us maybe

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trying to apply the Disney universal lens
is flawed because we have not seen this

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model before, you know, I
mean, so it you know, like

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we've talked a lot about how like
initially it was like just clicks of the

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turnstile and then it became like upsals
for Disney and you know, expanding your

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inventory with night events and all that. We don't really know what this business

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model is because they have so many
locations, right, So I think the

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question is, like you were saying, the question is what do they need

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to own the local market? So
do they need and if they've got the

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power and the cloud to get the
ips that you know, the local parks

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that are not underneath the six Flags
umbrella. And to be completely honest,

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this is not new. Six Flags
tried to do this several years ago.

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Six Flags went on a huge expansion
program. Unfortunately, their pockets weren't deep

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enough and they didn't have I'm speculating
here for some reason, I'm assuming they

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didn't have the cash turnaround. They
bought a ton of parks and then ended

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up selling them off because they didn't
have the money to renovate them and bring

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them up to their bring them up
to a consistent level across the country.

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Now, with the two parks coming
together, they didn't have to buy them.

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Nobody had to buy parks. They
just merged and all of a sudden,

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in essence, doubled their power within
the industry. And so I'm curious.

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It may work, it may not. But as you say, we

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cannot look at this through a Disney
lens, We cannot look at this through

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a universal lens, because that's clearly
not the situation they're in. You know,

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just imagine if there were twenty seven
Disney parks around the country, you

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wouldn't have the push to come to
Walt Disney World, you wouldn't have the

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push to visit Disneyland in California Adventure. And I find it interesting, you

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know, looking at the differences even
between the two Disney models, because they

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are very different. You know,
Disney Disney California is much more like a

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local or regional park, even though
it does have a strong pole from outside,

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it operates significantly more like a local
park. Walt Disney World in Florida

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is a destination period it is,
you know, the locals. Yes,

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they they pander to locals, but
they will cut back. They will cut

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back local benefits like that because that's
not the that's not their bread and butter.

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So, like I said, I'm
curious. I'm really curious to see

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how this new model works or if
this new model works. I'm kind of

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hoping it does, because you know, we've got we've had because you also

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mentioned rides and not and not live
entertainment, We've got Disney Universal focusing on

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very specific types of world building experiences. Six Flags has never been known for

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that. They will they will pick
up ips and apply them sort of kind

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of and create but create rides.
They are the coaster parks, Cedar Fair,

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same thing. They are the ride
parks. So if they become that

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part of the market, if they
carve out that part of the market that

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you don't have to travel for that
you can get your your adrenaline junkie rush

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at any of these parks. It
sounds like it could be successful to me.

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Then lay layer on top of that
the IP and if they're if they're

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going down that route, then the
IP will be layered on in the form

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of rides versus shows. But still
you know they could they could carve out

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their own little niche here and uh
and be pretty darned successful at it.

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Yeah, I think earlier, I
do think they could be successful. I

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think that, you know, like
like we we've been saying like, well,

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you know, what are they need
to do to capture the local market.

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But I think earlier you talked about
the concept of it being like a

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savior or not or like this,
and I think the money is Like I

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think that's also why he hinted at
that. You know, he hinted at

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them having the capital to you know, to to count almost like he knew

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people were gonna remember like you did
about like the previous and he was like,

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Okay, well you know it's different
this time, guys, because we're

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merging together and there's more money.
So right, well, I didn't have

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the didn't have to buy the other
parks. Yes, yep, that they

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had a better financial position, yeah, exactly, exactly, yes, And

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we didn't have to deplete their their
their cash their cash resources to purchase the

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other parks first. Now they just
have to take that those resources and use

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them to either unify which and unify
in their own unique way because you know,

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even they say we're not going to
change the names, We're not going

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to change the branding of the individual
parks. It's it's it's almost like and

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this is this is a this is
a flawed analogy, so forgive me,

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but it's it's almost like it's almost
like franchising. There's a there's a main,

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there's a main corporate control that gives
you the power of the clout,

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the financial benefit, the negotiating power
on a very large level. But each

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park still is going to, from
what they are claiming here, is going

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to maintain its unique individuality. And
I think that's also an important part of

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this plan, or should be,
because if they all become the same,

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then you know, you're never going
to get anybody to visit any of the

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other parks out of loyalty. So
it's I think it is wise to maintain

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the diversity of the park brands,
and even though they're their target, in

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my opinion, should not be the
long distance traveler, but the day trippers.

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Yes, well, I actually really
agree with that. I think that

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again we're postulating, because you know, we don't we haven't seen this model

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before. But I think both of
us would agree that our hypothesis for this

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model is that they need to own
the local market, and in order to

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do that, they need to be
a little customizable, you know, so

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you don't really want to change a
name or I mean, you know,

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you need the park to have enough
leeway to do incorporate local flavor, you

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know, like allow a performance of
the local bands and the local schools and

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you know, bring in some of
the local performer. You know, you

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need to be able to become the
locals park, and you can't do that

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if it's you know, if it's
too standardized. So keeping the names would

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track with that. But I also
think but back to the the you know,

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the savior point or the challenges you
know, money on all that aside,

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do not like whenever companies get larger
like this, it's always a question

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of whether or not they can iron
out all of the little the little things

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like can you create an even even
with franchises, it's always a question,

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you know, can you create at
least a minimum standard experience across the line.

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And I think it might be a
little bit closer because you know,

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kind of you know again, Cedar
Fair and like they've been operating for a

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while, so it's a little bit
closer, but that's gonna, in my

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mind, be the biggest challenge really
is like even down to the internal staffing,

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like how are they you know,
making sure all the internal processes and

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and the i mean even the stories
we've covered. We we see wildly different

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issues at the different parks, you
know, and maybe they'll be given,

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you know, maybe it's possible to
have enough locally way and different parks even

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within the the two separate Yeah,
well the two separate companies. You know,

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when you compare, when you compare
a guest experience at Knots versus Caroins,

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I'm not saying one is better,
one is worse. I'm saying they're

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different. And so now you add
on top of that all the six the

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former six Flags properties that were that
are now part of the new six Flags.

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It's it's interesting, it's interesting to
see. It's a it's a good

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point, Philip. I'm curious to
see if they are going to be able

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to establish and maintain a standard of
excellence across the entire corporation. Yep,

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yep, I'm sure they're sitting in
a room thinking that same thing. Oh

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my guess is they've been sitting in
a room thinking that same thing for quite

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some time, and now that the
merger is now, they can Now the

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merger has officially been announced, approved, stamped, a done deal, then

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it's like boom done yep. The
last piece to add on this story before

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we leave, because we've got a
mid on to our next stories. But

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the last piece of ad is just
that they have opened a Roadblocks metaverse experience.

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You know, in the middle of
all this, I think this news

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got buried a little bit because the
merger. I think definitely it's more headlines

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and then this thing kind of just
fell. I think awful lot of news

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outlets, radars. But basically they
launched a experience on Roadblocks. So essentially

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on Roadblocks there's like now there's six
Flags like areas where there's six Flags virtual

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coasters and mazes inspired by Freightfest and
games and all that, and basically users

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can collect little coaster coins and then
what's interesting is they can collect them and

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they can redeem them at physical six
Flags parks. So this is another one

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of those things where I'm like,
oh, I think when they mention those

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innovation, well, like this is
more what I think they're talking about that.

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He's hinting at that. And I
think the reason this got buried because

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there's the thing is six Flags wanted
it to everyone talk that they would,

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so I think it's more of like
a testing. And I think it's interesting

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because this would be the market,
right, like the people, the gamers,

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the kids, the younger people that
are playing these, you know,

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if they can engage them again,
so they have forty two parts, right,

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so much wider so and their gamers
everywhere, like in every city.

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So if you can get those kind
of local gamers and they're playing their games

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and then they get some coins and
you can incentifie them to go to their

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local park and exchange them for some
stuff, that could be a real strategy,

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I mean, a real, very
interesting strategy. It becomes it becomes

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an immersive, fully engaged marketing strategy. Yep. It's it's it's brilliant and

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you know, and we've talked about
that the IP the gaming eyps are significantly

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more robust now than even the film
and television eyepis. So yeah, it's

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I hate to say it, but
it's it's sort of like, hey,

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I'm going to collect all my ski
ball tickets and then I'm going to go

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redeem them and come home with a
plastic piece or something or other. But

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but it gives you the it's it
takes that concept and just builds it.

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I mean, when I was a
kid vacationing on the Jersey Shore, every

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night we'd go to the Skiball parlor
and collect those tickets and collect those tickets

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and collect those tickets. And it's
not because you know, we couldn't just

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go and buy whatever it was that
we were going to get at the end

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of the vacation. It was because
it became well, we gamified the experience,

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and that's exactly what this is doing. And it's gamification that will lead

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to an actual physical appearance in the
park. Smart I was gonna say,

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it's god. I think the word
you're looking for is it was fun.

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Yeah, exactly exactly. It was
fun. Yeah, yeah, And that's

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yeah. Anyway, so that's another
story, like we could you know,

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we'll be watching to see how that
works out. And I also think it's

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so fitting that it's not a thinging
that too many people are talking about because

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who, like, if you think
about the echo chamber of media, they're

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generally older people, right, So
like, this is not for us,

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and so we didn't see it,
right most of the Allison c because it's

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not for us. But we don't
need to see it because we are not

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the target market anymore. Well,
this and once it becomes and once it

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becomes to mainstream, the people who
are engaged with this are no longer interested

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because they haven't found something cool.
Correct. Yeah, so we'll see a

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lot of potential here. Our next
story, I think is of equal maybe

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potential in terms of you know,
things that are that are really interesting,

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and that is that Hershey Park has
announced their Halloween plans, So I really

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like what is going on. I
think that I think, you know,

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the Hirshey Park team has always been
excellent and they have always you know,

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really delivered on quality and really maintained
you know, that standard at their parks.

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But I think that is showing even
more with their new Dark Knights event,

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which is only three This is a
third year. It's only three years

279
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old, right, so it's this
this will be the third season, so

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like we're going to the thirties and
so they announced the return of Dark Knights

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and Hershey Park Halloween. It's going
to start on September thirteenth this year and

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go through November twenty November third,
so that is twenty five nights, including

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Halloween Nights. So that's an expanded
schedule. And this year there's going to

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be five hundred houses, including a
new one that they've added called a State

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of Evil. There's three scare zones
and one of them is new. Plus

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they you know, you get access
to the fifty attractions and dark coasters and

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the trick or treat trails and whatnot. The eight weekend event will also feature

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exclusive Colony creations and they have a
tasting path. Plus they have a new

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avenue of the Afterlife Path with it, which is like a scare free path

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as well. It's integrated into the
event. So the thing that always blows

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me away, I think people hear
that and they just think, oh,

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it's a smaller version of Halloween hor
Nights or it's like, you know,

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it's like the locals version of whatever. Okay, except this is included for

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all passholders. So if you are
a passolder, you just get access,

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you know, to all of the
Halloween festivities and everything. And then if

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you buy any one day ticket even
it includes like the day and all the

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way through the Halloween night. So
the thing about this which I think is

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so interesting is they are adding a
haunt, so now we have five haunts,

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but they're keeping it included for passholders. So it's just value add for

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you know, their their current fans
and locals and of course the tasting card

301
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and you know, of course they're
trying to get people in to do the

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00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:41.359
upsells and all that. But I
mean, I don't know, Scott,

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you and I know how difficult it
is to you know, convince a board

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or we're going to add a haunt. And so you know, they're asking.

305
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So you're telling me we're adding entertainment
and you're like, yes, and

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how much are we charging for it? We're not, It's free, and

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they just stare at you. And
also, well, what they're doing is

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they're running a Halloween event the way
most parks run Christmas events, correct,

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and that is that you know,
the the idea being we're going to get

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an extra meal lot of people,
or we're going to get a second day

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out of people. Even though it's
not a second day of admission, it's

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a second day of potential merchandise.
It's a second day of potential culinary that

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you know, Christmas events pretty much
throughout the theme park industry run this way.

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It is it is added value.
I've often said that, you know,

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if you're going, it's it's very
difficult in most cases to go from

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an added value to a separate ticket
that usually has a lot of pushback.

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So they seem to have a great
excuse me, a great deal of confidence

318
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that excuse me that this is going
to work for them, which is great.

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And I have heard nothing but good
things about this event, and I

320
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unfortunately have not been up there to
see it. But yeah, I I

321
00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:06.119
think it's you know again, is
it Is it the local version of Halloween

322
00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:11.079
Hornites? Well? No, is
is California's version of Halloween Hornites Florida's version

323
00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:17.720
of Halloween Hornites? No, it's
not. There are there are unique qualities

324
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:22.359
to each, just like Bush Gardens
Tampa and Bush Gardens Williamsburg and SeaWorld's San

325
00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:26.720
Diego are all different Hollow Screams even
though they all have the same name.

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So I think we have to take
it at face value and recognize that this

327
00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:33.240
is a great value add for for
people going to Hershey Park. And you

328
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:36.519
know, I would even go so
far as to say, if you are

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a Haunt fan, and I know
a lot of Haunt fans who are kind

330
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of shying away from the larger parks
just simply because they've gotten so crowded and

331
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so expensive, this might be a
location you know that you want to you

332
00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:52.160
want to stop at just to kind
of check out. Maybe it's maybe it

333
00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:56.839
is it does become a tourist destination. Yeah, because I mean, let's

334
00:24:56.839 --> 00:25:00.200
face it, we have friends who
just travel around the country and and go

335
00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:07.480
see haunts and such. So what
I'm going to add to that is that

336
00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:11.160
it is it is an incredible event. Y'all just can't trust me because I

337
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.119
think I know a little bit about
haunts, So it is an it is

338
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:19.599
an incredible event objectively speaking, and
you know, just guest feedback, I

339
00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:25.200
mean, it's you know, Scott
Scott has many times talked about, you

340
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:27.079
know, the best way to open
it and consultant on new events, and

341
00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:30.599
I think they followed everything one hundred
percent according to the book, So it's

342
00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:34.559
it's done really well. What I
think about this though, as an overall

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00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:38.960
trend, is exactly what the you
mentioned mentioned for Christmas, which is I

344
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.160
think Potentially this could signal a little
bit of a pendulum shift, because we

345
00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:48.599
talk about we talk about theme parts
being you know, the whole cultures being

346
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.359
pendulums and things going back and forth. To me, this might signal that

347
00:25:52.640 --> 00:26:00.279
shift to going moving back towards having
it be included, you know. And

348
00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.079
if you tie this back to our
previous story, I could I could see

349
00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:07.119
I'm just hypothesizing here, but I
could see a world in which the new

350
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:12.119
six Flags branch rolls out, you
know, like an ip from Netflix at

351
00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:17.400
you know, for the twenty seven
of their parks countrywide, and they say

352
00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.720
that FrightFest is going to be included
for pass holders, and they use that

353
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as a lit lever you know,
to getting a lot more new passes and

354
00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:30.119
blah blah blah. And then suddenly
you have an environment where it is being

355
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:33.920
pushed back to the norm being that
it's included, which also could create a

356
00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:38.839
lot more competition for the local haunted
house, you know, because I think

357
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:44.559
for so long, local hont houses
have been competing against that concept of like,

358
00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:47.480
well we're cheaper and we're better,
you know than going to a theme

359
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:49.640
park where you have to pay for
everything, and it's so expensive, and

360
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:56.559
there's lines and they congoline you.
But if the equation switches to it being

361
00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:02.920
included, if you're a passolder and
then you also get Christmas, that's just

362
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.000
saying may not happen. That's just
kind of one of my thoughts. But

363
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.559
that's what that's kind of what I
think when I see stories like this.

364
00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:11.759
Well, and if you've ever if
you've ever taken a seminar from me,

365
00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:15.160
or listened to this or listen to
Scott in the Dark or whatever, you

366
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:21.039
will hear me say that seasonal seasonal
activations are their primary goal should be to

367
00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:25.920
make a pass, a season pass
worth more, whether it is whether it

368
00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:29.279
provides you with early access, or
provides you with a discount for a separate

369
00:27:29.319 --> 00:27:33.720
ticketed event, or just includes the
event itself. That's the purpose of seasonal

370
00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.519
events is to to do it really, to do two basic things. To

371
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:44.079
elevate the value of a season pass, and to encourage repeat visitation. Yep,

372
00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:48.319
it puts a fews on your visit. Locally, people will say,

373
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eh, yeah, yeah, I
live here, I'll go to the park

374
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:52.119
someday. And then all of a
sudden, you do a concert series that

375
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:55.759
has somebody that you want to see
and it gives you a reason to go

376
00:27:56.039 --> 00:28:00.200
that weekend. So Halloween, Christmas, Spring, Summer food, all of

377
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:06.000
these events do exactly the same thing. Yeah, Okay, we're gonna do

378
00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:07.640
a really quick story here because I
don't think there's much to talk about other

379
00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:11.960
than it's a terrible idea. So
SeaWorld in Orlando has instated a no re

380
00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:18.039
entry policy. What the heck?
So they just just really just threw it

381
00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:22.079
up there last minute. This was
originally the story was originally broke by Attractions

382
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:26.279
magazine. The editor, actually Matt
you know, saw this and questioned a

383
00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:30.119
few of the ambassadors about it,
and even the staff, according to his

384
00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:33.400
reporting, is unsure about again,
whether this even applies to season pass holders.

385
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:37.839
Some of the staff says season pass
holders even are not allowed back in

386
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:41.599
after they come in once a day, So I don't know. It's just

387
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:45.119
a no re entry you know,
you can't leave the park to go back

388
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:48.480
for hotel breaks or lunch or anything
in the car if you forgot something or

389
00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:52.400
whatever. One other thing I'll add. Theme Park Insider also picked up the

390
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:56.359
story after a Tractions magazine and they
ran a poll asking if that was a

391
00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:02.920
deal killer for you, and of
the over thirty two hundred people who replied

392
00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:04.920
for that, sixty five percent said
that yes, that was a deal killer.

393
00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:11.480
Yeah again, is it a deal
killer that? I don't know.

394
00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:15.240
What I will say is I think
it is. In my opinion, based

395
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:21.039
on my experience in the industry,
it is a very poor choice. I

396
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:25.720
understand why it is being done.
I understand all the things that look really

397
00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:30.000
good on paper, but ultimately the
guest experience is going to suffer, and

398
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.799
that is dangerous. On paper,
it looks great because it means well,

399
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:41.440
that means we capture additional culinary revenue. That means we capture it means we

400
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.680
have less excuse me, we have
less security issues. We have less people

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00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:48.680
going out to It used to be
that people would go out to their cars

402
00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.720
and drink or smoke pot and then
come back in. That's part of the

403
00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:56.200
reason that Halloween events never allowed you
to go to leave and come back.

404
00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:00.319
I mean, that's been common practice
for Halloween across board. There is no

405
00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:04.039
leaving, there is no re entry. So that's something that has been part

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00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:11.559
of a Halloween event just ongoing since
Halloween events started in theme parks. But

407
00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:15.240
I think this is just a poor
guest choice that to me, this is

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00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:18.160
the same this is the same mistake
that looks good on paper with like a

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00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:23.359
Santa photo where you can say only
you can't take photos on your own camera,

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00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:26.839
only we can take photos. And
what that does is it makes it

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00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:29.319
pisses people off, so they just
leave. They don't even look at the

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00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:30.839
photo, even though it's far better
than anything that you could get on their

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00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:36.960
camera. So it becomes it becomes
detrimental overall. And yeah, I agree

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00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:38.039
with you, Philip. I think
this is a poor choice and I'm hoping

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00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:42.759
that that Seer World Orlando recognizes this. But I do understand the logic behind

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00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:47.319
it, the logic behind it on
paper, and that is, you know,

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00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:52.319
it means that we're going to get
more more culinary revenue. And based

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00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:57.359
on the time that I spent in
Orlando not too long ago, the culinary

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00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:03.920
culinary could you additional oomph there?
So, speaking of oomf, we're about

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00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:08.119
to be oofed off the air because
we have hit our thirty minutes and wow,

421
00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:12.880
that was the lamest transition I have
ever done. Hashtag lame transition.

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00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:18.200
Anyway, that's all the time we
have for this episode of Green Tag theme

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00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.880
Park in thirty. We hope to
see you all again here next week on

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00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:26.279
behalf of Philipernandez with Gantam Lighting and
the on A Detraction Network and myself Scott

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00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:29.240
Swinson with Scott Swins and Creative Development. This is Green Tag Theme Park in

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00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:32.799
thirty and we will see you and
every single human being that you know next week