WEBVTT
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From our studios in Los Angeles and Tampa. This is
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green tagged Theme Parking thirty. I'm Philip and I'm joined
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as always by my co host Scott Swinson of Scott
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Swinson Creative Development.
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It is it does.
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It may not feel like it is the thick of
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Halloween season because it's one hundred and ten here and
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it's ninety seven where Scott is, but it is in
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fact the thick of Halloween season. I think most of
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the theme park events have opened this year before Labor Day,
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and some even earlier than that, as we reported that
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Mickey Suns a Scare Halloween Party, actually opened August ninth
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as the first ticketed event. So it's been it's been
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a while, or almost a month into Halloween already, which
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is wild. But I thought we'd started off with some experiences.
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I did this past week, and I did Okibigi Bash
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and the opening of Halloween Horne It's Hollywood, of course,
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which happened. And then I made a trip out to
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Salt Lake City to see her, to see our friend
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Spencer at the Fear Factory there that have all saw
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already opened, even the independent haunts. I think they're opening
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a little early this season, so so Ogi Boogie Bash.
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You know, I think we talked about last week about
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Halloween whore Knights in Orlando and a little bit like
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the lack of consistent atmosphere, more like there are pockets
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that they've kind of created around when and there are
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extensive periods of time where you're standing in line and
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there's no atmosphere at all that's surrounding you. I think
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Ugi Biggy Bash is the opposite in that, you know,
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the one thing Disney does really well. They may it
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may take them a while to get something rolled out,
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but definitely the consistency is always there. And I would
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say that's what you feel Ugi Biggy Bash. The entire event,
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no matter where you are, feels like a party and
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it does kind of stick coherently with the plan. They
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don't really talk about the story of the event, but
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I'll tell you because I know. The story of the
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event is that Ogibug kind of steals spell and what
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he does is is kind of summon open a portal
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basically and some monsters in and so the portal that
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where he opens it is the villain's growth area, which
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is why the villains aren't there. But it's all projection
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mapped and this you see they walk through the you
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see all the zones kind of all of the villain
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worlds sort of half merging into our world, and that's
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where they come in. Then all the villains set up
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little stations, right, So that's kind of the loose story
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and they keep with that. And you know, while Mickey's
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not so scary, how wing party hasn't changed at all
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between this year and the previous year Ogibigi Bash they
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do add and take away villains, so the villains do rotate.
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So this year we had Hades and doctor Dumann Schmertz
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from Phineas and Ferb which was an interesting choice. And
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what's what I like about Ogbugi Bash event is that
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they create, you know, scenes for the villains. So when
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you're walking through to the treat trail and the villain
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is there, there's a whole set and I think the
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Hades one everyone was talking about, I mean it is
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it's pretty phenomenal that they use a stage for Haiti's
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set and they basically created a little underworld kind of
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set and so you have all of the Greek pillars
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and you have the Greek backgrounds and it's then projection
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matched the flames over it, and then Hades is walking
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and it's a face character, so they do have like
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Hades a prosthetic and a makeup on him, and he
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is improving the whole time that you're walking through, he's
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talking to people, he's making comments about your costumes and whatnot.
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And then the best part is when you mentioned Hercules
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or you if you talk to him and you mentioned
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something from the movie that gets him angry in the movie,
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then he will actually get angry in character and he
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will turn red like in the movie. So all of
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the background like it's trigger and his hair actually turns
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color changes color. So it's really cool. It was a
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good job.
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I mean it was. It was. It's a great villain.
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It's a great job.
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The actor does a great job also knowing the character
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and knowing the characters trigger lines because he only does it,
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you know, It's like if you mentioned Hercules, or he
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sees Hercules in cost in costume or something, you know,
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then he'll do it or a meg or he has
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to be something that that would upset the character normally.
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So I think that that's was a really fun addition.
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And the doctor I don't watch Phineasi Fribb too much.
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But The Doctor was also fun because of the set.
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It looks like a cartoon. It's it looks very similar
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to what you know, what with the X Men mansion
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and that kind of stuff. It's very similar where it's
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a it's a real there are real props, but they
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look like cartoon and they really mix really well, like
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a neon.
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Probably like like a.
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Porcelain, but like a like a fiberglass, like a fiberglass
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with like projection mapped and lighting beams that so make
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it look like the cartoon has come to life. And
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that character people are saying has given them nightmares because
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the way the prosthetics fit and everything that kind of
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looks like a h even Tho He's supposed to be
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a cartoon, but it's kind of a nightmare. Yeah, But
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I think otherwise the whole event is solid, the lighting package,
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you know, the the music and whatnot, and then we
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get new villains, and the villains are the new ones
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are always great. You know, you have the old villains
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from last year, you know, and the previous year, so
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you still have Ernesto where he actually plays the guitar
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and he sings with a singer up there, it's on
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stage playing guitar, playing songs. It's it's fun, I think
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because you get the chance to interact with these villains
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in an improvy way. That's not just we're taking photos
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of you, right, you're actually because you don't get to
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stop and take photos.
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You have to keep walking.
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So it allows the character the opportunity to actually improv
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the entire time and just kind of exist.
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Well, that was kind of one of my questions is
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do these do these improv moments like we'll call the
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mini worlds for lack of a better description, Do they
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gather crowds?
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Yeah, so they do gather the whole I think the
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whole purpose of the event is to see the villains.
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And there's only ten of them there, and then there's
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there's there's two trails that don't have any villains, and
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then there's ten that have villains. So really it's a
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lot of capacity that you have to plan for, which
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is really why you can't stop and just stand there
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and watch. So the custombers will vary gently kind of
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prompt you to move along or to not stand too long.
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You know, you can stand.
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I've seen me Bee thirty seconds if you want, But
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they're the way they've done it operationally is also very smart.
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So when you when.
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You're right in front of the villain, there's two lanes
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right One lane is like the slow lane where all
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the people are going to stop and maybe try and
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take a picture of the villain or do something like that,
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and then the lane behind them is the fast lane
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where you're just gonna keep walking. So that really helps
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to get move the people. The people that just want
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to see the villain and don't want to try and
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ask them a question or just want to look at them,
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and you know, they can take the fast lane, and
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then of course you can wait. But in previous years,
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when the first when the event first launched, I would
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say you could wait up to an hour for a villain.
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But when I went this past week, we didn't wait
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more than twenty thirty minutes for anybody, and that was
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only for the really long wait times, you know, And
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towards the end of the night you could almost walk
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directly up to Hades because the people were going the
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parade or whatever. So I think that actually they've improved
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the operations really well.
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You know, it almost sounds like It almost sounds like
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a hybrid between a scare zone scenario, a multiple scare
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zone scenario, and a hot scenario. It's it's in essence
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a linear ish experience, yep, that that has downtime in between,
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so that you have that connective material and then you
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you it ebbs and flows, which which would be yeah, no,
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I think that's I think that's very smart. I do
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know that we had talked about that even many many
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years ago for a full theme park, because again that
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that's a very cost effective way to do things. Yes,
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instead of building one continuous set that you go through
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as a complete haunt, create a linear experience that is
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a series of here's this villain, and here's this villain,
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or here's this scene. Excuse me, here's this moment, here's
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this moment. And I love the fact that that they
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are kind of tied together with some form of story,
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because you know, that's always my biggest pet peeve is
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that like, let's just throw stuff up there. But I
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think that the fact that it is sort of a
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a portal that has opened to suck the villains in
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from their world kind of makes sense. I like that,
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And uh, you know, as you say, It also makes
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it so that you never leave the party, so to speak,
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so you can constantly, constantly keep that going. Yeah, I've seen,
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I did. I obviously did not experience it, but I
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have seen I have seen videos of Hades, and the
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the anger transformation is really really cool, you know, I think.
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I think a really good takeaway from this is just
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make sure you understand what your guests are looking for,
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because with Disney villains, they just want to see them
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interact with them for a moment and move on. I
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mean it almost becomes it almost becomes a collector's card mentality.
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It's like, okay, so Hades, check, saw you know, three
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of whatever. All the other villains are Agatha, Yeah, saw
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them check, saw them check. So that so they can
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feel as though they have a full experience without really
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having to sit through an entire show of Hades or
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an entire show of of any of the other villains.
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So exactly. Yeah, and I also like the fact, you know,
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the other takeaway that I would I would throw out
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there is don't underestimate the impact of something that is
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not in a traditional theater setting, because if you could
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do something really cool technically or theatrically that people walk by,
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photograph and send out That is marketing. Bank you know, you're, You're, You're.
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It's a perfect example and the fact that I have
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not even in fact, the first time I saw it,
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I didn't even know what it was from until I
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actually dug in and went, oh, okay, boogy bash got it.
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But it's just it's phenomenal marketing. And all too often
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I think what happens is, especially with Halloween, all the
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money is spent on those things that either people sit
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down or they walk through a haunt. And don't underestimate
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the impact you can have by doing something that is
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technically amazing. That is, that is something you don't necessarily
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have to wait for, plan for, you just kind of
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can experience as you walk through it. And another thing
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too is that I think is really really important is,
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as you said, they're strong improv actors. Get the villains.
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You know, villains who need to play instruments play instruments. Uh,
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villains who need to be sharp witted and have a
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sharp tongue are sharp witted and have a sharp tongue.
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So it's not like you're just looking at the villains,
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You're actually interacting with them and getting to meet them.
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Yes, I was gonna say, that's exactly right. And I
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like that they give the guest a role in that
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way exactly. Yes, So the guests can dictate their experience
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to an extent, so like for example, and this is
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something that I actually I wish other people did more of,
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and I think we're getting we're getting too far away
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from this. But the guests can dictate to dictate their
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experience to a way. So for example, that even the
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guests could choose to dress as Hercules and go to
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meet Hades and then play a character. I'm playing Hercules.
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I'm gonna come see Hades. Hayes is going to get
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angry at me. And all that does is entertain everybody.
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Line correct, and it saves and it saves the park
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money on additional labor. They don't have to cast to Hercules.
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So it's not only is it more impactful for the guests,
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it's also more cost effective for the park.
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Yeah.
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And I think those moments especially and also what you
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mean about the theater effects too, especially if you can
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combine them, because it is tricky on the actor, because
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the Haites actor has to so the cute, the fire
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cue doesn't happen on as schedule. Basically, like the actor somehow,
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I think he kind of gives them a look or
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you know, he somehow triggers the tech team to trigger
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the lighting behind him and they sync up together. So
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it's it's really it's really again an actor skill, but
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it's an excellent actor skill, and it's not I mean,
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you know, good actors can do this easily.