World of Frozen Opens & 30th Annual Theas

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Welcome to Green Tag Theme Park in
thirty I'm Philip and I'm joined as always

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by my co host Scott Swinson and
Scott swiftson creative Development and today, Scott,

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we're going to talk about the World
of Frozen, which I know that

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we've been dealing with the recovery from
Ayapa and before that, covery of Halloween,

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so we missed a few news I
am, so we'll talk about World

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of Frozen and some of that,
and then we'll talk about the atheas which

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were also announced last week during Ayappa
that we didn't get to last week because

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we were talking about so much to
the other great things that are at the

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show. So World of Frozen.
It has opened. On November twentieth,

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The gates of World of Frozen,
the world's first Frozen themed land, officially

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open to the public at the Hong
Kong dis Landers Wort, marking a significant

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milestone for the Walt Disney Company as
it celebrates one hundred years of Disney this

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year the largest expansions it's the parked
open in two thousand and five, guests

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can celebrate Summer snow Day at World
of Frozen with three all new attractions,

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take a boat ride on Frozen ever
After to Elsa's Ice Palace, set out

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on an adventure on Wandering Oaken's Sliding
sleighs, and enjoy an all new interactive

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play experience with Queen's Anna and Elsa
at the Playhouse in the Woods. They

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can also enjoy Nordic food and exclusive
Frozen themed souvenirs. So there's plenty of

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videos out there. And the story
I was reading from was from Empark Magazine,

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which has great coverage on this.
Everyone has coverage if you want to

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see what the land is like.
I kind of was taken aback because I

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had forgotten that there was no other
Frozen land. There's just frozen pieces right

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in the other parks, so it
was the closest right really is Epcot at

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this point. Yeah, it was
very interesting that I just I kind of

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had forgotten about that, and then
Hong Kong Dis' Land and it kind of

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reminded me overall of how we haven't
talked that much about Asia in a while,

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because Asia, because you know,
the lockdowns, basically the lockdown in

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the has really impacted the Asian market
and they're just barely really getting back.

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And if you're remember we were talking
about how twenty twenty four was supposed to

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be that Asia was going to be
the new epicenter for theme parks, and

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now it's I think it's really been
derailed. But I think you can see

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the markets, or at least from
what I heard at Ayapa and also looking

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at some of the stories have come
out, it looks like those areas are

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trying to get back on track,
but I think it's going to be several

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years. And now there's the UAE
right as another. There's other competitors now

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that have made dramatic steps forward.
While the Asia region, Saudi Arabia,

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Yeah, Saudi Arabia is another one. It's yeah, the Middle East in

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general is making some great strides as
far as building an attractions industry. But

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I think it's interesting because in looking
at some of the some of the videos

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specifically surrounding the world of Frozen and
then expanding out to some of the other

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things that we're going to chat about
a little bit later in the show,

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I think they're making this foothold.
I think they're making this mark by building

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upon what we've already kind of touched
on, and that is how the look

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of entertainment or entertaining guests in a
theme park environment, or really any environment

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is changing. It's not it's not
the old. We're gonna we're gonna sit

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in a theater and watch a proscenium, or even we're gonna sit in a

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dark ride vehicle and just drive by
scenes that were not necessarily involved in or

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don't necessarily surprise us in any way. They're just sort of basically as an

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old guy like me, store windows
that are animated as you go by them,

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you know. Specifically, for example, with World of Frozen, one

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of the things that really caught my
eye as a live entertainment guy was the

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show experience in Playhouse in the Woods
when I saw and I've seen bits and

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pieces of the show, I think
I've seen the whole thing, but not

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necessarily as a POV watching the whole
thing through. The thing I absolutely love

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about this is this is a this
is a face character meet and greet on

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super Duper Steroil. It's because it's
fully integrated with UH, engaging animation,

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engaging projection, all part of a
story that you know, gives everybody a

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chance to sort of be in the
front row at some point in time.

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It is a it is a standing
experience, but it is an experience that

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uh that that you are you are
met by Anna as the doors open,

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which I think is really super cool. And it's it's what we've been talking

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about a lot, and that is
that you know, entertainment is is changing

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its look and the you get to
uh as you as you enter this this

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show experience, at certain points,
the audience gets to decide or it creates

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the illusion that the audience gets to
decide what is happening next and which spirits

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will be summoned and who gets to
help summon them, and there's audience participation

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both individually and as a group.
It just it just really ticks all the

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boxes for a great interactive or immersive
experience, and I think we're seeing that

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more and more. In fact,
comparisons have even been made in the whole

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the whole realm of of Frozen Too
to Galaxy's Edge. I mean, they're

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they're saying that it is it is
that level of immersion without you know,

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necessarily that level of of uh craziness
behind it. I don't know, so

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I'm I'm I'm really fascinated by that. And then even in you know,

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even in the the ride. Uh, the the Frozen ever After Ride,

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which is is basically the the grown
up version of the Epcot overlay. You

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know, we'll we'll call it that
it is. Uh, it's significantly more

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massive and uh. And one of
the things that that I've seen several people

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comment on is the quality of the
animatronics in this this next generation of of

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Disney experiences. UH. That it's
it really makes you feel as though you

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are in a dimensional version of the
film that the young people have come to

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know and love. So for the
younger guests, it is truly immersive.

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It's on an elsa standing there and
their faces are moving, and they're moving

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just like the characters. You know. It's it's not like the old days

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of Lincoln who couldn't stand up,
you know. It's it's truly amazing and

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truly creates this immersive or at least
surrounding world building experience. And then the

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reason I think that's so important to
point out is this is also something that

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is going to come up I think
over and over and over again as we

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look at what new attractions are coming
out there and what attractions are being recognized

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as excellent or cutting edge. So
I just think that as we continue to

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move forward, and I do think
I think that the Asian market embraces this

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more quickly because again I think it's
they just accept oh yeah, here I

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am, you know, but even
the cues, for example, even the

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the cues are becoming as much a
part of the attraction as the actual attraction

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itself. And I think that,
you know, building off of that,

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that that concept, I think you're
right. I think the Asian markets they

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are still there, They're still kicking
hard, and they're still following all of

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in my opinion, all of the
right all the right road maps to be

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a leader in the in the next
level of entertainment. So yeah, more

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numbers came out as well, coming
on that, I think it's just going

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to be a little bit delayed.
I mean, the numbers here that came

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out this past week said basically.
A report by the Institute of Theme Park

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Studies revealed that more than seven point
five to seven million people visited the theme

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parks in China in twenty twenty two, while theme park revenues saw fifteen percent

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You're on year increase thanks to the
opening of new theme parks like Universal Beijing

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Resort twenty twenty two, the report
goes on to say, was the toughest

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year for the Chinese theme parks.
After adding new theme parks, the visitors

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to the overall parks actually dropped almost
a third of a percentage point in twenty

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twenty two. So exactly what we
were just talking about is how new parks

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are opening. The area's still trying
to expand they're obviously still adding parks,

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but visitor levels have not increased,
and that's, you know, due to

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a lot of tourism not having recovered
and the domestic tourism also not really recovering.

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But things are going in the right
direction. I think now it's just

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going to be a question of how
long will it take to get back on

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track. I've heard I've heard people
estimating three to five years that it kind

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of things got derailed. And then
of course other factors, you know,

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such as relationships, you know,
between countries do also determine like how how

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much international travels can to happen.
So and I think we've also I think

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we've also discussed this too, you
know, we've said this for years,

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and that is that as we come
out of COVID, there's going to be

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this gigantic rush and then there's going
to be a great evening. So I

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think what's going to happen is,
you know, we've got these brand new

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mega parks, We've got these new
mega experiences, et cetera, et cetera,

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et cetera that are popping up really
all over the world, not just

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in the Asian market, and I
think that, you know, we're going

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to see that some of those are
going to get lost in the shuffle as

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things start to even out, you
know, I think there is going to

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be this giant rush that in both
expansion and eventually I think guest flow as

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well. But then there's going to
be a normalization. There's going to be

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an equilibrium found in in guests.
And I'm not sure whether we've were starting

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to see that in the Asian market
or not. I have a feeling this

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is still just with one third of
a percentage point. I realize that's a

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lot of people when you look at
it, but one third of a percentage

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point is is not a is not
a panic ridden drop in attendance. It's

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something to look at, it's something
to be aware of, but I don't

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think it's it's necessarily something to go
oh, here's a trend. Yeah.

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Well, I think the point is
that despite what like ten new parks opening,

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one of which being you know,
the most expensive park they've ever built,

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that it's still decline, intended to
still decline. But I also think

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that that that may have actually been
part of the challenge, and that is,

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let's see which of these ten new
parks rise to the surface and will

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go next year. You know,
Let's see which one's really worth going to,

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because we can't afford to go to
all ten of them, so let's

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figure out which one's going to be
the best. And the best way to

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do that is to give it some
time and see what does survive this onslaught

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of new live entertainment or new theme
park entertainment you know, around the world.

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Yeah, I don't know. Again, I think that I think that

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we're going to see, Yes,
we're going to see a resurgent in a

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recovery, but I don't think it's
going to I don't think we can look

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at the recovery numbers and go,
oh, this is the new normal,

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because it's not going to be that. Well. Also happened during Ayappa is

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every year the TA has their annual
press conference and announces the recipients of the

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Theas. This year is the thirtieth
anniversar or the Theas, so these are

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the thirtieth the Thea's number thirty that
have released out. Argue with that it's

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the thirtieth, So it is they
number thirty? I don't know. So

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of course, the gala is the
big event where everyone will be officially honored,

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and right before the Gala there's their
Inspire period where you can learn more

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about each of these and that's not
happening until March of this year. However.

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The link we're going to put in
the show notes is from in Park

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magazine. They have a great rundown
with videos links so you can look at

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all of the recipients and kind of
see coverage on them, which is it's

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a great little resource for you.
What struck me immediately was going to these

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points about how how many of them
are in Europe and are not from America

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or from the Asia region or you
know, from I mean, really it's

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a lot of European recipients, which
is, you know, there's European and

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there's there's some from the Middle East
and a few from you know, it's

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it's previously it was it was much
more balanced towards Asia region. I think

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that's exactly again we're talking about,
you know, it's like that region shut

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down for a little bit and is
getting back going, and so in the

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meantime we're able to look at what's
been happening in Europe and of course see

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World Abu Dabi's on there because that
was a huge opening. But you know,

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it's I think these ceas are usually
pretty indicative I think of kind of

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what's going on or where the industry
is looking, I should say, you

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know, at the current time.
So I think it's good because it's been

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a while since we have looked at
too many items happening, you know,

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in the Europe region so well,
and I think it's I think it's important

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to recognize that TEA as well as
you know, some of the changing initiatives

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with AYAPPA are looking to make certain
that we recognize that the theme park industry

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is an international industry. It is
not an American industry. It's not a

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Chinese industry, it's not a Middle
Eastern industry, it's not a European industry.

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It is truly global, and I
think there is a specific focus right

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now to help people recognize that no
matter where they are in the world,

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there is a world class theme park
experience or themed entertainment experience somewhere not too

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far from them. I also think
it's interesting again, you know, I'm

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always looking at it from the creative
standpoint and the content standpoint as you look

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through all of these and I went
through and you know, watch some of

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the videos, some of the some
of the project, some of the projects

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I was familiar with, a couple
of them I was very familiar with.

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But you know, I am I
am thrilled to have been even the tiniest

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part of the world Awudabi project that
was. It really is one of the

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most completely immersive parks I've ever been
in, even in just just walking through

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it. It's it's so world building
that it creates all these different oceans,

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all these different realms. But that
is true. I think of almost all

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of the recipients in some form or
another, whether it is building a phenomenal

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Q experience that that is as much
a part of the storytelling, in fact

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is the majority of the storytelling for
things like Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic

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Rewine, you know, the the
Q Line is, in my opinion,

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really the whole story. And then
then you get on a a very cool,

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very cool, I'm not not under
selling it, a very cool dark

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coaster as your finale, but you
know, the the Q itself and the

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experience of being transported. They've finally
done one of my favorite, one of

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my favorite redone one of my favorite
old concepts, and that is to transport

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an entire room of people to a
completely different location, as if by magic.

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Truly amazing. I first saw that
in Vegas many many years ago at

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at the Star Trek experience, but
and it blew my mind then, and

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it's still pretty cool now. But
now, Philip, you had some insight

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into into Guardians remix, did you
not? Yeah, so we didn't obviously

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know. We as Gantum as manufacturers, you know, we don't have too

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much creative input for many of these, but we did work on quite a

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few of these projects, including the
Guardians of the Galaxy, the Q Line

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for that, as well as Sewell
Abadhabi and Johnny Walker experience. I mean,

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I think about almost half of these
we have been involved in in some

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way or another. Johnny Walker especially
because for them to Scott's point, they

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really wanted everything to be customed because
it had to fit within the narrative.

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So things had to be really had
to had to fit the narrative. And

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I think also with the Q Line
experience, you know that at Guardians,

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I agree with everything Scott says.
I think it's it's it's a beautiful immersive

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experience that tells the story and it
just keeps reminding me where we keep hitting

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up against these themes over and over. You know, I agree to Scott's

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point from earlier that entertainment is changing, and I think, like we've talked

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about several times on the show,
part of the reason is because of the

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increased competition that parks are facing from
what you can do in your home,

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you know, like h and it's
just it's just interesting where it's almost like

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your in home experience is shrinking,
like screens are shrinking, like so many

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that watch time for TikTok is so
large, but you're not really watching TikTok

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on your TV, right You're watching
on your smartphone exactly. And also with

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the VR and the goggles and all
this, I mean, all that kind

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of stuff is you know, shrinking
the device footprint and shrinking that kind of

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thing so that you can do it
on your phone or do it in a

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smaller capability, so you're in home
entertainment. While it's expanding its capability,

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the physical size of it and the
screens of it are shrinking, and it

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feels like, uh, the thing
entertainment is trying to go in the opposite

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direction by by to show that contrast
to say, we are making more larger

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experiences that are trying to keep you
more engaged. And it's that same thing.

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You know, you don't want your
patrons to be standing around board on

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their phones, so kind of like
each moment has to be something that is

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engaging in a different level and something
you can't experience on your phone exactly.

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Know, that's the I think that's
I think that's probably the most the most

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relevant point is the fact that you
know, because because we are we have

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become so competent and confident in finding
entertainment and entertaining ourselves on our on our

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devices, you know, whether that
is a phone or a tablet or even

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a liteaptop if you're old like me, like a laptop. But I so

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I think we have to You've heard
you've heard parents say it for years.

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I mean, my parents would say, stop watching television and go outside and

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play. And here it's put down
your phone and experience the real world.

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You know. It's and I think
that you know, we use the term,

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we didn't coin the term, but
we've used the term actual reality quite

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a bit. And if you look
through, if you scan through, almost

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all of these experiences are have elements
of this actual reality, this world building

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where you you can't just it's it's
too big to experience on a single screen,

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you know, I mean even even
screened entertainment. You know, Philip,

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you we were talking just before we
started recording. You just got back

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from from Vegas and you had the
opportunity to experience the sphere, which in

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essence is a screen, but one
that is so significantly larger than than what

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you can hold in your hand and
or put in your pocket. You know.

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Yeah, you want to chat about
that just a little bit. Yeah,

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what I was thinking about, because
I think there's a lot of parallels

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between those things and what we're talking
about now. You know, Thanksgiving we

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went to Vegas and I went to
the Sphere, and I think to describe

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it, we've talked about this yere
previously on the show when it came out,

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because it was pretty big news and
it's a it's a big investment.

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I mean, it's several billion dollars. And I found out later that the

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capacity for watching the show inside the
Sphere is eighteen over eighteen thousand people seating

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plus twenty thousand standing, So I
mean you're talking about quite a large space.

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And it's interesting because I think a
lot of people, you know,

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maybe we just know it from being
the outside, so you know, the

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outside kind of you can it has
like twenty four to seven shows happening or

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that shows, but like you know, graphics and stuff playing on the outside

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of it. Yeah, content like
playing on the outside of it that they

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change over, but it's essential.
They stuck it right on the edge of

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the Venetian's Convention Center, and there's
so many people that come in and out.

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I mean, you're talking the show
fire that the interior show, the

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permanent show called the Sphere Experience.
It fires every two hours and you're having

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you know, up to eighteen thousand
people going in and out of that space

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every two hours. So they're using
the convention center almost as a que line

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basically, and there's so much in
that that's indicative of stuff we've been talking

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about in the show. It's like, it's like, what do we do

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with space that you know we're not
using anymore? You know, you know,

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conventions have had a hard time,
you know, going through the pandemic

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and recovering. So if that space
isn't being fully utilized, what if we

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stuck an attraction there and we use
it. It's the same thing that the

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Gaylord even that we've talked about does
in Orlando on a smaller scale. You

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know, they use their convention center
to set up their Christmas experience. So

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it's kind of like, how do
we utilize the space to do to act

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as a Q line in this case
for a big experien and but the experience

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itself, I would say to me
it felt like a mix between really sore

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in like a movie theater, a
giant movie theater, and also like the

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concept of sorein because the screen again
is so large that you can't see you

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have to constantly moving your head around
because you can't you cannot see the entire

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screen like you know, you know, normally you can see the whole screen,

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even if it's a large screen.
In the movie theater, but in

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these in this instance, the screen
is so large you can't see the entire

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thing even by a long shot,
in anything that you any of the scenes.

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So it's just it's it's really interesting
how we've talked also about where movie

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theaters are going and where that type
of entertainment is going. And I think

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to your point, Scott, it's
like, you know, how do we

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make screen content relevant? Well,
you make it relevant by making it more

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surrounding or more immersive. And the
way these people are doing that is they're

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making the screen so large that you
kind of like have to see it to

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believe it kind of a thing they're
making it that they're making almost like the

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screen itself the experience, you know, where like it's so large you have

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to kind of see it to believe
it, and that you cannot experience it

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at home, like you know,
there's no there's no way to watch to

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watch that because it's such a large, a large thing happening. And I'm

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not sure if that's you know,
if that's going to be the trend or

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not. But I mean, essentially
you're going in and there's there's interactive exhibits

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in the lobby area. You know, it's broken up into two. The

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sphere experience itself is broken up into
two two phases. You know. Phase

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one is kind of like you're walking
in to the to the sphirit itself and

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you can find your seats and get
food or whatnot. And when the lobby

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has an interactive exhibits quote unquote that
they have going on there, which at

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this point feel a little bit dated. You know, there's referencing the metaverse

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and they're referencing you know, technology
and stuff that we've already kind of leapt

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beyond. But you know, you
can interact with robots and it's so fifteen

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yeahs a metaverse, you know,
right, but you know you can scan

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yourself into an avatar or we're going
to get letters for that one. We're

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gonna get letters for that. Say
no, the metaverse is still there,

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you know y geld talk to robots
and do all that, and then you

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essentially then you do that for the
first half as people get to their seats

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and then the show starts. In
the show is fifty minutes, so but

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essentially, yeah, essentially it's it's
the same process. It's like going to

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a movie. I mean, really
and you just you just change again.

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To Scott's point, you're changing some
of the elements. You're like, what

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if it was a movie except the
screen with something you have to see to

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believe, and it surrounds you.
And what if the lobby had exhibits that

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people would, you know, do
something fun in the lobby basically before they

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go sit down and get their stuff, and then you'll watch a show and

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and and then we can charge three
times as much as a movie ticket because

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you're take it be well. And
and as you said, you know,

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as you've explained explained it, it's
almost every element of it has an active

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part. You know, even even
the fact that just the fact that the

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screen is so large and domes around
you, you must be active. You

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must look from side to side in
order to fully experience what's going on.

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Excuse me. I had this happen
early on with the first Imax or Omnimax

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theaters, where I sat too close
to watch a Star Wars movie. And

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you know, when you get into
those close, tight two person dialogue scenes,

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you're literally turning your head from one
side to the other, back and

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forth to see what's going on.
So it requires you to become to engage.

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It requires you to physically engage.
And you know, going back to

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the Theas and the announcement of the
Theas, pretty much every single one of

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these in some level or another has
an active participatory element. That either is

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you either have a way to alter
the storyline or you have a perceived way

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to alter the storyline. Sometimes you
don't really make the choice, the choice

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is made for you, but you're
made to believe that you are a character

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in a story. You are made
to believe that you are living in this

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world. You're made to believe that
you're transported to another world. You know,

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all of these these things where you
actually participate and don't just sit and

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watch. The other thing that I
was very excited about was to see how

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many retail experiences were recognized by the
Theas this year. You know, we've

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talked a lot about retail a tainment
and the importance of it, and this

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year at at Iappa Expo, I
had I have two different I had two

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different people approach me and say,
would you be willing to work for a

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retail establishment as a client to help
us do storytelling and world building and that

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sort of thing. So that is
clearly something that is is is on the

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is on the upswing. And I
think since we're coming out of Sorry I'm

355
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getting a little off topic here,
but I just want to mention this,

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since we're coming out of Black Friday, and Black Friday was not the story

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for the brick and mortars that it
was has been in years past. You

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know, they used to not not
too long ago, there were you know,

359
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they would send news crews out to
see people standing in line waiting to

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get the doorbusters as they as they
opened the doors to stores. And anecdotally,

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all of the retailers that I've talked
to this year were like, it

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was sort of like a good Saturday, but that's about it. You know,

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there was nothing, there was nothing
newsworthy about it. You know,

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so retailers who want to continue to
do brick and mortar have to find something

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that is newsworthy or over and above
the product in order to make it,

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in order to make it marketable and
saleable, you know. And this has

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started. This started in theme parks, by the way. Yeah, I

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think that's exactly right. And I
think again, I think we've seen bits

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of this all over you know,
it's like it's it's the same point of

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the screen thing. It's like it
has to be demonstrably different than you shopping

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online or doing the thing online.
And also it's better for retailers because people

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can see the product. There's less
returns. Returns are terrible, and online

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retailers have back themselves into a corner
because if you don't like it's like it's

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expected now that there's going to be
a return and you'll be able to do

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it hassle free and all that.
But that costs a lot and they don't

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you know, you don't want to
be buying two or three versions of a

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thing and then returning the ones that
don't fit. Like, retailers don't want

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that. So ideally there's a physical
experience. And even going back to the

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sphere experience, I mean, look
at you know, the Wind is right

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next door to the Sphere and you
can start to win and the Wind has

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those lobby installations, you know.
So we went to the Wind and they

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had a lobby installation and it's to
say, you know, they rotate them.

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But they had the Christmas display up
and they had the old flower carousel

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that they put up in twenty thirteen, which is still kept with fresh flower.

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I mean there's fifty thousand flowers on
that carousel. It's thirteen feet tall

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and it's six thousand pounds, and
they put Christmas flowers in it for Christmas

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and it moves around, and I
mean there's no you know, that's there

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just to create a retail tament experience. I mean, that's there really just

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to make the lobby to have you
want to go into those places, just

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to look at the decorations and look
at the environment. That's exactly what you're

391
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talking about, right. And the
nice thing about something like the flower carousel

392
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or the I always think of,
like whenever I'm in Vegas, I think

393
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of the gardens at Bellagio, yep, the fountains to the fountains and the

394
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fountains out front, and then the
gardens indoors. I'm all, I'm a

395
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huge fan of the fact that you
walk in and you don't just look at

396
00:28:47.799 --> 00:28:53.119
it, you smell it, you
experience it on a completely on a multisensory

397
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level, which I think is something
that is super important. It's also why

398
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I think, you know, it's
no surprise that that Gantum has product in

399
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so many of these because they want
to create. They want to create environments.

400
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They want to build worlds that don't
have gigantic lighting fixtures sticking out of

401
00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:11.799
them, so you know, they
go to a product that is smaller and

402
00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:17.400
more low profile, that can just
create the light and create the emotion and

403
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:22.160
the content that they're looking for without
making the fixture itself the star of the

404
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:26.799
show, so to speak. So
yeah, I think that when i'd be

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curious, I want all of you
to click on the link and look at

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the if you haven't already looked through, look at the variety of things that

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are offered this year to sort of
sum things up, not only the variety

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of location, but also the fact
that there is a certain similarity in the

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fact that every single one of these
have a world building or a immersive element

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or quality to them. And unfortunately
that is about all the time we have

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to build this little world here with
Green Tag Team partnerility, and I can't

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tell you, you know, as
we approach, as we approach the end

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of the year, as we get
here in the fourth quarter, I can't

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tell you how much I appreciate it, and I know Philip feels the same

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way. How much we both appreciate
you guys tuning in. When we were

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at AAPPA, I had several people
and I know Philip did as well,

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come up and say, you know, I can't start my week without Green

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Tagged, or we love listening to
you, especially when you disagree. They

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point out, you know, all
the different quirks, and they're truly listeners,

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and we really do appreciate that sort
of loyalty. If you do feel

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that other people in the industry would
enjoy the content of this show, please

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00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:34.319
feel free to share it with them
and then keep coming back week after week

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after week, because we look forward
to seeing you next week here on Green

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Tagged Theme Park. In thirty