Knott’s Scary Farm Celebrates 50 Years of Never-Ending Nightmares

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Knots Scary Farm just revealed their full
fiftieth anniversary lineup that's coming up on today's

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show. Welcome to the show.
I'm Philip on the aj N Show.

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We bring you the news and information
you need to prepare for Halloween. And

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speaking of Halloween, our annual Halloween
programming begins September first and runs through Halloween

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Day. This show is just one
part of that programming, so check out

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our email newsletter for the full details. Today, as we prepare for our

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Halloween programming, I'm playing an episode
from our sister show, Green Tagged theme

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Park in thirty. In it,
we discussed the fiftieth anniversary of Knots Scary

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Farm. As a reminder, we
used to air the show actually in this

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feed, but we no longer do
that because it covers more general theme park

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information. If you want to subscribe
to that show, you can find it

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anywhere podcas pasts are found. Okay, here we go from our studios in

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Tampa and Los Angeles. This is
Green tag Theme Park in thirty. I'm

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Philip and I'm joined as always by
my co host Scott Swinson. A Scott

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Swinson Quad development. Well, it's
a it's almost September, Scott, we

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have this Our big story start off
this week is talking about Not Scary Farm

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and their fiftieth anniversary. It kind
of we've kind of got They waited a

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little bit to give us all the
details, but there are a lot of

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details, and they were all revealed
during their Nightmares Revealed event, which was

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a new event that just happened this
past week on the twenty fourth, So

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it was kind of like given via
presentation that was live stream, so people

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got to watch the live stream and
then they sent out press releases and if

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you were there in person, you
got to watch it in person. So

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didn't you say it was also open
to the Yeah, So the event,

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the Nightmares Revealed event, was a
new event this year that was open to

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anybody, you know, season pass
holders, regular people, and then they

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were invited media and there was a
ticket fee for it. So we'll talk

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about that. So I think we
we'll break it up. We can talk

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about the announcements first and then we
can talk about the event itself, because

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we you know, we just talked
about events like these with the taste of

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terror and and why this could be
important for kind of drawing out a little

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bit like kind of extending the Halloween
season a little bit. So well,

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and I think I think the Halloween
season is extending on its own, so

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I think events like this are even
more important to kind of give people a

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little a little wayfinding for the rest
of the season. You know, it's

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like here's what's here's what's coming up, here's what's going to happen, because

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it's already starting before the mass populace
is even thinking about Halloween. But but

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again, that's why they have all
the cool tie ins. And then you

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know, of course this being a
big year for for for Knots. You

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know, Big five, Oh,
the Big five. Okay, I'm gonna

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make a five oh birthday joke,
but okay, so thanks for not doing

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it because you know that was a
long time ago for me. Jerk.

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All right. So then the Knots
Scary Farm fiftieth Anniversary will include three new

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mazes, which for a total of
ten, there's just there's seven returning and

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three new mazes. There's gonna be
five scare zones and four shows. It's

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a lot of this, a lot
of shows, it's a lot of entertainment.

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It'll begin September twenty feet which is
the latest event start date for the

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ones in Socow. But you know, in terms of the country of independent

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haunts, it's not it's not that
late. But horror nights. Of course,

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we'll kick everything off in Orlando on
the first, and then Hollywood on

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the eighth, and then uh see
World tend Ao and whatnot that that weekend

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and then the other part. So
so they basically they'll have a few weeks

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before everybody else, after everyone else
opened, before they get going and there,

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which I don't think is necessarily a
bad plan. I think the idea

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of you know, let's let's not
all. I think they've recognized the crowd

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the same. There's no point in
everybody trying to exactly there's no point in

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trying to compete directly with everything.
And after everyone's had the opportunity, after

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the you know, the the avid
fans have had the opportunity to experience other

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stuff, then they can go to
it's going to run for twenty nine ninths

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and there's a lot in this event. I think the things I only want

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to highlight that things that are most
interested. You can open the show notes

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and read the entire announcement, but
the things that are most interesting to me

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are the three new mazes, not
that there are through new mazes, but

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what's interesting is the stories behind the
new mazes, specifically two of them.

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So there's one that's in Miss Slasher, which is just a kind of on

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amosis Slasher films. The one that's
most in You're Seen is called the Chilling

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Chambers, And this is going to
be like a fiftieth anniversary celebration maze where

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there's the keeper who has been keeping
and collecting some of the secrets from years

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gone by, and you're going to
walk through the chambers and into different scenes

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from the history of the of Scary
Farm. So I think that's an excellent

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idea, and I think when I
was reading it, it kind of reminded

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me of what you talk about,
which is reutilizing your assets. You know,

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if it's like, oh, if
there's a way for you to use

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a bunch of the props you still
have in storage without having to write a

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new story really to connect them all
the story is they've been collected by a

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collector who is putting them together.
I mean it works, I think in

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this context or the fiftieth it is. It is smart on both ends.

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It's using assets, and it's it's
also kind of allowing nods to the fans.

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And if you'd just come right out
and say it new and the keeper,

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by the way, is their new
iconic characters. They're rolling him into

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the park as a whole. But
then he gets this maze, which is,

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you know, where he gets to
give a nod to scary farms passed

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while terrorizing the audience of today.
Well, and it makes total sense really

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because you know, it's if we
if someone hadn't done this, uh,

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you know, if they hadn't done
a let's call it the best of clip

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show maze. You know, I
think people would have been disappointed. They

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would have said, well, so
what are they doing? That's fiftieth related?

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And the nice thing about introducing a
new character that has been in the

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shadows collecting all this stuff it gives
it gives the character great depth. It

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creates the illusion that the character has
always been there, even though it's brand

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new. And so, yeah,
I agree with you. I think this

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is kind of a clever, clever
way to not only reutilize but also give

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the fans, give the avid fans
exactly what they want without without really damaging

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any of the storyline issues at all. I do think also, I'm sure

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that NATS team would never admit to
this, but as a reporter and as

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a like a observer, I would
say that Knots has a little bit of

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a a history of always kind of
doing like a nod, you know,

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kind of like a nod to the
culture. Right. Uh, the hanging

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is back this year, we'll talk
about that, but that was. They

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were kind of infamous in that show
for that kind of thing. And I

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think, you know again, dark
Ride. You know, I haven't going

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through a dark ride in southern California. That was. I mean, there's

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lots of nods to this. I
think a lot of the stuff they're doing

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is a nod. I mean,
so you know, if we we just

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heard this year, right that the
Fantom of the Opera was coming to Universal,

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and now suddenly there's the Keeper who
lives in a cathedral but like underground

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and it's been watching nuts for like, I mean, come on, you

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know it's it's you know, and
and and you know it's it's also no

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secret that the same actor that that
plays Monty Ravolta at the Laay Ride as

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the Keeper here it's it's it's it's
pretty clear because the character tones are so

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similar and obviously it's the same it's
the same thing. But so I think

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even that even trying to work that
in, you know, working in like

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a nod to the hay Ride with
the with a similar character and working in

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like a nod like this is their
a fan of the opera, you know

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what I mean? Like, I
think these are fun nods well and and

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nods ass And again I have not
been to not Scary Farm in many,

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many years, but even back,
you know, over twenty years ago when

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I went the which was the last
time. The their whole their whole approach

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was sort of the the nods to
the insiders, you know, I think

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that, uh, and they've played
it really really smoothly, I think,

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at least from from my perspective,
in the fact that they can. They're

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making it nods to the insiders with
out being exclusive to those people who are

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not insiders in the haunt industry.
You know, they're they're they're playing to

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a core audience without without without shunning
a broader a broader spectrum or a less

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a less I don't want to use
the word educated, but a less immersed

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audience. Yeah, you know what
I'm saying, I think they're I think

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we've been very wise in doing that, and I think it's what helps maintain

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their you know, as one of
the oldest theme park Halloween events, they

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they're still maintaining a certain level of
cool without without throwing out their their history.

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You know, it's I think it's
a very wise approach. And then

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the other one I want to highlight
was Room thirteen, which basically if you

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follow again again they it's another one
that stands on its own, but it's

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for the super fans because there's this
green elixir that they've been It started off

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as in just promo commercials and you're
kind of like, what is that green

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elixer? Right, and then it
got its own scares a few years ago

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called the Goring Twenties, which our
friend Ted worked on, which we talked

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about on the show, because they
had little performances and there's you know,

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it was very immersive, you know, for for for scare zones, you

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know, and and now the Haunt
is exploring the backstory of the creation of

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that elixir, so they're kind of
kind of tying, you know, they're

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really bringing it full circle in that
So again it's the same we talk about.

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It's like following the story. It's
like, you know, do you

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you know, people are interested in
the scaremads. It's doing well, and

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now you can kind of back up
and you don't have to retcon anything,

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but you can, you know,
tell the story of the device that people

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are carrying around, which really I
think probably started off as just a narrative

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plot point to kind of tie it
together, because if it's the Goring twenties,

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then this is you know, this
is the alcohol stand in but but

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evil, right, so you know, so I think it's absolutely from hell.

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Yeah, that's what it was exactly. So I think it started off

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as a as a plot point,
but as as you know, the fandom

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for that Scared Zone grew, you
know, and I think this is again,

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this is exactly what we talk about. It's like, you know,

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you kind of sometimes you put out
your story and you wait to see what

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people are interested in. Then you
can if it's a good story, there's

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always you know, more to it, so you can broaden it from there.

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Once people show they care about what
this green liquid is, right,

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right, and the fact that you
know, the fact that they're doing sort

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of a It sounds like they're doing
sort of a prequel because they need to,

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because they want to explain it's the
inception of this green liquid, how

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it was created, Prequel sequels,
It's something that's been going on in horror

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films forever, and I think it's
it's perfect fodder for the development and expansion

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of you know, a hunt branding
within within a haunted attraction. I will

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say the thing that I'm most excited
because I, you know, I never

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read your notes before we start the
show. I should, but I don't.

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But I will say the thing I
was most excited about, though,

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is to see that the Hanging up
is coming back. When I you know,

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twenty over, twenty years ago,
twenty three years ago, twenty two

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years ago, when I was last
at Nuts, the Hanging was in its

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heyday and it was, in my
opinion, the most irreverent and bombastic,

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like nothing, nothing was sacred,
no holds barred, over the top Halloween

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show I had ever seen, and
uh, you know it it In my

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opinion at that time, it was
so much more compelling because they really didn't

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give a crap about who they offended. They didn't care about what what toes.

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They stepped on it was it it
sort of blue sorry Universal Friends,

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kind of blue bill and ted out
of the water because they didn't they didn't

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follow any real I didn't get the
feeling they were following any corporate standard standards.

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I'm hoping that is the case as
it returns, because it is.

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But it was by far the most
irreverent of all the Halloween shows I'd ever

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seen. Yeah, it was interesting
because remember it was previously written by Ken

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Parks, who as I moved over
to the corporate entertainment side. So so

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I'd be curious to know who was
working on writing it now, you know,

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as in like if it's you know, because it was kind of like

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Ken's brain child. So I don't
know. If anyone knows, please let

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us know, because I'm curious if
I if I know Ken, he probably

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has a finger or two in it, at least at least throwing in some

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ideas, because Ken Ken is an
amazing writer and his his conceptualization for storytelling

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is is wonderful and I've had the
great pleasure of working with him on a

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couple of different occasions, and he's
just he's amazing. So I hope look

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it this way. I hope whoever's
writing it was smart enough to go to

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Ken and say, hey, Ken, you're the one who's really the mastermind

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behind this kind of thing. What
do you think of this? And see

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what see what he was able to
Let's see also also so looking more at

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the event as a whole and some
of the larger components of it. I

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think season passes are back, and
that they have not been back for a

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while if I remember correctly. And
we just talked about this when we talked

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about Disney doing the opposite right where
Mickey's not so scary, isn't offering a

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season past. They're just they're just
relying on people to buy day tickets and

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sell out and it's working. And
you know, August, the sellout dates

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continue to creep, as Scott said, from the end and the beginning,

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and might meet in the middle sometime
in September. So this is kind of

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the opposite approach. And I think
the season passes like one hundred and forty

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forty dollars or I think it's it's
very reasonable, it's it's shockingly reasonable.

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I think, like I think I've
seen independent haunts that have a more expensive

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season pass. So so I'm not
sure if they're not worried about capacity or

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or I don't know, because I
feel like, you know it, I

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think that the Disney direction is to
try and get you know, the day

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rates. So I'm not sure if
they just are Yeah, I'm not sure.

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It's it's interesting. We'll see how
it turns out. Well. Generally

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speaking, there are two approaches to
do an event of any kind in a

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theme park, and one approach is
to make your money on the gate,

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and the other is to make your
money on the merchandise, the culinary,

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the return visitation, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It clearly sounds like this

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is an example of the gate is
not where they plan to make their profitability.

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It is every time somebody comes back, they'll buy X, Y and

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Z. They'll do up charges,
they'll they'll visit some of the retail establishments

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and may not purchasings the first visit, but may purchase something much larger the

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second visit because they come back and
go, oh, I've been thinking about

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that, I really want it.
Yeah. So again, that's what it

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sounds like, just based on super
basic theme park theory. When it comes

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to profitability, it's not about the
number of tickets you sell, it's about

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the the in park spend. Or
there's about the number of tickets you sell

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and to heck with the in park
spend. So those are the two main

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focuses, and it sounds like they
are definitely looking at getting people into the

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park so that they will spend money
there. Well, speaking exactly to that

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Scott, this year they have a
legacy store, So I guess it's for

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those listening to this podcast they should
be aware of the Tribute store in Orlando.

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And I think this is really going
down that that same vibe, and

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you know what, it's working for
universals. So it's like it's it's not

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this you know, we talked about
on the show a lot. It's it's

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never you know, it's like copying
can be flattery and it you know,

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if you're in a different market,
it can work for you, you know.

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And and I think this is a
very I mean, I'll just put

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this way. No nobody else in
so Cal is doing a tribute store,

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tribute sor a leg sorry legacy store. Nobody else in the in SoCal is

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doing a legacy store to this scale
by by any stretch of the I mean,

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this is all just like in Orlando. It is a full installation,

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and this year it features again scenes
from mazes in the past, so they

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brought in pieces of the mazes and
put them in there to make photo ops

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and put whatnot. And it is
accessible from the marketplace and from the park,

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which means it can be open every
single day, even days that Scary

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Farmer is not open. So it's
open every single day from now through the

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close of the event through Halloween.
And you know, I mean Disney,

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you know, they set up their
merch and it looks great, and you

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know, but Hollywood doesn't do this
here, you know, and Six liveses

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and do this here. So it's
really I think in terms of a SoCal

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area, it's a test of to
see how this will go. And now

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this is in addition to the art
show that's coming back. I mean it,

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they move this whole thing, and
they really focus on this. So

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I think to your point exactly what
you just said, I mean, they're

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they're really leaning into the merch and
the experience of the merch. Well,

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and you know, we've talked about
retailtainment for a very long time. And

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you know, the retail tainment that
started in the theme park, went outside

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the theme park and went to the
mall is now coming back to the theme

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park. So you know, everything
is cyclical. I don't think, you

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know. I every time I write
anything, I always I always include a

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retail component, and even I have
even written, just recently, even written

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shows that are there there. Purpose
is twofold. It's number one, it's

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to add an additional element to an
event. But number two, it is

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also to bring a crowd in so
that the retail side of of the area

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is focused and has a bunch of
people that are already there ready to buy,

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because it becomes interacting. I think, yeah, go for it.

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I think you can. I agree
that one hundred percent. I think the

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order I usually tell people, though, is like when I work with my

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clients, the same thing. It's
like, you you have to make your

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product good first. The product has
to be good, right, but then

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beyond that, you know, these
are are ways and they should be really

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as good and they should be tied
into the story. I mean, you

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should your you know again, just
look at universal I mean, really,

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your food should tie into what you're
doing it should your food should be an

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experience and it should tie into the
story, and your merch should be the

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same thing. It should be an
experience and it should tie in to what

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you're trying to do there. So
you know, like at at you know,

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at hush you know, we do
the themed bars, but all the

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drinks and all the stuff ties in
to the zone they're in. And then

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for merch this year, you know, you have the hush Falls Hotel.

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We have hush Fall Hotel keys.
You can get a key card. You

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know, you can get a room
key to show that you've been into hush

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Fall. I mean, just things
that they have to They don't have to

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be you know, break the bank
right if you don't have theme park budgets,

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but they should really tie into it. Should be a piece of the

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story that the guests can have to
remind them. Well. Tara Roulette is

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doing the exact same thing this year, and it's a brand new haunt,

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you know, in a very crowded
market. But the merchandise, I'm very

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excited. I'm seeing some of the
preliminary sketches of the merch and I'm hoping

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that I'm hoping it all gets produced
the way I'm seeing it, because some

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of it is is blatant and some
of it is completely story tied and that

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guests won't know unless they actually have
experienced the the the attraction. So I'm

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I'm excited to see where that goes. And it's it's not it's not quite

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a full legacy store because well there's
no point in doing legacy for something that's

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just opening this year. But it
will be, you know, there they

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will be pieces that will go,
oh that was from year one when X

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y Z happened, and I think
that could be really cool. So well,

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yeah, and on I think I
would be remiss to not mentioned some

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of the the new merch. So
there's like a not scary farm Monopoly Scaryopoly

296
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set that was developed, which is
great. And there's also I think the

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big thing they're pushing this year is
for this lantern. And again it fits

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into the story because if you remember
the conductor who came out of how years

299
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ago, he's always infamous for having
his lantern, so it fits into the

300
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lore of Knots. But this lantern, it's basically like a glow with the

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show. It really reminds me of
the stuff we worked on that we worked

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on from Ghantum with Knots many years
ago. About the interactivity. The premise

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is that guests can buy this lantern
for forty dollars and they can carry it

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with them through the entire event,
including into the mazes and into those areas,

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and it has a static show mode
which is of the regular lantern glow,

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and then there's a hundred instances around
the event as a whole where it

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performs some interactive thing. So I'm
really curious to get your feedback because I've

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heard already from from some naysayers that
say that they think it's going to ruin

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the maze experience of everybody's holding lanterns
that are all lighting the maze, blah

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blah blah. Me personally, I
think it looks really cool, and I

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think that from a content standpoint,
I just think that it's a cool It's

312
00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:30.160
like you're giving everybody a prop that
this is a weird thing. Scott's gonna

313
00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:33.000
rolls lies, but it's I think
you're giving everybody a prop they can take

314
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:37.119
great photos with, and then you
know, when they hold it up to

315
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:41.400
their face, it lights their face, so it makes better photos that's that's

316
00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:48.559
my dick away and I've always done
a lot of a lot of sexy content

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00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:55.640
with that lanterns. Yes, yes, So here's my thought. You when

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you hit it, I think you. I think you hit the nail on

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00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:02.480
the head when you said when you
said it there, it's like giving everybody

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00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:08.160
a prop To me. It makes
visually, it will make the guests walking

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through the Haunted the Haunted mazes look
like they are part of the the experience.

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They're not just passive observers. They
are now part of the part of

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the haunt. And if they're smart, they will throw in some characters who

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are carrying the lantern as well to
sort of blur the line between guest and

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UH and staff or guest and cast. But I yeah, no, I

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love it. I think that by
giving by making the the the guest a

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part of the story, a part
of the experience, it's great. And

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the truth be told, you know, everybody's Before it's even happened. There

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are those naysayers that are saying,
well, I'm concerned that it's going to

330
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light up the haunt too much.
But keep in mind that, you know,

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if there are areas that they don't
want it to light up. They

332
00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.880
can easily program it. Then it
goes off. You know, they can

333
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:06.279
easily program it. So at this
point in time, its strokes to make

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00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:11.519
it even more disorienting. You know. My my issue with any of these

335
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.799
sort of interactive things is don't use
it to do anything that you can use

336
00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:19.599
a proximity sensor correct to do correct
because nobody will know. Yeah, well,

337
00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:23.480
that's exactly the problem that we had
with our torch stuff back in the

338
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:26.799
day. Right. It was like
even though we worked on knots, we

339
00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:32.960
worked with knots to redo the trick
or treat maze, people didn't know that

340
00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:37.319
the flashlight was the thing triggering the
stuff that you know, it looks like

341
00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:41.400
a proximity senser. Yeah yeah,
so so yeah, I agree with all

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00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:42.559
that. And then of course food, they have a lot of food offerings.

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I don't want to go into them. You can read the the thing

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for that. And parking parking is
race at thirty five dollars a car this

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year, which you know, I
think if you have a parking pass,

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00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:56.119
it doesn't apply to you. But
Yaza, and then you can you know,

347
00:24:56.440 --> 00:24:59.519
read the article. There's a lot
of there's hotel packages, there's the

348
00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:00.839
buffet, there's all these other things. Read the article for that. Those

349
00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:03.799
are the things I thought was most
interesting. As I mentioned at the top

350
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of the show, though this whole
thing was an event, and the event

351
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was open to the public. It
was on August twenty fourth. It was

352
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twenty dollars per person, regardless of
whether you had a pass or whatnot.

353
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:19.880
Media was invited, so they basically
tried to do this announcement event for the

354
00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:26.240
first time ever and a media night
at the same time. So as you

355
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:32.000
can guess, there were some like
logistical hiccups because the first year event it

356
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:33.440
just we talked about with tastes of
terror, right remember my doctor Taste of

357
00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:37.000
Terror. I was like they didn't
have enough tables. They had to like

358
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.559
move stuff around, right. Well, I mean, anytime, anytime you

359
00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:44.200
try to be a servant to two
masters, somebody is going to be left

360
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:48.559
out in the cold, whether that
is the media or or the guests who

361
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:51.599
paid to be there, and you
know, you have to be careful.

362
00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:56.119
I'm sure there was a great bit
of learning as to how they can improve

363
00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:03.079
and how they can tweak and massage
and perhaps expand or divide or whatever.

364
00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:10.160
For this event. I on the
one hand, I love the idea of

365
00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:14.640
having actual guests at a media event. At the same time, I think

366
00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:18.400
that actually takes money out of your
pocket because the media can't do what they're

367
00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:23.440
necessarily there to do. I'm I'm
a huge proponent that you make media events

368
00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:27.960
a strong representation of the product,
an honest representation of the product, but

369
00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:30.920
in the best possible light, so
that the media can get what they need

370
00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:37.599
to get in order to promote your
experience. And I've been through many a

371
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:42.680
media day, and I'm involved with
two and two three this year for different

372
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:48.000
clients, and we've talked a lot
about making certain that in the media day,

373
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:52.279
you don't just decide what you're going
to do as the company. You

374
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:55.400
decide what are the guests going to
do? How what is the what is

375
00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:02.599
the moment to moment experience of the
media, and does it differ between broadcast

376
00:27:02.680 --> 00:27:10.680
media and social media? Does it
differ between radio and print media and television

377
00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:17.079
media. So you really have to
have somebody who is who is concerned about

378
00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.599
how do we get this person what
does their night look like? Not just

379
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.599
what are we offering them, but
what does their night look like? And

380
00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:26.880
how do we make certain that they
get everything they need in order to promote

381
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:33.440
promote your experience. And I just
I strongly recommend that for any sort of

382
00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:37.200
media night, you know, you
look at you take a moment to sit

383
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:41.799
down and go, Okay, they
arrive, now what, and you'll find

384
00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:45.920
that there are places that you either
need additional bodies to help to help media

385
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:51.000
wayfind or additional signage, or you
know, you all of a sudden forgot,

386
00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:52.160
oh gosh, they're signing in here, but we don't have a table.

387
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:55.920
I mean, it's it comes down
to things that are that basic,

388
00:27:56.440 --> 00:28:00.440
or we don't have enough tables,
or we don't have enough food or beverage

389
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:07.319
or whatever whatever it is. And
I just strongly, strongly recommend that no

390
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:11.680
matter whether you are a theme park
or an independent haunt, or you know,

391
00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.000
an independent Christmas event or a theme
park Christmas event or whatever, whenever

392
00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:19.480
you're doing a media experience, make
sure you take that you do that litmus

393
00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:23.559
test, that double check where you
take it from the point of view of

394
00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:26.920
the media person, and you know
exactly what they're going to have happen,

395
00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:32.119
in what order, who takes them
from from where to where, and that

396
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:36.240
will help make in most cases,
make for a much smoother night and much

397
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:40.720
kinder media. It's perfect, A
hundred percent agree with that. I think

398
00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:45.000
it definitely did feel like they were
It was almost two separate events. One

399
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:49.079
was like a media preview and one
was this preview for the public, and

400
00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:52.920
the events didn't feel like they really
talked to each other. And and and

401
00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.680
as a result, I think that
there was a lot of frustrated media.

402
00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:59.559
I know, as a member of
the media, I didn't get what I

403
00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.920
needed to get, and none of
the media that I know got what they

404
00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.880
needed to get either, and including
some of the broadcast people that I know,

405
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:08.920
it's from the local TV stations.
To your point, Scott, I

406
00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:12.599
mean, you know the you know, I spoke with a few of them,

407
00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:15.880
and they were, you know,
they just they couldn't they couldn't get

408
00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:17.960
what they what they need to get
for those reasons you know, of going

409
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:22.240
through it. But so I yeah, but for those people listening that are

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thinking of doing some sort of preview
event, I we talked, We've been

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00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.759
talking about previous events and why they're
important for a while. I just want

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00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:34.599
to give the the overview of what
the event offered for people listening, I

413
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:38.799
think this event was It's definitely to
my knowledge, I think this this will

414
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:45.039
actually be the largest preview event for
a Halloween attraction. I think because Taste

415
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:47.440
or Terror was just food, right, So I think this is this is

416
00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:52.200
the largest thing that anyone has tried
so far, and it was you know,

417
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.599
for a one night event that's a
month before they open. It was

418
00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:59.559
a pretty big lift, I think. So the biggest thing to me was

419
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that there was the ghost Town area
was filled with fog and scare actors.

420
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:07.559
So we had scare actors out.
You know, it really felt like you're

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walking through the full show. Lighting
was on, the fog was in,

422
00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.240
there were actors out. They had
three photo ops, including one with the

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00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.079
keepers. So they had the icon
character for this year that was out.

424
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.759
They did a lights on walking tour
of their old Maze origins from last year

425
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.880
that kind of tells the story of
Knots. They were doing makeup demos on

426
00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:30.079
stage, show people how they were
transformed into characters. They were doing not

427
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:36.960
scary farm trivia. They were even
doing a fifty year retrospective hosted by Ted

428
00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:41.359
Dougherty, our friend Ted. They
were doing previews of the legacy store,

429
00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:45.160
they had, the wardrobe department was
out doing presentations on the costuming. You

430
00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:48.000
could buy your lantern and start testing
it out, and of course you could

431
00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:52.519
ride Ghostwriter even and you could buy
food. It was it was a massive

432
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:56.839
event for three hours, right,
so it was and a month before the

433
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:02.039
show opened. So yeah, I
and again just just hearing it. And

434
00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:03.720
I did not attend the event,
so I cannot say whether this is this

435
00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:07.400
was the case or not. For
me. That would mean that there was

436
00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:11.359
too much. I wouldn't know where
to go and I wouldn't get I wouldn't

437
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:14.720
know what I missed exactly how I
thought. So and again I did not.

438
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:18.119
I did not attend the event,
So I have no idea. But

439
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:26.039
I applaud them for the robustness,
but I would have challenged them to say,

440
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:29.519
let's focus and look at what are
what we want our end results to

441
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:33.160
be. And but again I'm sure
there are people who went and said,

442
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:36.359
oh my gosh, I got to
do everything and I got to see everything,

443
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.200
and everything was available to me,
and that's and that's wonderful as well.

444
00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:42.400
So anyway, just just make sure
that as you're planning these kinds of

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00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:48.279
events that you you look at it
from the participants standpoint, not just from

446
00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:53.079
the host standpoint looking at things from
our host standpoint. We're already out of

447
00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:56.160
time. Can you believe it?
Thirty minutes just went by like that and

448
00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.400
we've done nothing but talk about not
Scary Farm. But he is a big

449
00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:02.119
event, and it is their fiftieth
anniversary, so I think that's only fair.

450
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:07.480
Tune in next week when we will
be back to talk about more things

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00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:12.160
theme park and attraction based with my
friend and co host Philip Bernandez and myself

452
00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:15.319
Scott Swenson. Until next week,
This is Green Tag Theme Park in thirty

453
00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:19.799
and we'll see you then. Today's
episode was edited by me Philip Hernandez,

454
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:24.039
with post production by David Swope and
original music composed by Chris Thomas. Support

455
00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:30.000
for today's episode comes from Gantum Lightning
and Controls. Gantum illuminates attractions worldwide with

456
00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:34.720
the world's smallest intelligent spotlights. From
Dark Hour to nether World, Super Mario

457
00:32:34.839 --> 00:32:38.599
Land to Hagrid's Bike. Gantum goes
where other fixtures can't see, which you're

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00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:44.119
missing With a free demo sign up
at gantum dot com slash demo that's gantum

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00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:49.440
dot Com slash demo. The h
a N Team include Darryl Plunky, Emily,

460
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:53.279
Louise Rua, Megan Spells, Gavin
Burns and omni Adventures. Until next

461
00:32:53.279 --> 00:33:07.519
time, stay scary. This is
a haunted at Try Action Network Production m