May 4, 2025 • 32 mins
Universal Studios Hollywood is stress-testing a brand-new revenue season with Fan Fest Nights—12 evenings of Comic-Con-meets-HHN running April 25-May 18th from 7 p.m.–2 a.m. Tickets range from $74-$84, and the event is anchored by a 45-minute Back to the Future immersive experience on the actual Courthouse Square backlot. By leaning into nostalgia, the Universal team has created a masterfully written, one-of-a-kind immersive theatre experience for BTTF. The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, proving that Fan Fest’s format has legs; the question for 2026 is whether Universal will rebalance resources toward the bigger, younger fandoms that clearly showed up this year, and whether they have permanently hamstrung this event. Listen to our bonus episodes on Patreon.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.
This is Green Tagged Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip
and I'm joined as always by my co host Scott
Swinston and Scott Swinson, creat Development. On Green tag we
break down the top theme park news from each week
for business professionals and discuss why it matters to you
and your job. And today we're going to be talking
about Universal fan Fest nights because I just attended, so
(00:23):
I have my experience and I have lots of charts.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
As usual.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
She probably will not get too, but I think they're fun.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
You know, it's so funny because when you describe the show,
I think, wow, this sounds like a really dull show.
But we have a good time. I think we really
have a good time. I think we try to have
a good time. No, I think we do have a
good time. I'm not sure everybody else does, but I
think we have a good time. That's well, that's what matters,
That's really what matters. Yeah, that's true. No. Actually, I've
had a lot of people say that they really enjoy
our banter. They enjoy it when we have discussions, they
(00:52):
enjoy it when we don't necessarily see eye to eye.
They enjoy it when we do, so I guess you know,
we're we're serving our audience, which is great, and so hopefully,
you know, they'll keep telling friends, and they'll tell more
friends and so on and so on, and our viewership
or listenership will continue to expand exponentiallyially exponential. Right, Sorry, Well,
(01:12):
let's talk about Panfest because I know you're excited.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yes, fan fast, great, Scott Scott Universal fan Fest Nights.
It's the parks, it's here at univers Studios, Hollywood, and
it's the park's first ever spring hard ticket event. And
we've talked about this since its announcement because as we
have talked about lots on the show, this has been
something that theme park professionals, according to Scott, has been
(01:36):
around for quite a while in the theme park industry.
They've been chasing this elusive like spring heart ticket event
for a long time and it's always been this kind
of puzzle of how do we you know, we I
would say Universal and Bush and those parks did a
good job of establishing Halloween and now it's like, well,
of course you do a Halloween event. Well duh, I mean,
that's makes so much money. But you know, back in
(01:57):
the day, you know, Halloween was kind of like the
first Halloween. Christmas were the first ones to make this
kind of approach work. And as we've talked about, Christmas
doesn't usually in the US be a heart ticket event,
so it's really Halloween. So it's kind of like the
spring is the next goal. It's how do we make
something in the spring, because now that's you need enough
time to be able to rotate the shows. It's not
(02:18):
like you can realistically doing Halloween horn nights every day
would be logistically challenging because of the space and the time,
and would not.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Be and would not be financially viable because if it
was every day, people wouldn't come. You have to have
a fuse no again, going back, just kind of going
since since Philip, did you know, make the allusion to
the fact that I'm old, the experienced, experience experienced. Eh,
we're baking Monday, get off mone on No. Uh the
(02:46):
uh what we used to call so the reason Halloween
events came about is we used to call them the
shoulder season. You know, that was the shoulder season between
going back to school and the holiday rush, the Christmas
holiday or the Hanka holiday rush. So it was a
shoulder season and we didn't quite know what to do
with it. And Halloween has now filled that, and I
(03:07):
think pretty much filled that industry wide. It shocks me
and amazes me whenever we look at at IAPPA training
sessions and one of the most requested still is how
do we do a good Halloween event? And so it
kind of boggles my mind simply because I've done it
for so long. But Halloween, as you say, is sort
(03:29):
of that given shoulder season. But you're right, the new
shoulder season that everybody was trying to figure out was
what happens between the end of the Christmas season and
the beginning of the summer rush. You know, Spring used
to be the time when well we would rest. Quite honestly,
we would rest. We would probably do some certain Usually
(03:50):
we would do some sort of music festival, some sort
of concert festival, because booking concerts is much easier than
doing a park white event. But it sounds like this,
this whole fan fest thing, because I've been seeing a
lot of it on social media as well, and so
it sounds like this may be something that is worth
looking into because from what I've seen now, Philip, I'll
(04:11):
let you talk about it because you've actually attended it.
But from what I've seen, it looks like they're not
testing weekly, They're testing with a great deal of fervor
and force. They're not just pretending to do this event.
They're truly doing this event.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Right, And I think that maybe it was the only
way to do an accurate test. And I think again
we talked about last time about how Universal does have
some more cash they can do these tests with. But
I just want to underscore what this whole thing. We
would talk about the history and why this is important
for think part professionals. This is critical because again we
you know the history of Scott just mentioned establishing a
(04:47):
Halloween that becoming a thing and now everybody does it
and it's trickled down. If Universal can establish this fan
fest thing, this could really unlock this whole another season
of potentially a whole nother hard ticketed the event. I mean,
you know, Halloween horn Nights is maybe one of, if
not the biggest Halloween event globally. When you combine all
(05:08):
the brand from all the different locations together, it's a
huge presence and can if you can imagine them rolling
out a FanFest event at every Universal property and then
that trickling down. I mean, this could be a big deal.
And we've talked about the revenue. I mean it's a
whole quarter of revenue for them, so they could basically
add another quarter of revenue in a slow season. I mean,
(05:31):
this is the potential here. I'm much more excited almost
about this potential than about some of the other things
that they've been testing because I think the potential for everybody,
for all of us is great here. And to your point,
they really leaned into it to really try and accurately
test this. So well, let's get into the details. So
(05:54):
this fan fest night celebrates eight fandoms from sci fi, fantasy, gaming,
and anime instead of horror. So it's similar to Halloween Hornites,
but instead of horror, you have eight sci fi, fantasy, gaming,
and anime fandoms instead of the different horror ips. So
it kind of is conceived as like Halloween Hornites meets
Comic Con or Comic Con at Universal, something in that
(06:16):
line of where it's much more of like a comic
Con fan vibe than it is Halloween Hornites. It's running
twelve evenings from April twenty fifth through May eighteenth, and
it operates from seven pm to two am, so they
are keeping the Halloween horn Nites timing even I mean
until two am is quite a thing. So it the
prices general admission is seventy four to eighty four. There
(06:40):
is now a same day upgrade. If you're already in
the park, for about fifty dollars, you can upgrade. They
also have unlimited night passes, they have two night passes,
they have Universal Express, they have early entries. So from
the beginning they're bringing like all the same ticket options.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
There's even a beever he's learned from Halloween Hornonites. Yeah,
everything they've learned from Halloween Hornites. They're justutomatically installing here. Smart, yes,
very smart.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So I would say I've I've read so much about
this from the other reporters and from regular fans on
Reddit and just all over everything, and I would say
that the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Like that's it's
hard to find negative.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
There are negative out there, but a lot of it
is like stuff you would expect with the first year
of and it's not anything that's like critically wrong. The
only question I had, so I think this proves that
the format has legs. I think the question is going
to be whether Universal is going to rebalance the resources
towards the different fandoms that clearly showed up more this year.
(07:43):
And also I think my question, to a lesser degree
is why they didn't do that in the first place.
And here comes my charts, But basically, if you look, basically,
I was like, how do we compare these fandoms? That
I kind of made a chart later on where I
kind of look at everything. Yeah, But basically, I think
basically my argument is this, Okay, the runaway hit at
(08:06):
this event is Back to the Future, which we will
talk about in depth because I want to get Scott's
insights on it as a theatrical production. But that's the
runaway hit. Everybody agrees like that is the thing. But
here's the thing. If you do not like Back to
the Future or you don't know it, should you go
this event? And I think that initially, when Scott and
I initially talked about this, I think we were assuming
(08:29):
that it would be balanced in that. You know, I
feel fully confident in saying anyone anyone who is a
fan of Back to the Future. I would confidently recommend
that you buy a plane ticket and fly to this event.
That's how good it is for Back to the Future. However,
the other events are not nearly as fleshed out, and
it's natural because it's a first year event PINE, but
(08:52):
that begs the question of if it's not balanced, you know,
is that enough if you're a jiu jitsu kaizen or
any fan and all you're doing is meet and greets,
is that enough to push it? And I'm not, And
so then that begs a question of why did they
invest so much in Back to the Future when the
other fandoms have a larger following. So actually I made
(09:15):
a chart where I basically did like a weighted average,
so I was like, I looked at the global impact,
the local impact, and even local ticket sales for similar
events around the other EPs, and I rated the eight
ips it on the scale from one to ten and
then ranked them and Back to the Future is like
the last one, so like it is, basically it's the
(09:37):
least popular of all the IPS they had, and they
put the most money into it, so that would be
my only Again, this isn't a negative. I thought the
event was great but I also I grew up with
Back to the Future, so I'm inherently biased, and so
that's my only question is like going forward, should they
or are they going to rebalance it? And then why
(09:58):
didn't they rebalance it this year? And I'm sure that
I already know the answer to why they did it
this way this year, And that's because of what Scott
always says, which is repurpose your assets. And if you
literally have the clock tower from the movie, and you
actually in your backyard, you have the set where this
was actually filmed, you already have something that no.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
One else said the world. When you said investment, I
was like, well, that's because they probably didn't wait the investment.
They probably had the same investment except for the fact
that they already had this. Well, they had the town.
I mean, they had the entire town. And from what
I'm seeing in social media and reports from other reporters
(10:43):
and other podcasts, et cetera, is that they basically just said, Hey,
you know, this is the thing that most people have
just driven through on a tram in the past. Let's
open it up and actually use it for something and
add some add some live performers to create an immersive,
you know, engaging interactive experience, and.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, it's definitely I want to give some context. I
think we're I want to get too far ahead of
like describe video, but to give context for this, our
listeners will understand when I say this. But the Back
to the Future destination Hill Valley is what it's called,
and it is basically Sleep No More meets Back to
the Future. I mean it's a little bit more than
just putting actors there. I actually I think that the
(11:25):
Universal team has created a masterfully written one of a
cond immersive experience. Like it is done so well. Everything
from where you get on the tram and Doc comes
on the tram and he tells you how he has
found a way to retrofit your tram to be able
to send you back to the nineteen fifties, and he
gives you a guide on what slang to you is
like don't you know, don't say slag.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
They will understand that, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
You you that is just being able to set the
premise at the context and then put you into the
nineteen fifties and then you show up and you're here
and they've recreated the town from the movie and you arrive,
and what they've done is they've basically made a time loop.
So it's a forty five minute show and it just
loops every night. And it starts from when Martin McFly
(12:11):
shows up in the nineteen fifties and you get to
watch as he wanders around and he recreates scenes from
the movies, so he'll meet his parents, you know, his
mom will hit on him. You he'll perform up there,
and then it concludes with the infamous lightning strike on
the clock tower, complete with the lines of fire from
the DeLorean and the kind of like spinning license plate
(12:33):
and you see doc I mean, and the thing is
to sleep the more because you can follow any character.
And I didn't I think this is what I would
want Scott to Scott's opinion, but like this is like
I think it looks simple or you know, on its surface,
you could say, well, you need to just set actors
in here, but like this is a lot of narrative.
This is a lot of casting, and then you had
(12:55):
to also flesh out the sets to make the movie,
you know, movie accurate, Like if you're inviting the super
fans of this franchise in everything has to be flawless.
And you've seen how fans have tried to stress test it.
I mean they have like showed up as like a
whole group of Marty mcflies and presented him with props
(13:16):
from the movie, I mean, and the and the actors.
From what I've seen, they have caught every single reference. Like,
so I don't I mean Scott like, this is a
lot of work, right, It.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Did a lot of work. It is a lot of
work and what it really relies on. And I find
it interesting but not surprising that they opted to test
this in California versus Florida. Oh that's a good point. Yeah,
I think it's important to recognize that with this particular film,
which by the way, is an incredibly successful musical right now,
so it does have some fresh new legs, some fresh
(13:52):
new fans that it didn't necessarily have a couple of
years ago or a few years ago. But the tour
of this of the musical is selling I mean, it's
going great guns. It's selling out, So so that's pretty
that's pretty impressive too. I think one of the reasons
just to kind of take a half step back before
we dive into the the work that it takes to
(14:14):
do something like this. Before we get into the before
we get too much into the into the how, I
do want to step back and talk a little bit
about the why. I think one of the reasons that
this is probably over and above the assets that they
already had. This is also a really strong multi generational ip.
(14:34):
This is something that and it's an ip, and it's
an ip that you know, and we've said it before
on this show, and we've said it. We say it
over and over again. In a family setting and even
in a date setting, it's usually the moms that make
the decision. And it's one that is not so male centric.
It's one that is is that I think is evenly
(14:57):
split amongst genders. I think it is something that is
now multi generational because again, I grew up with this film.
You grew up with this film or an incarnation of
this film, with these characters, and now with its it's
its musical status, it's it just keeps, it just keeps showing.
(15:18):
It has legs. So it makes to me, it actually
makes quite a bit of sense. And it's also it
also hasn't saturated the market. You know, you've got things
like now neither has some of the some of the
the manga ips that are coming up. But like Star
Star Trek has a has kind of saturated has a
(15:40):
saturated market. You can you can go to Star Trek
things a lot of places. You can't go to Back
to the Future things in a lot of places.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, So that I think that's one of my I
would push back a tiny bit on that. I do
have the numbers I knew you would ask about this.
So there are eight hundred and thirty three thousand Broadway
tickets sold so far, which is what is incredible. I
mean that's a lot. That's a lot of like fans
pay to go watch like this on Broadway. That's a
high ticket item, right, So just to your point, you
(16:07):
show that on the multi generational thing. I've seen this
echoed a few times. But basically, like you know, I
took Jason and he had no idea what this was.
And so I think it's basically millennial and older, is
what I would say. And so I'm not sure about it, but.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I also think it is American centric. That's true. I
was not raised in the US.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Well, and so that's why when I made my chart,
I did weight it based off of the global and
the local. I put more weight on the local, emphasisy
local events. But just like for context, right, like this
has sold eight hundred and thirty three thousand Broadway tickets
and it's had one reboot. Super Mario has sold eight
hundred and thirty million, so it's almost like like a
(16:52):
h thirty thousand versus the hundred thirty million. I mean
that's the scale here of Super Mario and One Piece,
five hundred and sixteen manga in print, the number one
show on the net, like flatform, the ax here Anime
expo in Los Angeles here sells out one hundred and
fifty thousand attendees.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
But they are all they're higher numbers, smaller demographic, well
in the smaller demographic.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Right in the in the LA market where where this
show is located, they have a bigger demographic. So so
on any metric it loses. But I think to your
point though.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
No wait a minute, no wait a minute, no, no,
no demographic, I'm talking about age range. I'm not talking
about numbers of people. I'm talking about age range.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Right ten One Piece has had a longer run than
Back to the Future by far Star Trek also longer
run Dunge Engine Dragons has been going on for a
very long time with a like fan base.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's Dungeonals, Dragon Star Trek have both there there are
multiple places that you can experience those. There aren't many
places that you can experience Back to the Future experience.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well, I think, and that I think that's what I
mentioned at the beginning, which is basically that Universal has
succeeded in creating a once in a lifetime unique experience,
like you cannot do this anywhere else and you never
are going to be able to because nobody has the
set from Back to the Future like they have the
literal set you are literally in the movie right, Nobody
can do this, and I think that's that is what
(18:17):
makes the event so good, but it also is what
raises I think my main thesis.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So but so I'm curious then to see because this
has been as you as we've all said, and everything
that I've read has been painfully successful. And you just
basically told people to get a get in on their butts
and get a plane, get on a plane to go there.
If you're a fan, yeah, if you're a fan, exactly,
I'm curious to see. Yeah, But again, I think in
the US it is. It is if you look at
(18:50):
I think it spans a broader age demographic than the
other than many of the other experiences. And I'm and
i'm Star Trek maybe a little bit of pushback, but
but like with with One Piece and with with Dungeons
and Dragons, those are super Nintendo. Mm yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Think I think the thing is, I think there's nothing
wrong with them focusing on I guess it's just I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I think. I just think it's a more family I
just think it's simply it embraces a more multi generational
family experience than any of those other things, because, for example,
I have absolutely zero interest in doing Dungeons and Dragons. None. Yeah, none,
I have zero. Well, I have some interest in doing
One Piece, but only because I just recently discovered it
(19:44):
on the net because of the Netflix series, and I
think it's I think it's a fun story, but I
have no emotional connection to it. I know it exists.
Star Trek, yes, but that's because I'm a sci fi
nerd who was around for the first Star Trek. So
I've been around through all those things, and maybe we're
barking up the wrong tree. Completely. Maybe the reason they
(20:06):
invested the most money is because they felt they had
the same concern that you have, which is that this
is going to be the weakest of the ips, and
so therefore they had to shovel the most money into it.
I will still argue and I don't think we're going
to be able to find the data, but well you
might because you're that kind of guy. But I don't
think we'll be able to find the exact data. But
I would venture to say that if you look at
(20:26):
the amount that they've invested, they have taken an existing
asset and I think that's where they could save money,
and it makes it look like they've invested more. But
any who who knows where this is going to go,
I just think that part of the reason that back
to the future is, you know, doing well in an
(20:49):
industry that's not doing well, which is live musical theater,
and the fact that it is doing well as part
of this event, to me, that just kind of set
This is a great family outing, This is a great
thing for that people want to do. It's got a
warm and fuzzy feel to it. It's not the I
have to see these characters. It's I get to go
(21:10):
and live in that time and in that town. And
I think that's I think that's probably the smartest thing
they've done, is to not try to make it come.
You know, come meet Marty and you know Doc Brown.
It's come and live in the town in the nineteen fifties. Yeah.
I think.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I think they have done something that we've talked about.
I don't even remember when we talked about this, I
don't know it was a while ago, but we talked
about the idea of how can you create an experience
that doesn't exist anywhere else and that creates the ultimate
fomo because you know, you have to go there.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
To do it. Same. That's kind of all of my
clients is like, what can you do that nobody else
can do? Yeah. One of the things that Universal California
you can do that nobody else can do is to
utilize and give people the opportunity to walk around the
the set where the movie was done and fill it
with the characters and the life that they have experienced
in the film itself.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Right, I think overall the yeah, exactly. I think overall, though,
it's like it's basically a LARPing experience for back to
the future fans, which again like nobody else can do
it in this way because you have the actual clock tower,
you have this, I mean, you know, it's it's the
ultimate experience in that way. So I think, I think,
and it's not. I'm not even saying it's a bad strategy.
(22:29):
I'm just looking at the future and being like, well,
I think the best thing to do would be to
keep this experience and just bring it back next year
and then put your budget, your new budget behind maybe
an equally immersive anime experience.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
But they're creating something they're also bringing they're also bringing
in the bridge of the Enterprise from Picard, Right.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah, we can talk about that. It did not get
good reviews at all, and I think that's valid about
some of the concerns about it in that the the
script just falls apart. But I very very I want
to talk to Scott about kind of like the logistics
(23:12):
of a show like this, but also really quick which
I feel like they're people like what are you talking,
so like just a very quick rundown. So we talked
about the back to the Future thing. There's also the
next biggest one is how it ranked these is the
dungeons and dragons experience Secrets of Water Deep. I would
describe this as a twelve minute D and D play
in the round basically, so you're walking through multiple sets
(23:34):
and there's a performance kind of in each room, but
it's kind of done like theater in the round, so
like the stage is like in the middle, and then
the guests are like around it and so you can,
you know, you can walk around the room while they're talking.
But essentially it's like a it is a play. I
think they describe it as guests being able to play
a role and choose characters and et cetera.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
But you the reality is you do none of that.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
You really you, which is fine. I mean I'm not
I'm just saying it is like, it's cool that it's
like a walking play. You know, you walk from scene
to scene and the characters are there, but effectively you're
just you're just on a quest to find a staff
and then you know, you run into trouble. There's a monster.
This had a lot of budget, you could tell because
they did that Jim Henson Giant Xanthar's NFR creature who's
(24:18):
like a foot tall. I mean, people were like gasping.
I mean that was like, you know, I think a
lot of people that I was listening to and asking
what do you think happened? Like, I think people really
if you're again, if you're not used to D and
D or not, you're just like, I don't know what happened.
We just wanted a quest. There was a monster and
like a staff and whatever. But the monster's really cool
(24:38):
and you don't need to know anything about anything to
appreciate how cool a giant monster is, right, right, So
I think that got a lot of positive stuff. The
Star Trek Red Alert is the other one. It is
in the old Walking Dead attraction, and this one felt
the most like an HHN maze. It's a pulsed so
you're in groups and you were pulsed into and you
(24:59):
just moved through scenes. Right, there's a little bit of
noise bleed because you can kind of hear some of
the stuff in the future what's going on, but effectively exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Like a walk through a hundred attraction. Yeah, it's exactly, Yeah,
it's exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
There's so basically the premise is that they've turned the
Enterprise into a museum and you are going to visit
the museum, and so you visit the museum and then
there's this amorphous thing that shows up and like everything
goes on red alert and then you get it gets
like hacked and you get sent to the bridge and
it's like, oh, it's actually just a new life form
(25:30):
and they're like, oh, it's first contact, and then you leave.
So that's that's basically it. There's no almost zero interaction.
You're really just watching them perform vignettes and going from
seeing the scene and then it's really just there's almost
like no climax. It's like there's not really the climax
is it's an it's a new life form, and the resolution.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Is it's a new first contact. It's the climax and
the resolution are exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, basically, yeah, it's really the story is and then
the rest of them. So now you'll see what I
mean about the scale. Okay, so those are the three
and that experience.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
And then it's just meet and greets. Are things important
from other parks?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yes, literally exactly. So like the ju Jitsu Kaisen thing
is actually just the same video that I saw when
I was at Halloween in USJ and they didn't even
change the USJA references, like they're literally like, we're here
in Japan.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I mean they did.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's just a one hundred percent brought over, which is
you know, I mean, it's actually harder than I think
fans think to change that, you know, to actually go
in and change the media.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
It's harder you think.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
But then otherwise it's just meet and greets and you know,
the lines, like the line for Yoshi is usually ninety minutes.
I mean the line for One Piece characters, it's like
really long. They do have a in the Universal Plaza.
There is a stage there where they do cosplay meetups
for each of the four fandoms, where they're like, if
you're a sci fi meet at nine, if your anime
(26:53):
meet at ten, you know. And I did actually count.
So when I was there, I went to the anime meetup.
There were ten people that went on stage and there
are thirty people watching, so not exactly a huge crowd. Uh,
And they did some trivia whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I mean. I think they didn't.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Do a good job of really getting cosplayers to attend
for whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
But well, yeah, and the cosplayers want to be the star.
They don't. They don't want to go see the stars.
They want to be the stars, and even when you
go to a cosplay show, you know, even when you
go to a gen Con or any of the any
of the shows that are loaded with cosplayers, even when
there are the stars, they're not in costume. So they
(27:39):
that's that makes total sense to me. It's to me
they haven't quite been able to tap in. As this continues,
they may find their they may find their audience with cosplayers.
But yeah, as it can, Yeah, I think that's the key.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So so that's the event in a nutshell, I think
you can see where they had three kind of tent
pole experiences and then and the rest was really added on.
And I think my only thesis is like the tempole
experiences are actually, objectively speaking, the less popular, and there's
probably really good reasons that we're not privy to and
we're never gonna know. I assume some of them are
(28:12):
going to be ip costs, you know, like they don't
own one piece, right, so having to license more than
just the characters versus they own the backlot and it's
just sitting there. All they have to do is write
the scripts and hire the actors. It's much more attainable.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
But well, and it's also again as you said it's
completely unique to them.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
It's completely unique to Yeah, So I mean again, I
think I think my only point is when you're looking
at growing this event in order to bring in more people,
I think you keep back to the future. But then
how do you expand the other stuff? And Scott, I
mean how I mean the only other thing I noticed.
Logistically speaking, I noticed this and that I saw comments
(28:50):
about it. If you think about Sleep the Morning, you
think about the immersive immersive experience. When we went, we
tried to follow some of the characters, but we couldn't
be because so many people were in the land and
they were following the characters that I couldn't hear what
they were saying. I mean, the crowd was like twenty
deep and it was like surrounding the characters while they moved,
(29:12):
to the point where I actually saw two guests fall
over because they were trying to back up. Like Marty
was moving in direction, the guests were trying to back
up to get aside of him, and the guests behind
them couldn't move fast enough, so they tripped and fell
over each other. I'm sure Universal will fix that, or
maybe they'll try and put people around to help people
(29:33):
not trip because there's it's a town, there's trip hazards,
and then you have people walking backwards. And then also
it's la so everybody is trying to film these characters.
I mean, like, I think we're out of time, but
I want to ask got, like, logistically, how you would
fix these things, So maybe we'll do that and unhinged.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, I think I think just just super top line.
I think one of the things that I would suggest,
and this is this is based on not even attending
in person, one of the things I would sugges is
to perhaps right size your batch, to perhaps right size
the show itself, and that means perhaps make the show
bigger and a little bit more linear, so that you
(30:10):
can control your crowds a little bit better. That doesn't
mean that you lose any of the immersive quality. It
doesn't mean you lose any of the interactive quality. But
you know, as you said, and I've seen the same
things in the reviews that I've seen online, these characters
were so trained and so prepped and basically lived the
world so that no one can can throw them off.
(30:32):
And I think that when it comes to you know,
what a horrible problem to have right, it's so popular
that we have too many people there and we have
to figure out how to how to keep them all safe.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, and there's no capacity, so people can just keep right,
and some people will stay there all night, and then
people just keep coming.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Correct, so it just gets the guest flow. I think
it's more of an operational question that is are creative question.
But I think one can can work hand in hand
with the other. But anyway, that would be my top line.
I tell this sounds like I think it sounds like
a great event. I think that you know, leading with
the thing that that nobody else can do makes a
(31:08):
lot of sense. And I think that you know, whether
they keep it or not, maybe they find a different
a different spot on the backlot that they can bring
to life for a different IP. That is certainly an
opportunity or a possibility. But but anyway, it sounds like
it sounds like a great event. I I the one
thing that I would love to get into that we
what we really don't have time for, is how can
this be applied to places that don't live or die
(31:32):
by the IP, because that is that is what Universal
is known for. And is there a way to create
these pop up fan fests for you know, can a
zoo do like for example, Knoxville Zoo just did Pandemonium,
which was their Red Panda festival. It doesn't have the impact,
but can we can there be lessons learned from this
that can apply to their and who knows, maybe we'll
(31:53):
talk about that Unhinged as well. Because this particular show
is over and on behalf of Philip and myself, I
want to thank you so much for tuning in every
single week and either watching or listening to us Yamaron
about this industry that we love so much. Until next time,
This is Green Tag Theme Park in thirty and we
will see you next week.
From our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.
This is Green Tagged Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip
and I'm joined as always by my co host Scott
Swinston and Scott Swinson, creat Development. On Green tag we
break down the top theme park news from each week
for business professionals and discuss why it matters to you
and your job. And today we're going to be talking
about Universal fan Fest nights because I just attended, so
(00:23):
I have my experience and I have lots of charts.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
As usual.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
She probably will not get too, but I think they're fun.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
You know, it's so funny because when you describe the show,
I think, wow, this sounds like a really dull show.
But we have a good time. I think we really
have a good time. I think we try to have
a good time. No, I think we do have a
good time. I'm not sure everybody else does, but I
think we have a good time. That's well, that's what matters,
That's really what matters. Yeah, that's true. No. Actually, I've
had a lot of people say that they really enjoy
our banter. They enjoy it when we have discussions, they
(00:52):
enjoy it when we don't necessarily see eye to eye.
They enjoy it when we do, so I guess you know,
we're we're serving our audience, which is great, and so hopefully,
you know, they'll keep telling friends, and they'll tell more
friends and so on and so on, and our viewership
or listenership will continue to expand exponentiallyially exponential. Right, Sorry, Well,
(01:12):
let's talk about Panfest because I know you're excited.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yes, fan fast, great, Scott Scott Universal fan Fest Nights.
It's the parks, it's here at univers Studios, Hollywood, and
it's the park's first ever spring hard ticket event. And
we've talked about this since its announcement because as we
have talked about lots on the show, this has been
something that theme park professionals, according to Scott, has been
(01:36):
around for quite a while in the theme park industry.
They've been chasing this elusive like spring heart ticket event
for a long time and it's always been this kind
of puzzle of how do we you know, we I
would say Universal and Bush and those parks did a
good job of establishing Halloween and now it's like, well,
of course you do a Halloween event. Well duh, I mean,
that's makes so much money. But you know, back in
(01:57):
the day, you know, Halloween was kind of like the
first Halloween. Christmas were the first ones to make this
kind of approach work. And as we've talked about, Christmas
doesn't usually in the US be a heart ticket event,
so it's really Halloween. So it's kind of like the
spring is the next goal. It's how do we make
something in the spring, because now that's you need enough
time to be able to rotate the shows. It's not
(02:18):
like you can realistically doing Halloween horn nights every day
would be logistically challenging because of the space and the time,
and would not.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Be and would not be financially viable because if it
was every day, people wouldn't come. You have to have
a fuse no again, going back, just kind of going
since since Philip, did you know, make the allusion to
the fact that I'm old, the experienced, experience experienced. Eh,
we're baking Monday, get off mone on No. Uh the
(02:46):
uh what we used to call so the reason Halloween
events came about is we used to call them the
shoulder season. You know, that was the shoulder season between
going back to school and the holiday rush, the Christmas
holiday or the Hanka holiday rush. So it was a
shoulder season and we didn't quite know what to do
with it. And Halloween has now filled that, and I
(03:07):
think pretty much filled that industry wide. It shocks me
and amazes me whenever we look at at IAPPA training
sessions and one of the most requested still is how
do we do a good Halloween event? And so it
kind of boggles my mind simply because I've done it
for so long. But Halloween, as you say, is sort
(03:29):
of that given shoulder season. But you're right, the new
shoulder season that everybody was trying to figure out was
what happens between the end of the Christmas season and
the beginning of the summer rush. You know, Spring used
to be the time when well we would rest. Quite honestly,
we would rest. We would probably do some certain Usually
(03:50):
we would do some sort of music festival, some sort
of concert festival, because booking concerts is much easier than
doing a park white event. But it sounds like this,
this whole fan fest thing, because I've been seeing a
lot of it on social media as well, and so
it sounds like this may be something that is worth
looking into because from what I've seen now, Philip, I'll
(04:11):
let you talk about it because you've actually attended it.
But from what I've seen, it looks like they're not
testing weekly, They're testing with a great deal of fervor
and force. They're not just pretending to do this event.
They're truly doing this event.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Right, And I think that maybe it was the only
way to do an accurate test. And I think again
we talked about last time about how Universal does have
some more cash they can do these tests with. But
I just want to underscore what this whole thing. We
would talk about the history and why this is important
for think part professionals. This is critical because again we
you know the history of Scott just mentioned establishing a
(04:47):
Halloween that becoming a thing and now everybody does it
and it's trickled down. If Universal can establish this fan
fest thing, this could really unlock this whole another season
of potentially a whole nother hard ticketed the event. I mean,
you know, Halloween horn Nights is maybe one of, if
not the biggest Halloween event globally. When you combine all
(05:08):
the brand from all the different locations together, it's a
huge presence and can if you can imagine them rolling
out a FanFest event at every Universal property and then
that trickling down. I mean, this could be a big deal.
And we've talked about the revenue. I mean it's a
whole quarter of revenue for them, so they could basically
add another quarter of revenue in a slow season. I mean,
(05:31):
this is the potential here. I'm much more excited almost
about this potential than about some of the other things
that they've been testing because I think the potential for everybody,
for all of us is great here. And to your point,
they really leaned into it to really try and accurately
test this. So well, let's get into the details. So
(05:54):
this fan fest night celebrates eight fandoms from sci fi, fantasy, gaming,
and anime instead of horror. So it's similar to Halloween Hornites,
but instead of horror, you have eight sci fi, fantasy, gaming,
and anime fandoms instead of the different horror ips. So
it kind of is conceived as like Halloween Hornites meets
Comic Con or Comic Con at Universal, something in that
(06:16):
line of where it's much more of like a comic
Con fan vibe than it is Halloween Hornites. It's running
twelve evenings from April twenty fifth through May eighteenth, and
it operates from seven pm to two am, so they
are keeping the Halloween horn Nites timing even I mean
until two am is quite a thing. So it the
prices general admission is seventy four to eighty four. There
(06:40):
is now a same day upgrade. If you're already in
the park, for about fifty dollars, you can upgrade. They
also have unlimited night passes, they have two night passes,
they have Universal Express, they have early entries. So from
the beginning they're bringing like all the same ticket options.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
There's even a beever he's learned from Halloween Hornonites. Yeah,
everything they've learned from Halloween Hornites. They're justutomatically installing here. Smart, yes,
very smart.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So I would say I've I've read so much about
this from the other reporters and from regular fans on
Reddit and just all over everything, and I would say
that the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Like that's it's
hard to find negative.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
There are negative out there, but a lot of it
is like stuff you would expect with the first year
of and it's not anything that's like critically wrong. The
only question I had, so I think this proves that
the format has legs. I think the question is going
to be whether Universal is going to rebalance the resources
towards the different fandoms that clearly showed up more this year.
(07:43):
And also I think my question, to a lesser degree
is why they didn't do that in the first place.
And here comes my charts, But basically, if you look, basically,
I was like, how do we compare these fandoms? That
I kind of made a chart later on where I
kind of look at everything. Yeah, But basically, I think
basically my argument is this, Okay, the runaway hit at
(08:06):
this event is Back to the Future, which we will
talk about in depth because I want to get Scott's
insights on it as a theatrical production. But that's the
runaway hit. Everybody agrees like that is the thing. But
here's the thing. If you do not like Back to
the Future or you don't know it, should you go
this event? And I think that initially, when Scott and
I initially talked about this, I think we were assuming
(08:29):
that it would be balanced in that. You know, I
feel fully confident in saying anyone anyone who is a
fan of Back to the Future. I would confidently recommend
that you buy a plane ticket and fly to this event.
That's how good it is for Back to the Future. However,
the other events are not nearly as fleshed out, and
it's natural because it's a first year event PINE, but
(08:52):
that begs the question of if it's not balanced, you know,
is that enough if you're a jiu jitsu kaizen or
any fan and all you're doing is meet and greets,
is that enough to push it? And I'm not, And
so then that begs a question of why did they
invest so much in Back to the Future when the
other fandoms have a larger following. So actually I made
(09:15):
a chart where I basically did like a weighted average,
so I was like, I looked at the global impact,
the local impact, and even local ticket sales for similar
events around the other EPs, and I rated the eight
ips it on the scale from one to ten and
then ranked them and Back to the Future is like
the last one, so like it is, basically it's the
(09:37):
least popular of all the IPS they had, and they
put the most money into it, so that would be
my only Again, this isn't a negative. I thought the
event was great but I also I grew up with
Back to the Future, so I'm inherently biased, and so
that's my only question is like going forward, should they
or are they going to rebalance it? And then why
(09:58):
didn't they rebalance it this year? And I'm sure that
I already know the answer to why they did it
this way this year, And that's because of what Scott
always says, which is repurpose your assets. And if you
literally have the clock tower from the movie, and you
actually in your backyard, you have the set where this
was actually filmed, you already have something that no.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
One else said the world. When you said investment, I
was like, well, that's because they probably didn't wait the investment.
They probably had the same investment except for the fact
that they already had this. Well, they had the town.
I mean, they had the entire town. And from what
I'm seeing in social media and reports from other reporters
(10:43):
and other podcasts, et cetera, is that they basically just said, Hey,
you know, this is the thing that most people have
just driven through on a tram in the past. Let's
open it up and actually use it for something and
add some add some live performers to create an immersive,
you know, engaging interactive experience, and.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, it's definitely I want to give some context. I
think we're I want to get too far ahead of
like describe video, but to give context for this, our
listeners will understand when I say this. But the Back
to the Future destination Hill Valley is what it's called,
and it is basically Sleep No More meets Back to
the Future. I mean it's a little bit more than
just putting actors there. I actually I think that the
(11:25):
Universal team has created a masterfully written one of a
cond immersive experience. Like it is done so well. Everything
from where you get on the tram and Doc comes
on the tram and he tells you how he has
found a way to retrofit your tram to be able
to send you back to the nineteen fifties, and he
gives you a guide on what slang to you is
like don't you know, don't say slag.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
They will understand that, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
You you that is just being able to set the
premise at the context and then put you into the
nineteen fifties and then you show up and you're here
and they've recreated the town from the movie and you arrive,
and what they've done is they've basically made a time loop.
So it's a forty five minute show and it just
loops every night. And it starts from when Martin McFly
(12:11):
shows up in the nineteen fifties and you get to
watch as he wanders around and he recreates scenes from
the movies, so he'll meet his parents, you know, his
mom will hit on him. You he'll perform up there,
and then it concludes with the infamous lightning strike on
the clock tower, complete with the lines of fire from
the DeLorean and the kind of like spinning license plate
(12:33):
and you see doc I mean, and the thing is
to sleep the more because you can follow any character.
And I didn't I think this is what I would
want Scott to Scott's opinion, but like this is like
I think it looks simple or you know, on its surface,
you could say, well, you need to just set actors
in here, but like this is a lot of narrative.
This is a lot of casting, and then you had
(12:55):
to also flesh out the sets to make the movie,
you know, movie accurate, Like if you're inviting the super
fans of this franchise in everything has to be flawless.
And you've seen how fans have tried to stress test it.
I mean they have like showed up as like a
whole group of Marty mcflies and presented him with props
(13:16):
from the movie, I mean, and the and the actors.
From what I've seen, they have caught every single reference. Like,
so I don't I mean Scott like, this is a
lot of work, right, It.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Did a lot of work. It is a lot of
work and what it really relies on. And I find
it interesting but not surprising that they opted to test
this in California versus Florida. Oh that's a good point. Yeah,
I think it's important to recognize that with this particular film,
which by the way, is an incredibly successful musical right now,
so it does have some fresh new legs, some fresh
(13:52):
new fans that it didn't necessarily have a couple of
years ago or a few years ago. But the tour
of this of the musical is selling I mean, it's
going great guns. It's selling out, So so that's pretty
that's pretty impressive too. I think one of the reasons
just to kind of take a half step back before
we dive into the the work that it takes to
(14:14):
do something like this. Before we get into the before
we get too much into the into the how, I
do want to step back and talk a little bit
about the why. I think one of the reasons that
this is probably over and above the assets that they
already had. This is also a really strong multi generational ip.
(14:34):
This is something that and it's an ip, and it's
an ip that you know, and we've said it before
on this show, and we've said it. We say it
over and over again. In a family setting and even
in a date setting, it's usually the moms that make
the decision. And it's one that is not so male centric.
It's one that is is that I think is evenly
(14:57):
split amongst genders. I think it is something that is
now multi generational because again, I grew up with this film.
You grew up with this film or an incarnation of
this film, with these characters, and now with its it's
its musical status, it's it just keeps, it just keeps showing.
(15:18):
It has legs. So it makes to me, it actually
makes quite a bit of sense. And it's also it
also hasn't saturated the market. You know, you've got things
like now neither has some of the some of the
the manga ips that are coming up. But like Star
Star Trek has a has kind of saturated has a
(15:40):
saturated market. You can you can go to Star Trek
things a lot of places. You can't go to Back
to the Future things in a lot of places.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, So that I think that's one of my I
would push back a tiny bit on that. I do
have the numbers I knew you would ask about this.
So there are eight hundred and thirty three thousand Broadway
tickets sold so far, which is what is incredible. I
mean that's a lot. That's a lot of like fans
pay to go watch like this on Broadway. That's a
high ticket item, right, So just to your point, you
(16:07):
show that on the multi generational thing. I've seen this
echoed a few times. But basically, like you know, I
took Jason and he had no idea what this was.
And so I think it's basically millennial and older, is
what I would say. And so I'm not sure about it, but.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I also think it is American centric. That's true. I
was not raised in the US.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Well, and so that's why when I made my chart,
I did weight it based off of the global and
the local. I put more weight on the local, emphasisy
local events. But just like for context, right, like this
has sold eight hundred and thirty three thousand Broadway tickets
and it's had one reboot. Super Mario has sold eight
hundred and thirty million, so it's almost like like a
(16:52):
h thirty thousand versus the hundred thirty million. I mean
that's the scale here of Super Mario and One Piece,
five hundred and sixteen manga in print, the number one
show on the net, like flatform, the ax here Anime
expo in Los Angeles here sells out one hundred and
fifty thousand attendees.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
But they are all they're higher numbers, smaller demographic, well
in the smaller demographic.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Right in the in the LA market where where this
show is located, they have a bigger demographic. So so
on any metric it loses. But I think to your
point though.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
No wait a minute, no wait a minute, no, no,
no demographic, I'm talking about age range. I'm not talking
about numbers of people. I'm talking about age range.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Right ten One Piece has had a longer run than
Back to the Future by far Star Trek also longer
run Dunge Engine Dragons has been going on for a
very long time with a like fan base.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's Dungeonals, Dragon Star Trek have both there there are
multiple places that you can experience those. There aren't many
places that you can experience Back to the Future experience.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well, I think, and that I think that's what I
mentioned at the beginning, which is basically that Universal has
succeeded in creating a once in a lifetime unique experience,
like you cannot do this anywhere else and you never
are going to be able to because nobody has the
set from Back to the Future like they have the
literal set you are literally in the movie right, Nobody
can do this, and I think that's that is what
(18:17):
makes the event so good, but it also is what
raises I think my main thesis.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
So but so I'm curious then to see because this
has been as you as we've all said, and everything
that I've read has been painfully successful. And you just
basically told people to get a get in on their butts
and get a plane, get on a plane to go there.
If you're a fan, yeah, if you're a fan, exactly,
I'm curious to see. Yeah, But again, I think in
the US it is. It is if you look at
(18:50):
I think it spans a broader age demographic than the
other than many of the other experiences. And I'm and
i'm Star Trek maybe a little bit of pushback, but
but like with with One Piece and with with Dungeons
and Dragons, those are super Nintendo. Mm yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Think I think the thing is, I think there's nothing
wrong with them focusing on I guess it's just I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I think. I just think it's a more family I
just think it's simply it embraces a more multi generational
family experience than any of those other things, because, for example,
I have absolutely zero interest in doing Dungeons and Dragons. None. Yeah, none,
I have zero. Well, I have some interest in doing
One Piece, but only because I just recently discovered it
(19:44):
on the net because of the Netflix series, and I
think it's I think it's a fun story, but I
have no emotional connection to it. I know it exists.
Star Trek, yes, but that's because I'm a sci fi
nerd who was around for the first Star Trek. So
I've been around through all those things, and maybe we're
barking up the wrong tree. Completely. Maybe the reason they
(20:06):
invested the most money is because they felt they had
the same concern that you have, which is that this
is going to be the weakest of the ips, and
so therefore they had to shovel the most money into it.
I will still argue and I don't think we're going
to be able to find the data, but well you
might because you're that kind of guy. But I don't
think we'll be able to find the exact data. But
I would venture to say that if you look at
(20:26):
the amount that they've invested, they have taken an existing
asset and I think that's where they could save money,
and it makes it look like they've invested more. But
any who who knows where this is going to go,
I just think that part of the reason that back
to the future is, you know, doing well in an
(20:49):
industry that's not doing well, which is live musical theater,
and the fact that it is doing well as part
of this event, to me, that just kind of set
This is a great family outing, This is a great
thing for that people want to do. It's got a
warm and fuzzy feel to it. It's not the I
have to see these characters. It's I get to go
(21:10):
and live in that time and in that town. And
I think that's I think that's probably the smartest thing
they've done, is to not try to make it come.
You know, come meet Marty and you know Doc Brown.
It's come and live in the town in the nineteen fifties. Yeah.
I think.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I think they have done something that we've talked about.
I don't even remember when we talked about this, I
don't know it was a while ago, but we talked
about the idea of how can you create an experience
that doesn't exist anywhere else and that creates the ultimate
fomo because you know, you have to go there.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
To do it. Same. That's kind of all of my
clients is like, what can you do that nobody else
can do? Yeah. One of the things that Universal California
you can do that nobody else can do is to
utilize and give people the opportunity to walk around the
the set where the movie was done and fill it
with the characters and the life that they have experienced
in the film itself.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Right, I think overall the yeah, exactly. I think overall, though,
it's like it's basically a LARPing experience for back to
the future fans, which again like nobody else can do
it in this way because you have the actual clock tower,
you have this, I mean, you know, it's it's the
ultimate experience in that way. So I think, I think,
and it's not. I'm not even saying it's a bad strategy.
(22:29):
I'm just looking at the future and being like, well,
I think the best thing to do would be to
keep this experience and just bring it back next year
and then put your budget, your new budget behind maybe
an equally immersive anime experience.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
But they're creating something they're also bringing they're also bringing
in the bridge of the Enterprise from Picard, Right.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah, we can talk about that. It did not get
good reviews at all, and I think that's valid about
some of the concerns about it in that the the
script just falls apart. But I very very I want
to talk to Scott about kind of like the logistics
(23:12):
of a show like this, but also really quick which
I feel like they're people like what are you talking,
so like just a very quick rundown. So we talked
about the back to the Future thing. There's also the
next biggest one is how it ranked these is the
dungeons and dragons experience Secrets of Water Deep. I would
describe this as a twelve minute D and D play
in the round basically, so you're walking through multiple sets
(23:34):
and there's a performance kind of in each room, but
it's kind of done like theater in the round, so
like the stage is like in the middle, and then
the guests are like around it and so you can,
you know, you can walk around the room while they're talking.
But essentially it's like a it is a play. I
think they describe it as guests being able to play
a role and choose characters and et cetera.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
But you the reality is you do none of that.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
You really you, which is fine. I mean I'm not
I'm just saying it is like, it's cool that it's
like a walking play. You know, you walk from scene
to scene and the characters are there, but effectively you're
just you're just on a quest to find a staff
and then you know, you run into trouble. There's a monster.
This had a lot of budget, you could tell because
they did that Jim Henson Giant Xanthar's NFR creature who's
(24:18):
like a foot tall. I mean, people were like gasping.
I mean that was like, you know, I think a
lot of people that I was listening to and asking
what do you think happened? Like, I think people really
if you're again, if you're not used to D and
D or not, you're just like, I don't know what happened.
We just wanted a quest. There was a monster and
like a staff and whatever. But the monster's really cool
(24:38):
and you don't need to know anything about anything to
appreciate how cool a giant monster is, right, right, So
I think that got a lot of positive stuff. The
Star Trek Red Alert is the other one. It is
in the old Walking Dead attraction, and this one felt
the most like an HHN maze. It's a pulsed so
you're in groups and you were pulsed into and you
(24:59):
just moved through scenes. Right, there's a little bit of
noise bleed because you can kind of hear some of
the stuff in the future what's going on, but effectively exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Like a walk through a hundred attraction. Yeah, it's exactly, Yeah,
it's exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
There's so basically the premise is that they've turned the
Enterprise into a museum and you are going to visit
the museum, and so you visit the museum and then
there's this amorphous thing that shows up and like everything
goes on red alert and then you get it gets
like hacked and you get sent to the bridge and
it's like, oh, it's actually just a new life form
(25:30):
and they're like, oh, it's first contact, and then you leave.
So that's that's basically it. There's no almost zero interaction.
You're really just watching them perform vignettes and going from
seeing the scene and then it's really just there's almost
like no climax. It's like there's not really the climax
is it's an it's a new life form, and the resolution.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Is it's a new first contact. It's the climax and
the resolution are exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, basically, yeah, it's really the story is and then
the rest of them. So now you'll see what I
mean about the scale. Okay, so those are the three
and that experience.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
And then it's just meet and greets. Are things important
from other parks?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yes, literally exactly. So like the ju Jitsu Kaisen thing
is actually just the same video that I saw when
I was at Halloween in USJ and they didn't even
change the USJA references, like they're literally like, we're here
in Japan.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I mean they did.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's just a one hundred percent brought over, which is
you know, I mean, it's actually harder than I think
fans think to change that, you know, to actually go
in and change the media.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
It's harder you think.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
But then otherwise it's just meet and greets and you know,
the lines, like the line for Yoshi is usually ninety minutes.
I mean the line for One Piece characters, it's like
really long. They do have a in the Universal Plaza.
There is a stage there where they do cosplay meetups
for each of the four fandoms, where they're like, if
you're a sci fi meet at nine, if your anime
(26:53):
meet at ten, you know. And I did actually count.
So when I was there, I went to the anime meetup.
There were ten people that went on stage and there
are thirty people watching, so not exactly a huge crowd. Uh,
And they did some trivia whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I mean. I think they didn't.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Do a good job of really getting cosplayers to attend
for whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
But well, yeah, and the cosplayers want to be the star.
They don't. They don't want to go see the stars.
They want to be the stars, and even when you
go to a cosplay show, you know, even when you
go to a gen Con or any of the any
of the shows that are loaded with cosplayers, even when
there are the stars, they're not in costume. So they
(27:39):
that's that makes total sense to me. It's to me
they haven't quite been able to tap in. As this continues,
they may find their they may find their audience with cosplayers.
But yeah, as it can, Yeah, I think that's the key.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So so that's the event in a nutshell, I think
you can see where they had three kind of tent
pole experiences and then and the rest was really added on.
And I think my only thesis is like the tempole
experiences are actually, objectively speaking, the less popular, and there's
probably really good reasons that we're not privy to and
we're never gonna know. I assume some of them are
(28:12):
going to be ip costs, you know, like they don't
own one piece, right, so having to license more than
just the characters versus they own the backlot and it's
just sitting there. All they have to do is write
the scripts and hire the actors. It's much more attainable.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
But well, and it's also again as you said it's
completely unique to them.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
It's completely unique to Yeah, So I mean again, I
think I think my only point is when you're looking
at growing this event in order to bring in more people,
I think you keep back to the future. But then
how do you expand the other stuff? And Scott, I
mean how I mean the only other thing I noticed.
Logistically speaking, I noticed this and that I saw comments
(28:50):
about it. If you think about Sleep the Morning, you
think about the immersive immersive experience. When we went, we
tried to follow some of the characters, but we couldn't
be because so many people were in the land and
they were following the characters that I couldn't hear what
they were saying. I mean, the crowd was like twenty
deep and it was like surrounding the characters while they moved,
(29:12):
to the point where I actually saw two guests fall
over because they were trying to back up. Like Marty
was moving in direction, the guests were trying to back
up to get aside of him, and the guests behind
them couldn't move fast enough, so they tripped and fell
over each other. I'm sure Universal will fix that, or
maybe they'll try and put people around to help people
(29:33):
not trip because there's it's a town, there's trip hazards,
and then you have people walking backwards. And then also
it's la so everybody is trying to film these characters.
I mean, like, I think we're out of time, but
I want to ask got, like, logistically, how you would
fix these things, So maybe we'll do that and unhinged.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, I think I think just just super top line.
I think one of the things that I would suggest,
and this is this is based on not even attending
in person, one of the things I would sugges is
to perhaps right size your batch, to perhaps right size
the show itself, and that means perhaps make the show
bigger and a little bit more linear, so that you
(30:10):
can control your crowds a little bit better. That doesn't
mean that you lose any of the immersive quality. It
doesn't mean you lose any of the interactive quality. But
you know, as you said, and I've seen the same
things in the reviews that I've seen online, these characters
were so trained and so prepped and basically lived the
world so that no one can can throw them off.
(30:32):
And I think that when it comes to you know,
what a horrible problem to have right, it's so popular
that we have too many people there and we have
to figure out how to how to keep them all safe.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, and there's no capacity, so people can just keep right,
and some people will stay there all night, and then
people just keep coming.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Correct, so it just gets the guest flow. I think
it's more of an operational question that is are creative question.
But I think one can can work hand in hand
with the other. But anyway, that would be my top line.
I tell this sounds like I think it sounds like
a great event. I think that you know, leading with
the thing that that nobody else can do makes a
(31:08):
lot of sense. And I think that you know, whether
they keep it or not, maybe they find a different
a different spot on the backlot that they can bring
to life for a different IP. That is certainly an
opportunity or a possibility. But but anyway, it sounds like
it sounds like a great event. I I the one
thing that I would love to get into that we
what we really don't have time for, is how can
this be applied to places that don't live or die
(31:32):
by the IP, because that is that is what Universal
is known for. And is there a way to create
these pop up fan fests for you know, can a
zoo do like for example, Knoxville Zoo just did Pandemonium,
which was their Red Panda festival. It doesn't have the impact,
but can we can there be lessons learned from this
that can apply to their and who knows, maybe we'll
(31:53):
talk about that Unhinged as well. Because this particular show
is over and on behalf of Philip and myself, I
want to thank you so much for tuning in every
single week and either watching or listening to us Yamaron
about this industry that we love so much. Until next time,
This is Green Tag Theme Park in thirty and we
will see you next week.
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