December 7, 2025 • 30 mins
A new report reveals how Gen Z and Millennials plan to travel in 2026: 78% say they’ve recreated a childhood vacation or plan to, and 69% avoid overcrowded destinations; 67% cited escape from burnout as a motivator, and interest in wellness and sober travel experiences is rising.
That context frames the debut of Netflix House, now open in King of Prussia, with another location opening this week in Dallas. The venue’s design aligns almost point-for-point with the survey data: flexible IP that can shift quickly with trends (including nostalgia plays like Stranger Things), free entry that lowers the barrier to budget-minded visitors, and pop-up-style attractions that avoid the overcrowding issues plaguing traditional destinations. Even the food program—mocktails, themed desserts, and in-house menu development—mirrors the rise of wellness-conscious, experience-driven dining.
Also this week, a potential Warner Bros. sale could reshape nostalgic touchpoints across the industry—from DC lands to Looney Tunes to Wizarding World. With younger audiences gravitating toward familiar brands and shareable moments, whoever controls these IPs will exert enormous influence over the next decade of park development.
Across all three stories, one trend stands out: guests are seeking comfort, flexibility, and low-pressure nostalgia—and the operators who can rotate content quickly and meet those expectations may have the advantage. Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon.
That context frames the debut of Netflix House, now open in King of Prussia, with another location opening this week in Dallas. The venue’s design aligns almost point-for-point with the survey data: flexible IP that can shift quickly with trends (including nostalgia plays like Stranger Things), free entry that lowers the barrier to budget-minded visitors, and pop-up-style attractions that avoid the overcrowding issues plaguing traditional destinations. Even the food program—mocktails, themed desserts, and in-house menu development—mirrors the rise of wellness-conscious, experience-driven dining.
Also this week, a potential Warner Bros. sale could reshape nostalgic touchpoints across the industry—from DC lands to Looney Tunes to Wizarding World. With younger audiences gravitating toward familiar brands and shareable moments, whoever controls these IPs will exert enormous influence over the next decade of park development.
Across all three stories, one trend stands out: guests are seeking comfort, flexibility, and low-pressure nostalgia—and the operators who can rotate content quickly and meet those expectations may have the advantage. Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.
This is Green tag tem Park and thirty. I'm Philip.
I'm joined as always by my delightful co host Scott Swinson.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Scott Swinson creat development on Green Tagged.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Of course, we look at the top news each week
and explain why it matters to business professionals. This week,
we are recording this early, since I am in Vegas
at LDI while you are listening to this, we're time
traveling a little bit. But this week we're going to
be discussing some trends for gen Z millennials and what
they're looking for in travel, Netflix, House and Warner Brothers
(00:33):
at the end.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
So a whole bunch of cool stuff. This is gonna
be a cool show. It willed contrary to what popular
contray to popular belief, this will be a cool show.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, you know, you know who.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
We're not mentioning six Flags just yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
If there was six Flags news, then it's because we're
recording early, and that's why we didn't talk about it.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
But oh that's right, we kind of got We kind
of got burnt on that one, didn't we where we Yes, Yeah, sorry,
we're doing the best we can, guys.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Sorry, So first up here we're looking at a report
that came out about gen Z millennials and what gen
Z and millennials and what they look for in travel,
and there's a few interesting insights. The biggest one is
that they're showing a strong desire to recreate childhood vacations,
with seventy eight percent having already done so or planning to.
(01:23):
Another one is that they're a growing trust in AI
for travel research, but not pooking entire trips, and of
course responsible tourism and wellness are still priorities. But interesting
that overcrowding has now become a concern, so sixty nine
percent avoiding overcrowded destinations. Now the caveat here is this
report was only a thousand. It says over one thousand,
(01:45):
but you know, usually when they say over one thousand,
they mean like one thousand and four exactly. They're not
meaning like, you know, a huge number. So about thousand
Americans aged eighteen and thirty five is how they did it.
So it's not a huge sample science, but it is
a stistically minimum amount to qualify for a sample size.
But I think all this lines up with what we
(02:07):
normally have what WILL have been talking about, and in
terms of reasoning, sixty seven percent site burnout and seventy
nine percent so they would consider booking a sober travel experience,
and fifty three percent continue their wellness routine while they're
actually traveling. All this, I think we've been talking about
(02:27):
these trends, especially the overcrowding, the need to have mocktails
in your menu, lenient in nostalgia that this all seems
to make sense. Is there anything new that we need
to be aware of for our attractions?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Well, I think it's you know, I think it's interesting
because the term I just want to I just want
to address the term nostalgia for a minute, because you know,
nostalgia has always been has always been a draw. It's
always been a draw. It's ebbed and flowed in its popularity.
(03:04):
But you know, even things like with with television programming
when I was when I was a kid, there was
like Happy Days came out. It was a there was
a huge nostalgia jump back to the fifties, which was
to me at the time seemed like ancient history, but
to my parents it was nostalgia, So that made it popular.
(03:24):
My point being when we say nostalgia, that is not
necessarily nostalgia for the people who are the owners of
said properties or organizations. It's nostalgia for the the gen
zs and the millennials. So to me, that's that still
feels contemporary. But you know when I when I meet
(03:47):
people who said, oh, yeah, I the first vacation I
remember as a child was coming coming to Bush Gardens.
And these are people that I work with, you know,
these are people who I consider my peers. And I
was working at Bush Gardens when they came as a
five year old. So nostalgia is you just have to
be careful when you look at nostalgia that you're hitting
nostalgia for the right demographic.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh, here's our six flags tie in exactly what Travis
Kelcey said.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I mean, this is exactly that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
That's why he did his investment because he had such
great memories of six We can't do a show without
you know, mentioning six can't.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's you know, we're.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Gonna we were talking before the show, we were going
to change the name to Green Flagged and just you know,
make it all about six Flags. But but no, I
think that I think that it's true, and I think
that another reason I think that's becoming popular is because
right now things are are tumultuous in the United States.
So people are always looking for a simpler time. And
(04:48):
it's all whether it really was or not, it's always
our memories make it so that the past and our
nostalgic remembrances are always better than the current day. I mean,
this is this is why Disneyland and disney World, well,
disney World's Magic Kingdom had a main Street USA because
that was going back to as as Walt was would
(05:09):
say many times, going back to a simpler time. So
the idea of nostalgia in travel has never really gone
out of fashion. I know we all talk about newer, bigger, faster, better,
but you know, look at look at.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Uh it's what is nostalgic, I think is what you're saying,
like correct, like correct?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Basically as the target market shifts, so you know, like
as you this is a target now it's millennials and
their young children and then like gen Z and that's
who the travel industry is targeting.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So therefore, what is their nostalgia? What is their.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Nostalgia is what's popular However, it's new in that like
you know what previously like et right is kind of
I don't know. I mean, there's things that are phasing out,
but like even Mattel at Iapa, Mattel announced these the
new beach water park things, even they haven't opened matel
Land yet, and that is.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Like, but anyway, look at look at Epic, look at
a universe, you know, Harry Potter, Mario, yep Mario, Harry Potter,
I mean, everywhere you look, now that you think about
it in the lens of nostalgic to this generation, correct Burke?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Isle of Burke is nostalgic to this generation.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
That's crazy, but yes, but it is, Yeah, it really is.
And then we didn't talk about this on this show.
Or but there's the Pokemon Park that's opening in Japan,
and there's also the Traveling Pokemon Fossil Museum that's coming
to the Field Museum here in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I mean, like it's that I.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Want to go see that. That would be really fun.
It's a good excuse to go to Chicago too. But anyway, yeah,
you're absolutely right. It's the idea of nostalgia has never
really changed. So it's it's not terribly shocking announcement that
they they want they want to relive childhood vacations. We've
been trying to do that forever.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I think anyone has been high to do that forever exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
But I think it's important to recognize what nostalgia means.
And I think you bringing up excuse me, you bringing
up E T. E T is nostalgic for me. The
early Star Wars films are nostalgic for me. Just it's
(07:28):
it's things that you know, happened so far before the
the gen z and the Millennials were even born that
I think of as nostalgic. So when you talk about nostalgic,
you just have to recognize nostalgic to whom. That's the
tricky part, nostalg to whom.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
And I also think, I know this is we're going
a little bit obscript with this this part, but this
discussion has made me think about how.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
These Star Wars.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Is an example and E T where all a lot
of these ips are like cross generational and part of
a theme park or a part of an ipeholder's challenge
is of course, I don't want to say indoctrinating but
passing on the IP to the next generation so that
it does become nostalgic, so that then it goes into
it's basically this is the IP life cycle, right, and
then we're just talking about how then it's now manifesting
(08:19):
in theme parks a lot. But this is a critical
part of it because I was thinking about going about
just going to Disneyland and how like it's nostalgic from
my dad because he was there on opening Day with
his family and they kind of took me as a kid,
which got me to think about associated Disneyland with happiness.
(08:40):
And now I try and take people there, but I,
you know, when taking Jason or you know that, like
taking my partner, like, they don't it's not a they
don't have that. It's not nostalgic for them, and so
they don't they don't have that frame of reference, right exactly.
It's just like it's just like you know.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
In the in the seventies and early eighties, Disney had
this this dilemma because Mickey was no longer nostalgic to anybody,
and so they did they did desperate, desperate things. Google
some of the looks that Mickey had during the late
seventies early eighties and Mickey and disco where is just
(09:19):
not good. It's not a good choice. But they were
trying to make him more contemporary so that he could
then be nostalgic for another generation. But for the most part,
you know, most kids, most kids now don't they know
who Mickey Mouse is. It's not there, it's not their
the key character that they want to see. Mickey Mouse
(09:41):
is just sort of part of Disney. We just accepted
as part of Disney, not not a little black and
white mouse that drove a steamboat.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know they needed to watch. That's kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, So it's it's it's interesting in regards to in
regards to that nostalgia. The other thing that I think
is really really sort of resonates with me is not
so much the wellness stuff because I'm not good at
that when I'm on vacation. Actually I get more exercise
when I'm on vacation that I walk more.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
But the whole idea that we've talked about before about
the idea of just health awareness is trickling to travel.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Right, And I think that's and I think it's important
to recognize that, you know, offering it's not just making
sure there's a salad on your on your lunch menu,
make sure that it's a salad that's not covered in
you know, I don't know, deep fried fat.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, good healthy options. We talked about that one of
the shows. I don't remember when we talked about that,
but that was a big when I went to some
of the education sessions that I opered, that was a
big thing as well in the food trends of there
has to be real robust healthy options, like we've moved
from just having a vegetarian.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Option to like, there has to be actual healthy, good food.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And we know that came up in the Six Flags
presentation even to bring that back in you know where
they were talking about revamping their restaurants because oh, it
turns out people were not going to try if the
restaurants are terrible food, Like, parents are not going to
take their kids. And so none of this should be
surprising because we've heard it in a bunch of different pieces,
but it's interesting to see it here and really think
about are you playing to nostalgia? Are you making sure
(11:14):
that you're serving good food that is healthy? Are you
making sure that you have a mocktail option Again that's
not full of sugar and all this. I mean, this
is really the generations that's trying to be more healthy.
So are you meeting them where they are on that
or not?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And yeah, And then the other one is is that
I identify with and I do not fall into either
of these demographics. But is the avoiding postponing bucket lists
simply because of overcrowding?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh my god, I do that all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, being in a crowded situation. But why do you
think that has become a trend again with gen z's
and millennials. Is there something that has happened in their
lifetime that has made that. I mean, the only first
thing that comes to my mind is mass shootings.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
But I don't know whether.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
It's quite that. I don't know whether it's quite that heavy,
but it could be something about you know, well, I
in the back of my head, I'm just uncomfortable in
large crowds.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I do think that the pandemic has you know, the
social I think for a lot of people they have
still not recovered from that. But the other part of it,
I think that's some multiple forces. I think it is
that there is anxiety with those crowds. I also think
there's the whole social from the pandemic. I also think
that it's again we talk about this too, it's the competition.
(12:37):
It's like you could stay home and watch Netflix and
it would be a great you know whatever, or you
could stand in line for four hours to do a thing,
And so I think that there's definitely that the increased
competition for the people's attention. At least to me, I
think that's that's what I because you always hear, at
least with the millennials to generate, there's always all this
(12:58):
like memes about how like you want to go to
bed by not you're just the whole getting older type
of thing, where like it's a lot of work to
go out and walk around and stand in all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And then if.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You're tired already from work during the week and you're
like sore, then it the calculation is shifting a little
bit just because of the physical nature of it.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I could see where that would be a reason
you just want to avoid it.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I mean for me, like it's like traveling in the
holiday is like no, just because the hassle is too
great and I can travel whenever I want, so wow,
don't care.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah. I'm also wondering if it has something to do
perhaps with we've been we have been programmed to have
unique experiences, and we've been programmed by watching social media.
So content creators want something that only they have or
only they can do. I'm wondering if people feel as
though the experience is somehow lessened if I'm sharing it
(13:54):
with ten thousand other people. Maybe, but if it's if
it's something that is less, that is more personal or
less less overcrowded, that I have more of a sense
of uniqueness to it, I don't know. I don't know,
but you know, so what does that mean? What does
that mean to operators? What does that mean to people
(14:15):
in the attractions industry? And you know, obviously it's kind
of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario,
because you're stuck between a rock and a hard place
of I want higher attendance, but people won't come if
they think it's going to be crowded. And if they
do come and it's crowded, then they won't come back.
So how do you find that balance? And I think
you know some of the basic some of the basic
(14:36):
ideas that have been rumbling around theme parks for years
still apply, and that is have what we would what
we used to call crowd sucks. Have things that at
key points of the day pull a lot of people
off the pathways. So have a great have a grand show,
or have a big event or a big festival that
will that that happens at those highest attended times, not
(14:59):
just at the end of the night, but at the
highest ten of times to pull people off the pathways
so that guests who are you know, coming in don't
feel as of their shoulder to shoulder the whole time.
Because I think that that feeling of overcrowding is something
that's cumulative because the longer you spend in an overcrowded situation,
the more anxiety it creates in us. So you know,
find ways to divide and conquer your crowds. I think
(15:22):
that's probably the best piece of advice I could give
for attractions who are looking to to bring in the
target travel audience, which is gen Z and millennials right now,
and figure out how to make it look so how
to make it not look crowded. I think we're also
back to the days where and we're seeing it over
(15:43):
and over again. But queues have to be hidden and fun.
You know, when we went to when we went to
Iappa Celebrates, we did the queue for and we did
them back to back, so it was almost back to back.
We did the queue for for a Battle the Ministry
of Magic, and then which is amazing and is as
much part of the show as the ride is. It
(16:05):
was just super fun and super detailed. And then two
rides later we were in a very standard queue for
the Donkey Kong. Yeah, and that que felt so much
more crowded than the Ministry of Magic que, and I
know it wasn't. It was probably the same number of people,
quite honestly, but because of the design and the way
(16:26):
it was it was put together a the Ministry of
Magic qu really never stopped for any length of time,
so you just kind of kept moving forward and there
was always something new to see. There was something new
to experience, something new to talk about. You know, Philip
and I were talking now, of course us being theme partners,
we were talking about how detailed and how beautifully executed
(16:46):
the queue was. But you know, we've got the people
around us too, who are stopping and taking pictures and
you know, taking selfies and looking at this and pointing
out that, which makes the Q time just fly. You know,
it was. It was a forty minute experience including the ride,
but it flew by like it was fifteen minutes. And
(17:07):
we never once, or at least I never once felt
as though I was standing in a crowded room.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
YEP, that's right.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
So anytime you can split up your guests so you
can you can handle large crowds without baking people feel
that they're crowded, That's really what I would think would
be the takeaway from this, probably more than anything, if
there's any way to do that for you.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Well, a project that I think has a lot of
these elements is Netflix House, which we have talked about before.
We've talked about this quite quite a few times on
the show about since it was announced, and then since
the ips were announced and the data Dada da where
we are now. This episode will come out to you
all on December seventh, and the second Netflix House will
(17:51):
be opening this week when you are listening to this,
It's going to be opening on the eleventh of December
in Dallas, and I will be going to the media preview,
which is going to be on the ninth and tenth,
and so the next week I'll be telling we can
talk about what it would, you know, my takeaways from it.
But the first Netflix House has already opened. It's in Philadelphia,
(18:15):
and there were you no, of course, I looked at
the coverage of that and the videos and everything, and
and speaking of nostalgic, you know, and I think another
way that an IP can do it is by baking
nostalgia into the IP. So the Dallas Netflix House will
(18:36):
have Stranger Things in it, and of course Stranger Things
is in the middle, literally in the middle of premiering
its final season, you know, the first four episodes just
dropped and now the next four and it's going to
be dropping on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So it's it's it's.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
An excellent timing wise to to be positioning this, but
it's also tapping into that nostalgic because of the time
period of Netflix and Stranger Things, and it's a high
resonance IP. But basically Netflix House for those are not aware,
you know, it's basically seems to me like a little
fec type of situation where both Netflix houses are in
(19:15):
high traffic situation. So the one opening in Dallas is
at the Galleria, so it's kind of in a.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Place that already has infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
It's not a standalone building, it's a in a mall
that has infrastructure, that has foot traffic, and basically they're
designing it so they can have almost like exhibits. I
think is a sort of I don't know what the
right word is, but basically it's like all the stuff
that we've talked about over the years, like escape games
and touring exhibits and blah blah blah. It seems like
(19:43):
they're combining the best practices of all of this. So
they do have experiences, let's call them experiences. They have
experiences for different ips. The experiences and the IPS at
the different houses are they're not the same. So like
some are photo experience, some are escape type experiences, some
are like LARPing narrative experiences.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It just depends. They're different based on the IP and
what you want to do.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
So for the Nevermore Academy, the one in Philadelphia, you
know you can actually it's like an our ex linear
story experience where you are you are playing a part
in the experience and you're going through and you're completing
activities and you're trying to you know, join Nevermore Academy.
So there's that, but it will be different for the
Stranger Things component. Now, another big thing that we've talked
(20:30):
about about the accessibility. It is open to the public,
so you can go in and still do the photo
some of the photo experiences and still see everything and
you only pay for the actual experiences. They also have
attached to it Netflix bytes speaking of the food and
speaking of the mocktail and all that, they have Netflix
Bites at each location that has items that they've been
testing at different at the different that are going to
(20:54):
be you know, part of the stories. So uh again,
I think this is gonna be very I think that
also the ability to switch these experiences around depending on
what they want to do with their film audience. Also
the data the Netflix has they know what serieses are
(21:17):
popular in these markets they've chosen. I mean, I think
all signs point towards US being a good thing. And
I think where especially where it differs from Horror Unleashed
is like it's free to enter, you can just enter,
you pay for the experience by the experience, and then
the menu again back to Horror Leash, like it's not
like they don't have mocktails, but they're not like leading
(21:40):
with alcohol free first, like they are bars in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Right here, it's like.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
They're leading with the food and leading with the like menu,
like you don't have to drink it all and you
can still have a great time. And it's free to enter,
so you can enter with your family and you just
pay for the kids to go to the experiences and
you can hang out. I mean that there's I think
much more flexible. Plus they're at high traffic mall areas
that are in the middle of other things to do
right way, it's sort of.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's sort of like these kinds of experiences are replacing
anchor stores. They're they're replacing the anchor stores in the mall,
which is great because you know, most brick and mortar
malls have lost their anchor stores anyway, so they've got
there's real estate there that needs to be filled. And
I'm sure that the smaller stores that are still trying
to do a brick and mortar business are very happy
(22:28):
about that because it brings more foot traffic into the area.
The thing I think is really interesting is some of
the discussion about.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
When going going, you know, let's hop in the way
back machine here and going way way back. When Disney
first opened, there was a very tiny price for admission
so that everybody could get in, and then each experience
had an A, B, C, D or E ticket. It's
theme park lore. What I think is interesting about this
is the fact that it is all electronic based, so
(23:00):
that the friction getting into these attractions is slim to none.
You basically hit a QR code, purchase a time ticket admission,
and go straight into the attraction. So it's not like
you have to wait in line to buy tickets, to
wait in line to do the experience.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
It's the overcrowding thing that you talked about, right, It's
not there's not any of that friction.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
It's it's eliminating the friction, the friction of entry into
the the individual attractions. Uh, there are those people who
are going to say, oh my god, they're Nicolin dimingas.
There's no matter what you do, it's always going to
be wrong. But the nice thing is Philip said, is
this is the perfect I think this is the ideal
playdate scenario. You know, you get you get families who
the parents want to just go hang out and grab
(23:43):
some lunch. But they don't want to. They don't want
to do it with the kids. But they also don't
necessarily want to get babysitters for the kids, and they
want to do something fun for the kids so the
kids can go off and scan a couple of QR
codes and and experience the cool stuff like you know,
as you say, if if nevermore, Academy is an experience
that's enough time for for a group of moms and
(24:04):
dads to have lunch. Yep and uh, and the kids
have a great time, the parents have.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
A great time.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It seems like a win win scenario. And you know
this is this is very much like what they what
they do in Boulevard City in Rio where they have
these pop ups. Uh you know, and Disney has done
these pop ups there. Universal has done these pop ups there.
There are some some some more year round interactions or
(24:29):
or activations there, but they during during Riod during Boulevard
season or odd season or whatever it's called. Basically, they
have these these pop ups that show up and they
they engage guests with different ips and then they go away.
And I think what they're doing is actually like we've
talked about earlier beta testing. I I think that Disney
(24:50):
went to Riod so that they could see if there
was a market in the in the Middle East, and
that's what led them to do the announcement of Yas Island.
I don't know that for a fact, but it kind
of makes sense. So again, I'm really first of all,
I'm really jealous that you get to go, because I
think that would be really fun. And secondly, I'm really
curious to see how this pans out because I also
think that this kind of is is a game plan
(25:14):
for all of the concerns that we talked about earlier
with gen Z and millennials. It's it's ways to disperse
the crowds. It's being reminiscent of things that they have
experienced before or ips that they are familiar with. There's
a familiarity with it. And the nicest thing is as
the generation continues to grow and what was contemporary is
(25:36):
now reminiscent, can track along with them.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I think that'll be really cool and they can swap
it out. They can tune it to the demographics in
the area, using their data to know who's passionate about
what they can it's also we talked about last week
with the characters, you know, the the.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Well we talked about that in the bon show.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
But anyway, talk about laughing me about the puppets and
that in world kind of like the olaf Right. These experiences,
I mean, they get that at these because they have
still the photo experience, you still have the I mean,
it seems to be a checklist of all of the
best practices that we have been talking about, and so
we would hope that it would do well. And I
think if you if I'm just while you were talking,
(26:18):
I was also thinking about how I think Universal approached
horror and Leash, being like, here's a mini theme park,
and Network is approaching this by being like, here's an
entertainment experience like a pop up. And I'm curious to
know which mindset is will do better. But if we're
(26:38):
looking at all the trends, especially consumer data, and how
the last consumer report came out consumer confidences all time low,
how many people sixty two percent of Americans saying that
their stuff is more expensive and xyz, I mean, you
have a lot of concern So I'm and Scott has
been saying for a while that he thinks the era
of the giant theme park might be phasing out.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
So I think I'm not sure it works to say
We're just going to make a smaller theme park somewhere.
I think it's more like what does entertainment look like?
And it's like because Netflix is not like it's like
Netflix is like they come coming at it from like
a not expert mindset in a way, like they're coming
at it from like, how do we make an entertainment
venue that the people at this mall are actually going
(27:18):
to care about? Well?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
And sometimes, you know, sometimes expertise just gets in the
way sometimes if with all the you know, all the
experience of the world and you're unable or unwilling to
see things in a totally different way. And that's kind
of seems like their approach, well, their approach.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
We have a tiny we have a little bit of
time left to talk about, so we have not talked
about this on the show, even though it's been news
for a while. But Warner Brothers is for sale. Everyone
should know that. I mean everyone in this year should
know Warner Bros.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Is for sale.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
The reason we haven't talked about on the show is
just kind of because we normally kind of wait until
purchase has.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Actually been announced.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, yeah, it actually happens, but we thought it'd be
interesting just to say that while we're looking, I mean,
last year episode, we tat all about six Flags and
about their cash position and just the whole challenges. Another
challenge actually for them, that is Warner Brothers. Like, if
Warner Brothers get sold like to Comcasts, that is going
(28:15):
to be I think bad for six Flags because they
have so many of the ips in their parks and
they don't have any money, and so what's going to
happen if Comcast purchases it? And now I know there's
poison pills and there's a lot of like stuff about
all of I mean, I know it's not quite that simple,
but there is a scenario right where it is purchase
(28:36):
or even or those rights are taken away that there
is multiple scenarios in which that could happen, or at the.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Very least those rights become more expensive when it comes
time for contract renewal. That's right, because they want to
just price them out.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
That's yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
I think what's going to be interesting with Warner Brothers
is whatever happens with Warner Brothers is going to start
a series of dominoes because if it goes to you know,
if it goes to some other cumps, say you know,
Netflix buys them, then that could have rather significant ramifications
(29:09):
for all the Universal properties or anything that has Harry
Potter affiliated with people. Forget that Harry Potter is not
owned by Universal, it is least by Universal, and so
there's all Now obviously they're not just going to well
I doubt that they would just pull the rights. I
doubt that.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well, there's I think it's a few decades or I
mean they have extended licenses, so some of this stuff
it may not even ever come out because who knows,
like ten years from now, like well, I.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Mean there's still there's still Marvel at Universal too, So yeah,
that's so there's that.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
But but yeah, to just we just want to bring
that up that that is depending on who buys it
and and what you know, the scenario is, and where
they want to where they're competing with the other people,
it could be big ramifications. Yep.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
So it's it's really one of those where we want
to put put that little blip on your radar for now.
We will come back and talk about it when it's
when it actually happens, when it's actually sold. I will
say that I have several friends who work for Universal,
and you know, I asked, I said, so what's the
what's the rumble? And even they don't know. Yees, So
no one knows, no one knows, no one knows. So
we'll see what happens, you know, and who knows, Maybe
(30:24):
we'll see it next week when you will all join
us again right here on green tagged theme park in
thirty Thank you guys so much for watching and listening.
Don't forget to go to YouTube and subscribe, and we
will see you all next week
Okay, from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa.
This is Green tag tem Park and thirty. I'm Philip.
I'm joined as always by my delightful co host Scott Swinson.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Scott Swinson creat development on Green Tagged.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Of course, we look at the top news each week
and explain why it matters to business professionals. This week,
we are recording this early, since I am in Vegas
at LDI while you are listening to this, we're time
traveling a little bit. But this week we're going to
be discussing some trends for gen Z millennials and what
they're looking for in travel, Netflix, House and Warner Brothers
(00:33):
at the end.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
So a whole bunch of cool stuff. This is gonna
be a cool show. It willed contrary to what popular
contray to popular belief, this will be a cool show.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, you know, you know who.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
We're not mentioning six Flags just yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
If there was six Flags news, then it's because we're
recording early, and that's why we didn't talk about it.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
But oh that's right, we kind of got We kind
of got burnt on that one, didn't we where we Yes, Yeah, sorry,
we're doing the best we can, guys.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Sorry, So first up here we're looking at a report
that came out about gen Z millennials and what gen
Z and millennials and what they look for in travel,
and there's a few interesting insights. The biggest one is
that they're showing a strong desire to recreate childhood vacations,
with seventy eight percent having already done so or planning to.
(01:23):
Another one is that they're a growing trust in AI
for travel research, but not pooking entire trips, and of
course responsible tourism and wellness are still priorities. But interesting
that overcrowding has now become a concern, so sixty nine
percent avoiding overcrowded destinations. Now the caveat here is this
report was only a thousand. It says over one thousand,
(01:45):
but you know, usually when they say over one thousand,
they mean like one thousand and four exactly. They're not
meaning like, you know, a huge number. So about thousand
Americans aged eighteen and thirty five is how they did it.
So it's not a huge sample science, but it is
a stistically minimum amount to qualify for a sample size.
But I think all this lines up with what we
(02:07):
normally have what WILL have been talking about, and in
terms of reasoning, sixty seven percent site burnout and seventy
nine percent so they would consider booking a sober travel experience,
and fifty three percent continue their wellness routine while they're
actually traveling. All this, I think we've been talking about
(02:27):
these trends, especially the overcrowding, the need to have mocktails
in your menu, lenient in nostalgia that this all seems
to make sense. Is there anything new that we need
to be aware of for our attractions?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Well, I think it's you know, I think it's interesting
because the term I just want to I just want
to address the term nostalgia for a minute, because you know,
nostalgia has always been has always been a draw. It's
always been a draw. It's ebbed and flowed in its popularity.
(03:04):
But you know, even things like with with television programming
when I was when I was a kid, there was
like Happy Days came out. It was a there was
a huge nostalgia jump back to the fifties, which was
to me at the time seemed like ancient history, but
to my parents it was nostalgia, So that made it popular.
(03:24):
My point being when we say nostalgia, that is not
necessarily nostalgia for the people who are the owners of
said properties or organizations. It's nostalgia for the the gen
zs and the millennials. So to me, that's that still
feels contemporary. But you know when I when I meet
(03:47):
people who said, oh, yeah, I the first vacation I
remember as a child was coming coming to Bush Gardens.
And these are people that I work with, you know,
these are people who I consider my peers. And I
was working at Bush Gardens when they came as a
five year old. So nostalgia is you just have to
be careful when you look at nostalgia that you're hitting
nostalgia for the right demographic.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh, here's our six flags tie in exactly what Travis
Kelcey said.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I mean, this is exactly that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
That's why he did his investment because he had such
great memories of six We can't do a show without
you know, mentioning six can't.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's you know, we're.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Gonna we were talking before the show, we were going
to change the name to Green Flagged and just you know,
make it all about six Flags. But but no, I
think that I think that it's true, and I think
that another reason I think that's becoming popular is because
right now things are are tumultuous in the United States.
So people are always looking for a simpler time. And
(04:48):
it's all whether it really was or not, it's always
our memories make it so that the past and our
nostalgic remembrances are always better than the current day. I mean,
this is this is why Disneyland and disney World, well,
disney World's Magic Kingdom had a main Street USA because
that was going back to as as Walt was would
(05:09):
say many times, going back to a simpler time. So
the idea of nostalgia in travel has never really gone
out of fashion. I know we all talk about newer, bigger, faster, better,
but you know, look at look at.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Uh it's what is nostalgic, I think is what you're saying,
like correct, like correct?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Basically as the target market shifts, so you know, like
as you this is a target now it's millennials and
their young children and then like gen Z and that's
who the travel industry is targeting.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So therefore, what is their nostalgia? What is their.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Nostalgia is what's popular However, it's new in that like
you know what previously like et right is kind of
I don't know. I mean, there's things that are phasing out,
but like even Mattel at Iapa, Mattel announced these the
new beach water park things, even they haven't opened matel
Land yet, and that is.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Like, but anyway, look at look at Epic, look at
a universe, you know, Harry Potter, Mario, yep Mario, Harry Potter,
I mean, everywhere you look, now that you think about
it in the lens of nostalgic to this generation, correct Burke?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Isle of Burke is nostalgic to this generation.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
That's crazy, but yes, but it is, Yeah, it really is.
And then we didn't talk about this on this show.
Or but there's the Pokemon Park that's opening in Japan,
and there's also the Traveling Pokemon Fossil Museum that's coming
to the Field Museum here in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I mean, like it's that I.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Want to go see that. That would be really fun.
It's a good excuse to go to Chicago too. But anyway, yeah,
you're absolutely right. It's the idea of nostalgia has never
really changed. So it's it's not terribly shocking announcement that
they they want they want to relive childhood vacations. We've
been trying to do that forever.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I think anyone has been high to do that forever exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
But I think it's important to recognize what nostalgia means.
And I think you bringing up excuse me, you bringing
up E T. E T is nostalgic for me. The
early Star Wars films are nostalgic for me. Just it's
(07:28):
it's things that you know, happened so far before the
the gen z and the Millennials were even born that
I think of as nostalgic. So when you talk about nostalgic,
you just have to recognize nostalgic to whom. That's the
tricky part, nostalg to whom.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
And I also think, I know this is we're going
a little bit obscript with this this part, but this
discussion has made me think about how.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
These Star Wars.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Is an example and E T where all a lot
of these ips are like cross generational and part of
a theme park or a part of an ipeholder's challenge
is of course, I don't want to say indoctrinating but
passing on the IP to the next generation so that
it does become nostalgic, so that then it goes into
it's basically this is the IP life cycle, right, and
then we're just talking about how then it's now manifesting
(08:19):
in theme parks a lot. But this is a critical
part of it because I was thinking about going about
just going to Disneyland and how like it's nostalgic from
my dad because he was there on opening Day with
his family and they kind of took me as a kid,
which got me to think about associated Disneyland with happiness.
(08:40):
And now I try and take people there, but I,
you know, when taking Jason or you know that, like
taking my partner, like, they don't it's not a they
don't have that. It's not nostalgic for them, and so
they don't they don't have that frame of reference, right exactly.
It's just like it's just like you know.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
In the in the seventies and early eighties, Disney had
this this dilemma because Mickey was no longer nostalgic to anybody,
and so they did they did desperate, desperate things. Google
some of the looks that Mickey had during the late
seventies early eighties and Mickey and disco where is just
(09:19):
not good. It's not a good choice. But they were
trying to make him more contemporary so that he could
then be nostalgic for another generation. But for the most part,
you know, most kids, most kids now don't they know
who Mickey Mouse is. It's not there, it's not their
the key character that they want to see. Mickey Mouse
(09:41):
is just sort of part of Disney. We just accepted
as part of Disney, not not a little black and
white mouse that drove a steamboat.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know they needed to watch. That's kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, So it's it's it's interesting in regards to in
regards to that nostalgia. The other thing that I think
is really really sort of resonates with me is not
so much the wellness stuff because I'm not good at
that when I'm on vacation. Actually I get more exercise
when I'm on vacation that I walk more.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
But the whole idea that we've talked about before about
the idea of just health awareness is trickling to travel.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Right, And I think that's and I think it's important
to recognize that, you know, offering it's not just making
sure there's a salad on your on your lunch menu,
make sure that it's a salad that's not covered in
you know, I don't know, deep fried fat.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, good healthy options. We talked about that one of
the shows. I don't remember when we talked about that,
but that was a big when I went to some
of the education sessions that I opered, that was a
big thing as well in the food trends of there
has to be real robust healthy options, like we've moved
from just having a vegetarian.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Option to like, there has to be actual healthy, good food.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And we know that came up in the Six Flags
presentation even to bring that back in you know where
they were talking about revamping their restaurants because oh, it
turns out people were not going to try if the
restaurants are terrible food, Like, parents are not going to
take their kids. And so none of this should be
surprising because we've heard it in a bunch of different pieces,
but it's interesting to see it here and really think
about are you playing to nostalgia? Are you making sure
(11:14):
that you're serving good food that is healthy? Are you
making sure that you have a mocktail option Again that's
not full of sugar and all this. I mean, this
is really the generations that's trying to be more healthy.
So are you meeting them where they are on that
or not?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And yeah, And then the other one is is that
I identify with and I do not fall into either
of these demographics. But is the avoiding postponing bucket lists
simply because of overcrowding?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh my god, I do that all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, being in a crowded situation. But why do you
think that has become a trend again with gen z's
and millennials. Is there something that has happened in their
lifetime that has made that. I mean, the only first
thing that comes to my mind is mass shootings.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
But I don't know whether.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
It's quite that. I don't know whether it's quite that heavy,
but it could be something about you know, well, I
in the back of my head, I'm just uncomfortable in
large crowds.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I do think that the pandemic has you know, the
social I think for a lot of people they have
still not recovered from that. But the other part of it,
I think that's some multiple forces. I think it is
that there is anxiety with those crowds. I also think
there's the whole social from the pandemic. I also think
that it's again we talk about this too, it's the competition.
(12:37):
It's like you could stay home and watch Netflix and
it would be a great you know whatever, or you
could stand in line for four hours to do a thing,
And so I think that there's definitely that the increased
competition for the people's attention. At least to me, I
think that's that's what I because you always hear, at
least with the millennials to generate, there's always all this
(12:58):
like memes about how like you want to go to
bed by not you're just the whole getting older type
of thing, where like it's a lot of work to
go out and walk around and stand in all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And then if.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You're tired already from work during the week and you're
like sore, then it the calculation is shifting a little
bit just because of the physical nature of it.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I could see where that would be a reason
you just want to avoid it.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I mean for me, like it's like traveling in the
holiday is like no, just because the hassle is too
great and I can travel whenever I want, so wow,
don't care.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah. I'm also wondering if it has something to do
perhaps with we've been we have been programmed to have
unique experiences, and we've been programmed by watching social media.
So content creators want something that only they have or
only they can do. I'm wondering if people feel as
though the experience is somehow lessened if I'm sharing it
(13:54):
with ten thousand other people. Maybe, but if it's if
it's something that is less, that is more personal or
less less overcrowded, that I have more of a sense
of uniqueness to it, I don't know. I don't know,
but you know, so what does that mean? What does
that mean to operators? What does that mean to people
(14:15):
in the attractions industry? And you know, obviously it's kind
of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario,
because you're stuck between a rock and a hard place
of I want higher attendance, but people won't come if
they think it's going to be crowded. And if they
do come and it's crowded, then they won't come back.
So how do you find that balance? And I think
you know some of the basic some of the basic
(14:36):
ideas that have been rumbling around theme parks for years
still apply, and that is have what we would what
we used to call crowd sucks. Have things that at
key points of the day pull a lot of people
off the pathways. So have a great have a grand show,
or have a big event or a big festival that
will that that happens at those highest attended times, not
(14:59):
just at the end of the night, but at the
highest ten of times to pull people off the pathways
so that guests who are you know, coming in don't
feel as of their shoulder to shoulder the whole time.
Because I think that that feeling of overcrowding is something
that's cumulative because the longer you spend in an overcrowded situation,
the more anxiety it creates in us. So you know,
find ways to divide and conquer your crowds. I think
(15:22):
that's probably the best piece of advice I could give
for attractions who are looking to to bring in the
target travel audience, which is gen Z and millennials right now,
and figure out how to make it look so how
to make it not look crowded. I think we're also
back to the days where and we're seeing it over
(15:43):
and over again. But queues have to be hidden and fun.
You know, when we went to when we went to
Iappa Celebrates, we did the queue for and we did
them back to back, so it was almost back to back.
We did the queue for for a Battle the Ministry
of Magic, and then which is amazing and is as
much part of the show as the ride is. It
(16:05):
was just super fun and super detailed. And then two
rides later we were in a very standard queue for
the Donkey Kong. Yeah, and that que felt so much
more crowded than the Ministry of Magic que, and I
know it wasn't. It was probably the same number of people,
quite honestly, but because of the design and the way
(16:26):
it was it was put together a the Ministry of
Magic qu really never stopped for any length of time,
so you just kind of kept moving forward and there
was always something new to see. There was something new
to experience, something new to talk about. You know, Philip
and I were talking now, of course us being theme partners,
we were talking about how detailed and how beautifully executed
(16:46):
the queue was. But you know, we've got the people
around us too, who are stopping and taking pictures and
you know, taking selfies and looking at this and pointing
out that, which makes the Q time just fly. You know,
it was. It was a forty minute experience including the ride,
but it flew by like it was fifteen minutes. And
(17:07):
we never once, or at least I never once felt
as though I was standing in a crowded room.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
YEP, that's right.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
So anytime you can split up your guests so you
can you can handle large crowds without baking people feel
that they're crowded, That's really what I would think would
be the takeaway from this, probably more than anything, if
there's any way to do that for you.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Well, a project that I think has a lot of
these elements is Netflix House, which we have talked about before.
We've talked about this quite quite a few times on
the show about since it was announced, and then since
the ips were announced and the data Dada da where
we are now. This episode will come out to you
all on December seventh, and the second Netflix House will
(17:51):
be opening this week when you are listening to this,
It's going to be opening on the eleventh of December
in Dallas, and I will be going to the media preview,
which is going to be on the ninth and tenth,
and so the next week I'll be telling we can
talk about what it would, you know, my takeaways from it.
But the first Netflix House has already opened. It's in Philadelphia,
(18:15):
and there were you no, of course, I looked at
the coverage of that and the videos and everything, and
and speaking of nostalgic, you know, and I think another
way that an IP can do it is by baking
nostalgia into the IP. So the Dallas Netflix House will
(18:36):
have Stranger Things in it, and of course Stranger Things
is in the middle, literally in the middle of premiering
its final season, you know, the first four episodes just
dropped and now the next four and it's going to
be dropping on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So it's it's it's.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
An excellent timing wise to to be positioning this, but
it's also tapping into that nostalgic because of the time
period of Netflix and Stranger Things, and it's a high
resonance IP. But basically Netflix House for those are not aware,
you know, it's basically seems to me like a little
fec type of situation where both Netflix houses are in
(19:15):
high traffic situation. So the one opening in Dallas is
at the Galleria, so it's kind of in a.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Place that already has infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
It's not a standalone building, it's a in a mall
that has infrastructure, that has foot traffic, and basically they're
designing it so they can have almost like exhibits. I
think is a sort of I don't know what the
right word is, but basically it's like all the stuff
that we've talked about over the years, like escape games
and touring exhibits and blah blah blah. It seems like
(19:43):
they're combining the best practices of all of this. So
they do have experiences, let's call them experiences. They have
experiences for different ips. The experiences and the IPS at
the different houses are they're not the same. So like
some are photo experience, some are escape type experiences, some
are like LARPing narrative experiences.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It just depends. They're different based on the IP and
what you want to do.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
So for the Nevermore Academy, the one in Philadelphia, you
know you can actually it's like an our ex linear
story experience where you are you are playing a part
in the experience and you're going through and you're completing
activities and you're trying to you know, join Nevermore Academy.
So there's that, but it will be different for the
Stranger Things component. Now, another big thing that we've talked
(20:30):
about about the accessibility. It is open to the public,
so you can go in and still do the photo
some of the photo experiences and still see everything and
you only pay for the actual experiences. They also have
attached to it Netflix bytes speaking of the food and
speaking of the mocktail and all that, they have Netflix
Bites at each location that has items that they've been
testing at different at the different that are going to
(20:54):
be you know, part of the stories. So uh again,
I think this is gonna be very I think that
also the ability to switch these experiences around depending on
what they want to do with their film audience. Also
the data the Netflix has they know what serieses are
(21:17):
popular in these markets they've chosen. I mean, I think
all signs point towards US being a good thing. And
I think where especially where it differs from Horror Unleashed
is like it's free to enter, you can just enter,
you pay for the experience by the experience, and then
the menu again back to Horror Leash, like it's not
like they don't have mocktails, but they're not like leading
(21:40):
with alcohol free first, like they are bars in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Right here, it's like.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
They're leading with the food and leading with the like menu,
like you don't have to drink it all and you
can still have a great time. And it's free to enter,
so you can enter with your family and you just
pay for the kids to go to the experiences and
you can hang out. I mean that there's I think
much more flexible. Plus they're at high traffic mall areas
that are in the middle of other things to do
right way, it's sort of.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's sort of like these kinds of experiences are replacing
anchor stores. They're they're replacing the anchor stores in the mall,
which is great because you know, most brick and mortar
malls have lost their anchor stores anyway, so they've got
there's real estate there that needs to be filled. And
I'm sure that the smaller stores that are still trying
to do a brick and mortar business are very happy
(22:28):
about that because it brings more foot traffic into the area.
The thing I think is really interesting is some of
the discussion about.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
When going going, you know, let's hop in the way
back machine here and going way way back. When Disney
first opened, there was a very tiny price for admission
so that everybody could get in, and then each experience
had an A, B, C, D or E ticket. It's
theme park lore. What I think is interesting about this
is the fact that it is all electronic based, so
(23:00):
that the friction getting into these attractions is slim to none.
You basically hit a QR code, purchase a time ticket admission,
and go straight into the attraction. So it's not like
you have to wait in line to buy tickets, to
wait in line to do the experience.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
It's the overcrowding thing that you talked about, right, It's
not there's not any of that friction.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
It's it's eliminating the friction, the friction of entry into
the the individual attractions. Uh, there are those people who
are going to say, oh my god, they're Nicolin dimingas.
There's no matter what you do, it's always going to
be wrong. But the nice thing is Philip said, is
this is the perfect I think this is the ideal
playdate scenario. You know, you get you get families who
the parents want to just go hang out and grab
(23:43):
some lunch. But they don't want to. They don't want
to do it with the kids. But they also don't
necessarily want to get babysitters for the kids, and they
want to do something fun for the kids so the
kids can go off and scan a couple of QR
codes and and experience the cool stuff like you know,
as you say, if if nevermore, Academy is an experience
that's enough time for for a group of moms and
(24:04):
dads to have lunch. Yep and uh, and the kids
have a great time, the parents have.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
A great time.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It seems like a win win scenario. And you know
this is this is very much like what they what
they do in Boulevard City in Rio where they have
these pop ups. Uh you know, and Disney has done
these pop ups there. Universal has done these pop ups there.
There are some some some more year round interactions or
(24:29):
or activations there, but they during during Riod during Boulevard
season or odd season or whatever it's called. Basically, they
have these these pop ups that show up and they
they engage guests with different ips and then they go away.
And I think what they're doing is actually like we've
talked about earlier beta testing. I I think that Disney
(24:50):
went to Riod so that they could see if there
was a market in the in the Middle East, and
that's what led them to do the announcement of Yas Island.
I don't know that for a fact, but it kind
of makes sense. So again, I'm really first of all,
I'm really jealous that you get to go, because I
think that would be really fun. And secondly, I'm really
curious to see how this pans out because I also
think that this kind of is is a game plan
(25:14):
for all of the concerns that we talked about earlier
with gen Z and millennials. It's it's ways to disperse
the crowds. It's being reminiscent of things that they have
experienced before or ips that they are familiar with. There's
a familiarity with it. And the nicest thing is as
the generation continues to grow and what was contemporary is
(25:36):
now reminiscent, can track along with them.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I think that'll be really cool and they can swap
it out. They can tune it to the demographics in
the area, using their data to know who's passionate about
what they can it's also we talked about last week
with the characters, you know, the the.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Well we talked about that in the bon show.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
But anyway, talk about laughing me about the puppets and
that in world kind of like the olaf Right. These experiences,
I mean, they get that at these because they have
still the photo experience, you still have the I mean,
it seems to be a checklist of all of the
best practices that we have been talking about, and so
we would hope that it would do well. And I
think if you if I'm just while you were talking,
(26:18):
I was also thinking about how I think Universal approached
horror and Leash, being like, here's a mini theme park,
and Network is approaching this by being like, here's an
entertainment experience like a pop up. And I'm curious to
know which mindset is will do better. But if we're
(26:38):
looking at all the trends, especially consumer data, and how
the last consumer report came out consumer confidences all time low,
how many people sixty two percent of Americans saying that
their stuff is more expensive and xyz, I mean, you
have a lot of concern So I'm and Scott has
been saying for a while that he thinks the era
of the giant theme park might be phasing out.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
So I think I'm not sure it works to say
We're just going to make a smaller theme park somewhere.
I think it's more like what does entertainment look like?
And it's like because Netflix is not like it's like
Netflix is like they come coming at it from like
a not expert mindset in a way, like they're coming
at it from like, how do we make an entertainment
venue that the people at this mall are actually going
(27:18):
to care about? Well?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
And sometimes, you know, sometimes expertise just gets in the
way sometimes if with all the you know, all the
experience of the world and you're unable or unwilling to
see things in a totally different way. And that's kind
of seems like their approach, well, their approach.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
We have a tiny we have a little bit of
time left to talk about, so we have not talked
about this on the show, even though it's been news
for a while. But Warner Brothers is for sale. Everyone
should know that. I mean everyone in this year should
know Warner Bros.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Is for sale.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
The reason we haven't talked about on the show is
just kind of because we normally kind of wait until
purchase has.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Actually been announced.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, yeah, it actually happens, but we thought it'd be
interesting just to say that while we're looking, I mean,
last year episode, we tat all about six Flags and
about their cash position and just the whole challenges. Another
challenge actually for them, that is Warner Brothers. Like, if
Warner Brothers get sold like to Comcasts, that is going
(28:15):
to be I think bad for six Flags because they
have so many of the ips in their parks and
they don't have any money, and so what's going to
happen if Comcast purchases it? And now I know there's
poison pills and there's a lot of like stuff about
all of I mean, I know it's not quite that simple,
but there is a scenario right where it is purchase
(28:36):
or even or those rights are taken away that there
is multiple scenarios in which that could happen, or at the.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Very least those rights become more expensive when it comes
time for contract renewal. That's right, because they want to
just price them out.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
That's yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
I think what's going to be interesting with Warner Brothers
is whatever happens with Warner Brothers is going to start
a series of dominoes because if it goes to you know,
if it goes to some other cumps, say you know,
Netflix buys them, then that could have rather significant ramifications
(29:09):
for all the Universal properties or anything that has Harry
Potter affiliated with people. Forget that Harry Potter is not
owned by Universal, it is least by Universal, and so
there's all Now obviously they're not just going to well
I doubt that they would just pull the rights. I
doubt that.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Well, there's I think it's a few decades or I
mean they have extended licenses, so some of this stuff
it may not even ever come out because who knows,
like ten years from now, like well, I.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Mean there's still there's still Marvel at Universal too, So yeah,
that's so there's that.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
But but yeah, to just we just want to bring
that up that that is depending on who buys it
and and what you know, the scenario is, and where
they want to where they're competing with the other people,
it could be big ramifications. Yep.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
So it's it's really one of those where we want
to put put that little blip on your radar for now.
We will come back and talk about it when it's
when it actually happens, when it's actually sold. I will
say that I have several friends who work for Universal,
and you know, I asked, I said, so what's the
what's the rumble? And even they don't know. Yees, So
no one knows, no one knows, no one knows. So
we'll see what happens, you know, and who knows, Maybe
(30:24):
we'll see it next week when you will all join
us again right here on green tagged theme park in
thirty Thank you guys so much for watching and listening.
Don't forget to go to YouTube and subscribe, and we
will see you all next week
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