June 29, 2025 • 31 mins
Universal is doubling down on pop-culture firepower with the enormously popular gaming IPs of Fallout and Five Nights at Freddy’s confirmed for this year's Halloween Horror Nights. They're also charging superfans $350 for “Premium Scream Night,” a ticketed dress rehearsal. With massive IPs and superfans willing to pay premium prices just to attend a dress rehearsal, how can smaller attractions compete? Thirteenth Floor and Winchester Mystery House might have an answer with "Festival Fright Nights." The event will transform the labyrinthine Winchester Mystery House into a Halloween event with three haunted houses and entertainment. The key is the immersive storyline, which sets the event in 1924 and utilizes the mansion's backdrop and history, showing that smaller venues can out-maneuver giant budgets by weaponizing authenticity and location. Philip and Scott unpack what these parallel strategies signal about Halloween’s next arms race—premium previews, IP one-upmanship, and how regional haunts can lean into their unique assets instead of chasing billion-dollar licenses. Catch the gloves-off follow-up in Green Tagged Unhinged on Patreon.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From our studios in Los Angeles and Tampa. This is
green Tag at Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip. I'm
joined as always by Scott Swinston and Scott Swinton, Creaty Development.
On Green Tag, we break down the latest week's big
news in theme parks and explain why it matters to
business professionals. However, today we're recording this early, So if
we're not talking about something that is really really big news,
(00:22):
that's why because.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Because we don't know it yet, we don't know what's
happened yet. You're actually you are in our future right now.
We're time traveling. Yeah yeah, but this is a but
in all fairness, we are traveling, and that's why we're
we decided to instead of just leaving you out to hang,
because we know how much you rely on your regular
schedule of Green Tagged to make certain that your weak
(00:45):
proceeds in a positive manner.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
This is one of those specials.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So if it was the old days, you'd see that
little special thing kairoun along the bottom of the screen
that went.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Special. Okay, yeah, what Scott said. So so, so we're
going to be talking about stories in that we didn't
cover in previous weeks, and the first one is news
that I broke about the new Festival Fright Nights, which
is coming to the Winchester Mystery House. So this is
(01:15):
I think it's an interesting story for several different reasons,
but the basics here is that thirteenth Or Entertainment Group
has partnered with the Winchester Mystery House and they are
bringing a new Halloween event called Festival Fright Nights. And
there are several elements that they have announced for this
event already, although we don't have all the details. So
the first thing is that it's going to be like
(01:38):
an immersive story driven experience. So it's going to take
place in nineteen twenty four on Halloween Night, two years
after Sarah Winchester's death, and the plot centers around a
theatrical massquarade ball hosted by the mysterious newcomer who claims
to have opened a spiritual portal within the mansion. So
as evening unfolds, visitors will discover whether this Darien ritual
(02:01):
has revealed hidden truce or awakened something far darker.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
So there's that idea.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
That it's the whole thing in its I guess in
that way is like kind of like a Sleep the
more S type of thing where it's set in a
time period where there are activities and things happening, but
there are separate from that, there's also haunted houses. So
I assume the haunted houses are going to be also
set in that time period, because that's the whole idea.
So there's three haunted houses. There's also going to be
(02:27):
the theatrical performances that tie into the story. There is
newly renovated areas in the mansion, and then of course
there's thing food, beverage, and retail offerings. So this is
very interesting, right because Thirteenth Floor, we know they have
a proven track record, and of course then the Winchester
Mystery House, which is a historic iconic property in the
(02:49):
Bay Area. This is interesting to me because I love
the idea of putting it kind of like story locked.
It's very similar I think to what they did when
and they took over La hay Ride and they created
the town of Midnight Falls there Thirteenth Floor did, and
so you it's similar where you arrive on Halloween night
(03:10):
and you know it's all these the creatures and there's
this whole storyline where you can talk to creatures and
they all have different stories and they tell you different
elements about what's going on that night. So they've proven
they can do this where they can create narratives and
train characters to have narrative shells and whatnot. So I
don't doubt any of that. It's interesting that they're going
to put three attractions there because I've covered Winchester Mystery
(03:34):
House for many years and I've gone to several versions
of Halloween, and it seems like they haven't quite figured
out what Halloween is there for the Winchester Mystery House.
And so you know, it used to be where it
was just ghost tours, and then they did try a
festival thing it was more family friendly, and they've tried
some haunts. They've tried all sorts of different things throughout
(03:56):
the years. But the thing though, is that it's not
a it's a house, right, it's a mansion. It's not
a theme park, and so them trying to fit three
haunts in this it's interesting to me. I don't know
if it's all Maybe they're gonna expand it on more
of the grounds or I mean, because it's not a
big space. So I'm that part's interesting to me. I
(04:18):
love the story idea, and then you know, tying all
that together, I'm not sure how it's all gonna fit
there because it's a small space, But overall, I think
it's good. When I broke the story, there was a
lot of people that kind of like shared a lot
of negatives, and I think if I'm gonna characterize the
negative or the pushback that I read about it, first
of all, the pushback is like worry about damage to
(04:39):
the historic property, and second is about thirteenth four basically
just being like a corporate entity. Basically that kind of
like the Chipotle of haunted houses, which was my favorite comment,
where they kind of just like come in and do that.
But I guess I would push back just in the
examples have already stated in that they've proven they can
do this before, and I I think they do good,
(05:00):
do good work, and that they've they've worked to historic
properties before and they haven't damaged them, and they haven't
damaged the Queen Mary Ship. I mean, so I don't
know whatever I mean. Any even the local Winchester team
when they're doing hont attractions could damage their own properties.
Like I feel like that's its own thing, so well.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think it's exciting to see that somebody who knows
how to do Halloween is coming in to do Halloween. Yes,
you mentioned that that Winchester has a Winchester Mystery Houses
has tried in the past to do Halloween. They couldn't
quite figure out what Halloween looks like for them. Well,
then it sounds like they've made exactly the right choice
to bring in Thirteenth Floor, who does know how to
do Halloween. And you know, I I love this. I
(05:44):
love this story for so very many reasons. Number one,
it is one of my favorite things to do, which
is to bring Halloween, bring fear, bring terror.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
To a historic landmark.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I always think that is so much fun and it
opens up so many doors for creative Having done things
like the Volta Souls in Tampa or the undead in
the water on the American Victory Ship, these are the
kinds of things that I just I just eat up.
I love doing this kind of stuff, and so I
(06:16):
think that's very exciting. There's also the fact that it
is the nineteen twenties, which is an era that I
think lends itself for It lends itself to a really
interesting theatrical version of horror because it's a time in
history where things on the surface are so buttoned up,
(06:40):
and so you know, it's during prohibition, so they're so
very conservative. But just below that veneer there is all
kinds of crazy happening. And spiritualism and mentalism were incredibly
popular at this time. People were having their cards read,
people were going mystics, people were going to seances. There's
(07:03):
so much to play with, and that is not outside
of the world of the nineteen twenties that they're trying
to create. Plus, you're going into a place that already
has really cool, rich history, and it doesn't take a
whole lot of fabrication to expand upon that existing history.
(07:24):
You know, this is what we tried to do with
the Bald Souls is we took a few basic ideas
and created history around it. And it was very funny
because when we started to do because this was brand
new for Tampa, they had done it, they hadn't done
anything like this really anywhere. And when we started to
do media for it, I would have people. I'd start
to tell the backstory and people say, is this true?
(07:45):
And my response, honestly is parts of it, But I
don't remember which parts. You know, when you can integrate
a story into such an existing rich tapestry, all you're
really doing is replacing the threads that got a little threadbare,
you know, and maybe replacing them with something a little sparklier.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well. Also, I like too, what you're talking about, and
you've said this before about the idea of not fighting
or using your assets and not fighting the environment, and
it's what you did with Vals of Souls as well.
I mean, like when you went into valt of Souls,
you were in a different time period and everybody was
dressed appropriately, and this is you know, Winchester Minstry House
is like, I mean effectively, they're like, we have this
(08:28):
great asset that is already in the backdrop for this
time period, and so we could just always It's like,
it's so much easier to just dress your actors in
period appropriate garb and give them period appropriate characters than
it is to also have to do that plus make
a whole you know, fabricated mansion. Right, you already have
the mansion, and then you're not fighting the environment when
(08:48):
you set it in this time period. All it takes
is a little bit extra work from the storyline and
the actor training, which I think is then it's going
to create a more unique experience as well.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And it's interesting because there are people who have have
been offered different spaces at different times and they they
let their own i'll call it creative ego for lack
of a better description, they let they let their own
creative ego get in the way, and they'll say, great,
I've got this this super creepy haunted mansion. I'll finally
(09:20):
get to do that that sci fi spaceship alien haunt
that I've always wanted to do. Doesn't make any sense.
It's just the dumbest thing in the world. So yeah,
let the let the space inspire you. I've even done
that with like neutral spaces, if we can find if
we can find warehouses. There was a project that I
worked on for a short period of time in Canada
(09:41):
that ended up unfortunately not happening. But one of the
things that was so cool about it is I actually,
after walking through all of the warehouse the old warehouse
spaces that it was going to take place, and I actually
changed the theme of one of the haunts that we
were going to put into a quote unquote neutral space
simply because there were assets there that I couldn't have
afforded to build, And I was like, well, why are
(10:03):
we just putting a wall in front of this. Let's
use this, this is this is an amazing tool, an
amazing part of something we can build upon. So yeah, this,
this whole concept excites me an awful lot. And the
fact that, you know, the fact the thirteenth Floor is
doing it. You know, on the one hand, you can
(10:23):
if you want to, if you want to be snarky.
I don't know who in the haunt industry would ever
want to be snarky. That never happens. Oh but yeah,
I don't know who'd want to be snarky about it.
But if you did want to be snarky and you
do say, you know, yes, they're the the Chipotle of
of of of haunted attractions, I would fight back on
that really hard.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
They're they're I mean, yes, they're a big company, and
yes they do a lot of haunts, but Chipotle, the
difference is Chipotally you go into every single restaurant and everything,
single thing is the same. I've not experienced that with
thirteenth Floor.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I think I think that This reminds me of
the episode that we recorded at this point several weeks ago,
when you're only hearing it but about Disney and the
whole idea of it being like a corporate you know,
you have, you know, the the individual layers of the
individual employees, but then you it also is part of
a big political thing that's part of it. And I
think to me, it's like thirteen Floor has to operate
(11:16):
like a real company, right, that that might be some
of the pushback is that, like you know, I've been
to a lot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of independent hire tractions, and I think not all of
them operate the way that you would have to operate
a company that is based in almost every state you know,
and and work to so many partners. Right, you need
(11:38):
a real HR department, you need a real tax department,
you need you need to be able to track assets,
and you need to run it like like a real business, right,
And I think a lot of haunts are not run by.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And then and then I just think about a company
like thirteenth Floor. They can pull, they can pull ideas
concepts that have worked in all of their other locations
that are appropriate for this location.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
They have there there.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Their box of crayons isn't sixteen, it's sixty four. I
mean there's they have a lot to pull from. They
have a lot of different experiences. They also have a
lot of purchasing power, which is great. So yeah, to me,
this seems like a really smart, really smart move really
on both sides, because this also provides thirteenth flor the
(12:20):
opportunity to do something a bit more theatrical, and they've
you know, they keep adding uniqueness to their portfolio, and
I think this is just another great step for them.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, and a good expansion into that market too, where
it would have been hard to do. Again the cost
of a building in that market, it would have been hard.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So this is a good way.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So let's okay, So keeping on the Halloween vibe at
this point, I'm sure there's a new announcement out, but
a few weeks ago we heard that the first two
confirmed ips for Halloween morn nites, So as of when
we're recording it, they have they announced Jason at both parks,
(13:01):
just Jason, you know, the Jason from Friday thirteenth, and
then they announced Fallout and five nights at Freddy's, so
they did not they were not specific about five nights
at Freddy's yet, and they might have since we've recorded this,
but basically they said that five Knights at Phrays would
come out, would be involved in Halloween horror Knights in
(13:22):
both at both coasts in like a new way, like
they said, just a new way during a panel presentation
they gave at one of the Horror conventions. They during
the panel, they seem to refer to it as a
hide house, but they did not like an officially announced
so who knows what they mean by new, But it's
going to be involved in a landmark way, kind of
like a Marquee way in the event. And then of
(13:44):
course Fallout based off of the series, not the game.
So Fallout is going to be at both coasts. Now,
a few things that are interesting about this. First of all,
it's this thing where it's really becoming where they're just
doing the same thing at both coasts, which is we
just talked about the you know, the concept of like
a corporate you gotta but I mean it makes the
(14:07):
most sense fiscally right to kind of attack it from
both angle to just to do you know, you're already
working with the IP holder like Fallout to just work
it into both parks and to you know, reuse assets
and reuse storylines and whatever, because the majority of people
don't fly a country across the.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Coast to go to both events.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So just just me and all the other like you know,
hornitted floggers. But but to me, I think the most
interesting thing is I think Fallout is an excellent choice
because it is so popular and because it is it's
such a good story. Again, like we were talking about
drawing from that story, it's an excellent story. It's a
(14:46):
popular game, so it has much more broader appeal, and
then it was created into a series that has done
really well, and then five Nights at Friday is I
think it is something we've been looking for for I've
been looking for for years for them to do, and
just because because the finance and phrase is so popular,
it's so it is. It's like we talked about with
the anime thing, Like the amount of popularity that these
(15:10):
two ips has is immense, and I think that's bodes
very well for them trying to expand the Holy Mornings
brand and to bring in overall new customers into the
theme park to get them encourage them to go to
the damn event. And then the only other interesting bit
is that they are bringing back the Premium Screen Night
(15:31):
in Orlando, And we talked about this last year and
Scott made the point that it's essentially them monetizing their
dress rehearsal, which is basically what it is. I mean,
Premium Screen Night I think is three hundred and fifty
or it's somewhere around there. And you get to go
to the event the night before it officially opens, and
(15:51):
you get unlimited food, and the way it was last year,
they're not sample sizes, like you just go up, just
get any dish at the full dish and that however
many you want from whatever. All the food's just included.
And then you get to they have what they call
phased openings of the houses, so basically they're like opening
a few at a time for certain windows and you
(16:13):
just go through. And I did that experience last year
and it was honestly an incredible experience, Like it was
my favorite Hollow Hornance experience because the lines, I mean
it was, Yeah, you get to basically you've got to
try everything and just go through the houses multiple times,
and the crowds were so much more manageable than a
(16:33):
regular night, So.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I thought it was great.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
But it's interesting they're bringing it back, so clearly something
about it worked or they just don't care because if
they get you know, it's three hundred at three hundred
and fifty dollars, it's it's pretty good. And presumably they
need to test the mazes anyway, and they need to
test the food anyway, so you're just you're just subsidizing
their testing.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, it's there.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
This is something that is going to happen, whether they
allow getsin or not. You know, and as from a
creative director standpoint, I would embrace this with both arms
and squeeze it until you couldn't breathe anymore, because this
is I think brilliant and part of the reason for
the phased opening, I would guess, is so that the
(17:16):
management team can go through all of the Haunt experiences
with quote unquote real guests. Yes, they are high end
guests who are going to you know, spread the spread
the virus of this year's event out.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
To the world.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Excuse me, but I think it's important to recognize that
this is something that they're stress testing they're stress testing
the experience. And the only way you can do that
is with real guests. I said it when we reported
on this last time, and you've probably heard me say
it if you've ever listened to anything I've ever talked about.
When it comes to Halloween, the missing cast member is
always the audience. And when you put the audience in
(17:55):
there and you have the opportunity to experience it full out,
not just a part ten audience, not just half the cast,
you know, who is just basically placeholders for the audience.
When you can put real people in there, you can
see how real people are going to respond, and you
can make tweaks. You can make You know you're not
going to make radical changes, but you can make tweaks.
You can reposition performers, you can change the timing on
(18:18):
special effects. You can add more or less. You could
add more fog, you could take fog away. There's a
million and one things you can do, even in a
one night turnover. You know, you just change timing and
everything and it and.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
It you know it gives you.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
It gives you a beta test that you can't really
get any other way. And if you were to open
it up and make it free. I mean, yes, you
can do that, but why you know, or it has
such a has such a rabid fan base that they're
willing to they're willing to pay this. Obviously it worked
(18:53):
for them last year. And uh, you know it would
be really if I weren't, if I weren't usually working
on the night that had happened, I would I would
go as well.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So it's yeah, I like your point about really you
need to test with the real audience.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I think that's a really oh.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, and hardly no one does that. I mean that
that's the other thing too. It's really rare because haunts
generally have such you know, a few operating nights and
it's you know, the whole thing. But you're right, even
when you have friends and family there, it's not real
because they're not you know, they're not damaging the sets,
you know, I mean, real guests are crazy and they're
(19:31):
unpredictable and you need to be able to see that
to change your show.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, and it's and it's interesting because you know people
are listening, are going to go, well, you know, nobody
would come to our nobody would pay extra to come
to our our dress rehearsal night.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Nope, we're not. We don't have the Halloween Horn.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Night's clout and you probably don't. But I'm guessing if
you put it out there, you might find that. No,
you're probably not gonna get three fifty a pop, but
you might be.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Able to do it. And even if you don't.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
One of the things that we used to do at
Bush is because we had six or seven Haunts per season,
we would bring in half the cast to play guests
on the first dress rehearsal night and the other half
of the cast to play guests on the second half.
But again, as Philip said, it's still not the same
as real guests. Sometimes they're better, sometimes they're worse. You know,
(20:22):
hot actors love to give other hot actors notes, So
you know it can create, It can create your anybody
who's done hont just laughed because you know that's true. Yeah,
so you know it can it can be. We really
had to manage it carefully when it was when it
was internally in the cast. But but this the premium
(20:42):
and basically all they've done from a production calendar standpoint
is in their opinion now their opening night is their
premium screen night.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And they just based the entire schedule around that. It's
not considered, oh, we don't really open until next week.
It no boom, that's your opening date. Everything has to
be dropped dead done by there. And when I was
at Bush, you know, we didn't have quite the the
the role that that social media and guest voice played
(21:13):
was not nearly as important. It's essential now. So get
the people there who aren't necessarily going to come on
press night because they weren't invited, but still want to
go out and create organic content. You know, still want
to go out and create organic content which benefits you
like crazy, and you're.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Not paying them to do it. They're paying you. Yeah,
And all you have to do is feed them.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
And I actually, if you remember last year, I thought
that the food, speaking of the food, I thought I
was surprised that you So if we think back several
years now, my like gigginess is showing. But if you
think back several years, they did the Taste of Terror
or whatever, right, it was that event that was just
in the catering building. It was just like a food preview.
(22:00):
Clearly that wasn't enough or that didn't work out. But
I but I more I think about it, the more
exactly what you said, I think this is a better
version because when you give them the real dish. To
your point, now you have people that can talk about
the dish and it's the real dish, and they can
take pictures of what it actually looks like, and they
(22:20):
can start they can actually they can start the hype
machine for the upsells, which is your food, and they
can start, you know, regular people can start recommending food.
I think that's important. And then also it gives the
food all the food people like stress testing because if
you remember last year, well I'm sure Scott doesn't ide
ex I'm a crazy nerd, but last year there was
a few dessert items that there was the marshmallow Man
(22:44):
that just went like completely crazy and they you know,
and then there was the candy Apple. There were some
items last year that like went super crazy and something
didn't go well at all, and so I think they
those items kept running out in the first few weeks
and you I'm sure or what they were doing internally
was moving people from making this item to making this
(23:04):
item and to kind of unbalance it. And it just
it gives you all that data a day early and
that can make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Absolutely, And it also helps it helps you with you know,
ordering ordering stock for the remainder of the event. The
other thing it does is it it can also stress
test the the employees availability and and and and timing
to put this stuff together. Because usually when culinary folks
put together a seasonal menu of some sort, whether it's
(23:34):
for Halloween Horonites or you know, Christmas Town at Bush
Gardens or whatever the stuff, they're not the process of
putting it together usually involves more steps you have to
because they know they're not going to use it all
the time, so they're not going to pre make everything.
So it's we have to put this on the plate,
and then we have to add this to the plate,
and then we have to drizzle it with this, and
then we have to add the dry ice.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And give it to the guest.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
This these kinds of stress tests allow them to to
test out do we have enough staff too? If we've
got a queue that's going out for you know, ten
to fifteen people, how long are they going to have
to wait? And yeah, it's it's just it's super smart.
You've got the you know, you've got the audience there
(24:18):
who's willing to.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Pay for it.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
There's absolutely no reason not to do it. It's a
win win win scenario. And it's funny because I had
forgotten about the taste of fear or whatever it was called. Yep,
I'd forgotten about that. I'm I'm I would not be
surprised if this is not strongly supported by the culinary
team to make sure that they have what they need
(24:42):
to know and doing the full doing the full portions
is really important when it comes to training your staff
and making sure you have enough staff to handley.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And it's full portions in the real kitchens in the
real locations right right, which is also important because taste
a fear within the catering thing and it was samples,
so that's that's a whole different monster to make catering
samples and move them to a cater you know, Like
this is like, can we actually stock the real kitchens
and the real locations with the real portion sizes in
(25:12):
real time?
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Which and what do we have to do to transport it?
If it's something that can't be cooked there, what does
it stay warmed?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Yeah? Yeah, no, it's it's again, it's brilliant. Yeah, it
really is.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
But it's so smart, and I'm I'm actually this is
one of the things where I'm really surprised that more
attractions haven't tried something like this. Like I'm again, I
know people have a lot of criticism for Halloween Hornites,
but I feel like every year we talk about something
they're doing that is really smart, that is testing that
(25:44):
other people don't do. And I think that this is
something a lot of other attractions could incorporate, like you
were saying earlier, in a different way, maybe a cheaper
version or tweak some things to make it work for
your audience. But there's no reason that more, almost every
attraction shouldn't doing this.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Like you're going to do a dress You're going to
do a dress rehearsal anyway, Yes, just working into your
just working into your budget that your address rehearsal is
something that is paid and guests can come out and
experience it early.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And then the only other interesting note about this is
that they're doing the unmasking the fear or whatever they
call it. They're doing the behind the scenes tours again
this year, which is a good idea. Again, it's you
have the assets, they're just sitting there during the day.
If you can sell access to the to the mazes
during the day for a tour and all your then
(26:35):
basically it's just like Scott always talks about, all you're
doing is just paying the It's only the cost of
the tour guide and one tour makes pays for that
person's whole day. I mean it, it makes sense because
these are eighty five to two hundred plus dollars walking
tours per person. There's a group of twelve to fourteen,
so it's eighty dollars times fourteen. It's just for one
(26:57):
staff member.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
That's it. So it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
And so this year they're starting the unmasking the tours
a week before they open, so starting on the twenty second,
they're starting the tours so you can actually go and
tour the houses. Uh, they're only offering the three house
tour and you can go and tour them. And I
think they did the same thing last year. But it's
it's just interesting because we were talked about last year
(27:20):
where it's like you there's probably tension going on there
between again the people that want to make the money
and the scenic team because we all know that the
houses you are still finishing houses until the people start
walking through them, you know, and if you're taking time
(27:40):
out of basically then you're opening these up to be toured.
And I get that's probably why only the three house
tours being offered early instead of the six House and
the three House because basically, whatever they're touring, I mean,
you're not gonna be able to be finished. You're not
gonna be able to that. The scenic team has to
be out of that area while you are taking guests
through it to it, so they have to be done.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So let me ask though, is are these lights on
tours or are these theatrically lit.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Tours lights on tours?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Then I would I would even go one step further.
I would make certain that when they're when the guests
are walking through, there's an art direction team putting that
last layer of fuss onto things so that guests can
actually because let's face the people are going to take
these tours, they're going to nerd out about you know, everything,
everything and and the details and get your get your
(28:30):
set decoration team in there. I mean the real people
who are doing it, and those of you who work
in HOUNT will know that the final.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Art direction team.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
When they're doing stuff like this, they're covered in paint,
they're covered in great stuff, and uh, and so make it,
make it, but make it so that you can actually
really see behind the curtain, because if you're doing a
lights on tour anyway, you might as well show here's
the level we go to in order to meet the
expectations of our guests. And I think it just it
(29:01):
continues to provide value to the people who are really
going to be interested in these kinds of things. Yes,
they want, and I wouldn't have it in every room,
and I wouldn't, you know, walk them through big empty spaces.
But if you've got a team in there that can
still be doing final touches, you know, last looks, I
think that would actually elevate the experience as opposed to
take away take away from it, because again this is
(29:24):
truly a behind the behind the scenes tour, and so
again smart smart, smart, and and it's something something that
even though you may not be a Halloween Hornites, you
may be an independent haunt, there's no.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Reason you can still try it.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
You can, right, And I've seen so many smaller just
to finish off here, I've seen so many smaller attractions
do versions of this, and again it doesn't have to
be to the scale of Halloween Hornonites, but just take
the principle and see if you can apply it. You know,
we like Fear Factory, you know, they do in Nether World.
I mean, there's a lot of independent haunts that do
they do one day of behind the scenes, you know,
(30:01):
and sometimes it's before the season ends. Sometimes it's even
after the season is over, and then you can they
can share all the secrets and you can take pictures.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
I mean, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I want to throw out one more I want to
throw out one more opportunity for the smaller organizations. One
of the things we used to do at Bush is
we did not do lights on behind the scenes tours.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Usually there was.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
One time where there was a Hunt convention in town
and we made one happen. But we did do a
behind the scenes, no actor, theatrical lighting, audio at half tour.
For High School Journalism Day, what we did was we
invited because they don't get invited. The high school journalists
do not get invited to media Day. They you know,
(30:42):
don't necessarily get a media pass. But when you can
get high school journalism people to come out, and we
would break them into multiple groups. So while one group
was touring just one of the houses, just one of
the houses, usually the new one. While one group was
touring the house, another group was talking to our costume
and makeup team, and another group as being put through
an audition so that they could understand what it takes
(31:04):
to become a hot actor. And we got all kinds
of really cool coverage in the in the high school
market that way, so it gave us, it gave us
another another leg up. But I could go on about
that forever, and we don't have time because we're done. Guys,
thank you so very much. Once again, just to remind you,
this was recorded early, so if anything brand new has happened,
please forgive us for not covering it, because well we
(31:25):
don't know about it yet. But we will see you
next week right here on green tagged Theme Parking thirty
From our studios in Los Angeles and Tampa. This is
green Tag at Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip. I'm
joined as always by Scott Swinston and Scott Swinton, Creaty Development.
On Green Tag, we break down the latest week's big
news in theme parks and explain why it matters to
business professionals. However, today we're recording this early, So if
we're not talking about something that is really really big news,
(00:22):
that's why because.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Because we don't know it yet, we don't know what's
happened yet. You're actually you are in our future right now.
We're time traveling. Yeah yeah, but this is a but
in all fairness, we are traveling, and that's why we're
we decided to instead of just leaving you out to hang,
because we know how much you rely on your regular
schedule of Green Tagged to make certain that your weak
(00:45):
proceeds in a positive manner.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
This is one of those specials.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So if it was the old days, you'd see that
little special thing kairoun along the bottom of the screen
that went.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Special. Okay, yeah, what Scott said. So so, so we're
going to be talking about stories in that we didn't
cover in previous weeks, and the first one is news
that I broke about the new Festival Fright Nights, which
is coming to the Winchester Mystery House. So this is
(01:15):
I think it's an interesting story for several different reasons,
but the basics here is that thirteenth Or Entertainment Group
has partnered with the Winchester Mystery House and they are
bringing a new Halloween event called Festival Fright Nights. And
there are several elements that they have announced for this
event already, although we don't have all the details. So
the first thing is that it's going to be like
(01:38):
an immersive story driven experience. So it's going to take
place in nineteen twenty four on Halloween Night, two years
after Sarah Winchester's death, and the plot centers around a
theatrical massquarade ball hosted by the mysterious newcomer who claims
to have opened a spiritual portal within the mansion. So
as evening unfolds, visitors will discover whether this Darien ritual
(02:01):
has revealed hidden truce or awakened something far darker.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
So there's that idea.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
That it's the whole thing in its I guess in
that way is like kind of like a Sleep the
more S type of thing where it's set in a
time period where there are activities and things happening, but
there are separate from that, there's also haunted houses. So
I assume the haunted houses are going to be also
set in that time period, because that's the whole idea.
So there's three haunted houses. There's also going to be
(02:27):
the theatrical performances that tie into the story. There is
newly renovated areas in the mansion, and then of course
there's thing food, beverage, and retail offerings. So this is
very interesting, right because Thirteenth Floor, we know they have
a proven track record, and of course then the Winchester
Mystery House, which is a historic iconic property in the
(02:49):
Bay Area. This is interesting to me because I love
the idea of putting it kind of like story locked.
It's very similar I think to what they did when
and they took over La hay Ride and they created
the town of Midnight Falls there Thirteenth Floor did, and
so you it's similar where you arrive on Halloween night
(03:10):
and you know it's all these the creatures and there's
this whole storyline where you can talk to creatures and
they all have different stories and they tell you different
elements about what's going on that night. So they've proven
they can do this where they can create narratives and
train characters to have narrative shells and whatnot. So I
don't doubt any of that. It's interesting that they're going
to put three attractions there because I've covered Winchester Mystery
(03:34):
House for many years and I've gone to several versions
of Halloween, and it seems like they haven't quite figured
out what Halloween is there for the Winchester Mystery House.
And so you know, it used to be where it
was just ghost tours, and then they did try a
festival thing it was more family friendly, and they've tried
some haunts. They've tried all sorts of different things throughout
(03:56):
the years. But the thing though, is that it's not
a it's a house, right, it's a mansion. It's not
a theme park, and so them trying to fit three
haunts in this it's interesting to me. I don't know
if it's all Maybe they're gonna expand it on more
of the grounds or I mean, because it's not a
big space. So I'm that part's interesting to me. I
(04:18):
love the story idea, and then you know, tying all
that together, I'm not sure how it's all gonna fit
there because it's a small space, But overall, I think
it's good. When I broke the story, there was a
lot of people that kind of like shared a lot
of negatives, and I think if I'm gonna characterize the
negative or the pushback that I read about it, first
of all, the pushback is like worry about damage to
(04:39):
the historic property, and second is about thirteenth four basically
just being like a corporate entity. Basically that kind of
like the Chipotle of haunted houses, which was my favorite comment,
where they kind of just like come in and do that.
But I guess I would push back just in the
examples have already stated in that they've proven they can
do this before, and I I think they do good,
(05:00):
do good work, and that they've they've worked to historic
properties before and they haven't damaged them, and they haven't
damaged the Queen Mary Ship. I mean, so I don't
know whatever I mean. Any even the local Winchester team
when they're doing hont attractions could damage their own properties.
Like I feel like that's its own thing, so well.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think it's exciting to see that somebody who knows
how to do Halloween is coming in to do Halloween. Yes,
you mentioned that that Winchester has a Winchester Mystery Houses
has tried in the past to do Halloween. They couldn't
quite figure out what Halloween looks like for them. Well,
then it sounds like they've made exactly the right choice
to bring in Thirteenth Floor, who does know how to
do Halloween. And you know, I I love this. I
(05:44):
love this story for so very many reasons. Number one,
it is one of my favorite things to do, which
is to bring Halloween, bring fear, bring terror.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
To a historic landmark.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I always think that is so much fun and it
opens up so many doors for creative Having done things
like the Volta Souls in Tampa or the undead in
the water on the American Victory Ship, these are the
kinds of things that I just I just eat up.
I love doing this kind of stuff, and so I
(06:16):
think that's very exciting. There's also the fact that it
is the nineteen twenties, which is an era that I
think lends itself for It lends itself to a really
interesting theatrical version of horror because it's a time in
history where things on the surface are so buttoned up,
(06:40):
and so you know, it's during prohibition, so they're so
very conservative. But just below that veneer there is all
kinds of crazy happening. And spiritualism and mentalism were incredibly
popular at this time. People were having their cards read,
people were going mystics, people were going to seances. There's
(07:03):
so much to play with, and that is not outside
of the world of the nineteen twenties that they're trying
to create. Plus, you're going into a place that already
has really cool, rich history, and it doesn't take a
whole lot of fabrication to expand upon that existing history.
(07:24):
You know, this is what we tried to do with
the Bald Souls is we took a few basic ideas
and created history around it. And it was very funny
because when we started to do because this was brand
new for Tampa, they had done it, they hadn't done
anything like this really anywhere. And when we started to
do media for it, I would have people. I'd start
to tell the backstory and people say, is this true?
(07:45):
And my response, honestly is parts of it, But I
don't remember which parts. You know, when you can integrate
a story into such an existing rich tapestry, all you're
really doing is replacing the threads that got a little threadbare,
you know, and maybe replacing them with something a little sparklier.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well. Also, I like too, what you're talking about, and
you've said this before about the idea of not fighting
or using your assets and not fighting the environment, and
it's what you did with Vals of Souls as well.
I mean, like when you went into valt of Souls,
you were in a different time period and everybody was
dressed appropriately, and this is you know, Winchester Minstry House
is like, I mean effectively, they're like, we have this
(08:28):
great asset that is already in the backdrop for this
time period, and so we could just always It's like,
it's so much easier to just dress your actors in
period appropriate garb and give them period appropriate characters than
it is to also have to do that plus make
a whole you know, fabricated mansion. Right, you already have
the mansion, and then you're not fighting the environment when
(08:48):
you set it in this time period. All it takes
is a little bit extra work from the storyline and
the actor training, which I think is then it's going
to create a more unique experience as well.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And it's interesting because there are people who have have
been offered different spaces at different times and they they
let their own i'll call it creative ego for lack
of a better description, they let they let their own
creative ego get in the way, and they'll say, great,
I've got this this super creepy haunted mansion. I'll finally
(09:20):
get to do that that sci fi spaceship alien haunt
that I've always wanted to do. Doesn't make any sense.
It's just the dumbest thing in the world. So yeah,
let the let the space inspire you. I've even done
that with like neutral spaces, if we can find if
we can find warehouses. There was a project that I
worked on for a short period of time in Canada
(09:41):
that ended up unfortunately not happening. But one of the
things that was so cool about it is I actually,
after walking through all of the warehouse the old warehouse
spaces that it was going to take place, and I actually
changed the theme of one of the haunts that we
were going to put into a quote unquote neutral space
simply because there were assets there that I couldn't have
afforded to build, And I was like, well, why are
(10:03):
we just putting a wall in front of this. Let's
use this, this is this is an amazing tool, an
amazing part of something we can build upon. So yeah, this,
this whole concept excites me an awful lot. And the
fact that, you know, the fact the thirteenth Floor is
doing it. You know, on the one hand, you can
(10:23):
if you want to, if you want to be snarky.
I don't know who in the haunt industry would ever
want to be snarky. That never happens. Oh but yeah,
I don't know who'd want to be snarky about it.
But if you did want to be snarky and you
do say, you know, yes, they're the the Chipotle of
of of of haunted attractions, I would fight back on
that really hard.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
They're they're I mean, yes, they're a big company, and
yes they do a lot of haunts, but Chipotle, the
difference is Chipotally you go into every single restaurant and everything,
single thing is the same. I've not experienced that with
thirteenth Floor.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I think I think that This reminds me of
the episode that we recorded at this point several weeks ago,
when you're only hearing it but about Disney and the
whole idea of it being like a corporate you know,
you have, you know, the the individual layers of the
individual employees, but then you it also is part of
a big political thing that's part of it. And I
think to me, it's like thirteen Floor has to operate
(11:16):
like a real company, right, that that might be some
of the pushback is that, like you know, I've been
to a lot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of independent hire tractions, and I think not all of
them operate the way that you would have to operate
a company that is based in almost every state you know,
and and work to so many partners. Right, you need
(11:38):
a real HR department, you need a real tax department,
you need you need to be able to track assets,
and you need to run it like like a real business, right,
And I think a lot of haunts are not run by.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And then and then I just think about a company
like thirteenth Floor. They can pull, they can pull ideas
concepts that have worked in all of their other locations
that are appropriate for this location.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
They have there there.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Their box of crayons isn't sixteen, it's sixty four. I
mean there's they have a lot to pull from. They
have a lot of different experiences. They also have a
lot of purchasing power, which is great. So yeah, to me,
this seems like a really smart, really smart move really
on both sides, because this also provides thirteenth flor the
(12:20):
opportunity to do something a bit more theatrical, and they've
you know, they keep adding uniqueness to their portfolio, and
I think this is just another great step for them.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, and a good expansion into that market too, where
it would have been hard to do. Again the cost
of a building in that market, it would have been hard.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So this is a good way.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So let's okay, So keeping on the Halloween vibe at
this point, I'm sure there's a new announcement out, but
a few weeks ago we heard that the first two
confirmed ips for Halloween morn nites, So as of when
we're recording it, they have they announced Jason at both parks,
(13:01):
just Jason, you know, the Jason from Friday thirteenth, and
then they announced Fallout and five nights at Freddy's, so
they did not they were not specific about five nights
at Freddy's yet, and they might have since we've recorded this,
but basically they said that five Knights at Phrays would
come out, would be involved in Halloween horror Knights in
(13:22):
both at both coasts in like a new way, like
they said, just a new way during a panel presentation
they gave at one of the Horror conventions. They during
the panel, they seem to refer to it as a
hide house, but they did not like an officially announced
so who knows what they mean by new, But it's
going to be involved in a landmark way, kind of
like a Marquee way in the event. And then of
(13:44):
course Fallout based off of the series, not the game.
So Fallout is going to be at both coasts. Now,
a few things that are interesting about this. First of all,
it's this thing where it's really becoming where they're just
doing the same thing at both coasts, which is we
just talked about the you know, the concept of like
a corporate you gotta but I mean it makes the
(14:07):
most sense fiscally right to kind of attack it from
both angle to just to do you know, you're already
working with the IP holder like Fallout to just work
it into both parks and to you know, reuse assets
and reuse storylines and whatever, because the majority of people
don't fly a country across the.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Coast to go to both events.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So just just me and all the other like you know,
hornitted floggers. But but to me, I think the most
interesting thing is I think Fallout is an excellent choice
because it is so popular and because it is it's
such a good story. Again, like we were talking about
drawing from that story, it's an excellent story. It's a
(14:46):
popular game, so it has much more broader appeal, and
then it was created into a series that has done
really well, and then five Nights at Friday is I
think it is something we've been looking for for I've
been looking for for years for them to do, and
just because because the finance and phrase is so popular,
it's so it is. It's like we talked about with
the anime thing, Like the amount of popularity that these
(15:10):
two ips has is immense, and I think that's bodes
very well for them trying to expand the Holy Mornings
brand and to bring in overall new customers into the
theme park to get them encourage them to go to
the damn event. And then the only other interesting bit
is that they are bringing back the Premium Screen Night
(15:31):
in Orlando, And we talked about this last year and
Scott made the point that it's essentially them monetizing their
dress rehearsal, which is basically what it is. I mean,
Premium Screen Night I think is three hundred and fifty
or it's somewhere around there. And you get to go
to the event the night before it officially opens, and
(15:51):
you get unlimited food, and the way it was last year,
they're not sample sizes, like you just go up, just
get any dish at the full dish and that however
many you want from whatever. All the food's just included.
And then you get to they have what they call
phased openings of the houses, so basically they're like opening
a few at a time for certain windows and you
(16:13):
just go through. And I did that experience last year
and it was honestly an incredible experience, Like it was
my favorite Hollow Hornance experience because the lines, I mean
it was, Yeah, you get to basically you've got to
try everything and just go through the houses multiple times,
and the crowds were so much more manageable than a
(16:33):
regular night, So.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I thought it was great.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
But it's interesting they're bringing it back, so clearly something
about it worked or they just don't care because if
they get you know, it's three hundred at three hundred
and fifty dollars, it's it's pretty good. And presumably they
need to test the mazes anyway, and they need to
test the food anyway, so you're just you're just subsidizing
their testing.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, it's there.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
This is something that is going to happen, whether they
allow getsin or not. You know, and as from a
creative director standpoint, I would embrace this with both arms
and squeeze it until you couldn't breathe anymore, because this
is I think brilliant and part of the reason for
the phased opening, I would guess, is so that the
(17:16):
management team can go through all of the Haunt experiences
with quote unquote real guests. Yes, they are high end
guests who are going to you know, spread the spread
the virus of this year's event out.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
To the world.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Excuse me, but I think it's important to recognize that
this is something that they're stress testing they're stress testing
the experience. And the only way you can do that
is with real guests. I said it when we reported
on this last time, and you've probably heard me say
it if you've ever listened to anything I've ever talked about.
When it comes to Halloween, the missing cast member is
always the audience. And when you put the audience in
(17:55):
there and you have the opportunity to experience it full out,
not just a part ten audience, not just half the cast,
you know, who is just basically placeholders for the audience.
When you can put real people in there, you can
see how real people are going to respond, and you
can make tweaks. You can make You know you're not
going to make radical changes, but you can make tweaks.
You can reposition performers, you can change the timing on
(18:18):
special effects. You can add more or less. You could
add more fog, you could take fog away. There's a
million and one things you can do, even in a
one night turnover. You know, you just change timing and
everything and it and.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
It you know it gives you.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
It gives you a beta test that you can't really
get any other way. And if you were to open
it up and make it free. I mean, yes, you
can do that, but why you know, or it has
such a has such a rabid fan base that they're
willing to they're willing to pay this. Obviously it worked
(18:53):
for them last year. And uh, you know it would
be really if I weren't, if I weren't usually working
on the night that had happened, I would I would
go as well.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So it's yeah, I like your point about really you
need to test with the real audience.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I think that's a really oh.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, and hardly no one does that. I mean that
that's the other thing too. It's really rare because haunts
generally have such you know, a few operating nights and
it's you know, the whole thing. But you're right, even
when you have friends and family there, it's not real
because they're not you know, they're not damaging the sets,
you know, I mean, real guests are crazy and they're
(19:31):
unpredictable and you need to be able to see that
to change your show.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, and it's and it's interesting because you know people
are listening, are going to go, well, you know, nobody
would come to our nobody would pay extra to come
to our our dress rehearsal night.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Nope, we're not. We don't have the Halloween Horn.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Night's clout and you probably don't. But I'm guessing if
you put it out there, you might find that. No,
you're probably not gonna get three fifty a pop, but
you might be.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Able to do it. And even if you don't.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
One of the things that we used to do at
Bush is because we had six or seven Haunts per season,
we would bring in half the cast to play guests
on the first dress rehearsal night and the other half
of the cast to play guests on the second half.
But again, as Philip said, it's still not the same
as real guests. Sometimes they're better, sometimes they're worse. You know,
(20:22):
hot actors love to give other hot actors notes, So
you know it can create, It can create your anybody
who's done hont just laughed because you know that's true. Yeah,
so you know it can it can be. We really
had to manage it carefully when it was when it
was internally in the cast. But but this the premium
(20:42):
and basically all they've done from a production calendar standpoint
is in their opinion now their opening night is their
premium screen night.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And they just based the entire schedule around that. It's
not considered, oh, we don't really open until next week.
It no boom, that's your opening date. Everything has to
be dropped dead done by there. And when I was
at Bush, you know, we didn't have quite the the
the role that that social media and guest voice played
(21:13):
was not nearly as important. It's essential now. So get
the people there who aren't necessarily going to come on
press night because they weren't invited, but still want to
go out and create organic content. You know, still want
to go out and create organic content which benefits you
like crazy, and you're.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Not paying them to do it. They're paying you. Yeah,
And all you have to do is feed them.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
And I actually, if you remember last year, I thought
that the food, speaking of the food, I thought I
was surprised that you So if we think back several
years now, my like gigginess is showing. But if you
think back several years, they did the Taste of Terror
or whatever, right, it was that event that was just
in the catering building. It was just like a food preview.
(22:00):
Clearly that wasn't enough or that didn't work out. But
I but I more I think about it, the more
exactly what you said, I think this is a better
version because when you give them the real dish. To
your point, now you have people that can talk about
the dish and it's the real dish, and they can
take pictures of what it actually looks like, and they
(22:20):
can start they can actually they can start the hype
machine for the upsells, which is your food, and they
can start, you know, regular people can start recommending food.
I think that's important. And then also it gives the
food all the food people like stress testing because if
you remember last year, well I'm sure Scott doesn't ide
ex I'm a crazy nerd, but last year there was
a few dessert items that there was the marshmallow Man
(22:44):
that just went like completely crazy and they you know,
and then there was the candy Apple. There were some
items last year that like went super crazy and something
didn't go well at all, and so I think they
those items kept running out in the first few weeks
and you I'm sure or what they were doing internally
was moving people from making this item to making this
(23:04):
item and to kind of unbalance it. And it just
it gives you all that data a day early and
that can make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Absolutely, And it also helps it helps you with you know,
ordering ordering stock for the remainder of the event. The
other thing it does is it it can also stress
test the the employees availability and and and and timing
to put this stuff together. Because usually when culinary folks
put together a seasonal menu of some sort, whether it's
(23:34):
for Halloween Horonites or you know, Christmas Town at Bush
Gardens or whatever the stuff, they're not the process of
putting it together usually involves more steps you have to
because they know they're not going to use it all
the time, so they're not going to pre make everything.
So it's we have to put this on the plate,
and then we have to add this to the plate,
and then we have to drizzle it with this, and
then we have to add the dry ice.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And give it to the guest.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
This these kinds of stress tests allow them to to
test out do we have enough staff too? If we've
got a queue that's going out for you know, ten
to fifteen people, how long are they going to have
to wait? And yeah, it's it's just it's super smart.
You've got the you know, you've got the audience there
(24:18):
who's willing to.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Pay for it.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
There's absolutely no reason not to do it. It's a
win win win scenario. And it's funny because I had
forgotten about the taste of fear or whatever it was called. Yep,
I'd forgotten about that. I'm I'm I would not be
surprised if this is not strongly supported by the culinary
team to make sure that they have what they need
(24:42):
to know and doing the full doing the full portions
is really important when it comes to training your staff
and making sure you have enough staff to handley.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And it's full portions in the real kitchens in the
real locations right right, which is also important because taste
a fear within the catering thing and it was samples,
so that's that's a whole different monster to make catering
samples and move them to a cater you know, Like
this is like, can we actually stock the real kitchens
and the real locations with the real portion sizes in
(25:12):
real time?
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Which and what do we have to do to transport it?
If it's something that can't be cooked there, what does
it stay warmed?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Yeah? Yeah, no, it's it's again, it's brilliant. Yeah, it
really is.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
But it's so smart, and I'm I'm actually this is
one of the things where I'm really surprised that more
attractions haven't tried something like this. Like I'm again, I
know people have a lot of criticism for Halloween Hornites,
but I feel like every year we talk about something
they're doing that is really smart, that is testing that
(25:44):
other people don't do. And I think that this is
something a lot of other attractions could incorporate, like you
were saying earlier, in a different way, maybe a cheaper
version or tweak some things to make it work for
your audience. But there's no reason that more, almost every
attraction shouldn't doing this.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Like you're going to do a dress You're going to
do a dress rehearsal anyway, Yes, just working into your
just working into your budget that your address rehearsal is
something that is paid and guests can come out and
experience it early.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And then the only other interesting note about this is
that they're doing the unmasking the fear or whatever they
call it. They're doing the behind the scenes tours again
this year, which is a good idea. Again, it's you
have the assets, they're just sitting there during the day.
If you can sell access to the to the mazes
during the day for a tour and all your then
(26:35):
basically it's just like Scott always talks about, all you're
doing is just paying the It's only the cost of
the tour guide and one tour makes pays for that
person's whole day. I mean it, it makes sense because
these are eighty five to two hundred plus dollars walking
tours per person. There's a group of twelve to fourteen,
so it's eighty dollars times fourteen. It's just for one
(26:57):
staff member.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
That's it. So it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
And so this year they're starting the unmasking the tours
a week before they open, so starting on the twenty second,
they're starting the tours so you can actually go and
tour the houses. Uh, they're only offering the three house
tour and you can go and tour them. And I
think they did the same thing last year. But it's
it's just interesting because we were talked about last year
(27:20):
where it's like you there's probably tension going on there
between again the people that want to make the money
and the scenic team because we all know that the
houses you are still finishing houses until the people start
walking through them, you know, and if you're taking time
(27:40):
out of basically then you're opening these up to be toured.
And I get that's probably why only the three house
tours being offered early instead of the six House and
the three House because basically, whatever they're touring, I mean,
you're not gonna be able to be finished. You're not
gonna be able to that. The scenic team has to
be out of that area while you are taking guests
through it to it, so they have to be done.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So let me ask though, is are these lights on
tours or are these theatrically lit.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Tours lights on tours?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Then I would I would even go one step further.
I would make certain that when they're when the guests
are walking through, there's an art direction team putting that
last layer of fuss onto things so that guests can
actually because let's face the people are going to take
these tours, they're going to nerd out about you know, everything,
everything and and the details and get your get your
(28:30):
set decoration team in there. I mean the real people
who are doing it, and those of you who work
in HOUNT will know that the final.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Art direction team.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
When they're doing stuff like this, they're covered in paint,
they're covered in great stuff, and uh, and so make it,
make it, but make it so that you can actually
really see behind the curtain, because if you're doing a
lights on tour anyway, you might as well show here's
the level we go to in order to meet the
expectations of our guests. And I think it just it
(29:01):
continues to provide value to the people who are really
going to be interested in these kinds of things. Yes,
they want, and I wouldn't have it in every room,
and I wouldn't, you know, walk them through big empty spaces.
But if you've got a team in there that can
still be doing final touches, you know, last looks, I
think that would actually elevate the experience as opposed to
take away take away from it, because again this is
(29:24):
truly a behind the behind the scenes tour, and so
again smart smart, smart, and and it's something something that
even though you may not be a Halloween Hornites, you
may be an independent haunt, there's no.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Reason you can still try it.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
You can, right, And I've seen so many smaller just
to finish off here, I've seen so many smaller attractions
do versions of this, and again it doesn't have to
be to the scale of Halloween Hornonites, but just take
the principle and see if you can apply it. You know,
we like Fear Factory, you know, they do in Nether World.
I mean, there's a lot of independent haunts that do
they do one day of behind the scenes, you know,
(30:01):
and sometimes it's before the season ends. Sometimes it's even
after the season is over, and then you can they
can share all the secrets and you can take pictures.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
I mean, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I want to throw out one more I want to
throw out one more opportunity for the smaller organizations. One
of the things we used to do at Bush is
we did not do lights on behind the scenes tours.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Usually there was.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
One time where there was a Hunt convention in town
and we made one happen. But we did do a
behind the scenes, no actor, theatrical lighting, audio at half tour.
For High School Journalism Day, what we did was we
invited because they don't get invited. The high school journalists
do not get invited to media Day. They you know,
(30:42):
don't necessarily get a media pass. But when you can
get high school journalism people to come out, and we
would break them into multiple groups. So while one group
was touring just one of the houses, just one of
the houses, usually the new one. While one group was
touring the house, another group was talking to our costume
and makeup team, and another group as being put through
an audition so that they could understand what it takes
(31:04):
to become a hot actor. And we got all kinds
of really cool coverage in the in the high school
market that way, so it gave us, it gave us
another another leg up. But I could go on about
that forever, and we don't have time because we're done. Guys,
thank you so very much. Once again, just to remind you,
this was recorded early, so if anything brand new has happened,
please forgive us for not covering it, because well we
(31:25):
don't know about it yet. But we will see you
next week right here on green tagged Theme Parking thirty
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