April 12, 2025

Universal Studios UK: A £50 Billion Brexit Comeback Strategy for 2031

We break down Universal’s newly announced UK theme park, set to open in 2031, its location just 35 minutes from London, the promise of world-class immersive lands, and the potential to draw 8.5 million visitors in its first year.

Universal's newly announced UK theme park isn't just another expansion—it's a strategic economic revitalization plan positioned to transform Britain's post-Brexit economy. We analyze how this 476-acre project near London promises 8.5 million first-year visitors, 28,000 jobs, and a £50 billion economic impact by 2055. Scott and Philip explore why Universal's diversification strategy—balancing global location risk while expanding into kid-friendly, adult-horror, and now European markets—represents smart portfolio planning that mirrors current financial advice to balance US and international investments. Plus, we examine how Universal's IP-driven approach will differentiate it from Puy du Fou's cultural focus and potentially challenge Merlin's regional dominance. Is this massive project the vote of confidence Britain needs to overcome Brexit's tourism impact?

Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon.


SOURCES:

Philip Hernandez (00:00.43)
from our studios this week in Los Angeles and Tampa. This is Green Tagged, Theme Park in 30. I'm Philip. He is Scott Swenson. On Green Tagged, we break down the top theme park news of each week and explain why it matters to you. And this week, you cannot look anywhere without seeing this story. So of course we have to talk about it. And that is that Universal Studios is coming to the UK. Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Scott (00:23.554)
Didn't we already talk about this, Philip?

Philip Hernandez (00:25.358)
Oh yes, we did. Yeah, we got to about it We do, we do.

Scott (00:27.054)
Okay, it's back. It's back in the news cycle. All right. Yeah, that's I mean that is that is the world right now is that we have to make sure that we still stay within the because news cycles are so darn short now. It's like we got to constantly reinsert so that we're we stay in at least some new cycle somewhere, you know.

Philip Hernandez (00:32.226)
Well, and I think...

Philip Hernandez (00:47.254)
And this time it is like confirmed. know, we, I think last time it was like, they were reaching out, they were polling people, were thinking, see, just trying to decide if it was a good idea. You know, it turns out 92 % of people they talked to said it was a good idea. And so now they're like, reach and now, and, this time the news came from everybody. Like it came from the BBC, it came from parliament. mean, like the government is announcing it. I mean, everybody is, and we'll talk about that, about, think some, I, some, I don't know.

think some reasons why everyone's kind of dumping on this, but first let's review the details. So Universal Destinations and Experiences announced plans to build its first European theme park in England with an expected opening date of 2031, which is really just around the corner. The 476 acre complex, it's going to be located just south of Bedford and 35 minutes north of London by train. It's projected to attract 8.5 million visitors in its first year, making it the UK's largest visitor attraction.

I'm just gonna stop right there. 8.5 million in its first like opening year. I mean, that is kind of like the attendance level of large. I mean, that's pretty close to something that hinge levels for some of its other parks. And I mean, that's first year. I mean, whatever number data they use, mean, that, if it gets that many, I mean, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. So some of the details here, of course,

There's gonna be a theme park with themed lands. They keep emphasizing how it's gonna have a lot of the like top world-class technology. you know, I think we're thinking this is gonna be closer to Epic Universe and it's gonna be to some of the older parks. It's gonna be to high technology, know, high wow, all that cool stuff. There's gonna be a 500 room hotel that's at least in the plans, retail dining and entertainment complex similar to CityWalk. And of course, just for reference.

476 acres. So Alton Towers is 550 and Thorpe Park is 494. So it's kind of in that range. The government, at least in their press release, put out some talks about how they might, Universal might expand the land parcel that it has to 700. So it would be larger than them, but that is not even like, Universal hasn't said that. That's just like the government talking about that. So.

Philip Hernandez (03:03.886)
In terms of what people have said about it, so Universal said, expanding into Europe presents us with a significant opportunity to reach new fans and share the incredible experiences our team creates. Fine. Economic impact that the government is citing. It's saying 20,000 jobs during the construction period and the construction would begin next year. So it starts in 2026 and then it goes through and they open 2031. So they're saying 20,000 jobs during the construction period up until

8,000 new permanent jobs when it opens in 2031, 50 billion in euros for the UK economy by 2055, which is, I like these better because the government's like, they give you like, you know, buy this time. So like, you know, in 30 years, it'll be this much and it'll be this much up until construction and this much after. So that's pretty good. What the government said is they said that this is a vote of confidence.

in Britain as a place to do business, adding that Universal's investment will bring billions to the economy and create thousands of jobs in the UK, putting more money in people's pockets. I think that's everything new that we heard about it. We talked last time about, you know, the location and how Puy-de-Fu is also going for a location, but basically the gist of it is it's really close to London. It's going to be connected by rail. The only negative feedback they got from the locals is that

It's gonna cause infrastructure issues, which Universal has already addressed and the government's also addressed. They're working together to make a train stop, to make it connect to the Metro, to expand those areas. So it sounds like there's really no concerns that they haven't already, even now already addressed. The plans aren't official. They still have to be approved by the planning committee. So there's all these asterisks on everything, but I can't imagine it wouldn't go through in the same model. Like why wouldn't they want a city walk? That stuff is there, but.

Yeah, for reference and we have Poitoufou that's coming in, right? That will be developing around the same time. And then we have this guy coming in and then we talked previously also about Merlin has properties in the area and then Parks who just sold their stuff to Herschin in the US, you they have stuff in the area. So there is attractions that are in that immediate area, but both the Poitoufou and this one would be going within the London Metro area.

Philip Hernandez (05:25.902)
So the idea is it's all gonna be connected. So you really can see how if you think ahead to 2031, that this really is gonna, I think revitalize that whole region. cause all, again, the thing about Europe is it's so connected and walkable and the fact that they're making it from inception planning to be on the train. I that means you're gonna be the land at the airports and just take a train, you know, just take the train 30 minutes over to this and then all the locals are gonna be able to visit as well.

All of those, think, are great indicators. Scott, first, what do you think about just the details and the basics? And then maybe we'll dive into some of the...

Scott (06:05.474)
Well, think that whenever they say there's been concern from the locals that there's going to be some infrastructure challenges, well, that's true of every single theme park that has ever, ever, ever, ever been built. And part of the reason that Walt Disney World was done under multiple other hidden separate

Philip Hernandez (06:15.918)
That's true.

Scott (06:24.376)
corporations when they were buying up land, one, so that the prices of the swamp wouldn't skyrocket, and two, so that people didn't necessarily have a long time to ramp up their panic. There's only a couple of situations that I can think of in history where these kinds of concerns have shut down.

the construction of a park. And normally it has to do with something along the lines of it is either going to negatively impact a natural resource or a historic resource. it is possible that that may rear its head here as well, but from the location that I've seen, it looks as though it's a go.

And especially when the government is starting to quote financial numbers, that's pretty exciting. What I'd be concerned about, a couple things I'd be concerned about first, not even concerned about, just curious about. First and foremost, the fact that this being universal, you made the comparisons at least as far as size from the local UK parks.

But this is really kind of the first time the UK has hosted one of the international global mega brands. so I can see, I agree with you in that it's a revitalization situation. This is, the big boys have seen the smaller companies do it and do it well, and then all of a sudden, boom, let's bring it in and make it happen. So I think that's exciting. I think it's great. I think that...

To me this is more of and there is some of the some of the stuff that I've read sort of alludes to this as well This is more of a revitalization of the theme park world in Europe in general than just the UK because they've been they've talked about how it is centrally located within within the European or Europe or the European Union or in that area and So I think that

Scott (08:34.478)
I think that the reach is going to be far outside the UK. And the other thing that I was wondering is, I'm curious to see how many hotels outside of the park are being built in that area now. Because when they say it's a, 30 minute train ride?

from London, yeah, 30 minute train ride from London, and there's a 500 room hotel that's on property. Well, 500 rooms is not going to be enough to handle this kind of influx. Now, people will just, yeah, maybe people will stay in London and just take the train back and forth. That is certainly a possibility. But, you know, this is the, I'll use the Orlando equivalent. This is the great opportunity for an iDrive to happen.

Philip Hernandez (09:04.812)
Yeah, handle 8 million. Yeah, like 500 rooms.

Scott (09:22.952)
an international drive to happen next to the park because it's there are going to be people who can't who either can't or won't be it won't they either can't afford or won't be able to get into the the on-site hotel so there's going to need to be and i don't know there may already be but i it doesn't sound like it yet but that would be that would be the first thing i'd look at if i were an investor i'd be like okay universal's coming where can we invest

How can we invest to support that outside the parks? Because there's money to be made there.

Philip Hernandez (09:56.768)
So I think that sentiment is exactly what the government is hoping for. Like I think this is why that they're going in on this project with Universal to invest in this. because, mean, basically I think, we know we've heard from, I mean, I just, you think about recently what happened there you're like, you Brexit was not good for the economy. It was terrible and it was bad for attractions. We heard.

the reverberations in our industry and from our folks whose it's impacted their businesses. was just not a good idea. So, you know, so I think they're, really still trying to recover, you know, from that. And I think that this is a big step in that direction. think that's exactly why, you know, the, the, the government specifically spoke to that, you know, like we're hoping that this will, whatever they said that this will make.

this an area where people would want to invest more. A vote of confidence in Britain as a place to do business. I mean, that's, I'm not sure how that could be. I mean, that's exactly what I was thinking when I read that. Like, yes, because you just spent the last X years telling people not to do business here because of Brexit. And so now you're like, no, no, it's a good place. It's this long-term investment. You know, it's going to be whatever. think they are deliberately encouraging that type of extra businesses. You know, iDrive.

Scott (11:00.578)
Yep.

Philip Hernandez (11:17.762)
those type of other people to come in and do exactly that in anticipation of this. And I think that's why they're putting the numbers out there. So blatantly, like, you it's going to be this amount, it's going to provide XYZ because I think they want to encourage the outside investment for that reason. You know, it's again, it's like, it was not a good time for them. I think that's also a reason why the, that area's attractions have also, you know, not done well. mean, all this whole sector was hit by Brexit. So I think that's.

They're trying to turn it all around. And then this plus point to food, I think really could make this area into a great destination option. Uh, and you know, I think it goes back to what we talked about previously too, like a lot of, um, it's also a good opportunity because I think people might be reconsidering going to the U S or the need to go to the U S and then, you know, for a lot of people, this destination is going to be closer and then connected to rail, you know, and have the also this new cool theme park. mean, I think it,

Scott (11:54.126)
Absolutely.

Philip Hernandez (12:16.61)
begins to tip the calculus in that direction.

Scott (12:18.966)
Absolutely. And just the fact that they the way they phrase things like, you know, approximately 8000 new permanent jobs across the hospitality and creative industries. That's not saying from the park. That's saying because of the park. You know, and I would even guess that that the 20,000 jobs during the construction period may not just be construction of the park itself, may also be construction of the infrastructure building being built around it to support it.

Philip Hernandez (12:29.004)
Yep. Yep.

Philip Hernandez (12:45.806)
Yeah, I was thinking that was a lot of, I was like, that's a lot, like that's a lot.

Scott (12:48.886)
Well, it depends on the country. Different countries build parks in different ways. There's the number of people, for example, and I don't have the solid numbers, but the number of people and the number of countries they came from to build SeaWorld in Abu Dhabi was massive. I mean, it was just staggering. So, but that again is construction in a different culture. So it's, I'm assuming it's a little bit different, but.

Yeah, as long as they're able to support, you know, it's sort of like you don't want to build a 20,000 pound statue on a dock that only supports 10,000 pounds. So you got to make sure that...

you've got the infrastructure to keep it flowing because you can have the best park in the world but if nobody can get there and the area surrounding it is just a disaster and turns into a parking lot as opposed to know highways and railways just have to make sure that they have the support there and have it in place prior to opening.

Which is kind of like which comes first the chicken or the egg? There's always those people it's like I don't want to schedule the extra trains out there if there's not going to be the need for them, but You know if they're yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a unique situation and I'm hoping that I'm hoping that it does well because The little the little mapettes that I've seen in all the posts the park looks pretty cool, so

Philip Hernandez (14:23.47)
Right. Well, I think to your point about accessibility and kind of where it is, what not, think in that way is similar to Epic in that Epic is already nested in a zone that is kind of like already a theme park developed zone. mean, they don't have to expand. And in this case, when the government did say they were looking at expanding the airport that's closest to this. also, mean, 30 minutes by rail from London is not far. mean, it's still with, especially for Europe, mean, I think,

I think for American, it's very different there in America versus in Europe and other parts of the country that are way more connected, way more walkable and way more connected by public transit and all this. And that's the key. mean, as long as it's on a rail line and it's only 30 minutes, mean, that, it might, I don't know, I might seem far to some Americans, but it's not, this is not, mean, so this is, pretty centrally located actually, I think.

Scott (14:54.445)
you

Scott (15:13.358)
No, there are American cities that are the same way. There are certain American cities that if like, I don't know whether it's still this way, but back when I lived in Chicago, if you knew that it was by one of the L stops that went up north, there's no way you drive. You wouldn't, first of all, give up your parking space downtown. And secondly, it's cheaper to use your...

railway pass to just hop on the L and go up north. no, it makes sense. It makes sense. I just want to make sure that there's enough support around it so that it's not an island. Because that was one of the things that happened. I visited Walt Disney World as a kid the year after it opened. And there were so many half-finished hotels and get rich quick.

Philip Hernandez (15:44.088)
Yep. think.

Scott (16:10.39)
restaurants that basically were just steam tables because they couldn't really invest in a comfortable restaurant. It was kind of a disaster. The park itself was lovely. Of course, remember when Walt Disney World opened, it was only Magic Kingdom. Let's see, it was Magic Kingdom, Contemporary Resort, and Polynesian. That was it. And so it kind of, it took a little bit of time to build up what is now

Philip Hernandez (16:30.87)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Scott (16:40.374)
the I-4 corridor or the Buena Vista area to be able to fully support the massiveness of that experience. Now this experience is not as big, I get that, but if you look at it as far as percentage of the country, it's pretty impactful.

Philip Hernandez (16:57.006)
Yeah.

Well, also I think we got a little bit more clues about what we talked. So last time when we did our deep dive into these two parks and development as area, we kind of talked about how the Puy de Foo was positioning itself as celebration of local culture. they're, they're presenting themselves as entirely different than Universal, which at that point we had assumed would lean on IPs because everything they'd been opening so far, Universal Kids,

it has IP, they announced IPs for that. Horror unleashed is, you know, IP driven epic universe, obviously IP. So like, I think you could argue, even though there's no plans. I think if you just look at their history of what they've been opening this past year, everything is IP linked. And we talked about last time we talked about this, how basically that's the differentiator, right? So like point of view is like going the opposite where they're going to lean into like the local area as an IP of itself.

you know, almost a museum-ish quality, but being an immersive experience. And then of course, Universal is going to lead. And I think they didn't give us any details, obviously, about the IPs or not or any of that. But I think the way that they describe the park in that it's going to have the world-class theme park featuring several themed lands and Universal's signature immersive rides and attractions. I mean, what else is their signature? I mean, come on. So I think it's pretty clear.

Scott (18:20.002)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Philip Hernandez (18:24.893)
that they're gonna lean into the IPs. And I think that will further differentiate the area because again, I'm like, what is Merlin gonna do? You know, I like, it's really, cause again, I do think and I've been, obviously I don't live in the UK, neither of us does. I've visited all the parks and I've done stories on all of them, but I'm still not like a local reporter there. But just from my perspective, having visited and done that, I think if,

Basically, basically, let's just say this is gonna be close to Epic Universe in terms of technology and IPs and whatnot. I mean, there really would be really almost nothing like it in the UK area. Certainly nothing that has the size and the brand recognition and the IP worldwide recognition and all that, especially if they get, you know, I mean, the Harry Potter tour in London, I think to me is almost...

the closest thing, which is not even considered a theme park, but it's a massive, like I told you before, it's a massive experience. mean, it's like two hours just to walk through it and that's not reading anything or stopping and the structures are enormous and that the throughput is, I mean, it's a, and it's, you know, it's a big pole. you know, I I actually think, you know, now you look at it, I mean, I think that's, if you look at it in that sense, that,

idea of like kind of world-class tech, IP stuff is much more differentiated there than it is in Orlando because it's not fighting Disney, it's not fighting these places. You don't have anybody, it's just Merlin, right? That's nearby Merlin and parks and then the independent attractions. And that's not to say they're not doing great things also, but it seems to be less crowded. Now, the reason for that, of course, is that there wasn't the appetite previously. I mean, look at even when, you know, Disney shung…

Scott (19:57.835)
Absolutely.

Philip Hernandez (20:19.444)
Europe, Disney, know, Paris Disneyland and all of the protesting and all the struggles they had to figure out the rhythm of that park over the years and how they fine tuned it to lean much more into the local culture for live entertainment and all that. So I think that that we'll see. I I assume that because they've done all this research and they're doing this, that they've decided that that region, that the UK and London area specifically is ready for much more like high tech.

IP-driven experiences as opposed to maybe they weren't in the past.

Scott (20:50.466)
Yeah. Well, and let's just be honest, Universal is pretty much all over the board right now between between Epic, UK, the the the kids network or the kids resort in Texas and the horror experience in in Vegas. You know, they're they're testing a lot of different things. It's it's interesting to me because to me, it looks like

Philip Hernandez (20:58.348)
Yes, true.

Philip Hernandez (21:08.438)
or unleashed in Vegas,

Scott (21:17.326)
And I just kind of had this epiphany. It kind of looks like the sort of diversification that Disney tried to do several years ago with Disney, I can't even remember what they were called, not vacation clubs, but Disney destinations that weren't theme parks. And those didn't go particularly well because...

Philip Hernandez (21:34.222)
So that's

Philip Hernandez (21:39.896)
Yeah, remember they were gonna do the communities, maybe they still did. I kinda lost track of those stories, but the retirement communities where they were gonna make them like Disney-fied and all this. you know.

Scott (21:43.712)
Yeah, me too.

Scott (21:48.046)
Correct. So this is diversification, but it's diversification within, clearly within the umbrella of their brand, which I think is super smart.

Philip Hernandez (21:57.186)
Yeah. So I was going to say that to actually the diversification strategy. you know, it, it's something I've been thinking about also with work and with Gantem and that whole thing, diversification is essential for businesses of all kinds, even for individuals. Like diversification is kind like the way that you

protect yourself against everything. And I think you can think of it on many different dimensions. You think of yourself as diversification in terms of assets. think most people, when they hear diversification, they think like stock portfolio, like revenue sources, like making sure you're not invested in just one stock or making sure you have multiple revenue sources. But actually, when you look at the way that financial analysts and companies plan diversification, it's much more than that. Like it's not just, are you investing in this

one 401k or this plan or low stock, low ETF index funds or whatever. It's also the concept of like short selling. So basically like, you know, and we saw this recently, like the people who lost the least money recently are people who had basically you'd you'd you'd kind of double invest. So you like invest in a company, but then you also invest in shorting the company. And so that way, if the company goes up, you make money. And if they go down, you don't lose as much because you're betting on them. You're betting on both scenarios, you're betting on them going up and going down.

And so that way, so this is weird, there's occasion. I was thinking us at Gantem, we're not really like we're over invested in the U S as a brand basically, because we have most of our team here. You know, we, most of the customers, we bring all the stuff in here. mean, that's over investment. mean, we talked about this with the pandemic, right? Like supply chains, you know, the fact that we only have one supply chain and that it's mostly reliant on bringing stuff into the U S and between the U S and China, that's bad because it's over investment.

you're not diversified, right?

Scott (23:49.026)
Well, and we talked about this, we talked about this as far as supply chain. We talked about this years ago when we were talking about when we were talking about making certain that you are.

prepared for the next crisis? What is the next crisis that's going to happen? And one of the things that has come up over and over and over again, not only on this show, but also in other educational sessions that I've either taught or taken, is that the kind of diversity you need is sort of parallel path, so that when one thing dries up, you've got other things that can support it until such time as it becomes either.

Either successful or saleable, know, that's those are the really the two options that most large corporations do and my guess is, know, they're looking at it We know we know that epic is going to be a slam dunk I think they're pretty confident that epic is going to be a slam dunk So they feel as though they probably have a little bit more wiggle room when it comes to testing some new things like a park that is specifically for children, which is

under the overarching brand of Universal Parks, but never where they focused. They've always been sort of the bad guys of theme parks. So to do a kids-only in Texas is a unique decision, but still clearly on brand for them. Clearly on brand for them. The Vegas, the horror thing in Vegas, you know, are more people know them as Halloween Horror Nights than I think know them as Universal Parks. think, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but...

Philip Hernandez (25:09.187)
Yeah.

Scott (25:20.312)
So that's perfectly on brand. And taking the key elements from their other existing parks, taking them to Europe and setting them up there, also very much on brand. So it looks as though they're trying to do as a company what things like Saudi Arabia and UAE have been trying to do over the last few years.

as countries where they're diversifying their income sources. It's not just coming from oil. It's coming from, well, business, banking, and travel and leisure. Those are the three in Saudi right now that are pretty key.

Philip Hernandez (25:50.989)
Right.

Philip Hernandez (25:55.532)
Yeah. Well, I agree with that all. I think I thought of it a little bit differently in that I thought of it almost as like a bet against the U S because, know, recently, like with Gantem, we're thinking like, we need to like get away from the U S because we're like too invested. And the way that the stock is been, it's been overvalued in the U S for a while. And, you know, it's dropping down and whatnot, but basically what you, what you're seeing is

Scott (26:13.07)
you

Philip Hernandez (26:25.102)
other markets trying to figure out how to do stuff without the US do trade without the US figure out ways to just exclude the US from what they're doing because they can't count on the US. So if you think of it in terms of like shooting where the ducks are flying, if you can see plan like planets out a few years, I think the reason I I was thinking this is smart is because they've put their kind of new investment here in epic and that's what that's gonna do is maintain market share in Orlando, it's gonna make sure they're not slipping their stay top of mind, whatever.

Scott (26:31.852)
Mm-hmm.

Scott (26:51.182)
Mm-hmm.

Philip Hernandez (26:54.518)
Like you said, they have the kids thing that's going to be like, can we do something for locals? Cause what else we talked about last time we talked about when international travel dips, do catered locals and universal kids locals, you know, the horror nights thing is also just like a, whatever was this horror thing going to work? We could play around with that. But this one to me seems like that bet of almost like against the U S it's like, we're betting that the alternative other economies in the rest of the world are going to start doing better.

Scott (27:04.47)
Right, diversification of audience.

Philip Hernandez (27:24.162)
You know, as the multiplier in the US kind of drops and the other ones might increase, then we're going to have properties in the rest of the regions that could. Because you could look at Universal also being over-invested in the US if you think about it. Because with Epic joining their other parks in Orlando and then Hollywood and Texas and Horror Unleashed, that's a lot of US investment. You know, and yes, they do have Universal Beijing and they do have Osaka.

You know, and, but the Singapore is a license, right? It's a, it's a, it's not a owned part. So that's a lot less of a kind of worldwide investment than Disney has.

Scott (28:01.806)
Well, with it, so basically just looking at number of parks, which is an unfair assessment, but looking at number of parks or number of locations with the UK park, it's going to be 50 % in the US and 50 % out. You know, and again.

Philip Hernandez (28:20.12)
Which is what, that's actually what a lot of the financial advisors are investing, are advising at this point. They're like, you need to start selling off your US assets so that you kind of have a mix, like half in US and then half in alternative markets. You know, because basically right now, due to the valuations, you could buy something in the US or you could pay 30 % and have the rest of the world all in one fund. And so it's like,

that's the recommendation. I'm like, well, this is almost exactly what Universal's doing, but on a macro sense, you know, where they're like, we're gonna make sure that we have enough investment to mitigate this risk, that we're diversified, not just in all we've been talking about, but also diversified in, you know, because again, Disney is gonna be fine. Disney has properties everywhere. And so it almost doesn't matter, like what country is doing well or isn't doing well or the economy of this or that, or, you know.

Japan does well, great. know, the US slips so well. Well, if Japan's doing well, you know, it's like.

Scott (29:18.028)
Well, and not only are they diversifying...

not only is Universal diversifying from country to country, they're also diversifying on product mix. So if, for example, Horror Unleashed does really, really well in Vegas, who's to say they won't open that in, well, they could pretty much open it in any major city in the world, and they have a proven concept, and they have the Vegas name, and they have all the IPs. If they discover Universal, or not Universal, sorry,

Philip Hernandez (29:26.083)
Yes.

Scott (29:50.512)
global travel craps out, they decide, well, let's start investing more and more in these smaller things. And they've got something that caters to adults in Horror Unleashed and Universal Kids Resort is something that caters to families. So they basically have, I don't want to call it a plug and play, but they have experience and have tested the market.

in not only diversifying their locations as far as which country, but also diversifying the kind of market that they're going after, whether it is international travel or local. So yeah, it sounds like this is just another step in a very well thought out plan. And I'm glad they finally have found ways to invest the money that Wizarding World of Harry Potter has brought to them. Because they didn't know what to do with that for many years.

And it just kept getting better and better with Diagon Alley, cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Speaking of getting better, this is the weirdest transition I've ever done. Speaking of getting better, we better go because our time is up. hopefully, hopefully, a vast majority of you listening will also join us for Green Tagged Unhinged. For those of you who don't know what it is.

Philip Hernandez (30:46.968)
That's weird.

Scott (31:00.142)
I'm surprised because we talk about it every show, but basically it is it is our Patreon subscription series that allows you to get us with a little bit more of the gloves off. We dive a little bit more, I don't want to say recklessly, but with a little bit more abandon into some of the topics and it's reckless. Yeah, well, sometimes it is reckless. But anyway, if you want to if you want to see us, yeah, if you want to see us throw the gloves off and just, you know,

Philip Hernandez (31:19.52)
It's recklessly, yeah. Yeah. It gets wild, but anyway, yeah. If you want to see us get actually wild, then give our real opinions, yeah.

Scott (31:30.316)
rant for a while. While still talking about some really important stuff, you can join us for Green Tag Done Hinged. But if not, if this is the only chance you get to see us each week, this is a Green Tag Theme Park in 30. I'm Scott, that's Philip, and we will see you next week.

 

Scott Swenson, ICAE Profile Photo

Scott Swenson, ICAE

For over 30 years, Scott Swenson has been bringing stories to life as a writer, director, producer, and performer. His work in theme parks, consumer events, live theatre, and television has given him a broad spectrum of experiences. In 2014, after 21 years with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Scott formed Scott Swenson Creative Development. Since then he has been providing impactful experiences for clients around the world. Whether he is installing shows on cruise ships or creating seasonal festivals for theme parks, writing educational presentations for zoos and museums or training the next generation of attractions professionals, Scott is always finding new ways to tell stories that engage, educate and entertain.

Philip Hernandez, ICAE Profile Photo

Philip Hernandez, ICAE

CEO of Gantom, Publisher of Haunted Attraction Network

Philip is a journalist reporting on the Haunted House Industry, Horror events, Theme Parks, and Halloween. He is also the CEO of Gantom Lighting and Founder / Publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network, the haunted attraction industry's most prominent news media source. He is based in Los Angeles.