Podcasts about Canobie Lake Park

Police are searching for answers in Lowell after a shooting left one person dead. Vice President Kamala Harris is on the Cape today. Who needs to fork over Taylor Swift tickets when they have the next best thing at Canobie Lake Park? Stay in "The Loop" from #iHeartRadio.

https://slasrpodcast.com/      SLASRPodcast@gmail.com    This week a hiker spotlight on our friend Rhonda Willette - Rhonda is a frequent hiker who has completed the 4000 footers of NH and the New England 67. She has a wealth of experience and is very involved with the Hiking Buddies so we will talk about her background and we will get some advice to share with listeners who may be newer to hiking in New Hampshire. Plus We have new merchandise for sale, a near tragedy on the Pemi from some tubers, Ruggles mine update, Shopping deals on hiking gear, a history segment on Canobie Lake Park and recent search and rescue news.    This weeks Higher Summit Forecast Order Form for SLASR Podcast Patches   Topics Storyland - Parking and Nostalgia nights New Merchandise - SLASR Podcast  Stomp almost saves some people tubing on the Pemi Tips for tubing  National Park Shooting  Body recovered of man missing  Crazy Weather in NH Ruggles mine Shopping Deals on hiking and backpacking gear Vaucluse is getting into the ultralight backpacking market - Dyneema based 25L and 38L packs Heat related hiking death in Utah Recent Hikes - Carters, S. Baldface, Burnt Meadow, Squam Traverse  Notable listener hikes of the week Canobie Lake Park History Segment Guest of the Week - Welcome Rhonda Willette Search and Rescue News    Show Notes Apple Podcast link for 5 star reviews SLASR Merchandise SLASR LinkTree Storyland offers paid parking options for select spots Nostalgia Nights Mass shooter stopped at Yellowstone Body recovered after 22 years Microburst confirmed in Milford NH, Wed  Ruggles Mine Snowshoes at REI Amazon Prime - MSR Lightning Ascent Deal Other deals on Amazon Prime Ultralight Backpacks from Vaucluse Father and Daughter die while hiking in Canyonlands National Park Canobie Lake Park Amusement Park History About Penny Arcades in the 1900s - examples  Submarine Lung Tester A vibrating Doctor machine The Holland Family Canobie History - recent years Blind hiker and seeing eye dog rescued on Oregon trail Injured Hiker Kearsarge North  Hiker rescued on 19 Mile Brook trail Sponsors, Friends  and Partners 24th Annual Seek the Peak Welcome Back to Fieldstone Kumbucha CS Instant Coffee 2024 Longest Day - 48 Peaks Mount Washington Higher Summits Forecast Hiking Buddies  Vaucluse - Sweat less. Explore more. – Vaucluse Gear White Mountains Endurance Coaching

Blind Mike is in studio with Dave Cullinane in the Producer chair filling in for a suspended Coleman. (05:00) After sleeping in and missing Justin picking him up for Canobie Lake Park on Saturday, Coleman has been suspended without pay for 2 weeks.(14:30) After deciding against firing Coleman, Kirk reveals that Coleman will not be joining the show on the trip to the Dakotas next month. (27:00) Old audio of Coleman comes out stressing the importance of setting alarms to wake up at 10AM. (44:45) It was revealed that Coleman was up playing Lego and Spongebob video games the night before shows. (57:00) Mut calls in to bury Coleman. (1:00:00) Justin gives his review of Canobie Lake Park. (1:04:00) President Trump was shot at and hit in the ear on Saturday.(1:18:00) Joe Biden slips up and almost says Make America Great Again. (1:26:30) The show will stop at a Chuck E. Cheese on the way to the Dakotas. (1:35:20) Justin soiled himself Saturday and reveals he has a sister. (1:51:00) New parody song about Coleman sleeping in. (2:03:00) We take phone calls and quickly bail.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/kminshow

Blind Mike and Cinema Lords are in studio as Kirk starts off with his interaction last night with one of the refs. (07:00) James loves to give celebrity look-a-likes to players and refs on the call and Kirk thinks the announcers will have to tryout for next season as well. (09:00) Coleman actually played well last night. (10:20) Justin was mystified by the game of basketball. (13:50) Gus and Mick both didn't show up to last night's game. (22:45) Kirk previews the upcoming basketball team tryouts. (34:40) Biden struggled through last night's press conference. (47:45) It looks like Portnoy will be meeting with Papa Gino's. (51:00) Last night's ESPYs had some weird segments. (56:00) Going over who is invited to the Team Dinner and Award Show. (01:04:00) Mike will be joining the producers on their theme park trek to the Dakotas. (01:08:00) Kirk wants to get involved with the Stuttering John case against Blind Mike. (01:12:00) Kirk calls the FBI to get information on John's case against Mike. (01:42:00) Looking back at Justin's skincare company. (01:54:00) Coleman is still confused about how the penis doesn't have a bone. (01:54:40) A dated song about Mark Moroso. (02:08:00) Coleman and Justin are heading to Canobie Lake Park this weekend.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/kminshow

  https://slasrpodcast.com/      SLASRPodcast@gmail.com    This week, we are joined by Heather Harland-Wingate. Heather is an experienced hiker and white mountains volunteer. She has previously worked as part of the AMC Hut croo and now works as a volunteer to help get the huts ready for their season and she is a trail maintainer for the WestSide Trail on Mount Washington. Heather will share some stories and her advice about volunteering in the White Mountains. Plus - 4th of July recap - lot of rescues and craziness to cover including a mother and daughter trapped in a porta potty, a nude sunbather at Canobie Lake Park in Salem, a young hiker completes the 4000 footer list, Seek the Peak is coming up next week, Monster Trucks, Half Dome, Stomp has tips for avoiding heat stroke and lightning strikes.   This weeks Higher Summit Forecast   Topics Welcome Back From Break Rest in Peace - Brig. General John Pogorek 4th of July recap People acting crazy over the holidays - Porta Potty Flipped over and Naked drunk guy at Canobie Canobie Lake Park Seek that Peak - SLASR will be at the event Jigger Johnson is this weekend 4 year old Lydia Pearson completed the 4000 Footer list - Congrats  Dog Stories  Eastern Mountain Sports - Bankruptcy  Rhino poaching Sunday Sunday Sunday! Monster trucks Half Dome Climbing  Search and Rescue - Repeat rescue  Dad Jokes, Beer Talk, Recent Hikes in Puerto Rico, and Black Mountain Notable Hikes  Stomp Safety Segment - Hot Weather and Lightning  Guest of the Week - Welcome Heather Harland-Wingate - AMC Huts and Croo Life  Recent Search and Rescue News    Show Notes Apple Podcast link for 5 star reviews SLASR Merchandise SLASR LinkTree RIP Brig. General John Pogorek of the NH Air National Guard Porta potty tipper Naked Guy at Canobie Jigger Johnson 100 Another youngin crushes peaks Feel good story Feel bad story EMS files for bankruptcy Extreme poaching prevention Monster Trucks come to Lancaster Climbing Half-Dome off-season Reel Brook rescue Same person, different rescue Rescue Webster-Jackson Lost hiker Mt. Monadnock Injured hiker, Mt. Israel Overdue hiker in Piermont Lost hiker assisted off Mt. Major Multiple events over the 4th Lost hiker, Mt. Monadnock Dartmouth student found Sponsors, Friends  and Partners 24th Annual Seek the Peak Welcome Back to Fieldstone Kumbucha CS Instant Coffee 2024 Longest Day - 48 Peaks Mount Washington Higher Summits Forecast Hiking Buddies  Vaucluse - Sweat less. Explore more. – Vaucluse Gear White Mountains Endurance Coaching

HOUR 2 - They Said It: Jayson Tatum cried when he found out he's on the cover NBA2K The News With Courtney: Hot dog contest cheating and ballot questions Drunk naked guy jumps in Lazy River pool at Canobie Lake Park

Kate from Tuxbury called in to talk about Screeemfest at Canobie Lake Park! She used to work there and her former boss, Susan, is celebrating her 74th season!

Kate from Tuxbury called in to talk about Screeemfest at Canobie Lake Park! She used to work there and her former boss, Susan, is celebrating her 74th season!

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Eye of the Beholder. We talk more about D&D adaptation, spend some time with a sequel, and get to our takeaways before emptying the mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: which levels count in the sequel, killing lots of beholders, whether you could have killed Xanathar in the original, striation of hit point values, scaling for sense of power, paying off on the quests, finding all the beholders, beholder physiology, having more fun with beholders as designers, bulettes and basilisks, "just keep going," being trained for level navigation, designing towards the player understanding, wanting coordinates, using simple concepts well, modular repeatable and combinable concepts, leaning into the limitations, an onion layer level, "mapping matters," loving drawing maps, sanding off of friction (various ways of telling the player how to get there), being more embodied in the dungeon, the more you take out the less the experience becomes, allowing for abstraction and having to draw you in other ways, translating D&D, why simulate the math, a bad game to simulate, "what is a saving throw?," using video games to inform the evolution of your tabletop game, emphasizing the human, a more elegant system, dice variance, a useless party experience, usability issues, bad games that were influential on us, remembering movie moments but not the gameplay, even bad actors are better than what we could do at the time, digging into all the RPGs, not knowing what to do in SimCity, DOS vs Mac music and early audio, a craftman's respect for audio, warm analog music, hearing multiple versions of the same soundtrack, not playing a lot of real-world games, physics in games and pitting against fun, wanting to get to specific rides vs how you build a park, Tim gets turned off on the CRPG book, building on foundations and the legacies they carry, business concerns, shipping code passing cert, climbing uphill to make changes, maintaining the feel. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Eye of the Beholder II, Winnie the Pooh, The Dungeon Run, Metal Gear Solid (obliquely), Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM (1993), Gary Gygax, PS5, Xbox Series X, Dark Souls, Temple of Elemental Evil, Indiana Jones (series), Far Cry 2, Starfighter, Jurassic Park, Ultima Underworld, God of War, Baldur's Gate (series), World of Warcraft, William Shatner, Vampire: the Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu, Mechwarrior, Mechassault, Warhammer, Morrowind, Fallout, Diablo, Westwood, Ashton Herrmann, Kyrandia (series), Lands of Lore, Trespasser, Clint Hocking, Assassin's Creed (series), Darkstone, Neverwinter Nights, Kingdom Hearts, Twisted Metal Black, Warcraft II, Quake, MYST, Grim Fandango, The 7th Guest, NextGen, Sam Thomas, The CRPG Book, Skyrim, The Bard's Tale, Disco Elysium, Rogue, Betrayal at Krondor, Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City, Andrew, SimCity 2000, GameBoy, MegaMan, NES/SNES/N64, Grant Kirkhope, GoldenEye 007, Metroid (series), Half-Life (series), Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Matrix, Disneyworld, Great Adventure, Canobie Lake Park, Dungeon Master, Chris, Populous (series), Dungeon Master, Fallout 3, mysterydip, Commander Keen, Dwarf Fortress, Metroid Prime, Bethesda Game Studios, Halo (series), Bungie Studios, Tomb Raider, Galleon, Toby Gard, Redguard, Reed Knight, Todd Howard, Starfighter, Grand Theft Auto (series), Starfield, Unreal (series), Gears of War, Republic Commando, Jack Mathews, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Next time: Our next game? Links: The CRPG Book Dungeon Master Encyclopedia and video Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub Discord  DevGameClub@gmail.com

Der Park: Canobie Lake Park Die Bahnen: Dragon Untamed Yankee Cannonball

In this episode, Sarah and Jeremy discuss vacationing with two autistic children, including day trips to Plymouth Rock, Southwick Zoo, Canobie Lake Park, and Salem, Massachusetts. Remember, We are affiliated with AngelSense. If you are looking for a GPS tracker to help with a family member who may be an elopement risk, please check out AngelSense at https://www.angelsense.com/?ref=sarahstelmachbrown Check out our sponsor http://www.favor-ct.org/ Please like share and subscribe to our podcast, also if you enjoy our content and to povide us with additional support, you can tip us here https://ko-fi.com/caregiverchroniclespodcast

In this episode, Sarah and Jeremy discuss vacationing with two autistic children, including day trips to Plymouth Rock, Southwick Zoo, Canobie Lake Park, and Salem, Massachusetts. Remember, We are affiliated with AngelSense. If you are looking for a GPS tracker to help with a family member who may be an elopement risk, please check out AngelSense at https://www.angelsense.com/?ref=sarahstelmachbrown Check out our sponsor http://www.favor-ct.org/ Please like share and subscribe to our podcast, also if you enjoy our content and to povide us with additional support, you can tip us here https://ko-fi.com/caregiverchroniclespodcast

“AttractionPros LIVE!” has come to New England!  Every year, The Northeastern Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (NEAAPA) holds a spring leadership seminar to prepare leaders for the upcoming season. This year, AttractionPros was invited to deliver this seminar to leaders across a wide range of attractions in the Northeast, including amusement parks, water parks, zoos, and family entertainment centers. Hosted at historic Canobie Lake Park, the full-day workshop focused on the best ways to deliver “wow” moments, both to their guests and the employees they serve, along with resolving complaints, using feedback, and bringing their ideal experiences to life. In this episode, seminar attendees share their key takeaways related to the intersection of guest and employee experience. Key Takeaways   Guests and employees are both people. By understanding the intersection between these two worlds, approaches can be made to make them feel heard, understood, and have a much better experience. Creating “wow” moments for both guests and employees can go a long way, as even something simple can be remembered for a long time and make positive reviews grow.   By avoiding the typical ‘employee-customer' relationship, guests can feel valued and leave with an incredibly positive experience, even if they had a complaint or issue, and team members can feel more comfortable sharing concerns to their leaders.   Utilizing feedback is incredibly important in shaping the future of your experience. Even negative feedback can be turned into a positive experience by making the person feel understood, appreciated, and important. Feedback is everywhere, and you can always keep looking to find places where you can improve.    In addition, finding solutions to negative feedback isn't always by implementing the opposite of the problem. You always have to dig deeper to find the root cause and create even more great experiences.   When it comes to employee burnout, make sure you're talking to your team throughout the entire day, not just at opening and closing. By creating great experiences for your employees, you also create great experiences for our guests. Try to make “wow” moments every day. Not only for the people visiting your park, but the people who keep it operating. Not only does this increase retention, but it benefits every part of your operation.   To conclude, the industry is in good hands. So much of our industry is centered around creating positive guest and employee experiences, and so many people who are working their way up understand the value and weight of this idea. There's an indescribable amount of passion in these leaders, and that will go a long way in the approaches of the guest and employee experience. This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our amazing team: Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas Branding and design by Fabiana Fonseca Summary by Mason Nichols To connect with AttractionPros: attractionpros@gmail.com

You never know where you'll find a true theme park enthusiast in the wild.  While many people claim to be a "theme park nerd," rarely are they able to back up that claim with actual in-depth knowledge. Not the case with Broadway Actor Nik Walker (Hamilton, Ain't Too Proud). He. Knows. His. Stuff.Nik, who had it written into his contract for Ain't Too Proud that he would miss rehearsal for the opening of Rise of the Resistance, joins Andrew and Shane this week to talk all things theme park, and being a theme park nerd. There's great discussions on Marvel, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Disneyland Food, Canobie Lake Park, Touring Production travel and even a great Captain E.O. impression. Don't say we didn't warn you!   Nik is currently starting on Broadway as Otis Williams in Ain't Too Proud: The Life & Times of The Temptations. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @NikkywalksNik also hosts the Little Justice: Movies & Mayhem podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network. You can connect with the show by emailing us at podcast@coaster101.com or hitting us up on social media @Coaster101: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram. We also have a website, if you're into that sort of thing: www.coaster101.comWe're selling 2022 Calendars to benefit Give Kids The World! Head to https://www.coaster101.com/product/roller-coasters-2022-calendar/ to learn more! Also, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode! And please give us a rating and review wherever you listen, it helps new listeners find us!Thanks to JM Music Design for providing our theme song. For more on them, check out jmmusicdesign.com.

On this years chaotic Halloween Retheme we take our classic favorite, The Mine of Lost Souls at Canobie Lake Park and retheme it to a terrifying halloween treat. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Craig didn't fuck it up. Sick. The fellas kick this episode off with a false start. Craig was just fuming from his recent trip to Canobie Lake Park, New Hampshire's biggest shit hole. They are remaking the Wonder Years and it's on brand. Matt has a new land lord and holy shit. Calls are good, including a live 5 star review. GG Allin talk from the clouds and much more.    Be the propaganda, YOU are the VGB.    teespring.com/stores/verygoodshow   Listen to Very Good Show on all podcast platforms.   YouTube: Very Good Show   Twitter: @VeryGoodShows @CraigVGS @verygoodmatt @Mike_VGS   Instagram: @VeryGoodShow   Facebook: Very Good Show   Intro/outro Music by the band “Maybrick” Get there album on iTunes! Show logo by Dan Stetson check him out on instagram @dan.stetson

Today I'm speaking with Austin Telenko and Marideth Batchelor, and it's a good one! We attempted a very complicated Tik Tok wall art craft, and it involved painting, drawing, stabbing, and sewing. I first met Marideth and Austin in NYC dancing at Broadway Dancer center, but you may know them as the Tik Tok duo Cost_n_Mayor! Marideth is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, where she began training at the age of 14! She has a strong foundation in street styles and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance Performance, Choreography, and Theory. While in NYC, she danced with AbstraKT Beings (Theresa Stone) and Shinsa the Collective (Bo Park) and was a cast member in “Dead Man's Party” at Six Flags Great Adventure. Austin Telenko, originally from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, moved to NYC a few years ago. He is signed to Bloc and has worked a variety of jobs, including two different shows at Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH, a two-season run of Theresa Stone's Dead Man's Party at Six Flags Great Adventure as Dr. Fright, a Disney Brand Ambassador for the Frozen 2 Experience and more! Over the pandemic, the duo decided to escape for two weeks to Marideths family home to get away from the epicenter in NYC. In an attempt to cure their boredom, they made their first Tik Tok video, and the rest is history! They currently have 1.5 million followers on Tik Tok (at the time of writing this... I'm sure it's even higher now!) and 234k on Instagram. Their original choreography has been danced by people worldwide, and because of the app, they have forged their own creative path in the industry. This episode is honestly the most fun I've ever had, and I think you will really enjoy it! Follow Austin and Marideth on all social platforms @Cost_n_Mayor You can also follow their personal pages @marideth_batchelor and @atelenko don't forget to check out their website https://www.maridethbatchelor.com/cos... ________________________________ The Patreon is officially live! Check it out here https://www.patreon.com/essentiallyhaley

Not only will Fenway Park reopen to full capacity but this magical Saturday will also mark the reopening of Canobie Lake Park in Salem NH! Yankee Cannonball FOREVER!

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends August  27th 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:Performance Optimist Consulting: https://performanceoptimist.comAttractionPros podcast: http://attractionpros.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattheller/Calendly (free calls): https://calendly.com/matt-810/60minPOC YOUniversity (new leadership development membership program that launched in Feb.): https://performanceoptimist.com/vip-poc-youniversity/Private FB group for attractions leaders: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AttractionsLearningCommunityMatt Heller, ICAE, wasn’t planning on getting a summer job at an amusement park when he was in college, but his Mom suggested it because she thought it would be fun. 32 years later, Matt still loves the sound of a carousel organ, the smell of roller coaster grease and the screams of people enjoying a great ride.While working in operations and HR at companies like Canobie Lake Park, Knott’s Camp Snoopy, Valleyfair and Universal Orlando Resort, Matt developed a passion for helping others succeed and achieving their goals. He identified that the best way to assist other companies was to help them prepare and cultivate their leadership teams, so in 2011 he turned his passion into Performance Optimist Consulting which is driven by one simple goal: help leaders lead.  He uses his people-centric approach to focus on leadership development, guest service, and employee engagement. As a leadership coach, keynote speaker, or workshop facilitator, Matt has established a proven track record for being able to relate to any audience and give them solid tools they can use immediately. No matter the size of the group, Matt brings a fun and conversational style to each interaction or presentation.Matt is also the author of two books geared specifically to the attractions industry.  The Myth of Employee Burnout tackles the difficult topic of maintaining employee motivation and engagement, while ALL CLEAR! A Practical Guide for First Time Leaders and the People Who Support Them outlines specific strategies both for people who are moving into a leadership role as well as the management teams overseeing the process. Matt, his wife Linda, and their dog Otis live in Hendersonville, NC.  Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Matt Heller, Founder of Performance Optimist Consulting and Co-Host of the brilliant AttractionPros podcast. We discuss how Matt has been supporting the industry through the pandemic, how to keep your teams motivated and his advice on how to be a better leader in the attractions industry. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue. Kelly Molson: Matt, I am absolutely delighted that you're on the podcast today, even more so because my Internet has just come back on. Thankfully, this interview can go ahead.Matt Heller: Well, that is fantastic. I am super excited that your Internet came back and that we can get started. Kelly Molson: I know that you've been listening to the podcast, so you know that we always start off with the icebreakers. Now, let's see if I've been kind to you. Matt Heller: Probably not. Kelly Molson: I think I have. Matt Heller: Okay. Kelly Molson: What is your favourite sandwich and why? Matt Heller: I am so glad you asked me this. I have heard you ask this to other people. My favourite sandwich, this is going to get really specific, it's a BLT, so bacon, lettuce and tomato grinder that is at one my favourite restaurants here in town, the Blue Ridge Pizza restaurant. They put this special sauce on it. They also put cheese on it, and then they put it through the pizza oven. Kelly Molson: Oh, is that the grinding bit? Is that where the grinder comes from? What does that mean?Matt Heller: Well, it's basically a submarine sandwich or a sub sandwich. Kelly Molson: Gotcha. Matt Heller: But the owners are from New England, and in New England, a sub is called a grinder. Kelly Molson: Oh, okay. All right. Matt Heller: I'm not sure why. I thought maybe you would have an idea-Kelly Molson: No, I have no idea. Matt Heller: Okay, so yeah that's my favourite sandwich. Everybody knows it's my favourite sandwich. My wife will just say, "Hey, you want to get your sandwich tonight?" Because she likes to get wings from there. So yeah, everybody knows. Kelly Molson: I am down for that sandwich, Matt. That is a great... A BLT with cheese-Matt Heller: Yes, and sauce. Kelly Molson: Through [crosstalk 00:02:08]. Yeah, I'm there. All right, good. Okay. I'll have to try and recreate that in the UK. All right, who's the better podcast host, you or Josh? That was mean.Matt Heller: That was mean. Is it wrong to say I think we both bring different things to the table?Kelly Molson: No, it's very diplomatic. Matt Heller: What Josh brings to the table, which I so, so appreciate, is his attention to detail. So often he can say, "Well, we talked to this person. We talked to Kelly on episode-" whatever it was back in whatever month it was and the year. I'm like, "Yeah, I just know we talked to Kelly." I'm much more free-flowing and things like that, and I think I probably take things off in different directions, but I really appreciate how detail-oriented Josh is, and how we both think of things very differently. We look at things very differently. So, he will come up with questions that I will never think of, and probably vice versa. Kelly Molson: Good. It's a great podcast, and we talk a little bit more about that a little bit later. So, I'm sorry that I tricked you with a very mean question there. Matt Heller: That's okay. Kelly Molson: What was the worst haircut that you've ever had? Matt Heller: Probably my last one. I don't know what it's... Kelly Molson: When was the last time you got your hair cut? The hairdressers are shut here. We can't go at the moment. Matt Heller: Right? Probably two weeks ago. No actually, this one wasn't so bad. I used to go, when we first moved to North Carolina, I used to go to one of those quickie haircut places, kind of get them in/get them out in 10 minutes or whatever. Every time I came home my wife would say, "You've got to go someplace else." I'm like, "I can fix it." As soon as I take a shower and put some stuff in it, it's fine. It'll grow back. Well, because I'm getting older it's not growing back in all those places. I recently found one in a small town near us, and it's this old-timey small-town barbershop. It's still got the red and blue thingy. Kelly Molson: Oh, I love it. Matt Heller: You go in there and it's like a throwback to the 50s, but the guys are super nice, they're very talkative and it's a great experience. They take some time to do it, so quite frankly even if they screw up a little bit, it's still a better experience than going to the other ones. Kelly Molson: Oh, I love that. Yeah, it's all part of the experience, which a lot of that today as well. Matt Heller: Definitely. Kelly Molson: Okay, the last one, and this one I ask all of our guests. Tell me something that you believe to be true that hardly anyone agrees with you on. So, your unpopular opinion. Matt Heller: My unpopular opinion is that we should not use generational labels like "Baby Boomer", "Millennial", "Gen-X". Luckily, that's getting a little bit more popular, but I cringe whenever somebody says, "Well, it's just the Millennials. It's just Gen..." you know, I'm just like, "Stop." Because these labels are doing nothing but putting more of a divide between us than they are pulling us together. I really don't think we should be using those in any context, in any management training. I used to, and I sort of had a negative experience about it and really had an epiphany moment. I went, "This is just not helpful." So I've stopped doing it, and Josh knows if somebody says Millennial or something on the podcast that I'm secretly in the back going, "Ugh," or making a noise or something. Yeah, that's my somewhat unpopular opinion. Kelly Molson: I like that. I'm going to agree with you on that one, because I think they feel really kind of corporate-y and really dated, and it doesn't really fit with where we're at right now.Matt Heller: Yeah, and I think what it does is it takes the individual out of the equation. From a management standpoint, we're looking at our team and saying, "Okay, well they're Millennials. They're Gen-X. They're Baby Boomers," so I only need to know three things instead of getting to know all 50 of my employees. What's really interesting is back when this really started to explode 15, 20 years ago when people were talking about the different dates for the different generations and things, you look at the people that were kind of leading the chargeback then and even they've softened. Even they're saying, "Well, the dates are just kind of more of a guideline. They're not a hard and fast rule." Even they are softening on that a little bit. Kelly Molson: It's a really good unpopular opinion, Matt. I would love to know what our listeners think about that, because I agree with Matt. Let's see if you do as well. Thank you for joining in my gang. Matt Heller: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: Matt, you have had a pretty incredible career in the attractions industry. It's 20+ plus years in hospitality and leadership, and you've worked for Universal, you've worked for Six Flags. It's really incredibly impressive. How did you get here, and did you always think that you would work in the industry?Matt Heller: I did not think I would always work in the industry. In fact, until I was 16 years old I was definitely afraid of roller coasters. Kelly Molson: Wow. Matt Heller: I wouldn't even get on one. Kelly Molson: Wow.Matt Heller: But my family was vacationing in Florida, and the girl that I was dating at the time, her family was vacationing, so we all went to Busch Gardens in Tampa. She said, "Well, just wait in line with me," for the Scorpion roller coaster. So I got in line and I figured there'd be a chicken exit when I got to the front, and there wasn't. So, I get in and I'm trying to be a good boyfriend. I get in and I'm white-knuckling all the way up the chain lift. As soon as we crested the hill and started going down, I was like, "This is awesome." Kelly Molson: Oh, wow. Got you. Matt Heller: I started really liking roller coasters then, but it wasn't until I was 18, so that was when I was about 16, when I was 18 I was back home from college and I didn't want to go back to the grocery store I had been working at through high school and everything. My mom said, "Well, Canobie," which is a park that was near us in New Hampshire, Canobie Lake Park, she said, "They're hiring for the summer." I said, "Well, all right. Okay, fine. That's fine." So I go down, get hired that day to be a ride operator and-Kelly Molson: The rest is history. Matt Heller: Exactly, yeah. Kelly Molson: What did you do? Did you then just work your way up in the different parks that you've worked at, you just worked your way up from the ground level up to wherever you got to? Matt Heller: Yeah. When I started at Canobie like I said I was a ride operator. Very part-time. I didn't really think this was going to be a career, but I came back the next year, came back the next year, and I was kind of put into higher levels of leadership as I went along. Then I kind of hit my glass ceiling there because it's a smaller family-owned park and at the time the two people that were not family members, that I could have eventually been promoted into one of those positions, those two people weren't going anywhere. So, I knew I'd kind of hit my ceiling. Actually, at that point, I went to Minnesota. Matt Heller: I moved to Minnesota and started working at Knott's Camp Snoopy, which is in the Mall of America, which at the time was managed by Cedar Fair, so Cedar Point, Knott's Camp Snoopy. I figured this would be good in into one of those companies. There, I actually started over again. I went back to being a ride operator because they didn't have any other management positions, but quickly kind of went up through the ranks. Then that led to a position at Valley Fair, which is part of the Cedar Fair family, also in Minnesota. Then that led to working in Connecticut, and then Florida, and now I'm here in North Carolina. Kelly Molson: Amazing. It's really similar to Josh's kind of... The way that he worked through the industry as well. It feels like once you start working in it, it kind of sucks you in and people stay a lot longer than they ever expected to. Matt Heller: It definitely gets in your blood, I think. You know, I think what it is, is for the people that like to serve others and the people that like to entertain other people, those are the people that typically get attracted to this industry. When they find that this is kind of their home, all bets are off. Forget what you went to school for. Forget what you thought you were going to do when you were a kid. This is it. Kelly Molson: It's funny, because we had another guest on a little while ago, Carly Straughan, and she said actually she was kind of interested in the almost theatrical drama side when she was younger. But that fits really well with what you just said about kind of entertaining people and giving them that really fun experience. So yes, good. I like how all that works out. I want to talk about the industry in general at the moment. As we're recording this, I'm in the UK. Obviously, you can hear that Matt is in the US. We in the UK are in our third lockdown at the moment, and I think the third lockdown for many people has felt like the toughest one. We're coming up to nearly a year of COVID pandemic and sanctions, and destructions, and tragedies that's brought with us. Kelly Molson: It's been a really tough time for the sector, with closures and furlough, and redundancies. I think there's lots of positives on the way. We can feel like this does feel like the light at the end of the tunnel. I guess I wanted to kind of ask you how has it been for you, because you are in a position where you support leaders, and leaders in this industry have had to make really, really tough decisions about what they're going to do, and also it's hard to motivate yourself let alone motivate a team when you're going through this. How have you been supporting your clients through the pandemic? Matt Heller: One of the things that I did as a supplier, as a supporter of the industry is something that a lot of other people did, just from a practical standpoint, is that everything paused. All of our clients' business was paused, and certain ly, they weren't focused on leadership training at the time. At the beginning of 2020, I had a number of clients that had already signed up to work with me for the entire year, or for at least six months. All that paused, all of the invoices paused all that kind of stuff. I really wanted it to be "I'm in this with you, so whatever you need, whatever I can potentially help you with, including pausing and not sending you invoices, I definitely want to do." That was one thing just from a practical standpoint. Matt Heller: Then it was figuring out what other people needed, and part of that honestly started with what I needed, or what I could do, because when I started seeing all of my travel being cancelled, and all the jobs that I had lined up for 2020 just kind of evaporating, I sat here in my home office and I said, "What do I do? What am I supposed to be doing?" And I recognised I think that because of what was going on, that so many people were feeling this sense of loss, the sense of "I've lost stability in my life. I've lost now employees if I have to furlough them or let them go. I have lost a sense of security in the business. I may be on the verge of losing the business potentially." From a personal standpoint, and I think you know this from the work that you do, you become very close with your clients. Kelly Molson: Absolutely. Matt Heller: They're friends. In this industry, it's a big industry, but it's a small industry. Again, just kind of thinking about what I could do at that time when I knew I wasn't working and I knew people weren't going to be calling me up and saying, "Hey, we need a coaching session. Hey, we need a training session." But what could I do? One of the things that I've gotten feedback on that people say I'm pretty good at, is being a listener. So I said, "Well, I can listen. I can't bring your employees back." I remember writing a LinkedIn post about this, "I can't bring your employees back. I can't make it any better. I can't tell you what cleaning supplies to use. But I can listen. So, if you want to talk, if you want to chat, if you want to just get some things off your chest, let me know." Matt Heller: So I got the Calendly app and I allowed people to just kind of set a time on my calendar. I said, "Let's talk about anything you want." What was really interesting is some people of course want to talk about COVID, they wanted to talk about furloughs, they wanted to talk about how they were having conversations with their teams. One person actually from the UK called up and said, "I want to talk about Queue Theory," you know when people line up and queue up for a ride, he said, "I'm really interested in that. I want to pick your brain about that." Okay, great. Matt Heller: Another guy called up and he said, and somebody that's been in my coaching programs before, he said, "I want to talk about the return on investment of adding a water park." Okay, let's talk about that. What I think was really interesting is that yes, some people needed to vent and they needed to get this stuff off their chest about COVID, but some people just wanted to talk about normal stuff. And that was really eye-opening because I figured most of the conversations would be about COVID, but quite a few of them were not. That's one thing that I did and I'm going to continue doing, is just allowing myself to be available for people to call and talk about whatever they want.Kelly Molson: That's lovely because I think that's something that has, with everybody that we've been speaking to... Actually, this is something that we spoke about when we were on the Attraction Pro podcast, is how supportive everyone has been through it, how helpful they have been. I think that is such a generous thing to do to open yourself up to just say, "Hey, I'm here. Talk to me. This is literally going to cost you the call of a Zoom chat. This is just free. I'm here for you." It's a generous thing to do, especially when you're in a situation yourself personally when you've got those same worries as everybody else. You may have a smaller team for a bit than they do, but you're still going through the same challenges of when is that phone going to start ringing again? When am I going to start getting those invoices paid? I know that's a really lovely thing to do. Kelly Molson: It was interesting because the next question that I had was to ask you when you were speaking to people what were their biggest challenges at the time? What were their worries? How were you able to help them, or how were you able to kind of alleviate some of those worries?Matt Heller: The worries kind of ran the gamut of different things. I remember one person called up and he said that his facility had quickly closed down because one of the actions of the owners, and they really could have stayed open or they could have come up with a plan, but one of the owners just made a knee jerk reaction and he said, "This is a nightmare," what he was going through from a company standpoint. Then he also added on some other personal things that he was going through with his family, and his husband, and those kinds of things. That just broke my heart to hear those things. That's kind of one end of the gamut if you will. Matt Heller: One guy called up and he said, "I've got some people that obviously are not working with me right now because we're closed." He said, "I'm going in once a week just to check the lights and to make sure everything is secure. He said, "Our staff is not here. We actually have some people that have already contracted COVID. I want to call them. I want to talk to them," but they're technically furloughed and his head office, his corporate office was saying, "You can't talk to them."Kelly Molson: Oh, gosh. Matt Heller: "You can't call them at all." So he's like, "I'm at my wit's end because I just want to call them as a human being, as a person, but my corporate office is saying, "You can't do that." Kelly Molson: That is so difficult. Matt Heller: It is. It is. One of the guests that Josh and I had on the podcast in that time was an employment lawyer from Florida. She said, and I was so glad she said this, she said, "You have a right to be human. You have a right to call that person and say "Kelly, how are you doing? Just tell me about what's going on with you. We won't talk about work. I'm not going to ask you where that report is," that kind of thing, "But just tell me about you," and that is totally within your realm of responsibility and opportunity as a leader, as a human being. I felt really good about that because that's kind of what I told him even before I talked to her because he was either going to break his company's policy or he was going to go crazy. Matt Heller: So I said, "You're probably going to have to break your company's policy and talk to that person so you don't go crazy." The other thing that was kind of along those lines is I was really encouraging people to err on the side of compassion. We hear it all the time, "Err on the side of caution." I think in this instance everybody that I talk to, they were all going through something and we were all going something. So, wouldn't it make sense that we added a little bit more compassion to our conversations, or we added a little bit more sympathy and empathy to how we were interacting with people knowing they were going through some pretty crazy stuff just like we were? So, why not extend that to them as well? Kelly Molson: That is the strength of a true leader as well, isn't it? It's the empathy. It's how you show that you care to your team regardless of size, regardless of location. It's about really caring about the individuals that are within your team. I'm so glad that you gave them that advice even before checking with the employment lawyer because that's absolutely what I would have done. Absolutely. Things have changed quite dramatically for you, and I want to talk a little bit about how you had to change, how you kind of service your clients within the situation that we're in from working from home, et cetera. How have you been able to kind of advise your clients on keeping their teams motivated, because I run a small team and we've been very fortunate to be busy throughout the pandemic. It's a digital team, a lot of our clients have had to not pivot, but they've had to think of new ways to engage in their audience. A lot of that has been on a digital basis. Kelly Molson: It's still been very difficult to keep the team motivated even though they're busy, because they've got their own personal worries about things. They might have family members that are really affected by this. They're working from home. Not everyone is sitting comfortable with that. How do you help a leader that has a team of kind of 50, 60, 70 people to try and keep all of those people motivated when some of them are on furlough as well? Matt Heller: It's really tough, but I think it comes down to communication. Especially as we're working with people in the digital realm, if you think you're communicating enough, you're not. If you are used to working with people where they're side by side and they're face to face, and you're in the same room, you might have gotten away with X level of communication in the past. Well, that's got to maybe double or triple. It doesn't mean that you always have to have something to say. Communication is both ways. It could be asking them questions: How are you doing? How's your family? Those kinds of things, and really like you said, treating them like a person and showing them that you care about them is really motivating for any human being.Matt Heller: I think the other thing is when we talk about employee engagement for so long, people would ask the question, "What do my team members want? What do they want? Do they want a ping pong table? Do they want more breaks? Do they want that-" I said, "We have to change the question. The question is, what do they need, not what do they want, but what do they need?" That could be someone to listen to them. They may have things going on at home that they can't talk to anybody about. Maybe you as the boss, you're just a listening ear and you don't offer any advice, you don't offer any guidance. You just are there to listen. That may be what they need. Matt Heller: Some people may need information on the government programs that will help bridge the gap in terms of their money. That may be what they need. They may need a connection. So, get on Zoom if we have to, I would much rather be in person, but get on Zoom and have a little get together party with people and allow them to talk to people. You as the boss don't have to be the one leading it. You can just facilitate it. Start the process and just let people talk. Even in Zoom, there's breakout rooms, so put them in smaller rooms. Let them have little conversations, but allow them to have that connection with people because I think that's one of the things that we're missing most is the connection. Matt Heller: I think it's communication is a big part of that, but also changing that question from what do they want to what do they need. Then that will help guide how you actually interact with those 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 people. Kelly Molson: You're so right about the communication. I think that's something that we're definitely aware of, and I think we kind of over-communicate it to our clients. We probably didn't over-communicate enough with our team, like all of us kind of didn't talk enough. That probably led to a few moments of everyone feeling a little bit disjointed and not really feeling like they knew what was happening. Matt Heller: Yeah. Kelly Molson: Towards the end of last year, I attended a really great webinar that you and Josh were on, which was around networking. It was all about connection and looking at how we build those connections within our network when we're not able to get out and about like we used to be able to. So much of the attractions industry was about face to face, lots of conferences, lots of things like that. Obviously, all of that is on hold in the moment. How do you motivate yourself, and how do you recommend that leaders keep themselves motivated? Is it very different to how they motivate their teams? And is building kind of those support networks part of that? Matt Heller: I absolutely think the support networks are incredibly important, and again when we're on lockdown a lot of times we think, "Well, I'm locked down from everything." Well, we're really not. You pick up the phone, you get on a Zoom call, you can be connected to other people. So, I think that's really critical is to keep that going. When you go on LinkedIn, or you go on Facebook, or you go on any of the social channels, if you just comment on things or find things that you like, it's not necessarily about building a relationship immediately, but it's about planting the seeds. Matt Heller: You can go on and say, "Hey, Kelly I love that post about-" whatever it was. You're just kind of again planting the seeds of building a relationship with someone that could turn into a professional relationship or it may just be a friendship, or wherever it might go. But it'll help you feel connected. One of the things that I feel that motivates me, and I think it motivates a lot of leaders, is when you can help someone else, when you can be the person that helps somebody else be successful. That's why I really love those listening meeting calls that I did, because after each one of them I would ask, "So was this helpful?" I just wanted to know for my own sanity I guess, is this something I should keep doing? Matt Heller: Everybody said, "Yes, this has been so helpful," whether I said much during the call or not, it was very helpful. That was extremely motivating to me because I got to help somebody else. I think a lot of people get into leadership roles for that reason because we want to help others. We want to serve others, especially in this business where that's part of what gets under your skin and gets into your blood, is helping and entertaining other people. So, I say ask that same question of yourself, not what do you want, but what do you need to stay motivated? And if it's to help people, that may look a little different right now, but it's the same as it would be when we're fully open and COVID wasn't even a thing that we even knew about. Kelly Molson: Yeah, you're so right. That feeling that you get from helping someone is pretty incredible, isn't it? It can be such a small thing. It might just be that you're connecting someone with somebody else, you're making that introduction. Like you say, it might just be that you're giving them the ear that they need. They might just need to rant at someone for half an hour. That's fine. That's okay, I'll be that person. Matt Heller: Yeah, absolutely.Kelly Molson: The way that you deliver your training and the way that you deliver and work with your clients has changed dramatically. Is everything for you virtual now? How have you adapted to that? Are you enjoying it? Does it feel a bit weird still? Matt Heller: It does still feel a bit weird. Not everything has been virtual. I have had a couple of clients that have really insisted on doing things in person. So, we took all the precautions. I was just in Florida about a week ago, and we took all the precautions. Everybody was wearing masks, we're distanced from each other, all those kind of things. So, they really saw the value of still getting together and taking those precautions because they felt like the in-person dynamic would be so much more valuable, and it really has been. For some of my other clients, we've changed. Sometimes it's just based on volume, like if I'm working with 200 leaders at a specific park or an institution, then it's just not practical to get 200 people in a room where you're all physically distanced. Kelly Molson: Yeah.Matt Heller: Then we look at different virtual options. Some of the time I'm delivering kind of a live seminar via Zoom. Sometimes I'm doing a prerecorded video for them. While yes, it's still a little weird, I think I'm starting to find my groove. I'm starting to find my legs if you will. One of the biggest things I did was to stand up. At the beginning of the pandemic, if I was delivering a webinar or an online class or something, I was sitting behind my desk and I was looking at the computer and I was like, "Why does this feel so weird?" It feels weird because that's not how I present.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Matt Heller: I was facilitating a class. I'm standing up. Even right now, I'm standing up. I started using this too, my clicker. So, instead of fumbling for the space bar or the return key when I wanted to advance my slide in a presentation, I'm doing it just like I would when I'm standing in front of a group. I've been doing that for 30 years. So, that's pretty ingrained as a habit. Now if I bring that into what I'm doing in the virtual space, I feel like I can be more emotional. I feel like I can connect better because I'm not so worried about being behind the computer and looking at the monitor, and looking at the camera, and all those different things, having to be perfect. Matt Heller: I'm learning this process now, and it's getting more comfortable, although I will say I still prefer being in person. Kelly Molson: Yeah, oh we all do. We do. We kind of wait for the day that we can go back to do that. One of the things I was thinking about last week is actually I used to travel a lot for work, and I think that as much as I love travelling and love seeing my clients, some of those meetings and all that travelling was slightly unnecessary. So I feel like when we go back to whatever normality we're going to go back to, this is going to change stuff for us quite dramatically. I think that there're barriers that have been broken down now. If we had to fly to Scotland for a day, that probably isn't going to happen now unless it really, really needs to. Kelly Molson: That's kind of nice, right? You've got that flexibility. Do you see this opening up more possibilities for you to work with maybe more people? I don't know if you've ever worked with organisations in the UK for example, would that be something that you could now start to look at that's more of a possibility?Matt Heller: 100%, absolutely. I think it also opens it up to different levels of leadership because I think people are more apt to invest in a six-month group coaching program where people are on Zoom rather than flying me out every couple of weeks or something. Actually, I've got a couple of groups going right now that are kind of seasonal supervisors. What's great is that they probably wouldn't go to the big IAPAs and they wouldn't go to the big conferences on a regular basis, but this organisation has said "Hey, these folks are important," so now we've got the technology... I shouldn't say "now we have it", now we're more comfortable with it, and "Hey, let's get on a Zoom call and let's do it that way." Matt Heller: I think it opens it up for that. I'm also very involved with IAPA. I'm on the human resources subcommittee. So, as you talk about how we're going to deliver things in the future, there's probably now always going to be a virtual element, which is great for people who can't travel to the show. It opens up so many different possibilities of actually maybe presenting like if you were in the UK and you couldn't travel to the US, well you could now dial in and potentially present from the UK to an audience in Orlando. Matt Heller: There's just so many different possibilities now. I think just creativity is the issue. Kelly Molson: It's crazy though to think that all those possibilities were there before. We had this technology, we just weren't really taking advantage of it, or it just seemed like not the right thing to do. I love that there will always been kind of a physical and a digital aspect now. I just think like you, it opens up so many more people.Matt Heller: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: That's a great story about the client that is now focusing on an audience of people, or a group of people in that organisation that wouldn't necessarily have been able to access the support that they need from you previously. I love that. It's really wonderful.Matt Heller: Yeah, I think it's really opened up people's ideas of what's possible. If you think about some of the positive outcomes of what we've been through, sometimes it just takes a smack in the face for us to think, "Oh, we can do things differently," rather than just kind of keep going the same way that we've gone for years, and years, and years. "Oh, we can do things differently." What I heard from so many different people was, "We were forced to do things differently," and now we're seeing that that change wasn't so bad.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I've heard a lot of very, very similar conversations. In fact, there's an ongoing one about pre-booking which I do keep banging on about it on this show, but it was always something that was there and able to do, but it wasn't something that the industry had adopted completely in the UK. Now, there's a big possibility that a lot of organisations will never go back to not having pre-booking again. I see that as a huge, huge positive for the attraction, and a huge positive for improved customer experience as well. So yeah, lots and lots of positives to take from this. Matt Heller: Definitely. Kelly Molson: I want to talk about podcasts. Matt Heller: Yes. Kelly Molson: I did ask you a mean question, but I think you and Josh are excellent podcast hosts. I love the AttractionPros podcast because you have such a wide variety of guests on there, and I learn something new about the industry every time I listen to it. Gosh, you've been recording an episode every week. It's a weekly podcast. How long have you been doing this now? It's a long time. Matt Heller: It is. As of this recording, we just released our 180th episode. Kelly Molson: Wow. Matt Heller: Every Tuesday at 9:00 AM Eastern Time here in the US, we put up something new. So yeah, it's been going on for a long time. Kelly Molson: That is a huge achievement, and I think what I really like about it as well is that it's not just... You have a podcast which in itself is a huge amount of undertaking. I know. It's really great. You have great guests on, but you also do a lot of supporting work as well. You write great blogs that support the podcast, you've run webinars, you've run kind of training sessions around it as well. It feels like such a supportive community that you've built around the podcast, and that for me is such a positive. Kelly Molson: I want to know what's the... This might a difficult question, so I'm sorry-Matt Heller: That's okay. Kelly Molson: But what's the best thing that you think that you've learned from one of your guests on the podcast this year? Matt Heller: It's something that quite a few of our guests actually talk about, and it's something that I've learned by doing the podcast. It's about consistency. You mentioned we've been doing this for a long time. When we first started, we made the very conscious decision that we were going to release these at certain times, and it was going to be consistent. Whatever it took, we were going to be able to put out a new episode on Tuesday morning. Matt Heller: There have been times, full disclosure and transparency, that Monday night Josh and I are like, "What are we going to put up tomorrow?" "I don't know." He's like, "I went to Home Depot yesterday." "Okay, let's talk about that." Kelly Molson: I love the authenticity of this. Matt Heller: Oh, yeah. Kelly Molson: Thank you for being honest. Matt Heller: Absolutely. There have been times that we've done that. I think you know Josh and his wife just had a baby, so congratulations to him. Kelly Molson: Yes, congrats Josh. That's lovely news. Matt Heller: Leading up to that, Josh knew he was going to be unavailable for quite a while. We had, I don't know, like a month and a half of podcasts that we prerecorded and had those done out. So, it really runs the gamut in terms of those kinds of things. But getting back to consistency, I found that when we put it up at a consistent time and we really try hard to deliver a really consistently high-quality product, that people respond. Matt Heller: Maybe we don't have millions and millions of viewers, but I think the viewers and the listeners that we have are people who are engaged and they enjoy what we're doing. So, it may be a smaller niche market, but I'm okay with that. I think quite a few of our guests have talked about consistency in terms of the guest service, and employee engagement, and treating people in a consistent way. I just noticed that putting out the podcast at the same time every week and being consistent with that has really been helpful to build our audience.Kelly Molson: Yeah, definitely. There's an expectation as well, once you've built that audience, that it's coming. There's a level of excitement. They're looking forward to the next episode. Matt Heller: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: Yeah, consistency is absolutely key. It's a really good takeaway that you can apply that to any part of your business, can't you? Any part of your leadership journey. Good, okay. Next question about podcasts, do you think that it's helped you kind of tailor and change the way that you approach doing things. I mean, obviously one of the reasons that we started the podcast is to learn more about people in the industry from all different sides; suppliers, attractions, the whole breadth of that. Kelly Molson: It definitely helps us change how we approach certain conversations, how we approach the understanding of what people's challenges are. Has that been the same for you? Matt Heller: Absolutely. When you talk to people, really smart people, and we've been really lucky to have a lot of smart people, including yourself on our podcast, you can't help but be inspired by it. If you are not taking something away, if you're not learning something, if you're not writing down a couple of key nuggets that can help in your business, then I don't think you're doing it right. Kelly Molson: True. Matt Heller: I think both Josh and I have taken things away from different guests and different experiences that we've had in doing the podcast that have helped us either build a new product or focus on a new area, or open our eyes to a different part of the industry that we have maybe not thought about as much. We really try hard to be well versed in the entire industry. He and I both started in amusement parks and theme parks, so that's kind of where our bread and butter is, if you will, of our knowledge. Matt Heller: But, learning so much about zoos, and aquariums, and cultural attractions, and family entertainment centres, and water parks, the industry is huge when it comes to the breadth of types of attractions, and we are AttractionPros, so we can't just be theme park pros. That's been really fascinating. One of the questions that we have asked a number of different folks is, "Okay, you're a for-profit company. What can a nonprofit learn from you and vice versa?" And those have been some really interesting conversations. Kelly Molson: That's a good question as well. Can you think about one of the best answers that they gave? Matt Heller: Yeah, I think a lot of nonprofits are really mission-driven, and they've got a mission whether it's conservation or animal health, or whatever their mission might be. You find people in those organisations that naturally want to help them achieve that mission. People that work with animals, I'm so lucky that I get to work with a number of zoos and zoological institutions because those people are extremely passionate about what they do. Matt Heller: Now, can we use that, finding people that are that excited about your mission just because that's who they are? Can we use that as a model or a framework to finding people that are just as passionate about what a theme park does? I think we can, but we also may have to alter the mission a little bit. So, it's not just about making money and making the guests happy, but how are we impacting the community? How are we impacting the world with what we do? Because entertainment, as we're seeing right now during lockdown is critically important. Matt Heller: Josh will tell that he doesn't think any of the attractions are non-essential, and he gets really-Kelly Molson: I've heard Josh talk about it. He's very adamant about this. Matt Heller: His feathers really get ruffled when people talk about that. I think that's something that we try to embrace as well, is getting that message out there and focusing on all attractions. So yeah, I hope that answers your question anyway.Kelly Molson: Yeah. It's a great answer. It's a really great answer. It's funny, I have heard Josh talk about the... He hates that word "non-essential". He said that quite a lot on LinkedIn actually. I've seen a few posts from him. But he's right because people's entertainment is essential, isn't it? It's cultural, it's your learning, you're learning through play, you're learning through entertainment. It is an essential service, the attractions and delivering. Completely, I'm on his side when it comes to that completely. Matt Heller: Me too. Kelly Molson: We're towards the end of the podcast. I always ask our guests if there's a book that they recommend, that they have loved or has helped them shape their career and work in some way. I want to ask you just a question before you choose a book-Matt Heller: Okay. Kelly Molson: Because you've actually written two books yourself, haven't you?Matt Heller: I have. Kelly Molson: You're a published author. Tell us a little bit about those books. Matt Heller: The first book that I wrote, people will ask how long it took me to write, and I say 25 years because it's a culmination of so many of my experiences. The first book that I wrote was called The Myth of Employee Burnout. It's all about when you have the beginning of the season, or the beginning of a year or somebody is new in your organisation and they start off really strong, and they're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and somewhere along the line they kind of fizzle out. Matt Heller: When I first started working in seasonal amusement parks, we just thought this was kind of mid-season burnout. We thought long hours, and dealing with the cranky guests, and all that kind of thing was really impacting that. Well, when I started my practice in 2011, I really wanted to take sort of a 30,000-foot view of that, and I wanted to understand that better because as an operator I felt like I was always too close to it. Matt Heller: What I really found is it really comes more down to leadership, it comes down to how we interact with our teams, it's also everything from how we hire people, how we train people, how we terminate people, how we discipline people. All those are factors. Everything in the employee life cycle, all those things impact how people are going to be engaged, or how motivated they're going to be. The book really outlines how we can get over that burnout process. Again, specifically looking at it from a leadership standpoint. Kelly Molson: Great. Matt Heller: The second book has the longest title ever. It's called All Clear: A Practical Guide for First-Time Leaders and the People Who Support Them. Kelly Molson: That is a mouth full. Matt Heller: It is a mouth full. But all clear is what you might see on a ride platform, somebody giving the thumbs up and the "all clear", and really that means that the ride is ready to go. What I wanted this book to be was a resource to give young leaders that they are ready to go. They're ready to take on this leadership role. Really, what it's about, it's about the transition to a leadership role, which is a tough transition. Matt Heller: Two-thirds of the book are about all those pitfalls, all those things that can go wrong. You're now leading your friends, that's a huge thing, getting to know yourself as a leader, communication, giving feedback, coaching people. All those kind of things are kind of the first two thirds. Then I also wanted to write it for the people who are guiding people through that transition, so their managers and directors, because so often they went through that same sort of sink or swim, "Here's your keys and here's your radio. Go be a leader." That was their training. Matt Heller: They don't necessarily understand how to train another leader, especially one coming up in the organisation. So, kind of the third third of the book is really for them about selecting the right people, training them on what they need to know as a leader, and then supporting their leadership journey. That kind of outlines that book, the All Clear book. Kelly Molson: They do say, I don't know if you've heard this phrase in the UK, but they say "The most important book in your life is the one that you write and not one that you read." We're going to put all of the notes about those books and where you can find them in the show notes. Let me ask you the final question then. What is a book that you have loved or has helped shape your career in some way? Actually, maybe it was the one that wrote that's helped shape your career in some way, that would recommend to our listeners. Matt Heller: Definitely, the ones that I wrote, like you said, they're very important to me and they did shape my career. I use them all the time. Just the other day somebody asked me something and I had just given them the Myth book. I said, "On page 88 of that book you'll see that we talk about this in more detail." It's been a great resource for that. I will say that there's a book, and I found it in my collection, it's a book called It's Okay to Ask 'Em to Work by Frank McNair. Matt Heller: I read this when I was first starting off as a leader. It was so practical. I think that is something that has driven me as a leader, it's driven me as a trainer, as a coach to be very practical in what I'm providing to people. None of this pie in the sky air fluffy stuff. Give me some things that I can use today as a leader. Very practical. This book is very practical. The title, It's Okay to Ask 'Em to Work, sometimes we feel like it's almost hard to ask people just to do their job. Like they're going to get offended, or they're going to react badly. Matt Heller: But as he explains, and I really internalised, is that that is their job and it's our job to get them to do their job. So he goes through all kinds of different things that again are very practical to help us figure that out. That's one that when you asked about a book that really shaped me and really influenced me, especially early on, it's that one. Kelly Molson: I feel like I need to go back and read that book now. I've been doing this a long time. Thank you, that's a great suggestion. Listen, listeners as ever, if you want to win a copy of that book, then if you head over our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with the comment "I want Matt's book," then you will be in with a chance of winning it. Kelly Molson: Matt, I've really enjoyed this podcast interview because I think as somebody who trains leaders, I don't think I've ever met anyone who is as kind of positive and optimistic as you. I love the energy that you bring when we speak. I just think you're the best person right now to motivate leaders in the attraction sector. That's all I'm going to say. Kelly Molson: I hope everyone listening in to this will take the time out... You know what, Matt has got a really great offer of just... His ears are open. So, if you want to book in a little slot to have a chat with him, we're going to put those details in the show notes as well. I would encourage you to do that without a doubt. Kelly Molson: Matt, thank you for coming on the podcast today. It's been a pleasure. Matt Heller: It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much, Kelly. Kelly Molson: I think there's only one way to end the podcast though really, isn't there? That's to say we are all-Matt Heller: All-Kelly Molson: Attraction. Matt Heller: AttractionPros. Kelly Molson: Pros. Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find us. Remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

In this episode, I chat with Steve Corning.  Steve has made a name for himself in New England as an all-around entertainer, with over 1,000 stage performances since his professional career began in 2011.  He is the youngest member of a 4-generation performer apprentice lineage.  He is also no stranger to stage and screen. He has toured the U.S. (and beyond!) as a juggler and physical comedian in his one-man show (Showtime Steve) and as a member of the award-winning music and comedy act AudioBody.  He is also an experienced improviser; entertaining professionally as a member of the Chamber of Comedy, Mainely Improv, and Co-Creator of the web-based comedy troupe Balderdash Academy. He has appeared locally on Good Day Maine and 207, and internationally as a featured act on Disney Cruise Line. In his other capacity as an electronic musician, Steve has self-published 3 albums as ThinkFishTank, and 7 albums through Collabor8, an international collective of musicians that he co-founded in 2012. His professional credits include music for Coca-Cola, and creating the score for 3 award-winning short films from Reef Patrol.Note: This episode was recorded in February 2021 in the amidst  the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic.Special thanks to Bob LeBlanc and Steve Corning for the audio segment from Balderdash Academy Teacher's Lounge.Special thanks also to Steve Corning / ThinkFishTank for use of his song Full Circle (Winter Mix).For more information about Steve and all of his various projects:- Website (Showtime Steve): www.stevecorning.com- Website (ThinkFishTank): http://thinkfishtank.com/index.html- YouTube (Showtime Steve): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI6KSPiuMDu5Ep_kyuc6gzA- YouTube: (ThinkFishTank): youtube.com/user/ThinkFishTank- Facebook (Showtime Steve): https://www.facebook.com/stevedoesshows- Facebook (ThinkFishTank): https://www.facebook.com/ThinkFishTank- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevedoesshows/Other things mentioned during this episode:- Celebration Barn Theater - https://celebrationbarn.com/- Mad Horse Theatre - http://www.madhorse.com/- Jared Mongeau - https://www.facebook.com/JaredMongeauActor/- AudioBody - https://audiobody.com/- Audio body video clip - Star Wars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgUlL2ZnlD0- Pogo - https://pogomix.net/- Eepybird - https://www.eepybird.com/- Buckfield, Maine - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfield,_Maine- Balderdash Academy - www.balderdashacademy.com- Balderdash Academy: Teacher's Lounge (podcast) - https://open.spotify.com/show/79Cn6diaApvZPs7IHtIvH7- Sleuths Mystery Entertainment - https://www.sleuthsmystery.com/- Maine Repertory Theater / Chamber of Comedy - https://mainerep.com/- @Midnight - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/@midnight- Cedar Point amusement park - https://www.cedarpoint.com/- Canobie Lake Park - https://www.canobie.com/- Crashing (TV show) - https://www.hbo.com/crashing- Sunday River - https://www.sundayriver.com/- Ciampa & Klein: The Airwolf Years (podcast) - www.ciampaklein.comWe All Have a Story- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WAHASpodcast- Twitter: @WAHASpodcast - twitter.com/WAHASpodcast- Instagram: @WAHASpodcast - www.instagram.com/WAHASpodcast

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This week we talk all about amusement parks from the Maynard Town Carnival, to the DEC picnic at Canobie Lake Park, to Disney World in 1974 and the 2000's.

Canobie Lake Park was supposed to open in early May, but that was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal reports.

Canobie Lake Park was supposed to open in early May, but that was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal reports.

Join Timmy and I as we learn all about his home park Canobie Lake Park in Salem New Hampshire! Find out why we are gushing over this uniquely classic park!

On this Episode, Ben and Becca debate their favorites across all theme parks including, Disney, Universal Studios, Sea World, Busch Gardens, and even local favorites, Storyland and Canobie Lake Park. Listen on Spotify! Twitter: @queue2queue Instagram: @queue_to_queue Facebook: @queuetoqueue Youtube: Queue to Queue --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Everyone in Segment City loves Halloween with all of its scares and pranks! Although every year, some spooky thing happens like everyone turning into whatever their costume is or the dead rising, or a masked killer on the loose. We think it just adds to the holiday spirit. On this spoooky episode Will and Theo talk about a horror movie starring Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Haunted Mine Cart ride at Canobie Lake Park, an Amazon Totally Not Erotica about a book called “Demons are Dicks”, a versus battle in which the boys have to come up with the ultimate candy (the “Everything Candy bar (aka the Fat Man)” vs. Theo’s Savory Candy Concoctions), pitching another character for the Wizard of Oz and what they want from the Wizard, Libertarian Dobby, and the Top 10 Worst Horror Movie Monsters!

Steve visits Canobie Lake Park, Chris visits the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and one of us gets better at subtle nudging.

Celtics Stuff Live's Justin Poulin and Jon Duke broke down Tacko Fall's visit to the teacups at Canobie Lake Park before moving on to the Shamrock Team USA's move down under in preparation for the FIBA World Cup. With only a scrimmage against Spain to discuss, it was time to dig deep back into the vault. But first Justin had to completely embarrass himself on the Manscaped ad read. Then in the show's second half, the CSL guys took exception to Sean Grande's comparison on Celtics Beat of Horford's move to Philly to Ray Allen's departure to South Beach. Finally, in the outtakes, it was a revisiting of the Winning Plays' pod discussion of what happened if the Kyrie Irving trade never happened. In short... it's a strange scenario of dogs and cats living together.

In this full show podcast from October 5th 2018, the show talked about the Pats win over the Colts with sounds from the game to post to Laurie in the stands, goat sounds, big Sox and Yankees postseason series along with a chat with Pete Abraham, Pete's Lock and performers from Screamfest at Canobie Lake Park shocking Heather!

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

Canobie Lake Park Kidcast

The topic: Amusement Parks The fellers discuss their favorite parks, rides and other assorted memories. New England listener(s) will get some Canobie Lake Park talk. Special guest: Kevin from The Dorkening.

Summary of today's show: Even 16 months after ordination, Fr. Mark Murphy remains the youngest priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and he's now serving in on of the busiest and largest parishes, St. Agatha's in Milton/Quincy. Fr. Mark shares with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor how his first year as a priest has gone, the unique and welcoming way his parish has received him, the challenges of serving a parish with as many people coming to daily Mass as some parishes get on Sunday, and how he's managed to improve his already superior golf game. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor Today's guest(s): Fr. Mark Murphy Links from today's show: Today's topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Mark Murphy 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor talked about Christopher Columbus Day. Fr. Chris said he was in Washington, DC, over the weekend, getting together with his priest-friends he made while he was in graduate school at Catholic University. He visited the National Zoo, the home of Elizabeth Ann Seton, and a Trappist monastery. Scot said it's never too late to start praying the Rosary novena to stop assisted suicide. This week also kicks off the Year of Faith on Thursday. Fr. Chris said St. John Seminary is hosting an open-house for all fifth graders, boys and girls, and their families to see what the seminary is all about and to talk about vocations. He said studies show that young people start thinking about vocations at the fifth grade. This will be on October 21 and October 28 . Interested people should register through their school or parish. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Fr. Mark Murphy to the show. They discussed Fr. Mark's golf game yesterday, when he shot a 79. He said he's been playing since he was 13 years old and his game has improved since ordination mainly because he never had time to play in seminary. Fr. Mark has been ordained about 16 months now. He's been at St. Agatha Parish in Milton. Part of the reason for his wonderful experience is the life of the parish. They get 150 people or more at the several daily Masses. They've noticed the numbers increasing since mid-summer. They're especially moved by the number of men coming as well as all the different ages coming. The daily Mass is held in a renovated chapel that is part of a large renovation of the lower church. He said they have six weekend Masses with about 2,400 people. The largest Mass is the Saturday vigil with about 500 attendees. Scot said that puts the parish in the top ten among parishes in the archdiocese in terms of attendance. Scot asked him how he tailors his homilies for such large crowds. Fr. Mark talked about the challenge of preaching at the family Mass when the children come up to hear a homily directed primarily at them. Fr. Mark said he takes his homily preparation to prayer at the beginning of the week, with the Masses he'll be preaching that weekend in mind. Fr. Chris asked him what he preached on this past weekend, when it was about marriage. Fr. Mark said he talked about his priesthood lets him see marriages at all different stages, whether it's weddings, baptisms, or funerals. He sees people living out their vocation to marriage so radiantly and lovingly together. He also discussed the difficulties and trials. He related a story of a conversation with an older parishioner who had been married for 50 years. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Mark what a typical day is like for him. Fr. Mark say they have about three funerals per week and he celebrates one or two of the Masses. He also celebrates one of the daily Masses. The school has 600 kids at pre-K through 8 levels and if he doesn't have a funeral he visits the school in the morning, or in the afternoon if he does. He also has meeting with pastoral staff. He meets with couples preparing for marriage, goes to wakes, and so on. There are also the unexpected events, like someone coming to the door who wants to talk for an hour. He also tries to find time to exercise in the later afternoon and then get some prayer time in. Scot asked him how he has grown in his ministry with so many funerals. He said it is a moment of faith and evangelization, when people are thinking about the important themes of life and death. Fr. Chris talked about some of the challenges of funerals. He said it's an essential moment to grieve and encounter the Lord, but also to commend that person to the Lord. He recalled a daily Mass communicant who opted not to have a funeral Mass so they wouldn't have to go to church. Fr. Mark said we have to go back to the basics and explain why they are there, why do they use a pall, why is the paschal candle there. Scot noted that Fr. Mark is still the youngest priest in the Archdiocese at 27 years old. Fr. Mark said when he first got to St. Agatha's a woman came up to him and said she didn't realize they were ordaining 18-year-olds. He said it's usually a positive and people are enthusiastic to see a younger priest. Fr. Chris asked what shocked him most about the priesthood. Fr. Mark said it's the fact that it's all-encompassing and time management is a challenge. Ordinary parts of time management are very important. He works hard at getting back to people who leave a message promptly. He's also been surprised at how much fun it is, like school events or going to Canobie Lake Park with the altar servers. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Murphy about the life that the school brings to the parish. Fr. Mark said he went to public school his whole life and it's his first parochial school experience. Part of him regrets he didn't get that chance. The teachers obviously love being there and teaching in that school. The kids are great and appreciate that he wants to learn their names. He often asks the classes what they're learning in their religion classes and he finds that they are definitely learning their faith. On the question of the hardest question he's received from a student, he said they had a teaching Mass, a simulated Mass, and at the end one of the kids asked why the priest smells the altar at the procession. They also want to know him as a person and often ask personal questions. Fr. Mark said there were four sixth graders last year who wanted to have lunch with him before the end of the school year. They had lunch in the principal's office and it turned out that they had religious questions about God, their faith, their church. They wanted to know about the end of the world and what we believe about evil and the devil. They also had questions about his own call to the priesthood. It is a gift that the kids feel comfortable enough to sit down with him and ask him questions. Fr. Mark is also involved in many other sacramental obligations. He did twelve weddings last year. He's also a chaplain in the National Guard which takes him away one weekend a month and 15 days per year. He said both the pastor and the Guard are flexible with his obligations. His ministry has helped him connect with veterans or with families who have someone deployed overseas. Fr. Chris asked how Fr. Casey has helped Fr. Mark in his first assignment. Fr. Mark said Fr. Casey has given him a great model in servant leadership. He's a fantastic listener and Fr. Mark has had to grow in his listening skills. He also notices that Fr. Casey is prayerful and prayer is central in everything they do. Fr. Casey has been in the parish for 14 years and knows all the parishioners and has their respect. They see Christ in him in a powerful way. They see a strong faith in him. Fr. Mark said he didn't know a lot about Milton when first arrived, but he found many people didn't know his hometown in Burlington. They discussed how north and south of Boston are like two different worlds. Fr. Mark said they are technically a Milton and Quincy parish. He said the people have been very welcoming, inviting him into their homes and getting to know them. Fr. Chris asked what sets St. Agatha's apart from other parishes he's known. Fr. Mark said the high Mass attendance is remarkable as is the large parish school where 50% of the attendance is from inside the parish. Those are the strengths of the parish. He also noted the parish bereavement team that reaches out to families in those 150 funerals per year. Scot talked about the transition from the seminary and how he stays connected to his classmates from the seminary. Fr. Mark said once he was ordained he got a letter from the cardinal about an ongoing formation for priests ordained zero to 5 years. They come together once per month as a group for prayer, a speaker, or dinner with the cardinal. He said one of the benefits is to see the other newly ordained men. He said he and his classmates get together occasionally too and on their one-year anniversary they got together for dinner. Fr. Mark said the most beautiful part of being a priest was how much parishioners love their priests. As a seminarian you get used to people saying how happy you are to be studying for the priesthood, but as a priest you see how much larger that it is. HE thinks it's because they know the priest and how he loves them and brings God's grace to them. They love that the priest is the instrument of God's grace to them and he embodies Christ and His Church for them. He said being a priest supersedes race and age. On the numbers of men coming to daily Mass at St. Agatha's, Fr. Mark said there is a men's collaborative group in Milton that meets monthly and many of those men come to daily Masses.

Jeff, Gonch, Mike and Carrie review this week's news in the amusement industry. Carrie says recounts her experience at Phoenix Phall Phunfest at Knoebels. Accommodations are "challenging" around that area. Watch out for severed chicken heads. Canobie Lake Park waiting on the traffic study to proceed with Euro Fighter. Extreme World civil suit settled out of court, criminal trial of operator yet to come. We're still not comfortable with the precedent of someone doing a minimum wage job being charged with a crime. Food & Wine Festival begins at Epcot. It's about cheese and wine, not drink around the world advance mode. Sidebar: box wine. Checketts is out at S&S, no longer holding any stake and not consulting. What's with entrepreneurs that totally let go of something they started? Cedar Fair sets out concrete financial goals for 2015, and reinstates the distribution. Does the entire sale fiasco seem even more ridiculous? This causes zero confidence for the executive team. Another orca dies at SeaWorld Orlando, tired debate resumes about "free" versus captive animals. Good clowns protest portrayal of evil clowns at Alton Towers. We all agree that it's probably a scam. And when did clowns become primarily evil? Sidebar: Insane Clown Posse are Evangelical Christians. And still not musicians. Also sidebar: Katy Perry and Elmo on Sesame Street. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom announces a swing tower. They're the new drop tower. Minor accident involving rollback on Pony Express at Knott's Berry Farm injures ten people. Expect the state to shut it down and investigate for two years. Zippin Pippin rises in Green Bay. How many roller coasters did Elvis actually ever ride? Mental illness advocates ask Cedar Point to shut down its asylum haunted attractions. Mike says it's the fault of Hollywood. BooBuzz returns to Cedar Point on Friday, October 15. You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz. You can also like us on Facebook. CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Three Dog Night - The Show Must Go On This week's flashback occured last Saturday during Sticks' company outing at Canobie Lake Park. Every time I go to an amusement park, I get this Three Dog Night song stuck in my head because of the circusy calliope part that rears its ugly head over and over. 3DN's version is a cover of a Leo Sayer song, which I recall seeing him perform in clown makeup on either The Midnight Special or one of those other pop music shows in the seventies. Sayer's is kind of wistful, folky pop, while 3DN throws some of their signature rockin' pop sound. While it is far from my favorite 3DN song, it's catchy and it makes me want to head out to a fall carnival.