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We Are T1D : Type 1 Diabetes

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 38:20

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 hosts are Paul Marden and Oz Austwick.If 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/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. Show references: https://ukthemeparkawards.com/winners https://ukthemeparkawards.com/sponsorsWatch the UK Theme Park Awards 2024 on YouTube. Interviewed Guests:Paul Kelly: BALPPA Neil Poulter: Thorpe ParkRoss Ballinger: Drayton ManorDanielle Nicholls & Sophie Tickle: Alton TowersJennifer Howlett & Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: Legoland https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadwaldron/Sinead Kimberley is the Senior Client Success Manager of Rubber Cheese and has a background in digital marketing, engagement software and all things client satisfaction. She guides clients through the various stages of their project, ensuring they have the information they need when they need it, as well as being the link between our developers and clients. https://x.com/MrTicketeerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andypovey/ Transcription: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. Paul Marden: Hello and welcome to our first Skip the Queue Season Six Rubber Cheese get together. And we've got a corker. Today, there's four of us virtually together for our meetup after having been together yesterday in real life at the UK Theme Park Awards. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Paul Marden: We're going to talk a little bit about all the cool stuff that we saw yesterday at Thorpe park and enjoyed those theme park awards. But before we do that, should we do some introductions? Because I think everyone knows me and others, don't they? Oz Austwick: I'm here again. Paul Marden: You can sound more pleased. Everyone will love you. I'm thrilled. Oz Austwick: Absolutely thrilled. I couldn't wish to be anywhere nicer. Back in my office, not surrounded by monkeys. Paul Marden: We are also joined by Sinead Kimberley, who is the Senior Client Success Manager here at Rubber Cheese. Say hi, Sinead, and tell everyone what you do. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, so I work with our clients and making sure they've got everything they need for the website and try and act as the voice of the client, essentially with our developers, so that what you ask for, they know how to make it technical. I can pass it back to you and make it all visible on the website and get everything done. Paul Marden: That you need the glue that binds us together. And today we are also joined by the probably I've got to prove this. I'm going to have to do the counting because I know that other people do count. I'm thinking Dom from Mary Rose for sure counts the number of times he's been there. Andy Povey: So am I. Paul Marden: But I think Andy Povey, roaving ticketing expert and gentleman of leisure, joins us today possibly as the most frequent guest on Skip the Queue. But today you get upgraded to co host status because you joined us. Andy Povey: Well, I feel honoured, Paul. Thank you. Oz Austwick: Is that actually an upgrade? Paul Marden: I definitely think co host is an upgrade. For sure. For sure. Oz Austwick: Speaking of co hosting, I'll just point out that also in this episode we have some interviews recorded at the awards, some with winners, some with prize givers. It'll make more sense in the YouTube version where you can actually see them. But if you're listening to this just as an audio podcast, you need to know that when the room gets noisy or you can hear people screaming in the background, that's a clip from Thorpe Park itself. So that's coming up throughout the podcast today. But as always we start with where we've been recently, other than Thorpe Park. Paul Marden: Why don't I start with you, Andy, because I know you've been on a few trips just recently with the family. Where's an attraction you've been to recently that sticks in your mind as being pretty cool? Andy Povey: So most recently was a couple of weekends ago. We took the kids Tower of London on a Sunday afternoon or a sunny Sunday afternoon. It's absolutely superb experience. We've been members of Historic Royal Palaces for six months, eight months, something like that. And it's one of those that just sits in the dusty corner of a drawer somewhere and didn't get used. So we dusted it off and said, "All right, let's go to the tower.". Brilliant experience, absolutely superb. The kids loved it and they really engaged with all of the interpretation there. And it's probably my third or fourth time of taking my ten year old girls there. And there's something new every time or something different every time that we haven't picked up on, we haven't seen so great experience. Paul Marden: I love it. And I love it going there with membership because I think when you go the first time, you get wowed by all the really big stuff, you know, the shiny jewels and all of that kind of good stuff. By the time you go there second or third time, you begin to notice some of the other stuff. There's some lovely little regimental museums hidden off in the corner. Aren't there lots to find in there? Which if you only go the once and you do it as a set piece, you don't necessarily notice it because you want to go and look at the court stuff. Andy Povey: Yeah, it's just the single visit. It's just a high pressure environment, isn't it? You want to catch everything, you want to get the best value out of it. I mean, we got there at 02:00 in the afternoon. I don't think I'd have done that if I was just paying for the single day entry. Paul Marden: What about you, Sinead? Where have you been recently? Sinead Kimberley: Mine is up north, Wyresdale Park. And it's just an outdoor park, so not kind of a ticket place that you need to kind of buy a ticket for. But I loved it because when went, it felt like we'd just gone into a normal park, but you felt like you were at some kind of holiday camp and you could hear kids playing in the water on the paddle boards and the kayaks and then you had all the dogs running around and then you had the hikers going past you to go up. And we did go for a walk. So went, I think it was maybe two and a half hours up to the peak and it was just lovely to see all the families as well on a sunny day. Rare up in Lancaster. No rain for once. Sinead Kimberley: And, yeah, it was just a lovely place to be. You had a really nice feel of just people having fun and enjoying nature, which I think is really lovely. So, yeah, that was my favourite recently, besides Thorpe park, obviously. Paul Marden: Oz, what about you, mate? Oz Austwick: Goodrich Castle. We took the family away and we did a couple of nights glamping. Amazing place. I won't go on too much about that, but went to Goodrich Castle, just outside Ross on Wye, and it's the first time I've ever been. It's amazing. So many of these castles are just a series of small walls and there's nothing to actually see, but it's a proper castle. There's a moat and a bridge over it to get in, and there are dungeons and towers. You can go up and it's. Yeah, it's fantastic. If you're in the area, definitely go check it out. It's well worth it. Paul Marden: Lovely for the kids, isn't it? Because I do think, whilst it can be a really lovely day out to go to some of these castle ruins, it can be pretty tough to imagine as a ten year old what it was actually like and what that low wall over there actually was. Oz Austwick: There's definitely a trade off, though, because the more castle there is, the more the older kids love it. But I've got a four year old as well and I'm much happier when it's a flat bit of grass with a couple of stones in it than when she's trying desperately to scale up a spiral staircase that has been worn down for 500 years. Paul Marden: We did the wall around Warwick Castle a few years ago and I was at a heightened state of anxiety, I think it's fair to say. Oz Austwick: Yeah. Paul Marden: So mine is the National Marine Aquarium, which is one of the Rubber Cheese clients down in Plymouth, and it's my first time of actually going and seeing it. And were there. We were coming back from a holiday in Cornwall, so it was a stop off on the way back and it was such a lovely stop off. My memory of it is we've been. We were avid watchers of the anime show that was on at Christmas last year. We really enjoyed watching that. Millie loves animals and she loved the turtle that was in the show last year. And went and I. We were there. It must have been ten minutes before closing time. They were trying to get people to leave. Paul Marden: We were one of the last families there, but were just sat on the floor, on the top floor looking into the tank where the turtle was. It was just so relaxing to just watch this turtle coming in and going out and the sharks that were in there. It was a really beautiful place. Lovely place. Really enjoyed that. So going from serene, calm aquarium, let's talk about Thorpe Park and the National Theme Park Awards. How was it for you guys? I hasten to add, I didn't make it Hyperia yesterday, which we did. Oz Austwick: Notice that Sinead and I did. Sinead Kimberley: My eyes were closed. Paul Marden: So what was Hyperia actually like then? Was it, was it as scary as I thought it might be? Oz Austwick: Yes. Sinead Kimberley: Yes. But also as incredible. Yeah. I was sad I didn't go on twice. Oz Austwick: You know, all of those feelings you get when you go on a roller coaster, that kind of the adrenaline and the sense of fear and all of that you get that gives you a bit of a buzz when you get off it. Imagine just dialing all of that up to eleven and. Yeah, mind blowing. It's too far, it's too big, it's too high, too scary. No, I'm glad I did it. Paul Marden: They did say yesterday, didn't they, when they were talking about the ride itself, that it was the tallest roller coaster in the UK, I think. But also the one with the most weightlessness in the UK, which I can't imagine how you measure it and I can't imagine what it's like. So can you put into words what the weightlessness was like? Oz Austwick: You know, if they've got these big over the shoulder harnesses that come down and you're in the seat and, you know you're safe, you know you're trapped and you're sitting with all your weight on a seat because that's just how you sit. Right? Paul Marden: Yeah. Oz Austwick: But for most of this ride, you're not. You're somewhere in between the two. You're not sitting and you're not pushed up against the harness, you're just being flung around constantly. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, yeah, it is weird. I think I didn't notice when the harness thing you get is different to the normal one, so you don't have that big thing pushing your shoulders back. It just goes around your waist and then there's like a bar you can hold in front. It is safe, we can confirm because we are here, but it did make you feel like you weren't quite as stuck to something as normal. And then add to that you were moving faster, and you were dropping from higher heights. You realise that you were still falling, which you don't normally do on a roller coaster. Normally you realise you're falling and then you're done, whereas this, you realise you're falling. You start to be like, okay, but I'm still safe. And then you maybe open your eyes and you look around this I couldn't. Sinead Kimberley: I carried on realising I was falling a lot longer. You really felt it in your body. Oz Austwick: That first peak where you go and it starts to move, and then it literally, it takes you up and you're lying backwards and you're going up, and you can just about see the track ahead of you up there. And then you get to the top, and it's such a tight curve that as you drop, you can't see the track, and you just drop. Yeah. Sinead Kimberley: I loved it, though. Paul Marden: Should we go back to the podcast and move away from therapy session? Oz Austwick: Yeah, we can come back to therapy later, though, right? Because I think I need it. Paul Marden: So yesterday was the third year that we've sponsored one of the awards, so it was the third time I've been to the awards. Third time it was in real life, fifth year of running, and it was just lovely, wasn't it? It was such a nice industry get together. I think you were commenting this morning, Andy, on LinkedIn, about the networking effect of it. Andy Povey: Yeah. The industry we're in is a very physical, actual industry. People go to attractions because they want to do something so well. Virtual is great, and digital is great, obviously. I mean, it's what I've been doing for a very long time. There's nothing that really gets to the heart of what this industry is all about better than the face to face physical interactions. And that was a real sort of epiphany away, I think I said on a message to someone the other day, yesterday, that's just really important. It was the first event I've been to since May. Very good. Oz Austwick: Good. I thought it was a real eye opener how you kind of going there as an exhibitor. And it was my first time. I kind of assumed that I'd stand next to a stall and people would come over and I'd try and talk to them, and all they'd want was whatever free merch I'd have on this. But it wasn't like that. It was like being in a big room with a bunch of people who were friends and they were happy you were there, too, and it was just a really lovely experience. It didn't feel like a corporate trade show type event, which is exactly what I was expecting. Paul Marden: And it is fiercely competitive. So everybody does want to win in the categories they're in. Oz Austwick: Yes. But Alton Towers wins them all. Paul Marden: Right, so I am here with Sophie and Danielle from Alton Towers. It's been a successful day for you guys, hasn't it? Did you manage to count the number of awards or did you just lose count? Danielle Nicholls: I think it was a level, maybe round and fair. Paul Marden: Definitely double figures. Definitely double figures. We saw both of you going up and down the stage. Up and down the stage. Highlight, which was the one for you, Danielle, that you really appreciated. Danielle Nicholls: You know, what it was between two. So super proud of everything we did with Nemesis. Like Nemesis Reborn has been such a momentous campaign throughout. Paul Marden: Yeah. Danielle Nicholls: And so I'm super proud of that one. But for me, I think the one that has my heart in, it's our community award. So I was super proud to play silver for that one. Paul Marden: It was brilliant to get you up on the stage, bring the band back together again with you and Ross up there. And Sophie, what about you? What was the biggest highlight for you? Sophie Tickle: So I was really keen for the Best Marketing Campaign purely because I know how hard our team works on it. So I was really kind of brutal. And the nemesis story is just incredible. So we felt like that was. That was a really good win for us. And then best ride storytelling is always a nice one just because we feel like it just captures everything. The resources. Paul Marden: I really enjoyed watching when we had the. ad campaigns that came on and we saw everything that everyone had produced and you could see the storytelling that goes into something like nemesis reborn. And then the room was just quiet at the end of it because were all just captured by all of these videos. Danielle Nicholls: Everyone could have won that one, genuinely. But we're so proud. Like, Alton is such a lovely, friendly community in itself. Like, there's hundreds of people that work all the towers. Like, you can never just put it down to one person. It's such a big team effort. Everyone pulls together for everything. So, like, Alton After Dark winning golf best of event, that was amazing as well. I'm super proud of that one. Paul Marden: Everyone loves an after dark event, don't they? Yeah, it's awesome. Awesome. Danielle Nicholls: They do. Paul Marden: Thank you for joining me, ladies. It's been really good to talk to you all. Cheers. So, yes, it is fair to say that Alton Towers did make a lot of trips onto the stage. Danielle and her yellow jacket was seen going up on stage quite a lot yesterday. But there's a real diversity of different attractions that were nominated. So I think they said more than 30, nearly 40. I think it was attractions that were nominated. 20 attractions overall. Yeah, 20 attractions overall. One prizes. There was one that was really close to my heart. Brean Theme Park. It was where my granddad and my dad played golf 45 years ago. I would go to Brean Leisure Park, as it was then, and go down helter skelter all the time. So to see that up on the awards for a nomination was really lovely. Paul Marden: And there's quite a few other smaller attractions like that got nominated. Talk a little bit about the categories or the memories that we got yesterday that stuck in our minds. Andy, was there a category for you that you were really impressed by? Andy Povey: Yeah, there was. For me, it was the Accessibility initiative the Katapult sponsored. Obviously, Merlin were very heavily represented in the nominations for that category. I think there were five out of the eight nominations were for either for Merlin Parks or things that Merlin were doing as a bigger or as a cross group activity. But there were also some really quite simple things from much smaller parks. So noticeably there was a Camel Creek, again, down in deepest, darkest Cornwall, who were nominated for their changing places facility. And that just really brought home to me. Yes, it's important that Merlin, as the largest operator in the country, are leading the way and they've got the resources to put behind this and all that kind of stuff. But it's not just about doing those big things. Andy Povey: Small things can make a difference and can make a really significant difference. And that's really key to. Was one of the key messages in the industry, I think. Paul Marden: Yeah, I thought it was an interesting category. First time that it appeared in the awards, as you say, Katapult sponsored it, and it was quite a nice match between Katapult and that category because they've been doing quite a lot of work in designing spaces and attractions that are more accessible to people. So that was really. It was quite a nice match between sponsor and category. And as you say, there was some really lovely stories to be told around. What was there? I loved there was a Merlin initiative where they were taking the characters and the stories of the parks out to hospitals and places where they were terminally ill children, which there's lots of stories that have existed for a long time of kids being taken to the parks themselves. Paul Marden: But what about when they can't make it to the park and can you bring the magic of the park to them? I thought that was a really lovely idea. Andy Povey: Magic tour, they call that. And it's actually run by the Merlin charity, Merlin's Magic Wand. Paul Marden: Yeah. It's a cracking idea, isn't it? Yeah. But then you take it down to the changing places toilets and the initiatives to make places and make it clear what the accessibility of the place actually is, because we know that's really important, that people that have accessibility needs will not go to new places if they're not completely sure that it is accessible to them. And having a space on your website and winning an award, or even being shortlisted for an award for having that information on your website, I think is amazing. It's a cracking idea and there's so much that the sector is doing that has opened my eyes just in the last year, from the M&H show that were at six months ago to just seeing some of the stuff yesterday, thought it was brilliant. Oz Austwick: Shall we have another interview from the awards? Paul caught up with another Paul. Paul Kelly from BALPPA. Paul Marden: So, Paul, you've just come from the first session of giving out awards and you on stage giving out bridge award. Paul Kelly: I was doing the best theme park for toddlers, both in the small category. And the large category. Paul Marden: And who was winning? Paul Kelly: Well, unsurprisingly, I think it's not the first time they've won small categories won by Paulton's Park. And considering the amount of investment they've done, and I'm not surprised, they also won the large as well. So, really good taking off. Paul Marden: It is, yeah. We were talking on our table that they've been doing this now for a very long time, able to get up on stage and win awards. Still, they must really be investing in what they're doing. Paul Kelly: Continuous investments. I mean, if you get a chance like I do, look behind the scenes, they're investing infrastructure, their staff, for how they run the park, but think of ten years ahead. So, yeah, incredible family, incredible journey. So, yeah, good luck. Paul Marden: Behind the scenes, Pickworld must be quite the operation. Paul Kelly: Yeah. I mean, again, well, one of the things they've done, although it is photographers, they do very well in bandits now, builds them on that because they have invested in trying. I don't think they might be saying, "They do very well in bandits now," builds them on that because they have invested in trying. I don't think they might be saying. Paul Marden: That it is just about having. Paul Kelly: Well, but, yeah, paddlings are well deserved. Paul Marden: Amazing. Well done. Thank you. Paul Kelly: Yeah, no problem. Paul Marden: Sinead, what about you? What was the category that jumped out to you? Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, so for me, I think it was the sustainability, partly because it's something that I am kind of working on, looking at a lot at the minute with clients and also a thing that I've been kind of getting myself up to speed on within the industry, because I think everyone talks about sustainability, but often it will be either a really big initiative or it's something that's just what everybody else is doing. So, you know, more recyclable packaging or that kind of thing. And I really loved. There was a roller coaster, I think it was Greenwoods, was it, Andy? Andy Povey: Yes. Sinead Kimberley: They had like a people powered or counterbalanced roller coaster. And I was sat on a table and kind of asked what that was. And the person next to me explained that it doesn't use electricity, it just uses people. So as you're going up, you're powering people, going around the roller coaster, essentially. And it just sounds incredible. I've never heard of anything like that before. And I was also talking to some of the people about the sustainability of a website and something that we don't think about. You think about how many clicks to get tickets sold or to get you to see the video or whatever, but you don't necessarily think about the server powering every single click, empowering every single page view. Sinead Kimberley: And so to kind of see how different places have worked with sustainability, whether it's the reusable cups or roller coaster that's literally using people to power it and then enjoy it at the same time, was really interesting to kind of complete my picture of what sustainability looks like in the industry and all the different things it could touch on from the website to literally on the park itself. And when the parks are by nature not going to be the most, you know, energy efficient, maybe because you've got these massive roller coasters you need to power safely. It's really interesting to see that the small things, like you mentioned, Andy, with accessibility, the small things really can altogether make a really big impact on how you as an organisation can be more sustainable. Sinead Kimberley: So, yeah, that was really eye opening, I think, seeing those different nominees. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Oz Austwick: I think the one that won it as well is a lovely example of however much you ask people to do something because it's the right thing to do. If you actually make it in their interests to do it, suddenly it becomes much more viable. So you can. Everyone's got recycling bins, but if you've got this reverse vending machine where you put your empty plastic bottles in and you get something back out of that, then clearly people are going to do. If you were there with your kids, they're going to be collecting bottles they find lying around and making sure they go in the right bin because they get something. Paul Marden: And it wasn't just a little something, was it? It wasn't just a couple of tokens. You could win some pretty amazing prizes out of it. Oz Austwick: Absolutely. Yeah. Andy Povey: Yeah. I was at the Latitude Festival last year and they were charging a temp deposit on every waxed paper cup. And the number of kids running around collecting huge stacks of these cups. Oz Austwick: Yeah. Andy Povey: And they were even going into the bins and taking them out of the bins, which I'm not sure was the real driver behind, but they were making. It must have been hundreds of pounds. Oz Austwick: Absolutely. It was the same. I used to go to the rugby quite a lot before my rugby team disappeared. And they would charge a one pound deposit on plastic reusable cups and you could either keep it as a one pound cup or give it back and get your pound back. And most people just. They'd have a few beers and they'd leave them. But at the end of the match, kids, just like you say, would be running around collecting these and they'd be walking away with 20, 30 quid's worth of cups. You know, what an amazing thing for the kids to do. Just makes it worth their while, doesn't it? Paul Marden: So I'm here with Jennifer and Charlotte from Legoland. So you've been at the awards today with us. How's it been? Was it a successful day for you guys? Jennifer Howlett: Pretty successful, yeah. A few wins across the category. Paul Marden: Yeah. So what. What categories did you. Did you get awards for? Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: So we've got new band, which I was Ninja tonight, which is really exciting. That was our summer first year. Jennifer Howlett: We've done it as well. So it's really exciting to see that. Paul Marden: So I love Ninjago. The ride itself. What's the event all about? Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: So, literally, we had loads of different things going on. We had dragons, drumsy, we had loads of different entertainments. We had characters, meet and greets, and were new characters, which was really exciting. Aaron and Sora. So, yes, that was great. And that finished quite long ago. Sarah's missing to see that. Paul Marden: Excellent, excellent and highlight of the day for you guys. What did you see that has really got you excited? Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: Do you know what, thing is for me with the map? I look after all things catholic events and stuff, and that was quite nice that you see. Paul Marden: It's funny because everyone was laughing a little bit. I know award for the maps, but actually, the maps and the attraction is so important. It is, it is. If you walk in and you don't get a map, it's like, How do you figure out where you're going, you're always going and looking at the map on the wall instead of having it in your hand. So, yeah, it's a bit of a laugh, but actually I think it's a really important. Yeah. Lovely to meet you guys. Thank you for joining us. Cheers. Paul Marden: So, Oz, tell us what was the standout moment for you yesterday? Oz Austwick: I thought it was really lovely to see in amongst all of these theme parks and massive organisations getting up there to win awards, that there was an award specifically for content creator of the year, that these people are out there producing content that literally markets and drives visitors to these attractions to go on these rides and they were actually recognised a change. And I thought that was both a lovely thing as a concept, but also as a YouTuber myself, within a very small and specific niche, it was really nice to get to chat to some other YouTubers from an equally small niche and spend a bit of time with them. I thought it was really. It was lovely. So I just want to shout out to Andy from Coaster Crazy and Digital Daniel, lovely people. Sinead Kimberley: Thank you, Andy, for helping me on the roller coaster as well. It was needed. Paul Marden: You were with those influencers, weren't you, during the awards itself? I think. I think it's a bit of a challenge having a daytime awards, that it can be a bit of a struggle to get some life out of the audience. And George, the compare does graft to try and get us into the mood. But I've noticed every year I've been there that if you sit anywhere near the influencers, that's usually the naughty table with lots going on. Sinead Kimberley: They were very well behaved. Oz Austwick: Because you were sat with them at the award. We went with them round the park later and it was lovely to see people visiting the park, recognizing them and coming up to say hi and that this is genuinely a thing that really works. Yeah, I just thought it was. It was great. Let's recognize these guys because I doubt any of them are making a full time living out of this. They're doing it in their own time because they love her. So if you're. If you're from a theme park, support them a little bit more, get them in there, let them. Let them do this stuff because it does benefit you. Paul Marden: You say they're not making a full time living. I can't remember what the couple are, Andy, who have every year at theme park awards, they're never there to collect their award because they're always somewhere in Florida or California, because September is a perfect time for them to go and do all the recordings. I guess parks are a little bit quiet. Weather's still good. Oz Austwick: Yeah, but that's the thing. Maybe they go in then because it's cheaper. Paul Marden: Yeah. Still having a good time recording to make a good living.Oz Austwick: You can make a good living from social media, but it's pretty rare. Paul Marden: So I am going to claim. Yeah. Executive prerogative and I'm going to take two memories and talk about them. Oz Austwick: That is definitely cheating. Paul Marden: So I'm going to talk first about the. The main awards, the best theme park, which, strangely, last year were at Chessington, won by Chessington. This year were at Thorpe park, won by Thorpe park. Oz Austwick: What are you saying? Paul Marden: I don't know. I don't know. But what I am. I guess what I am saying was what I really loved was the recognition of the whole thought pop team. Now, it wasn't the whole thought pub team because that would probably be hundreds of people and the stage wouldn't take it, but we had a little kind of troop of different people from across the park come and collect the award and I just. I really liked that. I thought that was a lovely thing to see those people being recognized. Neil Poulter: And that's exactly. It's a team effort, there's no doubt about it. Obviously, many people in the room, but the people behind the scenes as well. And we've had a fantastic year. It's been a journey. You don't just arrive at winning best theme park and best new attraction. It's a journey that we've been on for the last three and a half years. We haven't previously won that award, so I think it's testament to where we've come from, but hopefully where we're going as well. So, super excited. Paul Marden: Highlight for you? Neil Poulter: I think, obviously, Best Theme Park. I think winning the big one is something that, you know, is. Feels like new territory for us, but I think, you know, we deserve our seat at the table. Neil Poulter: But, you know, across the awards, you know, best new attraction, obviously, for Hyperia is that also some entertainment in terms of stitches and Friday nights, which we're so proud of, you know, a fantastic maze. The team that do our social, which, again, you know, allows us to speak with our audience, our most passionate audience and really, you know, them winning the gold was also a huge highlight for me as well. Paul Marden: Awesome. So time for some food and then some fun after Hyperia. And here's some screaming. Neil Poulter: Yeah, absolutely. Can't wait to ride it. I actually wrote it yesterday for about only the 6th time and I went on the back. It was amazing. But, yeah, hoping people that haven't even experienced it yet will get a chance to. And if people have, which I'm sure many have, they will come back and enjoy it. And the sun's shining, so what better time to be at the Thorpe Park? Paul Marden: So congratulations, Neil. Thank you for talking. Neil Poulter: Thank you very much. You're welcome. Paul Marden: But then the other memory for me was our own award. We sponsor the Social Media Content Category and I nearly missed my queue. I was quite happy sitting there listening to all of these parks being nominated, thinking, well, that's interesting. Well, that sounded very good. And then I realized it was me and I was supposed to get on stage and hand the award out, so there's a little rush to the stage. But what I really liked, it was lovely to hand over the gold award to Thorpe Park, meet the social media team there. Paul Marden: But it was also really nice because it was an opportunity to meet a couple more Skip the Queue alumni, Danielle and Ross, they used to work together at Drayton Manor and as we've already said, Danielle is now at Thorpe Towers and was up and down like a fiddler's elbow on the staircase yesterday. Oz Austwick: She's a full time award collector. Paul Marden: But it was lovely to get the band back together again up on stage. Handsome. Some bronze and silver awards out to Ross and Danielle. I really enjoyed that. It was just nice. It's really nice because Kelly first met them at the awards three years ago. Again, she was sat on the naughty table at the back with the two of them making lots of noise and enjoying themselves. But just, we got immediately the sense of enjoyment and fun that the two of them had and that they bring to the work that they do. And it was lovely to see that recognised yesterday on stage because we have nothing to do as sponsors of the award, we have nothing to do with choosing who the winners actually are as a team of esteemed judges. And then the public vote also counted this time. Paul Marden: But, yeah, to see, to see the growth of people that have been on the podcast, their careers growing, and then seeing them back on stage again yesterday, that was really lovely. I enjoyed that. Paul Marden: It's a bit weird, isn't it, because the awards are in the daytime, it's. All a little bit where we can. You always come and you bring the energy to the room, don't you? Yes. We got the band back together up on the stage with you and Danielle. Ross Ballinger: Yeah. Paul Marden: Both in the social media category. So that was nice. To see what have you got in your hands at the moment? Ross Ballinger: I've actually just got pleasure Wood Hills award because I'm representing them today as well as part of the luping UK contingency. Paul Marden: Okay, so what did they win? Ross Ballinger: They got bronze for Best Theme Park. Paul Marden: Oh, wow. Ross Ballinger: Which they have overhauled their map this year, which is really fantastic. So we're getting too excited never to excited about. Paul Marden: No. Ross Ballinger: But maps are a great addition to any park. Paul Marden: Do you know when you walk in the gates and you don't get the map and it's like, oh, people have got it. Yeah. People will complain. Absolutely. And everyone loves a map. Ross Ballinger: They take a lot of. It's no easy task. They can take six to twelve months to get a really, you know, popping man. Yeah, yeah. And it's obviously all down to the illustrators and everything like that. Paul Marden: And the life of the park as well, because you're telling stories. Andy Povey: Oh, yeah. Ross Ballinger: You've got to bring the paper to life. Paul Marden: So highlight for today for you. Ross Ballinger: Highlight, obviously, being on the show, on stage, being on stage for the social media category. Close to my heart, that kind of category. I love socials. I love doing what we do on socials. And it's a big core team for Drayton Manor. Paul Marden: Is it really? Ross Ballinger: It's the whole team that really. It doesn't really channel itself into one person. We have a great executive, Morgan McHenry, that looks after the top end of all the social media. So she's the goddess that orchestrates it all. But she will be. She will say that it's not just her, but everyone just contributed to making sure our social media channels are like, just absolutely fantastic and great for people to watch. Paul Marden: I think they're most authentic, aren't they? When you get everybody involved all across the park, all the people telling their little stories and showcasing what party's like. Ross Ballinger: That's what it's all about. A lot of other departments do their job. They think they're just having fun on TikTok again. But we're not, you know, we're really like behind the scenes thinking of content, going out, filming the content, you know, putting the content together, scheduling it to go out. Paul Marden: It doesn't just happen by itself. Ross Ballinger: It doesn't happen. Paul Marden: You don't just walk out with a phone and get yourself a smash hit video that just goes viral. Ross Ballinger: Well, the more fun we have, the more engaging it is. So it's our job to be fun. You have fun. Paul Marden: It's a tough life. Right. Lovely. See you again. Bringing the alumni back together again. Ross Ballinger: Great. Thank you. Thank you. Paul Marden: So that was the UK theme park awards yesterday, but that's not the only thing happening in the industry at the moment, is it, Andy? Something big and important is happening next week. Andy Povey: You mean my trip to Amsterdam? Paul Marden: Well, I was thinking more about the IAAPA conference that was at Amsterdam as opposed to your particular trip to the. Andy Povey: Yeah, so it's the 20th 30th instance of the IAAPA Europe show, IAAPA Europe Expo, this time taking place in the RAI at Amsterdam, or in Amsterdam from Tuesday to Thursday next week. Lots of great stuff, lots of great people. All about the attractions industry. There might be an occasional beer or two while we're there on the short. Paul Marden: I think it is important to note for Mrs. Povey, if she actually does listen in, that this is an important work event and there will be lots of networking. And if you're not networking, you're not working. We know that. However, it is also worth mentioning that on numerous occasions yesterday I heard you talking to people about the after parties that you were planning to attend. And yeah, it's a busy social calendar that you've got signed up to next week. Andy Povey: It certainly is. I think I might need to cut down on the pre party work to give time for the after party to take the best. Paul Marden: So you're going to enjoy yourself and do lots of important networking next week. But I guess the call to action for listeners today is if you are planning on being at IAAPA next week, hunt down Andy. He's a tough guy to miss and everybody knows him. So go and find him, have a chat with him and enjoy yourselves in IAAPA and we will be back in two weeks time. Thank you very much guys. It's been delightful having a foursome as co hosts and I think we get to do this again. Oz Austwick: I quite like this. We should do this more often. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Paul Marden: 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. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been 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. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Help the entire sector:Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsFill in your data now (opens in new tab)

296: Shoe Horns Are Important!

Tommy's Brownload

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2024 63:21

We're talking queuing for Oasis tickets, queues in Chessington and even more queuing for food at old school music festivals! Plus Sach has got news about the latest list featuring the top cities in the world for food! You know we just had to look into that! I'm all getting ready for the 14th of September for our big live podcast at the London Podcast Festival… For those of you who are lucky enough to get tickets, we'll see you there!

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Heart Breaking & Heart Warming with Matthew Disley

Sutton Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2024 31:02

Welcome back to the "Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast" (or "Sutton Podcast" for short). In this episode, we're diving deep behind the amber curtain with Matthew Disley, Sutton United's Commercial Manager, to explore his role, journey, and his strategic vision for the club's commercial operations.Introduction Hello and welcome to another episode of the Sutton Podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike, and today we're excited to introduce Matthew Disley. We'll be covering Matthew's role, his story so far, and his hopes for his impact at Sutton United. Let's dive right into it!Overview of Matthew Disley's RoleBrief Biography: Matthew's background in fitness, sales, and marketing, including his role as a commercial site manager at Go Ape and commercial manager at Grimsby Town.Joining Sutton United: Motivation for joining Sutton, even with the expectation of relegation, driven by the opportunity to effect significant changes.Role and Responsibilities at Sutton UnitedCommercial Director Overview: Explanation of the commercial director role, focusing on generating revenue through various sponsorships and partnerships.Strategies for Engagement: Techniques for securing renewals and broadening the horizons to attract national sponsors.Immediate and Long-term GoalsImmediate Goals: Professionalizing operations, ensuring proper contractual agreements, and introducing price increments.Long-term Vision: Aim to attract national companies, leverage digital opportunities, and potentially introduce LED boards, contingent on increased revenue.Community and Fan EngagementBalancing Change with Tradition: Importance of transparent communication and involving fans in the journey to maintain the club's charm while fostering professional growth.Fan Participation: Encouraging fans to help by engaging employers for sponsorship, buying programs, and supporting through social media interactions.Personal Stories and Additional InsightsVisiting the Royal Marsden: Emotional experience during the visit and related fundraising efforts through running a half marathon for the Royal Marsden.Potential Partnerships: Mention of engaging with organisations like Chessington for potential future collaboration.Message to FansCommunity Focus: Emphasis on the critical role of fans in sustaining and growing the club's revenue.Call to Action: Encouraging fans to bring friends and family to games and get involved in any way they can, reflecting Sutton United's community spirit.Through these chapters, the interview provided a comprehensive view of Matthew Disley's professional journey, his strategic approach to his role, and his commitment to integrating fans into the club's evolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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KFC, Camden Pride, and Cortisol - The T1D Rollercoaster

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2024 40:08

Join Jack and Mike for a mix of banter, insightful discussions, and relatable Type 1 Diabetes experiences. Celebrate Riley's birthday at Chessington and explore the mystery of morning glucose spikes. Jack recounts his weekend adventures in Camden, tackling hay fever while fencing, while Mike shares his win at an all-you-can-eat pasta and pizza buffet and the predictable effects of KFC on his blood sugar. Discover their weekly blood sugar averages, how heat impacts glucose levels, and their experiences with different types of insulin. Learn about their gym routines, the importance of proper nutrition, and supplements for diabetes management. Celebrate listener wins, from a great nurse appointment to starting a peer support group and achieving impressive time-in-range percentages. The episode wraps up with a fun discussion on superpowers. Tune in for laughs, valuable T1D insights, and relatable stories! 00:00 - Hi, Jack. How are you doing today 00:55 - We went to Chesaton for Riley's birthday last weekend 03:39 - On one ride, Amber wouldn't get on 04:43 - Morning glory spikes 06:39 - Hay fever struggles 10:26 - My levels are going higher in the heat 15:08 - Mike had an all you can eat pasta and pizza buffet 19:24 - Camden market 22:25 - Steak and eggs 23:46 - Protein intake and fat intake 26:31 - It's time for the listener win 31:16 - Make sure you go to your eye screenings 37:27 - If you could have a superpower, what superpower would you have Join the conversation and share your stories with the T1D community. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to help others find the podcast. Follow The Podcast https://www.instagram.com/wearet1d Follow Mike https://www.instagram.com/t1d_mike Follow Jack https://www.instagram.com/t1d_jack Share your stories at https://wearet1d.com New episodes are released every Sunday & Wednesday PS. If you would like to be a Guest on the podcast, please go to the website https://wearet1d.com/guest-booking and fill out the form. Also, don't forget to vote for us in the British Podcast Awards! Your support means the world to us. Visit https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting, search for "We Are T1D," and cast your vote. Thank you!

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Independent Confident Woman

Just a Girl in Her 30s

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2024 24:49

Update on the driving. Big day out in the car today to Kingston via Chessington and then to Gatwick and back. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justagirlinher30s/message

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Faith in Parents #126 | Fostering with Daniel and Ruth Sinclair

Faith in Kids

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2023 48:51

Daniel and Ruth have offered a warm welcome and a loving family to more than a dozen children over 13 years of being foster carers. Hear how they cope with saying 'goodbye' (while also staying in touch afterwards), how they see themselves growing in compassion for those living with brokenness and how their own children have grown through being part of these messy situations.Listen to their story of hope, care and progress with moments of deep despair. We noticed how much of their story is the same as any Christian parent: Our children all belong to God before they are our own and our strength to go on always comes from the Cross of Christ.People:Ed Drew - is the Director of Faith in KidsAmy Smith - is a writer for Faith in Kids.Daniel & Ruth Sinclair - Daniel and Ruth Sinclair have been foster carers for 13 years, mainly looking after babies and younger children. They have just said goodbye to a little girl who has been living with them for the last year. They also have three sons. They live in Chessington, London and attend Emmanuel Epsom church. Daniel works part time in charity communications and Ruth is a full-time mum and foster carer.Resources they recommend the following for further help:Home For Good | Together we can find a home for every child who needs… The Fostering Network | The Fostering Network is the UK's leading fostering charityCheck out our Christmas resources available here, right now!Support the show

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Mobile optimisation for visitor attractions, with Kelly and Paul from Rubber Cheese

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2023 29:58

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, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the annual benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If 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/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. Show references: https://carbonsix.digital/https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmarden/Paul Marden is the Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Six Digital and the CEO of Rubber Cheese. He is an Umbraco Certified Master who likes to think outside the box, often coming up with creative technical solutions that clients didn't know were possible. Paul oversees business development and technical delivery, specialising in Microsoft technologies including Umbraco CMS, ASP.NET, C#, WebApi, and SQL Server. He's worked in the industry since 1999 and has vast experience of managing and delivering the technical architecture for both agencies and client side projects of all shapes and sizes. Paul is an advocate for solid project delivery and has a BCS Foundation Certificate in Agile. https://www.rubbercheese.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellymolson/Kelly Molson is the Founder of Rubber Cheese, a user focused web design and development agency for the attraction sector. Digital partners to Eureka! The National Children's Museum, Pensthorpe, National Parks UK, Holkham, Visit Cambridge and The National Marine Aquarium.Kelly regularly delivers workshops and presentations on sector focused topics at national conferences and attraction sector organisations including ASVA, ALVA, The Ticketing Professionals Conference and the Museum + Heritage Show.As host of the popular Skip the Queue Podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions, she speaks with inspiring industry experts who share their knowledge of what really makes an attraction successful.Recent trustee of The Museum of the Broads. 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. In this new monthly slot, Rubber Cheese CEO Paul Marden joins me to discuss different digital related topics. In this episode, we're talking about mobile optimisation, why it's important and what you can do to improve it. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue. Kelly Molson: Hello, we're back. Everyone will be sick of us by this episode. Paul Marden: I give it a couple more. We've got some interesting stuff to talk about hopefully, hopefully.Kelly Molson: We have. Okay, so let's start as we usually do then, with what attraction have you visited most recently and what did you love about it? Paul Marden: Well, there's one that you and I both visited recently, and there was something I really didn't love about it. We went on what was it called? Was it Mandrake Mayhem? It's the new Jumanji ride. Chessington World of Adventures. Kelly Molson: Mandrill. Paul Marden: There we go. If you are a roller coaster nut, would be amazing. But yeah, within 2 seconds of the ride starting, I realised it was not the ride for me. Kelly Molson: I like roller coasters. Yeah. So we sponsored one of the awards at the UK Theme Park Awards. And it was brilliant. It's fantastic. Paul Marden: It was such a great event. Kelly Molson: Really good event, brilliantly organised. It was absolutely brilliant to see so many attraction friends there. And it was at Chessington World of Adventures, which was super cool. I also want to talk about Chessington because I had forgotten how good it is. So I haven't been to Chessington since I was really small, and I think I'm pretty sure I only visited once or twice because we actually lived closer to Thorpe Park and were like in the Thorpe Park Rangers camp. But what I'd forgotten about Chessington was the animals. Yeah, I was really lucky. I drove down the night before of the awards and got to stay at the hotel that night. I didn't get to stay in any of themed rooms because budget did not allow for that. Kelly Molson: However, what I'd forgotten was that when you're having breakfast, the animals are literally right outside where you're eating. And I'd forgotten about it to the extent that I went up to the buffet to go and get my lovely, delicious English breakfast, which I was really looking forward to. And I could see people looking out the window and I was like, "Oh, what are you looking at?" And they went, "Giraffes? Yeah. Wow." Actually took my breath away a little bit. It was a really great experience. It's not often that you get to eat your breakfast whilst looking at giraffes and zebras as well that were out there. So, yeah, that was really great. And I really enjoyed the roller coaster. Despite someone's screams in my ear.Paul Marden: I heard this screaming noise all the way around and about three quarters of the way around I realised it was me. Kelly Molson: There was quite a bit of a screaming, to be fair. Paul Marden: I watched it back. I found a video on YouTube to show Millie, my daughter, and I was like, "Oh, my God, it's horrific. You get to the end and you're just dangling on the side for about a minute and then it changes direction.” And we watched it on YouTube, it barely stops at the top of the ride. It gets up to the top, gets to a hole and then drops back down again. Now, to me, in my memory, that was a solid minute. We were hanging over the side of the hole.Kelly Molson: It was just a minute. Paul Marden: Anyway, I did enjoy it. Kelly Molson: Yeah, big thumbs up to Chessington. It was a really great experience. So, thank you. A big thumbs up to the UK Theme Park Awards organisers as well. It was a great event. We'll be back next year.Paul Marden: For sure. Kelly Molson: Right, we're going to talk about mobile optimisation in this episode. We're going to talk about why it's important and what you can do to improve it. And we've got some really interesting stats to share from the Visitor Attraction Website Report about this. But did you know optimisation is no longer a nice to have? It's a necessity, because Statista forecasts that retail sales from mobile commerce are expected to surpass that 100 billion mark by 2000 and 2400. Paul Marden: Crazy, isn't that? Kelly Molson: I started my career in digital, in ecommerce as well, which is crazy. So it just feels really I know, back in the day, so I always say it was my last proper job before I founded Rubber Cheese, which then has been like, what, nearly 21 years. So it was the last proper job that I had before I set that up was for a really early startup, almost like Shopify, but back then. So this is like 23 years ago. Paul Marden: We've got employees younger than that.Kelly Molson: Let's look at it. But it enabled sellers to go and build their own shop. It was called iShop. It was an absolutely incredible platform of its time. And back then, I just about had an email address, let alone did everything, could pretty much run my entire organisation on my mobile phone now. It just blows my mind how much things have moved on. Paul Marden: It's crazy, isn't it?Kelly Molson: Anyway, I digress. So our Visitor Attraction Website Report shows that attractions understand the importance of mobile optimisation for their websites, but there's really huge areas that could be improved. This, for me is the most shocking stat from the entire report. It's blown my mind slightly. 96% of the respondents stated that they had never conducted any user testing for their mobile sites. So that's nearly all of the 188 attractions that took part said that they've never done any user testing on their mobile, which I just don't understand. I've been banging on about testing on your mobile, testing your mobile site for every talk that I've given for the past two years. Paul Marden: Well, that's having a big effect, isn't it, mate? Kelly Molson: Isn't it? Maybe I should talk louder. Yeah, I'm really gobsmacked at it. What was really interesting, though, about it, I mean, it's a shocking stat in itself, but what we did this year with the report is that we asked attractions to kind of self-score their website. So we asked them what they felt their design scored in terms of design, so they could give it a one to ten score. So we asked them to do the same about different areas of their site, and one was mobile optimisation. So 31% gave their site a score of nine out of ten for it, and 24% gave their site an eight out of ten. Paul Marden: They think it's pretty good. Kelly Molson: Yes, and this is the problem. So they think it's good. That indicates that those scores are based on internal assumptions, not potentially not tangible user centred data, because they haven't asked the people to test that their mobile sites are a nine out of ten or an eight out of ten. So I just thought that was really interesting, that a lot of your judgement can be based on your assumptions rather than actually asking the people that are using it. So yeah, I think that's really important that people do that. Paul Marden: I was looking at some stuff that was related to this, but not the same area of the stats that you were looking at there. So I looked at how many of the group actually did any user testing on their site. Okay. And obviously that's a really in comparison to other stats where there's a big wide disparity between different sorts of people. The vast bulk of people reported that they weren't doing any user testing, but the ones that did, all sat in the top range of conversion rate. I'm not saying that one causes the other, but there is a strong relationship between the group of people that are user testing their sites. And all of that group of people also had a conversion rate right in the top of our data set, and that ranged in size as well. Paul Marden: So we're not just talking about the big brands that are doing this. And when you looked at that set of data, there was a big brand in there. Everybody would know it. There was quite a few big brands that weren't in there. So for me, they were conspicuous by their absence because I'd seen them elsewhere in the data set that had been reported. But there was a small brand in there as well, a small organisation. I'd not heard of them before. They had between 5 to 10,000 transactions a year, which in comparison to the people at the top end of the scale, that's at least an order of magnitude smaller organisation. But they were reporting that they were doing user testing and they had a conversion rate right up there in the top end of our data set. Paul Marden: Even more surprisingly, of those that have done user testing specifically on mobile was a very small percent. And this bit you will be pleased about because some people are listening to you, that consisted of a very high proportion of Rubber Cheese clients were in that set of people who were doing user testing specifically on their mobile experience.Kelly Molson: Yay. Yay, Rubber Cheese clients!Paul Marden: Somebody is listening to you. Kelly Molson: High five to all of you lovely people. Yes. So it's interesting, isn't it? Because user testing for me, so we talk a lot about marginal gains at Rubber Cheese, about trying to make something that 1% better, 1% better, 1% better. And the only way you can actually do that is by doing user testing because you just don't know what to make better. You don't know where people are finding those barriers, you don't know where people are maybe confused about something or being blocked by something as well. For me, it's the number one thing to do if you want to start making those tiny adjustments that will start to then have those incremental and larger effects later on down the line. Paul Marden: I think it's so difficult to put yourself into the head of that person that knows nothing. We all come to the party if we run the testing, whether it's us at the attraction or us as the agency. We come to the party with lots and lots of knowledge that the average person that comes to the site and just doesn't have. And it's really hard to put yourself into that position and the solution to that is getting them to do the testing for you. Kelly Molson: Yeah. And when it comes to testing, I think I kind of split it into two. Because for mean I've said this before, but most of my browsing or purchasing is done in a very short window of time in front of the telly when I'm supposed to be watching something that Lee and I have decided that is the one thing that we can watch with the hour of telly time that we get together each day. But actually I'll be trying to watch that whilst also doing ten other things on my phone and I'll split it into browsing and purchasing and most of that happens between about 9:00 and 10:00 for me at night and it will always be on my phone. Do not make me go, I'm not going to go back into my office and crack open my laptop at that time. Kelly Molson: So everything has to be on my phone. I'm really time poor, clearly. So page load speed for me is really important. If I'm trying to find something, I need to find it quickly. I want to read something that's engaging, but not at the expense of not being able to load that page that I want to read. So things like compressing your images is really important. This is a difficult one when it comes to video is that I love video. I think there is nothing more engaging than video on your website, especially if you're a visit attraction to sell that experience. But lose the video on mobile or reduce it, reduce it, reduce it down because that's going to wipe out a load of bandwidth speed and it's going to make your page loads really small. Paul Marden: I've got beef about it in terms of it's autoplay video. It's not an environmentally sustainable thing to do. We don't often think about the environmental impact of websites but it's right up there in terms of industry generating CO2 emissions and it's not the main cause of it, but it's one area where this is prevalent is in the use of autoplay video on homepage. The website. People go to the site, the video plays whether they want to watch the video or not and that is just burning through bandwidth which is ultimately generating CO2. So I'm not anti video. I think video is an amazing thing and as you say, it can really engage you. I sat this morning talking about engaging video to try and get people to want to love the attraction to a client. So I'm totally for it. Paul Marden: But it should be something that user opt into, not something that autoplays for them. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I agree. And content as well. So we know that people read content online differently than they do in a book or a magazine or a newspaper for example, but actually they read it differently than they do on desktop to mobile too. So you actually need to think about if a certain article you have or a blog or event or whatever it may be, is going to sit in the demographic of people like me who is a 45 year old woman with toddler has 1 hour in front of the telly a day to do all of her purchashing and scrolling and anything else she needs to do on her phone. Paul Marden: Superheroes you make. Kelly Molson: Where is my cape? That content really needs to appeal to them and it needs to be in the shortest form possible because I don't have the time to read all of the engaging content. I just don't. So you need to kind of think about, is your content formatted differently when it's from desktop to mobile as well? And then when it comes to purchasing this one's, a little bit trickier for attractions, I think, and there's lots of different reasons for it. We're probably going to talk a little bit longer about this one, but the number one thing that we're always asked to review on attraction websites is that booking journey. And the thing is, we can only do the review of it if that booking journey is owned by the attraction. Kelly Molson: What I mean is if it's been designed and you are integrating with your booking system via API, so your agency or your internal team have designed that journey up to the point of you know, the tickets in the basket and gone. If you're using a third party system, an off the shelf ticketing platform that isn't integrated via API, there's not a lot that we can do about of once a guest is into the purchasing journey, they're with that system. The things that you can think about if you are going to go down the design and at your own route, you need to think about big buttons, you need to think about less clutter. I want arrows, don't make me type stuff into small form, free form boxes on mobile. You just need to be able to select things really quickly and clearly. Kelly Molson: So you want to kind of just strip out all of the noise and just get people to focus on the one thing that you want them to do, which is go through that journey and buy that ticket. What was interesting in the stats that came out of the report is that 75% of the respondents to it still expect customers to complete more than five steps to purchase, which hasn't changed from last year, that's similar to last year. And again, the reasons you might not be able to control that, you might be unable to control that because of the system that you use. So this is a really challenging one, but if you can reduce it, you can actually make some quite significant financial gains. So you looked at the impact of bookings on conversion rate, which is quite significant. Paul Marden: I got really excited working this number out. I reckon these numbers are conservative as well because these are on the basis of ticket prices and lost ticket sales. For me, I think this number could be higher for most attractions because the value of somebody coming to an attraction is bigger than just their ticket price. We talked about this the other day when were chatting. When you go there's, the meal that you eat, there's the gifts that you buy when you leave. So the total cost of somebody arriving at the attraction is probably higher than I'm estimating here. But using some stats on what the fall off rate is in ecommerce transactions, we've worked out that each step that you add to your checkout flow, it costs. Paul Marden: For our average attraction in our data set that we reckon it costs about 8000 pounds a year in lost sales. And for our top performing attractions it could be worth in the range of a quarter of a million pound a year in lost sales for each step that is included in their checkout flow. You think if you're in one of those top performing attractions with five steps, a quarter of a million pound in lost sales just in year one, that's a lot of developer time that you could buy to simplify your checkout workflow, isn't it? The return on investment for that, for a big organisation of simplifying your checkout workflow I think could be huge. Kelly Molson: Yeah, it could. There's so many other factors to think about. We have clients that have API integrations, we have clients that use off the shelf booking systems. In one way, I've always been really in the corner of designing and owning your own booking journey, but you have to be realistic about what that puts on the organisation as well, and what size your organisation is, whether you have the internal team to be able to manage that, the infrastructure to be able to manage that as well. Paul Marden: There's a total cost of ownership issue, isn't there, that is beyond just the buying price of the website in the first place. You've got to be able to maintain the thing going forward, haven't you, and that's pricy. Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. But I think if you are thinking about your booking systems at the moment, then having the conversations with the providers about what their mobile journeys look like, ask to get them to demo it on mobile so you can see it for yourself. And ask them what the roadmap is in terms of mobile optimisation for the booking journeys as well. So just go into these conversations with those thoughts in mind so that you can get an understanding of what that looks like. And if their purchasing journey is six steps at the minute, ask them what are your plans to reduce that to five steps and how could we work with you to make that happen? That could start to take those conversations in some really positive ways. Paul Marden: Honestly, this stat, I'm going to sound like such a nerd, but this stat has stuck in my head ever since we worked this one out. And I can't get out of my head what the impact is of the lost opportunity, the lost sales that are happening because of these steps. And I've been thinking, what is the absolute barest minimum? Because lots of attractions, when they're going through their buying journey, I'm thinking, what on earth do you need to ask me? This is a rhetorical question, by the way. I know the complexity that is going into a lot of these things, I do understand it, but why is it that you actually need to ask me to take these five steps to get through, to get me to actually part with my money? Paul Marden: And I've been thinking about, for me, what is the absolute barest minimum you could get away with asking? Well, there's no way that you can affect a payment card transaction without knowing the card details. So you've got to ask the card number, the postcode, the CDC number and the surname of the person holding the card. So you have to have those. And if we can't give the ticket to somebody, we've got to have a mechanism getting the ticket to them, so we need their email address. Those five things are the absolute barest things I could get away with. But of course, that would only sell you, could only sell an undated, untimed ticket with that. Paul Marden: And I've been thinking about this back in COVID, so COVID and lockdown, and then the gradual release of lockdown was what introduced for many attractions, timed and dated tickets, wasn't it? And that was a complete transformation because we had limited capacity, we needed to make sure that we didn't oversell that capacity and create a problem at the gate. But is it necessary now? I completely understand that there's lots of benefit to the attraction, to guest services and people like that, of knowing exactly how many people are coming into the attraction and being able to metre that. But I wonder what impact having timed tickets and dated tickets is having on the number of people that give up buying because there's just too many steps in the process. "I can't be bothered with this. I'm going to not do it."Kelly Molson: This is quite controversial.Paul Marden: Isn't it? Completely. And I'm thinking back to that podcast episode that you did with Roman Baths where you were talking about variable pricing and dynamic pricing and of course you can only do those things if you have dated and timed tickets. So if nothing else, there is a creative tension there, isn't there, between if I ask the absolute barest minimum, I will sell more tickets, versus if I date and time my tickets and I could be really flexible about my pricing. Everybody wants lots and lots of information because who wouldn't want all the information you could possibly get about your customers versus the more I ask, the less people will buy. Harsh, isn't it? Kelly Molson: Yeah. I'm in the camp of pre booking as well, so this is uncomfortable for me. I'm in the camp of pre booking and I don't mind time ticketing either. I think there is absolutely a place for it and I think for organisations, for attractions, it just makes their life so much simpler. Paul Marden: Completely agreed with you. But I guess there's this at one end of the scale, you've got the absolute barest minimum that you could ask that will get more people, take their money, take money off of people and get them through the checkout flow as fast as you possibly can. Versus if there's two ends to this spectrum and both make us both feel uncomfortable, Where's the middle ground? Do you need to know where my address is? You don't need my address to be able to sell me a ticket. You need to know my postcode so you can do the credit card transaction, but you don't need my whole address to do that. So maybe that's where the compromise sits. That doesn't make either of us feel uncomfortable. Kelly Molson: Maybe. I always think there's a way to get more data out of people at a later stage as well, if you really want it. And maybe that's something that we need to look at in a different episode, is that you don't have to ask for all of these things at the point of purchase, but you can ask for more stuff afterwards as well if you're really engaging with that audience. Paul Marden: There's also one more thing just on that point, there were tools that could simplify this as well. Because if you have a clever use of Apple Pay or Google Pay, both of those checkout flows, people have all of their personal information plugged into Apple Pay, so you don't need to ask me anything about me. If you have a clever checkout flow with Apple Pay, then you could take my money and then get my personal information from Apple rather than make me having to type it all in. How much easier does that make the process?Kelly Molson: When I posted about this on LinkedIn, it must have been a couple of months ago now, and I asked people what their biggest frustrations was with booking journeys. They said lack of Apple Pay. They said it's a necessity for people. They don't want to think about their details. They don't know their card details. They haven't gotten again, they're sitting on the sofa like I am, their cards are upstairs. They're not going to get off their bums and go and get their cards. That was the number one thing that kept coming up over and over again. And then the second one was around clear and consistent pricing so that they don't feel like they're being ripped off as the deeper they get into that journey. So that's two really interesting things to think about there. Kelly Molson: On these episodes, we often highlight people that are doing it. Well, we've decided not to do it in this episode. And there's a couple of reasons for that, is that it's really hard to compare between people that have an API integrated designed booking journey and people that are using off the shelf systems. And there will be very specific reasons for why they have chosen to go down either of those routes. And you can't compare them because the reasons are uncomparable, I feel. So we've decided just to take that step out for today, but we are going to talk about what next steps that you can take. So I think the first one is going back to what you've just referenced is thinking about what information you actually really need from the customer. Paul Marden: Yeah, if you ask less, you'll need less steps. The less steps, the more people will make it through the checkout site. Kelly Molson: So what can you remove and maybe what could you add in later in addition to that. Paul Marden: Completely. Kelly Molson: And then test on mobile. Test again. Didn't I end last episode with saying just test, test on mobile regularly, but go through the entire process from start to finish.Paul Marden: And then the fix the stuff that doesn't work. So I had an interesting conversation when were at Theme Park Awards with another podcast alumni. We were chatting about prepping for the report and where were going and what were doing and all that kind of thing. And he told me a story about a site, fairly large attraction, where when you try and check out the only way if you're doing it on mobile, you can't select the number of tickets when you hold your mobile up. Now, the attraction has tested, they know it because they've written a message at the top of the page and it says to be able to book your tickets, rotate your phone to the side and then you get the ability to be able to choose your numbers. Paul Marden: So great, they're doing some testing, but how many people don't bother reading that message, how many people are stymied by the idea that, "Oh, well, I can't choose the number of tickets?" Not only have you got to test it, you got to fix the stuff that doesn't work as well. Kelly Molson: Yeah, gosh, how frustrating is that? And is that the system that they're using? So they've got no control over it. And if that is the system that they're using, then they didn't get them to demo it on mobile, did they, when they purchased it? Paul Marden: I think it's a combination of the two. I think there was something very special about the ticket descriptions of that attraction. That meant that they wrote quite a lot in the descriptions and when you wrote quite a lot in the ticket description, it just overflows off the side of your mobile, unless you've got a massive tablet. Or you rotate it on the side. Kelly Molson: Yeah, it's not great. Asking them to do something that they're not expecting to have to do is challenging, isn't it, asking all your users to think, well, they don't want to think either. They don't want to think at that point. They just want to do the doing. Okay, what kind of budget are we looking at for some of these things? It's really difficult to say.Paul Marden: Yeah, as you've just said, or to remove steps out of the checkout flow. It could be impossible for many people, because if they have an off the shelf ticketing system that they call out to that they don't have control over, then they might not be able to do anything about that. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's lots of things with those off the shelf ticketing solutions. Many of them are very flexible about the steps that you take through the checkout flow. So it can be very highly configurable and it could be in their control to just take it out without any need for developers doing things. It could just be a case of how do they use their third party ticketing system and changing that slightly. Paul Marden: So it could be possible, or it could be something very practical that they could do themselves. Kelly Molson: It's worth saying that we as an organisation have lots of conversations with lots of the ticketing providers and they are very aware of improvements that can be made or would like to be made to this. Kelly Molson: So I think that there's definitely a movement in the ticketing world of acknowledging that this is challenge and knowing that they can do something about it. And I know that there are a few that have got kind of plans to make change in this area as well. So that's great to see.Paul Marden: It's a really competitive space, isn't it? So it's interesting to see how that's going to play out. Kelly Molson: Yeah, very much so. Okay, well, look, listeners, this is us for another month. What we'd really like, though, is to understand what you'd like to hear from us. So we've got loads more topics that we can talk about from the report. We have got loads of things that come up on day to day basis, things that we work on that we can talk about. But if there's anything that you would like us to discuss, any questions that you'd like to ask us, we can happily make those into a podcast episode. So send me an email. It's kelly@rubbercheese.com. Just let me know what you're having challenges with. Yeah, any questions that you just would like us to cover as a topic and we can make that happen. Paul Marden: Awesome. I'd love to. I'm enjoying it. Kelly Molson: Me too. It's lovely to have a fellow guest. Fellow host.Paul Marden: I just got downgraded then. Kelly Molson: Who's the real host? Me, of course. It's lovely to be joined by a second host. Thank you, Paul. See you next month. Paul Marden: Bye. Bye. 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. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been 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.

ScareTrack- Chessington Howl'O'ween / On-location Review Episode 2023

ScareTrack

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2023 16:03

ScareTrack- Chessington Howl'O'ween / On-location Review Episode 2023 We spend the day at Chessington World of adventures to experience their Halloween offering. Follow Chessington Instagram: @chessingtonworldofadventures X(Twitter): @CWOA Facebook: /Chessington World of Adventures ...................................................................................................................... BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.chessington.com/explore/events/halloween/ ...................................................................................................................... Visit our website here: https://www.scaretrack.co.uk/ Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: https://www.youtube.com/@ScareTrack ScareTrack merchandise can be found here: https://fleshnmetal.com/scaretrack?limit=25 Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack Check out the Haunted Attraction Network here: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/ *Logo/Photo property of CHESSINGTON WORLD OF ADVENTURES

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267: Chessington Trip Report (2023)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2023 44:31

Park Rush returns to Chessington to check out its impressive Jumanji expansion! It's also Tom's first visit since childhood, so plenty else to talk over too - including Vampire, Croc Drop, Grufflo, Kobra and more!, --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/parkrush/message

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265: Cruise Ships Of The Sea

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2023 42:35

We blow through a raft of headlines from Destination D23, including Ahsoka coming to Star Tours; the next ride at Avengers Campus; and Indiana Jones making his way to Animal Kingdom! Excited for our Chessington vlog? Set an reminder for the premiere or catch up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_715xrvzA. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/parkrush/message

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264: And The Crowd Goes Mild!

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 30:38

Ahead of our trip to Chessington, we discuss the Battle Of The Bobs; Shanghai Disney's Zootopia land, SeaWorld's rent woes; and more! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/parkrush/message

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Les ARNAQUES de l'été! Chessington! Europa Park! Disneyland Paris!!

La File d'Attente

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2023 93:34

On est de retour pour une nouvelle saison! Avec un sujet et un titre d'épisode tout en retenue et en nuance, vous connaissez la maison. Dans cet épisode on débrieffe nos visites dans les parcs d'attractions cet été. Un été 2023 placé sous les signe des ARNAQUES DES VACANCES bien-sûr, un peu comme si les parcs à thèmes étaient un gigantesque reportage d'M6.

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247: The Closest I've Got To Feeling Like Bond

Play Episode Listen Later May 16, 2023 33:20

On this special Tuesday edition of the Park Rush podcast, Tom and Josh have plenty to talk about thanks to a stacked few days of theme park news. On the agenda this week are Chessington's new Jumanji land, Hong Kong Disneyland's upcoming Frozen attractions, Bob Iger's meeting with Emmanuel Macron, SeaWorld's upcoming stand-up rollercoaster, and the enduring legacy of Disney Infinity. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/parkrush/message

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The PloughRead: Somewhere in Chessington by Rhys Laverty

The PloughCast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2023 22:27

My hometown debunks the idea that family-friendly neighborhoods are a thing of the past.

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Des drones Marvel pour sauver 2023 ? ; Universal frappe FORT !

Rien que d'y penser...

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2023 132:54

On a désormais une vision assez claire de l'année 2023 à Disneyland Paris ! Et il faut bien dire que ce qui est annoncé pour le moment ne devrait pas révolutionner le resort... Sauf peut-être le show Marvel ? Nous, au moins, on a des nouveaux logos ! Un grand merci à Rob De Freitas d'avoir merveilleusement bien honoré notre commande ! Mais alors, de quoi on va parler ? Ben de ce show, justement, mais aussi d'Universal, qui, eux, préparent l'avenir avec des grandes annonces et des projets très ambitieux ! On commence avec un point réhab qui réserve des surprises. Eh ouais ! (05:10) Universal est pas venu enfiler des perles, mais plutôt des projets ambitieux. On vous raconte ! (11:45) "Le Netflix il a changé", aurait déclaré Bob Chapek. À vérifier. Mais Disney a peut-être son épingle du jeu à tirer... (51:00) Des nouveautés parcs en Europe ! Asterix, Bellewaerde et Chessington, qui est à côté du terrain d'entraînement de Chelsea-pas-ngton, mais cette info n'a aucun intérêt (01:04:00) Disneyland Paris en 2023, le grand finale des 30 ans jusqu'aux 31,5 ans du resort, ça va donner quoi ? Le coup d'envoi est donné ! (01:17:00) Marvel POUVOIR LA NUIT, ou Marvel MET DE LA PUISSANCE DANS TA NUIT dans les Walt Disney Studios. Ah ça change des étincelantes et féériques aventures hein ? Ça déconne plus, du POWER carrément. On dirait une pub Total, c'est OUF !!!! Alors, ce show de drone donne quoi ? On l'a vu, on vous dit ce qu'on en pense. (01:40:00) Et si vous voulez nous aider, n'hésitez pas à partager nos contenus ! À aider l'association à but non-lucratif à financer des projets grâce à Patreon, Utip ou Paypal, et à découvrir les autres contenus du label : Le Label Élapéro, tous les lundi à 18 h sur notre chaîne Twitch pour du suivi de l'actu en temps réél, des débats à la con, de la détente, de la découverte et du FNU. Oui, du FNU. C'est comme du FUN, mais en MIEXU. (Et puis il y a d'autres contenus sur la chaîne Twitch et les replays sont sur Youtube !) La Disney's Music Box, en podcast et en live, sur le Twitch d'Élabète, c'est votre émission musicale sur les films d'animation Disney. Analyses, contextes et déconnade, Alex le Dingo et Max vont vous enchanter les tympans ! FLAN - Faut L'ANimer, votre podcast sur les films d'animation, où nagla et Pauline vous disent si c'est du FLAN ou si c'est pas du FLAN. Même que c'est une idée de nagla, ce podcast. Secrets Disney, le site de référence sur les secrets disséminés, dissimulés, cachés et camouflés au sein de Disneyland Paris. Histoire de soûler vos potes avec des "Le çaviez-vous ?" à chacune de vos visites. Voire même entre vos visites histoire d'être les PIRES. Musicland, le blog de Max sur la musique chez Disney, dans les parcs, les spectacles et les films !

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225: Correction Corner

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2023 36:47

After clearing up some FAKE NEWS from last week's show, we mark the closure of most of Universal's KidZone in Florida and what could be next for the area; the new rides on the way for Chessington's upcoming Jumanji land; Abu Dhabi's latest Ferrari coaster; and more! Efteling in the snow - https://twitter.com/Efteling/status/1616727319376236546 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/parkrush/message

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#61 - Theme Parks we want to visit in 2023

The Chain Dogs Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2023 98:06

This week we talk about what Theme Parks we'd love to visit this year! We also catch up on all the latest news such as Chessington's World of Jumanji, Big Dipper's Anniversary make-over, Universal news, and MUCH MORE!

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Looking forward to 2023: Key digital trends attractions shouldn't miss out on.

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2022 38:20

EPISODE NOTESSkip 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, Founder of Rubber Cheese. Download the Rubber Cheese 2022 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the first digital benchmark statistics for the attractions sector. If 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/podcast. If 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 podcast Competition ends January 31st 2023. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.convious.com/https://twitter.com/MrTicketeerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andypovey/ https://blooloop.com/technology/news/convious-consumer-pricinghttps://blooloop.com/technology/news/convious-digital-trends-webinar/ Andy Povey joined Convious in November 2021 as managing director for UK and Ireland. Andy has worked in the attractions industry since the early nineties when he began as a ride operator at Chessington World of Adventures. He stayed with the Tussaud's company and later Merlin Entertainments for another 18 years, working in a variety of operational jobs at Rock Circus, Madame Tussauds, and central support, where he was responsible for the group's ticketing systems. After Merlin, he worked for Gateway Ticketing Systems for ten years, opening and then overseeing their UK operation, before transferring his experience to the Convious team. Outside work, Andy enjoys visiting attractions of all shapes and sizes with his family. Transcriptions: 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 Andy Povey, Managing Director, UK and Ireland for Convious. Andy shares with us the five key digital trends attractions shouldn't miss out on and research into dynamic pricing for theme parks and tourist attractions. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Andy Povey, it's so lovely to have you on Skip The Queue podcast today. Thanks for coming on.Andy Povey: Thank you. It's my absolute pleasure.Kelly Molson: And I know you've been a bit poorly. So let's just state now, poor old Andy has had COVID, and he's got a little bit of a cold today. So be kind to him.Andy Povey: It's man flu.Kelly Molson: It's always man flu, Andy. Right. As ever, we're going to start with icebreakers and I've got a really good one for you. So how would you describe your job to a three year old?Andy Povey: Oh, to a three year old? Well, I've got eight year old twin girls. So as far as they're concerned, daddy gets to go to zoos and theme parks without them, which is not brilliant. But no, I make computers work, I suppose.Kelly Molson: Make computers work for cool attractions like zoos and theme parks. I think that's perfect.Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: Good job, Andy. We'll talk more about that later. Okay. What one thing would you make a law that isn't one already?Andy Povey: That's a really difficult one.Kelly Molson: They're always difficult, Andy. It's always.Andy Povey: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're being mean to me. Yeah. Oh, I'm in our office in Amsterdam at the moment, so I'm traveling a bit. And I do have a theory that you should never, ever fly from an airport where people feel it's appropriate to turn up in flip flops.Kelly Molson: Well, even if you're traveling back from holiday and it's a bit warm.Andy Povey: So the law would be, if I'm at the airport, and I'm waiting in the back to get to Carousel, you need to get out of my way.Kelly Molson: I think that's fair. Everyone goes a bit savage at the airport. Don't you think? You know when you go into London, and there's a certain way that you act on the tubes to get to places. You've got to walk really, you've got to be very determined, haven't you?Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: That's how I feel when I go into London. I've got my London walk on. And I feel it's a bit like that at the airports as well. Everyone's all in it for themselves. They don't care about anyone else around them. It's all just-Andy Povey: No, no. Get out of my way.Kelly Molson: Yeah. It's a good law, Andy. Right. Everyone has to get out of Andy's way at the airport. That's the law. Nice. Okay. And this one, I've asked a few people this one. Because I really like this one. What would you buy as you exit through the gift shop?Andy Povey: I'm not really into things. I'm much more of an experience kind of person. So if there was another experience, or something to enhance the experience, then it would be something like that.Kelly Molson: Okay. Good answer.Andy Povey: Yeah, something to enhance the experience.Kelly Molson: Good answer. I like that, Andy. And we'll talk about that a little bit more later as well. What would your twin girls pick? What would be their things from the theme park?Andy Povey: Oh, cuddly toys. You must be the same. Shelves and shelves and shelves of these things in the house.Kelly Molson: My daughter is doing incredibly well from all of the visits though that I have been on recently. Yeah. Let me tell you the gift shops, I've been [inaudible 00:03:28].Andy Povey: Squish 'em alls.Kelly Molson: To the gift shops. Yeah.Andy Povey: What do they call them?Kelly Molson: Squishy animals, all sorts of stuff. She's now got from various attractions that she's never been to that I'll have to take her to, to say thank you.Andy Povey: No, when mine were the same age as your daughter, I went to Orlando a few times for IAAPA. And I would buy them Mickey Mouse and Mini Mouse cuddly toys, and bring them home. But because they'd never seen anything to do with Disney, these were just referred to as Boy Mouse and Girl Mouse.Kelly Molson: Oh, bless them.Andy Povey: They didn't know what Mickey Mouse was.Kelly Molson: Oh. And I'm sure they do very well now.Andy Povey: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.Kelly Molson: All right, Andy, what is your unpopular opinion? What have you prepared for us?Andy Povey: I actually did a poll of my colleagues in the office, because I was looking at something to do with Eurovision, and actually trying to work out whether my opinion was unpopular or not. And unfortunately it wasn't. So Eurovision massively overrated is my opinion of this.Kelly Molson: Gosh. So-Andy Povey: I knew we were going to fall out over this.Kelly Molson: Well, it's not just me. There's a lot of listeners that you are going to make very unhappy about that statement, Andy. Not to mention Rachel MacKay, who, if she hears this, I don't know how she's going to feel the next time she sees you. So that is for you to feel awkward about.Andy Povey: You asked for an unpopular opinion.Kelly Molson: Okay, let's put it out there. How does everyone feel about Eurovision? I feel like this is definitely going to be an unpopular one, Andy. Thank you. Right. Okay. Andy, so you have got over two decades in the attraction sector, self proclaimed attractions industry nerd. I think that's fair. Tell us a little bit about your background, and how you ended up working in the sector.Andy Povey: A colleague did tell me the other day that it's actually 30 years, and I was trying to hide away from this. Yes, I am old. So many, many years ago, started a temporary seasonal job at Chessington World of Adventures, having left college without a clue about what I wanted to do when I grew up. My first job was driving the train around the park at Chessington, and absolutely fell in love with the attractions industry. And then stayed with Merlin or The Tussauds Group, which then became Merlin Entertainment for about 18 years, and doing all sorts of different jobs. So that's how I fell into it. And I've never looked back.Kelly Molson: It's a really common theme actually, from guests that come on who've gone to work in a theme park or an attraction as what they probably thought would be a temp job for a while. And then absolutely loved every minute of it, and then have just risen through the ranks. Whether they've stayed in one group or they've moved around. But they've just continued to learn, and learn, and learn, and progress. And that comes across so frequently with our guests. It sucks you in.Andy Povey: It absolutely does. And it's a great industry. And I love the fact that you can build a career within our industry from starting right at the bottom, and just work your way up. I think it's a testament to the industry.Kelly Molson: What kind of roles did you work in then as you moved your way up?Andy Povey: So I did four years at Chessington as a ride operator. Then went to Rock Circus, which was a subsidiary of Madame Tussauds in the Trocadero and Piccadilly Circus in Central London. It was there for four years, and we were told that someone from head office was going to come and install the till system and tell me how to make it work. At which point I went, "Oh, maybe not." So I went and became that person.Kelly Molson: Oh, you were a tills man?Andy Povey: Yeah, I was. It was a tills man. So I started in ticketing before the internet.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Andy Povey: Before anybody really knew what the internet was, and then moved to Madame Tussauds for a short period of time, and then to what was Tussauds Group head office in Tottenham Court Road looking after all of the till systems for the organisation. And then did that for about 10 years, and then left, went and joined the supplier that we were using, Tussauds, so gateway ticketing. I was with them for 10 years. Basically convinced them to set up a UK office, and I ran the UK office for 10 years. And then after COVID, decided it was time to go and do something else. So came across Convious, the company I work for now, and whose office I'm sitting in today. And that's it, really. That's a very brief summary of Andy's career.Kelly Molson: Excellent career. I'd like to hear a little bit about Convious. So I am aware of you, and I think that most people at the moment would be aware of Convious. They're everywhere. Convious are everywhere.Andy Povey: Yeah. We're bright pink, and we shout a lot.Kelly Molson: And they're pink.Andy Povey: Don't know what they do.Kelly Molson: You have fantastic stands, events that we all attend. But I think there's something really different about Convious. Can you just tell us a little bit about it?Andy Povey: So it's not just what Convious are doing. There's something going off in the whole world of technology that the sales force are referring to as the fourth industrial revolution. And so competing with third industrial revolution from sort of 1949 to 2010, the fourth industrial revolution's all about data. And five years ago everyone was talking about big data. That was the buzzword that was everywhere. So we were just storing loads and loads of information. The fourth industrial revolution we're seeing now is actually doing things with that data. Because there's no point in just paying for a load of storage somewhere, if you're not going to do anything with it.So what we're doing at Convious with that data. It's really sitting on top of our partner's websites rather than being a page that you go off to, and gathering as much data as we possibly can. So we pull in long range weather forecasts, we're pulling in all sorts of information about how people are interacting with the website. And ultimately just using it all to drive sales and increase sales for our partners.Kelly Molson: I know that the weather thing is a really small thing of the system. It's a tiny thing, but it's the thing that sticks in my head the most. Because I just think it's blooming genius. I know. It's such a small thing, but it's such a clever thing to have.Andy Povey: It really does affect attendance at so many attractions. And I love Dom Jones when he was talking to you. I love his take on the weather, of actually, if you're going to blame the weather, you should also give the weather credit when you have a great attendance.Kelly Molson: I agree. Yeah, I love that quote from Dom. So it is really interesting in terms of what Convious do. Because I think that one of the things that attractions could be better at is using the data that they already have in more sophisticated ways. And the Convious platform allows you to do that really easily. Because let's face it, marketing teams are overstretched in attractions. And they can be quite small at times as well. We had Danielle and Ross on from Drayton Manor a few weeks ago. And the two of them pretty much head up their department. And I know they're a head of marketing as well. But that's a small team for what is a significant attraction.Andy Povey: Yes. Yeah, yeah.Kelly Molson: So anything that we can help to put in place for those teams is ultimately going to make it easier for them, and make it better. And they'll be able to understand better what their customers are actually doing.Andy Povey: And ultimately it's about making it easier for the customer. There's a whole focus on personalization at the moment, again, across the industry. So rather than it being one too many, it's one personalisation. And looking at, if we know something about the customer, so take me for example. I buy family tickets, and I love industrial heritage. So Google knows that about me, and Google will tell every website that I go to, that's who I am. So if we've got a family offering as an attraction, then let's promote the family offering. If you've got an industrial heritage offering, let's promote the industrial heritage offering to the people who've identified that they are. Ultimately it's about giving people what they want.Kelly Molson: And that's the really smart bit, isn't it? That the system can identify the person that's coming, and show them the things that are more relevant to them from that attraction. Then the standard things that they might like, they might buy. But actually this is the one that they really want, because that's connecting with them at a completely deeper level. That's some of the stuff that I want to talk about today. So one of the things that's good about Convious, and I'd like to hope that Rubber Cheese are aligned in this way as well, is that when we think about talking to attractions, we're giving them things that are useful. I think, that ultimately from any marketing perspective is how useful can you be? This content that I'm putting out, what value does it bring somebody? And how can they engage with it? And is it helpful for them?And that's what I feel Convious does really well. And I see a lot of your articles on Blooloop for example. And a month or so ago there was an article about the five key digital trends for attractions as we roll into 2023. And I think that this is a really good time to talk about these things. Because people are doing a lot of planning at this time of year. They're in Christmas, which this year feels very busy, because it's the first Christmas people can-Andy Povey: It certainly does.Kelly Molson: It's the first one though, if you think about it, that people can actually go out and feel comfortable that the things they're going to book, they can actually do. Last year we still had that Omicron. Do we do big groups? Do we just stay inside a little bit longer? But this year feels busy. And I think that attractions will get through Christmas, have a brilliant Christmas. And then January will be that time when they go "Right, what are we doing? This is what we need to focus on now." So this is very pertinent. It comes at a great time. One of the key trends that you just mentioned was personalization. So you talked about making things relevant to your audience. Really, really relevant. Are we talking about exclusive here as well? Because we talk about that quite a lot. Exclusive events and things that they can only get at certain places.Andy Povey: Yeah, I think so. And I think that's one of the things that, not just around digital, I think it's one of the things that the attractions world will do to really weather the economic storm that we're going through at the moment. Generally what we've seen over the past 12 months is that if you've got a short event, or a short-term event, it tends to sell out. So looking at what you as an attraction can do that creates that exclusive event. So if you are a park, can you get Peppa Pig on site for two or three days? Can you get Paw Patrol there for a couple of days? So giving people their incentive to come, and come again, and come again. So not just being, this is the six weeks of the summer at my theme park. This is the Peppa Pig, fortnight, although two days. And this is the Paw Patrol for two days. So improving that repeat visitation.Kelly Molson: And what you talked about data, I guess that comes back to really understanding your audience.Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: So you need to be collecting the data to understand what those people want in the first phase to then be able to tailor your offering to what they like.Andy Povey: 100%. 100%. There's no value in creating a Peppa Pig experience if none of your visitors have got kids. A great way to waste a load of money.Kelly Molson: I don't need to see Peppa.Andy Povey: No. No, no, no.Kelly Molson: You can keep Peppa. So you talked earlier about what you like, and that Google knows that about you. How do attractions tap into that? I guess through advertising, right?Andy Povey: Well it's not just advertising. It's actually looking at... And you did the survey a few weeks ago about the attractions, and understanding Google Analytics, that kind of stuff. It's free. You do not need to pay to get Google Analytics data. It's there for you. And there are so many venues, and so many prospective clients that I'm talking to now, that don't have access to it. It's almost criminal. There are still vendors out there that don't share this information. So I suppose to come back and answer your question is, go and look at the data that you've got. Google Analytics will give you a view of everybody that's coming to your website.Kelly Molson: Find out who they are, what they like, and then give them what they want.Andy Povey: Well, yeah. But tailor something for them. So if you've got a large foodie audience, then look at your catering.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's really good advice.Andy Povey: Can you put on a Heston Blumenthal event, or a Jamie Oliver event?Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's really great advice actually, taking it to that deeper level. The second key digital trend was about online and offline, which we're talking a lot about online and offline as well. So this isn't just about digital, but I guess one of the things that was mentioned was about digital experiences. And I guess you can talk about that from a pre-visit perspective. How do you engage people digitally before they turn up at your event? But also, once they're at your venue too. So digital experiences that deepen or extend the experience that you were already giving them. Can you think of any really good examples of that, that we could talk about from an attractions perspective?Andy Povey: That's really difficult. The reason that we go to attractions as human beings, is because we like doing physical things. We want to be with our friends. We want to be with our family. Particularly after COVID, it's has been difficult to go and see granny, and whatever. So it's safer to go and visit a park, or to visit a garden than it is to possibly all sit around in the lounge, having a cup of tea. I can give you an unusual example, I suppose. The Forestry Commission did something a few years ago with The Gruffalo, and it's an augmented reality thing.Kelly Molson: Yes.Andy Povey: So as a parent, you could sit your child on a tree trunk and hold up your phone, and the augmented reality would superimpose an image of the Gruffalo sitting next to your child. They pulled it within six months, because the parent is having this experience of looking at their child through a phone. Whereas the child's sitting there going, "Well, mummy and daddy's just on their phone again."Kelly Molson: "Where's the Gruffalo?"Andy Povey: "Mummy and daddy's just on their phone again. What are we doing?"Kelly Molson: Yeah.Andy Povey: So in that situation it's about getting back to reality, rather than being digital. So it's a really fine line. At what point does an app, or a park map, or something like that, at what point does it enhance your visit, versus intruding on your visit?Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's a really good question. It's really funny, because when you mentioned that, I was like, that's a perfect example of this, how digital interacts with nature. But you're right, aren't you? Because the child doesn't interact with it. They just see you pointing a phone at them again, or you interacting with your phone and not with them. I hadn't considered that, and what message that actually sends out to them while they're outside in nature as well.Andy Povey: Yeah. And so I'm not a [inaudible 00:18:44] who's going, no, no, digital should be nowhere near your experience. It should be there, and it should be enhancing. But actually really understand that it is enhancing. So if you talk to the guys from BeWILDerwood, I know there was a podcast with Hannah. They delight on the fact that you can't get a mobile phone signal in Norfolk. Because you should put your phone away. You're here to have a day out with the kids.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's a really good point. I actually quite like it when I can't get any mobile signal, because it means that I'm present.Andy Povey: Yes, absolutely.Kelly Molson: It means I'm not worrying about having to check something. I'm actually not even that concerned about, oh I needed to get this picture for the gram. I just forget about it if I've got no signal. It's just not going to happen. One thing that we do have to think about though, from an online perspective, is about bookings. So what we have seen, and again we've seen this in our attractions website survey that we've just published, is that bookings are increasing on mobile year, on year, on year, on year. So we do have to think about that pre-visit, and how easy we make it for people to book tickets. So actually, someone asked me this question on LinkedIn yesterday. What's one of my top infuriations with attractions websites?And I said for me, I'm often on my mobile phone when I'm doing things, because I'm out and about and I might be booking my tickets on a mobile phone. And I really hate when you're forced to create an account before you can actually buy anything. And I'm like, "God, I've got literally five minutes before I get off the train, and onto the tube. And I've got no signal. And I've got to get this ticket. I don't want to be creating an account right now."Andy Povey: No, no, no.Kelly Molson: Just give me the ticket. I might get an account afterwards, but just give me the ticket.Andy Povey: That was one of the things from your report, wasn't it? The account creation is a massive turnoff to conversion. And for me, I never remember any of those passwords. So every time I go back to their store, I'm having to reset my password, because it's just an absolute pain in the butt.Kelly Molson: I'm with you. So there you go.Andy Povey: Don't do it.Kelly Molson: Top tip from this podcast. Don't make people do that.Andy Povey: Yeah. Don't do accounts.Kelly Molson: Two very angry consumers here.Andy Povey: Absolutely. 100%.Kelly Molson: All right. So number three on our digital trends list is increasing loyalty. Now this is a big one, isn't it? Right? So again, it's interesting. So from a personal perspective, again, I was asked about memberships. We have a National Trust membership, it renews in January. I'll absolutely be renewing it. It's great value for money. It gives us so many places locally that we can go to. It's not a free day out, but it's a great day out, and we can take quite long.Andy Povey: It feels like it.Kelly Molson: It feels like a free day.Andy Povey: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Yeah. But do attractions need to think a bit more about that now? So should attractions be rewarding loyalty? So member perks for example? Or just small things that members get for being a member, that you couldn't get unless you were a member?Andy Povey: Absolutely. It's almost those money-can't-buy experiences. So it doesn't necessarily cost the attraction anything to do these things. And you can go have a member exclusive event to walk a coaster track, or to a behind the scenes tour of something. But yeah, all right. It might cost you a couple of hours for a member of staff to put it on. Again, as we came out of COVID, the first people that came to your rotation, were your most loyal customers. They've come to see you as the first thing they can do. So as an attraction, you have the opportunity to harness that loyalty, and turn these people into advocates. And that's going to be your best marketing resource, where they're recommending to people to come along to you. So if you can deepen that relationship by rewarding, by sharing, then absolutely you should do it.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's understanding what they want as well. So when we talk about delivering what they want, should attractions be surveying their members, and finding out what more they can give them? And again, it comes back to the data thing again, doesn't it? How well do you know your audience? From a member's perspective, are you actually giving them what they want?Andy Povey: No, absolutely. And surveying's great, but there's so many other ways you can capture information about members and what they're doing that isn't actually going and asking them a question. It was interesting when we did the dynamic pricing consumer research. The responses that you get from people when they're answering a survey aren't necessarily what they're doing in real life.Kelly Molson: Interesting. Give us an example.Andy Povey: There was, 30% of people believe the airlines aren't charging dynamic prices. And I'm looking at this going, well, this can't be right. This is obvious. But actually, if you dig into it a little bit more, and we did with the guys from Baker Richards. And it's actually, the consumer's not looking at the price changing. The consumer's interested in the price they're paying for the date and time that they want to get on the plane. It doesn't matter that the price changes. It's how much am I paying today? What's my price now? That's a very long winded way of answering your question about the value of surveys.Kelly Molson: Yeah. No, it's really important, isn't it? So how else do you get to know your members? If surveys are giving us not quite the full picture, what other ways can we find out about-Andy Povey: So if you are looking at app, then obviously you are tracking, or you have the ability to track where people are going, how they're engaging, that kind of stuff. I was at IAAPA a couple of weeks ago in Orlando. And there's guys there with a new product that's actually harvesting location data from 200 different apps, and bringing all that, and presenting it back to you. Which I'm not a hundred percent sure that it is GDPR compliant, or [inaudible 00:24:44].Kelly Molson: Is that okay though? I'm not sure about that.Andy Povey: Yeah. But there it's looking at where people are going, how long they're staying there, and that kind of stuff. So that's one example. Going back to what we do at Convious, we don't capture addresses, postal addresses. Because we're not interested in old school CRM. We're not going to produce a mailing, a physical piece of paper and post it out to somebody. So why are you asking them to fill in all those fields with their address on?Kelly Molson: That's interesting. So even from a geographic perspective, it's not always relevant to understand where your customers are traveling from.Andy Povey: You can get all of that from the IP address that they're coming from.Kelly Molson: Sure.Andy Povey: So obviously it's really important to understand whereabouts in the country, and how far away your customers are from you, and that kind of stuff. But there are other ways to gathering that information, rather than traditional filling in. Back to your comment about filling in my address on the phone. Yeah, I've got fat fingers. I'm not going to type my address in on the phone.Kelly Molson: And I'm busy.Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah.Kelly Molson: It's not going to happen.Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.Kelly Molson: All right. Yeah. No, I like that.Andy Povey: Make it as simple as you possibly can for people.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. And the data's already there, so just gather it from the right place without giving people something else that they need to do. Good. Okay. All right. Well, our next one is about engagement, digital engagement. So digital engagement, from a marketing perspective, I always think about user generated content at this point. Because you're asking your visitors, from an offline perspective, you're asking them to engage with something that's at your physical attraction, but then you then encouraging them to share that digitally. So you're getting that double exposure and, you're also generating content from your users, which is invaluable for your marketing team. So that's the thing that I always focus on from digital engagement. What other things can we ask attractions to focus on?Andy Povey: A story someone told me many, many years ago was that their marketing guy actually ran a training session at this attraction, I can't remember which one, for staff on how to take the best photos.Kelly Molson: Oh that's great. Yeah.Andy Povey: You see a family, and mum or dad's taking a picture of the other parent and the kids, obviously the member of staff is going to offer to take the photograph for them. That's just human nature. That's what we do. But if you've already identified the most memorable background to put these people in, then the member staff can just move them slightly. And it improves and increases the rate of those photos being uploaded and shared.Kelly Molson: That's such a small thing, isn't it?Andy Povey: Isn't it?Kelly Molson: But again, that's genius. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get a better picture for people. They're more encouraged to share it. I love it. That's so clever. I hadn't even considered that. But again, that comes back to the people. People make places.Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: So you empower the people to make those things happen better for those guests. I love that. Yeah, great one. Okay. And then I guess reviews is something that's really important about engagement. And how do we encourage people to leave reviews about the venues?Andy Povey: It can be as simple as your post visit survey. Standard. Everyone's doing them.Kelly Molson: Ah, are they though? Are they though?Andy Povey: Well, yeah okay. Everyone should be doing them.Kelly Molson: Okay. Should be.Andy Povey: Everyone should be doing them. And then you can have some intelligence sitting behind it, that if you get a lot of high scores, whatever, then direct the consumer over to the review site at the end of the review. If you're getting some negative scores, then direct them to your customer service team and do something about it. As human beings, we're happy to share this kind of information, as long as we're getting something back from it. It's a transactional relationship at that point. So we talk a lot about harvesting data. But morally, you can't do that if you're not giving the consumer something back, and giving them a benefit for doing it. Back to your comment about accounts. What's the point of me creating an account? What's my benefit of doing this? There isn't one. I'm just going to get annoyed about it.Kelly Molson: This is the thing, actually. So most of the time when I've had to create an account to get my ticket, there hasn't been any further interaction other than someone's whacked me on their mailing list. And I'm probably going to unsubscribe from that mailing list, because I'm annoyed that I've had to make the account in the first place. So what is that benefit? Yeah. Think about if you are going to force people to do something, at least make it worthwhile for them than a newsletter. Just sticking them on the newsletter list is not going to cut it.Andy Povey: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And then for a long time I was on the Encore Hotels mailing list. I get an email from them a couple of times a week. And it started, Dear Povey, you-Kelly Molson: Dear Povey.Andy Povey: Dear Povey, you have got that so wrong. You cannot. Your CRM is so bad.Kelly Molson: Can I tell you though? So sometimes when I have to sign up for stuff and I have to put my company name, I get emails to Dear Rubber. That's not okay. I'm quite used to it, but it's still not okay.Andy Povey: No, no, no, no. So yeah. We're talking a lot about examples of how not to do it, than how to do it better.Kelly Molson: Well I think this is important, right?Andy Povey: It is.Kelly Molson: There may be attractions listening to this, going, "Oops, we might have done that. We might need to change that." So it's all relevant.Andy Povey: Oh no, on a positive. I got an email from Father Christmas yesterday. It's from an attraction we took the kids to last year to go and see Santa. And it's the first mail I've had from that venue since visiting, so 12 months. So I'm not getting spammed. And you see Father Christmas arrive in your inbox.Kelly Molson: Oh, that's nice, isn't it?Andy Povey: It's a very special moment. So that was very well done. Very well done.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's really smart, isn't it? If you're just going to send one email a year, make sure it's from Santa.Andy Povey: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.Kelly Molson: Right. Let's talk about pricing, because that's our number five key digital trends for attractions. Now pricing's really interesting. We've talked quite a lot about pricing recently. So we had Dominic on from Mary Rose, talking about pricing. We also had Simon Addison from Roman Baths, talking about pricing.Andy Povey: Yes.Kelly Molson: Let's talk about dynamic pricing, because it's something that we touched on just earlier when we were talking about the airlines and the surveys. So airlines use something called real time pricing. When a plane's almost full, the airline company's going to bump their prices up. Because they know they're going to sell out, and they know that somebody really wants that ticket, because they have to get somewhere on a certain day at a certain time. So it's a bit of a no-brainer for them. Is that something that attractions should be doing?Andy Povey: I think so. And as an industry, we've talked about dynamic pricing for the past 20 years. And when I was Madame Tussaud's, we implemented what then was peak and off-peak pricing. And so we changed the price of the ticket three times during the day. And actually, because we were very explicit about what the price was, we were stuck at this 1995 price point, and had been reluctant to change for a while. We actually increased our ticket yield by about 30%, whilst also increasing our value for money score, which seemed counterintuitive. And actually what was happening there was that the consumer was choosing how much they were going to pay.So rather than being told what the price was, the consumer chooses. So naturally we are more comfortable about a situation, where we feel that we've had some choice. Dynamic pricing does that. Real time pricing, which is where we sit at Convious just makes that run much more efficiently, much more quickly. So a lot of dynamic pricing consultancies out there at the moment will talk about changing prices every day, which if you think, generally people are buying tickets to an attraction three to five days before they visit. They're only going to see three to five different price points. Whereas the way the modern world is going, or the way we are is, we're changing prices, or we can change the price as a result of every single transaction.Kelly Molson: Does that make it more difficult from an operational perspective, if you're constantly changing your prices though? Is it harder to do your forecasting, for example, if that's your price strategy?Andy Povey: If you are forecasting on individual ticket price level, yeah, absolutely. So don't do that.Kelly Molson: Good advice.Andy Povey: Yeah. So every attraction that I've ever worked in and around has a target yield, or a target ticket price to achieve. And we've been doing variable pricing through all the coupons that get put out on all the leaflet racks that you see on every motorway service station. So you can't control how many of those coupons are coming back, and how much discount you're going to get. So having much more control makes it easier for you to manage that, and get the computer to do it. Obviously if you're sitting there changing the prices all the time, then yes, it's going to be a nightmare.Kelly Molson: Nobody wants that job.Andy Povey: No. And the other thing on dynamic pricing is, we still get hooked up on the idea that dynamic means increased, and it doesn't. If you're doing it properly, then it doesn't mean the price is going up necessarily. Obviously you get a better yield. But the guys at Pleasurewood Hills down in Lowestoft, they have a very transient market. So there are loads and loads of holiday parks in their area. So Mondays and Fridays are change over days. So their total addressable market on a Monday and a Friday drops by 50%, because people are packing up and going home. So if you drop the price on a Monday and Friday, or drop the price on a Monday and Friday. Someone who may have come on Wednesday, is now going to come on Monday or Friday, have a much better experience, because venue's not full. And so it smooths their demand. So there's a lot of science behind it.Kelly Molson: Yep. And that all comes back to data, what we started talking about, right?Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: Knowing-Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah, yeah.Kelly Molson: Knowing where people are coming from, what they're doing, how you can change their mindset about things just from the data.Andy Povey: Yeah. And actually watching what they're doing. So we have an artificial intelligence engine that sits behind what we're doing. And it can monitor in real time what's happening about your conversion rate. So if you put the price up by a pound and then your conversion rate drops by 5%, you've probably gone up too high. So drop it down a little bit. So just manage it better, I suppose, in summary.Kelly Molson: I think that's good advice for life in general, isn't it Andy?Andy Povey: Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Kelly Molson: Just manage it better.Andy Povey: Just manage it better.Kelly Molson: This has been a great chat, Andy. Thank you. I think there's loads to take away from. So what we're going to do in the show notes. So there will be links to all the blog articles that we've mentioned today about the digital trends. And I believe there is a webinar that you ran about dynamic pricing as well. And I believe that we might have a link to that too that we could share, which would be great. But Andy, we always end our podcast by asking our guests to share a book with us, something that they love or they've really enjoyed that they think our listeners would also like.Andy Povey: So I've pondered this for a while, and I know that some of your previous people you've spoken to have got away with two.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Andy Povey: So I've got a request for two books.Kelly Molson: Oh, God. Okay.Andy Povey: One's a business book. Really simple, about a half hour read. It's called Who Moved My Cheese?Kelly Molson: Good book.Andy Povey: It's one of my favorites when I first read it 20, 25 years ago, something like that, it really gave me a different way of looking at change. So I really recommend that. And the other one is actually a book I love reading to my kids, called Oi Dog!Kelly Molson: Oi Dog! Great.Andy Povey: Oi Dog! Yeah. So there's a child in all of us. And that for me really just tickles all of my childish bones. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Oh brilliant.Andy Povey: So it works pretty well.Kelly Molson: Well, both of those books are right up my street. So Who Moved My Cheese? Unsurprisingly within a company called Rubber Cheese, you won't be surprised to know that somebody bought that for me when I set up the business. And that was nearly 20 years ago. So that was one of the first business books that I think that I ever read. And it did make a big difference about how you deal with change, and how you compartmentalise it into an easier way of dealing with. But Oi Dog! sounds right up my street. I'm going to put that on my list too? Right listeners-Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: So as ever, if you want to win a copy of Andy's two books, then if you go over to our Twitter account, you can just search for Skip the Queue, and you retweet this podcast announcement with the words, "I want Andy's books." Then we'll enter you into a draw to potentially win them. Andy, thank you. It's been lovely to chat today. I've really, really enjoyed it. I'm sure I will see you out in events soon. And if I don't see you-Andy Povey: Absolutely.Kelly Molson: Before, have a wonderful Christmas.Andy Povey: And to you. Thank you very much, Kelly.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. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been 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..

covid-19 christmas god spotify founders google uk disney real research ireland santa adventures competition engagement exclusive managing directors amsterdam skip ip dom pricing dynamic crm customer service tourism omicron looking forward generally eurovision gdpr mickey mouse norfolk merlin theme parks google analytics user experience carousel queue attractions shelves zoos peppa pig paw patrol father christmas jamie oliver national trust conversion rate peppa central london madame tussauds digital trends personalisation dynamic pricing experience economy mary rose who moved my cheese gruffalo heston blumenthal piccadilly circus iaapa trocadero so google tourism marketing tottenham court road forestry commission lowestoft roman baths your crm chessington world chessington merlin entertainment tussauds blooloop kelly molson

#50 - THE 50th EPISODE!

The Chain Dogs Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2022 164:09

It's our 50th Episode! This week we talk about Seaworld Orlando's new surf coaster (B&M), Chessington's Jumanji coaster update, Intamin's new verticle LSM launch concept, Halloween events and debating what makes a coaster and GREAT coaster?!

halloween 50th jumanji lsm seaworld orlando intamin chessington

204: A Parents' Guide To Chessington World Of Adventures!

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2022 47:01

Josh and parents are back once again, this time not to talk about Florida but to discuss a theme park much closer to home. Chessington World of Adventures! Will this park be fun for all the family, or a bit of an expensive let down? FInd out by listening to the podcast! If you want to contact us about anything at all (corrections, info, sponsorship ;P) you can hit us up on: Twitter @ParkRushPodcast Instagram: @ParkRushPodcast TikTok: @ParkRushPodcast Email: Podcast@ParkRush.com YouTube --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/parkrush/message

guide parents adventures chessington world chessington

Six Flags is diving and not in a good way - Episode 191

The Drunk Riders

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2022 92:20

SIx Flags is.. well.. doing something fun! The boys discuss the closures, the boycotts, and everything else going on with one of the biggest chains in the world. That, MonteZOOMa, Chessington, your fan questions and more in this episode!

diving six flags chessington

RDE045: Hold This Little Thought of Optimism

Robot Dice Explosion

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2022 115:21

With Ole out of the country, Adam and Graham join Ben for a jaunt to Chessington. Hark at their tales of a world of adventure! https://www.longshanks.org/events/detail/?event=5044 https://www.facebook.com/events/981206532564371/

optimism hark chessington

Attraction partnerships and rivalries, with Dominic Jones

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2022 47:55

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/podcast.If 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 October 1st 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://maryrose.org/https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/https://twitter.com/DominicJonesUKhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicejones/ https://www.nmrn.org.uk/https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/news/item/1152-buoyant-bounce-back-bodes-well-for-portsmouth-historic-dockyard Dominic Jones was recruited to the Mary Rose in 2019 ago as Chief Operating Officer, and became CEO in 2021. He brings an excellent background in commercial visitor attractions (Disney, Merlin) and creative visitor experience development.During his time at the Mary Rose, he has already driven an excellent commercial and operational performance and worked closely with previous Chief Executive to create the new Portsmouth Historic Dockyard joint venture with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, which launched successfully in August 2020. Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. In today's episode, I speak with Dominic Jones, CEO of the Mary Rose Museum and Director of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Dominic shares the amazing impact of the joint venture between the Mary Rose Museum and the National Museum of the Royal Navy and his advice for any attractions looking to start and improve their partnership arrangements. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Dominic. Welcome to Skip the Queue. Thanks for coming on.Dominic Jones: Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it, I think.Kelly Molson: You are looking forward to it. You don't need to think about it. Can we just point out, I know, listeners, you can't see this, but if you're watching this on YouTube, can we just see, you've got a lovely little, "I love Skip the Queue" graphic in the background there. Look at that.Dominic Jones: Yeah, I think it's important to get across that I do love Skip the Queue and it's important to get that across before the icebreaker questions, I think, just in case you had a couple and you were thinking, "Oh, I'm going to be a bit tough." And then, so I did that and I tweeted this morning how excited I am about your forthcoming website attraction questionnaire, so that's a double. That's a double positive, right?Kelly Molson: Thank you. Thank you. Don't worry, listeners. I've got a special little recording so you understand what we're talking about that will be coming out in the next week or so, so you'll find out more about that soon.Dominic Jones: And I bought you a rubber for your rubber collection. Can you see that? Mary Rose rubber?Kelly Molson: Wow. Look at that.Dominic Jones: You may or may not get that depending on how the icebreakers go, so that's my third attempt.Kelly Molson: Gosh, I've never been bribed for a good icebreaker question.Dominic Jones: It's not bribery. It's a nice gift. It's a nice gift.Kelly Molson: Right, well, let's get cracking on the icebreaker questions, shall we? I think I've been quite kind to you. Tell us something that you are really great at cooking.Dominic Jones: I really like cooking. I actually find cooking really relaxing, so on a Friday or Saturday, I often cook at home, so it depends, really. I quite like making my own recipes, so just using what we've got in the house. So for example, scallops with chorizo, or if you're doing a steak, might do it with some sort of watercress and various cheese, or just sort of experimenting. I really like sort of seeing what we've got, putting it together and making it work. I think it's important, when you're cooking, to drink some wine as well.Kelly Molson: Oh, I agree.Dominic Jones: So cooking with wine is something I enjoy doing.Kelly Molson: We can be friends, Dominic.Dominic Jones: There we go.Kelly Molson: Absolutely, we can be friends. Also, really great choices of food there. I would definitely eat both of those. You'd be really good on Ready Steady Cook, then. That would've been your show.Dominic Jones: Yeah. Do you know what? I used to... So I once applied for a game show, which I didn't get on, I was very disappointed, but Ready Steady Cook was one I think I could have done. Because it's not hard, is it? Most things go with things, and it's also about having the confidence to carry it off and knowing... The only time it went wrong was I wanted to cook for my girlfriend, who's now my wife, a lemon pasta dish and it tasted awful and it had lemon rind in it and stuff, so... But apart from that, it's always worked out.Kelly Molson: Well, I mean, you must have done all right. She married you.Dominic Jones: Yeah.Kelly Molson: She married you in the end.Dominic Jones: True.Kelly Molson: All right. Well, our next one, I've gone topical for this. If you were the captain of a pirate ship...Dominic Jones: Yeah?Kelly Molson: What would be the name of your ship?Dominic Jones: That's a good one. Oh. I do like pirates. I think, because I'm Welsh and because I'd want to be a pirate who... A bit like sort of the Warrior in the Dockyard, which isn't a pirate ship, by the way, but when it came in, people normally surrendered, I want to be a scary pirate that people would think, "Oh, don't..." Maybe, like, Smoking Dragon or something like that. And then we'd light smoke as we came in so people are like, "Oh, here's the Smoking Dragon."Kelly Molson: Yeah, I like that. And there'd be a big dragon's head on the front with flame and smoke coming out of it.Dominic Jones: And people... Because a lot of pirates were Welsh. I don't know whether you know this, but a lot of pirates were Welsh.Kelly Molson: I didn't know that.Dominic Jones: Yeah, it's massive.Kelly Molson: Wow.Dominic Jones: Massive.Kelly Molson: Okay. All right. This is great. That's an excellent answer.Dominic Jones: I have to say, these are slightly biased questions because I was listening to a few of your podcasts recently and, like, you had someone from the zoo, "Oh, what's your favourite animal?" Or you had someone from IAAPA, "What's your favourite ride?" And I'm getting a "name a pirate ship"? Know what I mean?Kelly Molson: All right, what's your favourite boat?Dominic Jones: No, only joking. I'm not going to answer that. I'm not going to answer that.Kelly Molson: All right, but what is your favourite smell? That's my last question.Dominic Jones: Genuinely, we're looking at smell now for the museum, because smell is so important, it's something that can make a difference. When I was at Madame Tussauds Amsterdam, we used smell, as well, as part of the experience, because it just creates that emotive moment. I do like cookie dough and cookies and the smell of that sort of baking which you get pumped in in Disney parks. I quite like the smell of red wine.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Yep.Dominic Jones: Yeah, so I think it's food or drink smells I like, but yeah. Good question.Kelly Molson: Good answer. We are at Unpopular Opinion Point. What have you got to share with us?Dominic Jones: This is a hard one because I've decided to go work on this and I did have some really cool ones about lager and N-Dubz and stuff, but I decided to go with work because one of the things that through my whole career, anyone who knows me will know is I get really frustrated when people blame the weather, so I think you shouldn't blame the weather for anything because what happens is when someone blames the weather, when the weather's... So I've worked in theme parks and in museums and aquariums, indoor and outdoor attractions, and you probably know that when it's bad weather, it's great for indoor attractions, when it's good weather, it's good for the theme parks, right?Dominic Jones: So you get people that, when it's good weather in theme parks or bad weather in museums, they say, "Oh, our marketing and our everything we're doing is brilliant because the visitors are coming." And as soon as it's the bad weather or the good weather, depending on what you are, then it's all about the weather. So, "Our visitors are down because the weather was good." If you're in an indoor attraction and it really, really irritates me, and it's one of those things, they're mutually exclusive, you can only blame the weather if you give the weather credit when it's good, and it's one of those things, if things are good, I always think you should look outside the window and think, "Right, what's the reason for that?" And then if things are bad, you should look inside your organisation. It's one of my pet hates, but probably doesn't work for the podcast, so I should probably go with the lager or N-Dubz one, but anyway, there we go. But it is important, right? I think it's a good one.Kelly Molson: It is important. No, I think, yeah, that is important. It's really interesting. I've never really thought about that before. We need to give the weather more credit.Dominic Jones: Well, you need to give the weather credit if you're going to use it to blame. For me, it's a constant. It's something... And these days, weather forecasts are 10, 14 days out, so you should be able to plan.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Okay. Good. All right.Dominic Jones: I'll get off my high horse now. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Listeners, let us know how you feel, so let us know if you want to know about that N-Dubz one as well. I'm intrigued. Right, Dominic, I want you to tell us about your background because we met up recently, didn't we, at the M+H exhibition? And you were very humble about coming on the podcast and you said, "Oh, I'm not going to have anything... You've had really interesting people on and I'm not that interesting." You are really interesting and you've had such an incredible background. Tell us a little bit about it and how you got to where you are now.Dominic Jones: Well, I'm not sure about that. I do like listening to your podcast and you have some amazing guests and 9 times out of 10, I normally think, after listening to them, "Right, I'm going to either do something that they've suggested." Or I follow them on LinkedIn or Twitter and think, "Right, let's learn from them." Because I think you should always learn from other people, but so my career is a lot of luck, a lot of opportunity and a lot of chats.Dominic Jones: When I was growing up, I wanted to be a leisure centre manager. You know? Like you probably won't remember The Brittas Empire, but that was my dream. That was my dream, much to my mum's disappointment. And so that was all I ever wanted, so I went to college and did a leisure studies course, a HND, and there was a placement in PGL Adventure, which is like an adventure park, and I was a Multi Activity Instructor. Absolutely loved it.Dominic Jones: But then I sort of realised, actually, there's a whole world out there and decided I wanted to work in theme parks, so I applied to work at Disney and didn't get it the first time. I was very cocky, I was the wrong sort of person for Disney, but I went back three times and eventually got it and I did a placement in Disney and it was the best thing I ever did and it changed my life. It's one of the few jobs that I've left and thought, "My life will never be the same again." So good. So I did that and I got my master's degree. I didn't get the doctorate because I went on spring break, but hey, I was young...Kelly Molson: Well, spring break, though.Dominic Jones: Exactly. I was young. And then sort of went to Thorpe Park and was a Ride Operator. I remember my friends and some of their family were saying, "That's a real waste of..." Because I went to, in between Disney, went to university in Swansea, and they said, "It's a real waste of university, operating a teacup for £3.50 an hour." Or whatever it was at the time. But I loved it and for me, it was... I thought, "If you want to become a manager or you want to become, eventually, a General Manager or a Director of a theme park, it's really important to know how these things work."Dominic Jones: So I loved it, and just in case you ever get to operate the teacups, it's not too complicated, there's a red and green button, the red is to stop and the green is to start. I mean, it was five hours of training, but I finally mastered it and you can't actually make it go faster, so when you're there on the microphone and say, "Do you want to go faster?" You can't, it goes faster anyway, but I loved it and then very quickly rose through the ranks, so I became a Ride Supervisor, Team Leader, Area Team Leader, Coordinator, went to Chessington, worked there just at the time when Tussauds had bought Thorpe Park, so it was a real great time for career opportunities.Dominic Jones: Then I went to Madame Tussauds, was the Customer Service Manager there and helped create the first contact centre, if you like, call centre, where we sold tickets for things like Rock Circus, which is no longer in existence, but Rock Circus, the London Eye, Madam Tussauds, the Planetarium and that became the Merlin Contact Centre in the future, and then I started applying for loads of jobs, more General Manager jobs, and didn't get them and realised that I needed to get some marketing and sales experience.Dominic Jones: So I left and went to work for Virgin and then I was there for nearly 10 years and absolutely loved it and instead of getting the sales and marketing, well, I got the sales experience, I ended up becoming Vice President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the logistics side of the business, and then also, so we opened up Kenya, had some amazing life experiences, we saw the whole world and then was Regional Vice President Sales in Hong Kong for Asia Pacific, so great time.Dominic Jones: And then my wife became pregnant, obviously, I was involved in that, and it made me realise that I probably couldn't do a job where I was traveling 24/7. I mean, for a while, I did literally consider, which makes me sound like a bad person, "I could call in from Skype and things like that." And my wife was like, "Come on." So we went back to Wales and it was really hard to find a job that would allow me to be at home and be around so I actually thought, "Well, originally, when I went to Virgin, I wanted to have marketing experience."Dominic Jones: So I actually went to Thorpe Park and the marketing team and looked after the partnerships and promotions, did some really cool things, the Ministry of Sound nightclub deal was there, did some stuff with Lionsgate. A really good time doing the "buy one, get one free" things, the partnerships and events, got some good bands together on the stage that hadn't been on stage with the Wideboys and the [inaudible 00:11:55] boys if you know your dance music, it was massive.Dominic Jones: Anyway, so I did that for a bit and then got an opportunity to go back to Wales, which is where my wife's family is from. I'm from North Wales, she's from South Wales, so I got a chance to run Oakwood Theme Park, which I absolutely loved and probably would've been there forever if an opportunity hadn't come up with Merlin and Merlin, it was to look after the rest of Europe and the rest of Europe was basically anything in their midway, so Madam Tussauds, Dungeons, Lego Discovery Centre, Sea Life, that wasn't in the UK or Germany, so it was like Istanbul, Helsinki, Paris Blankenberge in Belgium, Spain. I mean, it was brilliant and I did that for a few years.Dominic Jones: Then I went and ran Thorpe Park for a few years, which absolutely loved because that was where I started as a teacup operator and I remember, there was a guy there, good friend of mine, he said, "I remember, when you were on the teacups, you said, 'One day, I'm going to come back and run the place.'" And I did, so amazing. And then, in that time, I had three kids and really was commuting from Christchurch, so decided to change careers again and come into the heritage world and came as the COO of the Mary Rose, which I did for two years, and then, during the pandemic, became the CEO, so quick sort of... Yeah. But lots of luck and right place, right time, all those sort of things, but that's good, right? That's most people's career.Kelly Molson: Whoa. That is amazing. I mean, you've been to so many different places. I love that you went full-circle at Thorpe Park as well. What an incredible story, to have gone in there as an operator and then end up running the place. That is amazing.Dominic Jones: Yeah, I loved that. And actually, all the jobs I've had have really become part of our story. I was talking to someone yesterday about the Mary Rose and they were talking about what they were going to do next but how the Mary Rose had been a massive part of their story and I said, "That's the beautiful thing about work and careers and life. Whatever you do, it becomes part of your story and you're part of their story." So whether it's Thorpe Park, whether it's when I opened up, for Virgin Atlantic, the Nairobi route for logistics and the Hamlin, it was amazing and I've been to Kenya probably more times than I've been to Birmingham, you know? So that's part of my story, and when I leave the Mary Rose, I hope isn't any time soon, this will always be... It'll be my favourite Tudor warship. I mean, it's probably the only Tudor warship, but also my favourite one, so yeah.Kelly Molson: That was the answer to my question, as well. "What's your favourite ship?"Dominic Jones: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Wow. I'm blown away by your career. I just think you've had such a phenomenal journey to get to where you are now. There's something that I want to talk to you about today and that's about your joint venture that you have with the Mary Rose and the National Museum of the Royal Navy. I just want to read out a tweet that I saw because this is what sparked this conversation, so this is a tweet that went out on the Mary Rose Twitter account.Kelly Molson: It says, "We are very pleased to share that Portsmouth Historic Dockyard saw a 150% rise in visitor numbers in 2021, reported by ALVA today. The significant rise in visitors demonstrates the effectiveness of the joint venture between Mary Rose and the National Museum of the Royal Navy in our first year."Kelly Molson: I am very intrigued by this because this has been kind of a constant throughout most of the podcast conversations that we have is about how collaborative the sector is, but this is really specific about two attractions collaborating together to bring more visitors in. I would love you to tell us about this.Dominic Jones: Well, yeah, the end result's fantastic. 150% increase in visitors. It really feels joined up. My son's school is coming in today so I was in the visitor centre and I was waiting to see what time he was coming in because he obviously wouldn't tell me the time he's actually in, so I was looking around the visitor centre and I couldn't be prouder, when you see the mixture of Victory and Warrior and Mary Rose, and how far we've come since we started, but if you go back in history, the Mary Rose used to be part of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and there was one ticket and there was a separate company called Portsmouth Historic Dockyard that ran it, and lots of trusts, at that time, there were lots of trusts that fed into it, and then, for whatever reason, some of these trusts went independent.Dominic Jones: And so when I joined the Mary Rose, we were separate. We had a separate ticket, visitor centre, if you like, so imagine, I guess, like a... You know when you're on holiday and there's people trying to get you to go on boat rides or they're trying to get you to come into their restaurant? And literally, we were competing, so when a visitor was outside, there'd be the Mary Rose saying, "Hey, come and see Henry VIII's warship, the biggest Tudor collection in the world." I mean, it's amazing. And then the people next door, "Hey, come and see the Victory and the Warrior." And it just was really difficult for the customers, and for whatever reason, we weren't together and we had these two separate companies, so for quite a while, when I started, along with Helen, who was the CEO and Dominic and a gentleman called John in NMRN, we had meetings to see if we could get closer and to get a deal, and then I think Matthew joined, as well, from NMRN, and eventually we kind of got to an agreement.Dominic Jones: It was about, "What can we do together? What, collaboratively, can we do?" We came up with three things. We can sell tickets together, we could run a visitor centre together, so that's #1, the visitor side. We could market the destination together, and we could do strategic operations like events. So we then looked away and came across a deal, and for us, it was important that the two parties, so Mary Rose and the National Museum of the Royal Navy had a 50/50 parity of decision so it wasn't a one-sided joint venture and it was really... There's lots of talent in both organisations, so I've always admired what the National Museum of the Royal Navy have done over the years and how they've told history and how they bring it to life, and obviously, I love the Mary Rose.Dominic Jones: And so when we put us together, it was just a real opportunity, that synergy. You know when people say "one and one and you get three", but it was exactly like that and it worked really well, so we share marketing, so marketing costs, we share, we share marketing resource, so Mary Rose marketing people work along with NMRN marketing people. We do some things independently so our trusts are independent, our conservation, our research and all that sort of stuff, that's just Mary Rose and NMRN is just that, although we are working on some projects together, but in terms of the visitor, we have one visitor centre, we have one ticket you can buy, lots of options, we could talk about that, some amazing pricing we did which allowed us to do that.Dominic Jones: Because when you're competing against each other, you almost are encouraged to discount more, so we had, at times, the National Museum of the Royal Navy who were saying Portsmouth Historic Dockyard then might have a deal on Groupon, we might have a deal on Wowcher and you'd just be discounting, discounting, discounting, and you wouldn't be really getting across the real value for the customer, so yeah, it was really hard, and I remember, we would really fight for every single visitor because, for us, 84% of our money comes from tickets, so I remember, we'd get Henry VIII down the front, out the front, we'd have him talking to the visitors, saying, "Oh", you know, and with people talking in French and he'd go up in French and say, "Well, I was the king of France. Why are you going to Victory? Come to Mary Rose." But he wouldn't be taking them away from Victory, because that would be bad, but he would be saying, "Go to both." And we'd always be positive about NMRN, but we'd also want people to come to Mary Rose because that was how we were going to survive.Kelly Molson: Just going back to those times, then, was it more like a rivalry than anything?Dominic Jones: Yeah, it was really hard.Kelly Molson: So it was really difficult?Dominic Jones: It was really hard. I mean, we all respected each other, but it was really hard. It was like one of those ferry terminals or restaurants on holiday. I mean, I remember, we would flyer, like circus marketing, bumping into the brand, resort domination, we called it. We would be literally, when it was sunny because you can't blame the weather, when it was sunny, we'd be on the beach with Mary Rose leaflets saying, "Hey, get out the cool, we're air-conditioned, come to the Mary Rose." We were literally in all the restaurants, we had colour-in sheets, "Come to...", it was all about getting everyone to come and actually, we quickly realized that the NMRN was spending so much money on getting people to Portsmouth that we needed to make sure when they're in Portsmouth, they came to the Mary Rose and we did.Dominic Jones: I mean, I look back on it now, we had adverts that had, because we'd been very lucky with Tripadvisor, five stars, I mean I would've dreamed of that at Thorpe Park, but five stars constantly so we'd have posters that say, "You've just missed the best thing to do in Portsmouth." And then another one. "Turn around." You know, like when you go to Camden Town and there's a McDonald's, a Burger King and then outside the Burger King, there's a sign. "Why are you going to Burger King? Go to McDonald's." It was like that, so it wasn't great.Kelly Molson: It's quite intense, as well, isn't it, for the visitor?Dominic Jones: Yeah.Kelly Molson: That's a lot of pressure.Dominic Jones: Well, it is and I would do it and I would literally go down and leave, because you've got to leave from the front, and I would put my Mary Rose coat, which I've still got here, and I'd be down the scenic and we'd be... And I remember coaches would turn up and one of the ladies who was fantastic with us, Sandra, she's now one of our Visitor Experience Managers, but she'd jump on the couch and say, "Have you booked your tickets? Where are you going? Can I tell you about the Mary Rose?" And she'd bring whole coaches in. It was hard and it was really... I went to sleep every night easy, because it was so tiring and it wasn't sustainable and we did need to get a deal, and actually, the National Museum of the Royal Navy and the Mary Rose always treated each other with respect, but it was like the Battle of Victory Gate and that's not the way to behave and that's not the long-term way to run a business.Dominic Jones: So what was really great was we've got a deal, we got the ability to sell tickets together and we got the ability to work together and there's some really super talented people in the National Museum of the Royal Navy and in Mary Rose and we did some great things, so when we reopened after COVID, we did this really cool video where we had Henry VIII and we had some of their characters from Warrior and some of their actors all visiting each other's attractions in the lift, wearing face masks, getting hand sanitiser, and it just feels joined up.Dominic Jones: I mean, I've done lots of partnerships in my career. At Merlin, we had a Sea Life in Helsinki, which was a joint venture with a theme park called Linnanmaki. If you ever get to interview this lady who ran Linnanmaki, or she might the CEO there, she was amazing, but we had this joint venture. See, it's really hard in a joint venture because, especially if it's a 50/50 parity decision one, you've got to get agreement and that means that you work really hard on doing the right thing, so what's quite nice is if we were on our own, we probably would've done marketing campaigns and other things which were okay, but because we end up working together and we've got to make sure we get that joint agreement, the results is always way better. It's brilliant. And the customers benefit, because it's one entrance, it's one ticket, there's a lot more value in it, so yeah, it's been really successful.Kelly Molson: I hadn't realised quite how intertwined the organisations were in terms of decision-making and marketing, like you say, and sharing all of those resources. You talked a little bit about the visitor centre. Did you have to change the infrastructure and stuff? Did you have to build new buildings and all of that and agree on that?Dominic Jones: Well, no, they had a big visitor centre because, I mean, they've got a lot more footprint, more attractions, they've got the Warrior, they've got M.33, they've got a Submarine Museum over in Victory and we've got the Mary Rose, which is amazing. And so we had a building called Porter's Lodge, which was here and then there's the gate, and then they had their visitor center and their visitor center was perfect, so we moved in there, but we agreed to make it look and feel like it was Mary Rose and National Museum of the Royal Navy, so we spent a bit of money on the look and feel of it, so that was good and same with the brand and the marketing and making it feel like it was something new, but yeah, so there was a bit of that.Dominic Jones: I mean, in terms of infrastructure, we went with their ticketing system because it made more sense because it would be a bigger cost for them to change. We went with some of the Mary Rose's media buying because, at the time, we were buying media cheaper and better. And actually, now, we're in the process of going to tenders together, so the digital agency, we've done together, the PR agency, we've done together and it's great because it's a bigger portfolio and you get different views, and I always think the best way to run any business, so, for example, the Mary Rose or Thorpe Park or wherever it is, to talk to your customers, to talk to your staff and then, obviously, to talk to the manage experts. And we get that in spades, because we've also got our staff and our customers and our volunteers, but we've got NMRN staff and customers and volunteers and together, we are getting some really cool ideas and things we can do, so it's working well. As you can see, 150% increase in the first year.Kelly Molson: I mean, I've read it with my own eyes.Dominic Jones: And I hope you saw, NMRN, they did a little nice fist bump reply, and it just is in the spirit of it. We are working together and I think that's so important.Kelly Molson: It is massively important. You mentioned something about pricing earlier, and we've spoken about this before, but you said that you did something interesting that you'd implemented that allowed you to grow the yield and the revenue as well. Was this something that you did jointly too?Dominic Jones: Yeah, it was. So we had to come up with a new pricing structure because we were doing something new, so they had, what was it called? Full Navy Ticket, which was for all of their attractions and we had an annual ticket, so when we merged, we had to come up with a new pricing structure and it's a good opportunity to change, and 84% of our business, our revenue comes from tickets, theirs is about, I think, 80% or so, I can't remember, so it's still important to them as well. So we had to get the pricing right and it allowed us to really think about what's the best value for the customer and what's the best thing to do that stops us having to discount heavily?Dominic Jones: So we created a... It's like a decoy pricing model, like supermarkets have been doing it for years, so if you buy one attraction, it's a really bad ticket. I mean, still, a few people buy them, it's a really bad ticket, so it was... I mean, it used to be £18. We put the price up to £24. It used to be, if you bought one ticket, you could visit that attraction all year. You can only visit it once. So we made it a really unattractive ticket, so that's your lower decoy, so the idea of that is you only buy that if all you really want to do is go to the Mary Rose or all you want to go is go to the Victory and if you've just come to see one of those things, that's the sort of money you would pay, it's very competitively priced with other things on the South Coast, so that's what we did.Dominic Jones: And then we created a Three-Attraction Ticket or Three-Ship Ticket, which was slightly more money, so that went up to £39, which was the biggest sort of sting, about a £15 increase, big, big jump. And that was an annual ticket. That was, you could pick your three attractions and visit them all year. And then we did, "But for £5 more, you could have an Ultimate Explorer and have everything including the..." And that sort of, so you've got the lower decoy, which is the single attraction, then you've got the medium decoy, which is three ships, but then you go, "Well, for £5 more, you could do everything."Dominic Jones: And 80% of people do the Ultimate Explorer and they do everything, and it's so good value. I mean, it's less than the price of a football game and football game, 50% of the time, you're disappointed, and you don't get long, do you? It is incredible value and you get to go to all the attractions, you get out on the water, it's brilliant. So we've got that. And then we were going to put in an upper decoy, now, an upper decoy is a premium, really expensive ticket, so for example, we might, "We have, at Mary Rose, you can go into the ship for £300 and have a private experience." And we were going to put that in, but actually, because the decoy system worked so well, we didn't need that so we've just kept it as Single Attraction Ticket, Three-Attraction Ticket and Ultimate Explorer and it's working really, really well.Dominic Jones: So yeah, that's our pricing. And because of that, we don't have to discount because we put all the value and loaded the value in, actually, we don't have to discount. And then, when we do discount, we want to reach the right people, so, for example, we do, between the months of November and February, we do a Loyal and Local campaign where we go out to Portsmouth and Southampton regions and we say, "Bring a bill in and you can get a considerable discount." All year round, we do a discount for people who've got a Portsmouth leisure card, so anyone who's on Universal Credit, so they get 50% off.Dominic Jones: And we do some other really cool community engagement stuff between us with schools and stuff like that, and then if we do do a discount, so discounts are still important, so there's some amazing partners out there, GetYourGuide, Picnic, lots of the providers that really support businesses, Virgin, Ticketdays, all that sort of stuff. But we do it at the right level, so we've got like a playground, so whereas before, we might have been competing against each other, thinking, "Oh, we need to discount by 40% or 50% and then give them extra commission so they push it." We now do it at a really fair level, so there is a bit of a discount, but it's not much.Dominic Jones: And then for the consumer, we want the cheapest, best-value ticket to always be on our website. And we used a couple companies, so we used a company called, they were called Brand Incrementum, they're now called Magic Little Giants, we use them, we use some insight into what previous businesses have done before, but we copied the American Six Flags website model. If you ever want a quick lesson in pricing, just go to Six Flags. Their website is that... I mean, you're into websites, right?Kelly Molson: I am.Dominic Jones: It's the best website for pricing. I love it and I check it nearly every month. It makes me laugh, how focused they are on decoy pricing and how in-your-face they are, but how you don't know it as a consumer unless you know. It's amazing. It drives my family mad. I love it. Anyway. Yeah.Kelly Molson: This decoy pricing, I've never heard that phrase, I've never heard that used in pricing before. This is all new to me.Dominic Jones: It's like supermarkets when you get... And I remember, we've got a local supermarket near us and the guy did, "buy one bottle of wine, get one wine free". And then he had, "or buy one wine for £7 or buy two for £7". We were always going to buy two for £7 or two for £8. It's all that sort of trying to encourage behaviour, but he didn't quite get it because recently, I went in, it was like, "buy one, pay for one" and I was like, "Isn't that... That's the same as normal, yeah?" "Yeah." But he's a nice guy so I bought one. Well, that's my problem.Dominic Jones: But no, it's the same way supermarkets have been doing, where they try with the club card to get you to purchase things, or they're trying to do that, and all we're trying to do is encourage everyone to go for that Ultimate Explorer, which is the best value. It's almost like you can imagine it on the website, it's got a sign saying, "Pick me." So even to the extent we still don't, this day, discount our Single Attraction Ticket on our website. We don't give any discount for it and then we give a £5 discount on the three attractions and £5 on Ultimate Explorer. But yeah, loving the pricing.Kelly Molson: Love this. This is such great insight. Thank you for sharing. This partnership is really intriguing to me because I think it seems like the perfect setup, right? Because you're literally neighbors in the same area, you could make this work really well. What advice would you give to other attractions that are thinking about partnering with other attractions? Like what would be your top tips for people to make this work well?Dominic Jones: I mean, it's really hard. You've got to think about, because often people see it as competitors, but you've got to think in terms of getting the customers or the guests or the consumers, whatever you call them, giving them the best value, and during lockdown, when we were being interviewed and stuff, we'd always say, "Come visit the Mary Rose or come visit..." Once we did the joint venture, "Come visit the Historic Dockyard. But also, if you can't come visit, go visit your local museum, go visit anyone." It's important to share that, and I think there are always benefits of working together, you're always stronger together.Dominic Jones: When I was at Oakwood Theme Park in Wales, amazing theme park, you're in West Wales and we were thinking, "Well, how do we reach further and advertise more?" And actually, we ended up working with a farm, which was a stunning farm that had rides and animals called Folly Farm down the road and we worked, then, with Manor House Wildlife Park and Heatherton, and you actually work together and you can work together and I'd always say, "Try it on something." So try it whether it's an event or try it whether it's a destination marketing campaign. I mean, we're working with the people of Portsmouth, so with... "The people of Portsmouth", that sounds a bit grand. We're working with attractions in Portsmouth on trying to get people into Portsmouth, so we do something with Portsmouth Council where the Spinnaker Tower and D-Day Museum and Mary Rose and National Museum of the Royal Navy and now Portsmouth Historical Dockyard, together, we advertise in London because actually, advertising in London individually is really expensive, but if you do it collaboratively.Dominic Jones: There's lots of ways to do stuff collaboratively and find another angle. So we've got other people on our site that we're not partners with at the moment, so the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, amazing people who run some of the small boats that we did the Gunboat Race with the D-Day veterans on the weekend. Fantastic. So yesterday, we had a really great Volunteers' Tea Party to celebrate the end of volunteer and we had the volunteers from the Property Trust, we had the volunteers from the NMRN, the volunteers from the Mary Rose, there's always some synergy and I would say, in any way, find it.Dominic Jones: Everywhere I've worked, I've tried to get partnerships with local businesses, with other theme parks, with other attractions, because, actually, it's your stronger together, and if you're going, especially, after a local market, because you've always got to love your locals, that's the most important thing. If they see that you actually are the sort of people that work with each other, it makes them almost more proud of you. You remember the Game Makers in the London Olympics in 2012 and how amazing they were and how they did that sort of course where everyone was recommending all this stuff to you, that's kind of what you want, but I would find some common ground, whatever it is.Dominic Jones: Whether it's lobbying, we found common ground at Thorpe Park with other attractions to lobby the government for things, for VAT to level... Or whether it's in Oakwood, trying to get some advertising to get people from Bristol to cross the bridge to come into Wales or whether it's, I'm trying to think, in Amsterdam, we worked, so Madame Tussauds Amsterdam and Dungeons, which I was responsible for, we worked with Heineken because they had this amazing experience and with Tours & Tickets, so we'd make sure that if anyone came to Amsterdam, they came to our attractions. It's those sort of partnerships, finding the common ground and making it work.Dominic Jones: And don't be scared of it, because you are always bigger and better together and customers have so much choice, so working together delivers amazing results. I would never want to go back to not being part of a partnership with the National Museum of the Royal Navy and I would love it if we could do more. We are keen to do more with other attractions in the South to get people to come to the South Coast, to come to Hampshire. But yeah, I would definitely do...Dominic Jones: And also, you get bigger buying power, so say, for example, Merlin are really strong, so they don't necessarily need those with other partners because they can do a campaign in the press, Sun, Days Go Out and you've got all the Merlin attractions, but if you're individual attractions, you can't, so if you do a partnership with your competitors, you can then suddenly say, "Right, well, we want to do a Days Out campaign in the press between all these independent attractions."Dominic Jones: I mean, it's brilliant. I love it and I love, also, this industry, how collaborative especially the heritage side is. You can say, "Oh, I was thinking about doing this. What do you think?" Or, "What do you think about that?" And everyone will share and everyone is almost willing you to be successful. It's crazy, right? It's one of the best industries in the world. If you were in, I don't know, the restaurant business, you wouldn't be doing that, would you? Or another... It's so good. Anyway, hopefully, that answers your question.Kelly Molson: Oh, absolutely.Dominic Jones: I get very passionate about it. I'm so sorry. I love it.Kelly Molson: I'm so glad that you do because it answered my question perfectly and I think you've given so much value to listeners today in terms of all of the things that you've done, I couldn't have asked for a better response. Thank you. It's a big year for the Mary Rose, isn't it? And I think it would be very right that we talk about that. So it's your 40th year celebration this year, isn't it?Dominic Jones: Yeah, 40 years since the raising, so 1982, October. I am obviously older than you so I remember watching it on Blue Peter as a child and it was the world's first underwater live broadcast. It was watched by over 60 million people worldwide. I mean, it was amazing of its time and so yeah, 40 years, and because of that, we've now got the world's biggest Tudor collection of everyday life, there's nowhere else in the world you can get closer to Tudor and we've got the biggest maritime salvation, so we've got a lot of plans to celebrate. Unfortunately, the pandemic got in the way. During the pandemic, I'm not going to lie, it was horrific. There were times when we were drawing a list of who we were going to give the keys to, got really, really bad and it got dark for everyone and every museum, every attraction, every business, I'm not trying to say, "Oh, poor us." Everyone had that tough time.Dominic Jones: But it meant that actually investing, we were going to do another building, we were going to do a whole museum dedicated to the raising and actually, probably one of the best things that came out of it is we didn't because we got the joint venture, which is brilliant, our trading improved, we had a fantastic summer and then we were like, "Right, we should really do something for the 40th anniversary, but we can't afford taking another lease of another building or building another building, so what can we do?" And we managed to come up with a few plans, so the first thing we're doing is we're doing a TV documentary, which is going to be brilliant, coming out in October. Honestly, I've seen, they started some of the filming and the pre [inaudible 00:37:39], it's going to be brilliant.Kelly Molson: Oh, that's so exciting.Dominic Jones: I can't give too much away because we've had to sign something, but it's going to be great. And actually, we even had, because we're responsible for the wreck site, so we had Chris and Alex who helped raise the Mary Rose, our Head of Interpretation, Head of Research, amazing people, they were out diving the other day because we're still responsible for the wreck site and it just gives you goosebumps. I saw the footage and oh, it's amazing. So we got that. We're also building a 4D experience.Dominic Jones: So when we reopened last summer, we opened with this thing called 1545, which was an immersive experience and we wanted to get across the Mary Rose didn't sink on its maiden voyage, it was Henry VIII's ship that he, when he came to the throne, he commissioned two ships, the Mary Rose was one of them, it fought in lots of battles, it had a long life and then sank defending Britain in a battle, by the way, the French who were invading was twice the size of the Spanish Armada, but because history's written by the winners, we don't hear that.Dominic Jones: But amazing, so we did this amazing, immersive experience. We got Dame Judi Dench to do the voice and you feel like you're going to get sunk. Well, the ship does sink and you go under and then you go into the museum and it's so good and we were like, "We want to do something for the end. We want to have a finale that says..." Because the thing about our museum, it's authentic. There's 19,700 artifacts. You can't get that anywhere else. I mean, it's just brilliant. Anyway, so we thought, "How are we going to end this?" And the thing we don't do justice to is the finding, the raising, the excavation, all the divers, there was 500 volunteer divers. From the 1960s, people were looking for it.Dominic Jones: I mean, Alexander McKee, who found it, was on the news and people would say... It was like an Indiana Jones movie, they were saying, "Oh, he's never going to find it." And other people were looking, the Navy were looking and there was a bit in Indiana Jones where they got the map the wrong way around and all of that. Brilliant. So they found the Mary Rose and then they got Margaret Rule who was this amazing lady who had, when she went to university, I think she didn't get a place at university at first because she was a woman and this is amazing, today's day story, and she didn't dive, she was an archeologist. And then she said, "I'm going to dive." Taught herself to dive and without her, this museum, the Mary Rose wouldn't be here, so Alexander McKee, Margaret Rule, two amazing people, both of them...Kelly Molson: What a woman.Dominic Jones: Yeah, what a woman, but both of them, both of them, without them, we wouldn't be here. So we want to tell their story, but also, we want to put the guests and the visitors to what it's like to dive, so with a mixture of real-life filming, footage from these 500 volunteer divers, outtakes from the Chronicle programs that are on the BBC, including, if we can get it to look right, even His Royal Highness, Prince Charles diving. It is stunning.Dominic Jones: So we're going to take the guests on a bit of a pre-show with the history, then they're going to get into the 4D theater and it'd be like you were boarding a red, going out to the wreck site, there'll be a dive briefing, you'll have the wind in your hair, the seats will be buzzing, but I'm hoping it's this good. I better ring the people after this [inaudible 00:40:38].Kelly Molson: You're really building it up, Dominic.Dominic Jones: Yeah. Well, it better deliver. No, they're brilliant. Figment are amazing. They're so good. So you get in there and then you dive and then you go down and you see what it's like to be under the water. The Royal Engineers were involved, the divers were involved and then you'll be there when the Mary Rose is raised, we're even going to recreate the moment where it... Oh, it'll be brilliant.Dominic Jones: So in answer to your question, we're doing a documentary and a 4D experience, and we've got anniversary lectures so if you're around in October, come and get involved. We've got a lot of people, from historians to divers to... Just talking about the relevance of the Mary Rose and the history of it, and also the diving, and we've got a new coffee table book coming out, so we've got lots and lots and lots going on.Kelly Molson: Oh, my goodness. It's all going on.Dominic Jones: And if we'd have done it the old way, if we'd have done it with a new museum and a new building, I don't think it would've been as good. I mean, I joined the Divers' Legacy group, so about 150 of the divers, on a Zoom call a few weeks ago and it's just, it takes you... These people, who, some of them are retired now or bear in mind this was 40, 50 years ago and hearing their stories and it's living history and it's so important that we tell these stories and capture them now, because in 50 years, they won't be here, and part of our responsibility, our charity objectives, if you like, is to tell the story and forever, and I think that bit of the story's missing, so if that's one thing that we do while I'm at the Mary Rose, I'll be really proud.Kelly Molson: Ah, that is wonderful. And it is [inaudible 00:42:12].Dominic Jones: You have to come, right? You're going to have to come.Kelly Molson: Well, this is the question. When do I need to come to experience everything that you've just sold to me? Because I am sold.Dominic Jones: Yeah. You probably want to come after our anniversary, because we're hoping to launch all this around that time, which is in October, which is, now, this is an interesting one because this was a good conversation with our trustees and our board. "Do you want to launch something in the off-peak period? Don't you want to launch it at Easter or the summer or..." And my view is we should launch it because it's the right thing to do and we're launching this in October because it's a legacy, we want the divers there, we want as many of them there as possible and it's going to be at the Mary Rose forever. This is the ending to the Mary Rose Museum. So it's not like we're launching something for Easter or summer, so we are going to launch it in October, so I'll let you know the details, come and get involved.Kelly Molson: All right, absolutely. I am there. If it's as good as what you've just described, then it's going to be one amazing day out.Dominic Jones: It'd be better. And then, and final thing, sorry, which we're not doing, but I wanted to do is we've still got some of the Mary Rose down in the ocean, so one day, I'd like to bring that back up. I don't think I'll be here to do that because it's probably be in 15 years' time or something because we need to raise a lot of money and do that, but we want to bring the rest of her back up or whatever's left down there back up, and that's quite exciting because our story continues. We still do research.Dominic Jones: We did this fantastic piece of research on skeletons, on human remains. It's a really cool diversity story. Out of the eight skeletons, one was Spanish, one was Venetian, two were North African, second generation, not slaves, a real diversity story in Tudor England. Amazing. Maybe the Victorians whitewashed history. Who knows? But what a great story. And we keep learning and we've got this amazing team of curatorial staff and all of our staff, from the maintenance to the visitor staff to the volunteers and every day, we learn something new, so [inaudible 00:44:03] we want to do. And then, at some point... Have you seen The Dig on Netflix?Kelly Molson: Yes. Yes.Dominic Jones: Great film.Kelly Molson: So good.Dominic Jones: Great film, but I want to write to Netflix to do The Dive. Can you imagine? This story about human endeavor with the Mary Rose? It'd be amazing, so we'd like to do that as well at some point, but we just don't have enough hours in the day, right?Kelly Molson: No. Just add it onto that long list of stuff.Dominic Jones: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Wow. Thank you.Dominic Jones: So if you know anyone in Netflix, let us know, or if anyone from Netflix is listening, get in touch, we want to do that. It'd be cool.Kelly Molson: I would love it.Dominic Jones: I've already casted.Kelly Molson: If someone from Netflix was listening, that would be incredible. Who have you casted?Dominic Jones: Well, so local, because you've got to get local, so for Margaret Rule, I reckon Kate Winslet, she'd do a good job. Great actress. I mean, we've already got Dame Judi Dench, so the same sort of caliber in our 1545 experience, and then also another local who could bring the Alexander McKee, Kenneth Branagh, but to be honest with you, Netflix can do all of that, because let's be honest, I'm not going to make movies, am I? I'm running a museum. But I just think it'd be really cool. It'd be really cool.Kelly Molson: I don't think there's anything that you couldn't do, Dominic, to be honest, after this podcast, so who knows?Dominic Jones: It'd be really cool. Yeah, who knows?Kelly Molson: All right, last question for you, a book that you love that you'd recommend to our listeners?Dominic Jones: I love this question and I really struggled, so I went back and thought about a work example, because I think that's probably more useful, so in all of my career, I've come across lots of people who talk about strategy and I have my own view on what strategy is, but there are lots of books you can read about strategy and there's only one book, in my opinion, that is worth reading and it's this, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy. Hopefully, it's still in print. It is the only book to read on strategy. It's the best book I've... And without this book, I don't think I would've been able to do half the stuff that I've done, because it's all about how you formulate your decisions, how you make your decisions, what the outcome is, it's about execution, it's about everything that, for me, you need to be successful, so I recommend this book. Really good book.Kelly Molson: Good Strategy/Bad Strategy. I have not read that book, but I feel like that's going to go...Dominic Jones: You should read it.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's going to go top of my pile. All right, listeners, if you want to win a copy of this book, as ever, if you just go over to our Twitter account and you retweet this podcast announcement with the words, "I want Dominic's book." And then you will be in with a chance of winning it. Oh, my goodness. I have had such a good time listening to you today. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing. It's been so valuable. Yeah, that's blown me away today. I'm very excited about coming to visit and thank you for sharing the insight into your partnerships.Dominic Jones: Yeah. Absolute pleasure. And thanks for being kind with the icebreakers, you're going to get the rubber, that's going to your collection.Kelly Molson: Oh, yay. A rubber rubber.Dominic Jones: Because I was really upset that you've got a rubber collection without the Mary Rose. That actually hurt my feelings. It hurt my feelings.Kelly Molson: Well, I'm sorry, I've never actually visited the Mary Rose.Dominic Jones: Well, we're going to put that right.Kelly Molson: We are going to change this, aren't we? So yeah, I'm sorry. I will come and get my rubber in-person, then. Don't post it to me. I'll come and get it in-person when I come and visit.Dominic Jones: Yeah, let's do that. Thank you. Keep it up.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. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been 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.

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#36 - EVERYBODY GETS AN INTAMIN!

The Chain Dogs Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2022 130:48

In this episode we're talking about PortAventura's new coaster (Groundworks started), Chessington's New Coaster Progress, Parque Warner Madrid Intamin track onsite, Parc Asterix toutatis update and Sean gives us a trip report from his recent trip to Hansa Park and Heide Park!

port aventura heide park intamin chessington

Falling in love with ZSL. How engaging the internal team is benefiting both them and their visitors, with Kelly Wessell

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2022 36:13

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/podcast.If 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 April 29th 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.zsl.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-wessell-8517b484/ Kelly Wessell's bio: My career in Visitor attractions started with a seasonal role at Chessington aged 18, I worked there whilst studying. After I finished studying I was lucky to get a managerial role there and in 2014 progressed into a role at ZSL as Experiences Product Manager for London Zoo.I've been fortunate enough to develop my career at ZSL and I am now part of the Senior Management team as Visitor Operations Manager for London Zoo! I am responsible for the Security, First Aid and Duty Management teams with a key focus on Visitor Experience.Our focus for 2022 is all about Visitor Experience and to kick off our peak season we launched Operation:OKAPI this was also an opportunity for all of us to fall in love with the zoo again after a tough few years!Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my family, I have daughter who is 4 we're always out and about on the go! Transcriptions: 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 Kelly Wessell, Visitor Operations Manager at Zoological Society of London. We talk all about reengaging your team with their workplace and the internal program that they've developed to help them get to know and love the zoo again. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the YouTube channels by searching Skip The Queue.Kelly Molson: Kelly, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. That's lovely to have another Kelly on the podcast. Two Kelly's. Double treat for everybody..Kelly Wessell: You're welcome.Kelly Molson: As I've always started, with our icebreakers. So, Kelly, I can't not ask you this question. What is your favourite zoo animal?Kelly Wessell: Oh, that's like the worst question you could ask, because we should say all of the animals are our favourite.Kelly Molson: Of course.Kelly Wessell: But I love giraffes. I have done, ever since I was really little. Also, I'm only small myself. I'm only 4'11", so I would quite like to see what the world would look like up there and being so close to animals that big is amazing. So, yeah. I've just loved them ever since I was really small and then being able to work at a zoo where they live is just fantastic.Kelly Molson: Oh, Kelly. That's so awesome. They actually, they're my daughter's favourite animal as well. She's a big fan of them so you're in good company there, and also,4'11”? I'm 5'2”. We were destined to be friends.Kelly Wessell: There we go. And both called Kelly, that's it, it's fate.Kelly Molson: Absolutely. Okay. What hobby have you always wanted to do? But you've never jumped in with two feet to give it a go?Kelly Wessell: I would love to be able to speak different languages, but at GCSE, I went to a language college actually at secondary school, so we had to take two languages. I took German and French and I was awful for whatever reason it was, nothing would stay in my brain. I'd love to be able to speak different languages, but for some reason it's just something that I can't quite grasp. I can't quite learn. I was very good at other subjects, but just languages have never been my forte. I've gone back to try and learn through different apps and things, but for whatever reason, it just won't sink in it.Kelly Molson: It is really hard though, isn't it? I did Duolingo all throughout lockdown. I was trying to learn Spanish and I realised that I was... I could read and listen and understand more than I could actually speak it because you're not doing that element of it and you need to immerse yourself into the place. Don't you? You need to really throw yourself in. It's really, really hard. Yeah. I think I agree with you on that one. I think I would like to be better at languages, not very good.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Okay. What is, this is a weird one, and you might have a really good answer to this because of where you work. What is your favourite smell and why?Kelly Wessell: Oh. It's not going to be zoo related.Kelly Molson: I should hope not, to be honest.Kelly Wessell: I know a lot of people don't like this smell, but when it's just rained and it's got that muddy, earthy smell. I love it. Absolutely love it. Love it. On holiday, you have that smell at home when it's really rained and you go out and it smells. I don't know what it is. It just smells nice to me. Yeah. A lot of people don't like it, but that I say that would be my favourite smell.Kelly Molson: Good smell. Yeah. It feels it's like the world has been refreshed to start again.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I like it. All right, Kelly, what is your unpopular opinion? What have you prepared for us?Kelly Wessell: So, it's food related. I detest them. I absolutely hate them. When I turn 30, everyone was like, you'll love them, everyone does. I would love to ban them in any food whatsoever, and that is olives. I cannot stand them. Anything they touch, anything they've been in, you pick them out, the whole dish still tastes like olives. Yeah. I just really, really dislike them.Kelly Molson: I knew that you were going to say olives when you said everyone had said I'd like them when you turned 30.Kelly Wessell: Yes.Kelly Molson: Because that you're supposed to mature into olives, aren't you? The taste of them.Kelly Wessell: Exactly. Wine and olives. It sounds great. Oh, I just can't. Any of them. Any colour. Just can't eat them.Kelly Molson: I feel the same way about peas, if it makes you feel any better, they taint everything that they touch for me. But I mean, you don't, I mean... I can have happily have a glass of wine without having to have a bowl of peas put next to me.Kelly Wessell: Exactly.Kelly Molson: A bit of a nicer experience.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: All right. Brilliant. All right, listeners. Well. I mean, you might feel the same about olives, let me know. Kelly, tell me a little bit about your background before we get into what we're really going to talk about today.Kelly Wessell: Yep. So, I'm currently the Visitor Operations Manager at ZSL London Zoo. I have been there for seven years now. I started out in attractions very, very young, actually. 17, 18 as a seasonal host back at Chessington, who are owned by Merlin and worked there while I studied and went to uni and then I was very lucky that a role came up there, which was managing their fast track and animal experiences team. So, I gave it a shot and I got lucky. I stayed there in that role for about a year and a half, and then did exactly the same job pretty much, but starting from the ground up came up at ZSL.Kelly Wessell: I've always loved animals. I love what ZSL does. Being a conservation charity, I felt that sat really well with my ethos and morals. So, gave it a go, applied for the role and took on their experiences at the zoo there, and then slowly worked my way up to now being part of the senior management team at London Zoo and heading up visitor ops, so I look after security and first aid for the site. It's all our emergency procedures and incident management, as well as having a real focus on visitor experience now, which we hadn't had for a few years, especially with COVID hitting us. But now we're really a driving force with that. That's a real part of our plan for this year.Kelly Molson: I mean, what an amazing place to be able to work at, Kelly. Obviously, like what you've said, it just fitted so well with your ethos and what you love. There must be a bit of a pinch me every day and you walk in there. Ooh, this is it, I'm here.Kelly Wessell: I feel so privileged. I feel really privileged to work there. I've got a four year old daughter who tells everyone at nursery that I work at the zoo, and being able to inspire her is amazing. It's such a fantastic organisation and I work with some absolutely amazing people. I feel very, very lucky to be where I am.Kelly Molson: That's lovely. That's really good to hear. I'm sure they would love to hear that as well. But we had a really good chat a few weeks ago about a really interesting topic. It's very topical actually, this topic. So, obviously the pandemic is now over. Restrictions are done, pretty much and so there is a resurgence of people going back to their workplaces in some way, shape, or form. We might have this hybrid mix of people working a little bit from home and back in their offices.Kelly Molson: We had this talk about it in respect to the zoo. You've been tasked with developing a really interesting program to support your team in getting to know and love the zoo again.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Which I thought was really interesting because, for me, if I worked at the zoo, I'd be like, oh my God, this is the best place ever. I'm going back to it. But I think people have been at home for so long and haven't been able to engage with their workplaces. You've got to spur them back a little bit, right? You've got to show them how amazing it is again. Can you, how did this all come about? Can you tell us about it?Kelly Wessell: Yeah. Yeah. So, obviously COVID hit the zoo, let's say for the last two years. We've been operating very differently to how we did prior to COVID. A lot of learnings and a lot of changes operationally, which have been really, really helpful and have changed us for the better. But what we found was that our teams were tired. Our operational teams have been working so hard and we've been putting a lot of pressure on them in regards to getting us up and running and operating. Things changed quite a lot, sometimes very quickly. My chief operating officer, who is my boss, she said people are feeling a bit flat, what's going on? I'm one of those individuals who... I'll talk to everyone who works at the zoo. I will ask how people are, what's going on, how people's teams are feeling. I started to put feelers out as to how teams are feeling. Across the board, everyone was knackered. Everyone was feeling a bit flat.Kelly Wessell: Taking that back to her and speaking to her about what we could do, and we'd come up with this concept that we would create a pre-peak season launch, but it would be for everyone. So, whether you worked in marketing or HR or our Comms teams, and those teams worked throughout the whole entire pandemic, all of them from home. Most of them haven't come back to the office full time. As well as our operational teams, including all of us in something that could get everyone excited again and show off how good of a job we are doing and what we are going to be doing, and really give everyone some key skills in regards to speaking to visitors, whether you work in catering or whether you are just on site, hot desking and going to, and from meetings across site, you'd be able to interact with our visitors and just make everyone realise what a good job we've done and that we are doing. That's where Operation OKAPI was born, really.Kelly Molson: Operation OKAPI. Is that what it's called?Kelly Wessell: Yeah. Yes.Kelly Molson: What does that, is that... What's the meaning behind that?Kelly Wessell: So, OKAPI is an acronym for Operational Knowledge and Procedural Information. One of our retail team came up with the name, so I'm not going to take any credit here for that, but also everyone loves the okapi at the zoo.Kelly Wessell: We had a baby last year and they're just amazing animals. They were discovered by someone who used to work for ZSL. So, it's got a really good link back to our history, and they're just super cute.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Oh, that's lovely that it's gone a little bit full circle with the name then. This sounds great. It is, I guess... I mean, everybody that worked through that pandemic was exhausted. I mean, anyone that's gone through the pandemic regardless of whether you were working or not working is exhausted because it was such a difficult time. So much to process each day, so much new things to process each day. Never really knowing where you are at all the time, so to be able to reengage your team in such positive ways, obviously you're going to have some really strong benefits for them and for the visitors. What are some of the things that you are actually doing with the program? Can you talk us through that?Kelly Wessell: Yeah. Yeah. We actually run it for the whole of last week. So, Monday to Sunday. We did two hour sessions. We did tea, coffee, and biscuits. Always gets people to come along to this type of stuff. That was the thing we offered.Kelly Molson: Well, get me. Definitely.Kelly Wessell: We then refreshed everyone on our emergency procedures, which is something that we need to do anyway. It's super important, but I think people just assume they're doing the right thing sometimes because they've been there for so long. So, we did emergency procedures. We then went through what was coming up for 2022. Our whole entire program is planned by our programs team. They're absolutely fantastic, they bring in some amazing stuff so we could really get people excited about what was coming up for Easter,Summer, Christmas, the Jubilee.Kelly Wessell: Then had a bite size session on customer service. We're just about to embark on a really big customer service journey. Our operational teams are about to start mystery shopping and put together a program. So, this was a really good opportunity to put customer service on everyone's radar and that we all have the responsibility for it with our internal customers, each other, as well as our visitors. So, we did a bite size session on that and then we went through some accessibility and disability awareness. We're a nearly 200 year old site, and all our staff thought, "Oh, we're so inaccessible. We're not accessible at all." We are, and it's really amazing to share that with everyone, that actually there's only two places in the whole entire zoo that are difficult to access for someone who has additional needs and special care. But the rest of our zoo is totally accessible. All of the additional engagement pieces that we do are part of that as well.Kelly Wessell: It was really nice to be able to share a really good story and message with those teams. Then we did an orientation activity. Bit of a scavenger hunt, and that was to get people out of their seats. Not sitting there just listening to us talk to them, but to go out on site and see some of those things. For example, we have a changing places toilet, which is phenomenal to have and means that individuals with extra needs may have only visited us for a couple of hours because they need to get home and use facilities. We've now ensured that those individuals can have a full day out with us and be dignified and have a space to go if they need it. So, we showed everyone that. We took them to key areas around zoo, and we just made it fun.Kelly Wessell: Talked to people about us having a giraffe house that was, is the only building now on site that is [inaudible 00:14:42] purpose it was built for, and that the people who built it had never seen a giraffe.Kelly Molson: Really?Kelly Wessell: Yes. All these quirky facts, all the historical facts we should be using to our advantage. If you can give visitors little nuggets of information like that, they go away saying, “I never knew that”. I've had, they've told me something secret about the zoo and in turn, hopefully that then retains them, turns them into a member or gets them to visit or share their experience.Kelly Wessell: So, we just tried to make it as fun as possible but giving that really key and core information to everyone. In total, Monday to Sunday, we had 250 members of staff attend, which is a really good turn out for the first time running something like this. All the anecdotal feedback that we've had at the moment has been super positive. We've already had emails saying, "I need to get this team on, or these people couldn't attend. Are you going to run anymore?" So, it is really positive and I have to thank my deputy, Karl, for organising the presentation section and the orientation because actually he did a fabulous job getting all that information together from key teams and was a real big player in delivering. So, yeah. It was a really, really great week.Kelly Molson: Oh, what fantastic feedback that you've had. So, that's really positive, isn't it? Think what you said was really interesting about, and we'll go back to the giraffe house that you said that fact about, whoever had designed and built it had never actually seen a giraffe before, which is crazy. Can only imagine what was going through their heads. But you said that little fact is something that you can share with the guests and they'll be really engaged with it because it's like a secret piece of knowledge that they just discovered, but I guess that's the same for your internal team, right? How many of the people on that day didn't know that little fact? It's those little things that you can share with your team to re-excite them about the place that they work, right? They've just found out something new that they didn't know about yet.Kelly Wessell: Definitely. There's another one where we've got photos of Walt Disney filming our old penguin pool that no one's seen before. So, we're able to share really amazing facts and information, like you said, with our own teams. Going to go away and say, did you know that about the zoo? I think sometimes we see the zoo as being really old, and we are, we can't shy away from that. We are, we have restrictions, we have listed buildings and things like that, but we're really trying to show it in a positive light and share our history because actually that's what's really unique about us.Kelly Wessell: We were founded in 1826 and we were the first scientific zoo and we shouldn't shy away from it. I think that's what we were really trying to get across to people that we know that we have restrictions and barriers because of being one of the oldest zoos, but actually that's really cool, and share it with people, tell people that we are that because then they ask, well, what else can I find out, or why is that like it is? And we can hopefully explain it. So yeah, it was really nice to share historic stuff in a really positive manner.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Kelly Wessell: And it not be seen as a barrier, but be seen as knowledge.Kelly Molson: Well, it's a massive benefit, isn't it? I guess that was one of my questions about this process that you're going through. So, you are, you said earlier that you are now behind driving the visitor experience. But, I mean, that drive can't really happen without an engaged internal team, right? So, what are the benefits of doing this for the team?Kelly Wessell: When you are having a good day, every person that you speak to is having a good day. That's what we are instilling in the teams. If you are excited about coming to work and you are doing something that you're engaged with and you are having fun, people see that and it radiates off of you. In turn, people feel happy and you're giving them a good day.Kelly Wessell: By giving someone a fact that we've given you in their coffee sessions, you could potentially make their whole entire day by just sharing that nugget of knowledge with people. I think that's one of the things that a lot of the teams sat there and went, actually, I can make a difference. I can just turn someone's day around by just interacting with them or sharing some knowledge. That's from teams who aren't visitor focused or aren't out on the ground. We're asking anyone and everyone to just acknowledge obvious to say hello as you're walking across the zoo, because that can really make a difference. I hope that all those people that we had the sessions with last week, if they take anything away that's what they take away and use the most.Kelly Molson: That's really nice, isn't it? It's empowering them to make someone's day a little bit more special.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Love it. I guess then the benefits to the visitors are they see how engaged your team are that work there. They get a better experience because people have been really positive to them throughout the day. Does it... Is there any other benefits for the visit, for the visitor's perspective?Kelly Wessell: Ultimately, them having a good day out. There's lots of opportunities to potentially transform those day visitors into members, which commercially is fantastic. We've got a huge membership base already, but our members are really important to us and we want to keep growing that, as well as... Someone might see one of our volunteers and see that they're having a great time volunteering with us. They might then want to lend us their time and be engaged in that sense, as well as, we've tasked all the teams with just trying to get people to write in about their day. People love to write a TripAdvisor about a bad day, and we are trying to change that narrative and get people to write about having a good day out with us. Bonus if they mention someone's name. Amazing, because we can track it back. But ultimately, we're all responsible for visitor experience wherever we work. So, we want to try and push those positive reviews and give people the best day out with us.Kelly Molson: Yeah. That's a big statement, isn't it? Ultimately, we are all in control of the visitor experience. So, that's quite a big statement when you put that out there, isn't it? I guess that's a hard thing to instil into someone who works in an office in the middle of the zoo, for example, or isn't a zookeeper, because you could see how the zookeeper would change someone's experience, but they might struggle to engage with it if they just, well I'm so... The job that I do is so detached from the actual day-to-day experience that people are getting here. What other things have you been doing as part of the program that you could share with us?Kelly Wessell: Talking about the power of hello, I think people don't realise how amazing it is to be able to just say hello to someone and welcome them. Also, it helps you with that awkwardness at times. We've got a part of the zoo as you come in the entrance, there's a board, there's a big map. You've walked in, you don't know where you're going, you're excited. The kids are running around and you try to find the first place that you want to go to. Just turning around to that person, seeing that family and saying hello totally sets the tone for their day out. You're proactive. You're saying, “I can see you. I want to help you.”Kelly Wessell: That's what we've been working with and that's just the bite size bits of customer service that we've been doing with the teams, is just trying to say to them, we're not asking you to look at Disney and be that Disney member of staff. When you go to Florida and you get treated like royalty. We're literally just asking you to be confident and to just use everyday skills that we all have. So, just acknowledging visitors detecting that they may, I need help and just start with hello.Kelly Molson: It's such a powerful word, isn't it? As you were describing that scenario, I could feel my shoulders just relax a little bit when you said hello, because you'd be like, oh, yes. There's someone here to help me. Brilliant. You can put yourself in that picture, can't you?Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: You've developed this program with your deputy, Karl, you said earlier. So, you've looked at how you bring all this together. What advice would you give to other attractions that are looking to go through this process? Where is the starting point for all of this and how do you work out what this looks like and how you build it?Kelly Wessell: We went out to the teams out on site, especially the operational teams, just to see what they felt, they needed clarity on. You get the stuff like emergency procedures, like a fire, animal escape that we have. All that stuff, all the fundamentals that we wanted to include to make sure everyone was confident in them. So, you have your core health and safety stuff, but then we started asking teams about how they felt about customer service. Looking at training records, had teams even had customer training? I don't think we've had any customer services training for a good couple of years in some of our teams, then looking at what our visitors want, what do we want to do with our visitors? That sounds really a weird way to say that, but do we want to convert them into members? Do we want them to essentially be inspired to be our next generation of keepers or horticulture do want to encourage volunteering?Kelly Wessell: So, we asked those teams that look after those areas about how we could then thread that in, and the beauty of QR codes, we all know how to use them now. We've armed our team with little lanyard packs now with QR codes that if you want to be a member, you just scan that code and it pops up and you'll be able to upgrade there and then standing in front of them, help them to do it, as well as volunteering. Scan code and you'll be able to see all our volunteering opportunities. We are talking the talk and operation OKAPI is helping us to walk the walk now because we are now giving everyone the tools that they need to be able to give business what they're asking for.Kelly Wessell: So, we compiled feedback from all of last year, which was the most huge Excel document.Kelly Molson: I bet.Kelly Wessell: That our marketing team pulled together, and we looked at key trends there as well. That was our baseline and our foundation for being able to develop what information we needed to give to teams. Just looking at those trends, I think... You sometimes read TripAdvisor or Facebook reviews and they don't make you feel great sometimes. I think, I know teams try hard. I know we are busy, but then stepping back from that and looking at what positives we did have, what negatives we did have, drawing a line and saying, this is what we're doing about it.Kelly Wessell: You don't feel so bad if you read them now because you actually know what we've delivered and what we're asking teams, we know what we're asking them to do. So, we can hopefully be confident that any of that negative feedback, hopefully we can address it, or sadly get those people who are just having a really bad day. We've just said to everyone, people will just have a really bad day and that's fine, as long as you've done what we've asked and you've followed this little nugget of service training, then that's all we can ask you to do. So, yeah. That's where we started and how hopefully we will continue moving this forward.Kelly Molson: So, the program is in progress now, we're recording this on the, what is it? The 21st of March. When do you... How will you review the process? I guess, what you've just described as to how you've gone through the process to put it together, I guess you'll do that in reverse, right? You'll start to then review what the reviews are like and the feedback that you're getting.Kelly Wessell: Yep. So, conveniently our biggest time for membership acquisition is April. We've trained everyone and given them all the information about upgrade into membership and all the detail about it in March ahead of what we hope to be a really big busy Easter. We've got three weeks of Easter this year. So, between myself and my deputy and the other senior management team, we will start to review our social media and our TripAdvisor reviews from... We've targeted from the 1st of April for three weeks and we will see whether any of that narrative changes, but also look at membership acquisition. Has that increased? Have the visits to the QR code that we've given the teams, how many visits we had? Has that changed into members or not?Kelly Wessell: Also, just get live feedback from the team as well on just a roll-in basis. We've just sent out a review, those who have attended to just see what else they might need, or if we were to run again, what would they like? What did we miss out? Because this is a learning curve, it's the first time we've done something like this, so we can always grow and learn from it.Kelly Molson: It's like you said, it's about engaging with the feedback and seeing what you can improve on or add for the next one. I guess, same question, we focused on the visitors there and what their experiences is in there and how that's improved, but how do you monitor it on the flip side? So, you've got a huge team that's coming back and reengaging with the zoo. How do you assess whether the program has worked from them in terms of their engagement levels?Kelly Wessell: We, as a duty management team, host briefings every morning with the ops team managers, and then also our volunteers and our engagement team. So, the first protocol will be to be there, talk to them about it, keep it alive by talking about what we did last week, what we're hoping to see. Also, just in general, be out on the ground. I think as one of the senior management teams, one of the best things that you can do is just be visible to those teams and be supportive.Kelly Wessell: We'll hear it ourselves. I very often base myself on the exit of the zoo for last 30 minutes to hour for the end of the day, saying goodbye to people, and you just get anecdotal feedback there. Those individuals who didn't have such a good day normally will tell you, and then you can talk it through with them and hopefully help turn it around there and then. So, it's about going out to those teams who are there face to face and speaking to them and giving them the opportunity to feed it back to us. So, creating ways for them to be able to feed back to us, how they're feeling, and whether they feel confident in delivering what we've asked them to do.Kelly Molson: Kelly, I've loved this chat. It really shines through how engaged you are with the zoo and what a special place it is to work at. I have no doubt that your enthusiasm and the program that you've put together will pull that through to the whole rest of the team that are coming back now as well.Kelly Wessell: Oh, I really appreciate that. I really do hope so. I'm super passionate and we want to make the staff's day as good as a visitors day. You're giving us your time and we want to make it fun. When it's fun, the day goes quick. You don't realise that the day's gone when you've had a great day, so let's try and make it a great day every day for everyone.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's perfect. It's a perfect way to end the podcast interview. But I always ask my guests about a book that they love. So, something, it can be personal, it can be work related.Kelly Wessell: This book, How to Be a Productivity Ninja. So, I went to a webinar that ran with an external company, and this book, I haven't actually opened it because I've got a digital copy, but they posted us all one of these after and it was so inspiring. I think working at a zoo, we get so many emails or you get CC'd into so many emails and being part of a senior management team, you do need to know everything that's going on. But I think at times it's very overwhelming. I think we are an email culture now, especially with having to work from home and COVID.Kelly Wessell: So, I went to this webinar and got some really amazing tips and tricks on how to manage your time, but also your work and... So, just learning ways of organising your emails to go into certain folders because it's not as important for you to look at now or only checking your emails between eight and nine, and actually having your email app closed then for the rest of the day until a set period of time. There was just some really, really useful tips and tricks that if you are one of those people who is drowning in emails and always trying to get organised, but this has been super helpful. I always go back to it. When you get off the wagon a little bit and you'll go, oh, things are starting to feel a bit unorganised. I'll always go back to it, especially my notes from the webinar, but also just having some bookmarks saved that just, yeah. Ground me again and just set me back up.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that sounds perfect. That sounds like something that we all need right now. I don't know about you, but I definitely am drowning in emails most days. I do get that anxiety of, oh, God. I've got to go out of the office for a few hours, or I'm going to a conference for the day. What am I going to find when I come back from it? Complete and [crosstalk 00:33:36]Kelly Wessell: Yeah, and I find being in an operational role, if I am in the zoo, I'm not at my desk. I am out and about doing things, I'm speaking to teams, I'm popping in and out of meetings here and there. I do find that when I work from home, that's my catch up days. That's when that really helped, because I just need that time to be able to catch back up. I think people forget that when you are part of ops teams, emails are great, but I'm not going to read it there and then. I'm not going to necessarily do anything about it until I've done my ops stuff. So, I think sometimes also people email us too much. We need to be honest about it and say... “Drop me a line and I'll probably answer the phone quicker than I'll answer the email.”Kelly Molson: That's really good advice actually. Yeah, pick up the phone. It'll probably get responded to quicker. Yeah.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Something that I always try and tell my team actually, if there's something that needs to be done urgently, you're actually probably better off phoning than you are emailing, but.Kelly Wessell: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Great advice, Kelly, great book as well. Well, if you want to win a copy of Kelly's book, if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with the words, 'I want Kelly's book', then you will be in with a chance of winning it. Kelly, I've really loved this chat today. I think it's so relevant and so... Just in my head when we chatted, all I was thinking about was people going back to an office and I was like, oh, it's a bit boring, isn't it? Do people want to go back to offices? It's same old, same old. I can't imagine not being excited about going back to a zoo, but then I've never worked in one. I just think it's been really interesting to see, to hear the small things that can make such a big difference to your team and to your visitors. So, thank you for coming on and sharing that. I hope you have hope you have a brilliant summer. Come back and talk to us next year and let us know how it's all gone.Kelly Wessell: Yeah, definitely.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. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been 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.

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: Lullingstone Castle, Chessington World of Adventures

Activity Quest

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2021 34:16

This week, Anna Louise gets unprecedented behind the scenes access to Lullingstone Castle. Ghost hunting TV shows and documentaries have wanted to get in here for ages and haven't been able to but we managed to sneak in! Plus George is in Blackpool to find out more about some of the top theme parks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Cotswold Farm Park, Chessington World of Adventures, L.O.L. Surprise!

Activity Quest

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2021 23:48

It's Adam versus Adam in Activity Quest with Producer Adam off to Adam from Countryfile's Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park. Plus, George is aboard rollercoasters at Chessington World of Adventures, we've got an at-home craft to do, and there's even a list of events across the country. Remember, whatever you do and however you do it, tell us at FunKidsLive.com/ActivityQuest – and remember to rate, review and follow this podcast wherever you're listening to it. If you know of or own a venue that you think would be perfect for Activity Quest, email activityquest@funkidslive.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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64: Do nice guys finish last?

The Gift of the Gab

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2021 28:29

This week we discuss our favourite theme parks, choosing between Chessington, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers! We also discuss a post on The Shade Borough about what some women allegedly think men shouldn't do, being nice is one of them! Let us know what you think, do nice guys finish last? We end by discussing out favourite meals, and what we would choose for our last meals! Tune in to hear all this and more! YouTube: BT smalltalk For business enquiries please email – btsmalltalk@outlook.com

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Nick's ERT #76- Chessington and Legoland

Haunted Attraction Network

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2021 33:57

Join Nick, Chris and Ruby as they discuss a recent trip to Legoland and Chessington to experience their new attractions - Chessington's Croc Drop and Legoland's Flight of the Sky Lion. Why are these so special? Find out!

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Haunt Industry News for May 25th, 2021

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2021 6:14

The CDC has released new guidelines for fully-vaccinated individuals. Fully-vaccinated people can "resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance". The 2021 SCAR Awards have been announced. Winners include Creepy Caves Resurgence at Chessington for Best Halloween Scare Experience, The Walk at Over Farm for Best Adjustment to COVID, and Survival Zone for Best New Event/Attraction. Visit their website or view the announcement video to see the full list of winners.The Haunted Attraction Association has named its new board of directors. Cody Bailey is the Vice President, Terri Bernstein is the Treasurer, and Jim Bugos is the Secretary. Spencer Terry (General Manager of The Fear Factory) has been unanimously elected president of the Haunted Attraction Association. Spencer is excited for this new role, saying “I'm following in some very large footsteps and am honored to lead a very talented and dedicated team of industry experts as we shift, refocus, rebrand and increase the membership of the Haunted Attraction Association".The Haunted Attraction Association presented their 2020 OSCARES Awards at Transworld's Halloween & Attractions Show. The full list of winners are:BOARD OF DIRECTORS AWARDSBennett's Curse - MDFear Fair - INScreamWorld - TXTerror Behind the Walls - PAVENDER EXCELLENCE AWARDSFrightNight Studios - Michael BurnettBloody Mary Makeup - Bobbie WeinerLittle Spider Creations – Marc BrawnerBoneyard Productions - John DenleySPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDDan HowerHOME HAUNT AWARDRick Romano - Failed ExperimentsPRESIDENTS AWARDRandy YoungLIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDBob "Crazy Bob" TurnerBEST NEW PRODUCT AT TRANSWORLDGo Ghost Hunting App by Zombie Army ProductionsA UK woman was left mortified after 10 policemen paid her a visit over a Halloween prop. After Cara Louise left a homemade corpse prop out in her garden, a neighbor called the police to investigate the suspicious body-shaped bag. After questioning the mother-of-two, police confirmed that the item was in fact a prop for her children's "It"-themed circus party. Cara has been a good sport about the incident, giving this advice for all home haunters: “I have a tip for all parents who go all out at Halloween like myself — dispose of props or put them away safely".Disney has some exciting news for fans of the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, a sequel is coming to Disney+ in the Fall of 2022. Original cast members - Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy - will reprise their roles as the Sanderson Sisters for the upcoming film. The sequel centers on three young women who accidentally bring the Sanderson sisters back to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on the world.

Haunt Industry News for May 25th, 2021

Haunted Attraction Network

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2021 6:13

The CDC has released new guidelines for fully-vaccinated individuals. Fully-vaccinated people can "resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance". The 2021 SCAR Awards have been announced. Winners include Creepy Caves Resurgence at Chessington for Best Halloween Scare Experience, The Walk at Over Farm for Best Adjustment to COVID, and Survival Zone for Best New Event/Attraction. Visit their website or view the announcement video to see the full list of winners. The Haunted Attraction Association has named its new board of directors. Cody Bailey is the Vice President, Terri Bernstein is the Treasurer, and Jim Bugos is the Secretary. Spencer Terry (General Manager of The Fear Factory) has been unanimously elected president of the Haunted Attraction Association. Spencer is excited for this new role, saying “I’m following in some very large footsteps and am honored to lead a very talented and dedicated team of industry experts as we shift, refocus, rebrand and increase the membership of the Haunted Attraction Association". The Haunted Attraction Association presented their 2020 OSCARES Awards at Transworld's Halloween & Attractions Show. The full list of winners are: BOARD OF DIRECTORS AWARDS Bennett’s Curse - MD Fear Fair - IN ScreamWorld - TX Terror Behind the Walls - PA VENDER EXCELLENCE AWARDS FrightNight Studios - Michael Burnett Bloody Mary Makeup - Bobbie Weiner Little Spider Creations – Marc Brawner Boneyard Productions - John Denley SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD Dan Hower HOME HAUNT AWARD Rick Romano - Failed Experiments PRESIDENTS AWARD Randy Young LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Bob "Crazy Bob" Turner BEST NEW PRODUCT AT TRANSWORLD Go Ghost Hunting App by Zombie Army Productions A UK woman was left mortified after 10 policemen paid her a visit over a Halloween prop. After Cara Louise left a homemade corpse prop out in her garden, a neighbor called the police to investigate the suspicious body-shaped bag. After questioning the mother-of-two, police confirmed that the item was in fact a prop for her children's "It"-themed circus party. Cara has been a good sport about the incident, giving this advice for all home haunters: “I have a tip for all parents who go all out at Halloween like myself — dispose of props or put them away safely". Disney has some exciting news for fans of the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, a sequel is coming to Disney+ in the Fall of 2022. Original cast members - Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy - will reprise their roles as the Sanderson Sisters for the upcoming film. The sequel centers on three young women who accidentally bring the Sanderson sisters back to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on the world.

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46: Chessington New Rollercoaster 2022 | Off The Tracks Viewer Takeover

Off the Tracks

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2021 66:55

This episode of OFF THE TRACKS (Viewer Takeover LIVE), Your Theme Park Podcast. Rob from The Park Life is joined by Co-Hosts Lee from Inversion Addicts and Chris from That UK Coaster Guy, We will be answering your questions which you have sent in by our social media platforms, and the chat box and discussing our thoughts on this week's news and topics, plus answering your calls with questions and in the comment section too. All of this LIVE, what could possible go WRONG!!!!!!!!!!Marcus Instagram Page:https://www.instagram.com/thrillriders/Marcus YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvz23Iy1cEyrbdoSx3cOu3A-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#17 - Flamingo Land, Alton Towers RMC & UK's Best Pirate Ship

Theme Park Loopy Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2021 24:10

DISCUSSION - Joined by Coaster Sam Blog & Theme Parks By Brett we discuss Flamingo Land including the highlights of our visit in the Summer of 2020, Chessington, a proposed Alton Towers RMC and try to agree on the UK's best pirate ship. Socials: www.instagram.com/themeparkloopy www.facebook.com/themeparkloopy Coaster Sam Blog www.instagram.com/coastersamblog Theme Parks By Brett www.instagram.com/themeparksbybrett

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Infinite Sequence Podcast #040 - Vinylizer (WobWob!, Hamburg)

Infinite Sequence Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2020 64:19

Wir gehen mal in die Zukunft. Swuuuusch. “2 Jahre später” steht auf einer großen Kinoleihnwand danach ist Marcus Maak aka Vinylizer in klassischer Drei-Punkt-Ausleuchte zu sehen. Er erzählt von seiner persönlichen Reise durch die Bassmusikwelt. Marcus säbelte los: “Es fing vor 30 Jahren an. Ich gründete 1992 die Radiosendung Black is Black.” Die Sendung beschäftigte sich vor allem mit HipHop, dabei machte er seine ersten Erfahrungen als Radiomoderator. Schnell wurde Herr Maak etwas bewusst und ergänzte seinen Satz sofort. “Ich merkte aber, dass mir ein Genre nicht reicht. Es ist mir zu eindimensional.” Daraufhin gründete er BTTB - Back To The Basics, ebenfalls im Jahre 1992. Inhaltlich soll sich die Sendung mit mehreren Genres beschäftigen: HipHop, House und Acid Jazz, aber schon schnell kamen UK-Ravetunes und Jungle hinzu. Der Grundtenor von BTTB bestand aber immer aus einer entscheidenden Komponente: BASS. -Kino Off- Nur mal ein kleiner Gedankengang, was Vinylizer im Jahre 2022 von sich geben könnte. Es folgen zahlreiche weitere Projekte, die sich mit Bassmusik beschäftigen, wie die Crew WobWob!, eine regelmäßige Sendung auf ByteFM (BTTB), jährliches Auftreten auf dem Fusion und Feel Festival und die Internetseite recordstore.love. Wir freuen uns endlich ein Mix von Vinylizer in unseren digitalen Händen zu halten und ihn euch präsentieren zu können. Er ist ein Urvater für die Bassmusik-Community und wie keiner immer noch so leidenschaftlich bei der Sache. Marcus, danke für diesen wunderschönen Mix! Traxman - "The Robot" (Planet Mu 2012) DJ Manny - "Computer World" (unreleased 2012) Warlock - "Computer Madness" (Free Toons 2012) DJ Rashad - "IIIIIII HIIIIIIII" (Ghettophiles 2011) Modul8 - "Strange Games" (Through These Eyes 2020) EQ Why - "4567" (Equalized 2020) Fracture + Sam Binga - "Chessington" (Astrophonica 2020) Kabuki - "Iceberg" (Kabuki 2020) TMSV - "Visions" (TMSV 2020) Soundbwoy Killah - "All Night Long" (Sneaker Social Club 2019) Modul8 - "Acceler8ed" (Through These Eyes 2020) Kabuki - "Albatross" (unreleased 2020) Addison Groove - "Dreamscape 12" (Gutterfunk 2020) FFF - "Backstreet Dub" (Foxy Jangle 2020) RTR - "Reward (Om Unit Remix)" (Analogical Force 2020) TMSV - "All The Yous That Have Been" (TMSV 2019) Cadenza - "The Darkest Hype (Philip D. Kick Remix)" (Dummy 2011) The Widdler - "Goldeneye Watch Theme (Widdler Refix)" (Free Toons 2011) Addison Groove - "TeknoJuke" (Gutterfunk 2020) DJ Rashad - "We're Jukin' Out" (Juke Trax Online 2008) Alex Reece - "Pulp Fiction" (Metalheadz 1995) Nphonix - "Fk The Pitch" (Loose Squares 2014) DJ Rashad + DJ Manny - "Drums Please" (Hyperdub 2013) Sully - "Rotten (Sam Binga Remix)" (Rua Sound 2016) DJ Rashad + DJ Spinn + Taso - "Cream VIP" (Teklife 2014) Modul8 - "2L8" (Through These Eyes 2020) FFF - "No Ice Cream" (Foxy Jangle 2020) Zinc - "Forest Gate Funk" (Rinse 2013) A$AP Rocky + Skepta - "Praise The Lord (Da Shine)" (RCA 2018) Rebound X - "Rhythm 'n' Gash (Landlord's House Coat Footwork Edit)" (Free Toons 2015) Angel Haze - "Werkin' Girls" (True Panther 2012) Skream - "FNKONOMIKA" (Tempa 2011) Addison Groove - "Out Of Nowhere" (Gutterfunk 2020) Rose Royce - "You Abandoned Me (LNTG Rework)" (Lightspeed 2011) Links: www.instagram.com/recordstores.love www.wobwob.net www.vinylizer.net

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Nick's ERT #69: Champagne, Chessington and Europa

We've Got No Idea What We're Gonna Say

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2020 43:23

Nick's ERT 69: Champagne, Chessington and Europa. Join Nick and Ruby for Nick's birthday celebrations as they talk about working at Europa park, riding coasters at Chessington and the COVID measures the UK parks are undertaking - all whilst sipping on champagne.

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Chessington World of Prize (4-9)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2020 20:00

Live (not dead) from the South Wimbledon Studios, Ben & Nick are back with more insights into the world. If you want to hear about Donald Trump, training Priests, and animals with eyes - you've come to the right place. You may regret it, but it is the right place...

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Ep 109: The Internet Has Been Weirder Than Usual Lately

The All Seeing Guys with Greg & Joe

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2019 66:59

Welcome to episode 109 of The All Seeing Guys Podcast with Greg and Joe. We catch up with some rather odd public displays we've witnessed recently before diving into our eavesdropping segment 'Geezedropping' when we share snippets of conversation heard by strangers while out and about. Then we dive into recent internet fads which have been doing the rounds, the old face generated photos from Face App which filled our feeds briefly replacing the 'Lets Storm Area 51' memes which we also discuss. A man in gimp suit lurking in the darkness of a sleepy Somerset village and a story which had quite the headline 'Grindr serial killer's drug dealer found guilty of Bond actors murder' and it all took place in Greg's ends, Chessington. We give Nickelback's 'How You Remind Me' the Wankerty Wank treatment with hilarious results and finish things off with a hot sauce sent to us from Earthtide drummer, Steve McGuigan which certainly hit the spot.

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Nick's ERT #41- The Carpetbagger, A Ninjago, A Gruffalo and Trader Vic's!

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2017 50:06

Nick sits down with Robert to share his thoughts on a wide variety of topics including the new dark rides Ninjago (at Legoland) and Gruffalo (at Chessington). Nick also chats to YouTuber The Carpetbagger (AKA Jacob) about the weirder side of the US' Roadside attractions! Finally Nick and Robert share their thoughts on Trader Vic's and other Tiki bars!

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Nick's ERT #32 - The Return of Shawn Sanbrooke

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2016 33:39

Join nick and Shawn as they discuss the year's theme park progress, with everything from Derren Brown's ghost train hype, Pandamonium at Chessington (which Nick scored the music for - because Nick does theme park audio) as well as talk of future trips for Nick and Shawn.

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NIck's ERT #25- Jordan on UK Coasting

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2015 38:20

Jordan explains her roller coaster mission with Nick Hutson. Also, discussion on wooden coaster rumors in the UK, the dark ride coming to Thorpe Park, and more. Coaster-Boys...Meet your Match!

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Nick's ERT 21: A Journey from Summers to Halloweens at THORPE PARK

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2014 55:24

Nick joins Season Pass Holder Matthew Summers to guide him through his first scare maze event - at Thorpe Park's Fright Nights. They also spend the easier part of the day doing Legoland (for the first time) and Chessington World of Adventures. We also feature an interview with Sean Coogan, who's Thorpe Park's live entertainments manager. Closing out the episode is a discussion with Lee Conway, Nick and Matt. Along with many other fun surprises down the dark path of the Thorpe Park movie studios. Enjoy!'

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tspp #218- Listener Feedback/VoiceMail & Chessington Report!! 12/2/12

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2012 60:17

*Subscribe @ iTunes* This week Doug Barnes and Brent Young respond to listener Voice Mail and iTunes reviews. Also, we get an in-park report from Chessington World of Adventure park with Nick Hutson!! Great Stuff--Tons of Fun!! Enjoy! Links: Chessington World of Adventure Musical Talk Pixie Vacations This Week's Closing Song - "We Come Running" by Youngblood Hawke (iTunes Link) Check Out The Season Pass Podcast Website at: www.seasonpasspodcast.com Follow Us On Twitter! - www.twitter.com/theseasonpass Like the TSPP Facebook page! - www.facebook.com/theseasonpass Contact us: doug@seasonpasspodcast.com brent.young@seasonpasspodcast.com Call the Hotline with Park Trip Reports, Podcast Comments, or Anything else you would like to announce. –1-916-248-5524 Thanks to each one of you for listening to the show. Your support is extremely appreciated. © 2012 Season Pass Podcast

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Nick's ERT #8 w/ Mike Collins of CoasterRadio.com-Parks of the UK & Europe!