← The Stacking Benjamins Show
The Stacking Benjamins Show
Make Your Next Theme Park Experience Worth the Money (with Theme Park Insider's Robert Niles)
01:30:00
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- [00:00]
Joe Saul-Sehy
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- [01:14]
OG
I did, yeah. It was fantastic. Wife went playing a golf tournament. I got to hang out with the kids and.
- [01:19]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Awesome.
- [01:20]
Doug
It was good.
- [01:21]
Crystal Hammons
I did some golfing and some fishing.
- [01:23]
Doug
Wow.
- [01:24]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I went to the farmer's markets, which is funny because Doug, you and I used to live close by each other in Michigan and we had the most bougie, over the top farmers market.
- [01:36]
Crystal Hammons
I know. And everybody raves about it and it is awesome. It's just laughable.
- [01:40]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It's. I don't know, I thought it was awesome with the guitar player. I actually bought a CD from the guitar players. You know, 20 years ago now there.
- [01:47]
Crystal Hammons
Were like three farmer stands that actually had a bunch of vegetables and the rest of it was just. It was like a flea market for rich people.
- [01:55]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, 100%. Yeah. No, in the farmers markets, we have two. We, of course we can't have one. We have Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas. The prices are much more real person prices too. Like the cool thing about the one that you and I went to was if you wanted to pay 4x the amount of a carrot cost in a grocery store, go to the farmer's market. You'll feel good. Well, this dude is just taking you.
- [02:20]
Crystal Hammons
To amazing how buying it direct from the producer raises the price forex.
- [02:24]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And you know why? It was the zip code we lived in. Yeah, it's 100% the zip code. But this farmer's market Was. Was really nice and really fun and can't wait to have some baby carrots that we picked up some fresh tomatoes. Just fantastic. But you know what else is fantastic?
- [02:40]
OG
You, Joe, you're fantastic.
- [02:46]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Besides me.
- [02:48]
Crystal Hammons
For weeks he's been trying to bait us into that and we haven't bitten.
- [02:52]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And finally you say it. On behalf of the men and women making podcast in mom's basement and the men and women at Navy Federal Credit Union who serve our troops and their families and our veterans. Here's to the people keeping us safe every weekend while we're at the farmers market, at a golf tournament, hanging out with the kids, whatever. Here's to you. Let's go Stacks and Benjamins now, shall we?
- [03:17]
Doug
Cheers.
- [03:18]
Crystal Hammons
Look at my great Stacking Benjamin's mug.
- [03:20]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It still hasn't come.
- [03:21]
Crystal Hammons
It hasn't showed up yet.
- [03:23]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I don't know, I'll check.
- [03:25]
OG
Showed up or shown up.
- [03:27]
Crystal Hammons
It's funny you say that. That's exactly what I. As the word came out of my mouth, I'm like, oh, he's going to roast me for this. Because you're right. It's. It's shown.
- [03:33]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I think it's be shown up, Morbi.
- [03:36]
OG
Good evening, I'm Ron Burgundy, and this is what's happening in your world tonight.
- [03:46]
Crystal Hammons
Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And let's set aside the roller coaster of the financial markets for a day and instead focus on roller coasters. Here to help us officially usher in summer, as he does every year, we welcome the man behind the biggest theme park website, Robert Niles. You spend a lot of money on entertainment. Robert will help you make sure every dollar is well spent. In our headline segment, are you messing up your portfolio without even knowing it? Yes. After, Robert will head back to the thrill ride that is your stocks and help you turn your results into the tunnel of money love. That sounds weird. And just like that mind reader at the carnival, I have the answer to that question. I know you're asking. Doug, will you thrill us with some mind bending trivia? My answer? Of course I will. And now, two guys who operate the Money Fun House on this property, it's Joe and. Oh. Jaja Juja G.
- [05:08]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Hey there, stackers. Welcome to the top of the hill that is your work week. I am Joe Saul Seah. It's all downhill from here, everybody. It's all downhill from here.
- [05:18]
OG
On a Monday. Doesn't it feel like it's at the bottom of the hill. Big rock in front of you. Push that damn thing all the way up there.
- [05:24]
Joe Saul-Sehy
We're supposed to be motivational, inspirational. Didn't you get the memo?
- [05:27]
OG
Oh, open optimism. My bad. My bad.
- [05:29]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Absolutely. We won't tell them what's really coming on this horror ride.
- [05:32]
OG
You made it all the way to Monday from here.
- [05:35]
Crystal Hammons
Good for you.
- [05:36]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yes.
- [05:37]
OG
Actually kind of is, though, isn't this. I mean, for some people kind of slide the summer like this. Kind of a. Well, it is a quieter week, you know, just.
- [05:46]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And for people who are new to Stacking Benjamins, you know, much like the United States has Punxsutawney Phil, which ushers in at some point, summer is coming. The Stacking Benjamin's community ushers in summer by saying, Robert Niles is on the podcast.
- [06:02]
Crystal Hammons
Meanwhile, down in the south, you guys have been in summer for, like, three months already, and we're still. We're still looking at just this light mist of green in the trees up here, and the ice is just breaking up on the lakes.
- [06:13]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I was talking to Tina, the amazing Tina, who's on our team, and she's sick as a dog. I hope Tina feels better. But we were talking, Doug, about how she has the change in the weather cold that you get each spring.
- [06:24]
Crystal Hammons
Oh, yeah.
- [06:24]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Which is funny because I had it eight weeks ago.
- [06:27]
Crystal Hammons
Right.
- [06:28]
Joe Saul-Sehy
You can. You can see as that. That goes further north and north and north. Well, we got a great show. You know, it does cost a lot of money, Doug, like you said so eloquently to take your family to a theme park. Man, if you've got the chance to take people and have a little bit of fun this summer, you want to make sure it's worth the money. So we kick off summer with the Robert Niles who operates Theme Park Insider, as you said, also, Doug, the biggest website for theme parks on Earth. Robert comes here and tells us what's going on and around the world of theme parks. So I know he just got back from Abu Dhabi where Ferrari World is.
- [07:05]
Crystal Hammons
That's still a thing.
- [07:06]
Joe Saul-Sehy
He's been there two or three times. Well, that's the fastest roller coaster on earth.
- [07:09]
Crystal Hammons
Is it still? I mean, years ago, I remember seeing it, but it seems like every year somebody comes up with a new, faster, taller or whatever better.
- [07:16]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I think it still is. We'll ask him.
- [07:18]
Crystal Hammons
Does it still lose every race like it does on in F1? They just still have a horrible pit crew at the start of the roller coaster.
- [07:27]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Ferrari World, almost.
- [07:30]
Crystal Hammons
But they're sexy. Damn it.
- [07:31]
Joe Saul-Sehy
They got an Empty roller coaster right next to you that runs just ahead.
- [07:35]
Crystal Hammons
Of you for the full experience. That's right. It says Red Bull on that one.
- [07:41]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Ferrari second. Well, lately it's been McLaren.
- [07:45]
Crystal Hammons
Yeah, you're right.
- [07:46]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Anyway, not to dive too far into Formula one, but we do got a great show. And what's cool is we are going to also have an extended not just interview, but discussion over on Stacking Adventures. And for that, guess who's going to help me interview them? It's the one only the Crystal Hammonds here.
- [08:02]
Crystal Hammons
Woohoo.
- [08:03]
OG
Yeah. When he said oui, he wasn't speaking French. He was speaking in Z plural.
- [08:08]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It could be both, Crystal. All right, in just a second, Mr. Theme Park Insider, as I introduced him earlier, is going to be with us. We have a couple of sponsors who make sure that this is free, so you don't pay a dime for any of this. Goodness. We're going to hear from them. And then Crystal, me and the official beginning of summer with Robert Niles.
- [08:28]
OG
Chip, Chip.
- [08:28]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Cheerio. Today's show is sponsored by Strawberry Me Stackers. All right, everybody, let's talk careers. You know, you work hard, you bring in a paycheck, maybe even contribute to your 401k, like a responsible adult gold star for you. But here's the thing. Making money is great, but making the right move to actually grow your career and earn more. Are you doing that because, let's be honest, hoping your boss finally notices you and hands you a raise? That is not a plan. That is a gamble. And unless you're the type of person who gets excited about betting their retirement on meme stocks, you probably want a better strategy. I certainly do. I have a coach, Mary Lou, that I meet with every Monday morning. And Mary Lou and I lay out my week. We talk about doing the things that are important to my family, that are important for my health, and the things that are important for financial literacy and stacking Benjamins and the intersection of all those things. And that's where Strawberry Me career coaching can help you. They'll match you with a certified career coach. Somebody knows how to help you get ahead. Like, my coach helps me negotiate better pay and actually make smart money moves. So you're not leaving money on the table. You've heard me talk about this before. The key is to have people around you, smart people around you, who hold you accountable to getting those things you say that you want for yourself. If you're anything like me, you've been, meaning to, quote, update your resume for, like, the last five years. I Remember what Mary Lou said. Are we going to keep talking about this book? Are you finally going to write it? And I'm very proud of Stacked. But without Mary Lou, I would have never had Stacked. Your career is your biggest financial asset. It's time to start treating in that way. When I started treating it that way, things change. It can be the same for you. So here's the deal. Go to Strawberry Me. It's Strawberry Me stacking, and you'll claim your $50 credit. That's Strawberry Me stacking. Because maximizing your earnings is just as important as maximizing your investments. Strawberry Me does not facilitate or provide healthcare services. Please consult with a healthcare professional. But, guys, let's get smart people around us, shall we? Small business owners. State Farm's there with small business insurance to fit your specific needs. Whether you're starting a new venture or growing an existing one, State Farm helps you choose the right coverage to protect what matters most. Working with a local State Farm agent helps you understand your coverage options. Offering local support to help you achieve your goals. Focus on turning your passion into a thriving business. Knowing your insurance can change as your business grows. Stay Farm here to help you succeed with your business. Like a good neighbor. Stay Farm is there. I don't think summer's officially begun in the basement until he's here. Robert Bells is back. How are you, Mr. Theme Park Insider?
- [11:37]
Doug
I am getting over the jet lag and getting on with the summer.
- [11:40]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Okay, so for everybody that is is hanging out with us, all you stackers, here's what happened. Crystal and I get this email back from Robert saying, can we reschedule this because I'm going to be in Abu Dhabi.
- [11:53]
OG
Jealous.
- [11:53]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And we're like, okay, that's a flex. Just, you know, I'm going to Ferrari World or whatever, Universal in Abu Dhabi. But nope, it turns out he goes. He goes. Make sure you watch Theme Park Insider this week. And. And Crystal, a couple weeks ago, you and I saw some big news out of Abu Dhabi.
- [12:09]
OG
Tell us more.
- [12:10]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah. So, Robert, there's big news from this corporation affiliated with a mouse.
- [12:15]
OG
Yeah.
- [12:15]
Doug
Looks like we've got a Disney theme park coming to Abu Dhabi. Morale has caught the white whale it has been chasing for years and signed a deal to bring Disney to its Yaz island resort in Abu Dhabi. It's going to be Disney's seventh theme park resort worldwide and first one in the Middle East.
- [12:35]
Joe Saul-Sehy
You couldn't tell us at the time when we were setting this up why you were in Abu Dhabi or why you were going? You have this, you know, this nondisclosure you had to sign. But how does that whole process work? Robert, when did you first find out that there might be a deal coming?
- [12:47]
Doug
Okay, technically, they didn't tell me why I was going to Abu Dhabi.
- [12:52]
Joe Saul-Sehy
He just said, get on a plane.
- [12:53]
Doug
Just get on a plane. I got an email from Morale's press agency on April 30 inviting me to come out for a 15th anniversary event where they were going to talk about what's coming to the resort for the next five years ago. And they've got some cool stuff on the books coming out. They've announced a Harry Potter land in their Warner Brothers World Park. They've said that they're going to do a couple new rides in that Warner Brothers park themed to dc. They're talking about new roller coaster at Ferrari World. So there's interesting stuff happening, but the press event was like, five days away. It was ridiculous. That's way too short a turnaround for an international press event. So I was a little suspicious and I contacted some of my friends in the industry who I know cover the uae, and they were all a little suspicious as well. We put a bunch of clues together and we all suspected, this is going to be Disney, but they didn't tell us. In fact, they did not tell us until we got in the room. The chairman of morale, who's like the Minister of Culture for the uae, was just dropping all of these Disney hints, like, we're gonna have a whole new world here. It's a dream that come true. It's all magic. But I can't tell you the way.
- [14:09]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And the weird thing is, Crystal, you don't know this, but Robert's also standing by this guy he met named Bob, who he's standing next to. Yeah, this talkative, chatty guy. I don't know.
- [14:19]
Doug
So finally, finally, he says, I'd like to introduce our new partner, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Robert A. Iger. And he comes out onto the stage and that's when we officially knew.
- [14:28]
Joe Saul-Sehy
How many people are in this room.
- [14:30]
Doug
50.
- [14:31]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Is there like, everybody breathes in at the same time or.
- [14:34]
Doug
Oh, yeah. There was audible gasp in the room. I'd say about half a dozen of us in the media actually knew that it was going to be Disney. In fact, I had sent an email to one of my Disney contacts before I left saying, I don't know, just, you know, I heard a rumor. Does this have anything to do with you guys? And nothing at all for a day or two. And then I Get the can I call you? Email, which is like, I know what's happening here. And they were still like, nope, we're not going to confirm anything until you agree to the embargo. And I'm like, yes, of course I'm agreeing to the embargo. And then finally I got a few details shortly before. Just basically logistical stuff at that point. So we had all the information about 30 minutes before the embargo lifted. And real rush to get all the stories in the video and everything up. But that's the sort of stuff that's just fun in this industry is that when you've got that big scoop coming up and you know when you're going to be able to report it and you know that people are just going to be wowed by it. Then that night they said they were going to have like a little party to celebrate their 15th anniversary, which of course then became like the greatest Disney nighttime spectacular I've ever seen in my entire life. They've got imagine, long, long playing piano, 100 member orchestra, a huge choir. They're out on riser set out in the bay. They've got fountains, they've got Fireworks, they have 9,000 drones forming Disney castles in the sky. If they wanted to send the message that no expense will be spared for morale, to create the greatest Disney experience in the world, that show delivered that message.
- [16:15]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Your job sucks, Robert. I don't know how you put up with all that.
- [16:18]
OG
Oh, man.
- [16:19]
Doug
To be fair, as nice as it is, it's still a 16 hour flight from LA to the UAE and back. And then it was an hour and a half in a car from Dubai over to Abu Dhabi because I wanted the non stop.
- [16:34]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Did you actually get to ride a roller coaster though, while you're in Abu Dhabi? I mean, you got the, what, fastest roller coaster on earth still, right?
- [16:39]
Doug
Yeah, yeah. Formula Rosa there. I did not get on Formula Rosa. I did not have the time to do that. The only ride I went on was animehem, which is the interactive shooter ride over in Warner Brothers World that's themed to the Acme Factory.
- [16:56]
Joe Saul-Sehy
The Bugs Bunny Acme Factory.
- [16:58]
Doug
Yes, the Wile E Coyote Acme Factory. You're going through with like a little scanner scanning out all the packages that you're sending to their best customer out in the American Southwest desert. It is my absolute favorite interactive ride in the world. So I just speed run through that park to go over there. I had like literally 15 minutes to get over to that park, ride that ride and get back over to the hotel. I'M like, I'm doing anime.
- [17:25]
Crystal Hammons
Hell or.
- [17:26]
Joe Saul-Sehy
High water, I'm gonna do that.
- [17:27]
Doug
The queue is beautiful. They've got like, this trophy case for ACME Corporation. It's just cobwebs and broken glass.
- [17:35]
Joe Saul-Sehy
That's fantastic. What, what details do you have on the Disney park? Are there any details at all released yet, Robert?
- [17:41]
Doug
Absolutely, zilch. They wouldn't even tell us the location of it on Yas island, which a lot of us were curious about because that island's pretty well developed. There were only two places that we could identify that they potentially had enough space to do this, and one of them had been platted out for residential development, we believe. So we're kind of suspected that maybe the reason why they haven't said that where they're putting it is they've still got to clear out with maybe some people who had bought in on some real estate in the past and buy some people out or something like that. Or it could be going to another place that we've identified, but that's not technically on the island right now. It's adjacent to the island. So, yeah, I don't know.
- [18:22]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah. Do they have a date?
- [18:23]
Doug
No date. My Disney contacts are all like, remember, the original email said they were going to talk about things they're doing five years out. And so some people have assumed that that means this is coming within five years. But my Disney contacts are all like, we are not committing to a timeline at this point. And the concept art that they released for this is the most vague concept art I have ever seen for a Disney theme park. You can't pick out anything.
- [18:47]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It's like, that's why I asked, because even the photos on Theme Park Insider, I'm like, I get nothing from this.
- [18:52]
Doug
I get absolutely nothing. I don't even really know what the castle looks like. Now. One of the questions we have is, is this going to be every other park that they've developed on Yaz Island? It's indoors. The only things outdoors are the roller coaster tracks. So how much of this is going to be indoors? Now, Disney, they love the big spectacle. They love the huge castle at the end of Main Street. They love all those visual weenies. They love big, big capacity. And if you go indoors, you're necessarily limiting your capacity. So what we are all curious at this point is how much of this park is going to be indoors. And if there's stuff outside, how do you accommodate guest comfort in the Middle east, where it gets roasting hot most of the year? So there's A lot of questions still in there now. They showed a sizzle reel showing, like Zootopia, the new world of Frozen, that they've done some of the hot IP that they've got. I don't know if that means that's going to end up in the Abu Dhabi park or not, but obviously Disney is not lacking for IP to put into a theme park. It's just a question of picking what they're going to go with.
- [19:48]
Joe Saul-Sehy
That's such exciting news in Theme Park World. So the news I was going to talk to you about when we first scheduled this was the obvious news a hell of a lot closer to home. We got a new theme park opening in Orlando. Give us the preview. What's going on in Orlando?
- [20:03]
Doug
Universal Orlando's new Epic Universe. And I don't think it's any surprise that Disney dropped the news about Abu Dhabi just before Epic Universe opened.
- [20:11]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Isn't that weird?
- [20:11]
Doug
The pettiness between these two companies will never cease to amuse me. If one does one thing, the other has to one up them somehow. So we'll see. See, like how big an orchestra they can get for the Epic Universe. So they're probably furiously ordering drones right now. We need more than 9,000 drones. We need 9,001 drones, whatever you do. But yeah. Epic Universe officially opens May 22nd at the Universal Orlando Resort. It's actually at this new south campus of the Universal Orlando Resort. If you're familiar with Orlando, it's down by the Orange County Convention center, that huge convention center on South International Drive. So they've got new land down there. They've got three new hotels, they've got this new theme park and plans for plenty more to put down there. But I got to check out Epic Universe during a press preview in April. Absolutely spectacular. One of the best theme parks in the world. Couple of amazing new attractions there. Universal, for the first time, is built in entire land based on its classic monsters. Frankenstein's monster, the wolfman, Dracula, all of those classic monsters. There's a wonderful new attraction there called Monsters Unchained that I think really is going to set the standard for dark rides. Only surpassed by their new Harry Potter ride, which is set in the Ministry of Magic. You actually go through the FLU network. You are in the queue. That is the Ministry of Magic from the movies. 100% accuracy. You feel like you're right there. And you go on this amazing new dark ride that they have where they have animatronics of people. I never thought they'd get approval to do animatronics of I won't spoil what specific actors they are, but some of the actors from the Harry Potter films have reprised their roles for this particular attraction and it is absolutely wonderful. Uptime has been a real challenge for that attraction. During the preview period when we got on, we were the very first people outside of Universal Creative that had been allowed on that. I've got the full queue video on the website at this point, but they didn't allow us to take any on ride video. That's going to be with the virtual queue only to get into that attraction. So that's going to be a little bit of a trick, but absolutely worth the effort if you can get on it. You're going to have to go on the app and join a virtual queue in order to get in. So it's a little bit of a lottery rather than just going into a regular queue and spending eight hours hoping that it stays up and that you get in.
- [22:40]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It still makes me feel bad, Robert. Between that and the virtual queue stuff that Disney's done, like if you haven't gone to Theme Park Insider ahead of time or any site, if you've done no homework and you just pick up the kids and you go to the theme park, you're kind of screwed. Like you really have to prep now before you take the family to the park.
- [22:57]
Doug
That is the nature of the beast at these days, which I suppose is wonderful for me and other people who are doing this business of providing news about visiting theme parks. But yeah, if you do the advanced research, you have such a massive advantage over people who do not at this point because you need to know about things like virtual cues for top attractions. Those are relatively rare at this point, but that is certainly an issue if you want to get on the best ride at Epic Universe. You're going to have to navigate what they call the virtual line in order to do that. And then just with early entry that exists, if you just roll up with Epic Universe Opens, you're going to notice there's a whole bunch of people in the park already because the people who stay on Universal Orlando's hotels are going to get into the park early and they're going to get to go Super Nintendo World and the new Stardust Racers roller coasters before anyone else.
- [23:45]
Joe Saul-Sehy
You told me in the past that staying on site Universal is mathematically great and the theming of these hotels is really good. Is that value still around in 2025?
- [23:57]
Doug
A lot of that value is still around. They are not doing the same. Universal Express Unlimited Perk inside Epic Universe just yet. But everyone expects that to happen sometime relatively soon. But the early entry is certainly worth it. The convenience of being right there, certainly worth it. They have a new Helios Grand Hotel that's actually within Epic Universe. So you step out of the hotel and you are in the park already. And in fact, you're in the side of the park, the complete opposite side from the public entrance. So if you want to get to Harry Potter or Monsters Unchained first, you have a huge advantage because they're right next to the Helios Grand Hotel.
- [24:36]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Your pictures of that hotel, by the way, Robert, make that hotel's beautiful too.
- [24:40]
Doug
It's absolutely stunning. I think it might be the best hotel that they've ever done. So, yeah, Universal and Universal consistently way underpriced compared to Walt Disney World's on site hotels. I know a lot of people who do Disney World vacations and they stay at Universal Orlando because if you're going to do both of those parks in one go, the better value for the hotel very often is at Universal Orlando. Now the situation at Walt Disney World is so structured around Disney Vacation Club at this point. They really want to get people into that timeshare program. And for people who have bought into that, particularly if you bought into it years ago, great value there. Absolutely great value. But if you're coming in just as a hotel guest, if you're not bought into the DVC program or you're not renting points from someone in the DVC program, a lot of the times just as a regular hotel guest, you're going to get better value for your money going to Universal Orlando, which does not have a timeshare component onto it. So that's not influencing the pricing and the demand for those hotels.
- [25:40]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Let's dive into that for a second because there's a piece I saw just a couple days ago at the New York Post, which was about a father of a family of four who said that he, he spent all included just less than $1,400 on food and park tickets for a day.
- [26:00]
OG
A day.
- [26:01]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And he felt like, Robert, he really felt ripped off. He totally felt like he was ripped off.
- [26:07]
Doug
Here's the problem. Nobody should ever contemplate a one day visit to Walt Disney World. Just the way that park is priced is to encourage you to spend at least four days there. They actively park price it to discourage one day visit. If you want to do a one day visit to a Disney theme park, go to Disneyland in California or go to any of the other Disney Theme parks around the world. Go to Hong Kong, go to Paris, go to Tokyo. Actually, Tokyo is so good you want to spend at least two days there. But no way should anyone ever even contemplate a one day visit to the Walt Disney World Resort. It's just simply the economics of that visit don't work, as we saw in that article, because you're paying a huge upfront price for a ticket there. And then they start discounting that second and third and fourth and fifth day. By the time you get to like the sixth or seventh day, they're practically throwing it in for free at that point because they really want you to be spending close to the whole week at Walt Disney World and they price it to encourage that. One day visits are absolutely crazy.
- [27:11]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Regardless of the amount we spend, whether we're going to one of your favorite places, Holiday World in Indiana, Cedar Point, which my sister and I went back to again last year, had so much fun after talking to you. I was even more geeked last year to go back to the the point. But how do we make it worth the money? Is there a certain time we should arrive? Are there days of the week we should go? Like what types of things can really help our stackers make this a good use of whatever amount of money we end up spending?
- [27:37]
Doug
You really have to think about are you interested in going more than once? Are you interested in something this is you're going to do on a regular basis? At that point you want to be looking into things like annual passes. If you're really into Disney and going all the time, he really consider buying into dvc. It can be a great deal. If you're buying Disney in bulk, they will sell it to you in bulk like that. But if you're just a casual visitor, you like going a lot of different places and you just want to drop into a theme park to ride a few roller coasters or something like that. Great. Obviously always get the tickets in advance. We've got discount tickets on themeparkinsider.com all of the parks have discount advanced purchase tickets on their own websites. Go purchase your tickets in advance for that.
- [28:15]
Joe Saul-Sehy
For Cedar Point last year, Robert, I believe we did bought tickets. My sister and I bought tickets in February or March to go in July after we spoke with you last year. And I think I got like a 40% discount.
- [28:27]
Doug
Yeah.
- [28:27]
Joe Saul-Sehy
By buying during the winter. So yeah, huge. Huge.
- [28:30]
Doug
SA if you can go on weekdays, that's always the best. Weekdays during the school year when the park is open is the absolute best time to go. But if you go get there early, consider the on site hotel. If they offer them. I know Cedar Point does all the Disney parks do? Universal does. A lot of the Six Flags parks do not. But if they have an on site hotel, there's usually some type of early entry benefit which allows you to get on a couple of the top rides early before there's any big queues on that. That might be worth the extra money. Plus the convenience of being right there at the park. If you want like take a little break in the afternoon when the lines are ridiculous, you're right there. You've got a hotel that's worth looking at. If it's not in your budget, fine. There's always lots of budget price hotels near theme parks. Little shorter drive away, but getting there first thing and trying to get on whatever you can first thing in the morning. If you've got the stamina to stick around until late in the day, the very last hour of the park, things get easy to get on as well. Parks also sell skip the line type of passes. They all have different brand names for them. Now it's Universal Express at Universal, Lightning Lane at Disney, Flash pass at the Six Flags parks, quick queue I think at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens that might be worth your budget. If you've got a one day visit, you're not going to be around again for a while. You really want to get on these attractions. If it looks like it's kind of crowded, maybe it's worth your time to spend a little extra money and get that line skipping pass. So there are lots of different ways that parks make it so that it can be easy and convenient and fun to see everything in the park. But again, always a little advanced research, looking at what your options are, looking at the products that are available and deciding which ones are the right ones for you are going to increase your chances of having the best possible day at the park.
- [30:14]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Man, I know I learned from you to go early and that pay dividends ever since then the past few years and even from your community. Robert, which ride you ride first? Like what's that line that's good. It might not be your favorite ride, but what's the line that's going to be huge later on? You know, at the Magic Kingdom as an example, Peter Pan first ride of the day. Get that because otherwise you're going to be in hell.
- [30:35]
Doug
The insider secret here is it's not about the popularity of the ride, it's about the capacity of the ride versus its popularity. So something like Peter Pan is a Pretty low capacity ride. It's got moderate demand, but because that moderate demand is hitting something with very low supply, that's how you end up with the big queue. You can have attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean. More people want to go on Pirates of the Caribbean than want to go on Peter Pan. Pirates of the Caribbean is a people eater. I mean, you can put a couple thousand people an hour through that attraction. It's never going to have the big line that Peter Pan has simply because of the capacity. And that's the insider information that you need to know in order to pick which ride you're going to go to first in the morning.
- [31:17]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Crystal, you were excited about technology and some of the technology around the country, that's. Or around the world even that's happening.
- [31:24]
OG
Well, yeah, because people talk about, you know, like the lines are, they're getting longer and longer. Like back in our day, we had our imagination while we were standing in these long lines. So as we're coming to you, our professor, and getting our PhD in theme parks, what are like, what ways have they used tech to make our experiences more enjoyable?
- [31:44]
Doug
The main thing, everybody, everyone's got an app at this point and everyone's app has live wait times. Now, there's a debate on how accurate those live wait times are, but that's your number one tool to use technology to your advantage so that you know what the current wait times are around the park. Used to be you had to go walk up to the queue and, and see what they'd posted at the entrance to the queue. Okay, 30 minute wait, 60 minute wait. Now you've got that in the palm of your hand. Through the park's official app, you've got that information. They also may allow you through the app in order to book one of those line skipping experiences for an upcharge or a virtual line if they're using that for their attraction. Also to know what attractions are up and down, I mean, if something goes down and then you see in the app, oh, this just reopened, get over there right now. Because they dumped the whole queue when the ride was closed. It's like rope drop at the beginning of the day. All of a sudden it's a redo. There's no one in that queue. This is your chance to get into it, but also within the queues themselves. And Disney and Universal are great at this. It's no longer just that switchback back and forth, walking on concrete through metal poles and stuff. They've made cues part of the experience. I mean, if you think about Something like, I love Secret Life of Pets at Universal Studios Hollywood. You're walking through this New York, the stylized fantasy, you know, Illumination Entertainment version of a New York apartment complex which is themed to Secret Life of Pets. They're little animatronic pets. There's videos of, you know, pets going through the heating ducts and stuff like that. It's all part of the show. From the moment you walk into that attraction, you're supposedly in the queue waiting for the ride, but it's all show right there. And there's a lot of technology and set dressing and production design that goes into all of that. So parks are finding ways to make sure that you're not lacking for entertainment for any time that you're in that park. The minute you walk in that gate, they're doing something to entertain you, even if you're waiting in line.
- [33:44]
Joe Saul-Sehy
What's the hidden gem? I mean, you just mentioned Universal Hollywood. What's the hidden gem park? If we're taking a trip to Southern California that people might not think about when they're first planning, but they're might want to consider if you've got kids.
- [33:56]
Doug
Who are in elementary school, Legoland. No matter where you are in the country or the world, if you've got elementary age kids, Legoland should be your top priority, even ahead of Disney, because it's specifically designed for families with kids in that age range. They're doing a lot of like Lego Festival stuff right now. They just are doing a lot of really great work on stuff that is scaled for, aimed, designed for, and interactive enough that it actually feels like active play. It doesn't feel like you're just going waiting in line, sitting on something, watching something happen, that you're actually in there playing on something. And it's such a great experience for families there around other parks of the country. The stuff I'm recommending right now, you mentioned Holiday World earlier, which is still a great park that I recommend for people who are out in the Midwest. But also two parks that Hirschend runs that I absolutely adore. Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri and Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I think those are a couple of the best run parks in America at this point in terms of quality that I think is on the Disney level. The decoration that's on that level, the attractions, maybe they're a little bit simpler, but the customer service is unparalleled. The food's great, the atmosphere is wonderful and the price is way less than you'll be paying in Orlando or Southern California. So if you can get to one of those two parks of the country, Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, I think are well worth your attention.
- [35:23]
OG
So then what are you splurging on at the parks and what are you skimping on?
- [35:27]
Doug
Oh, great question. For me, I am all about the attractions, the experiences that are designed there that are unique to the park. So if I get in and I see this park is pretty crowded, the thing I'll splurge on is that front of line pass because I want to make sure I'm getting on the attractions that I want to experience when I'm there. The thing I'm probably skimping on, honestly at most parks is food. At most parks, the food experience is pretty bland. So unless it's a park that's really known for food and then I will splurge on the specific food items that they're known for. Like I just said, Silver Dollar City, if I go there, I'm getting a loaf of cinnamon bread no matter what. But in terms of other things in the parks, maybe I can get by on a few snacks here and there. Because I would rather get by on a snack and get in on that ride I really want to get than have an overpriced sit down mall food meal and miss out on a great attraction. So another thing I skimp on, honestly, I'm not a merchandise type of guy. Some people love coming in and shopping for the souvenirs. To me it's more about the experience than the physical product itself. So I'm not somebody who's going big in on merchandise. But other people, you know, like I said, they've got so many different ways to appeal to so many different people. Whatever your jam is, they'll have it for you there. If you want the merchandise, go do that. If you don't care about the ride so much, don't spend the money on the front of line pass. So it's just really all comes down to personal. But for me, those are where my priorities lie.
- [37:05]
Joe Saul-Sehy
What about the carnival games? Guess your weight, Robert. We guess your weight.
- [37:08]
Doug
No way. Actually a long time ago and we probably need to revisit this. We actually had an article about how to win all of the carnival games on theme parkinsider.com that's one of our great articles back in the archives. I'm going to dig that up and put it on the discussion board. So there is definitely a way to win all of those. Most people don't know that. Most people don't do it. And you're pretty much Throwing the money away. And even if you do win, I know you lose the amount. I've been to the big IAAPA convention and there's the big industry convention in Orlando every November. And you've got all the people down there who are selling all of the plush toys that they're giving away for prizes. And I know what they're paying wholesale for those prizes. Even if every single person who put down their couple of bucks or whatever to play won, they'd still be money ahead based on how much they paid for those prizes.
- [37:56]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I saw somebody carrying around like one of those big minions from Despicable Me and I couldn't imagine winning that 11am and now I gotta carry it around the park or rent a locker, take it back to my car, whatever that, whatever that might be.
- [38:09]
Doug
Some people love that. That's why they're there. That's the experience for them. And bless you. I mean, go for it. I'm happy you're having a great time. That ain't me though.
- [38:19]
Joe Saul-Sehy
A year ago you and I were talking about Six Flags, the name everybody knows, and Cedar Point parent company Cedar Fair merging. And your comment then was that you thought they keep the Six Flags name, which they did, and that Cedar Fairs management would run the place and you thought that that might be good for consumers. I noticed that if you're somebody in the Northeast though, you've now, you know, have Six Flags America that goes bye bye at the end of this year. Are there other parks around the country that you're seeing Six Flags close?
- [38:51]
Doug
Well, the California's Great America park in the Bay Area, which was a former legacy Cedar Fair Park. Cedar Fair had already done a deal to sell the land under that park. They had a 10 up to 10 year lease to keep it open. But at some point that park is going to close. That and Six Flags America, which are In Maryland, suburban D.C. those are the two that we know are going away at some point with America going away at the end of this season. Six Flags management has said, which is the old Cedar Fair management, as you mentioned, has said they don't have any current plans to close any more parks, but they have said that their analysis of their assets is ongoing. So even though they don't have a plan right now to close a park, that doesn't mean they won't have a plan at some point in the future. It's really going to come down to what kind of money are they making on these parks and where does the real estate market go. I know that right now for A variety of macroeconomic factors. Development in this country is getting. Building is getting to be a little bit tough. Certainly tough here. I mean, I'm in Southern California, just down the road from Altadena. You can't get anybody to build anything right now because there is so much such demand for people trying to rebuild up there. That's kind of cooled down a little bit of the real estate, commercial real estate market in some markets. Because if you buy it, you can't really do anything with it. So that might keep some of the parks open a little bit longer. I would be surprised if that's all we see close or get sold in the Six Flags market. I think they might be in the market to sell some parks to independent operators or other chains that are looking to expand or get into this business. And frankly, I would love to see more independent operators in this business. Some of the smaller chains, some of the family owned parks, these are some of the best run parks in the country. I mean, I love it when you've got like a family running one park like Holiday World as opposed to this is part of a 30 park portfolio chain. You get so much more personal attention from management at that point. It can be a wonderful thing. We'll see what happens with it. But I don't think that everything is finished in terms of changes at Six Flags at this stage.
- [40:59]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Is it worth it to make a special trip this year if you're on the east coast or in the Bay Area to say goodbye to either one of these parks?
- [41:09]
Doug
Bay Area, I think we probably got another couple of years with that park. Six Flags America, if it's a park you've been to before that you have some nostalgia for, certainly, if not the big attractions there, I think are going to end up getting moved to other Six Flags parks. That's a way that they can save money on attraction development. Like they just did a refurb of one of their lands last year where they added a few new flat rides to that. We're going to be seeing those move to other Six Flags parks around the country. But if this is something that you've been to before, you've got some nostalgia for, absolutely. Go and have that opportunity to say goodbye. If you've never been to the park before, I think maybe you might be able to find a better experience at other parks around the country than going to this one that's on its final season. But hey, you. Do you.
- [41:52]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah. Crystal, have you been. That's in your backyard. Have you been there?
- [41:54]
OG
No, I've been To Busch Gardens, though. I was like, I'm a Busch Gardens kind of gal.
- [41:57]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, Williamsburg. Yeah.
- [41:59]
OG
Great park.
- [42:00]
Joe Saul-Sehy
That's another one of Robert's favorites. I love that park.
- [42:02]
Doug
In fact, they've got a new Big Bad Wolf, Wolf's Revenge family roller coaster that's opening up on, I think, May 23rd.
- [42:09]
Joe Saul-Sehy
So the big Bad Wolf is back?
- [42:12]
Doug
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not the same Big Bad Wolf as it was before. It's a different Big Bad Wolf, but it's also a suspended coaster, and it's one that's really designed for family. It's very similar to a coaster called Phoenix Rising that opened at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, their sister park in Florida. Last year they bought two from the same manufacturer, and now Williamsburg is getting its installed, and they decided to name it after the old Big Bad Wolf ride that they used to have there. That was replaced ultimately by the Verbolten roller coaster. As we go into roller coaster geekiness here in the basement.
- [42:42]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Well, and that is the last thing. You know, we got stackers yelling at their device to, like, ask, because, you know, most years we haven't had this much news. Robert, you and I are going around the country talking about all the roller coasters. What's the roller coaster, the hot new thing? Before all this news, is there anything in a regional theme park that's a hot new coaster?
- [42:58]
Doug
A lot of us are looking forward to Sirens Curse at Cedar Point this year. You know, they just brought back Top Thrill two, which only ran for like, two days last year and has already exceeded that this year. So Top Thrill 2 is back there at Cedar Point this year. So that's basically a new coaster for everyone. Plus, they're adding segments. Siren's Curse, which is a tilt coaster where you go out the track is just straight and then tilts down 90 degrees and drops you.
- [43:22]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, Lord.
- [43:24]
Doug
That's coming sometime this summer. If you want to go north of the border up into Canada, They've got a new coaster at Kansas Wonderland called Alpen Fury that's opening. Supposed to have the most inversions of any coaster in North America. Looks absolutely spectacular. I'm hoping to get up there for that. In terms of.
- [43:38]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Looks like a neat park in general. Robert, just what I've seen.
- [43:41]
Doug
That is a great fun, fun park. I highly recommend that one. It's all around this thing. It's called Wonder Mountain, this big mountain right in the middle of the park. And Alpen Fury is going to be going up and around that. But they've got like seven attractions in or around that mountain, plus all of the extra land around that as well, right next to Toronto. So it's a super easy. So again, if you're just kind of doing a visit and you're visiting Toronto and you just want to throw a theme park visit into that Canada's Wonderland, absolutely wonderful. Worth doing. So that's a great coaster. Honestly, I think my favorite coaster at the US this year, though, might be an epic universe. That Stardust Racers coaster. I did that. I was screaming the entire time. There was one point where I realized I need to close my mouth because my body is getting so dry from air blowing in at 65 miles an hour into my open, screaming mouth. I'm just like, okay, just chug a liter of water after that one. Great, great new coaster.
- [44:38]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, that's every time Robert's here, Crystal. I just want to spend a bajillion dollars and just go around the country. If only there were a website online where we could get, like, the latest news. Yes.
- [44:49]
Doug
Wait a minute.
- [44:50]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Tell the new people why we love Theme Park Insider so much. Robert.
- [44:54]
Doug
Theme Park Insider, It's a consumer's guide to the world's best theme parks. When I talk about consumers, I'm talking about everybody else. We do an annual poll where people rate and review attractions. We've got, put it up in one page consumer guides that we've got for, I think, 47 theme parks around the world. All the Disney, all the Universal, the major Six Flags parks, Sea World, all of them are there. It'll give you that insider information about what's the first ride that you go to in the morning, where do you get your tickets, how do you get the discounts? All linked there with the rating of the attractions. Plus, we've got news on our front page every single day of the year, multiple posts about what's happening, such as, hey, they're going to have a big thing Disney theme park in Abu Dhabi. And we had that first. And then stuff that's on our discussion forum where people are sharing trip reports, answering questions that other readers have.
- [45:40]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I love the discussion forums, too. People ask great questions. People are so nice.
- [45:44]
Doug
And we're very hard to keep this as a very civil community. I think a lot of people are nostalgic for what the web was 10, 15, 20 years ago. It's like what happened to all of the fun discussion forums and websites. It still exists@themeParkInsider.com so come on by. We'd be happy to have you.
- [46:02]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It totally does. Robert, thank you so much for mentoring us. On summer fun.
- [46:07]
Doug
Always my pleasure.
- [46:08]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It's finally summertime because Robert's been to the basement.
- [46:11]
Doug
Yes, always great to be here.
- [46:18]
Crystal Hammons
Hey there Stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug and I love it when Robert Niles talks theme parks. All those coasters and spinners and loop de loops. It can make your head spin. Much like the stock market, huh? One minute people think it's all gloom and doom and the next they're soaring high again. Let's ask a stock market question, huh? Since 1929, the stock market has been down seven times over multiple consecutive calendar years. So like at the end of the year when they added all the up, it's negative for two years in a row at least. So when was the last time that happened? I'll be back right after I go tell Joe's mom that a ravioli is better than a Cedar Point corn dog. That's a compliment for the ages.
- [47:11]
Joe Saul-Sehy
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- [48:11]
Crystal Hammons
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- [48:14]
Joe Saul-Sehy
That's what Uber is all about. Not just a ride or dinner at your door.
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Crystal Hammons
It's how Uber helps you show up.
- [48:20]
Joe Saul-Sehy
For the moments that matter. Because showing up can turn a tough day around or make a good one even better.
- [48:27]
Crystal Hammons
Whatever it is, big or small, Uber.
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Joe Saul-Sehy
Is on the way so you can be on yours.
- [48:33]
OG
Uber on Our Way.
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Doug
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Crystal Hammons
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Joe Saul-Sehy
Take one or two courses at a.
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Doug
Time and complete as many as you.
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Joe Saul-Sehy
Can in a 12 week billing session. With Flexpath, you can even finish the.
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Doug
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Joe Saul-Sehy
Think with Capella University?
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Doug
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- [49:02]
Joe Saul-Sehy
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- [49:12]
Crystal Hammons
Hey there, stackers. I'm corn dog lover and guy who's just a little. Slightly misunderstood. Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. Apparently, Joe's mom doesn't think that comparing her ravioli to a cedar point corn dog is at all a compliment. I mean, come on, who doesn't think that taking a hot dog, put it on a stick, slathering it and breading, and then for frying it isn't anything other than delicious? Well, no accounting for taste. Next thing you know, she'll think fried Oreos are a Texas State Fair fad. Here's something that's not a fad, though. The great trivia answer the question was this. While the stock market has dropped seven times for consecutive years, when was the last time, while you may remember the horror show, that was 2007. 2000. Believe it or not, the market only dropped for one of those years. The last time was actually back in 2000 to 2002. And now here comes two guys who still think of 2000 is Y2K. Yeah. That's how old they are. Joe and OG.
- [50:17]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It is funny you think, oh, you're talking about Y2. Remember how bad Doug, the Y2K thing was?
- [50:22]
Crystal Hammons
Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, I worked for a company at the time.
- [50:25]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Seminars that. Tons and tons of seminars.
- [50:27]
Crystal Hammons
Oh, yeah. And I worked for a company at the time that frankly got huge because they had the one solution. At least on the mainframe side, they had the one solution that would do the conversion, would. Would prevent you from. From the world from crashing as it switched from 99 to 2000. And wouldn't think that you were going back in time to 1900.
- [50:46]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah. For all of our younger stackers, what Y2K was. Oh, God, tell us, Grandpa, computers that use two digits for the year.
- [50:58]
OG
Well, this is what they thought.
- [50:59]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It's got a four digits. They thought it would recycle back to 1900.
- [51:02]
Crystal Hammons
Right.
- [51:03]
Joe Saul-Sehy
So, yeah. So these computers would all sudden shut down. And we were, we were hearing all these things about the grid was going to shut down, that the, you know, the phone systems might shut down, the Internet might blow up.
- [51:12]
Crystal Hammons
To this day, water systems. To this day, we have about 15 or 20 jugs of water in our basement because do you remember we were all filling up our bathtubs.
- [51:23]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah.
- [51:23]
Crystal Hammons
And we were filling up jugs of water because we thought the water system like Municipal water systems were going to go down.
- [51:29]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I may still have a photo I took.
- [51:30]
OG
You still have that water in your basement.
- [51:32]
Crystal Hammons
You've carted it around. Time the jugs start collapsing because the water is like somehow evaporating through the plastic or through the cat. I don't know how because it's not leaking on the floor. These jugs are like caved in.
- [51:44]
Joe Saul-Sehy
He can't believe OG just how big bacteria can get when you let it sit long enough.
- [51:49]
Crystal Hammons
It's totally safe though, right?
- [51:51]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yes. Its name is Sparky. He pets it, feeds it. It's wonderful bacteria in that water. This idea of consecutive annual decreases og just show how rare it is for a market that doesn't spring back over a fair amount of time. I mean the reason I love this trivia, Doug that you brought up is because of the fact that as I'm in online forums and people are going should I go to gold? Basically what they're saying is should I decrease my standard deviation? Right. Should I go to bond? Should I go to gold? Should I go to. I'm still seeing all this stuff. It looks, oh, I read again that there's now a 90% chance that we're going into a recession. So I'm thinking I need to decrease my risk. So I hold on to everything. I mean, seven times since 1928 we've had more than one calendar year and clearly, oh gee, I don't think we want to. Well, what's the phrase? Catch a falling knife? I don't think we want to do that. But I think this idea that we've got a multi year thing is far more of a black swan event unicorn than we think that it is.
- [52:53]
OG
Well, I mean I think when it comes to evaluating stock market returns over a short period of time, that's a fool's game to begin with. But if you insist on doing it, you have to live in kind of where the reality is, which is, you know, the average inter year decline is 14% so you shouldn't get stressed out until there's a minus 14 or greater. That's just you're not even to average yet if you're at 14. And then this fact about having two bad years in a row is exceedingly rare. And then on top of that just look at like how long. So you know, the question of course is like are we headed toward a recession? And the market is going to respond before and before, before we're in the recession and before we're out of the recession. If you're waiting for some Government entity to go, oh, by the way, it's a recession. And you go, oh, geez, I gotta do something with my money. It's already happened, right? It's looking in the rearview mirror and then you're waiting for somebody to say, oh, we're out of the recession. It's already happened. We're already on the other side of it by then. It's just not a game that's worth trying to time and play because you're going to be wrong more times than you're right. It's like me and vodka.
- [53:56]
Crystal Hammons
You're wrong.
- [53:58]
Joe Saul-Sehy
You're right.
- [54:00]
Crystal Hammons
Didn't see that coming.
- [54:01]
OG
You just have to learn your lesson. Just stick to Michelob Ultra as a red wine.
- [54:05]
Joe Saul-Sehy
How can something that looks like water be bad for you? Come on.
- [54:08]
OG
Exactly. And then you just mix it with a little bit of, you know, Concord grape juice, maybe some ginger beer and some lime and got yourself a little transfusion. And you go, wow, how can this be bad? It's got fruit juice and, you know, it's fantastic.
- [54:20]
Crystal Hammons
It's like me and heroin. What?
- [54:24]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Wow. Yeah, that got real in a hurry. Well, I don't want to expand that argument, Doug, but I do want to expand this discussion because I think a lot of people are surprised. It was in 2000, 2007, 2008. That was a downturn that, you know, we all.
- [54:36]
OG
Yeah, 7 was at almost an all time high. Late October.
- [54:39]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah, we all remember. It is just.
- [54:40]
OG
And then 2009 was positive, right?
- [54:43]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Just horrible. Let's expand this with today's headline. Hello, darlings. And now it's time for your favorite part of the show.
- [54:50]
OG
Our stacking Benjamin's headlines.
- [54:52]
Joe Saul-Sehy
In our headline on this similar topic, Jason's wig. OG out with a Just another piece of brilliance for the Wall Street Journal. If you've never read Jason's column, highly, highly recommend it. But we're going to take you through a little bit of it today. Jason writes the mistake you're making in today's stock market without even knowing it. Did you read this one?
- [55:13]
OG
OG I did not know.
- [55:15]
Joe Saul-Sehy
This is absolutely super. He wrote this on April 25, Jason says with the turmoil over tariffs jolting the market day after day, the most significant question for investors is this. What's in your memory bank if you're young, you know, stocks and bitcoin can lose money at lightning speed. Just think of March 2020 or 2022. But your experience also tells you they'll bounce back even faster and go on to new highs. If you're a Middle aged bond investor, you live through almost nothing but falling interest rates and bountiful returns from 81 through early 2022. In an earlier generation, the stock market crash of 1929 haunted many investors who shunned stocks for decades after. What's amazing OG is he goes on to talk about the science of your brain and your experience teaching you things that may not be true in the future. Just because you live through X amount of stuff and you missed out on why stuff. You're going to have either aversion 2 or 3 attractiveness to an asset class and we got to watch out for that, he says. Peter Bernstein, a financial historian investment strategist who died in 2009, like to say that investors have memory banks. The market returns collectively earned by people of similar age and experience shapes expectations. The problem is your memory bank can deceive you in dangerous ways.
- [56:43]
OG
I mean, your brain has no ability to discern between vivid imagination and reality. And the perfect way to explain this, if you find that a little hard to believe, is if you're in a relationship, if you're married, or you have a significant other that's a hallucinate. It's not real.
- [57:01]
Joe Saul-Sehy
We're just here to tell you. It's all.
- [57:02]
OG
Where I'm going with this is. And I know you guys have had this happen. I've had it happen where you might have a dream about your spouse, where she does something that kind of pees you off right in your dream and you wake up and you're angry and you can't figure out why you're angry with your spouse for half the day and then you go, wait, why am I? Like, that was a dream. I can't be, I can't hold. That wasn't a dream, you know, or maybe it's happened to you where you're going like, why are you so mad at me? It's like in my dream you did this. Like, what, why am I, why am I being punished for what's in your dream?
- [57:30]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Well, even think about in the moment when you watch a scary movie. Oh, gee, you know, yeah, I don't do that.
- [57:35]
OG
That's. No, no scary movies. But yes, it's a great example, right. Kind of willing suspension of disbelief. So it's like if you have an experience, whether you imagine the experience or it's an actual experience, it's the same thing in your psyche. And so if you spend a lot of energy and you make the sensation of a market decline. Let's just take that as an example, right? The Market's going down. And you start spending a lot of mental energy on that. Oh my gosh, the market's going down. It might mean I have to work a little bit longer. You start getting kind of like, I'm going to be die penniless. And, you know, all that energy, your brain is going, we need to do something. We need to get out of the fight or flight. Right? We need to get out of this. This chaos. I don't want to be a part of this. And that motivates you to take action, which, you know, sometimes is not the right decision versus understanding how this works and vers and understanding how different buckets of money help you. Right? Here's my short term money. Here's my one to three years of cash. Here's my five to seven years of market money. Here's my ten plus years of market. As you start thinking about that, you go, oh, well, my cat, you know, three years. And using like Doug's trivia today, it's like, well, what's the likelihood of there being two bad years in a row? I saw a chart the other day on Reddit, which I just absolutely hate. And it's so used for situations like we're kind of in right now with a lot of volatility. It's like, you know, if you lose 50% of your money, it takes 100% return to get back to it. You know, as if to say, like, when was the last time you saw 100% return on a stock? While mathematically that's true, it's a little, you know, it's B.S.
- [59:18]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Well, I think what you don't like is it's teaching an uneducated investor to do the wrong thing. It's pointing you toward do the wrong thing.
- [59:25]
OG
If the market's down 66%, you know, you need to earn a 200% return to get back to it. When was the last time you saw the market go up 200%? Like, okay, settle down. When's the last time you saw it go down 66%?
- [59:37]
Crystal Hammons
I was just going to say that. Yeah.
- [59:39]
OG
If you look at what really goes on and you understand the stuff Doug talked about in his trivia, you understand average market declines in a year, how long recessions last, how many there have been. There's only been nine of them since World War II. My grandparents aren't even alive anymore who served in World War II. There's a lot of grandparents who aren't alive. Yeah, I mean, that's how long ago that was, right? Like nine. Nine Recessions come on, that's not a lot. And a few more market declines, but at the end of the day, that's why I think if you program that into your psyche, if you go, here's what my expectations are. People make bad investment decisions when expectations do not meet reality. And it works both directions. Right now we're seeing bad investment decisions on things like, I didn't know I could go down 15% in four days. I'm going to make a bad decision.
- [60:32]
Crystal Hammons
Right.
- [60:33]
OG
And we make it the other way, too. We don't see we're not doing it right now, but the other side of it is like, wait, bitcoin can go up 100% in four days. I want some of that. Because our expectations are not aligned with.
- [60:44]
Crystal Hammons
What reality is or what's being screamed at us. And this is a little bit redundant of what you just said, but, I mean, a few weeks ago, I think it ended on early May, like in the 6th or something like that. The S&P 500, not the NASDAQ, the S&P 500, kind of the nice, stable, boring index. Right. It had the longest winning streak it had had since 2004, over 20 years. Right. But we weren't really hearing that. We were hearing all about volatility to our point in the open, the intro when we were talking about the roller coaster. And it's just so easy to make rash decisions based on the vibe that's being screamed at you from social media instead of just sticking to your plan.
- [61:26]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Well, there's also a reason for that, Doug, and I think it's because we all want to. You know, we're all looking for the tea leaves. We're looking for the weather report. Not about the great years we have behind us, but what's it going to do tomorrow? And if I made good money, I want to hold on to that money. Like, it's like it's made people going, hey, okay, all of this negativity in the media, I'm going to lose all this money that I made. I want to hold on to it. So I'm going to go do something stupid.
- [61:49]
Crystal Hammons
Yeah, let's go to stupid. Don't forget, fear sells a lot more newspapers. And yes, it's a. It just. It sells more newspapers than positivity does.
- [62:00]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Well, even that statistic that OG talked about, you know, it's got to go up 100%. That also tricks our brain into going, oh, I just got to make sure I don't lose 50 so that I. And we're already down 10. I'm 1/5 of the way there. He, he goes through several of these investing beliefs that our memory banks often hold depending on what age you are and how they might not be true. The first one is growth crushes value, he said for most of the past decade and a half, value stocks, companies with lower share prices relative to their earnings and assets, have limped along far behind higher price growth stocks like Apple, Nvidia, Tesla. So far this year though, and this is, remember, written at the end of April. So a few weeks ago, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, the standard bearer for bargain hunting in the stock market, had gained 17.3% and the technology laden NASDAQ composite index at that time was down 10.9. You can't say growth is always going to crush value.
- [63:00]
OG
OG I would never say that because that's not what the data supports. Yeah, I mean, it supports it recently and I think that's his point of this whole article. Is that what your experience has been? I mean, when Covid happened and the market went down a whole bunch, there were investors and professionals who had been working for 10 or 12 years that hadn't had a market decline of any sizable amount ever in their life. That influences your decision making, for sure.
- [63:29]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Rob Arnott, who's been on this podcast, he's chairman of investment firm Research Affiliates. Rob is quoted as saying, no matter how much the chaos over trade policy upsets the global economy, the underpinnings of value will still matter. Value stocks are should be less vulnerable to the market turmoil than growth stocks. History shows during times of turbulence, value beats growth. There's always a place. Not always, but in a lot of portfolios there's a place for value stocks.
- [63:54]
Crystal Hammons
I can't trust that guy. I can't trust anything that guy says.
- [63:56]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Why is that? Because he's been on our show.
- [63:59]
Crystal Hammons
Because he can't decide if he's Rob or not. Why are we listening to him?
- [64:04]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Is he Rob or not? Yeah, come on. Rob or not? Well, wait a minute. The, the U.S. next up in Jason Zweig's list of these assumptions that we have in our memory bank, next is the US Is the only place to be. We fought this battle early this year before all this turmoil started, which I'm just going to keep pointing to because we were right. Like anytime I could just go back and go see, we called it like Nostradamus and we've done that a few times. But in this one, you didn't have to be Nostradamus. It's just come on when everybody's saying that should I sell my international? International sucks. I need to get rid of my international. How you feeling now? Jason says for most of the past two decades, international markets 8 US dust as the dollar strength in American technology companies boomed. Well, that was then. This is now in 2025. The MSCI Acwix USA Index. Wow, that's a mouthful.
- [64:56]
Crystal Hammons
What the. Yes, this very specific index, they missed a few.
- [65:00]
Joe Saul-Sehy
International side the USA which tracks markets outside the US that was beating the S&P 500 by more than 14 percentage points when it was written. But if you're a younger investor, your memory banks won't tell you that international markets have excelled for much of the past half century. Before that, from 71 through 1990, the international index, the developed international markets outperformed the S P 500 by an average of 4.2 points per year according to T. Rowe Price. I mean that's, that's not a little bit.
- [65:33]
OG
Just about then is when everybody went oh that whole like China Japanese investing thing sounds like a great idea, let's dump all our money in it. And then what happened?
- [65:41]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah, the second we thought we.
- [65:42]
OG
For the next 20 years.
- [65:44]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Next up is buy the dips and time will bail you out. The 1994 book Stocks for the Long Run by finance professor Jeremy Siegel from Wharton argued there's rarely been a period of at least 20 years when stocks didn't beat bonds after inflation. But recent research by Edward McQuarrie, business professor emeritus at Santa Clara University, shows that simply isn't true. After spending years meticulously correcting the historical record of U S asset returns back to 1793, McQuarrie found numerous 20 year periods in which bonds beat stocks after inflation. It is interesting that bonds beat stocks, but it's not the norm. OG but it can happen. Sometimes it can happen. So buying the dip not necessarily going to be, you know, it's why I think you and I roll our eyes when we hear back the truck up.
- [66:30]
OG
I do it for a different reason. I think it's silly because if you believe, as I believe that in 20 years from now the market will be ever higher and the economies of the world will continue to develop and strengthen and new products and innovation will continue as long as there's people around, then you're not going to know or care whether or not you bought the S and P at 59506112 or 5517 like it's, it's such an immaterial rounding error. You know, you look at that chart over a 30 year time horizon and what does it do? It just goes like that. It's like, no, no, I got, see, see that little, that little. Right, that's where I bought. It's like, okay, whatever. You know what I mean?
- [67:15]
Crystal Hammons
Sucker I am.
- [67:16]
OG
Yeah, I mean it just, it's such a. We expanded out for 30 years. It doesn't matter. I was doing a. And I would challenge everybody to do this because it's really kind of an interesting learning on compounding. Pick a number, it doesn't matter what your number is. Million dollars, $2 million, $10 million, $100 million, don't care. And figure out how much money you need to save over a 10 year period to reach that goal. So maybe your goal is half a million dollars, right? So you can plug that into a calculator now save that number. So you go, okay, it's going to take me 10 years to get to half a million. How long does it take to get to a million? Well, if it takes 10 to get to half a million, it must take 20 to get to a million, right? No, it's less. And then go, well, if I got to a million in 15 years, how long does it take to get to 2 million? Well, it must take 30, right? No, it's less. And the rate of the increase of the compounding is so funny as you get out there. Like because you look at these for some reason we think in like 10 and 20 year increments, like, oh, I'm 30, how about, you know, my 50 or I'm 50 is 70. Start thinking in 40 and 50 year increments. Just like it's, it's mind boggling. I'm 47, I'll be 48 this year. And I was doing this and I was saying, you know, like, there's a chance I see 50 years from now, right? Like 98. My grandfather was 97 when he died. So there's a really good chance that I see 97, 98, that's 50 years from now. I don't have to save a lot of money for my kids and grandkids to have an insane amount of assets in 50 and I don't get to have it. But I can take care of, I can take care of the people behind me. It's really, it's really quite profound. If you're 20 and you're going like, ah, 100 bucks a month doesn't do anything. The hell it doesn't. You just need 30 years not 20 or 40 years, not 30. It's, it's pretty wild.
- [68:56]
Joe Saul-Sehy
At a talk I was giving recently, we were talking about just if you cancel an online streaming subscription, which people see as a rounding error, let's say it's 25 bucks a month, there's a lot of families going, ah, it's 25 bucks. Not 25 bucks isn't nothing. But the point that I made to this group, OG is you cancel that, you put that money in the right place for your goal, you end up saving an additional $300 a year. That's $3,000 over 10 years for the average family. That might be two nice vacations that you didn't take over a 10 year period and adding two vacations, just two more experiences to your life every 10 years that you didn't have with a rounding error. You know, these little things totally can add up. So love that point. But the point that scares out of me, Doug, is when he said that he's going to live to be 95. Because how does he get crabbier than he is today?
- [69:48]
Crystal Hammons
Can you imagine?
- [69:49]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I mean, get off my lawn is not anywhere close.
- [69:53]
Crystal Hammons
It's going to be get off my planet by the time he's 70.
- [69:59]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh gee, have you ever seen the movie Gran Torino? Because that character is you in the future.
- [70:05]
OG
Interestingly enough, that character, I would argue, if you knew him, I would say that that character is my favorite father. Yes.
- [70:14]
Crystal Hammons
Wow. So combine that little factoid, little hereditary window that we just got with him also saying that the waitress from hell or high water who says what don't you want that? That's his grandmother. You get a pretty good idea of what shape. I would, I would argue, oh geez. It's a miracle he can crack a smile.
- [70:36]
Joe Saul-Sehy
The OG family tree. Yeah, yeah, it does. It explains a lot. I mean, this is not him by choice, this is him by nature. They talk about nature, nurture.
- [70:45]
Crystal Hammons
This is just nature answering the eons long question. Nature versus nurture.
- [70:49]
Joe Saul-Sehy
There's a few more on here on the end though. Gold always glitters. If you've recently invested in gold, you know it shines during times of crisis. Your memory bank though, might not include gold's historically dull performance over rapid peaks in its price. Gold didn't surpass its 1980 record closing price. So 1980 OG it hit $834. 1980, it didn't get back to that number until nearly 28 years later. Almost 28 years to get back to where it was.
- [71:21]
Crystal Hammons
Suck of that, Len.
- [71:23]
Joe Saul-Sehy
But imagine it's 1980. You're like, gold. Gold's going places. I gotta buy this, honey. We're loading up our gold. Like there's gonna be just tons of gold.
- [71:30]
OG
That's expectations. And. And yeah.
- [71:32]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And then in 1990, that same person's going, no, it's bad. It's due. It's due.
- [71:37]
OG
Buy the dip.
- [71:39]
Joe Saul-Sehy
And then it's 2000. Yeah.
- [71:41]
OG
And his spouse is coming back who bought it.
- [71:45]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Wonderful stuff from Jason's week. Again. I love the idea of don't trust your memory bank. You know, testing the validity of what's in your memory bank won't prevent you from becoming guided by your investment experience. He writes, it might prevent you from being its prisoner. Love that. And to this piece, we'll link to it on our show notes at Stacking Benjamins. Of course we're going to dive into all things related to this in the 201 newsletter. Stacky benjamin.com 201 gets you to our deeper dives and curated research into this area. We got just one more thing. We're going to wander out here on the back porch to see what's going on the stacker community. Doug. And we've got a guy named Brian that we need to shine a light on here.
- [72:25]
Crystal Hammons
Well, before we get to that. Yeah, we did. We definitely going to do that. But I just. We have another review. I'm going to save it until our Wednesday show. We have another review from Spider man himself. I mean, how often. So stick around kids or come back kids on Wednesday when superheroes start reviewing your show. Now we're break. Is that. Is that I'm going to lose like four of my five fans with this. Is that Marvel? Is that.
- [72:51]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh my God. Go away. Just go away.
- [72:53]
Crystal Hammons
Right?
- [72:53]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yes, continue. Let's talk about. Let's talk about Brian today.
- [72:57]
Crystal Hammons
Yeah, but so our basement group on Facebook is just lighting up lately. So many great questions and contributions on there. I mean, at this point, they're looking to me like I'm Google Maps or something. I got people asking me directions for their trips on our basement.
- [73:16]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Was asking you do I'm going to Wisconsin from the east coast. Do I go through Michigan in the upper peninsula or do I go through Chicago?
- [73:25]
Crystal Hammons
I just love that I've become the trusted source for information of all sorts. It's a scary day and I would absolutely go through Michigan on at least there or back. But make sure it's not on a Friday or a Sunday because everybody. It's just like everybody in Boston goes out to The Cape. And there's one road to get there. And you know, if you don't hit it at 6:00am, plan on sitting and waiting.
- [73:49]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I75 parking lot.
- [73:51]
Crystal Hammons
Yeah. Either, you know, on Friday going up or Sunday coming back. But other than that. Absolutely. Skip Chicago on one of those two legs and, and go through Michigan. I mean, to be able to say you went over the Mackinac Bridge.
- [74:03]
Joe Saul-Sehy
That was to get to Duluth. Right? They were trying to go to Duluth.
- [74:05]
Crystal Hammons
Well, west of Duluth it's a little. A little west. Yeah. West and north. It's an island. She's going to. But anyway, so I love that. I mean, keep your questions coming in the basement, but a couple of weeks ago we had maybe one of the best reviews that have been submitted about the show. The problem is Brian submitted this on the basement and not in Apple or Spotify. So we can't give him a T shirt for this.
- [74:27]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Brian, you got to finish the job. He's 90% of the way there. Because this is an amazing review.
- [74:32]
Crystal Hammons
Yeah. And it's a five star review. Here it is. Brian says after hearing Doug's description of what he needs to see in an online review. Here's my five star review for the.
- [74:41]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Podcast to do it. You gonna do it up?
- [74:44]
Crystal Hammons
Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Doug. Dug. Yeah, Brian, you freaking nailed it, man. I was riding on cloud 11 when you, when you put that in the basement in early May. I'm back, baby. I'm on cloud 12 right now. Just getting to just do the whole chant.
- [75:16]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, gee, we shouldn't even brought it up again. Just. No, no. Nice job, Brian. Way to do that with the guy that loves corn dogs. Guy can eat corn dogs for breakfast.
- [75:25]
Crystal Hammons
Oh my God, yes.
- [75:26]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Could you imagine corn dog ravioli, by the way, you open up the ravioli and inside there's a corn dog. Delicious. If you made it to this point of the show, if you got through Doug's amazing self glorification.
- [75:41]
Crystal Hammons
It wasn't me, it was Brian.
- [75:43]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I'm gonna be in Boston tomorrow. Tomorrow night. Yes. Idle Hands Craft brewing in Malden and can't wait to meet you there. Stackybenjamins.com meetup and come hang out with me and other like minded Stackers. My daughter Autumn, who would have graduated the day before with her master's degree. That's why we're headed there. Congratulations to Autumn. We're going to be partying with the Stackers, celebrating Autumn's graduation.
- [76:11]
Crystal Hammons
Let me, let me help all those chowder Heads find it. Joe. It's just around the corner from Dunkey's just north of Charles Street. And everybody who lives there is like, there's 36 of those in the Boston area. You know how many Charles streets there are and how many donkeys there are driving around till 1am Doug didn't even.
- [76:30]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Look at a map. Didn't even, didn't even look at a map.
- [76:34]
Crystal Hammons
Actually, I did. I'm looking at a map right now. I'm looking at the satellite view of Idle Hands and it truly is just north of Charles street, around the corner from a donkeys. I'm like, this is perfect. I got to say this.
- [76:46]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yeah, we called them. There's going to be a running club, but they're normally outside. So I've been told that unless it's raining, we're going to have our own little area. Otherwise, we might be mixing it up with the runner. So you guys could go for a little three mile run, little jog with the local running group. It's going to be fun.
- [77:02]
Crystal Hammons
Come back and have 700 calories of beer.
- [77:05]
OG
Not if you drink ultras.
- [77:07]
Joe Saul-Sehy
There you go.
- [77:08]
Crystal Hammons
Oh, Gee's talking to me the other day about how, you know, oh, ultra. 95 calories. It's 4.2% alcohol. It's real beer. I don't know.
- [77:15]
OG
I didn't say it was real.
- [77:16]
Crystal Hammons
95 calories. Then he walks me through how many beers he's. He has in a round of golf. It's 10 or 11.
- [77:22]
OG
Oh, stop it.
- [77:23]
Crystal Hammons
A thousand calories of beer. 95 calories a piece of.
- [77:28]
OG
All right, on that note, that sounds like Doug's fishtail fantasy of how many all his fishing exploits.
- [77:36]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Remember we were talking about waking up and all that stuff was in a dream. Doug wakes up so excited. Doug's like 10 or 11 mix. Mickey. All right, let's get out of here. We got three takeaways. We got a lot more takeaways than that, but three big takeaways from this show. Doug, what do you think they are?
- [77:54]
Crystal Hammons
Well, Joe, here's what we should have learned today. First, take some advice from Robert Niles. While theme parks might not offer huge deals or discounts, spending a little time planning your day can go a long way, as does showing up early. Second, your memory about the market. It might lead you astray. Try and forget your lessons about investing and stick to the fundamentals. Your gut is often wrong, especially at after eating a bunch of corn dogs. But the big lesson. Okay. It appears Joe's mom has changed her mind and we're having corn dogs for dinner. Time for me to wrap this up so I can head down to the corner store for some Tums. If my gut's wrong on this one, I don't want to be right. Thanks to Robert Niles for helping us usher in summer this year. You'll find Robert's theme Park. Reporting@themeParkInsider.com this show is the property of SP Podcasts, LLC, Copyright 2025, and is created by Joe Saul Sehive. Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. You'll find out about our awesome team@stackingbenjamins.com along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello.
- [79:11]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, yeah.
- [79:12]
Crystal Hammons
And before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and we'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show.
- [79:36]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Sa.
- [80:02]
Crystal Hammons
Foreign.
- [80:23]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Welcome to the after show. This is the part of the show that doesn't exist. If you're here for money talk, we did that already. Time to just have some fun.
- [80:33]
OG
Did you guys. You guys know who Mr. Beast is, right?
- [80:36]
Joe Saul-Sehy
We do, yeah.
- [80:37]
Crystal Hammons
Great burgers, huh? What you don't know about Mr. Beast and his burgers?
- [80:42]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I don't. I don't know. Mr. Beast markets a burger.
- [80:44]
Crystal Hammons
Not a joke setup. Yeah, you know, this is not a joke setup. He tried to. I think he's given up on it. But pretty early on, after he got really big, he tried to convert his brand into food. And he has, like, burger places and malls you can go to. I think you can buy them online. And they're just so average that they failed miserably.
- [81:03]
Joe Saul-Sehy
So you were being 100% facetious when you said great burgers.
- [81:07]
Crystal Hammons
Yeah.
- [81:08]
OG
Well, anyways, you know, he does all these challenges. I don't know if you guys saw this or not, but there was a challenge that went wildly wrong. Did you hear about this one?
- [81:16]
Joe Saul-Sehy
No.
- [81:16]
Crystal Hammons
Nope.
- [81:18]
OG
Versus a single gorilla. The highly anticipated event, organized by YouTuber Mr.
- [81:23]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Beast, ended in tragedy.
- [81:25]
Doug
Today we had a whole plan. Gary made a PowerPoint.
- [81:29]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Authorities are calling the incident a gross lapse in judgment.
- [81:33]
OG
Mr.
- [81:34]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Beast, however, referred to it as a banger.
- [81:36]
Doug
He went through 87 of us with ease. He's like the Bonnie Blue of gorillas.
- [81:41]
OG
The event, dubbed Harambe's Revenge, started As a simple Internet debate, someone on the.
- [81:46]
Doug
Internet said, gorillas get tired fast. Guess what?
- [81:49]
OG
He didn't.
- [81:50]
Doug
He didn't even yawn.
- [81:51]
Joe Saul-Sehy
The rules were simple. No weapons, no armor, and victory declared only if the gorilla was fully subdued.
- [81:57]
OG
At one point, someone yelled, form a circle.
- [82:00]
Doug
He spun through us like a Beyblade. Dude activated a Super Smash Brothers finisher.
- [82:05]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Mr. Beast claimed this was his most epic.
- [82:08]
OG
Challenge yet, with contestants reportedly offered $10,000 or a Tesla.
- [82:13]
Doug
They said he'd be intimidated. Nope. He made direct eye contact with me.
- [82:17]
OG
And smiled like a dentist. At one point, he looked bored.
- [82:21]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Witnesses say the first casualty occurred within.
- [82:24]
OG
Eight seconds of the starting whistle.
- [82:26]
Doug
We lost wave three pretty early. We thought we could all just pile on bro Worrist like a backpack. It was like Squid games, except only four Asian guys died.
- [82:35]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Selections were based entirely on online applications and Reddit upvotes.
- [82:39]
Doug
We just. We didn't account for the part where you could punch through a man's sternum like a Capri Sun.
- [82:44]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I wasn't in the power.
- [82:46]
OG
100 men versus a single adult gorilla. The very bottom of it, it said, up next, 50 men against a hippo. Who will win?
- [82:55]
Crystal Hammons
Oh, God.
- [82:57]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Is that an onion piece?
- [82:59]
OG
I don't know where I saw it. I saw it on Reddit.
- [83:00]
Crystal Hammons
It sounds like it.
- [83:01]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I saw it on Reddit.
- [83:02]
Crystal Hammons
That is the kind of stuff that Mr. Beast does, right? I mean, crazy stuff like that.
- [83:05]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Those are crazy that he. You might not be seeing that. That one soon. Speaking of challenges, by the way, Doug, when we were in our planning meeting, you were talking about this challenge that you saw during a baseball game. Because I finally made it to Angel Stadium, which was awesome, by the way. I loved Angel Stadium. I thought it was cool. Clearly Angels fans are going to get mad, but everybody knows it. They're clearly the number two team, though, in.
- [83:30]
Crystal Hammons
In la.
- [83:30]
Joe Saul-Sehy
In Los Angeles. Yeah. Yes.
- [83:32]
Crystal Hammons
I think they're the number four team. And there's only two teams in la.
- [83:35]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I thought the stadium was. Was really neat. It was a 70 style kind of bowl stadium. I went with Mr. Penzo and the Honeybee, his awesome spouse, and we had a great time. But this 70 style stadium, much like Kaminsky park or whatever it's called today, I have no idea what Kaminsky's park is called.
- [83:52]
Crystal Hammons
I know it's always going to be that it's just like the Sears Tower is the God. Sears Tower. Don't try to tell me that. It's whatever.
- [83:58]
Joe Saul-Sehy
That's only changed names once, hasn't it? To will it. I think that was only. But I think Kamitzki Parks changed names. It was US Cellular for a while, but it's not US Cellular anymore.
- [84:08]
Crystal Hammons
Now it was guaranteed Rate Field with a down arrow, which you're like, what? That sounds negative. I think the down arrow is even like red or orange. And now it's just Rate Field. But it's a. Like a mortgage company.
- [84:20]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, well, they want rates lower.
- [84:22]
Crystal Hammons
Naming rights. I know you get. I mean. But you have to think about it. Like, I don't want to just look at a negative red arrow going down and think, that's good.
- [84:28]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Well, maybe. Maybe that explains some of the White Sox problems.
- [84:31]
Crystal Hammons
Oh, my God. Thank God for the Colorado Rockies this year because, I mean, the White Sox fans love the Rockies. It's the only thing making them look good. Yeah. So the challenge. The challenge I heard about, and this is. It's funny, I think all of you listening probably are going to have the same reaction that almost everybody I tell this challenge to says, the challenge is, you go to a baseball game. It's nine hot dogs and nine beers over nine innings.
- [84:57]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Number one. Number one. Before we even get to the alcohol consumption and the food, you got to refinance your house for that. At a baseball. Are you kidding me?
- [85:08]
Crystal Hammons
For just $572, you can participate in.
- [85:11]
Joe Saul-Sehy
This challenge in the dumbest thing you've ever done.
- [85:14]
Crystal Hammons
But every time I say that, like, I said it to you two guys, and you're both like, oh, God, nine hot dogs.
- [85:19]
Joe Saul-Sehy
This is me and Doc G. Who were in on this meeting, and I.
- [85:22]
Crystal Hammons
Said it to OG in, you know, separately, and he had the same answer. He's just got hot. Nine hot dogs. And my first thought is, ooh, nine hot dogs. Like, I just. I would love.
- [85:32]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Have you ever done a hot dog challenge? I think it's. Is it Memorial Day that the Nathan's Challenges.
- [85:36]
OG
It's Fourth of July.
- [85:37]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Fourth of July. That's right. Yeah.
- [85:39]
Crystal Hammons
The speed method. I've never tried it, like, super fast, but I. I did this when I.
- [85:44]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Was like, 14, when I was a human calorie burning furnace.
- [85:48]
Crystal Hammons
Right.
- [85:48]
Joe Saul-Sehy
You know how many I could do?
- [85:51]
Crystal Hammons
Five.
- [85:51]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Yes. Five. Yeah. And the fifth one was horrible. And then I felt so bad the rest of the day. Like, I couldn't go over five.
- [85:58]
Crystal Hammons
But you were trying to, like, do it super fast, right?
- [86:02]
Joe Saul-Sehy
No, no, I was just trying to eat as many hot dogs as I could.
- [86:05]
Crystal Hammons
Oh. Because, I mean, I really. I really think I could get through the nine hot dog and inning is like, it didn't Even happen. It's not a blip on my radar screen.
- [86:14]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, gee.
- [86:14]
Crystal Hammons
There's no way it's the beers hot dog gonna cause me an issue.
- [86:18]
OG
No way could.
- [86:18]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Oh, but the beers too. I mean, boom.
- [86:22]
Crystal Hammons
No, I'm saying I would challenge with the beers because the beers just go in you and start inflating your torso like a balloon. That's the part I would struggle with.
- [86:30]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I feel so drunk and so tired. Between the food in my gut and the alcohol, just. Oh, my. By the fourth inning, I'm a wreck.
- [86:40]
Crystal Hammons
I didn't. You guys. You told a great story. I think you guys tried this inadvertently or unintentionally when you guys went to a Rangers game or something, didn't you?
- [86:49]
Joe Saul-Sehy
We had a fair amount of beer that night. That was a horrible game. And we had a blast. OG got a seat that he had gotten at a nice charity auction, was nice enough to take me. We sat in the second row behind home plate. Was flipping awesome. Of course the game sucked, but it didn't matter because we just sat there.
- [87:08]
OG
And the only reason the game sucked was because, I mean, we won. It was like 11 to nothing in the first.
- [87:12]
Joe Saul-Sehy
In the first inning. Yeah, it was. Yeah.
- [87:14]
OG
About three weeks later, I was like, joe, why does the Corporate card have 17 of charges every 11 minutes for 4 hours? What?
- [87:23]
Crystal Hammons
Keep them coming.
- [87:26]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It was a fun ears. It was a fun, fun day. By the way, I don't want to let this go. You know, Stacky Benjamin's fans may like management simulations, career stuff. I got to tell you, I don't know if you guys have played it, but the combo management simulation and what Robert Niles does, Roller Coaster Tycoon. I take this now on airplanes with me. Not the newer ones that have all the fancy graphics, but that original one where it is very much just. You're managing a theme park and trying to grow a theme park is a super fun little management sim, Doug. I would imagine you may have played this.
- [88:02]
Crystal Hammons
No. Zoo Tycoon.
- [88:04]
Joe Saul-Sehy
Zoo Tycoon was good as well.
- [88:05]
Crystal Hammons
I loved it. I mean, we got that probably on your recommendation. When the kids were small, I had a great time with it. Recommended to a friend of mine because when they're. When they're. I don't remember how old they were, but maybe six or seven. Probably my oldest was when we. When you recommended that. Such a great way to teach basic money concepts. When you've got to please your customers, you got to have a way to make revenue. Where do you place those souvenir stands and the Food stands and all of that. It was just a great way to do that to these abstract concepts to help them learn that. But then they go to bed and I complete my own zoo. I could create my own zoo. And I'm up till like 3am I swear to God this happened. I'm up till 3am and I got a buddy of mine and we're like competing. Our zoos are competing against each other. We just can't go to sleep. It's just like it's turned into the modern day doom scroll when you're laying in bed just scrolling, you know, social on your phone. But back then we didn't have that. So I'm just sitting there at the computer, just that. Well, I just put a trash can here. Oh, I need, I need one more exhibit.
- [89:10]
Joe Saul-Sehy
It was funny when my son was on roller coaster Tikuma, my son was figuring out that putting the hot dog stand next to the Loop de Loop roller coaster and it monitors the. And it gives you ratings on the thrill factor and the centrifugal force and all these things. He had to A, decouple those two things or B, put a permanent worker right outside of there. Because so many people are getting off the roller coaster, throwing up.
- [89:35]
Crystal Hammons
They actually have that in the game. People are barfing and they have the voice.
- [89:39]
Joe Saul-Sehy
They have a kid go.
- [89:43]
Crystal Hammons
And.
- [89:45]
Joe Saul-Sehy
I don't know. It's a fun management sim. I'm taking it with me on my next trip. Not expensive really. Now that that game is so old, that game's got to be 25 years.
- [89:55]
Crystal Hammons
Play it on your phone.
- [89:56]
Joe Saul-Sehy
IPad? Yeah, iPad. Good stuff.