You know, let the kids have a little bit of, you know, burn up the energy fun but not be in a ride park. And that balance has been interesting but it’s never been a struggle. We’ve always stayed true to our core business. And again, don’t want to be… Read More
Right. Philosophy was to, a large part of our weekly attendance in the off-season are parents and grandparents with their kids and strollers, stroller moms, and grandpa, and grandma with strollers. To give those kids an opportunity to get wet, and cool down, and enjoy a ride. We’re not gonna… Read More
Why, in your opinion, did Tampa put limited amusement-type rides at the zoo when your next-door neighbor was Busch Gardens that had, in a sense, unlimited amusement rides?… Read More
You mentioned manatees. Read More
Right. Read More
Well, you’re here, you’re seeing it, you’re seeing what’s going on. There’s no big secret here. And I think, you know, give hats off to ZooTampa for taking that lead and doing, the first one we did was an Indian rhino feeding. And at first, it was hilarious ’cause people… Read More
And I’ve walked up and talked to those people who’ve done those, and they just, they love it to death. They’ve been, some of them three, four times, you know, they enjoy it that much. So those amenities, I think are, without question, satisfying the urge that the public has… Read More
You know, what happens in the elephant barn?… Read More
Sure. But we’re not killing the people with the price. It’s very reasonable. 15, $20. And they love ’em. They love the opportunity. And it’s also taking away the mystery of how zoos operate. Read More
What happens there?… Read More
And, you know, yes, do we make some money on it?… Read More
And those have been very successful to the point now where they have a large number of these opportunities. Read More
It’s a keeper telling the story. They’re the rock stars, not me. I’m not the rockstar. They’re the rockstar. And they’re going, wow, this is the keeper. Read More
Isn’t that great?… Read More
Hundreds of times. But the guy from Iowa has never done it. The guy from Iowa has never been in with a giant tortoise and is absolutely blown away by this opportunity. And the whole point is, A, we’re giving ’em those amenities, those extras. B, we’re giving ’em some… Read More
And I’ll have to be honest with you, when this first started, I was getting concerned, what does this really look like?… Read More
How many times have we done that?… Read More
But we worked it through, and we worked out, and tried, and experimented, and have come up with a cafeteria plan of people having more engagement with animals. And these are upscale, they pay more for this opportunity, but getting people engaged with the animals so they understand it and… Read More
Amenities meaning public or?… Read More
Public. Public. Well, very important. And I think there’s a couple of things that, and I have to give credit to the CEO for kind of instilling some of these amenities, as they call it. I think zoos cannot just stand on their own when it comes to people coming… Read More