1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,000 And well, I don't know, I said and as if it was halfway through 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,520 a sentence. Well, you know, it's it's 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:06,640 excellent. No, no, don't, don't press the 4 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:07,560 button. Let's carry on. 5 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:09,280 Let's carry on with this ridiculousness. 6 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,520 Welcome to breaking it. The Universal Studios UK 7 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,880 podcast. My name is Mike as of Universal 8 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,280 Studios Great Britain updates the best, the original and all 9 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,640 that good stuff Podcast. It's not a podcast. 10 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,960 It's YouTube channel on YouTube. And joining me is smooth. 11 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,960 As ever, it's Lawrence from Universally. 12 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,760 I am Andy from Project Universal UK. 13 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:43,640 The number one, the number one, the number one YouTube channel 14 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,960 for all Little awful in about. Honestly, the eye contact in 15 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,480 here is spectacular. Every time he wants to show off, 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:53,320 he looks right at me, unblinking. 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,360 Because you take the bait every. Time. 18 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,000 Very, very. Upsetting, but just a bit of 19 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,280 housekeeping stuff. We've got a very exciting 20 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:03,000 episode ahead of us, but we're going to get through the boring 21 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,440 stuff before we can get. It's not boring, it's essential. 22 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:07,320 It is. It's the beating heart. 23 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:11,800 It's the blood in our veins. Yes, we have 5 stars in our 24 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,600 veins and we need you to give us more five stars, please. 25 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,520 So please, wherever you listen to your podcast or, or if you 26 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,600 watch it, yes, somewhere on, on the little waveform thing on, on 27 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,960 the YouTube smash that like button or give us a five star 28 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:26,400 review. It'd be very much appreciated. 29 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,520 Climb up those ranks to superstardom in the theme park 30 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,320 podcast World Spectacular. Yeah. 31 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,800 I love it. If you want to sponsor the pod, 32 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,320 oh, do that, Do that. Yeah, do that. 33 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,720 We will. We will talk about your stuff if 34 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,160 you give us monetary reward. And do you know what? 35 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,080 Actually, I've, I've, I've had a few thoughts about this, right? 36 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,200 I think that look, we've, we've got people that are listening 37 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,880 into the pod from around the world, but there are a lot of 38 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,720 people that listen to the pod global international, right? 39 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,480 But there are a lot of people that listen to this pod that are 40 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,400 from the Bedford area, right? Yes. 41 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:06,280 Now we are three people that are gathering in a top secret 42 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,440 location and we are gathering near Bedford. 43 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,480 Now if you want to sponsor the pod by sending us some food. 44 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,480 No, no, let me think. No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, 45 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,800 wait. You send us some food and we 46 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,320 will eat it during the podcast and we will hopefully be going, 47 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,640 that is some good, good food pie, right? 48 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:33,280 Sophie, feed him before he comes out in future please. 49 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,600 But you know what this is? This is an unbelievable 50 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,160 opportunity. Yeah, an incredible opportunity. 51 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,480 Yeah, but I tell you what, it's an even better opportunity. 52 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:48,040 Send us voice notes on 07440561162. 53 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,120 Mike, what are we doing today? Well, we have a very, very 54 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,080 exciting episode ahead of us. We have our. 55 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,880 Second ever bricking it guest who's joining us? 56 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:00,400 Oh, do we have a woo sound effect? 57 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:02,240 Do we have a woo sound effect I. Think we've got applause. 58 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:04,680 Can we do applause? Yeah. 59 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:10,400 All right. Just get in, there's a jam going 60 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:11,320 on. Can you meet that? 61 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,440 It's getting away. No, that's the it's another game 62 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,200 show. That's the game show you start 63 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,000 again, right? So if you've ever been to a 64 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,680 theme park in the last 10 years, maybe longer, chances are you 65 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,360 have heard some of this man's music. 66 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,640 He's the man who brought us the music for the Swarm of Thorpe 67 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:30,680 Park. Tomb. 68 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,960 Blaster at Chessington, World of Adventures, Mutiny Bay at Alton 69 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,280 Towers and absolutely shed. Loads more, pun intended, 70 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:38,520 because we're in. We're in shed. 71 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,040 Aren't we? Are we are in shed right now? 72 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:42,560 Shed. She's probably falling asleep 73 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,120 now. Yeah, I will get to. 74 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,240 But as well as this, he has worked on a plethora of musicals 75 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,120 as well as being the brains behind Theme Park fan the 76 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,640 Musical. It's none other than Nick 77 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:55,080 Hudson. Welcome to bringing it, Nick. 78 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:56,720 Hey. Thank, thank you. 79 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,320 Thank you. What's in the shed, as I say? 80 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:00,680 Yes. In the if you remember that 81 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:02,600 advertising campaign, was it Kings Island? 82 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,520 Doesn't mean that did that. Oh, with that GCI Woody? 83 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:08,680 Yeah, was it? GCI in the shed. 84 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,720 Yeah, everyone was thinking, oh, they've built the shed as like 85 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:13,920 part of, I think the brake run of this ride, and they were 86 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:15,880 thinking it's going to be a drop track in there, It's going to be 87 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,600 a washing machine element. Yeah, yeah, just a brake run. 88 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:21,640 This wasn't. Exciting. 89 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:23,560 No, no. Spectacular. 90 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,000 I love that. Love that. 91 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,640 How you doing anyway, Nick? I'm very well, thank you for 92 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,520 having me on. It's I've love listening to your 93 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,200 show. So it's a it's a joy to be part 94 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:34,080 of it. Thank you. 95 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,280 Thank you man. Well, in theory, shouldn't we be 96 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:38,120 enemies with you? Because you obviously have your 97 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,920 own podcast, don't you need? Yes, but we do different things. 98 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:42,760 It's like us for you. We should be enemies. 99 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:44,640 We are enemies. We are enemies, yeah. 100 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,240 We all love the same thing, don't we? 101 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,760 I mean, it's nice to have a British podcast because that's 102 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,120 what I've always been pushing with the my bit on the season 103 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:56,440 pass and also my musical theatre podcast. 104 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,280 But it's nice to have kind of, I don't know if you guys are aware 105 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:01,840 of Coaster radio. That's always been my kind of 106 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,280 the gold standard of theme park podcasting, but you 3 remind me 107 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:07,760 of the kind of British version of that. 108 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,120 Just kind of. So we're a platinum level 109 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:11,920 podcast, you could say. You are, yes. 110 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,000 Oh my God, you are too kind, Nick. 111 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,960 Nick said that on project you can come back anytime. 112 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:20,640 Thank you. Right. 113 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,440 So right before we, I guess dive into some questions, Nick, tell 114 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:29,520 us a little bit about you and about your experience in the the 115 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:37,080 the musical world. I, I grew up, as I, as I always 116 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,520 say when I'm asked this question, in the kind of the 117 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,120 long gone era of when the UK theme parks were brilliant. 118 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,840 And it was at a time when Chessington was just kind of at 119 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:53,360 the cusp of becoming, you know, with just when it went from 120 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,160 being a zoo to a theme park. Yeah, the John Wardley 121 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,840 transformation. Era, yeah, the Wardley era with 122 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:02,320 I remember going on the 5th dimension, remember going on 123 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,640 Bubble Works, I remember going on Terror Tomb. 124 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:12,840 So I I really kind of grew up with that side of things and 125 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:16,840 also went to Florida when I was for my 9th birthday. 126 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:20,000 And that was when it really hit me like, this is this is 127 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:21,640 amazing. I remember holding my sister's 128 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,640 hand in the lobby of the Haunted Mansion, looking up at the 129 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:26,960 cobwebbed chandelier. And it's still there. 130 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:32,960 And yeah, just kind of love theme parks, love music. 131 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:36,880 And then I remember at university many, many decades 132 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:41,120 ago, I gave a presentation on because I studied music writing 133 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:46,200 at university and I gave a presentation on kind of people 134 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:48,280 write music for theme parks. I never thought it was something 135 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:52,280 I would do, but I remember using the call to entry as my kind of 136 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,000 example, which is on the Islands of Adventure soundtrack and just 137 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,240 say this is not from a film, this is from a theme park and 138 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:04,160 this is stuff people do and now I I get to do it sometimes which 139 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:05,440 is great fun. Excellent. 140 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,320 So did you actually start in musical theatre or did you sort 141 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,080 of go straight into the theme park world producing music? 142 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,520 My first gigs were actually fun enough writing for burlesque and 143 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:22,160 cabaret. So I had a couple of friends in 144 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:27,840 the burlesque and cabaret world and I did lots of arrangements 145 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:33,040 for them to the original kind of pieces of music for aerial acts 146 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,520 and hoop acts and fire breathing and all that kind of stuff. 147 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,400 So, but my my main kind of thing I love doing, whether it's 148 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:44,400 musicals or cabaret or theatre or theme park, is just telling 149 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,720 stories through music and setting moods. 150 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,640 I think that's what I what my skin is. 151 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:54,240 OK, so it it, it's sort of it, it got you writing sort of 152 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:55,480 burlesque music and things like that. 153 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,720 Got you into that mindset of to to how you could sort of tell a 154 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,960 story through a piece of music and add to it this world that is 155 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,560 being created. Yeah, but I, I also studied 156 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,160 commercial composition and musical theatre writing. 157 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,000 So everything for me, I've been a fan of musicals my whole life, 158 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:17,360 comes down to, you know, telling stories from music, which is 159 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,080 what musical theatre it does sometimes if it's successful. 160 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:25,160 Yeah, when done right. So when did you realize it was 161 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,000 something that you could actually form your career 162 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,440 around? Was it at that point when you 163 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,559 realized there was this, this sort of module if you like, or 164 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,400 was it sort of later down the line when, oh, I'm getting paid 165 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:41,120 money to do this amazing thing? It was when kind of I'm a School 166 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,159 stepped onto the scene. I thought, oh, there is kind of 167 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:46,240 a a way of doing this. And I'm a School, if you don't 168 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,440 know, they were very, very successful and highly skilled 169 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,200 German kind of factory that have done a lot of music for parts 170 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,120 around the country, including Epic Universe, which is 171 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,160 wonderful. And so I'd like to have a go at 172 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,360 that. So through various people and 173 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,000 podcasts and links and I could do a diagram, but we're not 174 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:07,280 connected to a camera at the moment. 175 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:13,720 I met a good friend of mine called Dom Dominic Mcchesney who 176 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,920 worked for a company at a time called Southern Impacts 177 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:22,160 Entertainment and they were out in Malaysia and they do kind of 178 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:27,240 big immersive live show attractions, sky mazes kind of 179 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:31,360 things. And he was on my musical theatre 180 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:35,760 podcast called Musical Talk and, and I said, do you, we had loads 181 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,880 of friends in common in the theme park world. 182 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:39,840 I said, do you need music for anything? 183 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,720 He said, yes, we're doing this Egyptian attraction called 184 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:48,480 Cleopatra Coming at You, and it wasn't called that, it was just 185 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:54,520 called. And then then I was able to do 186 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,080 that. And then through various 187 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,560 podcasty ways I knew John Wardley. 188 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:03,080 So he heard my stuff and put it on to Pete Cliff who worked at 189 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,400 Alton Towers, who then got me to do Halloween in 2015. 190 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,600 So then Subspecies and the Haunting of Molly Crow was born. 191 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,200 And once you do one thing for murder and you do loads of 192 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:13,760 stuff. So it just kind of grew from 193 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,320 there. That's amazing 11 years later. 194 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,240 Yeah, so when when you're brought onto a project, they 195 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,160 say, oh, we've got this horror themed walkthrough or this ride. 196 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,000 How much do you know and how much direction do they give you? 197 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,920 And with regards to like basically what does the process 198 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:37,240 look like from you being given a brief to the the end product? 199 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:43,880 It depends what the time frame is, It depends what they want. 200 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:45,680 It depends if they know what they want. 201 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:49,680 It depends who's in charge. If there's no kind of right or 202 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,440 wrong answer. I obviously because I understand 203 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,320 rides and how they work and scare mazes and batching and pre 204 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,600 shows and holding States and all that kind of technical nerdy 205 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,920 stuff. I kind of, I'm able to suggest 206 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:09,600 ideas, but it's really hard with music because it's so personal. 207 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,760 Like I think they'll be something that doesn't work. 208 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:14,720 Or they might hear it and say, yes, that's exactly what we 209 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,720 want. Or I might think this is perfect 210 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:19,680 and they think, no, we don't think it works that way. 211 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:26,760 So it is finding the the fine line between doing what I think 212 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,000 is right and what they think is right because you're writing for 213 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,120 someone else's vision. That's the important thing. 214 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:35,840 And that's the hard thing sometimes. 215 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,480 I always get the blame if it doesn't work and from the 216 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,680 public, because people kind of think I'm just sitting there 217 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:46,320 making all the choices when I'm not. 218 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,040 I'm just doing what I'm told sometimes. 219 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,080 But it's, it's it's a hard question to answer because there 220 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:55,480 is no right or wrong. When I thought part fright 221 00:11:55,480 --> 00:12:00,680 nights in 2015 or 2018 or something, can't remember 2018 222 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:04,120 it was they just said we want this go away, have fun, do it, 223 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:07,960 we trust you. And that was excellent. 224 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:14,040 And sometimes we get crop drop. It was very, very back and forth 225 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,800 between various peoples in various departments. 226 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:18,480 You're dealing with the technical departments, you're 227 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,400 dealing with the creatives, you're dealing with marketing, 228 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:24,000 you're dealing with brand management. 229 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 So it depends on the scale of the project and, and who's in 230 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,080 charge really. But I, I love both versions. 231 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,640 It's kind of thrilling to know what I'm doing is right and 232 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:35,400 thrilling to be told what to do, really. 233 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,520 Do you think being a theme park nerd has has given you the edge 234 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,120 a little bit? Like, you know what you'd like 235 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:46,720 to listen to, So do you think you have a good idea as to when 236 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,920 you've got a brief where you're going to take something? 237 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:55,280 I think I know if I were in that queue on that ride, what I would 238 00:12:55,280 --> 00:13:02,000 like and it's I'd like to say yes. 239 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,360 I do think that knowing the insurance and outs of a ride 240 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,560 really helps to deliver the final product because I can talk 241 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:12,800 about zones and I can talk about again the different kind of 242 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:15,520 holding states of loops and stuff like that. 243 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,160 I come from it from an insider perspective. 244 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:23,880 Sometimes it's kind of, I know at the beginning when kind of 245 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:29,280 park started to work with enthusiasts, they got, they were 246 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:34,760 kind of had cold feet about it because they didn't want them 247 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,200 going in the way. But I think it's it's something 248 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:38,400 that's pretty standard right now. 249 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,840 I mean, you know, Bradley Wayne is a good friend of mine. 250 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,000 He's a massive theme park fan and look where he is now. 251 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,200 Well. Yeah, exactly. 252 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:48,200 He's down the road. Yeah, yeah. 253 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,080 Yeah, I was going to say what? What? 254 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,520 Because before, before you came on, Mike said to me some of the 255 00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,120 work you'd done, and you mentioned the swarm. 256 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,600 So what I wanted to ask you is what was you going for? 257 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,760 Because I, I had an experience on the swarm in the queue when I 258 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:14,040 got to the station, what, what was it that you wanted to kind 259 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,880 of deliver to the person standing in that queue the whole 260 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:18,360 time? So by the time they got to the 261 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:22,240 station ready to get in the car or, you know, on the train, 262 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:27,000 what, what kind of mood would you have them set in? 263 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:31,080 Does that make sense? This I I I done the station 264 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,280 music for the swarm so the queue area is like a radio drama. 265 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,520 I did a version of that couple years ago that's been replaced 266 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:40,560 with another one. Don't know why but these things 267 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:45,600 happen and it's absolutely fine. But the station music is a rock 268 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:54,840 organ track with a dystopian beat to the old Gregorian chant 269 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,000 called the DSE array blended with the Thorpe part tune 270 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,680 written by I'm score, if that makes sense. 271 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:06,520 Wow, so it's like a real kind of a witch's brew. 272 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,240 Yeah. Yeah, a kind of mash up of the 273 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,280 the tune that Thorpe liked to have playing in all in their 274 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:18,720 audio and the kind of DSE array because it isn't a church. 275 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:26,320 So I I laid down a big organ track and yeah, it's a kind of a 276 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,240 big fun. Because by the time I got the 277 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,800 car, I was incredibly anxious to change. 278 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,960 Sorry, I was incredibly anxious and I just wanted to get him 279 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:38,520 done with. And then of course it got to the 280 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:42,960 top of the the lift and I was not expecting such a sharp 281 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,720 little turn. So that so yeah, my blood 282 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:50,120 pressure was always already through the roof, but it was a 283 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:50,760 great. Experience. 284 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,880 I don't know if you guys can hear this, but this is the main 285 00:15:53,880 --> 00:16:00,080 track. Oh, I don't know if anything has 286 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:01,600 anything playing. Can't hear anything. 287 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,560 No, I'll, I'll, I'll send it to you to put in. 288 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,440 But yeah, it's nicely. This road cast thing is working, 289 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,320 isn't? It. 290 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:11,720 The wonders of modern technology now. 291 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,360 Exactly. Anyway, it's organ rock guitar 292 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:23,160 beats all blending the kind of the wrath of God. 293 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:29,080 But it's it's, it's like it's got because it kind of blends 294 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,240 that the kind of the the atmosphere, right? 295 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:36,080 It's it's very atmospheric, but at the same time it has this 296 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:41,040 driving force behind it as well, which I come. 297 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:44,360 I'd forgotten I'd done it most times I go in, so every time I 298 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:45,840 hear it, I'm like, Oh yeah, I did that. 299 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,320 Yeah, I recognise this. That must be quite good. 300 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:51,800 Yeah, you did this. So how does that feel, Nick? 301 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:56,840 Like when you, when you, when you just stumble upon your work? 302 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:03,840 It, it's, it's weird. And I remember when I did 303 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:12,960 Halloween Alton Towers in 2015, I did a Tower St. track and my 304 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,440 friend Pete, who I worked with, worked with it. 305 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,280 He looked at me and said, you've never looked so happy in your 306 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,839 entire life just walking down Tower St. with your music play. 307 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:28,480 And it's as a composer and a theme park fan, it's the most 308 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:34,040 gratifying thing there is. And my I think at Christmas at 309 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,080 Alton Towers, my Christmas track still plays on Tower St. every 310 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:38,800 year which is really nice to hear. 311 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:40,440 I love that. I love that. 312 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,040 Just do you know what it's, it's, it's interesting because I 313 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:48,080 think, you know, everyone has an appreciation for music, but I 314 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,240 think music can mean different things for different people. 315 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:57,080 You know, I think, you know, there are some, I think everyone 316 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,840 can have music that makes them feel good or makes them feel 317 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:03,120 like they're going to, you know, have some sort of medical 318 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:07,640 emergency in the case of Andy or, or, or, or whatever it is. 319 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,160 But then there is, there is something that can be done just 320 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:19,000 with a, a, a harmony or a choice of melody or the way that the, 321 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,600 the piece moves along that actually makes you feel 322 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,160 something. And I, I think so that's the 323 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:31,800 kind of the subconscious effect that a soundtrack can provide. 324 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:36,880 And I think, you know, if, if you are, you know, a musical 325 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,480 person, then perhaps you're more conscious of it. 326 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:43,680 But I mean, what? I know you're going to be 327 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,080 biased, Nick, but how important is a soundtrack? 328 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:51,960 I play. I did a piece of music years ago 329 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:56,520 for the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth with a kind of an 330 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,840 attraction they had called the Drop, which was where you were 331 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:04,200 essentially jumping off the building, obviously tied tied 332 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,880 through a rope. I've jumped on the glass. 333 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,560 Yeah, Spinnaker Tower, but that's about. 334 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,200 It I, I, I played it to my friend and there's a one 335 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,520 specific chord progression I chose and she said I feel like 336 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,560 I'm going to be sick. And that's a really interesting 337 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,640 reaction because that's kind of what I was going for. 338 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,280 But of course, I mean, music is like smell. 339 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:33,360 So hearing a piece of music that you haven't heard from years ago 340 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:35,040 can bring you back to that place. 341 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,200 And I think that's why people love theme park music so much, 342 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,280 because a lot of it reminds them of their youth and their 343 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,920 childhood. And it's incredibly powerful for 344 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,400 that. And obviously the stuff I'm 345 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:53,520 writing now isn't, you know, connected to anyone's childhood. 346 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:57,320 Was there, you know, all adults or children hearing it now, but 347 00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,320 hopefully in a couple years time, it might be. 348 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,400 But it. Yeah, it can do lots of things, 349 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,880 but it's you're always supporting the story that's 350 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,480 presented to you. And, and that's the important 351 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,120 thing that I, I, I will say one of my proudest moments was 352 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:15,280 doing. Two firework shows for the the 353 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:20,440 much missed Oakwood theme park in Wales and, and seeing those 354 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,720 shows, not having any idea what they would do to the music 355 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,240 because that came first and then they built the built the shows 356 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,680 around that. That was really lovely for me 357 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,240 because I it's purely about the music and the show. 358 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,840 And that was kind of, you know, that was fun that. 359 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:39,000 Sounds. Really answer your question. 360 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,040 But it, it, it does, it's, it's kind of, you know, it's about 361 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:45,760 that feeling, isn't it? It's not that. 362 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,120 I think yeah, because there's there's the casual theme park 363 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,920 visitor. I assume I'm making assumptions 364 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,320 here. Go on that make us say I will. 365 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,200 I will assume good. But if you like, you will think 366 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,880 like it's a small world. Really annoying, repetitious. 367 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:01,040 Music. Right, right, right. 368 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,200 Closer to home, although not particularly modern Toyland 369 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,560 Tours, it's got that yeah, endless loop. 370 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,880 And it gets to the point I think of being really annoying to a 371 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:12,320 lot of people. Like people come off small 372 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:14,760 worlds thinking, Oh God, there's a real ear worm there. 373 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:17,200 I'm going to be bloody whistling the thing all day. 374 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,840 Like, is there a way, Nick, that you can create a memorable tune 375 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,800 without it? Like because it off it has to 376 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,320 loop, doesn't it has to play many, many times an hour. 377 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,840 So is there a way that you you can create something that has to 378 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:39,680 loop but isn't bloody annoying? Well, I, I, I, I disagree with 379 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,840 people saying it's a small world is annoying because a piece of 380 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:44,920 music is only catchy if it's repeated. 381 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,200 And obviously you're hearing that because all it's a small 382 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:52,520 world is is there's a lot more going on in the background than 383 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,280 you think with that. And I think it's fascinating as 384 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,440 a composer, like hearing all the different instruments, doing all 385 00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,120 the counter melodies. And then you've got the verse 386 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:02,400 and the chorus that come together contrapuntally and 387 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:04,760 it's, it's, it's very, very clever. 388 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,440 What the Sherman Brothers and the team at Disney, I think you 389 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:14,280 have to create something that's identifiable for an attraction. 390 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,840 So Haunted Mansion is very good for that because it's got a kind 391 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,800 of da, da da da da da da. That's kind of it. 392 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,640 And it's how you use it throughout the attraction that 393 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:32,800 makes it not sound the same. So you could take that and you 394 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:38,720 could play it faster. For example, in the in the 395 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,880 ballroom scene, it's played as a waltz on the organ. 396 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:47,280 So it's the same melody, it's the same harmony, but it's done 397 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,160 in a different time. And I think it, the reason it's 398 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,320 a Small World stands out is because it's all in the same 399 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,160 time signature for the whole attraction. 400 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,040 So it's just the same thing going round and round and round. 401 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:06,480 That makes sense. So it, it, it, it it's all down 402 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:13,280 to how you use the the kind of the light motif that you have. 403 00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:16,400 To work with, but that I suppose, like with it's a small 404 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,160 world. Like, I mean, look, this is this 405 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,880 is the beginning of a tangent. I can feel it but but no, I mean 406 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,120 like that's. Like the end of a tangent. 407 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:29,000 No, because it's what I don't it's AI mean spiritually. 408 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:36,840 The the, the song, the tune is all about how the people, the 409 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,880 children of the world are all reading from the same hymn 410 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,800 sheet, right? That is, it's kind of we've all 411 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,240 got these things in common, right? 412 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:49,160 Interesting fact, I believe. I believe that it is. 413 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,520 It holds some sort of record for. 414 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,280 The It's the most translated song in the world, which makes 415 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,240 sense as it's about sort of 20 languages in the attraction. 416 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,920 And I and I think it's it's being played non-stop since like 417 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:12,320 like 24 hours a day, seven days a week since Tokyo opened It it 418 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,920 like it it holds the record for the the longest. 419 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,120 Oh, so it's always playing somewhere in the world. 420 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,000 OK, yeah, that makes sense. Whole set thing. 421 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:23,920 So you know, there you. Go. 422 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,120 That's that. I will say, being a theme park 423 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:29,760 composer, whoever it's, it's the same for musical, for successful 424 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,160 musical theatre writers. You kind of lie asleep knowing 425 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:36,160 my music is playing somewhere right now and it's being 426 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,600 appreciated or hated by someone and it's it's, it's very nice. 427 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:42,680 Imagine if you got paid per loop. 428 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,680 Oh yes? Well, sadly, the world. 429 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,920 Yeah, if only. If only. 430 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,640 Obviously we've we've touched on how much of AA theme park fan 431 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,040 you are as well. So theme park fan, the the 432 00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:01,640 musical was your well I don't know what what you would refer 433 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,080 to that as. It was AI. 434 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,840 Don't know either. Yeah, it was a fever dream that 435 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,880 came out during what COVID did you produce that? 436 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:10,960 Tell us a little bit about the process of Theme Park Fan the 437 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,960 Musical. See, it's Grecia that was. 438 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,240 No, it was. It was great fun. 439 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:21,760 It it I in 2018, I wrote a comedy song called I'm a theme 440 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:27,080 park fan and I can't become so long ago. 441 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,120 I can't remember. So I was doing, I was toying 442 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:33,040 with an idea of a musical and I thought, well, let's make it 443 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:38,360 about theme park fans and bring everyone together at a time when 444 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:42,520 we couldn't be together and set it in the location we would all 445 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,840 be at a time when we couldn't be there. 446 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:52,680 So we kind of timed it so it started at 7:30 and it's set in 447 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,720 Blackpool at a time in February when all the theme Park 448 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:03,080 Community would be in Blackpool. And it had it was a fun story 449 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,520 about the kind of RMC being announced, a Blackpool Pleasure 450 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:10,320 Beach and this guy called Jamie wants to be a famous vlog star. 451 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,440 So he tells a lie that gets out of hand. 452 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,720 And it all got rather metal and and silly, but it was, I'm very, 453 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,720 very proud of it. We had Neil Patrick Harris 454 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:25,800 involved, we had John Wardley was in it, we had I Disney 455 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:27,840 composed. A friend of mine, Alan Menken, 456 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,000 donated some money for the charity for it. 457 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,640 So we raised over about 2700 lbs in the end, I think we had 458 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,920 Smells, but Smells made for it and merch and the album's on 459 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:42,040 Spotify and and YouTube and all that kind of stuff. 460 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:46,760 So it's a kind of, it's a memory of a very strange time. 461 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:48,840 It was a lovely community effort. 462 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:54,080 Well, that that sounds like a much more productive kind of 463 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,480 memory of that time than I have, which was buying. 464 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,680 Built a shed. Well, no, I didn't buy a shed. 465 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,440 No, that Andy was Andy was Andy was constructive. 466 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:10,000 I, I, I would just go to Tesco and buy 20 crates of Budweiser 467 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,440 for 10 lbs and, and, and lots and lots of food. 468 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,000 I, I, you know, that would, that was my, that was my COVID 469 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,760 contribution. We work cope in our own ways it. 470 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,920 Worked all through COVID. Did you? 471 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:23,080 Yeah, I didn't stop it. At all? 472 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,840 Well, Nick did something actually constructive so for 473 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:27,880 that. I got to work. 474 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,520 If you guys only listen to one, I'm going to sound fanboy moment 475 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,600 here from 1:00, but if you guys only listen to one song in theme 476 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,600 park, fan the musical, you listen to the Wetherspoon song, 477 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,120 I can't remember. Is it welcome to the bar or 478 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:42,920 something like that? Nick, everyone's. 479 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,720 Everyone's welcome at the. Bar that is so that that's your 480 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,320 earworm. That is such a good song I it 481 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,560 regularly comes on my playlist. That that got a full page 482 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,360 article in the Wetherspoons magazine. 483 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:56,640 I wish. They played it in Wetherspoons. 484 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:58,880 Yeah, well, no, they don't play music in Wetherspoons. 485 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,120 That's why we like it. That even mentions it in the 486 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:04,680 song. But yeah, it's yeah, I'm very, 487 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,320 very proud of that song. It's a kind of take away moment, 488 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:11,240 but it it's just ridiculous. So all the club nights are wrong 489 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,240 now rewriting. Oh God, yeah. 490 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,840 Well, theme park found the musical the sequel Make it 491 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,520 Happen. It's been, it's been toyed with. 492 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,920 You said you had Neil Patrick Harris with you. 493 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:25,840 Is that the fella from Malcolm in the Middle? 494 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:32,200 No, it's it looks like him. It's actually the fella from How 495 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:37,440 I Met Your Mother and big, big theme park fan and big, big 496 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:42,520 musical theatre fan and star. So people think he plays the 497 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,240 oldest, the old oldest son in Malcolm in the Middle. 498 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:47,320 He does. Look like him. 499 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:51,600 Yeah, I've got Googling it now. Yeah, he was Count Olaf in the 500 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:56,320 Netflix. He was Series of Unfortunate 501 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,960 Events. Yeah, and he, he, he goes back 502 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,960 to coast radio because he he's a voice over and outs and frequent 503 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,240 guest on the show. And I've been, I've interviewed 504 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,160 him a couple of times as well. And just the nicest, nicest 505 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,320 person. When I said to my friend Neil 506 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,920 Patrick Harris is going to be in my musical about theme parks, 507 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:15,960 she went well, of course he is, because it's a kind of crazy 508 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,440 crap that he would do and we're all stuck at home doing nothing. 509 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:21,640 That was what was nice about it is people had time. 510 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:23,760 Excellent. Amazing. 511 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,880 So is, is there a piece of music, you think, whether it's 512 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,560 theme parks or not, that that represents your voice as a 513 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:31,360 composer? Oh. 514 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,000 Go on. My voice? 515 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,360 Well, there's Tomb Blaster, which has my voice in it, but I 516 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:40,600 don't think that's what you're referring to. 517 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,880 Literally, Yeah. Wait. 518 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,200 Is it in? In what form does it have your 519 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:46,840 voice? I. 520 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:48,920 Probably. Have you done the ride? 521 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:50,200 No. Do you know what? 522 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:54,360 I haven't? Because, you know, I've. 523 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,280 I I haven't done Tomb Blaster since it became blaster. 524 00:29:58,720 --> 00:29:59,440 What? Yeah, I. 525 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:00,760 Know when did you last go to Chessington? 526 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,160 A long time ago. Me too, I haven't been for many. 527 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,160 Years so sorry. Great trip. 528 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,280 Yeah. Live podcast. 529 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,640 Yeah. I so there's a the couple of 530 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,280 voices in the ride and I am the voice of the kind of the 531 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,600 villain. This, this very deep voice like 532 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,480 that and Oh my. God, that's incredible. 533 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:28,280 I that's one I worked on with Bradley Wynne and I was 534 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:29,920 recording the demos. Yeah. 535 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,040 And I said we have to have to find a real actor to do this. 536 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:33,680 He said Nope, you're doing it. It's great. 537 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:38,280 We're using it. It's like, oh, OK, so 2 Blossom 538 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:42,360 is a huge amount to me. That ride was so it's 5th I 539 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,720 mentioned in Terror 2. It was such a big part of my 540 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,760 childhood. So now that I'm part of it is 541 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:51,320 just it's just ridiculous and. Honestly, that's amazing my. 542 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,160 Friends and I piss ourselves with laughter every time on it. 543 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,960 Finally, after 5000 years, it's all that. 544 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,600 Kind honestly. Anyway, we need a button to do 545 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:10,240 that. You've got, you've got that 546 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,000 built into you. You're not your Terminator. 547 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,560 We only had the digital version. Why were you the whole podcast 548 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:19,000 in that voice? I know. 549 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,800 Honestly, I think I would die. I remember recording the vocals 550 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,600 for the big snake at the end and I was as you could hear him. 551 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,520 When the snake gets killed, he's like coughing his gut. 552 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,600 His knee. Actually coughing my guts up. 553 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:37,440 I don't know. I think there's the first 554 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:41,280 Oakwood's fireworks I did was. So this will go back to 555 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,120 something we will talk talk about later. 556 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:48,440 I believe it was kind of very Disney influenced, very not 557 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:54,280 classical, but kind of epic. And I had such fun doing that. 558 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,720 It was one of the most proud moments I ever had. 559 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,880 Watching that show for the first time, I shed many tears. 560 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,600 Well, I I don't know, because everything I've I've not too 561 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,960 Simone or horn here, but everything I've done is so 562 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,280 different. It's hard to pin down because 563 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:13,400 I'm not writing from my own voice. 564 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,400 I'm writing for the voice of the attraction. 565 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,320 That's. Yeah, good point. 566 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,120 So it's it's really hard to answer that question. 567 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:27,120 Well, we don't do things by halves here, but I think we 568 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,160 would be remiss if we didn't speak about Universal a little 569 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:30,200 bit. Of course we. 570 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,480 Actually, you, you and I spoke about this already at length 571 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,040 when I appeared on your own podcast, Nick. 572 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,400 So, but let's talk about Epic Universe a little bit. 573 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,600 And with the, with the likes of Universal Studios, there's a, 574 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:49,240 there's a pretty much a ready made soundtrack with film scores 575 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:52,160 and the like. But for Epic Universe, there was 576 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,760 a lot of new music produced. So you've been to, to Epic How, 577 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,000 how do you think they've done when it comes to the score and, 578 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:02,360 and the, the music at the different areas? 579 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,400 Epic Universe. One of the take home things 580 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:12,920 about Epic for me was the audio everywhere and I'm audio in 581 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,840 Aries is fine and very impressive but it was how I 582 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:20,600 think every ride had on board audio which is very, very rare 583 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:25,200 to find and even things like Curse the Werewolf and the 584 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:30,040 hiccups wind gliders had it and it just elevates the experience 585 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,280 so much. I was really, really impressed 586 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:37,960 with the audio of the whole park and that's all I have to say 587 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,760 about it. It was just extremely well 588 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:45,840 executed but as it should be. I think they've learnt so much 589 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:51,600 over 25 years since IOA opened and of course I've done the 590 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:56,960 other parks in other areas of the world, but it's kind of, it 591 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,600 was one of the things that really stood out to me was how 592 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:03,880 strong the music in the park is, whether it's the original stuff 593 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:09,120 or cool things. Like when the church bells toll 594 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:11,800 in Dark Universe, you know that's when the Burning Blade is 595 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,679 about to. Yeah, yeah. 596 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,960 Erupt. So gone to your head, if you had 597 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:22,880 to choose, what would you say is the the best area for for from a 598 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:24,960 score point of view at Epic University? 599 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:28,080 So, sorry, can I just get clarification on that question? 600 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,080 Sorry, am I? So we're talking like, OK, so 601 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:36,239 Nick is he's in Epic, he's got he's he's kind of like zoned 602 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:41,040 out, eyes closed. Where is Where's the best spot? 603 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,520 Yeah, where's the best spot to just sit and listen, eyes 604 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,120 closed, Just. Absorbing it with your ears. 605 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:54,920 It's difficult because I'm a fan of two kind of Sonic worlds. 606 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:59,320 Not Sonic the Hedgehog, but kind of audio fan of it. 607 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:05,400 It would either be the Parisian streets of the visiting world of 608 00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:08,120 Harry Potter. Because I love old, I love 20s 609 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,600 jazz. Working in a lot of 20s jazz for 610 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:14,920 a project at the moment or as a horror fan, it has to be Dark 611 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:19,200 Universe. It's just it's the amount of 612 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:27,560 music and how every single nook and cranny has something unique 613 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:29,520 for it. And what I was really impressed 614 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:35,040 with was I would actually sit in one of the transitioning areas. 615 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:40,080 So I remember specifically being impressed by I was hearing a 616 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:45,240 piece of music in Celestial Park and then I walked into Isle of 617 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:48,280 Burke and it was the same piece of music but it was done in with 618 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,520 the Isle of Burke sound. Wow. 619 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,280 And it's things like that that, that I get it, It's a simple 620 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:56,120 task to do, but it's the fact they do it. 621 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:58,760 It's not just a jarring yeah. Yeah. 622 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:02,640 And it was kind of perfectly synchronized. 623 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,400 So as you went through the portal, it you kind of just be 624 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:14,360 blended from the Celestial Park instrumental composition to the 625 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,840 Isle of Berk one which which I'm guessing would be kind of a 626 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,560 little bit more folksy. Folky Yeah. 627 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:22,680 And I remember being impressed by that. 628 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,960 It's been a while since I've been Oh no, I'm going to have to 629 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,000 go back at some point and think about this question. 630 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,360 Right. Oh, it's poor you. 631 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:32,960 It's, I just remember being impressed everywhere by the 632 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:34,680 audio. But they're, they're masters at 633 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:35,880 it. They've been doing it for, you 634 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:41,320 know, so long now. So music aside, then what is 635 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:42,360 your? I know we've spoken about this 636 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,720 on your your pod as well, Nick, but what's your overall 637 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,600 impression of Epic Universe as a theme park? 638 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,120 It's a very, very good beginning. 639 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:56,880 I think they're aware of the fact there's a lot more to do 640 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:03,600 and the capacity is obviously still not, not at 100%, but what 641 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:09,160 is there is excellent. It's beautifully themed. 642 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:13,840 I mean, the whole, I actually got very emotional walking into 643 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,760 the park. And I remember my my girlfriend 644 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,600 Hannah said, are you OK? And I went, yeah, I'm just 645 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:26,680 overwhelmed, not by this park, but the fact that we're going to 646 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:31,560 get something better than Epic Universe, I hope. 647 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:37,200 And that was what really hit me because I've been following the 648 00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:43,040 UK construction for a long time. I the the not the last time I 649 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:45,920 was at the time before I, I bumped into Mark Woodbury and 650 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:50,280 had a chat with him and I was like, see you in the UK. 651 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:55,400 He went, Yep, I hope bye. And now that it's happening, I, 652 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,000 I still can't believe it. I'm sure we'll talk about that 653 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:58,840 in a bit. But yeah, I loved epic. 654 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:02,480 I I think the dark universe is a triumph. 655 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:08,600 The Frankenstein experiment is just a stunning, stunning ride. 656 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,440 Stardust racers is amazing. I've never, I'm not a huge fan 657 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,960 of Hazard Train or Dragon so I'm not hugely knowledgeable of that 658 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,520 land, but what I could see was wonderful. 659 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,240 Very weird moment seeing the stage show though. 660 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:27,280 Toothless wasn't in it really. So they just they just ran the 661 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,160 whole show without Toothless. Oh, that's kind of hard, right? 662 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,400 Because that is the the, the finale, the. 663 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:35,120 That's the well it kind of comes. 664 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,080 To the beginning. It's like the thing that blows 665 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,080 your mind. Right yeah it's supposed to come 666 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:44,840 about halfway through the show. OK, he was there when I I saw 667 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:49,840 the show, and that's I'm I'm not a an emotional person when it 668 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:54,000 comes to like show like visibly emotional, outwardly emotional, 669 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,320 but that's the closest I've ever come during toothless flying 670 00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:01,600 over this the audience to sort of like welling up. 671 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:03,000 Really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 672 00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:08,440 Yeah, no, but it's. Because it's very, sometimes 673 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,360 it's, it's a thing like that. You, you and you know it's 674 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,480 coming, right? You know The thing is going to 675 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,200 happen, but there's nothing you can do. 676 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:18,280 About it? Oh no, just just let it happen. 677 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,360 Well, they they shouldn't. They shouldn't have run the 678 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,280 show. No, I think you're right. 679 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,040 I think you're right. The the the one bit I did blow 680 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,000 in mind because I'd saw no spoilers and the the rides were 681 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,000 amazing and all the Tekken hat, but it was 1 moment in the 682 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:37,320 Cirque Arcanoe show. I've I've seen a lot of theatre 683 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:39,640 in my life and this is one of the greatest scene changes I've 684 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:40,760 ever seen in my life. Yeah. 685 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:42,880 Without even saying, I'll know what your reference is. 686 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:46,520 I I will leave it at that, OK, Because that was pure 687 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:47,440 theatrical. Matter. 688 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,760 I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to be there in a in a 689 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:51,960 few months time. So I'll yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 690 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:54,520 You won't receive it, don't worry. 691 00:39:56,320 --> 00:40:00,400 I honestly, everyone's just kind of got me so excited about 692 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:01,280 ethics. We'll have to. 693 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,840 Get you in on the pod live when you're there. 694 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:05,520 That would be cool. Yeah, let's do it. 695 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,040 We could do that. Call in on the. 696 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:12,240 Yeah, it may be like 4. 44 I'll be in Japan at that time. 697 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:16,920 Well, you do it too. Imagine a multi. 698 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,920 Crossover we'd always want. Honestly, it'll be like kind of 699 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:22,680 like a it's a small world sort of situation really, wouldn't 700 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:23,800 it? 3 continents. 701 00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,320 But without the song. Without we could make it happen. 702 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:31,840 But if if you had to choose. Nick, are you a coaster fan or a 703 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:32,720 dark ride fan? A. 704 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,560 Dark ride fan, I get more excited doing a dark ride than a 705 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:44,320 coaster. If they are blended, that's even 706 00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:48,160 more exciting. So for me, things like I, I, I 707 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:52,240 stand firmly on the fact that I think Hagrid's magical motorbike 708 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:55,720 experience, Adventure, whatever it's called, is one of the 709 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:57,560 greatest family attractions in the world. 710 00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:58,400 Yeah. Absolutely. 711 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:05,280 And Gringotts is incredible and the Revenge of the Mummy is 712 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:09,640 still amazing. I think something like Spider 713 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,200 Man for me is a lot more thrilling than the Incredible 714 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,440 Hulk. As in the rides, Not the brands. 715 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:21,040 But I, yeah, as I'm getting older, it's certainly not a 716 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,480 spinning ride fan. Can't do those anymore. 717 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,560 Though I did enjoy Constellation Carousel because that was very 718 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,720 simple. And. 719 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,520 But yeah, definitely a dark ride fan because it comes to my love 720 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:38,000 of theatre and that's, you know, you are moving through a theatre 721 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,640 show in a dark ride. And roller coasters are fun, but 722 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:46,200 I'd rather queue two hours for a dark ride than two hours for a 723 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:48,560 standard out and back. I think I'm with you. 724 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:50,400 Yeah, I'm with you there. I'm with you there. 725 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:55,120 It's amazing how you can tell a story in what, 3 minutes on a 726 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:57,600 dark ride? You've got a whole, it's a three 727 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,760 act structure that they are telling you in such a short 728 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,920 amount of time. I think that when I chat, I 729 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:07,320 think my swarm experience certainly made me move away from 730 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:07,920 Roller. Coasters. 731 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,760 Yeah, Swarm is one of the smoother ones as well. 732 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:14,840 I know. Yeah. 733 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,360 No, honestly, get you on the Grand National at Blackpool. 734 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,080 Oh. Good God, that's another 735 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:20,680 routing. It's going to be another route. 736 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:22,880 My tailbone. Still has not recovered from the 737 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:24,560 wheel seats of the Grand National. 738 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:28,400 It's not pleasant. I think the only ride I've been 739 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:31,880 on where it feels like the train is coming off the tracks as 740 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,000 you're going over those Bunny hills. 741 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,000 Yeah, unpleasant. RMC it RMC the bloody. 742 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,680 Things. Yeah, we've gone full circle. 743 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,440 So we've obviously got, yeah, I mean, just the point of the 744 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,880 podcast, we've got a, a brand spanking new Universal Park 745 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:52,280 opening right down the road from where the three of us are SAT. 746 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:54,880 I mean, it's quite a bit further for you, isn't it, Nick? 747 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:59,400 But I imagine the fact that it's coming to the UK, it's, it's, 748 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,880 it's, it's pushing your buttons. I, I don't know how you guys 749 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:06,600 feel, but there's when I'm kind of just on the bus or on the 750 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:15,240 tube or, or doing whatever, I just say what no, we, we don't 751 00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:19,080 get things like this in England. We, we, we don't have parks that 752 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:24,200 open past 5:00 in the afternoon and we don't have like what we 753 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,480 haven't, we don't deserve it, it feels like. 754 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:30,040 I I think. It feels almost like buyer's 755 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:31,320 guilt or something. I. 756 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:33,080 Feel as though I had that at first. 757 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:38,440 I've, I've moved away from that now because I see it every time 758 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,000 I drive past it almost every single day. 759 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:46,160 And I see stuff, the Digatron and I see the fascinator 760 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,240 Flumpers and all this sort. Of stuff. 761 00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:51,080 These are all technical terms by the way, Nick. 762 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:55,400 I know I'm well aware of them. 3,000,000 Whatever. 763 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:56,360 It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 764 00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,560 Yeah. So, so yeah, I mean, at first I 765 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:01,440 was very much like, this is not happening, this is not 766 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,720 happening. And then the SD come and then as 767 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:08,360 time's gone on, I, I every time I go at, you know, wherever it 768 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:11,880 may be past it, I, it's like, oh, this is getting boring now 769 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:15,840 come on, do something it. Was a long time, but nothing. 770 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,120 Wasn't. It oh, there was too long for 771 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,160 nothing. The the question I have for the 772 00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:24,040 historians among you, didn't this happen before in like the 773 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:28,520 90s or something in Ken? How far, How yeah or how far did 774 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:30,440 that get? And are we beyond that stage 775 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,720 now? Oh, so that what are we talking? 776 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,960 The London resort down, No. No, we're talking wait. 777 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,760 Oh yeah. Oh, Universal, Universal. 778 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:41,400 You're right. Marshlands or something like 779 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:42,080 that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 780 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:42,360 Yeah. Yeah. 781 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:42,920 Yeah. Yeah. 782 00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:43,720 No, you're right. Yeah. 783 00:44:45,240 --> 00:44:48,560 Did they do anything? Because I think, yeah, there was 784 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,480 a thing that because that was pre port Aventura, wasn't it? 785 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:55,960 It was, yeah. It was this was the early 90s 786 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:56,800 did. They do anything? 787 00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:59,160 Or was it all just on paper? It was. 788 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,840 Did they own the land? I seem to remember footage of 789 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:06,360 universal people walking around that piece of land. 790 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,760 Now, I mean, I, I, I just think that the British pessimist in me 791 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:18,000 is just going through, this can happen, this can happen, but 792 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:21,000 what can stop it happen? There's kind of, I don't want to 793 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,040 doubt be a Debbie Downer, but it's like, are we, are they 794 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:30,160 legally contractually obliged now to build this part? 795 00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:32,880 The SDL is illegally binding. Because it's not. 796 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,360 It's just, it's just, it's just planning permission well. 797 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:37,280 Isn't it? It isn't. 798 00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:39,160 It isn't right. I think there'll be a point of 799 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:40,920 no return. I don't think they've got to 800 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:45,520 that yet. I think for this, for the theme 801 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:49,360 park now not to be built, they will have to change the law 802 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:53,880 because law, it's the law that the theme park's going to be 803 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:56,160 built. No and no. 804 00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:57,720 The special development order's not like. 805 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:01,680 That no, it's just saying no, no, it absolutely no it is man 806 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:02,360 are. You sure? 807 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:06,920 Yeah. 100% that's why everything that's in that SDO, everything 808 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:11,280 that's in it is happening. Yeah, I get that right. 809 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:17,720 I thought they were simply a, a, much like a blanket coverage 810 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:19,640 planning permission simply that's all. 811 00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:21,800 I thought that's all. It was just simply saying the 812 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:23,520 government have been through it. They said, yeah, you can do all 813 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:25,680 this. You know, if tomorrow something, 814 00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:28,760 if this shit hit the fan tomorrow, there's nothing really 815 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:30,440 to stop them going, you know, we're not going to do this 816 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:32,120 anymore. I think it's incredibly 817 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:34,520 unlikely. I mean, I, I don't think they're 818 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,880 obliged to build it. I I don't think they're obliged 819 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,840 to no, I think you're right. I mean, but then it's it's one 820 00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:44,520 of those things of OK, what would need to happen for it not 821 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,640 to be built now you. Find a dinosaur or something we. 822 00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:49,960 But then even, yeah, we spoke. We spoke about a lot it had. 823 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:53,200 To be a live dinosaur, I think for them to stop. 824 00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:54,400 No, I don't find it. What was it? 825 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:56,080 The last episode that we recorded? 826 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:59,440 It was a new king. Right, it was a found a new 827 00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:02,040 king. They found a king there, but 828 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:04,400 even that you know that's that's not going to change anything. 829 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:08,840 The genuinely, I think the only thing that's going to stop this 830 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,440 from happening, and I don't think if there is any risk of it 831 00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:15,880 happening, is somehow universal run out of money. 832 00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:18,800 And we just had their quarterly earnings, didn't we? 833 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,640 And they're they're printing money. 834 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,840 They're not running out of money, so I think we're OK. 835 00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:27,440 It's about a company that with they are it's always makes you 836 00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:30,000 laugh for universal for the wizarding world originally you 837 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:34,800 can go up to an altar, a bank teller, hand them real money and 838 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:36,320 they give you fake money back. It's. 839 00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:40,560 A good note. That you can then spend in the 840 00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:43,320 park, but you're not going to spend it because that is Harry 841 00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:46,760 Potter money. You spent $10 on a bit of paper. 842 00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:50,480 They know what they're doing. But the thing with companies 843 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:52,920 like Universal is if you don't build theme parks, you start 844 00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:56,080 paying taxes. Yeah, it's as simple as that. 845 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,320 Yeah, You know, that's why. That's why companies like 846 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:04,400 Starbucks pay very little tax, because they're continuously 847 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:06,360 spending their profit on new branches. 848 00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:08,360 So they're not making profit. You only get taxed on your 849 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:09,360 profit. Which is why you. 850 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:11,280 Spend your profit on new buildings. 851 00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:12,920 You don't pay tax. Well, there is that whole part, 852 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:14,400 isn't there? That was that whole part of the 853 00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:19,280 universal pitch is that I can't remember what the percent was. 854 00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:24,360 It was something like 50 percent, 50% of the revenue or 855 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:28,640 50% of the profit reinvested would would be immediately 856 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:33,200 reinvested back into the park. Which is have a 100 year plan. 857 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:35,120 Without 100, you're absolutely right. 858 00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:38,280 I mean, we, I can't wait to see what this 100 year plan is. 859 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:40,040 Well, we won't be alive to see it. 860 00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:41,920 I don't. Know man, I'll be a little 861 00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:44,800 floating head in a jar. One of Musk's microchips in our 862 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:46,960 heads. Let's do it. 863 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:49,720 So what are you looking forward to, Nick? 864 00:48:49,720 --> 00:48:51,400 About the UK park? What? 865 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:54,560 What do you when you you're on the bus and you're thinking, oh 866 00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:55,600 crap, we're actually getting this? 867 00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:57,560 What? Where does your mind take you? 868 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:04,320 The summer's evening, it's sort of 6:00 and we could go to a 869 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:07,080 theme park that's open. I know. 870 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,800 It's stroll over the road. Well, it might be a bit more 871 00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:14,280 than that, but it's kind of it, it's, I don't know. 872 00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:18,520 I mean, it's, I'm looking forward to world class dark 873 00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:23,200 rides and world class dining and the buzz that you get at City 874 00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:27,800 Walk and a a party you can go to on New Year's Eve and have a big 875 00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:29,080 party and. Then. 876 00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:31,880 Yeah, that'd be great, kind of. But then little questions go in 877 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:34,840 my head, and this is someone no one has mentioned to my 878 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:37,440 knowledge. Are we going to get a Loews 879 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:42,000 Hotel? Oh, who operates the one in 880 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:43,600 Beijing? Because, I mean, that's the most 881 00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:46,440 recent one that's opened right outside of the US. 882 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:52,640 Was it going to be Holiday Inn? Premier, what's that really 883 00:49:52,640 --> 00:49:54,040 cheap one called? What? 884 00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:56,920 Travelodge. No, it's even cheaper than that. 885 00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:00,320 I put the one I park my car in there when I go on the cruise in 886 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:02,320 Southampton. Is there someone that you 887 00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:04,640 referenced in a previous episode? 888 00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:07,680 Some cheap hotel. OK. 889 00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:11,160 Really cheap, sounds lovely. You're selling it. 890 00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:16,280 I'm, I'm looking forward to something shiny and new. 891 00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:21,080 And because it's so rare in this country, we get, we get new 892 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:23,440 things, but they're always a bit naff. 893 00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:28,240 And naff for the Americans means a bit kind of how would you 894 00:50:28,240 --> 00:50:30,680 describe it? Rough round the edges 895 00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:31,960 effectively. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 896 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:35,760 And I'm looking forward to seeing little things like all 897 00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,400 the landscaping they've mentioned and the pathways and 898 00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:42,280 the river ways and the kind of the, the logistics behind 899 00:50:42,280 --> 00:50:44,080 running it. And I don't think, like Mike and 900 00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:48,280 I have spoke about this before, are the, I don't want to say 901 00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:52,360 untravelled Brits, but are the people who haven't been to a 902 00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:55,600 major theme park resort, whether it's Europa Park or Disneyland 903 00:50:55,600 --> 00:51:01,600 Paris or Universal or or Disney in the States, are they prepared 904 00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:09,040 for that way of doing things where it is so well thought out 905 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:15,760 and so slick and organized and impressive? 906 00:51:16,720 --> 00:51:21,640 Like a theme park day for a lot of British people is we rock up 907 00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:25,200 at 10, we go home at 4:00, we bring a packed lunch because the 908 00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:30,240 food is a bit rubbish and we stand in long, long, long queues 909 00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:32,560 and a bit disappointed at the end of the day. 910 00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:37,120 That is not the experience Universal ever offer. 911 00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:40,000 So that's what I'm looking forward to seeing is kind of the 912 00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:42,360 other way of doing things in this country. 913 00:51:43,040 --> 00:51:44,280 Yeah. Yeah, we're going to get that 914 00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:48,440 little Florida flavour right. Here at home, Sunny Bedford, 915 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:52,000 Yeah, sunny Bedford. Ibis was the Hotel Ibis. 916 00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,840 Oh, yes, Ibis cheap. Yeah, they, they, they there's 917 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,160 one Ibis on the Luton airport, right? 918 00:51:58,720 --> 00:51:59,920 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 919 00:51:59,920 --> 00:52:03,000 Is it an Ibis or an Ibis budget? Oh, I think it's an Ibis budget. 920 00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:05,000 Actually, I think it's lower than that level. 921 00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:06,480 Oh. My God, how many? 922 00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:08,400 How many sleep in a room with it on a budget? 923 00:52:09,720 --> 00:52:14,320 It's just a hostel, 6 bunk beds. Just a floor. 924 00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,280 Yeah. Just yeah, hay bales on the 925 00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:18,760 floor please. Sponsor us Ibis. 926 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:24,440 Oh God, Can you imagine? I I know we all love the concept 927 00:52:24,440 --> 00:52:27,120 art but I don't think it's something we should be taking 928 00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:30,600 100% not seriously. And not at this stage, but it's 929 00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:36,080 a good idea of to what we might what what is the what's theme 930 00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:40,080 from the the concept art? What what excites you the most 931 00:52:40,080 --> 00:52:42,040 out of what we've potentially seen? 932 00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:45,240 We're going to get. Whatever that mysterious thing 933 00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:48,240 is on the right hand side, and I pray to God it's not. 934 00:52:48,240 --> 00:52:52,360 Shrek, me too. That's what I'm curious to know. 935 00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:58,080 But for me, it's whatever that massive dark ride is at the top, 936 00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:01,520 whether it's Jurassic World or Jurassic Park or whatever new 937 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:02,680 franchise they're going to pull out. 938 00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:07,120 But it's very difficult for parks to kind of know what's 939 00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:09,440 going to be popular in six years time. 940 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:10,640 Very. Yeah. 941 00:53:11,240 --> 00:53:15,480 But that said, Universal know what movies they're making in 942 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:17,440 two or three years time, don't they? 943 00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,000 But they don't know which ones are going to, no, they don't 944 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,720 know which ones are going to kind of hit the cultural 945 00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:27,160 zeitgeist like it was frozen. No one was prepared for that 946 00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:29,920 especially. Definitely not like we're not 947 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,920 going to get a a Christopher Nolan's Odyssey land, are we? 948 00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:35,880 Or something like that. But who knows, maybe we will. 949 00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:38,800 But no, I, I, I think it's a great point because, you know, 950 00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:44,200 if you look at look at the two big universal coasters opening 951 00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:47,400 this year and next over in the States, OK, they're, they're 952 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:50,960 Fast and the Furious, right? Which is, to be honest, that's a 953 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:56,840 franchise I thought had died, but it it's it's no, but I'm 954 00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,520 sure there's actually there's actually a there's probably a 955 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,400 there's probably a quote from the movie that that that would 956 00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:05,440 fit perfectly to that. But family. 957 00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:07,360 Yeah, that family. That's right. 958 00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:11,600 Yeah. But the, it's, it's almost like 959 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:14,760 it needs to kind of like cut its teeth out there in the world, 960 00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:16,840 real world. The IP has to be out there for 961 00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:20,840 about what like I think Fast and Furious first one came out like 962 00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:24,160 what, 2001 or something like that or something like that. 963 00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:27,200 So that's been out there for 25 years now. 964 00:54:27,200 --> 00:54:30,280 And they're like, right, we'll throw some money at it. 965 00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:33,360 And that like, that's how long it's taken. 966 00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:39,280 It it's an interesting kind of cycle. 967 00:54:39,280 --> 00:54:43,600 So I, I, I the Avatar land at Animal Kingdom is a good example 968 00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:45,960 of this. The first film came out and then 969 00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:49,800 the land came out and no one I, I don't know who sees these 970 00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:53,800 Avatar films because I couldn't name any characters from them, 971 00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:56,480 but yet they've made kajillion dollars. 972 00:54:56,680 --> 00:55:01,680 Yeah, yeah. And then the land comes out, so 973 00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:04,240 everyone gets sort of acquainted with the brand. 974 00:55:04,240 --> 00:55:06,800 It keeps the brand alive. And then all these other movies 975 00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:09,360 are coming out. So then they build more lands 976 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:15,320 and that's what will support more, more films in the future. 977 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:22,480 The Harry Potter thing is really interesting because I don't know 978 00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:30,400 if it's sensible to do it on the new HBO series that's coming. 979 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:32,440 Yeah. Yeah. 980 00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:36,680 Because now you're dealing with families that grew up with these 981 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:42,080 actors, Daniel Radcliffe and Co, completely disappearing, and 982 00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:48,320 they're going to be forced to get to know another load of 983 00:55:48,320 --> 00:55:51,960 actors. And it puts Universal Creative 984 00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:54,560 in a very difficult position if that's what they have to do to 985 00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:59,080 get this new Harry Potter land without without the production 986 00:55:59,080 --> 00:56:03,320 design that's so iconic for these, you know, what is 987 00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:04,600 Hogwarts class going to look like? 988 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,240 It can only look like one thing, but it's going to be different. 989 00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:08,600 Very true. It would. 990 00:56:08,680 --> 00:56:10,960 Wouldn't it be the first time Universal have done a land 991 00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:13,200 dedicated to ATV show rather than a movie? 992 00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:18,640 Since what? I suppose so, yeah, although 993 00:56:18,640 --> 00:56:20,440 there isn't. Walking, they did a they did a 994 00:56:20,440 --> 00:56:23,080 Walking Dead scare maze, didn't they, in Hollywood? 995 00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:24,840 Oh, that's right. Yeah, there's been a few like 996 00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:27,000 Last of Us as well, Yeah. Yeah. 997 00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:32,880 Yeah, good game, a major but but it's it's a it's a book. 998 00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:37,640 I mean, that's the that's the important thing with Harry 999 00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:41,400 Potter, as was all the original things, that islands adventure. 1000 00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:43,040 It's all based on literature, wasn't it? 1001 00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:47,480 So I don't know. I, I think it's a, it's a tricky 1002 00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:50,040 situation they're in with Harry Potter, but it'd be nice if they 1003 00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:52,880 could do it. I, I have a wonderful idea for 1004 00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:55,800 Harry Potter, which if they did do it would be ridiculous. 1005 00:56:55,800 --> 00:57:03,000 I've discussed this with Mike. It's you can get from Bedford. 1006 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,840 Sorry. You can get to Bedford from 1007 00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:11,800 King's Cross now. I know in in Orlando they have 1008 00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:14,240 the train connecting the 2 lands. 1009 00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:20,640 Yes, but what if they had a train connecting King's Cross to 1010 00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:23,760 Hogwarts? License to print money that. 1011 00:57:24,440 --> 00:57:28,640 Get on the Hogwarts Express platform 9 3/4. 1012 00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:36,120 The real platform 9 3/4, Yeah. That was sell out quicker than 1013 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:39,800 especially if it takes you to the Hogwarts that's a hotel. 1014 00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:44,440 But just depends. Slight Spanish works, yeah. 1015 00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:46,400 Yeah. King's cost doesn't come to 1016 00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:50,760 Bedford St. Oh, they're a they're a joy. 1017 00:57:51,040 --> 00:57:53,040 They're a joy, yeah. Close enough. 1018 00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:55,040 You. Could build a tunnel. 1019 00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:58,120 Yeah, well, just just swap the signs out. 1020 00:57:58,440 --> 00:58:00,560 Swap the signs out. Yeah, no one would. 1021 00:58:01,120 --> 00:58:01,880 Know. OK, Yeah. 1022 00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:05,360 But what I love is. It, it, it, it's that kind of 1023 00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:08,560 audacious thing that they probably could do. 1024 00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:13,160 They won't, but they they you know it's too perfect to pass up 1025 00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:18,680 a. 100% yeah, 100% I bet there'll be a lot of I wouldn't 1026 00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:24,440 be at all surprised if they theme the the Bedford track, get 1027 00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:28,200 some pancreas, really. Yeah, pay for some heavy 1028 00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:30,960 advertising, but. Well, I mean, look, actually, to 1029 00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:33,240 be fair, yeah. I mean, at the moment it's 1030 00:58:33,240 --> 00:58:35,600 covered up. Covered all in what? 1031 00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:38,440 Luton Airport Express, right? That's what it is. 1032 00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:42,000 It's, it's, it's basically branded up to promote Luton 1033 00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:44,000 Airport. Well, I think there's going to 1034 00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:46,320 be something else. Pull that down and turn it into 1035 00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:49,240 a yeah little Harry Potter style, assuming they do that. 1036 00:58:50,040 --> 00:58:52,360 Do we think they do? I mean speak away from Harry 1037 00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:53,880 Potter and just talk about the transport. 1038 00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:58,720 Would you think they'll do a a non-stop service from London to 1039 00:58:58,720 --> 00:59:02,760 the park? I think they would always stop 1040 00:59:02,760 --> 00:59:05,880 at Luton airport. That's my personal feeling. 1041 00:59:06,080 --> 00:59:08,840 I think they'd always stop at the airport just because I think 1042 00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:10,800 they're going to, they're going to go right. 1043 00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:13,520 We're going to take everyone from London and then everyone 1044 00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:16,440 that's just got off the off the plane before they spend their 1045 00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:18,640 money anywhere else. Just get them to the bar. 1046 00:59:18,680 --> 00:59:21,280 Get them in there and then stick a big Hoover in their wallet. 1047 00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:28,360 Are, are the Americans, as in universal, prepared for how 1048 00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:34,200 rubbish our railways are? Because I'm, because I'm 1049 00:59:34,200 --> 00:59:38,440 wondering if we're at this park until midnight, there's no 1050 00:59:38,440 --> 00:59:40,560 trains, you can get home. That's why I'm not with you guys 1051 00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:42,480 tonight. You know it. 1052 00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:45,320 There's a whole cultural thing that has to be looked at. 1053 00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:48,360 If I'm at Halloween Horror Nights, it ends at 2:00 in the 1054 00:59:48,360 --> 00:59:50,440 morning. Will that be for hotel guests 1055 00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:51,840 only? Because there's no way I can get 1056 00:59:51,840 --> 00:59:54,800 home as I drive. But they don't want people to 1057 00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:57,800 drive because they're going to charge them £35 to park in the 1058 00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:00,560 car park, which will not go down well with the British guests. 1059 01:00:02,120 --> 01:00:04,240 It's kind of a weird. That's why I'm curious to see 1060 01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:06,400 this American. With the east West round doesn't 1061 01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:09,240 even run at night time does it? It finishes 9:00-ish when? 1062 01:00:09,240 --> 01:00:10,720 It at the moment, yeah, I mean it. 1063 01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:13,320 Doesn't run at the weekend. It's going to have to, it's 1064 01:00:13,320 --> 01:00:16,080 going to, they're going to have to do something about that. 1065 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:21,200 And I look at the end of the day, I mean, yeah, I'm talking 1066 01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:23,880 about railways like they're a commercial enterprise, which 1067 01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:26,520 they should be, but they don't operate like they are. 1068 01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:32,800 But where there's a demand, you should expect them to fulfill 1069 01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:35,720 that. So if there's a demand for 1070 01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:40,000 trains at midnight or trains at 2:00 in the morning on some 1071 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:45,600 occasions, then you know, like you go up to London on New 1072 01:00:45,600 --> 01:00:48,320 Year's or whatever on and you know, you get on the cheap 1073 01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:51,760 anytime, you know, you're fine, you're covered. 1074 01:00:52,280 --> 01:00:55,880 But I don't know, we'll have to, we'll have to see how that one 1075 01:00:55,880 --> 01:00:58,120 shakes out. Because I, I, I do have a 1076 01:00:58,120 --> 01:01:01,560 feeling that perhaps because I think, I think the general 1077 01:01:01,560 --> 01:01:05,680 feeling is that people in America think that because 1078 01:01:05,920 --> 01:01:10,760 we're, I'm going to say we're part of Europe because you know, 1079 01:01:10,760 --> 01:01:12,960 we're part of that continental, right. 1080 01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:15,320 OK, All right, let's not get into any of that. 1081 01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:22,040 Politics. But the, you know, in, in France 1082 01:01:22,040 --> 01:01:25,560 and Germany and Italy and Spain, they are fantastic public 1083 01:01:25,640 --> 01:01:28,920 transport, right? And I think maybe we're kind of 1084 01:01:28,920 --> 01:01:31,760 trading off their, their reputation a little bit there. 1085 01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:34,320 I. Mean I I find it fascinating 1086 01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:37,320 that we're getting a another runway at Lucian and is that 1087 01:01:37,320 --> 01:01:42,960 purely because of this? How long have the deep down I I 1088 01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:46,760 really want to know if I could ask in in 20 years time, if I 1089 01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:50,600 could ask anyone at Universal when did you actually start this 1090 01:01:50,600 --> 01:01:52,840 planning? Because I think it's really 1091 01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:57,880 interesting that suddenly we have Hyperia, suddenly we have 1092 01:01:57,880 --> 01:02:01,520 the cursor Alton Manor, Suddenly we have the Disney Adventure 1093 01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:04,240 World opening in 2031. Yeah, complete. 1094 01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:09,760 Suddenly we have new trains coming onto Eurostar in 2031. 1095 01:02:10,080 --> 01:02:13,520 So all this kind of, is it all a coincidence or was this all 1096 01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:17,960 being part of a bigger plan that we've been blistering unaware 1097 01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:19,080 of? That's a lot we've known about 1098 01:02:19,080 --> 01:02:20,360 this. Yeah. 1099 01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:21,680 It's. Possible, isn't it? 1100 01:02:21,680 --> 01:02:24,920 I don't think that they that when we all found out, I don't 1101 01:02:24,920 --> 01:02:27,920 think that that was the start of it all. 1102 01:02:27,920 --> 01:02:30,240 No, no, no, it's been. Going on a long time. 1103 01:02:30,240 --> 01:02:35,480 Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think, I think the the whispers, you 1104 01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:37,800 know, at least from the council, where the council have been 1105 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:41,040 speaking to Universal for I think 18 months before it even 1106 01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:43,680 kind of broke. Through into the Luton. 1107 01:02:43,680 --> 01:02:45,840 They've been pushing for a new runway for a long time, haven't 1108 01:02:45,840 --> 01:02:47,680 they? Yeah, I think they have. 1109 01:02:48,640 --> 01:02:51,160 I guess it just it's just the right time. 1110 01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:55,880 Well, now it's like, well, because I think the, the, The 1111 01:02:55,920 --> 01:02:59,240 thing is, Luton have said we want another runway, but the, 1112 01:02:59,240 --> 01:03:03,280 the pushback's always been, you can have it when there's a 1113 01:03:03,280 --> 01:03:05,160 demand. And now all of a sudden you're 1114 01:03:05,160 --> 01:03:08,160 going, oh, we're going to open basically the biggest tourist 1115 01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:11,560 trap in Europe about 10 miles up the road. 1116 01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:16,160 They're like, OK, fair enough. Yeah, build the runway and it's 1117 01:03:16,160 --> 01:03:20,840 been really interesting seeing the British the public reacts to 1118 01:03:20,840 --> 01:03:25,240 this on like the generic news sites so the BBC, the some 1119 01:03:25,480 --> 01:03:28,960 people like news, the mirror, etcetera. 1120 01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:32,600 It's like all are they, you know, why don't they build 1121 01:03:32,600 --> 01:03:36,480 houses on the ground so well? Because you wouldn't want to 1122 01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:38,720 live there effectively. No offence to to Bedford. 1123 01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:40,480 I'm sure it's lovely, but it's not. 1124 01:03:40,640 --> 01:03:43,280 It's there's, it's a wasteland, this area, isn't it? 1125 01:03:43,280 --> 01:03:45,880 And it. Was a marked for a business 1126 01:03:45,880 --> 01:03:47,120 park, wasn't it? Oh, was it? 1127 01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:48,400 At one point it fell through, yeah. 1128 01:03:49,120 --> 01:03:52,640 I mean, I, I, I spoke, I, I spoke to, to Mike about this 1129 01:03:52,640 --> 01:03:57,000 when we did our podcast. But for, for, for Lawrence and 1130 01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:02,840 Andy, Like, what's it been like living close to this? 1131 01:04:04,080 --> 01:04:04,960 What? What in the past? 1132 01:04:04,960 --> 01:04:08,920 Pre universal. No, no, since it has been 1133 01:04:08,920 --> 01:04:11,280 announced. Like what's the the kind of the 1134 01:04:11,280 --> 01:04:13,480 mood being? What's the feedback being? 1135 01:04:13,480 --> 01:04:15,280 The people excited, the people annoyed? 1136 01:04:15,800 --> 01:04:20,000 Because the reaction is all, you know, how dare they build this 1137 01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:22,880 and blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah, very little. 1138 01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:26,040 I mean, there's there's been a bunch of people that have just 1139 01:04:26,040 --> 01:04:30,560 done no research at all on Yeah on anything and just run their 1140 01:04:30,560 --> 01:04:33,280 mouths. But there are a bunch of people 1141 01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:39,840 that have genuine concerns, but negatively, the negative people 1142 01:04:40,040 --> 01:04:45,480 are probably 4-5 percent and the positive people are 95%. 1143 01:04:45,680 --> 01:04:47,600 Yeah, yeah. I'd agree with that. 1144 01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:51,680 Yeah, I would, I would. But it's always, it's always the 1145 01:04:51,680 --> 01:04:53,960 5% that have got the biggest gobs always. 1146 01:04:55,520 --> 01:04:58,640 I mean, it, it was funny, you know, because we, we were, we 1147 01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:02,640 were talking, you know, on a previous, previous episode. 1148 01:05:03,720 --> 01:05:07,240 And the, the reality is doesn't matter. 1149 01:05:07,240 --> 01:05:12,560 I mean, whenever we all do put out a video, put up some 1150 01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:17,280 pictures on Facebook or wherever, we're always going to 1151 01:05:17,280 --> 01:05:20,160 get comments that go never going to happen. 1152 01:05:20,160 --> 01:05:23,120 Oh yeah, never going to happen. And you're like, you're like, 1153 01:05:23,680 --> 01:05:27,000 when? When are you going to stop 1154 01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:29,120 saying that? Because it's. 1155 01:05:29,280 --> 01:05:32,680 It's but that's the British attitude is we are so used to 1156 01:05:33,160 --> 01:05:35,120 disappointment in this. Country, absolutely. 1157 01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:38,080 I don't mind them at all. It creates engagement. 1158 01:05:38,080 --> 01:05:40,840 I mean, it's great, yeah. I mean, I, I, I, I don't, I 1159 01:05:40,840 --> 01:05:45,880 don't resent it at all because every time I see that, I know it 1160 01:05:45,880 --> 01:05:51,080 will spawn 10 more comments and which will just make my time 1161 01:05:51,080 --> 01:05:55,280 more entertaining. But it is fascinating. 1162 01:05:55,280 --> 01:05:59,680 I think generally speaking, people around here are pumped. 1163 01:05:59,960 --> 01:06:02,840 I think that's definitely, people are really excited about 1164 01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:09,040 it because it, it's, you know, I think just generally in, in the 1165 01:06:09,040 --> 01:06:11,840 UK, we're pinching ourselves and we're thinking this is too good 1166 01:06:11,840 --> 01:06:13,680 to be true. This is something that is too 1167 01:06:13,680 --> 01:06:16,480 good for something like this to come to our country. 1168 01:06:17,000 --> 01:06:19,800 Like we we're in the town that this is happening. 1169 01:06:19,800 --> 01:06:20,680 Yeah. We can. 1170 01:06:20,840 --> 01:06:22,560 There's nothing there's nothing special about. 1171 01:06:22,560 --> 01:06:25,320 Bedford is not a dying town like every single other. 1172 01:06:25,320 --> 01:06:26,560 Town. Every other town. 1173 01:06:27,040 --> 01:06:30,280 Yeah, but we have been blessed with this amazing thing that's 1174 01:06:30,280 --> 01:06:32,960 going to create huge economic growth in the town. 1175 01:06:33,720 --> 01:06:36,560 So I think most people have got their heads screwed on and they 1176 01:06:36,560 --> 01:06:39,120 can see this. According to Keir Starmer, we're 1177 01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:40,720 guessing a Disney the World as well. 1178 01:06:41,240 --> 01:06:42,400 Is is that right? Yeah. 1179 01:06:43,240 --> 01:06:47,080 There was a video of him on a train saying all from Disney 1180 01:06:47,080 --> 01:06:48,720 World we're to Bedford or something. 1181 01:06:48,720 --> 01:06:50,720 Like that did I saw that clip? Yeah. 1182 01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:53,320 I can't remember what he said. I think they were going past 1183 01:06:53,320 --> 01:06:57,200 when they're going past Bedford. He got all excited, did he? 1184 01:06:57,560 --> 01:06:59,800 Yeah. But but that was that was an 1185 01:06:59,800 --> 01:07:03,920 amazing morning, that day in April, and we all woke up and 1186 01:07:03,920 --> 01:07:06,280 just, well, what? While I was watching the news, 1187 01:07:06,360 --> 01:07:10,080 Yeah. And just going what? 1188 01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:13,800 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I learnt about it 1189 01:07:13,800 --> 01:07:15,600 the day before, yeah. Yeah, and we. 1190 01:07:15,840 --> 01:07:22,640 And I was a newspaper journalist messaged me and he didn't tell 1191 01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:26,760 me directly, but he said I shouldn't say he, I should say 1192 01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:31,720 they say they, they said. I think I've blown it already. 1193 01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:34,640 You've already blown it mate. They said, I'm not going to 1194 01:07:34,640 --> 01:07:38,760 tell, I can't tell you anything, but stay up tonight. 1195 01:07:39,360 --> 01:07:41,280 Yeah, because it was a midnight embargo. 1196 01:07:41,280 --> 01:07:42,880 It was an embargo. Yeah, that's right. 1197 01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:44,080 Stay up to. Oh, sorry. 1198 01:07:44,080 --> 01:07:46,480 They said stay up to that. So I stayed up. 1199 01:07:47,360 --> 01:07:50,640 So I stayed up till midnight and boom, it all came on. 1200 01:07:50,640 --> 01:07:52,640 Just. But of course you could see you. 1201 01:07:52,880 --> 01:07:54,920 I could see them. It came way back in time now, 1202 01:07:54,920 --> 01:07:55,880 aren't we? I could. 1203 01:07:55,960 --> 01:07:59,280 I looked at the tomorrow's newspaper front pages on. 1204 01:07:59,680 --> 01:08:02,480 I can't remember. It might have been Sky News or 1205 01:08:02,480 --> 01:08:05,360 something like that. And you could see it all about 1206 01:08:05,640 --> 01:08:08,560 probably about 1/4 to it started to appear. 1207 01:08:08,680 --> 01:08:13,400 Yeah, yes, get in. Yes. 1208 01:08:15,080 --> 01:08:18,520 It was, it was, it was such a bizarre time because yeah, that 1209 01:08:18,520 --> 01:08:22,840 that day before the, yeah, it was just WhatsApp messages. 1210 01:08:22,840 --> 01:08:24,800 Yeah. All of that stuff just pinging 1211 01:08:24,800 --> 01:08:26,760 around just like, have you heard this? 1212 01:08:26,760 --> 01:08:27,640 Have you heard this? Yeah. 1213 01:08:27,920 --> 01:08:30,080 And then it was even like popping off on like, you know, 1214 01:08:30,800 --> 01:08:33,800 like tower times, like the forums and all of that. 1215 01:08:34,160 --> 01:08:35,840 They were going, oh, I've heard a rumour. 1216 01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:37,840 I've heard a rumour. And then, you know, here we go. 1217 01:08:38,200 --> 01:08:42,359 Yes, God, is it that feels crazy now it feels. 1218 01:08:42,359 --> 01:08:45,279 Such a long time for my that was obviously the best. 1219 01:08:45,399 --> 01:08:48,040 And then the, Yeah, the birth of your, your child and the birth 1220 01:08:48,040 --> 01:08:49,240 of my son. Yeah. 1221 01:08:49,600 --> 01:08:53,800 If I'm ever feeling, if I'm ever feeling down, I just go onto 1222 01:08:53,800 --> 01:08:58,080 YouTube and watch that. There's a long Sky News piece 1223 01:08:58,080 --> 01:09:00,520 about it and it just cheers me right up I would say. 1224 01:09:00,800 --> 01:09:03,120 Oh wow. That, that's good. 1225 01:09:03,120 --> 01:09:05,080 Actually, I might. Actually, yeah, I might create a 1226 01:09:05,080 --> 01:09:07,600 little little playlist. Yeah. 1227 01:09:08,040 --> 01:09:11,160 And it's so interesting to go back and watch kind of all the 1228 01:09:11,160 --> 01:09:14,359 videos or from Alicia or theme Park worldwide or anything like 1229 01:09:14,359 --> 01:09:17,880 that to all, all you guys just kind of documenting this. 1230 01:09:17,880 --> 01:09:22,279 And it's this has never happened before, that a park in this 1231 01:09:22,279 --> 01:09:26,880 country from the very beginning is being scrutinized by various 1232 01:09:26,880 --> 01:09:31,880 drones in the air and public footpaths and podcasts and 1233 01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:35,000 YouTube vlogs and that it's so fascinating seeing it. 1234 01:09:35,640 --> 01:09:38,240 We're all documenting this. Yeah, Yeah. 1235 01:09:38,240 --> 01:09:38,960 That's great. It is. 1236 01:09:39,160 --> 01:09:42,880 We we caught us 3 here. We quite often say how we got 1237 01:09:42,880 --> 01:09:47,120 our own angle on it and we don't really step on each other's toes 1238 01:09:47,120 --> 01:09:50,000 in, in the things that we do. We've we've we're all lucky 1239 01:09:50,000 --> 01:09:53,680 enough to live close by and this thing's brought us together, but 1240 01:09:53,680 --> 01:09:57,000 in our own styles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1241 01:09:57,520 --> 01:10:01,720 Whatever the the the three-way equivalent of a yin and Yang 1242 01:10:01,720 --> 01:10:04,200 situation is. A young. 1243 01:10:04,560 --> 01:10:08,240 I love it. Yeah, right. 1244 01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:10,440 So what's the latest in the field? 1245 01:10:10,440 --> 01:10:12,680 Sorry to take over this interview, but I just wonder 1246 01:10:12,680 --> 01:10:15,080 what's happening of. Course no, you go ahead. 1247 01:10:15,080 --> 01:10:18,480 Lots of fence in, lots of scraping of earth. 1248 01:10:20,280 --> 01:10:22,240 Topsoilists. Yeah, detectorists. 1249 01:10:22,480 --> 01:10:22,920 Yeah. Oh, yeah. 1250 01:10:22,960 --> 01:10:23,840 Yeah. No, yeah. 1251 01:10:23,840 --> 01:10:26,080 That's the kind of the big robotic machine. 1252 01:10:27,720 --> 01:10:29,800 Oh, it's like. Dicks Exterminator a chance to 1253 01:10:29,800 --> 01:10:32,000 stick it on. No, no, no, no. 1254 01:10:32,000 --> 01:10:37,920 It's like a I saw it on the Prodigy Universal Facebook page. 1255 01:10:37,920 --> 01:10:39,840 Oh oh. What's that then? 1256 01:10:39,840 --> 01:10:42,240 Yeah, facebook.com/projectuniversal. 1257 01:10:42,240 --> 01:10:45,840 Yeah, it was that one. No, it was. 1258 01:10:47,760 --> 01:10:51,080 It looks like a kind of a looks like a road sweeper. 1259 01:10:51,920 --> 01:10:54,400 Oh, you're talking about Sonic? Sonic. 1260 01:10:55,120 --> 01:10:59,640 Sonic, the Penetrator? Yeah, the 5000, I can't 1261 01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:00,480 remember. I've called it now. 1262 01:11:00,480 --> 01:11:02,600 I know it's the penetrator. It's just the Pennetronic 1263 01:11:02,600 --> 01:11:05,360 Hudson, the penetrator. But they, the company that own 1264 01:11:05,360 --> 01:11:07,200 it, have called it Sonic, if you read there. 1265 01:11:07,200 --> 01:11:10,400 And really, yeah, I did. I put some blurb up on the 1266 01:11:10,440 --> 01:11:13,120 Facebook agent and it was there and they've called it Sonic. 1267 01:11:13,120 --> 01:11:15,360 Now that's a cone penetration tester. 1268 01:11:15,560 --> 01:11:18,240 So it pushes down with great forms into the ground. 1269 01:11:18,880 --> 01:11:21,840 Yeah. And it can read what's what's 1270 01:11:21,840 --> 01:11:25,360 down there based on how easy it can cut through the ground and 1271 01:11:25,360 --> 01:11:28,960 the, and how scratchy it is and all sorts of stuff. 1272 01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:30,920 Very, very sensitive. Bit of a bit of kit. 1273 01:11:31,000 --> 01:11:33,000 Wow, nice. But yeah, that's what that is. 1274 01:11:33,000 --> 01:11:34,400 And that's all remote control as well. 1275 01:11:35,320 --> 01:11:37,120 So I don't think they drive it. I think they've got a little 1276 01:11:37,120 --> 01:11:38,680 hand control. That's great. 1277 01:11:38,680 --> 01:11:39,600 That's great. I. 1278 01:11:39,600 --> 01:11:41,760 Saw it actually on a on a. You know the lat, you know 1279 01:11:44,040 --> 01:11:46,200 what's his name with the burger van? 1280 01:11:47,280 --> 01:11:48,360 Oh, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1281 01:11:48,440 --> 01:11:51,040 In the lay by. Yeah, I saw it parked up there 1282 01:11:51,040 --> 01:11:53,440 in the lay by the other day. Yeah. 1283 01:11:53,440 --> 01:11:55,680 What's the? I forgot the bloody burger man's 1284 01:11:55,680 --> 01:11:57,240 name. I know he deserves a shout out. 1285 01:11:57,560 --> 01:12:00,200 He does, yeah. If he wants to sponsor the pond. 1286 01:12:01,040 --> 01:12:02,600 Then he can have fun with burgers. 1287 01:12:04,840 --> 01:12:07,000 Yeah, but he, but it was parked up there the other day, so I 1288 01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:08,320 think they may have finished with it. 1289 01:12:08,560 --> 01:12:12,040 But yeah, it's it's, it's all sorts of gradually ramping up 1290 01:12:14,040 --> 01:12:16,320 and yeah. Dave Snacks. 1291 01:12:16,320 --> 01:12:18,080 Dave's Snacks. Dave's. 1292 01:12:18,320 --> 01:12:20,640 No, not Sir. Just Dave Snacks. 1293 01:12:20,680 --> 01:12:23,080 Dave. What's so Snacks is his surname? 1294 01:12:23,520 --> 01:12:24,400 Nobody knows. Hello. 1295 01:12:24,480 --> 01:12:26,040 I'm Dave. Dave Snacks. 1296 01:12:26,280 --> 01:12:27,720 That's the burger van. He's been there for years. 1297 01:12:27,720 --> 01:12:29,600 I wonder, do wonder what's going to happen to him? 1298 01:12:29,600 --> 01:12:33,200 Because when they rearrange the roads that Layboy is probably 1299 01:12:33,200 --> 01:12:34,920 going to get. Swallowed up, he probably will. 1300 01:12:35,120 --> 01:12:36,520 Yeah, maybe he'll be the new man. 1301 01:12:36,520 --> 01:12:39,000 Download the Universal app and do mobile ordering. 1302 01:12:39,520 --> 01:12:40,360 Yeah. Exactly. 1303 01:12:40,360 --> 01:12:42,760 Maybe they'll give him a place in the car park or in city walk. 1304 01:12:43,800 --> 01:12:46,760 Proper British brand, every local knows everyone. 1305 01:12:46,760 --> 01:12:53,360 I'm so I'm so curious for city walk UK style and I I I hope 1306 01:12:53,360 --> 01:12:55,800 they have we talked about this Mike, but I hope they have 1307 01:12:55,800 --> 01:13:00,400 blooming voodoo doughnuts and cowfish and that we've said the 1308 01:13:00,400 --> 01:13:03,360 sky, the Sky Sports bar has to make an appearance because it's 1309 01:13:03,360 --> 01:13:07,280 just too good of a commercial corporate crossover not to 1310 01:13:07,280 --> 01:13:08,360 happen. That's true. 1311 01:13:09,680 --> 01:13:11,480 Yeah, yeah. Now that that do you know what? 1312 01:13:11,480 --> 01:13:14,920 I hadn't even considered that, but yeah, that's, that's got to 1313 01:13:14,920 --> 01:13:17,000 happen. It's got to happen. 1314 01:13:17,000 --> 01:13:18,440 It's got to. We'll be. 1315 01:13:18,480 --> 01:13:21,200 We'll be. I, I, I know that the, that the 1316 01:13:21,200 --> 01:13:26,640 Sky head court, because we have to say Sky is owned by Comcast, 1317 01:13:26,640 --> 01:13:30,200 which own Universal. So it is kind of, they do have a 1318 01:13:30,200 --> 01:13:32,280 presence in this country, whether we like it or not. 1319 01:13:32,280 --> 01:13:37,600 And they, their headquarters are down the road from me in 1320 01:13:38,280 --> 01:13:40,120 Wisleworth. Oh, you and I know. 1321 01:13:40,280 --> 01:13:43,280 You're around there, are you? Yeah, I mean, I'm in West London 1322 01:13:43,280 --> 01:13:49,040 myself, so I I know that they are, they are already creative 1323 01:13:49,040 --> 01:13:51,880 officers set up there in this project. 1324 01:13:52,320 --> 01:13:53,960 Well, there you go. Because they've got offices at 1325 01:13:53,960 --> 01:13:56,480 Bedford Borough of Council, they've got the yeah, I think 1326 01:13:56,480 --> 01:13:57,640 they've got a whole floor haven't. 1327 01:13:57,640 --> 01:14:01,120 They Yeah, but the. County Hall or somebody sent me 1328 01:14:01,120 --> 01:14:02,800 a photograph. I got the same picture. 1329 01:14:02,800 --> 01:14:05,560 Yeah, yeah, I got. I didn't want to post it because 1330 01:14:05,560 --> 01:14:07,840 it you might identify who sent it. 1331 01:14:07,840 --> 01:14:08,720 Yeah. Did you get that as well? 1332 01:14:08,840 --> 01:14:10,040 No, no, no, no, you didn't get it. 1333 01:14:10,320 --> 01:14:13,080 No, no, I don't have to say it. It was a good when it lines. 1334 01:14:13,080 --> 01:14:16,040 It was, it was fantastic. You had so many secret plans. 1335 01:14:16,040 --> 01:14:18,840 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but no, we've we've not. 1336 01:14:18,840 --> 01:14:20,560 We've sworn to secrecy, of course. 1337 01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:25,200 So anyway, moving on. Is it the concept art like UP? 1338 01:14:25,360 --> 01:14:28,440 Is it Downing Street or is it the Bedford Town Hall? 1339 01:14:29,480 --> 01:14:31,840 I think that was it, Downing. Street it was, yeah, yeah. 1340 01:14:31,840 --> 01:14:35,280 The, the, the concept art thing it was, it was the whole kind of 1341 01:14:35,280 --> 01:14:37,720 war table moment, wasn't it? Yeah. 1342 01:14:37,880 --> 01:14:40,560 Yeah, this is the thing Park. And this is just Arun's. 1343 01:14:40,680 --> 01:14:41,240 Yeah. Yeah. 1344 01:14:41,520 --> 01:14:44,840 Yeah, yeah, I've heard that that I think at Bedford Town Hall, 1345 01:14:45,160 --> 01:14:46,920 the concert art is up on the wall. 1346 01:14:47,080 --> 01:14:50,360 Is it probably is I'm I need to go? 1347 01:14:50,800 --> 01:14:56,480 Well, I did ask I I have requested Tom Wootton come on 1348 01:14:56,480 --> 01:14:58,680 the podcast. I got zero response. 1349 01:14:59,160 --> 01:15:06,760 And then I requested to one of the counselors, what's her name? 1350 01:15:08,080 --> 01:15:09,720 Sorry. Speak among yourself. 1351 01:15:09,720 --> 01:15:10,600 Talk among. OK. 1352 01:15:11,360 --> 01:15:13,040 Well. Who's the Thusi that's a 1353 01:15:13,040 --> 01:15:16,360 counselor as well? The Thusi is a counselor I. 1354 01:15:16,680 --> 01:15:19,080 Don't know thusi. I don't know. 1355 01:15:19,800 --> 01:15:22,880 There's a enthusiast who's a councillor as well that's been 1356 01:15:22,880 --> 01:15:24,480 on. I think it was on the field. 1357 01:15:24,640 --> 01:15:26,880 Oh, it was on digital dams. Oh really? 1358 01:15:26,920 --> 01:15:29,400 Podcast that we do not speak of because it's a rival podcast. 1359 01:15:29,480 --> 01:15:31,080 Yeah, it's a rival now we don't speak of. 1360 01:15:31,080 --> 01:15:32,960 That but the field is now we're not you know you. 1361 01:15:32,960 --> 01:15:34,920 Can't just be the side of the field. 1362 01:15:34,920 --> 01:15:36,440 It's just the side of the road now, Yeah. 1363 01:15:36,640 --> 01:15:45,200 Gutter in the Andrea Spice Councillor Andrea Spice, who's I 1364 01:15:45,200 --> 01:15:47,600 asked her and I, she's very chatty to me. 1365 01:15:47,600 --> 01:15:49,720 Andrea Spice. I remember her from. 1366 01:15:49,880 --> 01:15:52,000 Private, but she's a lovely lady and she's chats. 1367 01:15:52,160 --> 01:15:54,440 Spice Girls and. I asked her and I got nothing 1368 01:15:54,440 --> 01:15:56,080 back from him. So I don't, I don't think Mayor 1369 01:15:56,080 --> 01:15:58,680 Tom Wootton really wants to come on, which is a shame because I'd 1370 01:15:58,680 --> 01:16:01,320 really love to chat to him because he's he's like a big 1371 01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:03,640 jolly. He's amazing happy man, isn't 1372 01:16:03,640 --> 01:16:06,200 he? Yeah, yeah, I met him once 1373 01:16:06,240 --> 01:16:10,040 before and he's lovely. You do wonder if they're if 1374 01:16:10,040 --> 01:16:13,160 that's more of a universal thing now because the point that's 1375 01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:15,920 happened, they're probably being like, they have Ndas and stuff 1376 01:16:15,920 --> 01:16:18,880 so they're not allowed to say anything anymore. 1377 01:16:19,840 --> 01:16:21,360 Yeah, someone said that to me, actually. 1378 01:16:21,360 --> 01:16:22,400 I said, oh, you can't talk about it. 1379 01:16:22,400 --> 01:16:25,720 I said, oh, no, sorry, no NDA. Is that what I want? 1380 01:16:25,920 --> 01:16:29,680 Yeah, sometimes it's true. Sort of song was not slandering. 1381 01:16:29,680 --> 01:16:30,480 Anything. Exactly. 1382 01:16:30,480 --> 01:16:33,400 Yeah. Universal kill puppies. 1383 01:16:34,400 --> 01:16:36,320 Yeah, you're gonna have to retract that one. 1384 01:16:38,040 --> 01:16:41,160 But no, you know, the reality is, you know, you can still talk 1385 01:16:41,160 --> 01:16:44,840 to us even if you have signed an NDA, as long as you don't breach 1386 01:16:44,920 --> 01:16:48,440 your NDA, your NDA will only cover some things. 1387 01:16:48,600 --> 01:16:50,880 We're, we're professionals. Doesn't doesn't stop you from 1388 01:16:50,880 --> 01:16:53,080 just opening your mouth and saying hello. 1389 01:16:53,480 --> 01:16:55,720 We're not going to like hold you down and say tell us. 1390 01:16:55,960 --> 01:16:56,920 Tell us what you know. No. 1391 01:16:57,000 --> 01:16:58,920 And we can speak in hypotheticals. 1392 01:16:58,920 --> 01:17:01,320 We can, you know, we're very flexible. 1393 01:17:01,320 --> 01:17:03,080 It's easy. I've signed the Official Secrets 1394 01:17:03,080 --> 01:17:04,760 Act and you can still say hello to me. 1395 01:17:05,400 --> 01:17:06,120 Let's try it. Have you? 1396 01:17:06,400 --> 01:17:08,160 Hello. Hello, Mike. 1397 01:17:08,160 --> 01:17:09,760 There you go. Nothing happened. 1398 01:17:09,760 --> 01:17:12,160 So there we go. But I couldn't tell you why I 1399 01:17:12,160 --> 01:17:15,200 signed it. No, I'm not going to ask either. 1400 01:17:15,200 --> 01:17:16,080 I'm not going to put you in that. 1401 01:17:16,080 --> 01:17:19,760 Now what you take Exciting, right? 1402 01:17:20,520 --> 01:17:23,200 No, I really signed it. It was just a job I was on when 1403 01:17:23,200 --> 01:17:24,720 I was before we before we wrap up this. 1404 01:17:24,720 --> 01:17:27,040 Podcast I want to I just want to take things back to music a 1405 01:17:27,040 --> 01:17:31,360 little bit yes. So go on Nick, being Mr. Mr. 1406 01:17:31,360 --> 01:17:34,360 Theme Park Music. You've been there, you've done 1407 01:17:34,360 --> 01:17:35,840 that. I would love to know what your 1408 01:17:35,840 --> 01:17:39,920 top five pieces of theme park music are, whether you produce 1409 01:17:39,920 --> 01:17:43,480 them or not. So so do let us know. 1410 01:17:44,520 --> 01:17:48,200 Well, I, I, I can't speak to my own stuff because I, I, I have 1411 01:17:48,200 --> 01:17:50,280 no emotional connection to any of it. 1412 01:17:50,600 --> 01:17:57,520 But I've done a list of 5:00-ish, some of which are kind 1413 01:17:57,520 --> 01:18:04,040 of combined and I'll start with with hex and all the in in in no 1414 01:18:04,040 --> 01:18:06,200 particular order. Hex Alton Towers is. 1415 01:18:07,000 --> 01:18:10,280 I'm with you on that one. Beautiful attraction with a 1416 01:18:10,360 --> 01:18:15,600 very, very good musical score and it does everything 1417 01:18:15,600 --> 01:18:16,840 perfectly. That's all I have to say about 1418 01:18:16,840 --> 01:18:18,040 that. If you don't know what Hex is, 1419 01:18:18,040 --> 01:18:20,720 look it up I think. Everything about that ride is 1420 01:18:20,720 --> 01:18:23,680 just they've just nailed it. It's a great piece of stuff, 1421 01:18:23,760 --> 01:18:27,000 apart from the way out back to the park where you walk through 1422 01:18:27,000 --> 01:18:30,080 the old rundown. Yeah, they could have. 1423 01:18:30,080 --> 01:18:31,680 Well, sometimes they could have done something re. 1424 01:18:31,680 --> 01:18:35,040 Route it and it's even worse. No scare fest. 1425 01:18:35,040 --> 01:18:37,760 When they when they had like the attic up in there. 1426 01:18:37,760 --> 01:18:39,760 But is it great? Am I right to say it's Graham 1427 01:18:39,760 --> 01:18:44,080 Smart that did hex? No, no, it was a name I can 1428 01:18:44,080 --> 01:18:46,560 never remember. And Chris Crispin. 1429 01:18:46,680 --> 01:18:49,080 Chris Paul Yeah, I've made this up. 1430 01:18:49,840 --> 01:18:52,280 I want to say Crispin Glover, but it so wasn't him. 1431 01:18:53,840 --> 01:18:59,320 If I just do hex composer Alton Towers, it was Crispin Merrill. 1432 01:19:02,760 --> 01:19:05,760 That's kind of don't know what else is done really, but it's a 1433 01:19:05,760 --> 01:19:09,440 wonderful piece of music, real orchestra, real choir, and 1434 01:19:10,160 --> 01:19:16,440 really stands up the I, I want to combine 2 tracks together 1435 01:19:16,440 --> 01:19:18,880 because they're both by the same composer, they're both in the 1436 01:19:18,880 --> 01:19:21,240 same park, and they both happened at the same time. 1437 01:19:21,240 --> 01:19:24,920 And it was a composer called Gavin Greenaway who is a British 1438 01:19:25,520 --> 01:19:33,040 composer and conductor. He did the wonderful soundtrack 1439 01:19:33,040 --> 01:19:37,240 for a firework show at Epcot called Illuminations, 1440 01:19:37,240 --> 01:19:41,320 Reflections of Earth. And it's often regarded as one 1441 01:19:41,320 --> 01:19:44,440 of the greatest fireworks spectaculars of all time. 1442 01:19:45,560 --> 01:19:48,360 And he also did that music for a parade called Tapestry of 1443 01:19:48,360 --> 01:19:53,120 Nations, which is a wonderful kind of hypnotic 25 minute piece 1444 01:19:53,120 --> 01:19:56,560 of music that's just got such life behind it. 1445 01:19:56,560 --> 01:19:59,120 And I never saw the parade, but it's on my running playlist, 1446 01:19:59,120 --> 01:20:03,520 which I find hilarious, A, to the fact that I have a playlist 1447 01:20:03,920 --> 01:20:06,400 for when I'm running, which is hilarious in the 1st place. 1448 01:20:06,400 --> 01:20:11,520 And B, it's just such a nice piece of music to work out to. 1449 01:20:11,520 --> 01:20:14,840 And he often gets messages from people saying I'm in the gym to 1450 01:20:14,840 --> 01:20:17,480 this piece of music because it's so I don't want to say 1451 01:20:17,480 --> 01:20:20,000 monotonous, but it's kind of, it's got that kind of. 1452 01:20:20,840 --> 01:20:24,240 Incessant beats behind it driving. 1453 01:20:24,240 --> 01:20:27,480 Force. Yeah, Speaking of driving forces 1454 01:20:27,480 --> 01:20:31,720 and incessant beats, the there's a park called Europa Park in 1455 01:20:31,720 --> 01:20:34,160 Germany, which is one of the best parks in the world. 1456 01:20:34,520 --> 01:20:38,520 And there's a ride there called Euromare, which has a very 1457 01:20:38,520 --> 01:20:42,800 famous piece of ride music that might be the most German techno 1458 01:20:42,800 --> 01:20:45,640 track ever to exist in the world. 1459 01:20:47,560 --> 01:20:49,480 And I'll leave it at that. If you don't know what it is. 1460 01:20:49,480 --> 01:20:54,400 I'm going to combine the Haunted Mansion soundtrack and the 1461 01:20:54,400 --> 01:21:00,000 Phantom Manor soundtrack into one thing from Disney parks and 1462 01:21:00,000 --> 01:21:02,520 specifically Disneyland Paris of Phantom Manor because that's 1463 01:21:02,640 --> 01:21:05,680 beautiful as well. And just to bring bring things 1464 01:21:05,680 --> 01:21:13,400 home a bit, all of Toon Lagoon at Islands of Adventure, because 1465 01:21:13,400 --> 01:21:19,680 it's such a it's so rare to get jazz in a park and it's done so 1466 01:21:19,680 --> 01:21:21,560 well. And it had lots of composers 1467 01:21:21,560 --> 01:21:23,560 coming together to to do different tracks. 1468 01:21:25,400 --> 01:21:28,080 And it's just good fun. And it's, it's a kind of thing. 1469 01:21:28,080 --> 01:21:30,840 I'll happily listen to the wacky world of Jay Ward and all the 1470 01:21:31,160 --> 01:21:35,920 Pluto stuff. And the yeah, that's that's the 1471 01:21:35,920 --> 01:21:38,280 ones that sprung into my mind immediately, but I'm sure there 1472 01:21:38,280 --> 01:21:39,640 are others. I'm going to, I'm going to 1473 01:21:39,640 --> 01:21:43,240 actually have to, to kind of get some of these up, particularly, 1474 01:21:43,240 --> 01:21:46,600 you know, some of those, you know, you mentioned that kind of 1475 01:21:46,600 --> 01:21:52,720 25 minute epic. I'm going to have to tune in to 1476 01:21:52,720 --> 01:21:54,440 that. I'll see if it motivates me 1477 01:21:54,440 --> 01:21:57,000 enough to do some physical exercise. 1478 01:21:57,360 --> 01:22:00,640 No guarantees, but at least I'll get some enjoyment. 1479 01:22:02,160 --> 01:22:05,120 Yeah, it's, it's lovely and and it's a piece of music I know so 1480 01:22:05,120 --> 01:22:07,960 well that I can just kind of turn off and not really listen 1481 01:22:07,960 --> 01:22:10,920 to it, but it's still there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1482 01:22:11,240 --> 01:22:13,120 Yeah, I love that. Great. 1483 01:22:13,120 --> 01:22:16,720 Well, Nick, let us know where we can find you. 1484 01:22:17,080 --> 01:22:22,160 Yeah, please. I am at Twitter, Nick Hudson. 1485 01:22:22,160 --> 01:22:24,760 Sorry, X. So we have to say now on Twitter 1486 01:22:25,080 --> 01:22:29,080 at Nick Hudson Music, Nick Hudson music.com. 1487 01:22:29,720 --> 01:22:33,880 My podcasts are musical talk. If you're fan of their musicals, 1488 01:22:33,880 --> 01:22:39,760 what they have and Nick's ERT on the Season Pass podcast. 1489 01:22:41,320 --> 01:22:42,880 Yeah. That's that's where I live 1490 01:22:42,880 --> 01:22:45,480 generally virtually. Excellent. 1491 01:22:45,760 --> 01:22:49,160 Honestly, Nick, thank you so, so much for for for jumping on. 1492 01:22:49,160 --> 01:22:55,920 I've absolutely loved it because it's, it's a, it's a fundamental 1493 01:22:55,920 --> 01:23:00,040 part of our experience when we go to these places. 1494 01:23:00,560 --> 01:23:06,240 And it has the capacity to make or break an experience. 1495 01:23:06,240 --> 01:23:07,680 It does, of course. Yeah. 1496 01:23:07,840 --> 01:23:13,560 And to, to kind of hear from you as, as somebody who is, is kind 1497 01:23:13,560 --> 01:23:16,960 of, you know, at the sharp end of it. 1498 01:23:17,080 --> 01:23:18,840 It's. Yeah, it's, it's, it's 1499 01:23:18,840 --> 01:23:21,040 absolutely fascinating. So thanks so much. 1500 01:23:21,040 --> 01:23:22,680 Thank you. It's been an absolute joy to 1501 01:23:22,680 --> 01:23:24,680 have you, to have you on to. I'm so used to doing. 1502 01:23:25,040 --> 01:23:28,560 On. The other absolute joy to I know 1503 01:23:28,560 --> 01:23:33,200 how the tables turn. It's been an absolute joy to be 1504 01:23:33,200 --> 01:23:37,560 on your show. And I, I look forward to every 1505 01:23:37,560 --> 01:23:41,080 Wednesday when they are released because it's, it's nice, it's 1506 01:23:41,080 --> 01:23:43,600 nice to hear. A lot of people have, a lot of 1507 01:23:43,600 --> 01:23:44,720 people have said the same. Thing. 1508 01:23:44,720 --> 01:23:46,480 Yeah, yeah, really. Look forward to that. 1509 01:23:46,920 --> 01:23:49,520 Are you AAM listener or APM listener? 1510 01:23:50,760 --> 01:23:55,000 Or AM I'm always whether it's me run or walk into jobs or or 1511 01:23:55,000 --> 01:23:57,240 something it's we had a big. Discussion, didn't we, about 1512 01:23:57,240 --> 01:23:59,240 what time to put it out. And a lot of people were saying, 1513 01:23:59,240 --> 01:24:02,840 put your podcast out in the AM to catch, Yeah, to catch 1514 01:24:02,840 --> 01:24:03,760 commuters. Commuters. 1515 01:24:03,760 --> 01:24:06,560 So that's what we did. 5:00 AM. Yeah, it's. 1516 01:24:06,680 --> 01:24:08,920 Totally unheard of on YouTube. We I would never do that. 1517 01:24:09,400 --> 01:24:13,320 A lot for my videos. But apparently podcasts were 1518 01:24:13,320 --> 01:24:14,480 completely different. Yeah. 1519 01:24:14,720 --> 01:24:19,000 No, it's honestly we, we just, we're just having a good time, 1520 01:24:19,320 --> 01:24:21,600 yeah. Thinking a few talking about 1521 01:24:21,600 --> 01:24:23,440 theme pops, what's not, what's not to like? 1522 01:24:23,440 --> 01:24:25,040 What's not like? And it shows. 1523 01:24:25,880 --> 01:24:29,000 It's be fascinating to document or hope I can come on again at 1524 01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:30,720 some point. You'll be, you'll be welcoming 1525 01:24:30,800 --> 01:24:32,320 anytime, Nick. No, honestly. 1526 01:24:32,320 --> 01:24:36,240 And you know, if they ever sort the trains out or maybe you 1527 01:24:36,240 --> 01:24:38,240 know, you know, in in the summer. 1528 01:24:38,840 --> 01:24:41,840 When we're not filming, we do recording Thursdays sometimes. 1529 01:24:42,000 --> 01:24:43,320 Yeah, we. Do we do We'll. 1530 01:24:43,320 --> 01:24:45,840 Have to do it earlier in the day so the trains aren't buggered. 1531 01:24:46,160 --> 01:24:48,680 Yeah, completely. Or, you know, or you could join 1532 01:24:48,680 --> 01:24:50,680 us on a field trip. Yeah. 1533 01:24:50,720 --> 01:24:52,960 There we go to the field. And not the swarm. 1534 01:24:52,960 --> 01:24:53,640 I can't go back. There. 1535 01:24:53,640 --> 01:24:55,040 Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, now we can't do the 1536 01:24:55,040 --> 01:24:56,160 field. It's the gutter now. 1537 01:24:56,240 --> 01:24:58,760 Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's all, it's all 1538 01:24:58,760 --> 01:25:00,280 closed off. We can't get in there. 1539 01:25:00,520 --> 01:25:03,400 Yeah, it's all. Fenced off now, damn. 1540 01:25:04,560 --> 01:25:06,120 Well, thank you very much for joining. 1541 01:25:06,120 --> 01:25:08,480 Thank you very much, Nick. It's been a pleasure. 1542 01:25:08,480 --> 01:25:12,040 You're welcome anytime, but I have been Mike Universal Studios 1543 01:25:12,640 --> 01:25:18,400 Great Britain updates the 1st and best there we go and I have 1544 01:25:18,400 --> 01:25:20,400 been joined by. Oh, it's me. 1545 01:25:20,400 --> 01:25:25,240 It's Lawrence from Universally Bedford. 1546 01:25:25,400 --> 01:25:30,040 Bedford and I, Andy from Project Universal and don't forget to 1547 01:25:30,040 --> 01:25:35,880 send us a voice note on O 7440561162. 1548 01:25:37,240 --> 01:25:38,600 Lovely. Would you like to say goodbye? 1549 01:25:39,280 --> 01:25:42,800 Goodbye, Goodbye everybody. Take care.