I did not finish watching Supernatural but I remember Crowley's queue. Lining up only to discover it was pointless with no information available to warn you-that's kinda hellish
thinking about guests being lost on the story, i can't help but think it'd be really fun to have a guild of pixies or something that are known gossips; they just spend their time going around, probably sticking around the edges of scenes, and guests know that if they're confused or curious, they can ask the pixies, and they'll very enthusiastically fill them in on all of the juicy details they missed out on
You could maybe even use that to keep people informed when and where important scenes would take place. So if guests want to know what story beats are gonna happen today and at what time, they'll go to the pixies and ask for today's gossip. Then the pixies can say stuff like, "You didn't hear this from me, but rumor has it that the Fae King enchanted Elisabeth to do something horrible at the Fountain Plaza around noon.", and you would always be reminded that you can't use this info to try and prevent what's gonna happen, 'cause the Pixies are all about the gossip and they don't interfere
That’s a genuinely brilliant idea. Or you could have some kind of oracle-type characters who can get glimpses of the future or something. Then you could even have little schedules written out for the guests, all in-universe.
Jenny trying her absolute hardest to give them money and just being completely unable to is kinda hilarious...though explains some stuff about the park.
Honestly, the guy seems like a bit of a scammer, he's pitching ideas which seem 'too good to be true' at every opportunity. My 'creeper sense' is tingling... it's like Spider-sense, but for weirdo predators.
@@52thephotoshop Hahah... I mean, Jenny's video opens with him saying that his thing is going to be better than Disney, a company with 100 years of history and a literally bottomless source of cash. If he weren't so insufferable, he'd be interesting. Re-watching Jenny's video is awesome, btw 😂
Lmao fell asleep watching this two nights in a row, I'm really sick and this video is such a fever dream on its own that it's helped a lot. Jenny is basically a doctor now. Salute emoji.
Yeah, that was on my mind for the "One of these cocktails is named after the CEO. Can YOU guess what it is?" bit. I actually remembered his name was Ken, but she had only mentioned it like once or twice. She probably should have pronounced his last name more like "bretch-nider."
I feel like it wouldn’t be that hard to have a few security acting as “town watch” walking around in costume and semi in character, but just replying to any smalltalk or quest stuff with versions of “im on duty and cannot be detained”. have them helping to move people on if their monopolising characters, help out guests who are in distress, checking in on the wellbeing of performers, literally intervene if guests cross boundaries with performers, maybe also acting as town cryers to announce story events. I feel like that’d fit into the atmosphere perfectly, and also up the safety and comfort level of both performers and guests
It's honestly crazy how much they did wrong. Having security at a park like this feels mandatory, if not at least obviously a good idea. There's so much they screwed up that had nothing to do with lack of funding, just pure lack of foresight or actual concern for people.
I was thinking this too, like it can't be that hard? You just put them in practical yet still characterized clothing, and it would already be way better. You could also have a guide/med tent incase someone needs directions or is feeling ill. This is basic stuff i can't believe no one thought of this lol
The whole thing reeks of an ideas giy not being a "doing" guy. He needed to get the maps of all popular and small theme parks amd look at what features were common (food, drink. Help and information, security. Health and safety/first aid) and figure out hoe to implement them. Then have someone eho plays lots of RPGs and somrone (or a team) who do writing to create some solid stories that will be constant through all seasons - a beginners set of quests if you will. Then have a similar team to work through and plan more intermediate quests. This should all be happening in the planning phase. Then add on transport around park (q train system) and talk to ti legal about accessibility. Then these plans should result in what items, locations, people and pleases should be available and this should go onto accounts and props teams as well as a legal and health and safety team. Local theatres and acting schools should be talked to to request characters and actors that can just mill about as NPCs as well as take part in questlines. This should've all happened before anything was purchased or announced.
@@arospec2712 Given the "multiverse hub" nature of the setting, you wouldn't even have to have them in "period" costume. Just put them in modern uniforms and say they're from a near-Earth world, and were sent through one of the portals as some kind of expeditionary force, who agreed to help "keep the area secure" while they were there. You could even pass off the lower/non-existent level of armament that security guards usually have as "not wanting to expose the natives to advanced technology" or some such (Think SG-1 from Stargate, but fantasy.... well, okay, just SG-1, I guess.)
It's common for performers in environments like these to have handlers, and it's very surprising they didn't seem to have anything like that. Heck, even cosplayers often have someone with them to hold their things or, if needed, step in the help if the cosplayer gets overwhelmed and/or needs to go. And, yeah, security of some kind feels mandatory for any kind of environment like this.
I dont know whether to be more impressed with that guy, or whoever managed to dupe a park owned by a guy who made his fortune in cybersecurity into dropping 300k on a url
@@cyber_rachel7427 I'm starting to suspect it might be an Elon Musk deal, he just threw money at the right company and made bank off it, and now heading his own project, but with no actual management skills or understanding of value.
They actually had t-shirts for sale that time. As difficult as that is to believe. Also there were some very nice employees who recognized her and filled a goodie bag for her.
@@imadethisaccountjusttocomm8064yeah the CEO IS exactly like a king omand can just tell his servants to grab her a shirt from his treasury because she makes RU-vid videos, you’re dead on bud
Instead of getting the employees to volunteer I think the questing was a missed opportunity, "Ahoy there young lad, I've a quest for ye. First empty out the trash cans, then clean the toilets ye scallywag and finally put some EMT conduit on the exposed wires, yarr. And perchance do ye know anything about operating a construction crane?"
So, I work at a Renfaire every year, and I usually play a wandering quest giving wizard. My job is just to direct people to various attractions around the park, and see if I can't influence the flow to areas that are less busy. I dress up like a weird alchemist with LOTS of trinkets everywhere. Me and the Fairies actually have this game where we trade the trinkets for children collecting actual litter around the grounds. "The fairies need a noon root from me? I'll give it to you if you collect me 3 objects that do not belong in this world from the ground" and then wink at them. I've had one parent complain to me, but overall it's a good business model
Do you have the time stamp for this line? I’m trying to find it but the video is (and I know this is a really impressive and niche observation) kind of long
It honestly took me way too long to realize the puppets were a Jenny gag. I genuinely believed that was how Evermore would want to relay information. Guess my expectations were too high.
***AUGUST 2023 UPDATE*** I paid a Saturday visit during August 2023 for the Mythos event. This is a list of the changes that have been made, or have not been made since this video was published Upgrades Made (probably in response to this video) -The Drakenhaven building is complete and is well decorated. -Two permanent maps of the park have been displayed! -Bow and arrow safety training is now mandatory! (In fact, it is so exhaustive and thorough that most patrons chose to walk away without shooting rather than endure it, including me. It’s seriously like 10 minutes long.) -I didn’t notice any exposed wire! -Axe throwing & bow and arrows are permanently included with the cost of admission -The aerial performers have moved to a more visible location -Evermore installed a pre-recorded audio storyline/mystery that visitors can engage with by pushing buttons throughout the park. (It has great potential, but it’s impossible to follow the story or solve the mystery because several buttons don’t work. But this is a step in the right direction!) -The Skype aspect of Louden’s Rest (the crypt building) has been removed! It’s now just a cool portal to take selfies with. (There’s also a quest button next to the portal that doesn’t work) -The lower level of the Louden’s Rest was open. (Nothing happens, but it is aesthetically stunning) -The summer lantern festival featured a handful of lanterns! -The fairies had wings! -I didn’t witness any cast members openly weeping or using pyrotechnic effects. -The cast members are still heroically always in character. God bless ‘em. -The lighting at night is still magical. Problems that have not been addressed -The church has made no progress. (Nothing has changed since opening day. It’s weird that Ken Bretschneider found money to build The Grid, but not finish the church) -The park entryway is still empty and lifeless. -There are still no cast members welcoming guests or offering instructions. (This has been a complaint since day one and would be free to fix. WTF Evermore? So many guests, including me, were wandering around confused. Help us out!) -Since every cast member is deeply in character, there is still no one to approach to ask questions like “Where is the nearest bathroom?” or “Where can I buy food?” or “Is there a gift shop?” It’s incredibly frustrating. -There’s still no signage describing attractions. I wanted to ride the train, but couldn’t find any information about whether or not it was free, where to buy tickets, etc (Evermore, help us give you money! We want to!) -Cast members still mainly interact with other cast members and don’t have much to say when guests build up the courage to approach them. -Quests are still meaningless. If you are lucky enough to find a cast member willing to give you a quest, it will be something dumb and nonsensical that relies on the honor system. There is no reward for completing quests. -The elaborate prosthetic costumes are still nowhere to be seen. -There is still no merch or gift shop available. (The third-party vendors host the only actual quest in the park. It’s simple and easy, but it was refreshing to find something to do. Finally! Somebody with basic business skills!) -Vanders Keep is closed. The food game is still really bad. (The website says Vanders Keep opens for special occasions) -Evermore still doesn’t advertise -They still use names like “Lore” that don’t make any sense to the general public, ensuring that they will only ever cater to a niche market of die-hard LARPers. -So many bugs. The spiders at night were ginormous. (Perhaps that made it more authentic?) -The park is still operated with the mentality that guests need to make their own fun. If that’s the case, what are we paying for?
it's so weird that the actors can't/won't answer basic questions from guests... for one thing a bit of an immersion break is a small price to pay to improve their experience, but for another, every person in every time period in every fantasy realm needs to eat and use the bathroom lol. you'd think the actors could just call it a water closet or whatever. even a slightly more awkward question like "what can I do around here other than go to Evermore?" could be answered with smth like "other World Walkers have spoken about thrilling adventures they've had in a realm known as The GRID!" like... it doesn't seem that complicated lmao anyway thanks for the update!
I worked at the local Ren Faire and we got asked for directions to bathrooms, what time was it, what time shows were, etc. ALL THE TIME. And we had in character answers prepped for all of that. We also had in character commentary on hand to deal with people ignoring you to look at their phones, or kids running around unsupervised. Event guests still needed to be treated like paying customers, not an interrupting spectator. That's where it moves from watching a show to being an interactive experience.
There are many people who have just as great ideas in the industry who probably know even more about marketing and budgeting. Unfortunately companies are greedy know-it-alls and limit these people or dismiss them just to get more money which at the end backfires but oh well
I've been conceptualizing a Franz Kafka theme park for a while now, and I think that Evermore provides the perfect model. Quests with no discernable purpose, characters providing conflicting or erroneous information, the impression that everything that happens is part of some larger story that no one is actually privy to... It's genius.
All that’s missing is climbing awkwardly into your car when you go to leave the park and looking at yourself in the rear-view mirror only to realize you have been transformed by your park experience - into a giant cockroach.
@@mightyNosewings I might have at some point. I've also read his novels, short stories, and office reports from when he was working at the Workman's Accident Insurance Institute of the Kingdom of Bohemia.
If they had made sure to clearly say “the Frost Witch is coming!” or something clearly story-related it could’ve been okay, but hearing “THEY’RE COMING, GET OUT” and then being herded out the ACTUAL GATES would’ve had me 100% certain there were multiple shooters or stabbers at large. Especially in the dark! They’re lucky nobody was trampled
I can't help but think how this might have affected, say, survivors of Columbine or Sandy Hook or whatever, especially with no warnings or introductions or explanations being offered. Very scary!
@@alisaurus4224 exactly. Just have the actors be a little more intense but not screaming, and have them say something like the zombies are hear, let's go to x
Hi, former Evermore actor here. I was part of the initial cast all the way to the Covid shutdown and a season or two after. I am the actor in the green robe shown at 3:29:30. Random “fun fact” about that scene: after it ended with three beloved characters dying at Maxwell’s hands, I was personally subjected to harassment and abuse from park guests who were too deep into the story. And no, Evermore never had counseling available. We just had to deal with it. It was a great start. We all did believe in the vision for the park. Like you said, I gave so much free time to make what I believed was my dream job work. But over time, the abuse, mistreatment, and being strung along with promises of full time employment made me incredibly jaded. That was not just mine, but many former employees stories. Another anecdote: I went for Halloween this year to support friends still working there. The CEO was serving hot chocolate and hot cider. He looked me dead in the eye, and did not recognize me. He should, because I did days of volunteer right alongside him. Just goes to show how little we mattered.
Also, totally spaced this, but thank you Jenny! Been a huge fan for a long time. It’s surreal seeing a RU-vidr I followed talk about things I lived through.
@@xwinoxrhinox Thank you. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. Upon reflection, it was messed up. We kept saying it was like a relationship where no matter how much you get hurt, you kept coming back because the hope was still there that it would work out.
A kindly young fairy approaching you asking to buy your t-shirt, and then turning out to be an all powerful witch who destroys your livelihood when you say no, sounds like a fairy tale story worthy of a fantasy themepark.
The fact that they spent tens of thousands of dollars on expensive and pointless antiques to make the scene more authentic just to park an suv in the middle of an attraction is wild to me 😭
Pretty sure the owner just had "f you money" and put everyone else's enjoyment below his own. Pretty much all of his projects seemed like something he did for himself and making a business out of it was an afterthought.
Also if they’re such expensive antiques you should NOT put them in a theme park, they’re eventually gonna be ruined by the hundreds of people touching them and setting their drinks down and letting their kids knock them over
Lets not forget, if they got these statues and stuff from Europe, the shipping costs for such heavy items would have been stupid. It's just truly the strangest choice all around; impractical, likely to damage them by being set in a theme park, overly expensives when you can buy statues in the US...
The thing with the antiques is that they clearly just went on a mad shopping spree for anything that was pre-1950s and European. None of the furniture matches or clearly indicates what timezone we are meant to be in. They should have just comissioned their own Ye Olde Fantasie Style furniture, it would probably have cost the same as importing hundrends of heavy items and looked much better.
"But surely Utahns are within their right to file lawsuits if their children are immolated by a warlock." This sentence has never been said before. It is one of my favorite sentences.
To be honest I'm a touch sad to hear that. The potential this place had if even just half the critiques in this video were addressed, and done well, evermore could be an awesome experience. Edit; could of been one hell of a place to do some psilocybin at.
I love how Jeffree Star was just quoted saying “no one watches long form content anymore” and I’m here watching a 4 hour deep dive on a theme park I’ve never heard of
If anything it's a long form renessaince, Quinton Reviews entire channel is 7+ hour long content currently, YMS is building hype surrounding a multi-part series, multiple hours each, Caddicarus' channel saw massive success upon making 40 minute to hour long videos... Maybe it's just due to my personal tastes, but it seems to be a rather popular niche among everyone who isn't a corporation or a child. It just so happens youtube only wants to appeal to those groups
This is the video (Jenny's video) when I heard what Jeffree said. Like dude, I will watch several hours worth of video for a well researched deep dive into just about anything. I just wont watch someone ramble for any amount of time if I don't like them.
@@emilycardinall Right!? “No one watches long form content anymore.” has the same energy as "No one likes comedy anymore!" No, you just are no good at it hahahah.
As someone who has put his literal blood, sweat, and tears into performing at Evermore I appreciate Jenny putting all this effort into telling this story.
They wanted volunteers for carving pumpkins? Why didn't they just made that an in-park activity? Make it a quest for guests to carve a pumpkin, give them a gold or whatever, and then use the pumpkins to decorate. This was a missed opportunity.
That's a simple and great suggestion! The guests can feel like they left their mark on the park landscape. Ken Bretschneider and other tech bros like him often overestimate their "genius" and creative ability. 😅
Food: $5 Employees: $2 Fireproof Clothing: $1 Gravestones: $100000 Buildings: $3 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my park is dying.
So I actually got to see Josh Steadman, the Director of Show Design (that guy on the podcast at the end of the video) present at a panel about themed entertainment at ComicCon this past year. Not two minutes into his introduction, he mentions working on Evermore and says "but I guess people would rather listen to girls wearing elf ears on RU-vid than actually visit the park, so..." with the added bonus of showing THE SAME MAGIC TREE CONCEPT ART. I'm so happy I watched the girl with elf ears first 😂
lmao that guy doesn't even work there anymore... but still absolutely brown-nosing Ken because I guess he's gotta defend his portfolio?? 🤪 I'm glad that a lot of other management involved during opening who were stabbed in the back one way or another by the CEO have since acknowledged him and Evermore for what they really are.
@@TheNickhis Trust me, as someone who works in this industry, some people who work in events/themed entertainment design would deny everything for the sake of standing by their portfolio 😅
LMAO Listen, if I could get all my news and obscure information about the world from a woman with elf ears, I would. Infinitely more reputable than some rich insecure middle-aged white guy imo.
Being afraid to quit your job where you're being abused, overworked, and endangered for little to no money cause you don't want to risk making a suicidal park guest you're forced to talk to everyday feel abandoned is genuinely one of the scariest and most horrible things I can imagine a person having to live with.
You have to ask the depressed guests for money, so you can stay in the park, for them Make sure they dont find out about your other patreons When the park closes, you ask them all for money "to make your own park" and escape from Utha
Being afraid to quit _any_ job because you're afraid you'll be taking away a suicidally depressed person's only reason to live sounds horrible. Like, I read comments on other people's RU-vid channels that are like "My life is garbage and you give me a reason to get up in the morning" and everyone treats them like they're super Wholesome(tm) but that would probably mess me up if I were in that RU-vidr's position.
So I've worked at The Grid for over two years now, and I'd figure I'd give a couple updates and insights from across the pond. -When I joined about two years ago, I was told that the VR experience would open "Soon", as well as an arcade bar, which would take up the upstairs space. For the whole time I've worked there, the only change that has been added to The Grid was the relocation of the arcade to a build-out room to the left of the main lobby (now complete with more arcade cabinets and a ticket/prize redemption system), the old arcade room now a dedicated event space, and a hair pin turn removed on the track. Then Evermore closed, and a lot of lighting equipment from there has made its way in the track. Now the track somewhat more resembles a Tron-esque aesthetic. -The reason for so many tables are for private events that would rent out not just the track, but sometimes the whole building for up to three hours. This can range from 150+ work parties from the nearby tech companies in Lehi to BYU Football team parties to High School homecoming/graduation parties. -To add to the joke about Ken inserting himself into his businesses, the two people on the art piece at 53:11 is actually Ken and his wife. -Despite the Go-Kart aspect being super successful, we were plagued with repair issues for a while. Majority of our kart parts come from a manufacturer in Germany, which is both expensive to purchase and to ship. The funds for kart parts sure felt very tight, as sometimes we would be low on tires without a new order in sight. The worst offense being that at one point, we had several chargers break that have been been in use since it opened, and they finally fixed it MORE THAN A YEAR LATER! Ya know, the thing that charges the kart that makes you money. We as staff would often joke among each other on how Evermore needs the money more than we do. With Evermore now gone, this has gotten better (shocking, I know). -Similar to Evermore, we still don't have any marketing outside of Social Media. No billboards, no pamphlets, no radio advertisements, nothing. One positive note is that The Grid lately has been hosting a "Karts and Coffee" car meet every two-three months in their parking lot. -Because of the Evermore closure, the upstairs and the right build out room have pretty much become a Evermore storage room. The rooms have gotten emptier over time as they try and sell their inventory, but some Evermore stuff is now part of The Grid, as mentioned before. -It is in the talks what would fill the rest of the vacant space at the Grid. The last I heard they're trying to salvage as much Evermore activities into The Grid. Not only would this include stuff like the axe throwing and the bow and arrow, but they would also reopen Vander's Keep in the upstairs. There has been a Facebook page for The Crooked Lantern Tavern, with the implication of it coming back, but I have no idea what that would be. With all that said, I still love The Grid. Objectively it has the best track layout of any go-kart venue in Utah, and for the most part the karts are fast and smooth to operate. And just like Evermore, you do have some people there that are super passionate about racing, with a co-worker of mine being a marshal for the F1 races in Miami and Vegas. My main concern going forward is the clash of themes would be much worse if they were to add more Evermore attractions. So soon, you may see Art Deco, Fantasy, and Techno themes all in one building. My opinion is that the karting aspect has done so well, that they should focus on improving and adding to the racing experience, rather than add more Evermore junk to it. Its a shame though that Ken doesn't care about racing in general, and I may be stretching it to say that he hates racing. I've asked about adding racing simulators to the business, but that's so unlikely now, I'm now putting funds aside to start a Racing Simulation business in Utah. Love The Grid, Hate The CEO. P.S. If you were still wanting to support the people that put their heart into making Evermore, Otherworldly Exhibit is the company that provided to Evermore the latex prosthetic masks, baby dragon puppets, and the monster seen at 26:07. They've also helped out with smaller movie productions, such as VHS 99. They have a workshop at the Layton Mall in Utah and a website at www.unworldlyexhibit.com P.S.S. I managed to snag some shirts. :)
My favorite part of any Jenny Nicholson video is repeatedly thinking ‘well surely that’s the whole story’ and then seeing there’s still 2 hours of video left
I mean, the numbered lists are pretty up there. You'd think I'm being sarcastic, but no. The numbered points really add a sense of momentum to the video
My fiance and I went to the park last year for Valentine's Day. We went in, walked around and decided we wanted to ride the train before we left (it was in February and right before close and very cold). The employees were very young, but nice. The employees said we couldn't use the caboose. They saw someone and got immediately skittish - turns out it was that same CEO guy. He held up the train for 20 minutes to show his date a special hidden room inside the initial tunnel the train goes through. When he's done, he goes to the back of the train AND GETS IN THE CABOOSE. Yes. That's why you can't use the caboose. ITS FOR HIM ONLY. Then we go to leave and almost can't get out of the parking lot because he parked his Porsche in the middle of the ONLY EXIT to the parking lot. Seems like a great guy who's really fun to be around.
@@electricdreammachine2225 I believe it. 5 minutes to walk to and from the room 3 minutes to undress and re-dress 2 minutes for the deed and 10 minutes to cry about it
I'll be honest if a half naked man approached me at a theme park and kept asking me if I wanted to gamble for his pants in a goblin voice I would either run away or bust out laughing. Or both
I’m planning on showing my brother that segment of the video just to see his reaction. He’s a union electrician and is big on electrical safety (as he should be) and has shown me pics of the crazy things people do in commercial buildings.
I can only assume they're isolated at the supply end and therefore not live. Otherwise it's insanity. The corrosion risk is still big given that they're outdoors though. Especially with some parts being under construction for years, I bet the first inch of conductor is pure copper oxide now
@@harmonysummers I prefer the electrician who comes to my house is also very concerned about safety! I don't want to get zapped while I'm naked in the shower or something! I also don't go to theme parks to play a life or death version of The Floor is Lava with power cables just...everywhere.
one horror story i don’t see anyone mentioning is that some of the regulars/super fans would camp outside of the park gates for HOURS after close, trying to corner the actors getting out of character. this happened EVERY night, and the performer exit and guest exit are right next to each other, so there was no way to try and avoid them. i was a specialty performer (aerial silks, figure skating, fire spinning) there for about 3 years and every time i left work there would be a group of 15 or so super fans trying to corner me or my coworkers after a shift to, i dunno, deepen their parasocial aims?? it was really strange and always made me really uncomfortable. to my knowledge, no actions were taken by management to protect actors from potential harassment or discourage this behavior. as far as i know it still continues to this day!
@@akka5249 this story was mostly hearsay among actors, so take it with a grain of salt, but {tw here} one girl had allegedly received someone’s knife used to self-harm as a “character gift.” really difficult stuff! i wish the park had had like, any measures in place to prevent this. for the most part it was harmless but still boundary crossing. they would discuss character interactions of the day or previous characters an actor had played (the cast was pretty insular, so a single person would end up playing multiple roles over a few operational seasons.) sometimes they would ask for us to give them specialty in-character interactions in the park the next show day, but mostly asking for our social medias/inviting us to post-park events. there were a few occasions i was asked for my phone number or if i was dating anyone, but luckily there wasnt any pushback or confrontation when i declined. tl;dr mostly just wanting to get friendly with the actors out of character and outside of park hours, but nothing too horrid; just weird!
That's so worrying, I can't believe they didn't take steps to protect the staff. I'm sure most were well meaning but it only takes one horrible person to take it a step too far.
Wtf? I can't imagine EVER camping out to accost an improv actor after they got off work. Holy shit that sounds so uncomfortable. I work in Healthcare and if a patient cornered me after a 12 hour day, I wouldn't be overly pleasant lol in fact, after a bad day, I might just be like "out of my way, I'm going home"
since worldwalkers are a part of Evermore Park lore, I'm confused why they couldnt have some employees who both are/arent in character as 'experienced worldwalker guides' to help guests
Imagine being an introverted fantasy gaming fan in the middle of nowhere and hearing there is a whole theme park made just for you and all there is to do is talk to people outside.
Sorry they couldn't afford to make real life video games using AR even though the void is right there It could be so fun like a wizard shooting range where you sling fireballs and lightning bolts A dragon battle with like a beat saber sword Fairies projected on bubbles idk I feel like as a tech guy there are unlimited options if he cared enough
It's not just the talking to them part for me. It's the everyone's improvising so it's going to led into hella awkward dialogue where you'll just have to leave eventually.
It blows my mind that he is so visible there when the whole place is such an embarrassing failure and just a dismal excuse for a park experience of any kind.
@mzook7854 also, if he's the owner, why does he need to be on site? Isn't that managemets job? I suspect he's managing in person because he either fired/didn't hire management to either cut costs, and/or micromanaging everything in person. Which leads to the second point, the frivolous spending on minor items makes it look like the park is his personal playground, opposed to an actual business venture. Wouldn't knock that, but it would have been cheaper to just buy a nice estate and fill it with the crap you want.
took me to the end to realize that the puppets were just on-screen readings of Evermore statements. I genuinely thought that the way Evermore communicated important information with everyone was through puppets. had me going: "Huh. Well that's one way for a company to tell it's employees that they don't know when they're getting paid"
I only realized they weren't real Evermore PR Puppets when I stumbled upon the cast credits in the description after I finished the video. I thought they were doing one of those "how do you do, fellow kids" things.
Can you imagine being at an unfinished theme park in the US, hearing a bunch of yelling and screaming and seeing people running, thinking you're about to be a casualty of an active shooter but it's just the evil Fae King and his minions acting up
Seriously, this sort of thing needs to be held for the close of day and be handled much more calmly. Have someone call out "They are coming!" and have the actors start sort of walking in a hurried manner towards the exits letting guests know the park is closing due to fairy attack but will be back next week.
I was with my two boys (9, and 13 at the time), waiting in line to enter CA Great America's Halloween Haunt. Someone was robbed, and fight broke out. Someone screamed about an active shooter, and that triggered a stampede for the exits. Unaware of all of that, we were standing in a makeshift queue of metal stanchions, (fortunately just joining at the end of the line) when I noticed a growing sound of running footfalls. Then, I started to see people jumping turnstiles at the entrance pavilion and sprinting like their lives depended on it. In full "Peter Tingle" mode, I turned my boys around and started hustling them toward the parking lot. As the crowd in the queue got wind of the panic, they started trying to exit the stanchioned area, first by running back through, and eventually trying to jump them (causing many of them to tip over, onto people on the other side). My immediate fear was that one of my boys would slip from my grasp (I had them both by the back of their collars and was trying to help them run just a bit faster, without forcing them to stumble) and get trampled by the crowd. My next fear was that some maniac was going to start peppering the crowd with gunshots. Keep in mind, this very scenario had just played out a few weeks earlier, at the Gilroy Garlic festival shooting. People were blindly running into traffic, in an attempt to escape across the 4 lane road, at the front of the park. We ran all the way to our car, and sped out, avoiding an hours-long jam up of thousands of vehicles trying to exit at once, through 3 lanes of exit. If I had been at Evermore that night, I would have lawyered up, because the unnecessary panic was wreckless endangerment, and my boys don't need to go through that very real fear of death in a theme park, ever again.
Any footage of the actors made me feel so uncomfortable. The fact that they bear the weight of any customer dissatisfaction and confusion, sends shivers down my spine. The poor man in the Skype call trying his darndest was brutal.
I could feel it in my soul. I’ve worked in exhibitions and stuff where I have literally 0 information and intel, yet I’m supposed to be interacting and guiding the guests. It’s actually painful. I was thrown into the exhibition with a shirt that said “ASK ME ANYTHING”. It was an avenger station exhibit so I went home that night reading up on pretty much everything but come on. It was weird that I got that assignment since I was hired with the clear knowledge that I am autistic and very anxious. Idk why I was hired but I got the job from the psychiatric clinic I was at as a job training thing. (I’ve worked before, and I am an actress. So I managed to bullshit my way through. But I was absolutely filled with anxiety and came home mentally drained every night) I feel panicked seeing this go down since these are just people who showed up to work and got absolutely no information/education to help them in their work. Even if you love to LARP, you won’t love this type of job since you have nothing to work with - whilst still having very vague but very strict rules. Trying to navigate what to do. I don’t understand why they don’t give the employees more information about what they should do/info about the backstory and lore etc. that would be in EVERYONES best interest.
@@emmestein I feel sorry for your situation. While I work a different field (department store retail), I can relate to the feeling: being informed about absolutely nothing, and yet being expected by customers to know everything. Great job on getting through it, though; you sound like you worked well on your feet! I hope your future gigs are much more willing to equip you with the information that you need. :)
As a gardener, I have a bit on a unique perspective on this. Disney never gets enough credit for their stunning commitment to authentic, grown in landscaping. I once visited a reclaimed tree yard where they care for very old, large trees with unique character, with their root systems entirely in large wooden containers and watered on a drip system. The owner of told me Disney had spent TWO MILLION DOLLARS on ONE SINGLE TREE at one of their parks. TWO MILLION DOLLARS FOR ONE TREE. They wanted a specific size, shape, and age for their tree, and they put down the money for it. This reclaimed tree yard was in SoCal, and Disney was a frequent customer of theirs. The amount of care and attention to detail put into their landscapes in astonishing, plus all the actual maintenance and irrigation that goes into maintaining the landscapes, all of which happens during the hours the park is closed so the guests are none the wiser! Omg, and the idea of turning your theme park into a Botanical garden because it’s an easier, cheaper option is HILARIOUS to me. Clearly an idea conceived by someone who has never worked for a public garden. Just wow.
So true! Even with the extravagant cost of planting to full density (rather than just planning to propogate/split and fill in every season as I do in my gardens), it still takes years of care for a garden to actually look amazing. Landscapes are massive investments of time. If something looks ‘grown in’ right off new construction… that might be the most expensive square footage you’ve ever witnessed outside a skyscraper!
@@limehawk4989 , I think that laborers who build, landscape, and/or clean middle-class and upper middle-class attractions are generally not treated well. The climate crisis, global health crisis, and financial crisis have really exacerbated the social divide between the "haves" and "have nots" here in the US. And based on world news, it is probably the same elsewhere. Qatar, for example: wealthy athletes and sports enthusiasts from around the world are traveling to a stadium built by abused and mistreated workers.
It’s the least exotic of their sins, but never trust a company that misses payroll and doesn’t tell you until payday. They knew they were missing that payroll three to five days ago and they kept it to themselves.
I second this. Be VERY careful if this happens to you. I've dealt with this on a couple of non-union / low-budget films I've worked on and if the cheques aren't given to us the morning of the day after we were supposed to receive them, I either walk or threaten to walk & withhold their sound recordings until payment (though I know this isn't always an option for folks - keep in mind I'm a gig/contract employee and they don't own their media files until they pay me for my services). Never work for free at a job where you didn't agree to. The last thing you want to have happen is to work more days/weeks and then have them skip out again. Remember, it'll burn a larger hole in your pocket than it will a corporation's to hire a lawyer to dispute those unpaid labour costs. If you're not unionized you need to make sure you're aware of your own financial security. Finding a company that cares about their employees/doesn't see them as expendable is a rarity in these capitalistic times. Best of luck, labourers: Solidarity forever.
Also, occasionally having one or two people's hours wrong isn't unheard of, especially if someone picked up an extra shift or something, but for EVERYONE to recieve the wrong amount is either a major bug in the system or purposeful
my school district didn’t pay substitute teachers for a MONTH in early 2020. Two missed pay checks! then the pandemic happened and substitutes couldn’t get work and weren’t told if they were going to get work when school started virtually in the fall. Even though the district didn’t let them work for months and were silent all summer, subs “didn’t qualify” for unemployment. no wonder there is a “sub shortage” we had to get different jobs to survive 2020.
my mother is the costume designer seen in the video and i’ve seen kens incompetence first hand. she put so much love and effort into those costumes, but was treated like complete garbage.
To be fair, most chefs and cooks feel this way to some extent. To be also fair, that's something you say to your SO after a long shift or anonymously on the internet, not in an interview...for your restaurant...
I get it but dietary restrictions are a real thing. The idea that guy is putting forth is chefs would rather you just not eat their food is pretty messed up.
@@awildsylveon9896 I paused and ranted for a good minute at that part. Before my gallbladder was taken out it was avoid this long list of ingredients of barf through a painful gallbladder attack for 24 hrs straight. People have deathly allergies, cancer treatments, chronic illnesses, medicine interactions. If you can't respect that when your job is to feed the masses, you might need to find a new line of work.
Seeing footage from in the park, I now get why Disney doesnt allow people to come in costume. Because with so many guests dressed up in fantasy outfits, it made it so hard to tell who the performers were, so you wouldn't know who to interact with!
My head canon about the founder of Evermore and why he blew so much money on imported building features, antique stained glass, and actual tombstones is that he's secretly some kind of necromancer who is trying to re-create some kind of ancient village as authentically as possible so he can resurrect the dead. To achieve this end, he has cleverly masked it as a LARP theme park and duped the employees and volunteers into helping him. Unfortunately, necromancers aren't too good at handling money, so he blew his funds and was unable to complete his master plan. Of course, the reason that he didn't pay his employees properly is because he is evil, but that's just a given.
"In the lobby they have these massive marble columns. And when you knock on them, you hear that they're hollow. The marble pattern is just a print laid over wood or plastic. And you know what I think about that? I think, there's a building that's got all its walls" underrated worst burn of this video
Finding out that Jenny personally asked the CEO of Evermore to buy a tshirt, and that she does not have a tshirt, absolutely broke me. I needed to pause, and take a moment to calm down.
The fact that Jenny couldn't get any of many minimum wage entry level employees to get her a tshirt raises questions about how the employees are treated
It kind of speaks volumes about the guy. The park was never really about entertaining people, it was only about him being able to brag to people about owning a park. Honestly, this self centered prick doesn’t deserve to have one with the way he’s been running things. If I was running a park and a guest asked for a shirt, not only would I give he one but I would give an entire gift basket of the park’s merchandise and coupons for any restaurant or attraction of her choosing because it would give her the incentive of wanting to come back and tell her friends and family about the amazing time she had and thus bringing more people in to the park. It’s a no brain-er.
Of this entire deep dive, the only on site restaurant not being open during park open hours was the most mind boggling aspect of this park. That is guaranteed money. People will literally just eat there due to its convenience. They don't even have to make the food better, which they should do, but even mediocre Applebees style food would be good enough for convenience sake.
I have to say, I would be so deeply uncomfortable to be walking around and witnessing some of these scenes. All these actors screaming, crying, people on their knees, begging others, like…I wanna have a quest and see some magic fights, not like…medieval soap operas where some of the guests are apparently so close to the actors they get to participate in what I can only describe as “me and my friends RPing in private message boards in middle school”
Also I would give a kidney to get a video like this about the Goretorium in Vegas. We went a few times and I’m so sad that there’s basically no video or photos of the inside of the haunt itself left.
yeah literally, 90% of people won't care about deep story lines, they could just do a couple of choreographed fights everyday and everyone would be happy
@@overgrownkudzu It’s true, but boy oh boy should you see the die-hard evermore “fans” when the park discussed making things more accessible to first-time players. It’s as if they’d just had visiting rights to their best friend removed, or as if someone just took their LARP from them.
I’m 90% sure I was your waitress at Vander’s Keep! I didn’t even recognize you. I was also an actor during late 2019-2020. I have been abruptly let go three times from this company- the most recent being when the restaurant was abruptly shut down October this year leaving both my husband and I jobless with a brand new mortgage. The only notice any employee received was a text the morning before our last shift. I was involved with the restaurant from the beginning (joining them just after the evermore mass firing) and the Vander’s Keep saga is a whole ‘nother side of this story that wasn’t even touched. If you want to make a part 2, I am still in contact with 80% of the restaurant employees and we are all willing to share our stories.
I worked at Evermore in late 2020 as a barista. I loved my job, but I was frustrated by the unpredictability and instability Ken caused and it trickled down to even me. However I was working hard, loving our guests and giving it my all because I believed in the vision and loved how even I had some creative freedom in creating our menu with the management. I loved the park, the people, and the job itself. I was earning valuable skills and experience. I believed I would be able to put in a few good years there, but in January 2021, the entire concessions department got laid off. I was gutted not only for myself but everyone that I grew to be friends with in every department. I can’t believe Ken hasn’t given up the ghost but he doesn’t have the skills, knowledge or experience to run a park and doesn’t listen to criticism very well, so he refuses to hand it off to someone who will take his awesome vision and make it successful. Edit: I’m so disappointed that the food went downhill but not surprised. When I was working there the food was great! Croque Monsiers/Madames, amazing fries, The Hunter’s Hovel had really good soup and sandwiches and they served freshly roasted bratwurst. In the Kettle Cafe where I was we had coffees but also wonderful pastries and cookies made by a local baker and we had sandwiches and quesadillas. In the barista area I really hated the espresso machine. It contained milk in a container in its own tiny fridge that pumped through the heating element into the cup and didn’t have a steam wand, so if you ordered coffee with a different milk it’d be cold. I had no way to warm other types of milk, or frankly any of the other drinks. I kept asking Michael if we could please get the wand attachment but he never did because Ken kept brushing him off. The machine itself was Italian and had an English option but when it broke it would bring up errors in Italian. It was basically a computer and I hated that thing because it did like six things and you couldn’t customize anything. They bought this piece of crap for like $50,000 and I told them they got scammed but the people before Whitney and Michael had bought it and they had to make do because Ken wouldn’t do anything about it (like return it or trade it in for something else like he has the power to do). The park can’t get a liquor license because there are limited amount of licenses in Utah and they’re on a waiting list. It’s fucked up. The whole park is a case of great vision and poor execution and I wish Ken would sell it to someone who knows how to properly execute the vision.
It's probably for the best that they can't get a liquor license since the staff would be in even more danger if people could get drunk in the park. I never realized security was so lax, even though I was aware that actors in cloaks were on their break. Thanks for all your work. I had several very good meals and snacks in that park before the pandemic hit.🤤
Seriously, how STUPID are you Zoomers? THE ENTIRE WORLD SHUTDOWN. What RESTAURANT do you know that stayed open during the Pandemic?! AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO DEMAND PAYMENT FROM A PARK?!
Or at least listen to people, like it wouldnt even atter, if he acceprec criticism and his shortcomings :( Because a mi of medivial fair, larp, and that sounds great and fantastic, but if he coulsnt een work with constraining and working around and , basically know how to not lay bare how uncompleted it i and use whts there. I guess that could be done, with lostening to criticism. Also what the hell is the social media disaster , and not only sueing taylor swift.
As a former barista, I am in horror at the thought of having no steaming wand. It's essential to most hot drinks, and is even useful to swiftly heat up water. Insanely annoying to imagine how easy this would be to fix, for such a massive improvement in product quality, and yet it fell of deaf ears. 🙃
The chef sounds like a great character to incorporate into the park: the artist that gets so pissed at other characters demanding alterations to his perfect menu that he challenges them to fights outside his tavern. If played right, he could become a fan favorite.
That would be hilarious! Evermore should lean into and learn from their past mistakes and the chef would be a fun nod to that. Some simple changes would immediately make the park better and cost nothing. Aka: implement basic safety guidelines for the archery, ax throwing, and pyrotechnics. It'd take only one or two minutes of verbal explanation to make all those aspects MUCH safer. And move the audience further away from the fire dancers for heavens sake. Lighting the paths seems like the next most important addition, but that would cost a bit of money to purchase the lights, so it would be understandable if they added this in segments.
@@carlotta4th I wouldn't follow my suggestion, as the chef seems not to work there anymore (comments are saying that Vander's Keep closed), and it is in poor taste to make fun of a past employee without their permission. The *idea* is rich for a comic side character, and I stand by that idea - I just think that it is a dick move if a park fires a guy and then makes fun of him later by basing a character on a single interview he gave that does not give a full view of the person.
A chef is a perfect spot for a character too, because they spend most of their time in the kitchen(backstage) and then come out deliver a scene and then return to the kitchen. Repeat an hour later when the restaurant is full of people who haven't seen it yet. It helps address all of the concerns about actor safety mentioned in the video and these comments.
@@OpalBLeigh Yeah, the guy may be super nice and just had one hang up that he exaggerated for what he thought was comedic effect. Heaven knows that I've said lots of things that I regret and that are forever saved on the internet if people want to dig through and hurt me with them. Some other random character ideas: CGP Grey's pirates (a stuffy accountant and his much more freewheeling captain) would be a hilarious mixture. Steampunk Sherlock Holmes solving crimes and getting audiences involved in catching a villain would be cool. A knight trying to protect a rambunctious princess who keeps trying to escape and have fun, perhaps? The concept I have with all of these characters is that they would be fun, "basic" characters for new people to latch onto and have fun with in the front areas of a park, while more serious, darker stories could be placed in the back - creating a separation so that people bringing their kids don't necessarily have to hear Wen Weaver (who seems like a cool character) having an emotional breakdown. I think that a separation is key if you are marketing to both adults and children. There would need to be dedicated areas that are safe from character deaths and the like so that you can just enjoy an edutainment bird show or a petting zoo with real goats and imaginary baby dragons (another comment pointed out that the baby dragon is a HUGE marketing opportunity and I 100% agree - just imagine how many photo opportunities and fun stuff you could do with explaining this dragon to kids - it would be awesome). I think that this park has so much potential, and that new management or another eccentric millionaire creating his own park (with more foresight) could become something truly magical and amazing for people to encounter.
Yeah I worked for him and he was really hard to deal with sometimes but overall a chill dude. His wife however (the one nudging him) is a real piece of work.
Okay so my roommate knows I love this video and she’s from salt lake and has been to evermore. So as a jokey Christmas present she ordered me an evermore tshirt and sticker. The thing is, in typical evermore fashion she never received a shipping confirmation. So months after she ordered it, she told me what she got me and how it wasn’t here yet and so I encouraged here to get a refund. So miraculously evermore does actually refund her, but yesterday March 6th the god damn evermore tshirt mysteriously shows up, sticker missing. It was just baffling how thoroughly they messed up just sending a package, but now unlike Jenny I do have an evermore shirt and I technically got it for free. So uhm yeah this really just hit home how mismanaged they are.
This is really really interesting to me because I too had a friend order me a piece of Evermore merch for Christmas, which went through a similar process of being refunded and then ultimately manifested in my mailbox last week. What a mysterious little operation they have to be selling so much merchandise for presumably no money, where I imagine lots of folk refunded things in the same kind of situation.
I'm on board with the theory that they thought Taylor Swift couldn't be bothered to duke it out in court and would just pay them a rounding error in her bank account like whatever. What they failed to remember is that Taylor Swift is the same person who once sued a photographer for $1 to make a point.
So when "Evermore Went Dark", were there no people sitting in a tavern for the past 2 hours waiting for their food, now having to evacuate? Was there no food currently being cooked by a famously patient and understanding chef, who definitely didn't mind having his proudly made food go cold and wasted because of a sudden nonsense event? Was someone cooped up in a toilet, hearing screams outside but unable to just suddenly stop doing what they were doing, so they just bunkered down in their toilet stall waiting for the police to come and save them, only for no police to come? That entire happening was just.. incomprehensible. Someone came up with this idea, nobody gave it a second thought, nobody stood up and said, "yo, what the f--k?", everyone agreed to do it and then _did_ , seemingly not even trying to calm confused bystanders down, just pouring fuel onto the fire. Insane.
were there no disabled people (not just people in wheelchairs) who could not move that quickly and might’ve thought they’d be murdered? like, i’m someone who has joint issues among other physical ailments. running like that would either cause me to faint, have my throat constrict to the point where breathing would be extremely difficult, or have my hip move out of place. not to mention, i also have adhd, autism, and severe anxiety. a sudden “emergency” like that could very well cause me to go into meltdown or panic attack mode. i’m convinced at least one person went into a panic attack. because what were they supposed to think??? at LEAST, there should’ve been an announcement of “hey, we’re gonna be doing a big story event soon, which involves running out of the park in an entirely fantastical fake panic situation” like idgaf if it “breaks immersion” this stuff can be TRAUMATIZING to an unprepared guest
Here's the thing, though. Someone - probably multiple people - probably did have reservations. But they either brought them up and were shot down by management/more vocal performers who thought it was a cool idea or knew the attitude that higher-ups had already and knew that bringing up their concerns was pointless. Everyone who didn't see the inherent problems were probably swept up in how cool it would be and weren't trained properly in how to spot a dangerous situation and how to deal with it.
@@cassiopeia_mori there's so many explicitly fantastical emergencies they could've gone with. like ... dragon roars, or a battle cry, or smth. idk what would fit best w the lore, but make it fit.
So, actor safety is actually a huge, huge issue at places like historical villages (which have a similar vibe to this). A lot of times, you’re put into buildings alone and no one checks in on you your whole shift. And you’re explicitly told not to make a big deal if there is a safety concern because you don’t want to alarm the other guests. From personal experience, I worked at a 1890-1910 historical village as a school house teacher. The only way I was supposed to indicate that I was unsafe was to put an “Ice Box” sign in my window and hope someone saw it as they walked by. One of the regulars did end up developing a crush on my character and started harassing me, which resulted in them waiting until I was in the school house alone one day and attempting to @ssault me. The place I worked at is fairly well known in the area and has been open for at least 40 years. So it does not shock me that there is zero precautions taken for actors at Evermore.
Jesus, they couldn't even opt for a panic button type solution? That's crazy. I'd think even for the case of medical emergency you'd need a system, not to mention the terrifying situation you described. I hope you're doing okay now. ❤
when i was working there i would often stand up to guests for some of the younger actors. fortunately I’m big enough that i can, and people are generally cowards but yeah it wasn’t good
So I looked it up and Evermore closed this year (the evermore domain is now owned by Evermore Resort in Orlando). Bretschneider is out after defaulting on all his loans, which were more than $1 million in total. The landowner (who purchased the land in 2022 and tried to save the park) in a slight snarky tone added that the lease he wrote for Bretschneider was "very, very friendly," but nevertheless Bretschneider took the opportunity for granted and failed his contractual obligations. The landowner has brought in a "very well capitalized group" who has chosen to retain all old-world buildings and is committed to finishing them inside and out. Pleaseeeeeeeee return to the new Evermore when it's finished!
After all this time the thing that has me most shook is that the total debt was "only" $1 million. I know that's a lot of money to have in your personal bank account, but for a business this size... that's doable. It's obviously not GREAT but that's recoverable, especially when some of your biggest creditors are apparently very willing to work with you and you have other successful businesses to fall back on, and a LOT of unnecessary assets (like decor) to sell off that nobody would even miss. I'm not saying it's chump change and it would have been easy to get, but it's doable. If that's the amount it would have taken to be debt-free I'm even more confused why Bretschneider couldn't make it work.
To be fair part of me is relieved they don't sell alcohol. The combination of the weird people who go every week forming parasocial relationships with the employees I'm not sure I'd be stoked if there were dudes going there to get drunk and bother the in character bar maids
Utah is verrrry strict with liquor licenses, and only issue a limited number every year if I recall correctly. I think that actually paid off in this case.
This is also a park where archery and axe throwing are activities. Sure, you might be able to screen out anyone visibly drunk but I wouldn't want tipsy people with weapons
If you ever wonder why companies are always looking for “someone with a real passion for this job” or something along those lines, it’s because it’s much easier to exploit that kind of person.
True of various kinds of social work too. When you ask to be compensated fairly for your skills and efforts, management will be like "guess you're not COMMITTED to the PEOPLE we serve, you MONSTER."
The video game developer Naughty Dog got into hot water about doing something similar. Their hiring practices heavily favored prospective-employees who self-identified as workaholics and perfectionists. This was so it would be easier to convince them to undergo heavy levels of crunch.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick If companies were upfront about how they need people who are willing to work harsh hours, it wouldn’t seem so exploitative.
@@iamkablam8096 No, I think it’d still be exploitative. There is no amount of overtime pay that makes a company encouraging you to sleep under your desk acceptable.
Hello! As a former actor of the park I would like to thank you for making a video like this. I worked at the park from the opening in 2018 to the mass firing in January/Feburary of 2021. I have played characters from Tip Top, to the elven ranger leader, to a simple townsperson. I wanted to simply add pieces of my story with this park. To start, though I loved playing Tip Top the Automaton, it caused some very painful and seemingly (via several doctor's appointments) irreversible damage to my back and my body as a whole. It was not built as readily for a person of my height, though I only came to learn that after playing the character for two full seasons. Based on some of my other fellow actors that have played Tip Top they have also mentioned some rather annoying, and in some cases, painful repercussions from the suit. Aside from any physical damage caused to me or my body, I also experienced some rather intense versions of parasocial relationships getting out of hand. I will not go into detail as to protect myself and those that know my story, but I was in a rather dangerous situation with a stalker that got way to out of hand. No physical harm was enacted, but the mental turmoil and general feeling of unsafety after the fact was beyond anything anyone should ever have to experience. Overall I love the friendships I have made from working at the park, but the overall trauma of the situation is not something I would ever wish upon anybody.
a common element among the actors posting their experiences here is people forming parasocial relationships with the actors. i wonder if there is even really a meaningful way to do evermore's concept of integrating parkgoers into ongoing plotlines with fixed (and unfixed) characters while protecting its staff from that specifically, because it seems like that's an issue with the bedrock of evermore's concept. thanks for your account on it, i am genuinely angry management did not adequately protect you. i find this whole thing so mystifying.
@@aeddiefarmer I think people just underestimate how easily some minor discomfort can turn into serious or permanent damage when it's inflicted for hours on end over a long period of time. Things that feel just kinda wonky or irritating and would be totally fine at first. But yeah, if you're doing this kind of work for an actual theme park you should know better.
It’s funny how actually nerdy that pleasant grove Utah area actually is. Literally home to the second biggest fantasy writer - Brandon Sanderson- who owns DragonSteel company that is located there. Huge missed opportunity of the park to not have tried to do events with him at the park for his Cosmere books??? Literally how do that that utilize such a big fantasy guy for your fantasy park????
Well he's hella Mormon, so I imagine parts of the park and story made it a hard sell for a guy from the Patented Homophobia And Racism Sect of Christianity
Now that Evermore is done, maybe he could try and continue it, he has the community backing which I think is way more important than the Disney level money. He would make it an enjoyable one that is way more focused on the people and community it would foster.
@@SoulfullyUnaware he announced last year at Dragonsteel Con they are making a chateau like shopping/event center to act as a destination for Cosmere/ Sanderson fans. Itll have a bookstore, cafes, escape rooms, community rooms for book clubs, and anything else Brandon dreams up. They also said it could be used as a venue for weddings or other events. It’s super in the early stages and they said it be done in around 4-10 years. I know some fans want him to buy Evermore tho - I just don’t think he has any extra brain power to spare from writing and stuff to focus on making a theme park work. But a fancy bookstore chateau is a lot better for a first time construction venture- and depending on where they build it it could become a little Cosmere village eventually (which I think was his original plan but thought it was too ambitious to start with)
@@SoulfullyUnawarefrom what I’ve read since last night when I discovered the current state of affairs, Sanderson and/or his company Dragonsteel has bought up several plots of land surrounding or immediately adjacent to he now closed Evermore property
For the last couple days I rewatched all of her videos from the beginning looking for this line because I remembered it so intensely and needed to see it again. Only for it to be from her most recent post, lol
So true, Silver Dollar City's fall festival is "Pumpkins in the City" and there's just pumpkins freaking everywhere and a big ol sign that says "PUMPKINS" above the dance floor
Since Evermore is a land out of time with portals, they could literally have a security staff throughout the park dressed as old-timey UK Bobbies or 1930s policemen. It wouldn't break immersion, and then the actors / guests would have someone to turn to if something went wrong.
That’s what I was thinking!!! They could do so much MORE with the “world out of time” concept. It’s totally being squandered. I want to see more confused California surfer-dudes lugging their boards around the park, maybe samurai in full garb who only speak Japanese, and less of whatever is going on now. They could even have like, ringmaster-looking folks that the other characters can’t see to act as the information centers / exposition dumpers this park DESPERATELY needs. That would make the dialogue a lot more concise too, with relevant lore explained beforehand in a carnival-barker style. It wouldn’t be hard to explain away either. If you mention it to a performer, they could just gush about how you met the “god of mischief” or something and lucky you are. Have said “god” give them bunny ears or something during the conversation, for good measure.
The problem, I suspect, is that that would require paying salaries for excess personnel, offering a service that only helps the other employees and hence doesn't actually attract guests. Or maybe I'm just cynical.
@@timothymclean i would be more inclined to go to a park where all the security look like they came out of period drama rather than less inclined to go
@@genderender Sure, if you're comparing themed security to unthemed security. But themed security compared to nothing? You can't exactly advertise "Security guards to protect the actors from predatory customers" as an attraction.
@@timothymcleanmaybe but predatory customers can also harass other customers. I know I’ve heard about theft and child abductions being issues at theme parks and carnivals before. It wouldn’t necessarily stop those issues entirely but it might reduce the likelihood.
I work at a local IT company and right now we are working on getting a client a professional domain for a business. At most it's like $1200 a year. You have to work hard to spend that much money on your entire IT solution (and they certainly didn't).
Funny to see my confused self in this video. I was pretty confused on what was going on when I was there. After watching this video I finally have some semblance of understanding to what was occurring here. Amazing video and amazing amount of research and detail!
hi! funny finding you here, i watched this video on a whim but ironically, i recently found your channel by. looking up terror manor in roanoke virgina, which you made a video on two years ago. which i was. looking up because i worked as a makeup artist for them this past halloween season. glad you had a good time there even if evermore was a bust lmao
@@timothymclean I wouldn't classify the Carpetbagger as having "15 minutes of internet fame". That statement implies that he's some previously unknown guy who's been given a few brief moments in the spotlight thanks to being featured in this video, but that's far from accurate. Jacob AKA The Carpetbagger, has been a successful you tuber for quite a while now . He's got nearly half a million subscribers and his videos in total have garnered over 100 million views. He travels the country visiting theme parks , fairs and roadside attractions. I've been subscribed to his channel for years. He doesn't do the extreme deep dives into the places he visits like Jenny does, but his videos are still interesting and fun...you should check him out if you haven't already.
Building a Satyr version of the springlock suits from FNAF, causing an employee to get severely wounded in the legs, and then releasing a company email telling employees to blame the Dark Elves and ending with a bad joke about the performers injury is still one of the craziest things that I have ever seen.
An interesting bit of context that i have from living in this area is regarding the location. In the video, Jenny states a few times how Provo is a “humble” area with not much for young people to do, and SLC isn’t a huge tourist destination etc. She’s only half correct here, SLC, Provo, and the whole valley are huge areas for Outdoor enthusiasts. The Provo Canyon and many areas in SLC offer world class hiking, camping, climbing etc and that’s what most people who live here spend their free time doing. SLC is a huge hub to visit National Parks, considering there are 5 in the state and we’re only 5 hours from the Tetons and Yellowstone. Not to mention what SLC is *actually* a huge tourist destination for - Skiing! Thousands of tourist come every winter to ski Park city, Alta, snowboard, Brighton, Sundance, and all the major ski resorts in the area. I say this to add to her point, that the actual things that make this area a destination are so disconnected from the idea of a huge theme park. I don’t think there is a lot of overlap in these communities. So it just seems so odd.
I can not imagine how uncomfortable it is to have a multiple hour long conversation with a patron about their home life troubles. That’s crossing a line
I mean... I'm friends with most of the people I LARP with and you STILL don't do crap like that. It mucks up the entire damn story. Quests don't go out. People lose time they need to change costumes. It's INCREDIBLY awful for the person trying to stay in character, AND feeling like they can't get away. If they agree to do it, they might end up not getting a break. It's just.... terrifically selfish of the guest/player, and every attendee needs to sign a list of rules that expressly prohibits that sort of interaction. ALSO, touching in LARP is _always_ prenegotiated if you don't know a person EXTREMELY well. Man, have I got stories...
@@christineherrmann205 why such a strong taboo on touching? Or is it more of a taboo on touching someone in a way that is too familiar under the guise of it being in character. Would general ways people touch strangers in the real world be frowned upon? Like shaking hands vs just grabbing someone that's a perfect stranger to you kind of dichotomy. I know absolutely nothing about larping so maybe I just misunderstood your comment.
@@glitterberserker1029 I would guess the specific situation that playing a character brings really heavily blurs the line of what can be perceived as ok or not ok while "in character" so its better to be safe than sorry and add it as a rule. Also I don't LARP but I do DnD and it is not at all uncommon to hear stories of people who have no concept of boundaries making a very awkward situation for someone else/everybody at the table and I can't begin to imagine how that would go in a more physical setting than just sitting at the table.
I love the idea of Taylor Swift's whole career, and whole motive for doing everything that she does is purely to shut down a theme park that no one's ever heard of before.
@@ClayDressas evermore wasn't recorded under big machine records there'll never be an evermore (taylor's version) as it is already taylor's to begin with...
@@ZUGTFO because Jenny is a youtuber, without a degree in engineering. Theme parks don’t just have idea guys. That’s not a job. You have to be an engineer, or some kind of professional designer or have a huge buttload of money. Jenny is none of those.
And Evermore definitely wasn’t short on idea guys. It seems to me that what it really needed was more investment in the people who could double check the efficacy and safety of these ideas and the workers and customers they would impact.
The "Ghosts are stuck in a time loop" is a pretty neat idea to explain, why every day they do the same thing for the visitors. Im not mad, that is pretty amazing
That, right there, summed up the whole thing to me. Why pay a massive amount of money on a doll (which doesn't even look setting-appropriate), just because some random person said it was haunted? Why not just buy a cheap doll that fits in with the themes, then JUST SAY ITS HAUNTED?! Why depend on some random person?! Anybody can say anything is haunted! SO JUST SAY ITS HAUNTED
Not part of the cast, but I was hired on as food staff for Pyrra 2020. The red flags were basically immediate but the place was so cool looking I did not heed them. Our introductory bit where we were taught how some foods are made ended in a two hour period where we just had to weed an entire area because the park soft opened next week and it hadn't been done. Well, eventually the park has it's soft opening and I'm swapped around three separate times because they don't know where to put me and there are no radios to communicate or anything in this pretty sizable park. I work normally I'm events and operations management and our location is much, much smaller and we still use radios to prevent the massive amounts of miscommunication that was happening everyday. There were days where I'd come in when I was scheduled and I would get in trouble for showing up early, only to explain I was scheduled at this time where they just huff and send me back home to come back later. It happened so often I barely knew when I was actually scheduled or not, or if I even was as there were two days I was sent home because I "Wasn't scheduled". Anyway, day one, no one knows where I go because they didn't schedule me in any specific place so I'm put on more weeding duty. Like... Clearing fields of weeds type weeding. I mentioned before at least twice I had back surgery and cannot do physical labor for extended periods of time and shouldn't be doing it at all unless necessary. I repeat this. They say it's not that hard, give me a pair of old, crusty gloves and a big trash bin and tell me to get going. 8 hour shift in the hot summer sun pulling weeds. I should have quit there. Next day I'm janitorial. I was not hired as janitorial. I just had back surgery and walking too long is excruciatingly painful. I have to go home early because six hours in I'm just in too much pain to work and my thighs have chaffed to the point of blistering and stabbing over because I'm not wearing clothes designed for this job. It is expressed to me how much of a burden this is putting on our single other janitor and that I have to be the one to tell him that I am leaving him to handle the rest of the night alone. Entire time I worked there it was like this. No communication, management had no idea who was scheduled when and blamed employees for their own mistakes, extreme levels of favoritism, and if you've got a disability good luck because you're treated as a burden and a leech. I quit and got a notice telling me I was fired a week later for a no call no show because a girl said I said I'd cover for her. That level of incompetence on a managerial level is laughable at best, and harmful at worst. Cool concept. Super toxic work environment.
I hope you've saved as much proof of this story as possible because you would be a great asset for a witness in a lawsuit against the park. Disability is no joke.
"Oh you have back issues? Don't worry weeding isn't hard" As a home gardener (with no particular back issues either) that's a load of BS. Every time I have to weed my garden I can feel the strain on my back. I limit my time doing it because of it - doing it for 8 hours? Forget it! I'm so sorry you were treated so shoddily. It really does sound like a pretty trashfire!
Oh crap. What a fiasco. There is probably a workman’s comp claim or lawsuit in there somewhere if you had serious consequences. Sorry about the pain and suffering my friend. I am trying to put myself in your shoes to imagine what it would be like for me. (You are a good writer.) Re-reading your account I believe that you are correct in your assertion that you should have quit day one. I would have had a terrible, terrible sinking feeling. I wouldn’t have quit right away either because I would want to give it a chance. Later though, I would be telling myself I should have listened to that bad feeling and exited, stage left, post haste. I mean, even the folks at a large Best Buy have radios with headsets to coordinate. Catering companies, even small ones have them, hotel employees, Target “team members,” etc., and nobody there has them… working in a THEME PARK for the love of Pete?! I think that must have been the most damning early indicator. It’s abundantly clear that a couple hundred bucks on Amazon for a set of rechargeable walkies would have changed life for everyone in the department… but the management hasn’t thought of that or, if they have, they haven’t invested. No matter how organized they might be in their planning, (sounds like they weren’t), they have set-up things in a way which prevents them from managing the events that actually happen during execution, over a huge area. How bizarre.
if i had a nickel for every time jenny went to a bad, failing larp-adjacent "theme park" and was enamored by a non-human character played by someone in a full body suit i would have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice
@@nailinthefashion I meen you can have this oppinion but.. what has it to do with this Swift chick ? She is a mediocre singer who'ms Music is wrote by others at 80% but she claims she does all by herself. Typical American Made up Superstar.
So I was a scare actor. A similar position where as long as I did my job of scaring people, I was pretty free to improv. Granted, this was on a trail, instead of free-roaming. We also had roughly 900 guests per night, give or take 200. Some rules we had to prevent issues that Evermore had (things guests would know ahead of time have *) 1. No touching. Guest-initiated high fives and fist bumps are ok. But anything beyond that is off limits.* 2. Anyone who is clearly intoxicated, violent, or harrases the actors is immediately escorted out by security.* 3. If someone is having an emergency, we break character, call security, and get them to the nearest exit. 4. All actors had a group chat to communicate. And could check our phones as long as guests couldn't see us. 5. We had the number of the owners, security, and water-guys who could run food, snacks, or first aid to designated areas if needed. It worked because we had little tolerance for horseplay and the guests knew it.
Edit: I also had minor pyrotechnics, but I had 2 nearby water buckets, and was briefed on fire saftey. My two friends did a witch burning scene, but it was very carefully constructed so our witch and guests wouldn't be hurt.
Also off topic question, how do you deal with people whose default response to fear is "fight"? I'm sure you've experienced people trying to (or succeeding in) punch scare actors because their kneejerk reaction was to fight lol
@NylaTheWolf people are surprisingly restrained. A lot of people go in, knowing they have a fight reflex and consciously hold back. A lot of people punch the air or jump in place, and those young enough to not have the same control, can't really do real damage.
Love love love the standard of being able to break character for emergencies. My first haunted house I had a panic attack and a scare actor broke character to lead me out and stayed with me until my older siblings finished the attraction. Idk if he was trained to do that or chose to do that, but that werewolf was my freakin hero that day
the fact that they basically went out of their way to not sell merch at their themepark is hilarious to me. i almost have to respect the effort it takes to gatekeep a theme park shirt to this extent
I feel like Evermore could’ve worked a merch salesman into their park lore, like an actor working the shop saying “I’m a world walker, like you! And my god, is this place a goldmine for merchandizing! See my wares, and pick out something you like!” Give it a dedicated storefront in the park, give it ambiance and it could work!
@@v.v365 grate idea another thing you could do is have a troll or gnome who is obsessed with the culture of humans from our realm trying to sell merchandise like we have
You’d expect them to try to put there logo on everything seeing how the CEO made hats and hoodies for the dammed go kart track he owns or if you want to keep Emerson at least sell leather bags with the name on it or something
About that Evermore not serving booze thing... The short answer to why Evermore couldn't get a liquor license is that they probably tried. They probably tired every year, going back as far to when the park was announced in 2014. They probably started trying well before the park was announced. Ken Bretschneider knows enough about Utah to know they would have had to start trying to get the liquor license before even buying the land. They simply weren't allowed to have one. There's a chance there might have been a legal path for them to eventually get the license somewhere in 2020-2023 timeframe, but it would have required them to redesign and rebuild their tavern from the ground up, which would have been prohibitively expensive for them, at least at that point. Liquor laws in Utah are complicated; The situation is weird; The wikipedia page is lacking; There's a lot of "You just had to live there" to pick up on the nuance. It's not like you're going to get a documentary about it from the local news stations,. They don't even know that the 't' in 'Layton' is silent. But to all the people who say 'mountain' is pronounced with a hard t (which is offensive to Utahns, btw) , here's some stuff to keep in mind before moving here: While roughly 40% of the population doesn't mind honestly talking about whether or not they drink, a voting majority of the state believes it is very bad to get caught drinking, to the point that a closeted drinker (up to 60% of adults) will deny even knowing the *names* of different alcohol. This makes it very hard to figure out how many people in Utah even actually drink. Since 60% of Utahns have been trained into this mentality, and all of these people vote, that means 100% of the state legislature usually publicly denies having ever had a single drink in their life, loudly... and often. They also make a lot of blatantly false claims about alcohol, which nobody can call them on, because 60% of the state has the compulsive need to deny that they've ever googled basic facts like "how much alcohol does it take to get drunk" or " what is blood alcohol content" The end result is some very important factors (deliberately) preventing businesses trying to get a liquor license in the state: State liquor laws get completely overhauled from the ground up every year or two, often adding/removing specific physical requirements that are not possible for some businesses to implement before the law gets changed again You have to serve food with alcohol in order to be classified as a restaurant, and there's a lot of specific rules about how drinks can be handed to guests, where guests can be with those drinks, etc. The rules have probably changed 5 times since I lived there (Lagoon has beer now). But for a majority of the time Evermore was open, and if they wanted to serve alcohol, then they would have had to choose between making the entire park count as a full service restaurant, or making the entire park count as a 21+ bar. Either option would have severely limited the entertainment they were allowed to provide in the park, because for a long time mixing booze an entertainment in Utah technically qualifies you as a strip club - which are always essentially banned in the state, regardless of the state of liquor laws. The overall number of liquor licenses in the state are very limited and sometimes can be sold from business to business for profit, or sometimes they return to the state. It changes. But almost all of them are monopolized by major chains (one license per location, not per business), except when they aren't. I know there was a several year period of time where Applebee's was complaining there wasn't enough liquor licenses in the state to serve booze at every Applebee's. I think that was before the attempt to fix the general availability of liquor licenses to restaurants (but not to bars) which involved the Zion Curtain (which ironically banned all the bars in almost all the restaurants in Utah, since they are visible by customers) and the general re-re-attempt to re fix things again, which involved making the legal limit so low that a 100 pound woman having 1 drink over a 1 hour diner will get a DUI. (This is where some of those blatantly false claims come into play. The representative from Provo would say things like a BAC of 0.05% was the equivalent of drinking a 6 pack, and nobody was willing to fact check him). Anyways none of the particularities matter that much, because the tavern would not have been that popular, because the people who live in and around Pleasant Grove (and especially Provo) would never let themselves be caught drinking in public -Ever. While Utah overall is around 60% Mormon, in that area it's closer to 90%+. Of that 90%, about half would not only not get caught drinking, they would never let themselves be seen with their kids in any place that even sells alcohol. We are talking about the kind of people who went to Disney every year, and swore off Disney as an entire company forever, because they heard that you could buy wine in California Adventure (They haven't been to Disney World; they don't know what goes on out there). Most of them kept going, or only skipped at most 1 annual trip, but they all publicly *said* were going to stop. This kind of publicity from a bunch of loud, duplicitous housewives is not what Evermore needed when they were being publicly flogged in a public forum by a hostile city council every time they needed a $10 permit to, as a random example, cover some exposed electrical wires. Ken built in Pleasant Grove not because it was the best suited, most beautiful, or even cheapest location, but because it was close enough to where he lived. It was a lazy location. That was the biggest mistake of the whole park, and he should have known better.
I can't get over the fact that a 20 year old having a beer in America is illegal, but drinking two beers and then getting behind a massive truck that will decapitate people on impact without even knowing how to parallel park is everyday business.
The idea of a theme park where people randomly run through screaming "EVERYONE GET TO SAFETY! RUUUNNNN!!!!" is just straight up horror. Like, not the fun kind.
