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How Things Work: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! · Very Amusing with Carlye Wisel - A Theme Park Podcast

• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: And welcome to very amusing, your one-stop shop for the story secrets and shenanigans of a popcorn field theme park journalist.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm Karthi Waisal and I gotta tell you, I will first of all, I'm recording, I usually record on the left side of my computer, I'm recording on the right side and we're all my jewelry, which is definitely coming through and I'm so sorry, but it's just because I had to get out of the mic until you that I just recorded the best podcast, it's gonna be out
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: two days before you listen to this.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I finally, listen, I made it on.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I made it on magical mom's podcast.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was so much fun talking to Bridget and Lindsay.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: We had the best time and what I loved about it is that when I am on my own podcast, I'm trying to very hard to ride this line between talking about theme parks as a parent and talking about theme parks as an individual because I see it from both perspective now.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: I kind of have these two views on it.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I know that everyone here has children and doesn't want to always hear about children.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then also the people who have children also do not always want to be hearing about children.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's just kind of how it is.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we had such a fun time recording it.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was able to talk about stuff there that like, I'm not going to be making y'all listen to toddler potty discussion here on very amusing.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's all I'm going to say.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you don't know what that is.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Bliss like just truly go with God enjoy your life.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: You don't need to know and how lovely that is But it was so fun to like dip in like really get into it with two Experts Disney land ladies these girlies know the parks inside it.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, okay They're they're we're off in the knee and I adore them and they're also just like so sweet and they're both so beautiful They're like talking them on a you know on a zoomy thing like on a oh my bracelets in and take off talking to them We're like see both their faces.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like oh my god
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: I really felt like I was sitting at the popular table at Disney University.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was great.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was great.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I highly recommend it.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: And this week, we are talking about something that you would think is not very Disney, but good Lord.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: A Macy's is maybe the most incredible company I've ever heard of.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I cannot get enough of it.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, based on like this subject of this podcast, we're going to get your chariot in the podcast introduction.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do not worry.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm trying to stop myself from doing all the yelling right now about how excited I am about this because I'm about to be yelling it at you.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: It kind of sounds like, oh, Macy's a brand approach.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: She said, yes, no way dude, I begged for this podcast to have an eye begged for it.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that is because I think that we simply need to be talking about Macy's more.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: We need to be talking about Macy's more and you're going to agree at the end of this podcast.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is something I have been trying to put together for months and months.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: If finally happened and I cannot wait for you to be as amazed as I am.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Truly I have never been more floored in an interview than I was in this one and you're about to hear that.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: we're going to talk about that in a few minutes.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just wanted to say happy almost halfway through the year.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ew!
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: When did that happen?
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's wild.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: But because it is me, that means that I'm going to Disney World in just a couple weeks, I will somehow wait, let me look at the calendar.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: In two weeks, my Tush will be in the seat of a Muppets themed roller coaster.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you told me that sentence five years ago, I think I would have just absolutely frozen on the spot and fallen over like I wasn't icicle.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: They got broken off.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't think I would have been able to handle a send like that, but I'm ready.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I'm never going to be ready for a Muppets coaster.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: A Muppets coaster!
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: I can't wait.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm truly, that's like all I'm gonna be talking about until then.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: But in the meantime, we do have to talk about how truly sick of a company Macy's is.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's so much to share with you.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I thought I knew.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: I thought I knew what the Macy's things giving the day parade was.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Turned out, I knew nothing.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we are all about to go on a journey of glorious learning, and in light and pit, and truly, like, balloon law.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Get excited.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be great.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Stick around.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is that right now?
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't like to say, like to say, like to say expectations, but like, it's the best stick around.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's wonderful.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: See you on the other side.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Today, we are talking to Brendan Kennedy, director of Creative Production, Music and Talent for Macy's Things Giving Day Parade, Fourth of July Fireworks, Flower Show, and so much more.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we've covered a lot of things in our How Things Work series, but this one has been brewing since literally the week after Macy's 99th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade last year.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Brendan was on threads and was just kind of letting people know some tidbits about how this parade comes together.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I saw these posts and I went, yeah, we're gunna need a podcast episode about all of this.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: And guys, after five months of back and forth with the absolutely lovely communication steam and macy's ink, truly, they want the dream to work with.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Prepare for your minds to be blown.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I'm not going to spoil it at the top, but I had my hands over my mouth almost this entire recording just to keep me from shrieking.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because when you say Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, an image suddenly comes to mind.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Perhaps it's a beloved character, slowly traipsing through the streets of Manhattan.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe it's one of those live singers and dancers in marching bands are afloat, live in New York.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Dancers dancing on as you peel sweet potatoes and cautiously avoid the kitchen where all the Thanksgiving action is happening.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I realized, then in sharing today's podcast, Macy's is providing so much more than just a backdrop to our national holidays, and Annie will must see televised events.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Guys, Mises is Loki, a theme parkian entertainment company that also has some department stores.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: They are putting in an un-fathomable amount of work all year round purely so that you and I can just smile in November.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's it!
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's all they're doing it for!
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I know it took a lot of work to get this parade made, but holy cow!
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: We as a culture are sleeping on macy's Thanksgiving day parade, and everything else they do.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Why are we acting like it's normal that Snoopy is flying down the streets in New York City?
• 6:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Then if you look up on a certain day at a certain time in Midtown Manhattan, you'll see many mouse in the freaking sky.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's not normal.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is extraordinary.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we need to be putting our
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: really need to be praising this for what it is.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: We spoke to Brendan on kind of the eve of the 50th Fourth of July fireworks, and hundreds, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is both happening later this year.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm so glad we did, because I'm coming to these events with a renewed sense of how gosh darn maniacal it is that they have this level of production just beamed into our devices every year, like clockwork.
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: We just expect it!
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: We may even take it for granted, and it is time that we start appreciating it for how magical it really is.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Did you ever think about how government agencies need to sign off on these designs?
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't!
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Did you ever think about the level of weather clearance they need to pull this off?
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Neither did I.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're going to hear some wild stories about both of those in today's episode, and I straight up basically didn't cut anything.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Anything!
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just let him talk because everything he said blew my mind.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: I honestly don't think I've ever ran out of time with so many more questions to ask, because it truly is that fascinating what he and his team does, and I'm so proud and delighted to bring this episode to you.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because again, I want to reiterate, it's not just him, so many people build and craft and toil and imagine and design and choreograph and perform and costume and think about every aspect of these performances, and Brandon is but one speaking on behalf of many.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: sidebar.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm also so charmed that they call it parade, not the parade or our parade, just parade.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: You'll catch it.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's, it's very fun.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, in double sidebar, just friend to friend.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: The Macy's merch for, you think it's giving the parade, cannot be slept on.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is so good.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: I bought so much of that this year, even before this podcast was happening, before it was a glimmer in my eye.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm looking down right now, I'm holding it.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm shaking it, even though you can't see me.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have a notebook that is my go-to notebook.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: My life is inside of it, and it's just, it's like Mickey and Minnie, and it looks like they are balloons, and it was made for Macy's, it's like a Disney Macy's collab.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do not sleep on the merch, there will be, I mean, for the hundredth, they can't even imagine what they're gonna do, but I know that I'm gonna end up buying a lot of it, because it's so good.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, good shopping, plug aside.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: This one's a doozy, and I cannot wait to share it with you.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: So here is how things work, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: I am so excited to have you here, truly since the first time I saw you post on threads, I was like, we are going to need you to be a podcast guest, because I feel like everything you do is something that myself and my audience is fascinated by, absolutely fascinated by.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: How did you end up at Macy's in the first place?
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: uh, luck and a bit of determination.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I was in media for over 20 years.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I worked at MTV.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I did everything from like TRL to team mom.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and made it to, uh, let's see, vice for seven plus years on a TV show called Vice News tonight on HBO.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I had a cultural reporting there.
• 9:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some more along the way I dated Martha Stewart on television as a bit,
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah for sure.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you a quick story.
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: So meet my friends.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: We were going to see a Tyler Perry production.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: This was kind of before all he had all these studios.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we were just having a laugh going to Madison Square Garden.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: We stopped at a pizza place called Co. And a woman turned to us and just like at the peripheral of the eye, which is like pink Chanel suit.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it was Martha Stewart asking if we could fix her ringtone.
• 9:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: She wanted a very split ring down, we grabbed her phone, and we started talking to her about her pets.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was working on a team joke called, when I was 17, and I was like Martha, when you were 17, you were a supermodel.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Will you come on my show?
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she said, absolutely not.
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then today, a week later, I was on her show with my friend, and we started pitching her ideas where we would take her to low-row places, and she would take us to high-row places.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we dated her for a bit.
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was a blast.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: She is an incredible, amazing human being.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're, I mean, listen, your pastimacy is absolutely bonkers to me.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Also, someone who has TRL energy explained so much of the creativity that you are bringing to this job.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I know it's a team, but I'm here with you today.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I just got to say you've done a fantastic job with this.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just feel like in general, I feel like for all...
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're all kind of taking Macy's in general for granted.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is wild that every, I mean, and we have multiple holidays, multiple tentpool celebrations throughout the year.
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: But everything's giving, we're like, oh, just to turn on the TV so we can see those gigantic balloons fly through the streets of New York City.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: We just take it for granted, like it's something that happens automatically without thought.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: And there are so many people working so hard to make that dream come true.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: And to actually, I mean, if I may say it's on myself, to improve upon it each and every year.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's just so exciting.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you nailed it on the head.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the fun as we're always trying to do bigger and better than ever, right?
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think people don't realize that Macy's it's always celebrating, right?
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're like kicking off a year first of all, of celebration right now that's epic proportion.
• 11:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we just launched our 51st flower show.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have our 50th fireworks and our 100th parade.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: to even quantify that in numbers.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's like so much joy and happiness and fun.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I still think a lot of folks have no idea that we do anything but slap our name on it.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like I don't think people realize that for the fireworks, we develop a score.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So all of the music you hear,
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: is like scored by us, like we work with people to create the fun entertainment there, but then every single firework upwards in 80,000 pirate techniques are synchronized to every single beat of that music, right?
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last year we took over the Brooklyn Bridge and proved in projection mapping over it.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like we are as much of a tech,
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: production company as the next big one.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think people just think that we just show up and put our name on it, especially with the parade.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of folks do not know that we build all of the balloons in house and we build all the full boats in house.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this all starts with, you know, a pen,
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: or an iPad, and we start with a concept and idea sketch.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we work with our partners to create something that will break through, right?
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not it's the littlest float with goldfish and creating, just like the tiniest float ever in prehistory or putting two giant inflatable abubus and like breaking records of like what is a fuzzy balloon like.
• 12:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, but again, most people think
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: balloon fly through sky which like I'm a okay with it is just pure nostalgia magic entertainment for people.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It takes a lot and they probably don't know that we're monitoring every single piece of wind in the city and that we work with our partners in government agencies to make sure that like everything flies to specific codes and we do wind tunnel testing and all sorts of
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or then it's even hand painted.
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of people don't know that like balloons are painted and they're like, what does that mean?
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, well, that's proprietary.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't really tell you like how balloon paint works, but it works.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, it's just piece of fabric that gets very similar to like, so I knit and crochet on, if you see me on threads or other places, I'll be working very much in patterns.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And right now I'm working on like a cable sweater for the first time ever.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot about construction, but how a balloon works, right?
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just similar to how your t-shirt is made.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a pattern that's cut out.
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's seemed together for a balloon.
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's heat seemed together so that there's no holes.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then our amazing team at Macy Studios, their engineers, painters, balloon builders, they put it all together.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: It gets ready for inflation.
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It gets
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wintown tested, but it gets tested out first at a undisclosed location.
• 14:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: We test them like just indoors, and then very large location, like imagine something very big.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we test them out in the sky for the first time at a thing called Blunfest, which is very fun for us.
• 14:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it is actually very much for...
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: city government agencies to check out the balloons flying for the first time.
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Make sure that they're all good to go and then we get ready for parade day.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: But you know, I think even if I got into the, what does it take to plan out every single person marching in parade?
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's upwards.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's thousands and thousands of people.
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: it's like 850 clowns.
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's so many things that we have to figure out how all those people all fit together and it all makes sense.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is a hodgepodge of pop culture that I love to think of as the yearbook, right?
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the like, can you sign my yearbook with like,
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: the coolest thing, like the funniest viral dance can you sneak in some other Easter egg that way?
• 15:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But definitely trying to tell a narrative story, whether it be through color or hey, that's a fire dog, can we put the firemen after that dog?
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like very simple things that we, it's, it's a lot.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: I, Brendan, I gotta tell you, I have been reporting for almost two decades.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have never had more follow-up questions in my entire life.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then after hearing about government agencies and wind tunnel testing and just the order of the parade.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I gotta take it back to the beginning because this is most maybe the most fascinating interview we've ever done.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: So when you are starting to work on something like the wondrous version of this.
• 16:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: In terms of the timeline, do you start ideating and then you start discussing to brands or brands top of mind and then you start pitching things out?
• 16:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: How does that work at the very early stages?
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think we like to say it takes 18 months to plan a parade.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would say it's longer.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would say specifically for the 100th.
• 16:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I only got to parade in April of 24 and the first day they were like, and then you have to plan the 100th.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh,
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and I didn't know what that meant until I was like working with literally everybody on my team constantly, to, and all the teams across me say studios, to figure out how do we make this bigger and better, right?
• 16:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we have limitations to what we can produce based on pure street space.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So what you can fit into the street, that's,
• 16:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm already up against it.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, it feels like, oh, you're starting fresh.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's all brand new.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, yes, but how do we make it bigger?
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, we just outdid ourselves.
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we're like, how do you do the biggest thing ever?
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it all starts with,
• 17:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: little ideas and big ideas and like chipping away at the big idea throughout the year because you know it takes chatting with every single team, whether that's like engineers, sculptors, whatever, to see can we pull this idea off?
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So some stuff I cannot talk about that we're working on for this year.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if it will happen based on purely like we have to work with the city to be like can I
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: please do something and wild.
• 17:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, it's like, it's never been done before.
• 17:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like everybody loves people love to go back and watch the pilot afterwards, but nobody wants to participate in the pilot.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I did a lot of development work over life, right?
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And nobody really cares that it was over like a period of time, which you didn't know what it was.
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we consistently have to be like,
• 17:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a new thing you've never seen it.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's never been done.
• 17:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do you explain that to someone?
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then be like, oh, oh, oh, also it'll be safe and amazing and the biggest.
• 18:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: You just have to sell and you have to get people invested.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So whether or not that's with some concept art or just like your storytelling, I think we're just trying to bring everybody with us.
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm inviting you with me to be like, how do we make,
• 18:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: The best parade ever, like what happens in your brain when I ask that, like what's the number one thing you want, and then we just ship away at it.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, there's a lot of just amazing humans.
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of institutional knowledge here.
• 18:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: People are working in parades for ever.
• 18:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: My
• 18:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: One of the most amazing women that I know Kimberly Montgomery, she has been over 26 parades, she has up the costume operations team, she dresses or works with the team of a lot of folks to dress more than 45, 4500 people on parade morning, right, at various spots that prepare and get ready for our parade day.
• 18:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of costumes we have to take care of.
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: She'd been here so long.
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: She is such amazing knowledge.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: She's been through so much and she was like a Broadway performer and she can bring some of that energy into storytelling that way.
• 19:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like checking in with the team and being like, what do you see as the big number one thing and then moving towards that?
• 19:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I can only speak to fewer examples from last year.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think we really looked out in the pop culture realm.
• 19:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think I know you're getting at with the like K-pop demon hunters of it all or
• 19:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lububo or whatever, I think what we're...
• 19:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have never taken my eyes off of the screen to see what's going on in culture.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I will always call it out.
• 19:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: It will always be a thing.
• 19:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So whether it was back in the day when I had maybe a sidekick phone and I was running down the street trying to get brown bread for Beyonce for TRL or if it's like the current day now where I have to like maybe wake up a little bit earlier and scroll a bunch of
• 19:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: like TikToks and be like cyberdex.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I can bring that into the story this year, but currently really into the ladies of TikTok, like building up cyberdex for, uh, you know, the end of the world computing or whatever.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just like lots of different pop culture things that you try to.
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're like viewing the world through the lens of parade.
• 20:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, every day, every day is like, how do you have something for everyone?
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, it's, again, I will say this for the entirety of the thing.
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am one person talking to you on this call.
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, maybe people that I work with that are like amazing, brilliant voices and I am consistently trying to raise them up in ways that maybe in my past, I wouldn't have had that.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lane.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just trying to be like, what's cool for you?
• 20:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's good for you?
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do we celebrate a diverse range of humans in parade?
• 20:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's for everyone.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, it all started with colleagues, employees at Macy's, right?
• 20:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It started 1924.
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: A bunch of colleagues got together and we're like, let's celebrate like we used to in the old country.
• 21:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then what was that old country?
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was all of them.
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then they walked on the street with a bunch of animals and then
• 21:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: a few years later were like, maybe animals are scary.
• 21:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what can we do there?
• 21:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: What did we make them look like they were just floating in the street?
• 21:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so how that worked?
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: There was a man named Tony Stark.
• 21:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is considered the godfather of American puppetry.
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was really famous for his marionette.
• 21:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was brought on by R.H. Macy to do the windows in 1923.
• 21:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it was like a parade of puppetry, so fun, whatever.
• 21:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: When they had to figure out how do you fix a problem like scary animals or animals or like from the Central Park Zoo or scary in the children?
• 21:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like what do you do?
• 21:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: So he took his marionettes and then flipped them upside down by 1928.
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: They had helium.
• 21:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were flying through the sky and they were these amazing puppets.
• 21:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that is a legacy, I think, very few people know about like even within
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: my own system here, but like it goes Tony Sark, then you have Bill Baird, these are just stams, but eventually get down to the Jim Henson's of the world.
• 22:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like you basically through the world of puppetry, you don't have the Muppets, whatever if you don't have.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody like a Tony Sark creating these amazing giant inflatables, which I'm lucky enough to get to work on.
• 22:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like there's an episode of the Simpsons, where Bart Simpsons goes, or
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm not much of a Simpson's head.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dory about it.
• 22:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: If somebody is listening, there's at some point he opens the door and it's just like the cookies place you ever seen.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's just like people popping out everywhere doing also.
• 22:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was like, my first day of work I showed up and I opened the door and I was staring the green giant in the face.
• 22:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I just amassive, Jean-Grette green giant because we're constantly refurbishing all the floats, right?
• 22:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's like,
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: all the floats, take some wear and tear and the amazing team at the studio, have to take them back to the parade studio and take care of them and do whatever.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Have I ever gotten into like what it takes to build a float?
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is so fun.
• 23:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: The way in which my jaw is unhinged and on the floor from every work you're saying.
• 23:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I would love to talk to you about kind of like the technology and the government and the science of it all because that's something I don't think a lot of people are thinking about when they're watching this on television or if they're lucky enough to see it in person But let's sort of technology.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: How is balloon technology and float technology changed in the past few years that you've been there?
• 23:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: I know you mentioned for the Fourth of July you've done projection mapping which is much more widely available than has been before.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Kind of what do you see as the future both near and far of an event like this?
• 23:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I will say, I don't think anybody's projection after an entire bridge before.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that was one of the most wilds like we had.
• 23:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: We had every, we had all of the lenses.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: We had every single lens.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think available possible to be able to shoot that throw directions.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm obsessed with watching movies at home and watching them on a projector and to say that we like from pure 17 were projection mapping onto a giant bridge that's been around since forever.
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a very cool thing and different interesting technology.
• 24:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: For parade, I think we're always trying to one up the gags on floats.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's say there's an example.
• 24:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a brand called Rios.
• 24:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: They make delicious sauces and pastas.
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We had the idea to create a pasta night.
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if you grew up with a pasta night, that's when you have pasta on a certain night, blah, blah, blah, it's pasta night.
• 24:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we have a literal pasta night.
• 24:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: that built out of pasta.
• 24:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: His name is Al Dente, and he rides a Brigatoni pony, and he's fighting Arabiata, the like fire breathing dragon.
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, no, no, for real fire breathing.
• 24:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they were like, ha ha, that's funny.
• 24:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've been trying to do that my whole life.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, no, no, we're doing it.
• 24:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we worked for six months.
• 24:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, everybody was on board.
• 24:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: We worked with the FDNY, like city officials, everything.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: So it's with the FDNY, I remember some of our theme park people.
• 25:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we're used to all this happening on private property.
• 25:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: We are not used to the fire department of New York City could solve thing on it.
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we get to shut down New York.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is amazing.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's very, it's very, very cool that nobody gets to do this.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's very odd.
• 25:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so yes, shooting fire out in the middle of the New York City streets is not normal.
• 25:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then specifically doing it out of a pasta dragon is very silly and whatever.
• 25:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we need to make sure first like,
• 25:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: will it burn down the dragon?
• 25:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like how do we do the internal structure that the engineers came up with this amazing build?
• 25:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: We worked with a pyrotechnic vendor that created the effect of the flames that would shoot out of the dragon.
• 25:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we got to parade day.
• 25:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: This was 2024 and then it, uh, there was a fire ban in New York City, and it was also pouring rain.
• 25:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, so we were unable to have the fire breathe like drag at this city.
• 26:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was like, no, no, we can't.
• 26:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need approximately eight inches of rain.
• 26:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think all fell on.
• 26:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: the hundreds of volunteers that put on the parade that day.
• 26:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was a wild day, and I could talk to you forever about having to dry out all the balloons, because like I said, they're hand painted.
• 26:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you would think that we went home that day and just like eight turkey, I mean, I did, but then the next day I woke up, we inflated every single balloon in New Jersey and then had to dry them out for a few days, a cool story.
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: is that we had to cut every single line.
• 26:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So a tie line is what's on a balloon.
• 26:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's up to 100 or so for a giant balloon.
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: So 100 handlers and they all have, they're all attached to a thing called a bone.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it looks like a little dog bone.
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's all you need to know.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the balloon handlers hold onto.
• 26:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we had to cut every single hand in line so that we could dry them out.
• 27:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're drying out the balloons and we also had to dry out every single handling line.
• 27:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we have a storage facility where we literally laid them all out.
• 27:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So just thousands of dry lines to dry and I will tell you it took it was very tedious to take the entire weekend to do all this stuff.
• 27:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So to make sure that the, you know,
• 27:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: paint when get ruined so they wouldn't get dried cracked destroyed because it's a lot of work that goes into all these things.
• 27:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And by the third day, the team talk about innovation, they created a machine that would wind up the bones to wind up the tie lines because we were doing it all by hand twisting.
• 27:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can't see me right now, but I'm twisting my hands back and forth manically trying to think about thousands of lines and drawings.
• 27:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can't see me right now,
• 27:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: They created this machine just because they were like, we have to do it.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it all goes back to the amazing artisans that we work with.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's so many amazing people.
• 27:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the animators they figure out how different parts on the float can like move or
• 28:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So last year, the animators figured out this like I don't know if it's one of the largest connects cultures in the world, but I would say definitely the largest ever in parade history.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: So for Holland America, our partners at Holland America, we created this giant wave.
• 28:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're really into Alaska and sustainability of fishing and we wanted to create this like,
• 28:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: magnetizing moment of movement.
• 28:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we had this huge connector sculpture and just like, you see little things on YouTube where it's like somebody cranking a little toy that makes it move and it's been, but when you're talking about something that's 30 feet long and 18 feet wide, it's like, how do you do that?
• 28:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And how do you make sure it works?
• 28:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then also just like, you know, New York City is not a flat.
• 28:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, perfect, like park ready place to drive.
• 28:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have a parade, right?
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: We work on a parade at universal holiday parade.
• 29:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, yes, that is fantastic.
• 29:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the balloons can't fly if it's right.
• 29:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like certain things can happen.
• 29:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: If it's raining or, you know, certain floats can't move if it's because they're all self-driving units.
• 29:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And ours are towed by ram trucks.
• 29:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: They are, it's a bumpy road.
• 29:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a bunch of people on it.
• 29:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you've ever gotten to be on a float, it is a very wild ride.
• 29:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so just thinking about all these things, like anything could dislodge at any moment.
• 29:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: They have to think of so many things.
• 29:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we make everything a new jersey, right?
• 29:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And this is fun, but I get to talk about how would it take to make a float.
• 29:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: It all starts with a concept sketch, a drawing, and we work through it with our partners.
• 29:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody gets on board.
• 29:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're like, wow, this is the best thing ever.
• 29:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're creating a 360 degree rolling stage.
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: It has to be for the 3.5 million people on the street and the 35 million plus at home that are watching, right?
• 29:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: It has to be fun and exciting.
• 29:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: They get the story in three minutes or sorry, three seconds, that's three minutes.
• 30:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But then on 34th Street it stops and we do a performance and get into that later, but these things can be three stories tall and they're built in New Jersey and then they have to get to New York City.
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we have to build everything to that scale, right, 30 feet, whatever, they'll range, but approximately 30 feet long.
• 30:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: 18V wide so they have to pack up to about the size of a school bus so that it can get through the Lincoln tunnel and get ready for parade.
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So a couple of days before the parade overnight in the dark of night a convoy of over 70 plus units rides through New York City and
• 30:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: It rides hard for New York City and gets prepared and the crew, I mean, these studios puts everything together.
• 30:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there's cranes lining the blocks and set a request and they build up every float.
• 30:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is so much going on.
• 30:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And like I said, if we're in the
• 31:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that, you know, if we're in the like 30 around 30 floats, um, that's all to say, there's another 18 balloon, there's another end, there's other stuff we make up in builds.
• 31:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: The technology is fun.
• 31:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: We get to make up all sorts of stuff.
• 31:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have cool things called like a tricoloon, that's like a tandem tricycle that has a huge inflatable in the back that rides through the streets with like a person powered, but it's basically meant to be like a balloon
• 31:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Very fun.
• 31:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: When I first got here, we got to work on one called locks and Java, and it's quite simply a big all with a schmere and a like a salmon hair bow and A coffee cup with a coffee hair flip very cute very silly very like New York breakfast We created like two inflatable pigeons that just like Follow them all the very silly thing
• 31:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is so much work.
• 32:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is so crazy.
• 32:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is crazy.
• 32:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I'm obsessed with this.
• 32:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: In terms of weather, how do you prepare for that and how do you kind of work around that?
• 32:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like are you looking at the forecast a week out being like, oh Lord, no, like what?
• 32:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: What is the mentality leading up to it and how do you work in advance to prepare for something like that?
• 32:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it started so much longer out and I think it's all very soon.
• 32:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: We do have some folks that work with us specifically on the weather and up to the minute like where patterns are moving we have we have to take care of a lot of people and so not only like I talked about drying out balloons we would have to we have to dry out all those costumes that I mentioned so that they didn't become discussed that we are we are not just throwing everything out at the end of parade it we like to reuse
• 33:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The minute, I mean, what is the earliest notions of that?
• 33:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is in Miracle on 34th Street, when she turns to her mom, she's like, that was a clown last.
• 33:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or whatever, that was a baseball player.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that was a clown last year, and now it's a baseball player.
• 33:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we do that all the time, we're always trying to come up with how can we reuse this thing.
• 33:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't want it to get ruined.
• 33:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And each back system was brought in.
• 33:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And again, crediting that woman, Kimberly Montgomery, for having the foresight to do it.
• 33:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to rain and I was like, okay, what are we doing?
• 33:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we had to find like plan like where are we drying out everything, where's whatever we have to take care of all the individual people that are coming down the parade round performing.
• 33:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have to check in with them to make sure they're okay.
• 33:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like a lot of this is about consent.
• 33:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, are you good to go?
• 33:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you want a roller skate?
• 33:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's pouring and that because like it's not on us at some point.
• 34:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like it becomes a more still walker.
• 34:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: We work with, I would think.
• 34:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: The majority of still walkers in the United States, like, just like if you're like, you need one, I got one.
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like we have like the Rolexes quite literally the funniest place on Earth.
• 34:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: We wasn't okay real quick.
• 34:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: What is the funniest contact you have if you can think of one?
• 34:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: When it's goofier than just any still walker.
• 34:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's confetti.
• 34:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like it's just like, you know, you've got a confetti person.
• 34:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have the confetti person.
• 34:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I feel like we shoot off so much confetti.
• 34:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not, and just like, so much of it.
• 34:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: So honestly, this year, we're working on a project within Macy's so that you can hop into Macy's and write a little message of what you're celebrating for the year, and then we're going to poof that out of parade as confetti.
• 34:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I went to viciously.
• 34:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we have two flower shows where we have a flower show pop up in Chicago.
• 34:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I got to visit there and there's like a big wall of like stuff already of people like coming in and like writing like, who they're celebrating like what they're doing?
• 35:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that is like so much fun.
• 35:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, confetti people, we have the ones and we shoot a lot of confetti.
• 35:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like, you the biggest star in the world comes to our parade.
• 35:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: This name is Santa Claus.
• 35:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he ends up waiting for the paste wave.
• 35:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, last year it was a Tundra.
• 35:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was we just never stop trying the technology on like you know what paper we like or what material or what color or what goes with this like every scene that we have be it
• 35:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know, a magical Christmas performance, new closer to the end to parade, we do, like, is it red agreed?
• 35:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it like a, like a, you know, go through the technology of whatever paper it is and then you're saying like, what moments during the song does it go off to like, will it hit on camera, like working with our peers at NBC and working through every single moment?
• 36:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a, there's a lot of,
• 36:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: choreography besides even the choreography because we have our own Macy's house dancers and they basically like inflate.
• 36:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: that's a trick I'll tell you that we never say blow up a parade.
• 36:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: We say inflate.
• 36:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like, because you know, you wouldn't want that to happen.
• 36:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there you go.
• 36:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we inflate the performances in different ways.
• 36:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we like to bring in performance groups.
• 36:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So folks around New York City, all sorts of crews be like,
• 36:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: younger amateur groups or the range of deaths from Texas or whatever, you know, do you need a line, you know, what do we need here?
• 36:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do we need a line dance?
• 36:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do we need like, what's the type of thing that's going to make this the best possible experience for people at home?
• 36:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: How do you plot that out?
• 36:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is it like pre-visualization like with film?
• 36:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Or how are you like, how are you looking at the parade as a whole?
• 37:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like the floats in and the blue, like everything.
• 37:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: How do you plan that out?
• 37:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so the lineup or the lineup march, we work with a team and we start, I think I got to this a little bit earlier, but basically so Tom Turkey is a very famous float here at Macy's studio.
• 37:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you've never seen him, he's been in the parade since I think 1973 was designed by a man for bass, who is just like a legendary.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Carpenter, designer, everything, uh, person, but is a basically a puppet bloat, is a big turkey.
• 37:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's got silly eyes.
• 37:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's got...
• 37:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: big-flaping wings, and it's run by three women on the inside, just letting you know the same women since the 1990s.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Same women in?
• 37:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're amazing.
• 37:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're so cool.
• 37:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But they've been doing the puppetry on the inside.
• 37:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it all starts with Tom Tarky, and it ends with Santa Claus.
• 37:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we can start there, right?
• 37:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Technically, we have the NYPD that rides us through on motorcycles, and we have some other things going on.
• 38:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we know that we have to start up town, get downtown,
• 38:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And technology, I will, I know that we track every single movement of all of those things.
• 38:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is one thing that on Parade Day, we can see literally where everything is at every second.
• 38:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: But when we start, it all begins with what story we try and tell.
• 38:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: their newest, hypos, coolest, prettiest balloon.
• 38:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: What should lead the storytelling at that time?
• 38:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's probably some macy stars.
• 38:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: A simple, mostly forgotten about balloon or just macy stars.
• 38:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's very cute, whimsy has our logo on it.
• 38:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we like to partner that with iconic balloon.
• 38:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then you start from there.
• 38:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, OK, well,
• 38:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: what are they wearing?
• 38:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's the vibe?
• 38:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: What are they doing?
• 38:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's their thing?
• 38:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like chewy.
• 38:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who should we put with that?
• 38:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like maybe this float works here and it's like maybe I'll be honest at you know, Sesame Street kind of comes through early because there's some younger folks on the float.
• 39:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like we want to take care of people too.
• 39:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like what if they have to pee?
• 39:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like they have to get through a little bit.
• 39:06
  [SPEAKER_04]: So real.
• 39:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is so real.
• 39:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm always thinking about who the humans are on the float and how long have they been on there and what conditions do they have to ride through?
• 39:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've never learned so much as to working with 4500 costumes, the term underdressing for us just really means like not did you wear too little but how much stuff can I put underneath the costume so that you're wearing like unique low heat tech or you know, shout out whatever or something like
• 39:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: amazing to keep you warm when it's a very, very cold outside.
• 39:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So marching bands, there's 10 to 12 of them.
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have to place them.
• 39:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we talk with them throughout the 18 months that they're fundraising together.
• 39:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the band selection happens, you know, two years out, approximately, and or up to two years out.
• 39:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: And for 18 months, they're working on what they wanted to do.
• 39:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so they come to us, maybe they have specialty is maybe we talk with them.
• 40:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: We think what would fit well with you is here.
• 40:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And let's say there's 250 members and there's, you know, an auxiliary, you work with everything to go on that storytelling.
• 40:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you're like, oh, this, this works here.
• 40:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or that's holiday.
• 40:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Push it to the back or
• 40:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: this blue and works here, or this group, or what do we need?
• 40:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then like you asked, we're constantly trying to outdoor ourselves.
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're like, what have we seen recently?
• 40:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: What is out in the world?
• 40:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: What haven't we ever seen a parade?
• 40:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do we fit something new in?
• 40:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we...
• 40:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am called, like, I'm bringing up bones a lot, like a dog with a bone, that eye is like- I think that the show bones, like I've been feeling really excited.
• 40:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm making sure, if I like something, I will not at that bone until it's there, I'll break that.
• 40:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like, you gotta get people excited right, and you gotta be like, hey, join up, like you gotta get them into it and be like, don't you love to spawn?
• 41:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't this the coolest thing ever?
• 41:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you wish you were planning on this phone?
• 41:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I will give you a real example of that.
• 41:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: K-pop team in Hunters, legitimately, was just watching the world in flames.
• 41:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think somewhere June, July, this movie comes out, and then it starts popping up on like international playlist.
• 41:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh, that's interesting, like, what about?
• 41:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is so fun.
• 41:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I watched a cartoon, and was like, this movie rips, this is so cool.
• 41:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then my sister is like, I bought,
• 41:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm in a group chat with all the moms and we're all fighting over whether or not we got to get to a sing-along of this thing.
• 41:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's like for real and then co-worker, same thing, which is like I bought 17 tickets to the sing-along of this thing.
• 41:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I basically turned to talent folks and my friends here I was just like, have you watched this and like, can we talk to everybody about K-pop right now?
• 42:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was just like, K-pop summer, it's K-pop summer.
• 42:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we started calling up people and it started with like, Reami and a few other people.
• 42:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: They weren't even a group at that point.
• 42:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we are close with the people at Netflix.
• 42:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and we were working on, uh, oh, I can talk about all these things.
• 42:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Great.
• 42:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: We were walking on it.
• 42:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: We were working on like a giant eight foot eight and a half foot demagorgon puppet for stringer things for that flow.
• 42:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Which was, I mean, massive.
• 42:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's all an undertaking.
• 42:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could talk about that for a solid hour.
• 42:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, but we were working on that.
• 42:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And,
• 42:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And at some point, our friends of the partnership team talked to them and they were like, oh, do you, would you ever consider something with Cape of Demon Hunters?
• 42:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I swear, like, just rallying the whole team and which was like, we have to do with the thing, which ended up being like, we'll do a last minute balloon with Derpy.
• 42:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: will do a balloonacle.
• 42:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: A balloonacle is a self-driving balloon.
• 42:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's an inflatable unit on something that can drive itself.
• 43:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we created a balloonacle of Susie the Magpie, which is a bird on a flower pot.
• 43:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So in the film, K-pop demon hunters, the Derby the Tiger constantly knocks over
• 43:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: need to fix it and set it up right and straight.
• 43:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we thought nothing funnier than to tip the pot and have the magpie tipping the pot.
• 43:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that derby chases the tipping pot down the braid route.
• 43:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so that was our storytelling.
• 43:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's all started there and then it was like, but we want this performance.
• 43:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we want these women to portray the animated characters that they are.
• 43:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need to sing like the number one song of the year.
• 43:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we just kept like picking up people all over the place like by the end of last year, I had many conversations in Korea, China and Japan based on like what pops thing you're talking about and like talking to folks in Korea about choreography was like definitely not something on my back a list but was very very cool because we wanted to make
• 44:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: me coming up with a silly dance move that it was like very much in the for the movie by the people, you know, the whole thing.
• 44:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: What what is the timeline like for the last minute balloon balloon
• 44:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no timeline.
• 44:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: We just made it up.
• 44:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Timeline is like, make it.
• 44:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: We was, no, it was like, again, it comes down to that thing like that.
• 44:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I talked about it, which is like street space.
• 44:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can we physically, like, do we have the physical area for the balloon itself?
• 44:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can we get all the people?
• 44:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even if we weren't planning on having all those people,
• 44:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: carry the balloon across.
• 44:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we need those volunteers, right?
• 44:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need to make sure that they're trained.
• 44:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every balloon handler is not just a random employee, but like a colleague.
• 44:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: They've all gone or gone like a test and they've all like done trainings throughout the spring and the summer, so that they can make sure that they know what they're doing.
• 45:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like they have to pay attention.
• 45:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's pilots.
• 45:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's all sorts of things that have to happen when you
• 45:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: piloting and flying a balloon down the street.
• 45:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we have to make sure that those people are not just like, hey, grab six to your friends.
• 45:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have like a part, you know, this is a huge thing flying down the streets of New York City.
• 45:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have to make sure that everybody's safe and good.
• 45:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So even that was like our operations team who really do a lot of the groundwork with the city.
• 45:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're the ones talking to the agencies.
• 45:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're the ones making sure that every crosswalk,
• 45:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: has the polls twisted the opposite direction so that we don't walk into them.
• 45:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're the ones who make sure that we are all set with all the streets that we're using for inflation, for deflation, for that balloon fest that I talked about where we're working with the city to make sure everything's all good.
• 45:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: They are the true logistics on the ground team that keep us running there.
• 46:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then of course we have
• 46:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: the team that works on our production management.
• 46:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, what do you mean you want to do another?
• 46:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, he's like, what kind of, like, whoops do we have to jump through to make sure that that's all okay, that we can get it there on time?
• 46:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then, of course, we're working with our friends at Netflix and all sorts of, like, people all over the world to make sure that everybody's happy with what we're doing.
• 46:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I know we have to go soon.
• 46:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: I could talk to you for nine straight hours and never be bored But there's one thing that's just sticking out in my brain.
• 46:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have to loop back on which is the wind tunnel Talk to me about testing these balloons in a wind tunnel something I never knew was part of this.
• 46:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so
• 46:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: As much as I can get away with, I will say it's not traditionally like a physical wind tunnel with giant balloon inside doing things.
• 46:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have to make sure the balloon works itself.
• 46:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we're talking about it's more of a fluid simulation.
• 46:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we work with everything.
• 46:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Concept artists that are on my team they put together like it starts with a rough sketch But they all have to know how to 3-E model everything and then it has to become a solid that is then tested in blue And so like how much lift does this balloon have does it create deadlift does it create?
• 47:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Does it get a fly a certain away if the wind comes a certain direction so it gets tested at all ends and this is a very recent And parade history that happened within my time here
• 47:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: that we are testing all of this stuff and it has been really beneficial to creating like the most optimal balloons for flight, which is really fun just to be able to use, you know, when it first started and it was Tony Sard being like, I don't know, I guess this much air just put a bunch of money, like they let them go at the end of the parade and people used to like,
• 47:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: go and chase them for a reward, like get a fridge at Macy's, like we can't let them go at the end of the parade.
• 47:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I, I will think then so much like we're creating an archive where we're doing so much research on the path 100 years that I know for a fact at some point.
• 48:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tony Sarg said, now that we're releasing these animals into the sky, the airplane folk can go hunt big game because he was basically like, go at it, go hunt the big game in the sky.
• 48:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like one of the best quotes I've ever seen because I'm just like this is such an era that is gone and completely forgotten that at some point the balloons were released into the sky.
• 48:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, but for now, you know, we're very, very buttoned up.
• 48:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I might be wearing like a hoodie, but it's, it's very serious.
• 48:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a very serious business of clowns and balloons.
• 48:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh my gosh, I, like, you guys are basically running a temporary theme park every year, but you're doing it on public land.
• 48:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's crazy.
• 48:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 48:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, inclusive of the firework show.
• 48:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's- Yeah, and it's just one of the events Macy's does.
• 48:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's just one of them.
• 49:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The way she did, you know, it was like, I truly just got through, you know, 50,000 fresh cut florals in Macy's Harald Square and figuring it out, that design.
• 49:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could talk about that story forever.
• 49:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, nothing's too small or too big.
• 49:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's very overwhelming in that.
• 49:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: when you stop to think about how much joy you bring to the little us kid or the oldest parent or whatever, it's magic that meces is creating that it's cool that I even get to be a part of and get to work with 50 plus artists that are like,
• 49:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: engineers, concept artists, sculptors, carpenters, welders, balloon, the balloon team in of itself is like a magical thing.
• 49:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: The costume team, the operations team, they're like, there's so many people that come together to create this thing that people are like, oh, it's gone up, it happens or they just like, it'll just show up.
• 49:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it'll be rain or shine, right?
• 49:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, four hundred years.
• 50:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you're just, you're gonna be there, right?
• 50:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like,
• 50:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: whatever it takes it like at some point we'll do whatever it takes to make sure you're having a good time in that you can like kind of forget that we're around you know it's like cooking in the background or whatever on your Thanksgiving Day or maybe you just like look over the screen you're like is that little John?
• 50:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is Lil John on a Toys aruss?
• 50:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is that Jeffrey from Toys
• 50:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turn down for what and then just wrap it up in a bow and then maybe like, boof, we're gone.
• 50:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Back for a firework, back for a flapper, so back for who knows what in the future.
• 50:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is exactly why I wanted to speak to you.
• 50:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I want to thank you for coming on the podcast.
• 50:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because again, I just feel like we are not yelling about how great Macy's is enough.
• 50:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is crazy that this many people are working this heart on something that we're like, oh, yeah.
• 50:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's big balloon time like we really need to be talking about how incredible Macy's is putting this much effort and time and money and power and work behind something so magical and delightful and whimsical and I want to thank you and your team and everyone you work with for everything that you create just so that we can feel joy on a holiday.
• 51:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I want to thank you for what you do.
• 51:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think, honestly, talking to all these, no, for real, I think talking to all these folks that create all this stuff.
• 51:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's, we're really just, often a corner, just hoping somebody one day like cracks a smile.
• 51:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's very cool that you talk about it and that people listen or want to think about it even for a moment.
• 51:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then maybe go back to,
• 51:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're regular scheduled yoga plan or whatever.
• 51:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think over on this end, it's more of a regularly scheduled puppetry plans, mostly.
• 51:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I'm here for puppetry.
• 51:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just talk to you.
• 51:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're theme park people through and through.
• 51:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 51:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're a choreo or a dull lip.
• 51:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're a fan.
• 51:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, we're a puppet.
• 51:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, thank you so much.
• 51:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: This, again, I could, I could speak to you for 400 hours, but I know you have magic to create, but thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
• 52:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: This was exceptional.
• 52:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 52:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
• 52:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: went on so long about dolly curtain that I got cut off and that's embarrassing, but I'm going to persevere.
• 52:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You say you only listen to the last one, so hopefully that is the case.
• 52:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have a question for you, but I do want to say I was really excited about your dolly one episode.
• 52:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a native to the sand and many times over dolly would season past holders, so I was really thrilled to hear your take.
• 52:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: You were absolutely correct.
• 52:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Lightning rod is the best,
• 52:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: totally unhinged and cinnamon bread should be our state pastry if that were a thing.
• 53:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I swear to Dali, this was not planned, but I turned on the latest episode while we're wearing one of my Dali carton t-shirts and on the way to act throwing with girlfriends, which is just a very pigeon-forged thing to do.
• 53:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like you've been there, so you know now.
• 53:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I just wanted to say Dali is the patron saint of Tennessee.
• 53:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love her.
• 53:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: We all love her.
• 53:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: She
• 53:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Kim and being, so I'm going to step off with only soapbox, so I don't just cut off the form of actual Disney questions again.
• 53:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm planning a trip to LA and Disneyland, of course, with my husband for his 40th birthday in July.
• 53:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is my first time to LA, so I'm re-listening to your LA episode, but if they're feeding going on to July that we shouldn't miss, please let me know.
• 53:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know July is not ideal because of the heat, but I can't help when the man was born.
• 53:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I'm a Disney world girlie, former CP shout out an RIP to MPM, P.C.
• 53:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: to Planet, it is not about P.C.
• 53:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: that it wasn't always gonna be a little green men P.C.
• 54:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: uh, so I'm pretty familiar with Disney world, but have obviously never been a Disney man.
• 54:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I just really rewritten to the Disneyland guide episode, but I have a specific question, will be at the park, um, we at Disneyland on his actual birthday, and I was just wondering if there's anything you might recommend to make that day a little more special aside from the obvious birthday button.
• 54:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're willing to spend a little too, but she can freeze good.
• 54:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Also, he's a big fan of Star Wars and Marvel, but to slow the parks in general.
• 54:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if you have any ideas, please let me know and thank you in advance.
• 54:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't think I got caught off this time so many of you can use this.
• 54:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yay, bye.
• 54:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hi, thank you so much for your call.
• 54:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Axe throwing, just casually axed throwing.
• 54:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I personally don't, I have no overbody strength, so I would never be able to have like a fun night out that involved throwing things because I'd be tired after the first one.
• 54:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: I can barely even like bull or play video games.
• 54:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: My upper body is just so tired.
• 54:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm so weak, but I'm very amazed by you.
• 54:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's pretty freaking cool.
• 54:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, I gotta tell you, you're called.
• 55:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: This really stumped me because it first usually when I get a question like this I immediately have like two to three things and I just all already know like, oh, that's some good advice also in that your way.
• 55:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was coming up empty which rarely happens, which is what makes this such a great question.
• 55:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because a lot of people go to Disneyland for a birthday and they want to make it more special and I can't believe that there isn't a go-to hit list of stuff, but now there is because I'm gonna give you some options.
• 55:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now you always have the official things you can do to like spend a little extra at the parks and go above and beyond.
• 55:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can do one of their special tours, not of the IP tour, but like the 70th tour, or the rail road tour.
• 55:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can find those on the website but just check the dates and availability because it just depends on when you're going and if it fits your schedule.
• 55:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: you can also surprise your spouse with a restaurant reservation.
• 55:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: The go-to suggestion would be Napa Rose to like really blow it out and spend a ton of money and have a nice elegant adinner.
• 55:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I actually am going to recommend you book Blue Bayou.
• 56:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is very special and a little romantic I think because you were inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
• 56:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: But for Disney World people that one is especially so cool because that's something you do not have at the Florida Parks.
• 56:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: just be sure to be on top of when that booking opens because those things tend to go quick.
• 56:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you wanted to bring with a special little surprise for the day, I would definitely head to Etsy and you can get something if it depends really on what your husband is into.
• 56:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: or for anyone listening to this, what the birthday person is really into, because a lot of times for myself included, I like to do fun stuff on my birthday, but I don't always like the birthday attention, like I don't, I don't want to be looked at, so I just want to give you some options beyond this in case, but.
• 56:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: If your husband would maybe be down with wearing like a custom button, maybe like a hat, definitely look on Etsy because there's tons of stuff like that.
• 56:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: But if this was a friend of mine or someone in my family, I would also maybe consider, I can't even say husband because my husband wouldn't, first of all never go to Disneyland or his birthday, so I can't even like make the jump.
• 56:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I would actually, he did go to Disney World once in his birthday, I fooled him into it, fooled him with like 10 years ago, and then that shit, that shit sales.
• 57:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's now he's like, no, I'm spending my birthday at home.
• 57:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, attention, I would maybe even consider getting on Etsy a embroidered baseball hat with a silly phrase to celebrate the day.
• 57:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe there's something you guys have a joke about that's birthday-related, maybe you can make a pun, maybe you'd be like, it's my birthday feed me dual whips, something like that.
• 57:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can get that made easily on Etsy.
• 57:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's a ton of people who do that, and that might be a fun thing if they are into people knowing it's their birthday.
• 57:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now I am going to assume you're staying in the area that night so one thing I would absolutely do especially because I am finding a tricky to do like find things within the park that are really going to help boost your trip and make it more special.
• 57:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: I would schedule a delivery in advance or try to make up really early if that's not an option to get a special coffee, bagel, breakfast, just some sort of treat surprise to start the day off with.
• 57:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think that is so fun because it's like really like, oh, it's a kick starting the birthday and it kind of frames the rest of the day through this, what's going to happen, type of lens.
• 58:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you Google around, there are truly like 10 bajillion posts about good coffee and good breakfast in the area.
• 58:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: I drive from pretty far, so I'm never really out of hand getting something on the way to the park.
• 58:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's just sadly because I don't live nearby.
• 58:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's something I'm not able to do.
• 58:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: But there are a lot of resources out there and truly like for bajillion
• 58:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just feel like having a little treat to kick off the day is really nice and it's an easy, affordable way to make the day more special.
• 58:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: And last but not least, I wanted to mirror that on the end of your day.
• 58:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can always like get a cake delivery, you always get cupcakes from somewhere, but I thought it would actually be easier to just surprise him, because, you know, if your Disney World people maybe you don't, you spend a lot of time in the Disneyland Hotel, and it's very special.
• 58:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: And there is this place called Tangerine Tango Robot Terrace, which is attached to TraderSams.
• 58:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And Tango Robot Terrace is like a quick service restaurant, but they also have Dolwip and Dolwip floats.
• 58:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, here's the rub, though.
• 58:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Tangerotairis has always handled with.
• 59:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a thing.
• 59:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's even if you go to the website right now because I just did and I looked at it many, many times to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.
• 59:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: The website calls out Dolwip.
• 59:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: On the Tangerotairis tropical bar and grilled Disneyland hotel website, it says,
• 59:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Praise the teegons, that's cool, that's good copyrighting.
• 59:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Praise the teegons for a variety of drinks you can get to go for your day's journey.
• 59:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Espresso, fresh the bearded coffees, and dull whip floats.
• 59:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Guests, age 21 or older, can even have a splash of rum to their float.
• 59:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like it is called out on the front page, but when you look at the menu, it currently doesn't say dull whip.
• 59:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to make the leap and assume it is there.
• 59:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: I will try to find out before just to confirm.
• 59:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if I will because my trips in Disneyland have been so scattered.
• 59:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: When I'm there, it's just like, ah, there's like other stuff I'm doing and I forget all my to do lists, but that would be a really fun post-park dessert treat or even a midday break.
• 59:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like we're going somewhere, but you don't know where.
• 59:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: That would be really nice, just like get a dull whip and show out there whether or not you choose to go to Trader Sam.
• 1:00:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now Trader Sam is also a wonderful place to go.
• 1:00:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're going to be under refurbishment in the interior over the summer.
• 1:00:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't, there's not an announced end date for that.
• 1:00:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: So it may be trickier to get a reservation.
• 1:00:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Again, that's something you can just be on top of.
• 1:00:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: You won't have the indoor experience most likely depending on when in July you're going.
• 1:00:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: et cetera.
• 1:00:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: But you can still sit outside just so you can't tangle her terrace and you can enjoy stuff and it's really, really lovely.
• 1:00:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: That would just be like a fun little, ooh, a little hotel surprise if you're into it.
• 1:00:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: I hope that's helpful.
• 1:00:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Again, I can't believe how tricky it is to have little special surprises.
• 1:00:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I hope I've given you enough where like between a hat, a fun festive coffee and a little sweet treat.
• 1:00:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: There is enough to celebrate there.
• 1:00:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: I hope you have a wonderful trip.
• 1:00:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, lightning rod forever!
• 1:00:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: That hype was so good!
• 1:00:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's our show!
• 1:00:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think you all so much for listening and thank you to our special guest, Brandon Kennedy.
• 1:00:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Also, thank you to the entire team at Macy's for being so down to just peel back the curtain on all of their incredible projects and let Brandon night talk so freely about what they do.
• 1:01:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't think it would have been the same way at a different company and I love that they're like, yeah, we can just talk about
• 1:01:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: How we make these productions happen candidly, and I'm so grateful to them for letting us do this.
• 1:01:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can follow Brendan, great follow by the way.
• 1:01:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Incredible follow, especially if you're at all intonating, which I know many of you are, at WayWaw on Instagram and Threads, that is spelled W-A-Y-W-A-W.
• 1:01:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can rate if you even follow very amusing on Apple Podcasts and rate them follow us on Spotify where you can also leave comments and I really don't know how to access them, but I can see it's tricking your spot, I think.
• 1:01:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm listening, I'm not good, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not good at that.
• 1:01:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Go homey on the show's headline.
• 1:01:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's just easier that way.
• 1:01:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: But also leave it there because then other people can see it, but like also call me later.
• 1:01:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean you can do at 747 Churros.
• 1:01:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Please give us a call.
• 1:01:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: We've been getting a lot of text messages lately which are great, but also I can't it's like I can't a lot of times I try to play Churros calls that I think will also help other people like if someone for example this week asking if there's anything special They can do for birthday Disneyland
• 1:02:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's often helpful for all everyone to listen to so I just like to, you know, if you send a text much of that, I'm like, then PLP okay, I'm just saying, I'm feeling like I'm talking in circles, because I'm just distracted by the fact that I think you can hear my pretty slip and I should have taken it off, but I didn't want to take off my hat dog, because it was so hard to get on.
• 1:02:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, give us the call at 7 or 7 trails.
• 1:02:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you have two text us, that's fine.
• 1:02:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you want to send a voice note, it's a little complicated because then I've, it's an extra step and it's fine.
• 1:02:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do that.
• 1:02:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I, I love to see your calls.
• 1:02:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: We might end up doing a
• 1:02:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: juriduty juriduty.
• 1:02:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I gotta tell you ever since that series juriduty dropped.
• 1:02:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: It is fun to be like, oh yeah, James Marsden could be on juriduty with me because I live in Los Angeles.
• 1:02:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Very funny.
• 1:02:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I hope.
• 1:02:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I hope I hope I see someone as handsome and who's a star like James Marsden.
• 1:02:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I clearly can't focus today, but yeah, love a celebrity sighting, especially if it is happening while I'm on jury duty, TDD on that.
• 1:03:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Wait, if you see a celebrity, because you're like, can't talk about naming the happens on a trial, but if you see someone at jury duty, can you talk about it?
• 1:03:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I guess we'll find out.
• 1:03:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: I guess we'll find out either right.
• 1:03:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Either way, anyway, Charles Hotline episode probably coming when I am at jury duty, so if you have a call, get it in, get it in, call, call it in, call it in so I can make sure I answer it in time.
• 1:03:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can book your trip with M.E.I.
• 1:03:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Mouse Man travel and let me tell you you should.
• 1:03:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you're booking a cruise, they'll tell you which is not.
• 1:03:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Not all cabs are created equal.
• 1:03:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Not all cabs are created equal and they will tell you exactly which cabin is that's for you.
• 1:03:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: There are also if you listen to our segments with Becky, too many deals out there.
• 1:03:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: I never thought we'd be in a time where it's like,
• 1:03:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: just the entire galaxy, that's where it was like the galaxy of discounts is so vast and wide that you actually need a discount professional to help you sort through it and find the best great possible.
• 1:03:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: So head to mousebandtravel.com slash amusing for all your needs like truly Disney universal cruises.
• 1:03:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: They always have these like Norwegian, cruise discounts all these up.
• 1:04:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Royal Caribbean, so many things that you've got to check out, they will quote things for free.
• 1:04:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's not like you have to like fully give them all your information, like, pay them and then they'll help you.
• 1:04:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, you can truly email them, hit them up and be like, hey, just wondering, like, what, like, what's the cheapest rating you can get for XYC?
• 1:04:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: And they'll be like, you know.
• 1:04:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: And with all the free dining and the discounts, especially a Disney world, you got to be hitting them up.
• 1:04:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: The australian travel.com slash amusing, I use them for all of my bookings and I recommend you do too.
• 1:04:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can follow me at Carly Myself across the internet, join the foamily at facebook.com slash groups slash Carly Myself, and subscribe to my Instagram at Carly Myself, and I pray with every fiber of my being that the subscriber video issue is solved by then.
• 1:04:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have a work around.
• 1:04:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think I will be using it in full by then, but just, you know, it's more convenient to do things on one phone, instead of two phone, especially when I don't have a corporate job.
• 1:04:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: My whole life is internet.
• 1:04:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just need one phone.
• 1:04:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's all I need!
• 1:04:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks so much for listening!
• 1:04:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: See you real soon!
• 1:04:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
• 1:05:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like so much fun.
• 1:05:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love the Scooby-Doovie and the Frankenstein interaction.
• 1:05:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So fun.
• 1:05:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: We had our own Frankenstein interaction, but we're looking into that.
• 1:05:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's so great going to these events and seeing people that you know, and you've become friends with, it's great.
• 1:05:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you have met so many people, and they're also fun and so great, and your friends, and I that I have met are so great.
• 1:05:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're the best.
• 1:05:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love media family events.
• 1:05:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, I'm available at all times.
• 1:05:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and I love that I give you so much of my jewelry because it makes me happy to see you where everything is sometimes all in a sense, but it was great on you.
• 1:06:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have such great style and I was like, why do you think of what most of you were able to do?
• 1:06:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, you were amazing and I'm so proud of you starting that it's a tough decision but you need to feel better and I had a very hard time starting some and it's much better than I did and so I hope you'll be fine on that and I'm so proud of you.
• 1:06:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Going to finally making it, the Hollywood is like, the greatest, you press there, you went, you took your six hours to get there.
• 1:06:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But as you said, President is a dream come true, and I'm lucky enough to be on his private team.
• 1:06:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have a special special love from one another.
• 1:06:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's one of your best friends, but President is like a son.
• 1:06:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have for five and a minute, we jump up and down, we see each other.
• 1:06:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's so great.
• 1:06:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's so special.
• 1:06:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And same, I'm so sorry, I gave you my ABC, I think it's a rhetoric, because I can't for weeks before I go to make sure I have a briefing and it's really a big cluster getting in the suitcase and putting in the figures in case it's just it's crazy.
• 1:07:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Things I like and dislike like you said, I get you.
• 1:07:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I can't believe you said a pharmacy situation, because I have a team with dad last week.
• 1:07:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there was a woman as part of me with the employee helping her.
• 1:07:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And after a minute or so, she looked up.
• 1:07:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: She says, really, currently, it's 11 or one we're close to.
• 1:07:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: What?
• 1:07:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: The gate wasn't even cold, you know how to call the gate to make sure nobody can get in.
• 1:07:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was already inside the gate.
• 1:07:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that, I didn't handle that very well.
• 1:07:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I probably need to talk to you about our handle things.
• 1:07:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I love you so much.
• 1:07:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: This was a great episode with so much fun.
• 1:07:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: What you were talking about with this guy, what is this guy doing?
• 1:07:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is frightening to go backwards out of that because you don't know, especially if you're old and you're scared.
• 1:08:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So anyways, I usually take Carl and you get that bad job.
• 1:08:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm really sorry, but that's this guy to be a winner.