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158-TDS - High-Octane Hospitality: Inside Andretti's, Derby Thrills, and a Dive into Dinosaur Discoveries
Get ready to elevate your entertainment game we talk quickly about a behind the scenes of Andretti's in Chandler, where top-notch customer service isn't just a promise—it's a pulse-racing reality. In this whirlwind tour of location-based entertainment hotspots, we also give props to the Kentucky Derby Museum's Riders Up exhibit for its million-dollar facelift, complete with customizable simulations that put you in the jockey's boots. And let's not forget the inclusivity win with their wheelchair-accessible feature, which deserves a standing ovation—or better yet, a riders up salute.
Now, let's sweeten the deal because your taste buds are in for a wild ride with Jake's Sweet Shop. Imagine a world where Unicorn Tacos and Colossal Cookies aren't just a child's fantasy, but a potential empire in the making. Then we'll unearth some serious fun at the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park and Museum, where you can dig deep into the past and come face-to-face with dinosaur giants. This episode is all about those moments that stick with you—the taste, the thrills, and the triumphs of discovery.
Well, hello guys, welcome back to the Daily Show. I am back today once again journeying into the heart of location-based entertainment, exploring all the places and ideas that are transforming everyday ordinary days into adventures. Now we are just finishing up our last day here of Experience Academy. Brandon is downstairs right now presenting to the group, kind of talking about culture, standards, standards and all those fun things. Last night we had an amazing visit. We went over to Andretti's the new Andretti's here in Chandler to kind of check them out and see what they were all about. And if you haven't had a chance to go to Andretti's and experience their culture and their customer service, I highly recommend it. The place here in Chandler is insane. It is absolutely gorgeous. They have done a beautiful job and the customer service experience is something that you don't see on the regular in our industry. So I'd say, go check it out, see what they do, see what you can learn from it and see all the takeaways that you get from it. But just super happy that we were able to give that a try and check them out last night. Ok, all right, we're going to kick off the show.
Speaker 2:We have a bunch of things to talk about today. The first thing I wanted to dive into was a little discussion around the Kentucky Derby Museum. So the Kentucky Derby Museum is out of Louisville and they've just announced that they're reopening a attraction that they have there called Riders Up. So this is actually it's an exhibit. It's gone over a significant makeover in the past few months here. They put a million dollars into redesigning it with a company out of the UK called Catalyst. Now Phil Coffin from Catalyst says that they've created a one-of-a-kind experience, that there's nothing like this actually in the whole wide world. So what is it exactly? Well, it's an attraction where visitors actually get to ride in a simulated Kentucky Derby race, which sounds so cool. So they get to ride against each other on this platform.
Speaker 2:And what they did is they upgraded this experience, so they added enhanced graphics to create a more realistic look. They created customizable tracks so you can actually choose the weather on your track Is it raining, is it sunny out and then a few other settings for each of the different drivers, so that they kind of get their own personalized experience. Now it's got state-of-the-art motion pads for a truly immersive experience. You actually kind of step on to kind of like a horse, like one of the carousel horses that's been lowered to the ground, and then you get these video screens in front of you and you get to go for a race. And then you get these video screens in front of you and you get to go for a race. So I'm going to share a quick video with you. I borrowed this from WLKY station, and we have a news reporter here that is actually going to go through the experience so you can get a good feel for what it's like. All right, let's bring him to the stage here we go.
Speaker 1:I don't want to crush any dreams here, but you know, only 107 jockeys have ever won the Kentucky Derby and chances are you're not going to be one of them. But now, at the newly updated Riders Up exhibit at the Kentucky Derby Museum, it'll make you feel like you're running for the roses. Welcome to the Kentucky Derby. When the Kentucky Derby Museum wanted to freshen up its Riders Up exhibit, they turned to the UK-based company created by Catalyst. One of the company's directors, Phil Coffin, says you're not going to find anything like Riders Up anywhere in the world. It's the most advanced and most horse racing game globally, and that is down to all the elements and the technology. The basic idea of Riders Up remains the same A group of people race one another in a simulated version of the derby, but that is about the only thing that has stayed the same. Motion graphics, 5K screens and a state-of-the-art moving pad have all been brought in to make you feel like you're racing on the first Saturday in May.
Speaker 1:For the Kentucky Derby Museum's Bobby McSwine, this, being a historic derby, had a real impact on making these changes. Right now, as we head into the 150th Kentucky Derby, we really are going to seize on this moment. You know this is a time where Louisville and the country comes together and so, of course, at the museum, we want to stay on top of that. For the folks at Created by Catalyst, allowing race fans to customize their own experience was at the heart of of what they tried to build. We've really wanted to position Kentucky Derby exhibit as leading in the world in terms of innovation and experience. Now the folks here at the Kentucky Derby Museum tell me inclusivity was a big part of what they tried to do, and one of the horses here is wheelchair accessible At the Kentucky Derby Museum Sam Carter.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool. Thank you, sam Carter, for that. Now, I just wanted to take it all the way to the end there because I wanted to show you guys how they had considered the inclusivity piece, and they actually created a ride for people with wheelchairs. So if you weren't watching the video, they shortened the horse, they kind of just left the horse head there and somebody in a wheelchair can kind of like, roll on up, set themselves up and they can actually have the experience from their chair. It was beautifully done, great consideration and it looks like a super fun attraction. So bravo, well done, and if you're in the area, I hope you can give it a try and have a chance to check it out.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we have exciting news for Dave Buster's. This week they have announced a revamp to their dine-in menu with 20 new dishes and drinks. And, to kick things off this is so awesome, you guys they have a fantastic deal for Dave Buster's reward members, so they're going to be offering 50% all food from April 15th to April 28th of this month. So it's coming up in a few days. If you're in Dave Buster's reward members, make sure you take advantage and you can go give their new menu a sample. Now we've been commenting for a while that Dave and Buster's needs to make some changes to their menus and do some upgrades, so it's really awesome to actually see this happening.
Speaker 2:A few of the new menu items that I'll highlight in this pod are they are offering a game day grub sampler board. Oh, I actually have a picture of it. Let's put this on stage. You can kind of see it here. So it's going to have some pretzel dogs, burger sliders, bone and wings with sauces. You know, this is a fun little platter, good for four to six friends, and thank you to Restaurant Drive who posted this picture so I could share this with y'all. They're also going to have some loaded barbacoa fries, which are fries topped with queso blanca, shredded beef.
Speaker 2:Pico de gallo Sounds like a poutine to me an upscale poutine-ish. Pico de gallo Sounds like a poutine to me, an upscale poutine-ish. We'll have a stacked steak bowl which is just like sliced steak over jasmine rice, with a variety of fresh vegetables and toppings Cajun shrimp, pasta, cereal cake, cereal cake sounds fun. A fun dessert with marshmallow cream icing and fruit loops, and then a bunch of new flavored lemonades and teas, which sounds really fantastic. Now, this menu update is part of the chain's multi-phase effort to improve operations and the guest experience, and I guess they've been working on their back of house for a while, kind of removing some of the complexities there and preparing for this new food offering, which I think is really great that they actually put the foresight into thinking about getting the back of the house ready to go before they launch the menu so that everybody was prepared to roll this out successfully. Now Chris Morris, their CEO, says that they've already seen improvements to guest satisfaction and a 5% increase in food and bed during the first five weeks of the rollout. Anyway, high five, dave Ambassadors, way to go, and can't wait to pop into a store to check out the new food.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of food, I feel like I'm talking about a lot of food items on the show and I'm not even done yet. But speaking of food, I want to talk to you about this fun little place from Jake's Unlimited. It's a little spinoff, so they've created this cute over the top dessert shop here in Phoenix called Jake's Sweet Shop. Now, right when you open up the website, I'm just going to pop this onto stage quickly. You're presented with, of course, the infamous Unicorn Taco and just to give you some context around this. The Unicorn Taco was invented by Deb and Jeremy Hoyum when they were over at Jake's Unlimited. Now the company went through a rebrand there and they cleverly used this taco to create buzz about the refresh and to drive excitement into the facility. And I mean, if you haven't heard of the Unicorn Taco, I would actually be surprised, because it's been pretty out there in the media and most people are aware of it. Now Deb and Jeremy have both moved on and Deb actually owns and operates the Kudu's Island, which is another neat facility. It was actually originally a Disney product and now she's taken it over. It's got this cool indoor playground with this beautiful tree and all the animals inside. And gosh, if you're ever in the Chandler area, I'd highly recommend just popping in and taking a peek. It's well worth the visit. And Jeremy is actually over at Urban Air doing some really great things.
Speaker 2:But let's get back to Jake's. So this place looks super cool. I'm going to pull their website up and I want to show you some of the outrageous desserts that they're offering here. So again, jake's Sweet Shop. Let's pop into the sizable sweets for a second here. All right Things to share or things not to share. Of course, you've got the famous Unicorn Tacos, which is a cotton candy based taco with ice cream, sprinkles, whipped cream, cherries the works here. I mean it looks amazing. Then they have the Colossal Cookie, which is a big chocolate chip cookie with ice cream and whipped cream on top, served in a fun little tinfoil dish for sharing. The Bahamuth Banana Split again, massive banana split with ice cream and all the fun stuff that you would expect. And then, finally, the big brownie.
Speaker 2:They also offer really fun shakes. I thought these were another cool thing that they did. I mean, look at these guys, this one, the unicorn shake, the cotton candy inside of the milkshake with the cream, the chocolate shake. I mean, I just love how they've taken these shakes and they've done the design work around the outside. And you know, put the big brownies. And look at this one, the vanilla be mine shake, with the cupcakes and the cherries on top. These absolutely look to die for um, the Oreo dream shake my gosh.
Speaker 2:Um, anyway, they have two locations currently. So one is inside of the actual Jake's unlimited where they offer up these uh lovely treats. And then they just opened a storefront here in Chandler where you can go in and you can just sit down, kind of like an ice cream bar, and try it all out. Now they are actually franchising this concept. So they say that if you want to get one of these guys, the total investment is between $200,000 to $500,000. Now what it doesn't say on their website and I can't get information on is that just to open up a storefront location, what if you wanted to just put kind of a counter inside of your FEC? Would it be less expensive? I feel like there could be some negotiating here so you could bring this particular brand in if it was something that was interesting to you. Anyway, just wanted to share this with you.
Speaker 2:At this time, you know, year, we're always looking for things to drive that repeat business, create those Instagrammable moments in our facilities, and I just thought this was a really neat idea, or maybe it's something you can recreate on your own in your own facility. Just have those really fun, instagrammable foods that people want to capture pictures of and share with the group. Anyway, if you have a chance and you're in the area, make sure you pop into Jake's Unlimited shop here in Chandler and try out some of their treats, but of course, make sure you get your workout in first. I'm afraid to even ask how many calories are in one of those bad boys. So if you like dinosaurs, then you are going to absolutely love this.
Speaker 2:The Gene and Rick Edelman Fossil Park and Museum is going to be opening this summer in St George, utah, and here I've got a little picture of it for you. This facility is absolutely gorgeous. You can see the building and then kind of the site where they're digging up some of the bones. So this place is going to take us back 66 million years to the days when dinosaurs were roaming the earth. And what is so cool about it? Well, this was built right on top of a site where tons of Mesozoic era fossils were actually discovered. The museum itself is huge, you can see here. It covers 44,000 square feet and it's packed with all sorts of cool exhibits, including life-size dinosaur reconstructions, and I'm going to show you a quick video of what the inside looks like so you can get a feel for it.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's do this. Here we go. So here you know walkways you can walk on, look down into the sites, see how the paleontologists are digging up the bones, what dinosaur existed where, what their tracks might have looked like. That's cool how the textures of the earth varied. You know the different layers here, understanding how that all occurred. Some video coverage of what the dinosaurs look like when they're actually walking and roaming so it looks like a super cool museum.
Speaker 2:Let's pull this off now. Thanks, commercial, they have a full scale dry post source there. So this was one of the very first try on our sources Rex has ever discovered and I love this picture. It is so cool. I love how they're starting to show dinosaurs that had the feathers on it. This one is beautiful with the feathers down his back and his head and the beautiful red beak. I can only imagine walking around okay, not being only being scared out of my mind to see these creatures, but they must've been absolutely glorious back then. And not only that, they also have a gigantic 53 footfoot monosaurus there.
Speaker 2:But here's the best part this is absolutely the best part is you don't get to just look at everything. You actually can be a participant as well. So they allow you to dig for fossils yourself and even take them home, as long as they are not of any historical significance. So I imagine if you find anything, they're going to look it over and say, okay, yeah, that's okay, or you know, this is something new that we need to hang on to. So I believe you can see the dig site here, kind of in the bottom corner, and, man, what a cool experience to be able to kind of dig in the dirt and be a real kind of paleontologist yourself. Now, they've really designed this to make us think about the world we live in, the creatures that we once, or the creatures that once existed in this world, and how important it is to protect our planet for future generations. So if you like dinosaurs and you happen to be planning a trip to Utah in the future, you might want to add this to your list of places to visit.
Speaker 2:Do we have any fans of Butterbeer here? Okay, I feel like I just saw a million hands go up. Well, I guess Butterbeer season is on at Universal Studios Hollywood and it is going from now until April 30th, and it is better than ever. They have a bunch of new offers that are going to absolutely tantalize your taste bud. I have a picture of some of these goodies right here. So they are starting to offer a Butterbeer soft serve, a Butterbeer ice lolly, and they're expanding the menu to include items like fudge, potted cream and hard ice cream. They also have four different versions of Butterbeer available right now. They have a cold, a frozen, a hot and a non-dairy.
Speaker 2:Now Universal doesn't plan to actually stop here. They have come up with a bunch of new innovative ideas for future festivals, including Butterbeer potatoes interesting a Butterbeer sausage and even potentially, butterbeer battered fish and chips, which actually sounds oddly delicious. I'd be very curious to give it a try, but we're going to have to wait a little while for those things. Apparently, universal is facing some content restrictions right now from Warner Brothers and JK Rowling, so these things just take time, you know, to kind of get through all the processes and procedures that they need, so the innovation isn't going as quickly as it could, so we just need to be patient. But they're going to be rolling out some of these new items soon, but all these ones shown and the ones I talked about are already out there.
Speaker 2:I don't know about you guys, but I am such a big fan of Girl Scout cookies that I'm waiting for these Butterbeer Girl Scout. Oh my gosh, having time today, I'm waiting for the Butterbeer Girl Scout cookies to come out, and that'll be really dangerous. Anyway, they're running these festivals right now, kind of as tests to see if it makes sense to create an annual event. So if you love Butterbeer and you want this to be annual, go on down, support them so that they know that you care, and let's keep our fingers crossed for future years. Anyway, that is a wrap for today. Guys, thanks for joining me here on the show. We absolutely love your support and, as always, are grateful to have you here with us. And until next time, stay curious and keep kissing ass. We'll see y'all later.
