An Idea for Theme Parks such as Disneyland

I have live in Southern California all my life and with that, all the amusement parks are within an hour drive from my home. Disneyland is the biggie and on any given day, people are willing to wait in line for sometimes over an hour just to experience a 3 minute thrill ride....whoopie.

This isn't only happening at Disneyland. Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, etc....all have their big rides that is the reason tourists and visitors will pay the gate admission.

Each park seems to offer a VIP package. This is a more expensive entry fee that most often times include a special tour and experiences that the "regulars" don't often see or do. Some parks even allow the VIPs to cut to the front of the line. There are definately some angry stares and verbal assaults from the crowds that have been waiting under the blistering sun in the summer when the VIPs walk past and go to the front of the line.

Anyways, my idea is for each theme park to have a special line that is located away from the primary line. This line will allow anyone to pay an extra fee to enter this line. Most people will not entertain the idea of paying more money to ride a 3 minute ride. However, as a tourist, time is of the essence and they will want to ride as many rides as possible on their visit to the theme park......Some tourists save for years so that they can travel to a particular amusement park.

People are crazy and this will work...I know because commuters are willing to pay $10 for the toll roads so that he or she can save an hour to go to work or get home.....This is $10 each way, so that a person will easily spend $20 a day to commute round trip.

A few dollars a ride is not going to put a dent in a tourist's budget......heck, even some locals will be willing to pay 2 or 3 dollars more to ride a biggie ride if it allows them to save an hour or so.....

OK - if any of you theme park Imagineers or idea guys and gals read this and decide to utilize this idea, you may compensate my family and me with lifetime passes :)

International Travel Makes You Humble and Appreciative

I cannot believe that I really didn't start traveling to far off countries until my 30's.......The thing that spurned me to wake up and see the world was reading about a guy who was already retired and in a wheelchair. He said - travel when you can still walk and your stomach is still strong.
Don't make the mistake about saying you will travel when you retire. Do it now.

I woke up and threw a dart at a map. It hit Thailand. What a great country. The people are really friendly and the food is really awesome. I felt really comfortable and safe when traveling in this remarkable country.

But there were a certain things that made me humble and appreciative of my home country - USA. First of all, people in America gripe all the time about the government, economy, jobs, imports, exports etc.....and we all have the right to complain if we want....that is what makes America special.....freedom of speech allows us to say anything we want. In other countries, you felt constrained and you felt the people and media was restrained from speaking their mind.

The other thing that really made me appreciative about my Western ways - toilets. A lot of restrooms in Thailand have squat toilets. Basically these are holes in the floor. If you are doing #1 thats ok.....however, if you are going to do #2 - gets a little tricky. There are no charts in the bathroom for step by step use of these holes. Besides that, there is no paper. There are usually 2 cisterns with water in them and a bowl - I guess the bowl is to contain the water....then what next....how do you get the water to splash up?

Anyways, that was an awakening for me. Ever since, I try to be aware about the whereabouts of the nearest luxury hotel. These hotels usually have western toilets with paper.....and is air conditioned.

And another thing....using the squat toilets in the middle of a humid summer day will bring down the most strongest willed steel man....I guarantee it.......there is nothing like being in a humid stall with torrents of sweat pouring down your face and body parts.

My tip to travelers.......bring a backpack that contains a roll of tissue paper, bottled water to wash up, hand sanitizer...bathrooms that do have paper usually require purchase from a vending machine. And when you do purchase the paper, it looks like the kind of paper that people use to roll cigarettes. thin and squarish in size......

Gary Halbert Has Passed Away

I just read my email and one was about the passing of Gary Halbert. I thought it was a joke but I searched a marketing forum and there was a post on the same topic by a respected marketer. I trust that he wouldn't post such a topic because it would be viewed as a sick and twisted marketing ploy.

But I believe it is true - and therefore, this post.

As I write this, I feel that a close relative or friend passed away. I am sad and my heart is heavy. I still cannot believe this is true.

Who is Gary Halbert? I suspect that in the next couple of days, you will see tons of posts, tributes, on this man. I didn't know him personally and never met him face to face. Gary Halbert was a famous copywriter and marketer. His sales letters were responsible for selling millions and millions of dollars of products.

He was responsible for making many entrepreneurs millionaires through his teachings. (books, seminars, newsletters.)

In fact, if you don't know who Gary Halbert is, please go to his website right now. Through the years, he posted free newsletters on copywriting and marketing..... www.thegaryhalbertletter.com

I had studied marketing before I learned about Gary Halbert. But once I read his materials, my marketing and copywriting improved dramatically - literally overnight.

Gary Halbert may not have invented these techniques but he is known for....... the A pile and B pile, the handwritten, stamped envelope, the starving crowd........

Gary Halbert will be missed.

How a Classic Computer Program Rival Today's Games

Everytime I read a novel and then see the movie based on the book, I am disappointed. Why? Because it seems the movie does not live up to the scenes, actions, images, that are depicted in the book. Our brains are incredible. One of its amazing functions is to convert text from the pages of a book and produce fantastic imagry in our heads.

Video games are no different from books. How? Check out the latest games and you will be blown away from the awesome graphics. Technology has allowed today's game to approach realism that is almost indistinguishable from the real world.

The sad part of all this is that it takes a little bit away from the creativity that is conjured up in the brain. We are becoming vegetables - sitting in front of a screen and taking in the game or even tv show without thinking......just opening a whole in our head and forcefed the material.

What am I rambling about? The topic above got me to thinking how much I really enjoyed the early days of computer gaming. They were simple and you actually had to use some brainwork to imagine or create scenes in your head to make up for the awful graphics.......

Text games were really special for me. Zork was incredible. It was a pure text game. You solved puzzles by interacting with the computer program with text sentences. By solving a puzzle, you received points. A perfectly solved game was when you scored the maximum points....... But more importantly, the scenes and puzzles that were displayed on the screen became vivid images in the brain - similar to reading a good novel.

I recommend that anyone who hasn't experienced this type of game - try it out......Inofocom, the developers of Zork actually offer a free download of the classic game (3 parts)....do a search on Zork, you will be taken to their website - you can read the history and the groundbreaking path the developers took to make Zork establish its place in computer history.

How a Beginner Entrepreneur Still Can Make Money on the Internet

Just about every day, one can find an article or broadcast about people who seemingly become millionaires or billionaires because of the internet. It seemed like these instant riches were easily derived somehow from the internet.

And if you were to jump in on trying to make money on the internet, you can only do a quick search on the search engines for "how to make money" - you will be deluged with tons of companies and people who, for a price, will hand you the secret to making money fast, effortlessly, and overnight.

Maybe. I'm a serious student of marketing - let's say its a hobby that I've had a hand in for many years. I'll be the first to admit that I am far from a guru and even an apprentice. Some might even call me a wet behind the ears rank beginner.

One can easily read books, listen to tapes, and regurgitate information about how to make money and easily sound like an expert. But has he or she actually practiced what they preached? Have they actually made a single dollar? Careful.

In this posts and future posts, I will tell my experiences and tell you about tools and marketing techniques I have used. You will be able to follow my failures and successes. If you gain an ounce of wisdom from my blog, then I will be happy.

Anyways, I just want to touch on how a rank beginner can still make money on the internet. It is not easy. It takes some learning. But you are almost guaranteed to make money.

I am talking about Ebay. In case you don't know, Ebay is an online auction site where people list ads/auctions on seemingly anything.........a few short years ago, it seemed that you could advertise anything on Ebay, and make money.

Today, you still can make money, its just you won't get as many successful bids and the outrageous high prices.

Its easy to get started on Ebay - excellent instructions are on their website......my main purpose of this post is to guide you to Ebay to start your cash flow and get your feet wet on the internet. In the future, I will give you more tips for making money on Ebay along with other marketing techniques for other internet marketing.

If you have any old stuff around the house, try posting on Ebay. Go to a garage sale, flea market, or swap meet. Just get your feet wet. List and sell.......Yes, you will see that out of the 200 million registered users, someone will be interested in your product........

Happy selling!

Riot at Airport and My Experience with International Airlines

I just read today in the Los Angeles Times an article from a seasoned traveler who witnessed a riot at a Japanese airport at a Chinese airlines terminal. Passengers waited 10 hours for a delayed flight and in the end, people were chanting "I want to go home" in Chinese. Then they started pushing and shoving at the employees. Some employees faces were wet from tears.

This kind of surprised me because I have traveled many times on China Airlines to Thailand and never experienced any delays. OK, there was a time when my flight was delayed half hour. My friend, who is from Taipei, once remarked that I was crazy to fly on China Airlines. I asked why. He said that the pilots on Chinese Airlines are ex-Mig pilots. They sometimes get bored flying on auto that they sometimes switch it off and fly the plane manually. Hmmmm.

I like flying - it gives me time to catch up on movies and sleep. Currently, I average 4 or 5 hours of sleep. But when I fly international, I can sleep the whole flight without sleep aids. The flight from Los Angeles to Thailand is 18 hours - but with a stop in Taipei, Japan, Hong Kong, or Singapore.

The service and even the food are good on all asian flights. I've flown on Singapore, EVA, Thai Airways, and China Airlines. Currently, my airline of choice is China Airlines because they seem to offer the best prices.

Most flights have been uneventful except for one flight coming back to Los Angeles. There was a lot of turbulence. It seemed that there were more turbulence than smooth flying. One particular episode, the air crew were serving dinner. I was in the last row and was served first. After my row was served, turbulence hit. Really hard. The air crew turned back and returned to their seats. I couldn't eat my food because the plane shook really bad. In the back of my head, I thought the plane could possibly shatter.

Luckily I saw a PBS show on jet airplanes and I remember one sequence when they showed clips of a plane in the middle of the storm. The wind was so fierce that the wings were actually flapping like a bird. However, all the abuse still didn't affect the plane. This thought actually calmed me down.

I looked again at my tray of food and the wine had splashed completely out of my cup. I gave up eating and just closed my eyes. Before doing so, I looked around and people were crying and vomiting in their air sick bags.

I just closed my eyes and opened them when the turbulence subsided.

A Little Known Must See Place in San Diego California

I like to travel and take note on destination spots that aren't really highlighted by travel books. I usually ask the locals what is a cool place a tourist should check out. I can usually get some good feedback about the little known that is more memorable than some of the tourist traps.

I have lived in California all my life and more and more I am discovering many unique places to visit - all within one day of driving. Its funny when I travel across the globe to gain a similar experience of enjoyment and surprise - I can just turn around in my backyard and experience the same thing.

My sister and brother in law lives in San Diego - when I visit them, they are constantly directing me to places to see. In the past, I visited the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Sea World. I suspect that a majority of tourists visit these places when visiting San Diego.

This last visit, my sister told me about a unique place I should visit. Its called the San Diego Humane Society. Really? Yes. This place is more special if you have a warm place in your heart toward animals.

When we pulled into the parking lot, it was full. We had to park at the very end. Only a few spaces left. While walking toward the main building, I noticed the nice clean modern architecture and a statue with countless tags hanging from it. These tags were once worn by the dogs and cats that were adopted.

Inside the lobby looked like a lobby you would find in a hotel. It had high ceilings and incredible direct and indirect lighting. There were a lot of people in this place. I noticed to the right - a room with many kids in party hats. They were celebrating a birthday - at an animal shelter.

The highlight of the San Diego Animal Shelter are the "rooms".....To the left are the rooms for dogs. Each room is decorated in a theme. You will notice right off that the rooms are big and clean. Dedicated for one animal. Many rooms have carpeting, chairs, wall hangings and TVs and fireplace. Fun and incredible.

As stated before, each room is themed. There is one room titled "Furrs Class." It is a travel themed room. On the wall was a map of the world with dog footprints stamped as if the dog traveled to these destinations. There were actual airline seats in the middle of the room. On the door was a sign that read "Furrs Class."

The San Diego Animal Shelter doesn't take long to tour. However, if you spend the time to "meet" with the animal, you can spend time bonding in the particular room. This place is definately a place to visit and bring your friends and family from out of town. You might want to have extra room in your car - there is a high probability that you will fall in love with an animal and adopt it while visiting.

How Pogs Made People Rich in Less Than One Year

I was fortunate to experience more than several manias in a relatively short period of time. Most manias, I was a participant - other manias, I was a close observer. I am using the term mania for an event (and period) where people went absolutely crazy for a fad, item, etc. A perfect example to fit this description is the Cabbage Patch Doll. This doll was introduced in short supply. People went absolutely crazy trying to buy this doll. Prices skyrocketed in the secondary market. I can only read about the events in the newspapers and magazine.

However, another fad mania came about in the 1990's. I was in the middle of this one. This mania was centered around milkcaps or pogs. It was a game that the kids played. It originated in Hawaii and made its way east to the mainland. A year before it hit California, a friend of mine told me that Pogs was huge in Hawaii and that I should get ready for the big wave that will soon eventually hit the west coast. I didn't really pay attention to his prediction at the time.

Although reflecting back, this very same friend developed the novelty hat called the "puckhead"....It was a hat that could be purchased at hockey games. You wore the puck on your head with the logo of the team you are supporting.....he sold a lot and made some really good pocket change.

Anyways, back to pogs. Sure enough, a year later, pogs hit the mainland. It started slowly at first. I owned a collectible store and the kids would come in after school asking if I sold pogs. I didn't and it really didn't occur to me that I should sell these game pieces.

In a couple of weeks, one of my distributors came into the store and said he was selling pogs and that I should buy a selection to resell. I was skeptical. I did purchase enough to fill one shelf in my display case. After school, the kids came in and I sold through at least 50% of my inventory in several hours. It basically paid for my initial investment.

The next several weeks, I kept flipping the sales from pogs into more pogs. Eventually, my whole display case and a wall was devoted to pogs. Customers were coming in throughout the day purchasing pogs. Soon, pogs was accounting for 60% of my sales. It was incredible.

Then a magazine came out with a price guide in it. This legitimized the pog into a true collectible and put value on certain designs. Some pogs were commanding tens of dollars. Soon themed designs were coming out. Licensed pogs with images of Elvis, Disney, etc were issued.

One day, a partner of a metal foundry came into the store looking for pogs for his children. He noticed that many of the high dollar pogs were made of metal. He inquired about the price and I told him that some were selling as high as $7 a piece. He laughed because the metal pogs we were looking at contained raw material costs of only fifty cents or less.

To make a long story short, my partner, the co-owner of the foundry, and me decided to manufacture our own pogs made of metal (called slammers)......During the same time, my partner convinced one of our customers (Sal) to start wholesaling pogs with us (me and my partner). He was a good salesman. He actually landed the K-Mart account. It was incredible. First one store would carry the Pogs and sales were on fire. The manager of that store would call another K-Mart endorsing Sal as a wholesaler. Soon Sal's route started to take off. So did our manufacturing business. We couldn't keep up with the orders.

All these events took place in under a year. Sal was able to sell to almost all the K-Marts on the west toward the midwest before the fad mania suddenly ceased. No one saw it coming. It was literally overnite when the orders just stopped. We, fortunately didn't have a lot of money in inventory and only made enough to fill purchase orders. We were too slow in expanding too big and didn't make the tons of money that other people did. But we weren't caught with out pants down either like other people experienced.

At the same time we were knee deep in purchase orders and manufacturing our metal pogs, a friend of mine was also selling his pog products. His niche was selling the raw materials such as blanks and stickers to decorate the pogs. He was a lot bigger than us and would routinely make ten thousand dollars a nite selling his products to other wholesalers and distributors. In under a year, he parlayed his sales into more inventory and eventually hit the million dollar sale mark within 8 months.

This was not an isolated case. Others who knew how to grow fast made a lot of money. Some literally became millionaires overnight. Others made a lot of money but also lost a lot of it when the fad suddenly ceased. (They had taken their profits and purchased more inventory - when the demand stopped, these entrepreneurs were left holding warehouses full of pogs and accessories) However, they used this experience in the next fad mania.

Useless Trivia from Disneyland

Every so often, I'll post some useless trivia that may be interesting but is relatively useless in the everyday world. But maybe you can use it to impress someone in a particular situation. This useless trivia posting is about a ride at Disneyland (Anaheim California) called the haunted mansion.

Some background: In the Haunted Mansion ride, you are taken to a large dining room. In the room are a lot of ghosts engaging in various activities. The ghosts disappear and reappear at various moments. This effect is done by reflecting images of the ghosts on a huge window pane. You cannot see this window unless you really look for it. I cannot accurately say how big this window is.....its just really big.

Anyways, about 10 years ago, a friend of mine worked at Disneyland and said that on the window was a painted cobweb. But if you look closely, this cobweb actually covers a break in the glass. She wasn't quite sure how the crack got there - maybe someone on the ride threw something at the glass.

I always wondered why Disney never had it in their budget to replace the glass - although the crack is in a corner and it really does look like cobwebs.

I find out later that the glass is really huge and the ride was basically built around this pane of glass. Therefore, it would be a pain (pun intended) to replace the glass - major portions of the ride must be dismantled to replace the glass.

But glass is a form of liquid. It is constantly flowing downwards because of gravity. Look at the old cathedrals in Europe and you will see ripples similar to water in the glass because of the "flowing".

I'm sure Disney is aware of this and has some sort of Haunted Mansion glass fund that will be used sometime in the future to replace the glass.

My First Blog - My First Posting

My name is Darren: Great intro huh? Anyways, I've been on the sidelines watching this whole blogging thing seem to evolve into a popular topic when it comes to the internet. Ok. I've decided to start a blog mainly because its Free.

Also, because I've been keeping a journal throughout my life and only write in the journal on trips or rare occasions. I like to write. But not in my journal. But I think with a blog and the perception that people are actually reading it (maybe) and the pressure that readers want new content, it will force me to at least post some sort of topic each week.

Topic? I don't know really. I've thought of some topics that I probably will write about. Each post will be on a different topic. And then in a few weeks, my next post might be on the same topic. Don't know.

Some of the topics might include my 20 plus years in a rock band.....my family.....my hobbies which include fishing, travel, writing, marketing, internet marketing..........

Another topic will be from my current employment. You see, I work in the custom shop at Fender Musical Instruments......In case you don't know what a Fender is......take a look at the instruments adorning the popular musicians......Its probably a Fender.....Fender is famous for their amps, guitars, and basses......And I am fortunate to work in the custom shop - the place where dreams are turned into reality. We've custom built guitars for all the top names including Eric Clapton, Sting, Eric Johnson, Robert Cray.......there are many stories (many funny) from this company and my department.....I will share in future posts....

I guess that's it for now....I just wanted to get my feet wet and make sure that this post gets saved somewhere and somehow....Let's see if it sticks.