 Alrighty. I don't know why it feels so good to say that. It's been a long time since I've made like a proper video about Canada's Wonderland. I know the podcast has still been going on, but yeah, a lot's been going on in my life, like truthfully, a lot. And a lot of it centers around Canada's Wonderland, a lot of it centers around, you know, the channel, and then there's some outside. But nonetheless, I want you guys to know that there's been lots of discussion going on about amusement insiders and its future, what I want for the channel, and kind of like these amazing, like I stress amazing ideas that I have for the channel. Some of them are old, some of them are new, and some of them are the same that are going on right now. So don't fret, nothing will change that you guys enjoy currently. But I thought what better way to discuss everything than kind of explaining my thought process and my anxiety to you guys. So I know a lot of you know my channel from the very beginning and a lot of you don't, but I started amusement insiders literally because I lost my 11 year career. I got laid off a bit ago or ages ago, I don't even know, like it's been like six, seven years from an 11 year career that I was in love with, like absolutely in love with and had zero write ups, like it was like my dream. I drank the Kool-Aid, I like preached this company everything. And I guess you know when you work there for 11 years and my district manager 20 years and she got laid off and then I got laid off, it was a culture shock. Luckily I received you know a really big payout and I was able to not work for two to three years. And in those two to three years amusement insiders literally blossomed from spotting the track to making like daily construction updates, daily construction updates and going to the park every single day. And back then I only went to the park for 30 minutes. I drive all the way up, go in, film a construction update and leave. That is what consisted of amusement insiders. And then slowly I met people and people knew me and I got to talking and they got to talking and slowly but surely like a family was forming and some people were permanent fixtures in my life and some people were temporary and this was a lesson that I had to learn and I'm still learning. And that is one of my biggest struggles with amusement insiders, learning and trusting who is permanent and learning and trusting who is temporary. And that is really difficult for a channel like myself who and a person like myself who is trying to form bonds and trust and commitment and just even like a team that I can trust with information. And that is a really key part of amusement insiders and I'll touch on that in a bit. But that has been the hardest part of amusement insiders, people coming and going and I think it's no surprise to anyone who truly knows me and has seen the people coming and going, coming and going, coming and going and me forgiving and getting angry, forgiving and getting angry, forgiving and getting angry that I have attachment issues. I have a therapist and I do go to therapy and it is something that I've learned in the last six months that I do attach and I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am an empath and all of this mixed together is a recipe for disaster mentally and I feel it and I've felt it and it is creating a disaster. I don't trust anyone. Anyone that wants to be friends with me or reaches out to me and wants to hang out, I always assume the worst. And you know what? I have every right to and it's something that will take me a long time to overcome and I'm aware of that now. I know that not everyone is bad and I know that not everyone has ill intentions but when I have a channel like amusement insiders and it does have benefits, it is really hard to figure out who is a true friend and who is a fake friend. And I'm not going to touch on this subject at all because this person and I are talking again and you know things are going really good and they're doing amazing and they deserve only the best now and always but I lost someone for a while for a bit that I thought was you know the right thing and it destroyed me like nothing has ever destroyed me in my life. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't work, I couldn't go to Wonderland, I couldn't anything. And that was a big realization for me and that's all I'm going to say on that but I'm very happy with the way things are going and I'm very happy for this person and yeah like so for those of you who have been wondering where the content's been, that's a part of it. I haven't had the energy or the courage or you know I guess the support is a key thing the support keyword to go to Wonderland and want to go to Wonderland and film construction updates and film my speculation videos and all that but what's really interesting is it's evident that I'm struggling and some of you viewers have been reaching out to me and some of you I've met up with. Some of you have sent me really interesting messages and some of you go to school for some things relating to social media and some of you have expertise in the areas that I lack and I made a promise on my podcast I think three weeks ago where I wanted to open the channel up to the community and I meant this but with things going on in my life I was focusing on my mental health and how to live this new life and who to trust and who not to trust and all this jazz that comes with being amusement insiders or I guess in general social media because I bet you a lot of youtubers and a lot of social media people go through this same thing who to trust and who not to trust and being used and and stuff I've kept all of this a secret from even my friends in fact this video is going to be probably a shock to my friend group even and that says something that really does say something but I've had some really good meetings and some good talks with people in the field working in the amusement industry working and going to school for social media and photography and videography and I'm making moves I guess you could say because I don't have the freedom that I had two years ago where I don't have to work I have a salary job now I work a nine to five essentially five days a week salary and that takes up my life and then amusement insiders has become second and it doesn't it's not second mentally it's one of my favorite accomplishments in life literally and I'm not going anywhere in fact I am ensuring that amusement insiders only grows and that we cover the amusement industry and not just Canada's wonderland and that when I do cover Canada's wonderland it is in a new light new definition a new era no more hiding behind a screen no more hiding how I feel no more laziness I want to elevate the channel so that when you guys are looking for coverage on something that I am still and will be the place to go for information and this is important to me and this is coming back to why I struggle with trust and who to let in on my team it is no surprise to anyone that because of the channel and what I cover and all that that yes you end up any channel that you know is the main channel of their home park or the main channel of something they're going to get sources they're going to get information they're going to have a whole team of people that are always scouring the web looking up information left right and center and I'm not kidding or over exaggerating when I say amusement insiders is literally an operation there are people that look up shipping containers there are people that look up um trademarks there's people like it's it's a whole process like um the sources I have in the community are I'm very fortunate and I'm not going to say for which parks but there are a couple parks where I know the 2024 editions now and I can't leak them I can't post blueprints that you have access to it's a lesson you learn when you're covering a park because there are always consequences so you have to learn and you have to adapt to how you can leak things and when you can leak things but those around me that I do trust very closely have seen some of the things that I have on my phone and it is scary who is temporary and who is permanent and learning that for the team because there are certain things you can show people and know okay this is staying and there are certain things you can show people and then they end up getting out because they were only temporary and that again just to stress is the scariest thing I live with operating this channel it's gone to the point where I hide things from my friends now I don't tell my friends or people close to me even some of the stuff I know because I'm so terrified of waking up tomorrow and just not knowing that it's gonna get out but with that being said I have started meeting people that I don't consider friends yet or you know for the strict purpose of business and you know I'm starting start utilizing contracts and stuff like that NDAs so legally it protects you know the information and amusement insiders and then them as well the other side and this is going to allow the channel to flourish a lot more than it is right now because if I could describe the channel currently it is chaotic like it is those movie sequences when the file drawers are all open and there's information and company information out and the company's desperately shredding it that is amusement insiders and it's not that someone's coming after us no it's not it's not that dramatic but it's definitely gotten to the point where I've had no structure is the keyword structure there's no structure with amusement insiders it's a big group of people in discord that I trust and in my friend group and I just spit out information that I really shouldn't be spitting out and then it gets out and it has gone out and then I get like really disappointed when another channel covers it or I'm even just scared that another channel is going to cover it because I busted my butt off for those sources and that information so unfortunately in the last three weeks I've completely shut myself down and shut myself out of my own friend group because that's how scared and untrusting I am and I'm gonna again work on it I'm working on it but I wanted to come out and say and I guess admit that yes things are chaotic right now and there's no structure with amusement insiders and I feel it and I bet you guys feel it too like truthfully I go from daily uploads to once a week sometimes not even once a week that's not structure I do the podcast some weekends and then don't the other that's not structure that's signs of someone struggling you know with anxiety and depression and having no control over it and you know you guys pay the price and I'm a perfectionist and that bothers me when I know that I'm messing up and people are aware that I'm messing up so I'm really thankful for some of the people I've met in the last two to three weeks because some of the best business ideas and channel ideas have come out of people I don't even know yet and I have really exciting plans like truthfully and I'm super excited to step outside of my comfort zone like actually step outside my comfort zone I want the videos to be truthfully me in them not this where there's a screen and you hear my voice I want you guys to see the real me and I want you guys to see some other people as well I am going to build a real amusement insiders community other talent other creators other people other thoughts other thought processes and I really want you guys to enjoy it because it's going to be exciting and not only that I'm really excited just for you guys to see an improvement in what we're covering not just construction updates I want you guys to see honestly the heart of Canada's Wonderland because I feel like as enthusiasts we get really blinded by these glasses that we wear of our wants and needs and we forget how great of a park we have and I am a part of that problem you know tundra twister is a really good example of that lazyberry lodge is another great example of that no matter how great of an investment the park builds we're all still really upset about something for no reason our standards sometimes are really high but that's a whole another video I'll make because I have thoughts and I have been really stressed lately about some of the things I've been seeing in the community on Canada's Wonderland but I want to really take some of these new people that are going to be joining the team and use them their talents not use them that sounds really bad with the context of the video but I want to utilize their ability and talents to show you guys a different side of Canada's Wonderland and when I tell you that I've been sitting down having conversations and brainstorming some really really cool ideas I'm not kidding now these ideas are not going to be released tomorrow or this week or maybe even next week some of them are starting filming next week and it's going to take a bit because you know I have an editor I have someone that wants to edit for the channel I have someone that wants to film for the channel and I've been holding off on that because you know I am stuck in this really weird place where the channel is at a point where it requires daily content and it requires daily work but I also have a daily job a salary job and the channel doesn't make enough to cover you know focusing on only the channel but if I do both and I hire a team that the channel is going to start finally moving forward again and stop being stagnant I will hit 50,000 subscribers by the year 2025 that is my goal 50,000 subscribers by 2025 that is what I'm going to aim for and I am going to do everything in my power to hit that number and prove to you guys that I can be structured and that I can be the content creator that you hit that subscribe button for the I want to be that person that you guys are all DMing rooting for the person that you are stopping in the park rooting for telling me how much my content means to you telling you telling me how much the podcast means to you how happy it's made you how much the podcast means to you because it's something to look forward to and I have failed you like and it's not on purpose and I know that you guys don't view it that way and you guys sometimes are way too supportive of me truthfully I chose to be a content creator I can hit delete on this channel if I don't like it if this truthfully overwhelms me I can hit delete and quit but I'm not going to do that and I'm sick of waking up in the morning and knowing where I'm failing on this channel or holding it back as a person and doing nothing to change it it's time that I start moving forward as an individual and as a channel and challenge both myself and you as viewers help me help you and let me help you I want nothing more than to succeed on this next goal I've set myself I want to make content almost daily again and once I get structure that'll be achievable so my first goals to tackle in the next 30 days are to build a structured system for my team myself and create a whole system that then I can train and utilize to hire and bring on talent to my team to assist me in getting daily content out there I want to find and this is the keyword the right people that aren't looking to profit off of you guys I know people and I have people that their sole interest is to profit and that gives me the ick and I remember not to say I'm not going to say anything specific but I had to sit down with a theme park person and they asked me what I wanted and I said you know I don't want a free season pass I don't want a free meal plan I don't want free all season fast lane I want behind the scenes content I want content that I can show my viewers that is beneficial to them in turn for not you know leaking certain things that is truthfully what I want it would mean nothing more than me to be able to work closer with theme parks in North America to showcase them better and that benefits my audience and not me and I know it in turn that my channel is always going to benefit me so you know that's that's also a weird way of wording things but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say here which also brings me to my third point once I have structure and once I have a wonderland team I am bringing back the North American influencer team and I'm not going to launch it all at once like I did before I'm on the media list for you know a good portion of theme parks in North America and it's time that I find the right talent to join the channel and vlog their experiences at those parks and showcase what's new it's also time that I start covering some of the stuff at parks in North America as well there's two parks for example in the cedar fair chain where I know exactly what they're getting in 2024 and it's time that I start covering that so Kings Island carolins I'm coming for you I'm kidding but nonetheless I truthfully am super excited for the future of amusement insiders and I promise you guys it's only going to get better from here I don't want to say too too much and I don't want to promise too too much but my main focuses are structure team and goals and you're going to see it starting next week we begin filming and I'm going to show you a different style of amusement insiders no more just construction updates no more just survey markings that's staying and that will always stay because that is one of my key interests so please don't take it as me being like I'm over that no but you're going to see business covered about cedar fair in a whole new light I'm talking to someone right now that I just started talking to and they started talking about their interest in the business side of the theme park and how they rid up this whole cedar fair business plan and they're probably watching right now but honestly that just like reminded me of me when I first started the channel and I truthfully want to talk to this person more about you know potentially coming on the podcast and discussing a lot of business sides of things and not just being wonderland but cedar fair is a business theme parks is a business wonderland is a business and going really in depth and even having some videos discussing all this so these are just some ideas and there are some really cool ideas I refuse to say in today's video just because I'd rather it be a surprise when they come up but I promise you guys you're about to see a whole different side of amusement insiders and it's gonna stay like this so let me build my structure over the next week or two and hopefully you guys enjoy the content that starts coming out next week in the week after and honestly join the discord server join the discord server and put your suggestions in the suggestions tab talk to me give me any sort of feedback I am honestly open to everything as long as you're not crapping on me and trying to hurt my mental health I am gonna listen if you have constructive feedback I have always listened I've taken ideas half the ideas you've seen lately are from viewers giving me ideas so again I'm really excited and I want this to be a true community project I want to provide exactly what you guys are looking for which involves elevating myself but I think I've rambled enough this is the problem with me I refuse to script myself and when you refuse to script yourself you end up ranting and rambling and saying things sometimes that maybe you shouldn't but nonetheless there's my rant and ramble and again thank you for believing in me to me it always seems like you guys believe in me a little too much and I don't deserve the amount of credit you guys give me but it honestly means the world to me how much you guys support me how much you guys look up to my content and just the kind things that you guys say like it goes a long way yeah especially these last three weeks but yeah I really appreciate it I'm not gonna let you guys down have a good one guys see you in the next video bye