\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIsabela Munoz-Castillo\/SeaWorld San Diego<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDo you have any memorable stories from hanging out with the artists before their show?<\/strong> \n\tBut then also getting to see their excitement as they interact with our animals is incredible. I mean, you get to see them have personal moments up close with a dolphin, a turtle, a beluga whale, an orca, and there\u2019s this moment of like, they are human. They may be this star, but they\u2019re still having a very natural moment with their family. And I think that\u2019s so cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tPlaza: Yeah, I would say the orcas in particular, those are orcas and penguins, for example. Involute is too, but orcas in particular, I have some great memories with, where that\u2019s such a magical, majestic animal. To watch an artist who has a wall up \u2014 not to say you\u2019re cold \u2014 as a protective measure\u2026we allow you to take the wall down. You go have this animal experience, it\u2019s just you and your family and some of our animal care specialists and Tyler or me or Tracy, and you get to be wowed and feel amazement, like, holy cow, I\u2019m next to an orca.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tJackie, you spoke about it, but I was wondering from both of you, what\u2019s your relationship with hip-hop? Are you lifelong listeners? \n\tPlaza: Tyler\u2019s from Southern California. I grew up in New York. I mentioned Queens, which is often considered the most diverse place in the entire world. And then I was in LA for 20 years, and I was in Long Island for High School. In these areas, hip-hop and R&B are just part of the staple of your life. There\u2019s music, and they\u2019re all connected to one another. So similar to Tyler, I grew up that way. That\u2019s everything that I listened to. And today I was at the gym and I listened to Hank Williams Jr., Tupac, Kendrick, and ended with Beyonce [Laughs<\/em>].<\/span> Hank Williams Jr. had a lot of blues, so there\u2019s more connection than you think, but that\u2019s just what I\u2019ve always loved. And I think part of it\u2019s the geographic area of where we come from.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhen I went to the website, I saw that the concerts were presented by Jam\u2019N 95. Can you speak to that partnership? Have they been involved in the summer series annually, or is it their first time? \n\tThis is a relationship we\u2019re building out longer term. And part of that comes with the marketing strategy of when you have an iHeart and you have a Jam\u2019N you automatically have a great channel to have an artist do press, to connect on social, to have somebody either announce the show, have some DJs\u2026it\u2019s really kind of cool too because it\u2019s grown from just Jam\u2019N down here in San Diego to 92.3 up in LA, they\u2019re coming down to a variety of shows. We\u2019re running spots with them, they\u2019re doing social around it. And then DJ Pup Dawg, who\u2019s a Boston iHeart guy, came out for this live show with Soulja Boy and Bow Wow. Similar to how hip-hop brings everybody together, it\u2019s creating this cool community where it\u2019s Jam\u2019N here, but it\u2019s also now other similar type iHeart stations nationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tHow collaborative is the booking process between you guys and iHeart?<\/strong> \n\tWhat is the interplay with SeaWorld National? Is there an approval process or do they just let you handle everything? <\/strong> \n\tWhat has been some of your favorite feedback that you\u2019ve seen regarding the series so far? <\/strong> \n\tPlaza: Yeah, the whole place is packed. Each one of these concerts has been at capacity in our stadium. We actually overflowed into what we call the waterfront area. [At] Ying Yang twins, there was a teenage boy who started dancing in the crowd. He was the first one to do it, and the whole crowd was cheering for him. And then last week, there was this little girl who just started dancing, probably like 10 years old. You see a mom and child dance, it\u2019s just so happy. It\u2019s outside, it\u2019s sunny. The artists interact in a different way than they do in a club. They\u2019re stoked to be there. Ying Yang said it was one of their favorite concerts in 25 years. Last year, Ginuwine was singing with a woman who had her birthday. So that\u2019s our favorite part, just watching the crowd reaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tThe Audience during Ying Yang Twins\u2019 performance<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhat was your reaction when you first heard that clips from the concerts were going viral on Twitter and Instagram? \n\tPlaze: The original business goal was to drive attendance, but we wanted some level of it to be something that takes off, particularly in Southern California, to go viral. To have this reaction not only for one week, but for multiple weeks, we feel honored. It\u2019s a neat thing for San Diego, particularly. We are not L.A., we\u2019re not getting all those major concerts. So for us [and] these artists who are so talented and are part of our series to get that play, all of us are happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn what ways do you feel like the series is bringing new demographics to the park? \n\tPlaza: Geographically, too, was one of our hopes. The concert series was like, will people drive down from L.A.? Will they come down from Orange County? Will they come from Phoenix? Most of our San Diego traffic comes from Southern California and the West Coast specifically. There\u2019s an Orlando SeaWorld, and there\u2019s one in Texas, where you kind of divide up the country. So we were looking at this as a chance to bring new people in to understand SeaWorld and to see it. It\u2019s really paid off. Sometimes I\u2019m psychotic and go onto our own Instagram backend, and I was resharing some things last week where it\u2019s like, \u201cCome on, L.A., everybody come down.\u201d So that\u2019s been neat to see where geographically, somebody who hadn\u2019t thought of SeaWorld in many years sees this concert lineup or sees a viral video and says, let me give this a try. I want to come down. And because Tyler and I are there every single week, I can recognize some of the same guests coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWho are some dream acts that you\u2019d like to have as a part of the series? <\/strong> \n\tCarter: Those are just a few of mine. I could go on and on. Obviously, Jackie named some great ones. I think it\u2019s just continuing to find artists that want to share their love of it with us, is the piece that we really enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIsabela Munoz-Castillo\/SeaWorld San Diego<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tGoing forward, this summer and beyond, do you anticipate the summer series being hip-hop oriented, or are you still mulling what you\u2019ll go with from year to year? \n\tPlaza: I have a feeling, too, that by that time we get to the end of the series, we\u2019re going to love it so much and everyone\u2019s going to love it so much that we will come back one way or the other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Carter: I have an interesting one. It\u2019s actually with more of the artist\u2019s family. When Baby Bash was here a couple of weeks ago, while he was doing soundcheck, I ended up taking his family on rides for the next two hours. And I ended up riding roller coasters \u2014 which, granted, I love coasters, so it\u2019s all good \u2014 multiple times. But then our water ride, Shipwreck Rapids, they just wanted to keep going on it. So we\u2019re in this same boat going through again. So I think that\u2019s obviously cool, getting to see the person also, and how much they care for their tribe that they bring with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Carter: So I listened to Ginuwine, obviously I listened to Bow Wow and Soulja Boy when he first came out with \u201cCrank Dat.\u201d I would say all of my life, from the beginning, when I think of school dances, proms, it\u2019s always been a part. Then, even being out in the community as an adult, it\u2019s always been a part of what I\u2019ve been able to experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Plaza: We have a wonderful partnership team here. iHeart San Diego was one of our partners last year for the summer concert series. Jam\u2019N is one of their stations. And so we wanted to return with iHeart. They were excited about this lineup. Last year, some of their radio talent would come, so they were really excited about this lineup. Jam\u2019N felt like the natural connection given that it\u2019s hip-hop and R&B, but it\u2019s been two years of iHeart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carter: We come to them once we have the lineup set, essentially. So we decide what the strategy is, what the artists are, and then from there, Jackie and her team work directly with the groups like iHeart. So our series was already set by the time we went to them.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Plaza: We brought it to them. It originated here, by enjoying it, seeing it, putting it together, packaging it up, and working collaboratively with them. But it\u2019s a SeaWorld San Diego production.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Carter: I\u2019d say the best feedback is being at the concert and seeing the overwhelming joy from the crowd that they\u2019re getting a moment to take a break from reality, to just live in a moment of positivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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Carter: Obviously,<\/strong> our goal is to provide an exciting experience for everyone, but it was a bit surprising at first. [Like], \u201cWow. Little SeaWorld San Diego coming out of nowhere with some cool things.\u201d But it\u2019s been cool to watch and see how many people are now getting more awareness of what the series is, what other concerts they want to see. They want to come back for multiple.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Carter: I do think our business is cross-generational, multicultural in general. Even if you look at our consumer event lineup in general, between Viva La Musica, Seven Seas is a food festival we host that features food from cultures around the world\u2026I think it\u2019s just continuing to find opportunities to bring everyone into the joy of what we believe our business does. These concerts are another way to do it. There have also been a lot of guests. We have a really large pass member base, and there are so many pass members I\u2019ve seen at these concerts that are just like, \u201cWe\u2019re so excited for next week. Thank you for having this.\u201d It brings everything together.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Plaza: Oh my God. How far can we go? Kendrick. Jay-Z. I can go more! [Laughs<\/em>] Wu-Tang was right down the street. Come on over here!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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<\/strong>Carter: I think we\u2019re still very early into the series, and we\u2019ve had great success so far. I think once we get through the series, we\u2019ll take a moment just to one, take a moment to breathe, like, \u201cOh my gosh, we made it through.\u201d But we\u2019re still exploring what next year and the future looks like. Our goal will be to continue to have a cohesive experience that reaches many people. I think it\u2019s just defining what that means in the future years. When I look at this lineup, there\u2019s moments I\u2019m like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe we got this lineup. How did we pull this off?\u201d But I mean, even if you look at our past years, even when it wasn\u2019t solely hip-hop, we have always had hip-hop as an integral part of our concert series.\u00a0<\/p>\n