Evermore (first half)

Hey, Jenny, you are doing some fantastic quality analysis on themed attractions; as good as anyone I've read (hence me joining the Patreon), so I hope you can power through this one even if it's not so fun anymore. I wish professional outlets were paying you for this in-depth look. (You probably do too.)

Brian Tatosky

Omg at 25 seconds in, that is Logan Long who competed on Face Off on SyFy! His IG is @Logan_Claybeard

Stephanie Guzman

Joining Jackson on this!! I know this one is a ton of work, and I'm looking forward to the finish. Worth the wait!

Megan Lloyd

Hey Jenny! In your most recent ramble you mentioned being tired of working on the evermore video and I just wanted to comment on this preview to say how excited I (and I'm sure everyone following the Patreon) is to see the video when it's complete and the time you've taken on it is really appreciated! I love your dedication and passion for topics like this and I can't wait to see the full project

Jackson Hudak

lol, i remember i started a new career the day this was uploaded on patreon and i remember watching it. lol crazy to think all the stuff that's happened in between.

Creamer

Evermore is so weirdly fascinating to me. It's that combination of an idea I'm really into (a D&D LARP theme park) and terrible execution (poor planning and mismanagement). I can't get enough of it!

Benny N

I just joined this tier of the patreon and have been fully convinced that evermore was a vampire diaries themed theme park this whole time so this was an exciting video for me

Shan Bro

Still pining for part 2 of this video. Hope we get it someday. 💜

Lily Berry

Was the second half ever posted? If it was I can't find it

Andrew maresh

"EverFear" cracks me up so much, the dramatic look in your eyes when you say it lmao

Sarah M

! I did the Star Wars VOID at Disney Springs!! It was neat!

Sara

That voice for the king's "most trusted advisor" was so spot on

new to jenny`s patreon here! sad to hear about the void, i went there in december 2019 in disney springs, it was pretty damn expensive but very cool & my dad who is a long time star wars fan was totally starstuck by the star wars VR they offered. if we ever go back to disney im gonna have some bad news to break to him :( but really it was the bad business management that led to it`s closing, for once i don`t blame disney for terminating their lease. glad i got to enjoy it while it was there.

Cool Sausage

Please do! I’ve also made some friends with people who work/ed at the park through this D&D project, so if you want contacts or people to talk to about what it was like working there, I can send you their Instagrams. They’re mostly makeup artists, but I know at least one actor, and he was great.

Ariana Tolbert

Oh man I might take you up on that! I'll shoot you a DM if so

Jenny Nicholson

Oh, that’s good to know. We did have some audio so it makes me feel a little better to know that would have been a problem anyway. We tried everything, offered to pay an employee to “babysit,” told them we would make them an ad with what footage we got (which actually turned out really nice, like professional grade), we tried everything. We figured they’d be desperate enough to take any amount of money or help, but alas. Seems like they’d rather let the park die. I drive past it often and the land around it is so sad. If there’s any footage you missed or wish you had, let me know and I’d be happy to help. Happy editing!

Ariana Tolbert

That sounds like Evermore! Fwiw the tavern would be terrible to film in unless you planned to use no on-set sound because the echo is bonkers. But from what you're describing maybe you just needed visuals But 7k is insane and I swear they make up their rates on the spot. (I've asked former employees out of curiosity what people pay to rent the park and heard anything from $800 to $3000.) The park sits empty 70% of the time and they'd only need to pay a security guy to unlock the gate and follow you around I half wonder if, had I linked my YouTube channel, they would have emailed me back and quoted some high number figuring I'd pay it, since I've noticed all the people who do successfully rent it out seem to have a few hundred thousand subs

Jenny Nicholson

I’m just now seeing this video as I am new to Jenny’s Patreon. I live 20 mins away from Evermore, and am an advertising student at a nearby university. I was on a team for a student spec ad campaign for D&D, and we tried every. Method. Possible. To get in touch with SOMEONE at Evermore to film there, as it would be the perfect location. We often never got replies from emails and forms, and when we did, they wanted $7,000 for us students to film in the tavern on an off day. So frustrating. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the rest of the review, but so far, everything checks out with what I know about that place.

Ariana Tolbert

Wow, this is crazy! Evermore is only 4 miles from my house and I didn't know most of the stuff. It's amazing how much of a failure this has been! Comic-con does amazing here, you have a huge population of fantasy loving families, college students, and church groups that are always looking for something to do on the weekends! This should not be as much of a failure as it is.

why did i think this was about taylor swift's evermore?

bananabutter

i can't stop thinking about how there were at least 93 bullet points on that lawsuit

Marmaduke

wait at first i thought the dragon puppet was some bizarre social media advertisement for the park but then i listened more closely and holy shit was that kevin perjurer??????

Lauryn Goates

I produce and run weekend LARPs and the entire story of Evermore gives me stomach grinding anxiety and frustration

Thorn

I'm watching this over a month late, having just jumped to a higher Patreon tier, and it's riveting! I'd never heard of Evermore, but (as Nick Holland described it above) the promise of a "PG rated Westworld" had me excited until you laid out all the missteps. I was a little worried about spoiling the full version for myself, but now I'm looking forward to re-watching this part all over again. Nice job!

Richard Reeves

Well this is quite an adventure! I can’t wait to see more, lol. It’s such a great idea, shame about, you know, everything else.

Emma Tindall

I can't wait for the rest of this video!

Jackson Everdeen

Thanks for creating this video. It’s interesting to have all the history of Evermore collected in one place. I live in Salt Lake about 40 minutes North of Evermore. I’d been following their progress since it was first announced in 2014, it sounded like an ambitious and interesting concept. When they opened, I went down once each season with a group to see how it was working and, apart from one or two interactions, was mildly disappointed that it didn’t live up to expectations, but like most locals have commented figured they’d get it sorted eventually. Then, we just happened to go down for the evening known as “The darkest night”. The clips of people running and screaming don’t really give a true feel of the evening. In reality, the effect built over the course of the evening and that bit at the end where people were being ushered out of the gates came across as the culmination of the evening rather than a surprise out of the blue. Discussing it afterwards in our group we all thought “Yup, they finally nailed it as an immersive experience”. I was surprised to learn later that it didn’t go down so well with some. That evening encouraged me to go back weekly for the next season in costume (something I had never done anywhere before). I think that the Lore and Aurora 2019 seasons were as close to being a PG rated Westworld type experience that you could have expected. However, I did wonder how they could be making money. They had a cast of 50 or more front line actors plus all the support staff, and the experience seemed not entirely targeted at a casual audience. Next time I went back was, I think, maybe the same weekend that Jenny was there. The same group of friends went, and it just wasn’t the same place. We were quite disappointed. There were maybe a third of the staff, less intricate plot, and overall, it did feel targeted more at the local casual family guest. From reports I have heard it does appear like that approach may be working for the park though. It seems they are getting more people to go. It also sounds like they have been adding more plot back in too. Maybe it will allow them to remain viable and eventually have as much depth as it once had. Who knows? I do intend to go back maybe once each season again to see how it’s going, but I’m really glad I got to experience it at what may have been peak immersion.

Nick Holland

Jenny, I CRAVE the rest of this video. As a long-time immersive experience fan and creator, I've always been interested in the twisting tale of Evermore's history. I've watched the first hour of your video 3 times now, and every rewatch I get more baffled at how strange the decisions have been from upper management. 95% of these weird missteps could have been avoided with the SMALLEST tweaks. The park has quite beautiful bones, with so much potential for incredible experiences. I can't wait to see the rest and your first-hand experience at the park! <3

These previews are immersive non-theatrical experiences 🎭

Shred Cadmium

It's pretty sad that so many of this park's problems should be resolved by common sense. I mean the founder should have some inkling of customer service for all of the haunts and VR sets he's hosted/founded. It's a shame because otherwise the park is a fantastic idea. It just needs someone with a little more experience designing a theme park like this. Maybe some day, a former Disney imagineer or someone of similar caliber can work for them and give them tips on how to make it a better experience. EDIT: okay, I've gotten to the Taylor Swift part where a dragon puppet is unironically discussing the ways in which she violated Evermore's copyright. These guys are toast unless the CEO sells it and new park owners save it.

Lory

It honestly took me way too long to realise that the dragon reading the legal jargon was not a weird social media post for the park

So incredibly pleased by this video! I have been curious about Evermore for a while, and so glad you're taking it on as a topic. Really grateful for how much work you've put into this from research to high femme costume looks to editing, this is just such a gift honestly.

Becca H

Huh. I live in Utah and have also never heard of Evermore. And in Pleasant Grove?! Absolutely awful choice. We have Lagoon in Farmington, which is an actual amusement park, so it seems quite ambitious to think he could rival a popular local park that's been open for over 100 years. Now that I know it exists though, I'll probably drag a friend there during Fall just because of your video Jenny!

"your grace he means you harm" <3

who is counting

Jenny I am just here to say I am delighted the big spider got a flower crown.

Sasha

The medieval manuscript people in the title card for part 3 (at 8:22) using VR gear lol. A nice touch!

Rushka Unverricht

*starkid dumbledor voice* what the hellll is a evermore?

Rae Leo

Theatre kids and their consequences

Alex Cook

He looks so much like him and initially I thought he was a son or brother (many of the other people seen working the booth are Bretschneider's adult children) but he's actually not as far as I can tell. But he must be a longtime friend because he plays a major character in Bretschneider’s (terrible) film Unicorn City, made years prior

Jenny Nicholson

I've been wondering: who is the guy in the top hat? The "You're gonna get off the boat" guy. Early on I thought he was the same guy as Bretschneider but now I'm pretty sure he's someone else.

Jerry Nicholson

It hurts how cool this place sounded 😭 we can dream I guess. I also feel the need to say that I genuinely love a numbered list 😊

Not a lawyer, but in terms of defamation law, which is what she would be most worried about here, opinion is 100% protected, whereas factual statements, if they are untrue and damaging, are not. This doesn’t mean you can turn a fact into an opinion by adding “in my opinion”, but it can be helpful to clarify the intent when something could be read either way.

Jackson Bockus

That sounds incredible

Jenny Nicholson

It literally seems like he picked a suburban city in Utah just because he didn't want to commute more than 30 min from his house to work on it, and stubbornly refused to consider any other location even as it became increasingly apparent the plot of land was not really going to work out

Jenny Nicholson

I can't get over how poorly thought out this was. Utah has about 3 million people, which is your population base for a modest theme park as it won't draw people from elsewhere. You might get some tourists but the problem is the tourists come to that part of Utah in the winter for skiing when the park is closed. That population is not enough to sustain a park like this. To draw people to the region you really do have to make a Disneyland scale park. Even then I don't think it would be sustainable. It really just goes to show that tech millionaires/billionaires think they are smarter than they actually are because they got lucky and made some money.

Kyle Williams

TELL ME WHY THE WINDCHIME MUSIC TOOK ME OUT

Julie Adams

THE GRID seems like it could have easily been a home run? I know the combination arcade/VR experience is really popular in tourist areas of Japan, although I can't say whether they're actually profitable. When the Void popped up I was excited to see that concept arrive in the US but alas... This dude Bretschneider seems really dedicated to overpromising and under-delivering.

AK Barratt

Can't wait for 2023, when Ken Bretschnieder drags Evermore plank by plank over the mountains so it can relocate to Wyoming.

Isaac Lawton

WHO WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT THE GRID!!

Conor

It's the Fitzcarraldo of theme parks

Jerry Nicholson

This is such a fascinating "what not to do" of executing and promoting an ambitious creative endeavor. One has to wonder if Mr. Bretschneider is surrounded by yes-men who endorse his every bad idea or if there really is some evil vizier lurking somewhere. As always, very well considered and delivered content!

Every part of this is a big red "bad marketing" flag. - No physical advertising (billboards are cheap? Err pizza boxes are cheaper?) - No website (and he made his money in tech) - Social media battle (omg what) - Unannounced events (could be a huge draw to the park - turn every story beat into a press release and the news companies become incidental advertisers for months or years - and you're giving them free content to fill slow news days.) - What little marketing exists is totally misleading. (The Grid could get them sued for misleading ads.) (added later) This place seriously needs marketing people to get their message out and get paying customers through the portal. (edit) It's like Mr. Bretschneider made this park as a year-round extension of his Halloween festivities, and its main purpose is to entertain his friends and family - and paying guests are merely icing on that cake. Looking at the red and blue tracks for The Grid, and hearing the "holodeck" marketing - first guess is go-karting with VR goggles on. (also added later) But even if they could get the VR tech to keep up with the karts at 40mph, it's still wildly unsafe to be blindly controlling a vehicle at that speed, with controls that also control a racing video game on a digital copy of the same track - and the risk for injury from confusion would be legallly prohibitive.

Stephen Gillie

Looks like old Brutal architecture, especially with the unfinished concrete. And the exposed ceiling with drop lights halfway down are like hipster catnip.

Stephen Gillie

The least they could have done was have actors re-enact The Matrix Lobby Scene with Nerf dart guns every hour or so.

Stephen Gillie

I know lol I'm really thinking of cramming in some short reaction-style vids for the halloween season cause I don't want it to become routine to put out like 2 videos a year

Jenny Nicholson

Maybe it was only me because no one else seems to have mentioned it but you're 100% right that the "night evermore went dark" clips are jarringly reminiscent of real life attacks. To the point that hearing them without warning shook me up a bit. I listen while I'm doing other things so I don't know if you had a visual warning on screen but a bit more notice might be nice. I'm probably just especially sensitive but I thought I'd mention it. Love the video so far and I can't wait to watch the whole thing!

Andrew Guthy

I don't understand why Bretschneider just didn't shake it off

Luis

This is SO good!! As someone who watched both parts of the initial Evermore previews the new additions are SO good I love it! This is VERY unrelated, but have you heard of Other world? It's a cool art experience in Columbus Ohio that you can like wander around and apparently there's a whole story to it if you figure it out...? It's pretty big because they took over a big portion of an abandoned strip mall to make like these like 40 trippy crazy set playground spaces. It's really cool, I don't know if it's worth coming out all the way to Columbus Ohio, but it's something to think about if you're ever trapped in the Midwest. There's even a mascot plush named Snort and I'm obsessed with him.

Beepski Meepski (Ashley)

Bradley Kenstevekylechetbretschneider

Jerry Nicholson

Looking great so far!

Alex Karassavidis

It took a while to settle in my brain that the Evermore guy's name is Bretschneider and not Brett Schneider. I'll often get absorbed while watching the longer previews and half forget that there won't be a proper conclusion, so when I suddenly remember near the end or the video stops on a cliffhanger I feel a bit like letting out a Captain Kirk "Khaaaaaan!" scream. It's going to be interesting seeing how Jenny's visit to the park went given the ominous foreshadowing so far!

Rushka Unverricht

I love how what started as a shorter vid to tide us over until the Barbie movie review has evolved into a multi-hour takedown of a theme park I had never heard of. Very on brand. *chefs kiss*

Woody Sims

THIS NEEDS TO BE ON PODCAST: THE RIDE!!! Hot takes from Jenny and the Good Boys!

T. Fazekas

Also, "Lobby". That is truly hysterical :)

Aaron Smith

I'm torn between genuine sympathy for the dream that would not be, and feelings of repulsion about the entrepreneur. Dude gives off a weird dark vibe. That guy on the radio interview describing the holodeck? That shit was ten times more horrifying than Lore 2017.

Aaron Smith

Maybe it's just 'cause I recently watched "The Greatest Showman" for the first time, but I'm getting more of a P. T. Barnum vibe than a Walt Disney vibe from Bretschneider, in spite of him clearly wanting to be associated with the latter. ... IN MY OPINION.

Michael Harle

That empty bare concrete space in The Grid sure does feel like they built the facade four feet too far forward and didn't notice until it was too late to start over.

Isaac Lawton

This is fantastic, and I'm so excited to see the rest! Also, I am low-key dying at how they misspell Pleasant Grove in the Contact Us page of their website.

Anastasia

That’s Perj doing the voice of the dragon, right???

Rachel Cook

When I got to your impression of the evil advisor to the king I nearly died laughing lo. Really amazing work! Even if your videos take a little longer, they're still *so* good

Luis

Gosh now I get to repeatedly listen to this super cut in anticipation!! I’m so happy you decided to upload another preview!

Hayley Penso

Someone mentioned Evermore today at work and I launched into a recitation of everything I’ve learned in your previews and was met with blank stares. My social cred is ON. THE. RISE. ✨

Mouskemeg

I did see some of this in an earlier video but I have to say, it did really surprise me to learn that the guy in charge of Evermore also created The Void. I honestly had always assumed Evermore was just a permanent Renaissance Faire and thus was created by some Ren Faire folks.

Rachel Cook

Wow, I had already forgotten about the whole Taylor Swift album lawsuit thing, and I say this as a decently big Taylor Swift fan!

Shiny Skunk

What is up with that knapped stone knife in the lower right? Tip pointing at Jenny,

ThereMakeBeSnakes

I feel like I just listened to an hour of dubstep and got cut off one second before the beat dropped 😆

Marissa Collins

You made my Alexa turn on my lamp even though my lamp's name is definitely not "Gamer Lights."

Kevin Wright

This is already so good that the ending of this was practically a cliff hanger

there's a clip missing at 58:21 i think

roses are red violets are blue pickleball is dumb and golf sucks too

I thought the same thing! Like "that's a pretty suspicious date..."

Only about halfway. I try to switch off recording and editing with long videos Also one of the last segments was the one I was the most worried about legally and I didn't want to have to totally re-record it

Jenny Nicholson

*evermore insta and Twitter hasn’t been active since Jan 5th/6th respectively* Omg please tell me this is unrelated to something else that happened on Jan 6th…

IHateBerwald

Keeping the elf ears on with the hoodie and baseball cap was brilliant...IN MY OPINION

Luis

Is filming of the second half completed? just wondering

roses are red violets are blue pickleball is dumb and golf sucks too

He visually reminds me so much of Benioff in game of thrones behind the scenes videos. Also even though the dragon puppet is playing the lawyer I bought it cause its eyebrows reminded me of his

Jenny Nicholson

Ken Bretschneider's hair looks incredible

Jerry Nicholson

Love this, can't wait for the full video

Arron Glass

The defunctland cameo really threw me

i tend not to think things are worth the wait; this was *well* worth the wait

Austin Rearick

Video looking real good so far. btw at 58:20 the video briefly goes black for a second or two

Paul Ganzevoort

it's so easy to update web pages, it's not computer science, it's end user stuff...

Brian L Hughes

As someone who lives in Utah, I can confirm that I had never heard of Evermore until the first preview video

Caden Meyer

I don't care about true crime documentaries but I'm super invested in the intrigue of this weird theme park I will never visit.

Trystan

It's The Griiiiiid!!!!!

Michael Harris

So excited for the full video!!

Gian Balangue

I am, indeed, impressed by Jenny's WPM and lack of typos in her re-enactment of her email to Evermore. I had to correct no fewer than seven typos in this comment before posting, so, go Jenny.

Dan Gibbins

Jenny, you are the only person who can make me so interested in such a unknown train wreck like this. Can't wait for the full project. <3

The puppet dragon reading legal complaints brought me more joy than anything has in weeks. And then the puppet put on reading glasses, and... [chef's kiss] beautiful.

Dan Gibbins

1:06:20 Impressed ;) Edit: Seriously tho, can't wait for the 2nd half. (Hope we'll get some Evermore found footage horror stuff).

Yoav Fine

AMAZING video so far I had no idea there was so much drama behind this park! Can't wait to see the rest.

Luis

My night is really made with this post! The spoiler warning about the staff is sad to see though and has piqued my curiosity even further about a topic I'm obsessed with anyway.

SweetAlissum

This is looking amazing so far!! I love the longer videos and have watched the VPD one multiple times too. I love the touches on the title/part cards (like the googles on the one for the void). Your attention to detail is marvellous as always.

Mimosa

Just me waffling back and forth over whether to watch it now or wait for the whole thing to release

Mouskemeg

Cliffhanger, how delicious

Anessa B

So good so far! Can't wait to see the rest 💕

Nathan Jefferis

This is so awesome! Can’t wait to see the final product, take your time because the quality is really shining through!

Andrew Sasala

I am far too invested in this park I will never visit

Mel Curtis

"This lawsuit was not only a bad move, it was probably the worst and stupidest financial decision that could have ever been made." I was half-expecting that to be followed up with an 'IN MY OPINION'.

Bryan Sutton

Was the "IN MY OPINION" text a suggestion from your lawyers? I'd be so curious to know what legal experts had to say about the legal aspects of making this video.

Eric MacMillan

I like your Midsommar getup

Chris Dearing

LOVE the long formats!! Thanks for all your hard work, content like this has honestly made covid so much more bearable 💕

kduds

Oooh I’m gonna wait for the whole thing!

Kristina

One hour for just the first half. Majestic.

Ooh boy it's like a birthday present! This definitely gonna be longer than the VPD video though huh? (I mean this positively) Having one large video definitely makes more sense then several parts, esp. with the chapter breakups on the video progress bar (time bar? idk what to call it)- those make it a lot easier to rewatch

Winona Honey

Whelp, I'm sleeping late.

Joe-Joe Louis

I've loved the first few parts and I am SO excited for the full thing 😁😁

A Targ

I almost exclusively watch long videos for all the reasons you've mentioned here and on Twitter. Take your time to finish it up! Can't wait to see the whole thing! (I'm still going to watch this preview, but only cuz I'm weak)

Jacob Yeavello

omg wasn't expecting this :D

Luis