All language subtitles for Casa Bonita Mi Amor 2024.WEB.H264-RBB

[glitching]

There's a feast!

There's a festival!

*There's a feastival

*At Casa Bonita!

[man VO] Why do so
many kids like Casa Bonita?

It's the rides!

Casa Bonita is the only
place of its kind in the world.

It's a fantastic
Mexican village,

alive with fun
and excitement.

Goodness gracias!

*There's a feastival

*At Casa Bonita

[parrot] Goodness gracias!

Psyched.

Fuckin' psyched.

I almost bailed
about half an hour ago,

and then I rallied.

Let's go eat some sopapillas.

*mellow curious music

We're back, honey!

[Matt] It's that--
it's that...

-that smell.
-[woman] It's horrible.

That Casa Bonita smell.

[woman, laughing] Ew!

Chlorine and beans!
[laughs]

Everyone that grew up in
this area of Colorado knew

Casa Bonita -- everybody.
But also, people even from,

like, Nebraska and Kansas
know about Casa Bonita.

You know, we don't
have Disneyland.

[Trey VO] People
call Casa Bonita

"the Mexican
restaurant Disneyland."

You walk in, and it's this...

Mexican village at night,
lost in time to the '70s.

It was this
magical town that you,

as a kid, could run
around and kind of explore,

and see what was in it.

[Matt] Ooh, there's spiders!

Oooh, look at that.

[kids chanting]

[Trey VO] There
are cliff divers,

and then there's, you
know, caves to explore...

***

You know, it just seems
to keep going forever.

And then, there's things
that don't quite make sense,

like a gorilla running
around... [chuckles]

and a sheriff that
might arrest you.

It made it feel like a dream.

[laughter]

It was absolutely my
favorite thing to do as a kid.

Yeah.

Because it was just--
part of it was just, like,

it was always--
when I was a kid,

it was a dream that one
day I could own Casa Bonita,

or, like...

Actually, this would have
been-- I was telling Toby--

[Matt] You probably
could own Casa Bonita.

Yeah, I-- I...

Lemme tell you: your
dreams can come true.

[Trey, laughing] I was
just gonna say that...

[dramatic whoosh]

[female reporter VO] Fans of
Casa Bonita have been missing

this iconic restaurant
for more than a year.

It's been closed
since the beginning of

the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, the
restaurant's parent company

filed for bankruptcy.

Court documents
show Casa Bonita faces

4.4 million dollars in debt.

[male reporter VO] Rumors
just began swirling that it

might never reopen again.

*upbeat Latin music

[dramatic whoosh]

*sparse curious music

[woman VO] There's a group of
people in Denver trying to save

Casa Bonita, 'cause we
just don't want it to go away.

[male reporter VO] When
it comes to Casa Bonita,

passions for keeping the
Lakewood staple open are strong.

I was actually very sad
that it was closed down;

I was like,
"No, I need to go there with

my family and my friends."

Jeff Todd on the story
in Lakewood tonight.

Jeff?

Jim, this is how many
people love this place.

The effort is to try and get the
restaurant open at some point

this summer.

[woman VO] Casa Bonita's
such a big, integral part

of Colorado tradition

that it would be really sad to
see all of the tradition gone.

[female reporter VO] Now,
we haven't actually confirmed

this, but...

Casa Bonita may
get some new owners,

and you wouldn't believe who
is rumored to be interested.

***

[Trey] How do we get the
bike parade cancelled?

How do you get
anything cancelled?!

You bitch about it
being insensitive!

[laughter]

Hey, yeah!

We can go to the mayor and--
and force her to cancel it!

What's offensive
about a bike parade?

"What's offensive
about a bike parade?"

Kyle!
You small-minded piece of shit!

We should cancel you
just for saying that!

[Matt] Oh, I get it!

[laughter]

You didn't tell me there
was Tegridy here, Mayor!

[Trey VO] I had heard that Casa
Bonita's closing down forever.

I mean, that would
really bum me out.

"You know, someone should
do something about that."

At first, it was
really just a "Hey,

there might be this
group trying to buy it,

and, oh..."

You know, I was just
immediately with Matt like,

"Oh, yeah, dude, we
gotta get in on that!

Like, let's do it!"

And that slowly became
"Okay, they're all out."

And so the kid in
me was just like,

"Hey, you wanna buy Disneyland?"
[laughing] You know what I mean?

It was just like,
"I could do that?!"

*mellow curious music

[laughs]

Ohhh!

[Trey] Careful!

[Matt] My kids would
fucking love this place.

How much would your
kids just love this?

[Trey] Oh, yeah!

For a kid, it's
just, like, endless.

You know, it seems endless.

It's pretty fucking big!

[Matt VO] Trey's into that
kind of stuff more than I am.

But now, I'm
like, "This is cool,

and this can be
super cool and

retain all of
that vintage vibe,

but, like, the
better version of it."

[Matt] And how many
people go through a day,

do you think,
on a busy day?

5,000 people come
in and out a day.

Yeah, definitely.

So nice to meet you, and I'm
sure we'll speak some time soon.

Trey and I were up all
night feverishly negotiating.

We're at the Governor's
Mansion; we're about to walk in!

Everyone's gonna
learn right now;

we're about to drop it.

We're gonna tell
the governor, like,

live on the-- like,
he won't even know.

[Gov. Polis VO] Now, on the
elephant in the room -- 'cause

this has been a big,
uh-- big deal in Colorado,

as you know.

We have taken our
kids to Casa Bonita,

I grew up going there...

[Matt laughs]

Coloradans would
love any details about,

you know, what's going on with
our iconic institution and...

We've come to, uh...

an agreement with the
owner, and we bought it.

Congratulations!

[cheers and applause]

Oh my gosh, congratulations!

That's awesome!

*breaking news music

[female reporter VO]
Breaking news this morning:

the creators of the popular
cartoon South Park say they've

reached an agreement
to purchase Casa Bonita.

[male reporter VO] Trey Parker
and Matt Stone are buying it for

$3.1 million.

[female reporter VO] The iconic
Mexican restaurant is featured

in a well-known season
seven episode of the show.

Well, it appears that Eric
here is responsible for Butters

missing because he
wanted to go to Casa Bonita!

What?

Eric, the South Park Police are
already on their way to here to

have a little talk with you!

But...
Stand back!

Cartman, stop it.

I...am going...to Casa Bonita!

[sirens]
It's too late, fat ass.

They'll be here in
less than a minute.

[grunting]

No!
Ahh!

[Cartman] Less than a minute!
Less than a minute!

[man] If, like, the younger self
of you could have known that you

guys would be
owners of Casa Bonita...

Oh...

It's the greatest
achievement of all time.

Yeah, [chuckling] I mean, I
don't know what could be better

-- like, owning
the Broncos, maybe?

Thank you!

[grunts] Okay.
Gotta get to Black Bart's Cave!

[grunting] Excuse me!
Excuse me!

Coming through!
Black Bart's Cave!

Oh, scary!

Look, a skeleton!

Oh, man, I'm so scared!

Oh, cliff divers!

C'mon, dive, asshole!

Oh, awesome!

[panting] Ooh, puppet show!

Ahh!

Cartman!
Whaa!

[grunting and panting]

All right, kid,
end of the line!

Yay!

Jesus Christ!

[coughing and sputtering]

Well, kid, you made
an entire town panic,

you lost all your
friends, and now,

you're going to
juvenile hall for a week!

[scoffs] Was it worth it?

Totally.

*upbeat Latin music

[male reporter VO]
Casa Bonita's gonna be

[clapping] back in business!

But hopefully, they don't
ruin the ambience of the place

because, you know...

Yeah.
That's what made it special.

***

[din of chatter]

[woman] I think we're
all sort of worried that is it

gonna be...

our Casa Bonita?

Even if it changes,
like, stuff has to change.

I hope it looks
exactly the same.

[laughs]

I hope they don't
change anything.

[man] I think it would be cool
to see the marriage of old with

a little bit of the
South Park flair, I hope.

And maybe make the
arcade area bigger.

I can't wait to see
what they do with it.

I will definitely be there.

I think the one thing that
probably bothered me the most:

your food just slides out from
the middle of nowhere through

this little hole.

It is very important
that the food comes out of

the little hole.

And if it does not come
out of the little hole,

we decided that you're fired.

[female reporter VO] Dennis
says, "Just don't change the

food; it's all part
of the experience."

I don't know...

This is gonna be
a big money sink,

and it's probably the one thing
that the South Park guys do

that's gonna be the
hill they die on;

this thing is not
gonna be a success.

[man] Okay!
Well, thank you very much!

[Matt VO] We're
starting to, like,

feel the pressure of what
Denver thinks about it.

Everybody remembers
going to Casa Bonita,

and when you grew
up in Colorado,

you just remember
how awesome it was.

*upbeat exciting music

*We wanna walk on
down to Casa Bonita*

*Gonna have a holiday...

The first time I went to Casa
Bonita was the opening day in

1974.

I'd just had my first baby.

*Casa Bonita

*Casa Bonita

*The fun family
restaurant...*

[laughing] And so,
picked the baby up,

and the baby has
to see Casa Bonita.

We can't even eat
we're so excited.

People went nuts;
[chuckling] they loved it!

They absolutely loved it.

They'd never seen
anything like that,

and so the crowds were insane.

[Patricia VO] We were
just like, "Who made this?!"

Yeah.
"Who thought of this?!"

*cool swinging music

[Bill VO] I decided to design
a little restaurant called

Casa Bonita.

We moved to
Denver in about '73...

to a closed 50,000-square-foot
Joslins Department Store.

People would come
to me and say, "Son,

you made a bad mistake."
[man laughs]

[chuckling] "Nobody goes
to that shopping center."

Every single person
from Denver said,

"Why are you doing this?!

This is not gonna work!

Nobody's gonna come here!"

[Paul L VO] When we
finished building the tower,

then the question came up:
"What color is it gonna be?"

And you can imagine
hearing people exclaim:

"Pink?!"

We painted that
tower "dusty pink" --

was the name
of the color.

It was different all right!

[Paul V VO] As we were
building these atmospheres,

we became more and more
fascinated with Mexico and

made trips to
several parts of it.

*upbeat curious music

It took a long time.

[Paul L VO] And then, when
we decided to build all the

stalactites and stalagmites,
that was a really big challenge.

[Frances VO] It just
kept taking longer,

'cause Phil's a perfectionist.

And finally, the banker said,
"I'm flying up next weekend,

and I expect to eat food."

[laughs]

*upbeat Latin music

We opened up with such a bang.

There would be lines all the
way down to the end of the

shopping center.

[Bill VO] Casa became
the highest-volume Mexican

restaurant of their day.

In fact, Casa Bonita of Denver
still is the highest-volume

Mexican restaurant in the world.

It's the most visited attraction
in the state of Colorado.

[Don VO] But 1982,

Mr. Waugh sold it to a company
in England called Unigate.

*ominous somber music

[Bill VO] It was a mistake.

The biggest mistake that
we ever made was selling the

company.

When the ink dried
on that contract,

he and I were
on the concord,

flying back to Britain to
see if they wanted to change

their minds.

After we got over
the shock of it...

We never did get
over the shock of it.

[Don VO] The guys who bought it
cut back on the maintenance they

were doing on the restaurant.

Things began to go downhill.

***

And it took a few decades
before it got to that point,

but by the early
2000s, you know,

you'd look at the floor
and it's all kinda trashed.

[Dan VO] I remember I
went in, and I said,

"There's duct tape.

What's up with that?"

And they're like, "They don't
give us some money to fix it."

I mean, technically, I think
they probably should have been

shut down for the
working conditions.

There was tripping
hazards, carpet would peel up.

I mean, the cave
smelled like urine.

It was a hole by the
time I worked there.

It became a running
joke of a place that, like,

should be awesome
but is weird and this gross,

rundown place.

On the highest level --
the corporate level --

they didn't care; it
wasn't being loved.

[JB VO] I was so disturbed by
what I saw one night I wrote a

letter to the
corporate office, and I asked,

"Is there any way I can
have my name removed from the

honor roll?"

'Cause I no longer wanted
to be associated with it.

My name's Scott
Shoemaker, I'm the...

owners' rep, construction
manager for Matt and Trey.

We are doing our first
walkthrough of Casa Bonita

to see what going on inside.

*mellow curious music

50 percent of the smell in
this place is just this carpet;

it has to be.

Such a labyrinth.

You can walk through and you
think you're somewhere and

you're somewhere different.

It's such a big facility; I
think it's 52,000 square feet.

Crazy, right?

All right, should we try to
make our way to the kitchen?

As it is now, I'm more
concerned about back of house,

when you get into
all the systems.

This is a big sand filter, and I
think these are a couple of...

boilers.

Hey, problem solved;
there's the diagram,

we're good!

It's really just trying to
understand the guts of this.

So here's where
the divers diver in.

[woman] And then this ladder
goes all the way to the top of

the waterfall.
[Scott] Yup.

[woman] But, yeah, this
is where they come out.

[Scott] They have four--
three feet to get through here?

[woman] Something like that.

I think it's a little bit harder
coming through when we're in

costume versus the dive shows.

Like, I would be
going in as Bertha,

wearing pretty much this,
trying to get through all that.

Wow!

Yeah, and it's kind of a
tight squeeze in there,

so it's a little
[laughing] claustrophobic.

So the divers dive off...

underwater, they swim through
here with all these mechanical

pipes, trying not to get
their suit hooked on them...

[Rochelle VO] Yeah.

[Scott VO] They
immediately step into here,

and there's hundreds of amps of
power while your feet are wet on

this concrete floor directly
to your left right here.

And then, to clean up, they
shower in this luxury shower

right here.
[Rochelle] Mm-hm.

Yeah.

[man] Wow.
[Rochelle laughs]

It's the single most dangerous
thing I've ever seen in my

whole life.

[Scott] Yeah, we should
call it the Death Room.

[Rochelle laughs]

There's a lot of
deferred maintenance in here,

so I think some of
the systems we'll see,

we're like,
"That's how that works?

Really?
For...

50 years, it's been
working like that?"

*curious music

[buzzing]

What's that
buzzing noise?

It's this electrical
thing back here.

[loud buzzing]

[laughter]

[buzzing continues]

Oh, whoa.

***

Wow, look at this.

[Scott, laughing]
Right! Right, yeah.

I know that they wanna open the
place up in six to nine months,

and then after I
stopped laughing...

I was like, "Okay, well,
we'll see what we can do."

[laughs]

We get all of our experts
in here -- subcontractors,

consultants -- pulling this
stuff down to really get the

extent of what's wrong.

[man VO] What do you hope to
see in the new Casa Bonita?

Just reflections
back to the original,

better food...

The food was not great for me.

The food is...

really horrible.

I know that they have
tacos and sopapillas,

and they're fire!

No, I'm kidding.
The food sucks.

The food?!

It's like that frozen food!

Everyone in Colorado would
love to take their kids to

Casa Bonita if the food
wasn't so fucking gross.

We sort of put out feelers,
and this name kept coming up.

This name, just "Loca."

That's all we kept
hearing was "Loca."

*upbeat Latin music

[Dana VO] I'm Dana Rodriguez,
chef and owner of Work & Class,

Super Mega Bien, Cantina Loca.

And one day, I blew
up, and I was like,

"Well, fuck you fuckin' fuck!"

He say, "You're fuckin' loco!"

And I say, "No,
it's fuckin' 'loca.'"

Just so you know!

When I meet Trey the first time,
he was eating the green chili.

I keep looking at
him, just, like,

staring at him to
see his reaction,

and he's very
quiet, he's very...

you know, he was
eating, and I'm like,

"Do you like it or
you didn't like it?!"

[Trey VO] I was just
like, "Oh, she's awesome.

The food is amazing."

I just felt in my gut, I'm like,
"This is the right person."

Cheers!

Thank you so much!

[female reporter VO] Part of the
new beginning for Casa Bonita:

today, we learned the new owners
have hired a new executive chef.

[male reporter VO] Dana
Rodriguez is a three-time

James Beard Award nominee.

She says the idea is to change
nothing and improve everything.

*upbeat Latin music

*band playing
festive music*

[Dana VO] We're here in Oaxaca.

Oaxaca is South Mexico,
and it's a beautiful town.

I want Trey to come
over here and understand,

you know, like,
what we do here --

learning our food,
drinks, and culture.

*bouncing Latin music

[Trey VO] For me, it was
kind of like the same as

The Book of Mormon.

I was like, "I need
to just go to Uganda,"

so I just planned a
trip and went there.

And, um...

You know, and it's not like
I'm trying-- it was like,

"No, I need this to be...

authentically
Ugandan," [laughing] you know,

or anything like that,
'cause it's obviously not,

and it's not like we're
trying to make Casa Bonita

authentically Mexico.

It's just like, you know,
you go and you get ideas.

[Dana] Aw!
[chuckles]

And I was like,
"Well, I hope so, honey."

[laughter]

*mellow curious music

[Scott] We're really trying
to get everything opened up.

It's such a complex space that
you gotta drop the ceiling tiles

to see what's above the ceiling.

[tools whirring and buzzing]

What is this stuff?

Is this stuff
oozing out of the crack?

It's like a foam!

[Scott VO] It's
an amazing space.

It's just really hard to
retrofit a building of 30 years

of deferred maintenance.

When this was all
installed, for the most part,

it was done in, what, the '70s?

[man] '73?

Rules were a lot different then.

Back in those days,
it wasn't illegal,

but today, it is illegal.

If you look at that, that
pipe right there is busted

right there.

This whole entire
building's not done.

It's all gonna have to be done.

There's 11 or 12 major
HVAC units on the roof.

I don't think any of 'em
are really salvageable.

Wall to wall flex duct.

How they crammed
all that in there...

So, yeah, this is
the main kitchen,

and our opinion is pretty
much this entire floor...

is gonna have to go away.

What a job.

I-- I don't know how many
people got hurt in here,

but I could imagine that this
is a problem where the rocks are

really right under
your dive platform.

You peek your head over the
rock and there's live 120-volt

electrical sitting right there,
literally about in contact with

the splash zone.

Very, very surprising.

So here's the water
level right here,

and there's lightbulbs --
high-voltage lightbulbs --

right here.

Yeah, so if you're not
hitting your head on the rock,

you're probably
getting electrocuted.

There's a lot of dead
pigeons on the roof here,

and there's a hawk that lives up
there on top of that statue or

around it, and it
just kills 'em,

and just drops 'em everywhere.

[hawk screeches]

Over here is another
awesome pigeon graveyard.

[man] Oh, yeah.

***

So things like this, with all
this sort of pigeon shit down

here, we've gotta
get that cleaned up.

This is the kitchen right below.

We've got a meeting with Trey
when he's back from Mexico to

sort of give him the bad news.

This thing is way too expensive.

With the current budget,
we can't do all this work.

*Acapulco

*Sleeping in the bay...

It was my dad that brought
up the movie Fun in Acapulco

with Elvis.

I was like, "There
was an Acapulco one?!"

He was like, "Yeah,
and they're, like,

diving off the
cliffs and stuff!"

And I was like, "What?!"

*dramatic music

And then, the music in
that, I was just like,

"Oh my God, this perfect!"

*Viva, viva

*El

*Amor

***

*I like to drink wine

*And money is fine

*I like the
girls even more*

*Viva el vino

*Viva el dinero

*Casa Bonita mi amor

[laughter]

[laughs]

But I'm trying to do, like,
lines that are half English and

half Spanish, so
it's-- so it's...

[singing] *Pass
me mi bebita*

[laughter]

*At Casa Bonita

*Casa Bonita mi amor

[laughs]

***

*Mexico

*Mexico...

This, to me, is Casa Bonita.

*We live it up and
love it up, amigo*

*Life begins when
you're in Mexico*

*You never order...
[Dana] Oh, that's cool.

[Dana] Yup.

You're so happy with that thing!

***

*I aim to kiss a
lovely señorita*

*Oh, do the samba

*La bamba

***

[man speaks Spanish]

*Life begins

*When you're in

*Mexico

*tense music

[Victor over radio]
This is Victor.

[Scott] Uh, we've got one of our
owners showing up on site here,

so be on the lookout, let
me know when they get here,

please.

[Victor over radio]
They're on their way;

they just got out the vehicle
and they're headed into the

building right now as we speak.

[Scott] Well, I think we
were just gonna have you, uh,

just sort of
start at the front.

Tell me, while we're here,
tell me about the ceiling.

So...

[Scott] The HVAC in this
place is-- is trashed.

It-- it's 20 years
past its useful life.

And so just the HVAC,
we're looking at, like,

four million bucks?

Four million for HVAC;

um, to do
electrical in this place,

bring it up to
code, two million;

2.3 in plumbing;

you know, doing
a new kitchen,

that's probably
in the two range;

the pool and the front fountain,
just to put new equipment in and

sort of clean it up is three
quarters of a million dollars.

So, looking at HVAC stuff...

[Matt] Uh-huh.

This is just an example of what
every single air duct looks like

here.
[Matt laughs]

[Trey] Um...
[chuckling] so...

Matt and I would laugh
like that no matter what,

even if it was like, "I
just got back from my cancer

screening..."
[laughing] Right, right!

[both laugh]

[Matt laughs]

[Trey] That's what the inside of
all 10 or 11 of the air handling

units look like.

[Matt] Ooh, Jesus.

[Scott] That's what people have
been breathing in here for 20

years, probably, yeah.

[Matt] Wow, fuck,
look at that.

That's so gross.

We got in there, and it
was "We're gonna make this

better and this better and
this better and this better,"

and it's like,
"Well, first of all,

that's gonna kill people,
that's gonna kill people,

that's gonna kill people."

This beam is disconnected; it
had been rotted to the point

where it had flaked off,
not supporting anything.

There was going to be
catastrophic failure.

Just picture this place
filled with kids as the place

collapses.

It wasn't a matter of if,
it was a matter of when.

So there was a leak, so they
hung a bucket with a string,

they put a garden hose on it,
and they wired the garden hose

over a sink, and that's
their leak mitigation:

a bucket with a garden
hose over the sink.

This is what everything looks
like behind everything in the

kitchen.

And, by the way, that's what
all the soda was running through

when they closed a
year and a half ago.

Pull this out, and all
the wood behind it...

It's all just rotted, because
it's been there for years.

Are you getting
my face right now?

[laughing] Yeah.
Get-- get my face.

[laughter]

Get my face.

I'm just gonna do long blinks.

[Scott] Yeah.

[Trey VO] What
started as just, like,

"Okay, we're gonna have to
just do a lot of structural work

first" has turned into millions
and millions of dollars,

just to make the place...

livable,

before we can put one
penny into making it cool again.

[Scott] And when you get over to
where the kitchen zone is here,

you can see there was a fire
over here that we found behind

the wall.

[Trey] The pool is so fucked.

So, I don't know if
you can see that...

[Matt laughs]

[Scott] You can see
the cracks down there,

and see how those
cracks are wet?

[Trey] Yeah.

[Scott] That's all
groundwater seeping in.

[Matt] Wow.

[laughter]

All right.
[Matt] All right.

All right.

[Matt] I'll call
you later, okay?

Okay.
[Matt] Thanks. All right, bye.

I better go start
making some new TV shows.

[laughs]

[Scott] We originally thought
the budget would be around

six and a half million dollars.

But with this much
infrastructure replacement,

it's way bigger than we thought.

We started adding it
all up, we're like,

"What's the very
least we can spend?"

And at this point, we're
looking at over $20 million.

Well, why don't you
and I just go talk?

[Scott] Yup.
'Kay.

We can go in the office.

[Scott] We've inherited
this building that is fucked.

[Trey] Yeah.

[Scott] Like, pipes are clogged
and drained and piped into the

wrong place.

It's stuff people can't see.

[Matt VO] When we
started tearing out the walls,

we realized the whole
thing needed to be replaced --

basically every system.

It's like...

five times more money than we
thought we were gonna have to

put in.

[man] Was there an
inspection, like,

when you bought the place?

Like, did you, like...?

No, 'cause we bought
it out of bankruptcy,

and it was kind
of an as-is thing,

so we knew we were gonna--
we knew we were gonna inherit

something that was fucked up,
but we didn't know it was near

that fucked up, you know?

And honestly, the landlord kinda
should have said something about

that stuff, you
know what I mean?

The problem is
that, at this point,

I'm like,

"If we can't do it, I
honestly don't know who can."

[man] So is it, like, a
possibility that it just...

never opens, it just, like...

Yeah.
[man] It's...

yeah.

It is.

As ridiculous as it sounds,
it's better for us to take a

10-million-dollar
loss than to keep going,

'cause that's how crazy
expensive we found out it was

gonna actually be.

The smart thing to do
here is to get out.

[female reporter VO] Casa Bonita
is working on its comeback after

the creators of South
Park bought it out of

bankruptcy court.

I'm really looking forward
to whatever Trey and Matt

have planned.

Everyone's super
excited, um,

the community is
buzzing about it.

Employees are being asked -- and
paid -- to do other work around

the community until
those doors open again.

[Luis VO] They're all excited
to go back to Casa Bonita;

we all are.

We wanna see what happened to
our restaurant and what the

future brings to it.

We like it say it's our
restaurant 'cause it's our

family, and that's one big
thing that we're grateful for:

that they've let us stay
together throughout this whole

experience.

[Trey VO] It's starting to
look like it might not happen,

which makes it all the
worse when people are like,

"Oh, you guys are great,
thank you for doing that!"

And we're literally
gonna have to go,

"Yeah, you know what?
Never mind, we can't."

*melancholy curious music

[woman VO] What's the latest?

When can we go back to see
what you guys have done with the

place?

Have you ever seen
Kitchen Nightmares?

[laughs]

So imagine the very, very, very
worst one of those you could

possibly ever imagine.

Any savvy
businessperson would say,

"Get out now!"

You know?
[laughs]

But I'm not savvy.

And it was just like,
"That's not the point."

It's trying to save
something; it was trying to

restore something
and bring it back.

And also, it starts
from a personal place;

I was like, "This
was my childhood," right?

And I want it for my daughter,
I want it for her grandkids,

I want it for my friends' kids.

Matt's always been the
money guy in our partnership.

I was like, "So,
what are we gonna do?"

And Matt said kind
like, "I don't know."

I was like, "Oh, you don't know!

So that means there's a chance!"

We hired a few extra people who
knew stuff about restaurants,

and we started
doing, like, "Okay,

well, this is how much we think
the restaurant could make."

If we do it right, there
is a viable business there,

so at least it was
like, "Oh, okay.

Like, this isn't just a...

for-sure money loser."

I saw in Matt that
he's like, oh, he might--

he might say
we can still do it,

[laughing] you
know what I mean?

And then...

and then, we decided, you
know, let's go forward.

It's really dumb; we should...

[Matt laughs]
We should bail.

We absolutely should bail
and stop spending money,

but we're just
committed now, so...

Yeah, we just have
to do it now, so...

Yeah.
[laughs]

[Trey VO] So we're
in; we're in deep.

[laughs]

With all the money in the world,
what I would do is do some

forced perspective,
more buildings up there,

you know, so you make these
look like they're two and three

stories that have a bit of a
forced-perspective look to it.

Let's look!

This part of the
door could be open...

[Trey] Yeah.

And have a little
bit of story or...

Hey, guys!
Welcome to Casa Bonita!

[laughter]

I reckon you're pretty hungry!

And we can't
afford to build that,

so let's just get
a dude to do that.

[laughing] Right,
right, right.

[laughter]

Well, tarnation!

I got me some good tacos!

[laughter]

I could use an
enchilada, partner!

[mimics gunshot]

But at this point, they
also have a host saying--

Tarnation!

You're almost there, partner!
[laughs]

But they've got
a host saying--

Tarnation!

You're almost there, partner!

Tarnation!

Howdy, partners!

Welcome to Casa Bonita!

What was that up there?
Do we know?

That was nothing.

[Trey] That is
definitely tarnation.

[Scott] That's a tarnation.

I mean, a triple tarnation.

[laughter]

Tar-- tar-- tarnation!

[laughs]

Is that?
That is that?

Okay.

Sopapillas!

Can I get some
sopapillas, please?!

[Trey] I had an idea that
that table never gets sold,

and that's a photo opp.

That table's not for sale.

Instead of taking out tables
to make more exclusive spaces,

I love taking out tables to make
more places that kids can run

around.

[Scott] Mm!
You know what I mean?

Welcome to the arcade, buckaroo!

There's no cussin' in here!

[laughter]

Tarnation!

Looks like you won a prize!

What I wanted to do in here --
at one end or the other or both

-- was a shooting gallery.

Mm!

I know that'll be pricey, but...

I'll pay for the
shooting gallery, I guess.

I guess I'm paying for
everything, never mind.

[laughs]

[female reporter VO] As we wait
to see the iconic restaurant

reopen, documents and
photos reveal some substantial

renovation plans.

And, man, are they costly.

*Here's to bein' free

*Here's to bein' free,
la la la la la la la*

*Zorro's back

*Here's to flying high,
la la la la la la la*

*Zorro's back...
48 inches tall.

I'm gonna put this in terms of
South Park 'cause we do this all

the time; that's
almost too pretty.

If they immediately walk in
and everything's completely

different, they're
like, "You liars..."

[laughter]
"You changed everything."

Everything.

"Everything's different."

And the food is good
now, you stupid bitches!

[laughter]

*Here's to being free,
la la la la la la la*

*Zorro's back

*Here's to flying high,
la la la la la la la...*

Talking about
fancying up tables,

or we could just go
back to old school.

I think that's
kind of a cool idea;

the other one looks like a
old, kitschy restaurant,

you know, but I think we
should-- I like that idea.

***

[man] Our old
building, everyone,

had about three- or
four-thousand-foot of this

flex pipe.

[laughter]

[Trey VO] Funny; you know, the
fountain hadn't worked in years,

and...

we brought out the
best people to go,

"How can you fix this fountain?"
And they're like, "You can't."

So we dig up the
fountain and, of course,

helicopters caught
it and they're like,

[gasps] "They're
taking away the fountain!

They're taking
away the fountain!"

[male reporter VO] Out at
Casa Bonita in Lakewood,

something is missing, though.

Copter 4 was over
the restaurant today,

and right now,
there is no fountain!

Ripping that down, it literally
upset quite a few people.

We had the news out here, we had
people coming from all over the

place to just kinda...

give us the Riot Act
for what we were doing.

We're gonna have a fountain
outside in front of Casa Bonita,

but it's just like...

the only way we could do that
was to completely start over.

It's just gonna be a
little bit of a microscope,

you know, in
Denver, which is, like,

that's a great problem
to have in some ways,

but it's just
still, like, you know...

I've never done anything
like this before so I'm--

I'm anxious.

[cheering]

[Gov. Polis] By a...

official proclamation on behalf
of the state of Colorado...

[cheering]

"Whereas in 2021, the creators
of South Park purchased the

iconic Casa Bonita, a
fine dining restaurant and

entertainment mecca, money pit,
and jobs program for Colorado

contractors."

[cheering]

True story: we went from ninth
lowest unemployment rate to

fourth because of all the
contractors and subcontractors

working at Casa Bonita.

[cheering]

*tense curious music

That's gonna
be the volcano!

I don't know what it's
gonna look like but...

[man] Are you planning to do
the same menu as the old Casa?

It's a mix of both; I'm gonna
keep a couple of the plates that

they used to have, but I'm gonna
do it in-house, you know?

Like, Casa Bonita's a
Mexican restaurant,

and before, it wasn't
speaking that with the food,

so I'm trying to
express that to everybody.

But, you know, I never
managed anything like this.

My fear is like what if...

it doesn't work?

[Trey VO] I-- I think that...

where I wanna start
is just reviewing,

again, the characters.

So, I think...

at least just to open, we
basically have four characters

and a gorilla.

[laughter]
Right?

So, um, if we
look at Black Bart,

there is a
historical Black Bart.

The bowler hat
was sort of his thing.

[woman VO] Oh, interesting.

[Trey VO] We got
their sort of Bible...

that was "Here's the
characters of Casa Bonita,"

you know, which was like
20-something characters,

[chuckling] I think.

But they weren't
well thought-out,

and they were just like "Oh,
they're silly 'cause they're

dumb."

And I'll go track down
that no-good son-of-a-gun

sopapilla-stealin' Black Bart!

And you can have a good look...

at the wonders of Casa Bonita.

Hi, Sheriff!
Bart!

Now, just get back here!

I just didn't want that
thing of like "Oh God,

here they go..."

If you're a kid and
you're in the arcade,

you might look next to you and
Black Bart's playing a game,

and you're like,
[gasps] "There he is!"

And you know you're
supposed to go tell the Sheriff.

But by then, Black Bart's
serving drinks down in the bar.

[laughter]

Those are the kind of
things we're thinking about.

We don't have them
fleshed out yet,

but it's that kind of thinking.

So we have an audio
animatronic one going in,

and it gives
fortunes -- bad fortunes.

[man] Since no one
was in this space,

this stuff's,
like, way too much.

[Trey VO] You know, Matt and I
have always had the most fun

figuring out things
on a technical level.

Part of what we get off on is
getting in there and going,

"Yeah, but what
if you did this?"

The good thing with Casa
Bonita: there is a lot there.

It's not like you're
starting from zero.

And I was super surprised when
I saw for the first time --

like, the whole
craftsmanship is amazing.

So we try to incorporate some of
the stuff that is already there,

bring it to what is new.

[Trey] I mean, I
wanna keep it this.

They just had a big
treasure box in there,

and you got to go up and
take your piece of candy,

which little kids
went fuckin' nuts for.

It's not too
different, whatever we do.

We're making
stumps of the trees,

and there's air pressure in
there so that it's like you're

getting bit by the snake, so
kids can mess around with this

thing.

I mean, it's supposed
to be Black Bart's cave,

and then there's
nothing Black Bart about it.

It's just a little
[laughing] haunted house,

you know what I mean?
Right.

But it should be like, "Oh,
there's Black-- that's all his

treasure back there, and
there's where he kept this,

and there's where he kept that!"
You know.

I'm just thinking something
better than just heads.

Yeah, this
becomes a new diorama.

This is where we spend our...

our 200 bucks.

[laughter]

A pin light is basically
highlighting on the map

"Here's where they were,
here's where they were,

here's where they were."

[Randy VO] It's amazing.

It's fun to watch him, for sure.

[laughs]

Oh, yeah!

He aways would say things
about "I would change this,

I wouldn't do this this
way," [chuckling] or something.

[man] Did you ever
see it when it was, like,

in its glory days?

You know, I probably...

It must have been...

I think I was in third grade,

so it was '78 the
first time I came,

so it was still
close to its glory.

*tender music

[man] Why do you think Casa
Bonita is so important to Trey?

[laughs]

I don't know, Trey's just--
he's that guy more than I am.

He just, um...

Of anybody who
has those kind of, like,

gauzy
memories of something,

Trey's probably that, who
probably remembers the best

possible version of it.

Do you know what I mean?

And he's a romantic, and so...

that kid in him is
very much alive.

***

[Trey VO] The main thing I still
try to do every time that I go

is I go, "Okay, I'm
seven years old,"

and I just walk around.

***

I'm trying to create the Casa
Bonita that it was when I was a

kid.

The nice thing
about Casa was that,

since it's an enclosed place,
your parents could just sit at

the table and you could just
go roam around by yourself,

which, to a six-,
seven-year-old, was a lot.

It felt big.

***

You know, and as a
six- or seven-year-old,

you're walking and you're
like, "I'm in this little town,

and I'm gonna
explore this little town."

It was all about
the nooks and cranies.

That's the magic.

Except now, I walk
around and I'm like...

"That's the wrong color blue."

[laughs]

You know, and I go,
like, "Wait, that sucks,

I don't--" you know,
"Why is that there?"

We just need, on each side, for
it to-- instead of being like

this, it needs to be like that.

I do like that it's giving us
the greenery up there and feels

like a big, nice tree,
which is why I like it here,

because it still does that
thing and gives you a canopy.

[Scott] Let me get a price...
[Trey] Okay.

[Scott] Just so we
understand what that means,

if we...

cut that tree down and plant
a new one over here, right?

[chuckles]
[mimics chainsaw]

[Scott, laughing]
Yeah, right, right.

[laughter]

[man VO] Are you really
gonna write the puppet show?

[Trey VO] Yeah, I mean, I was
looking at the puppet shows they

were doing before we bought
it, and it's literally just,

you know,
basically a sock puppet,

and you can't even
understand what's going on.

You know, I wanna have
it where there's still a live

person doing it and there's
still a live person talking and

doing voices, but it's all kinda
done to a soundtrack and...

backgrounds and things like
that so that it stays on...

[man] Yeah.
Like a Broadway show.

[woman] Oh!

Mi nombre es...

Diabolo!

[laughter]

Hello!
[laughter]

Welcome to Casa Bonita!

Does anyone have a
birthday out there today?

[man] Me, me, me!

Oh, all right!
I knew that!

[laughter]
Thank you, thank you!

*triumphant music playing

[laughter]

Welcome to Casa Bonita.

We hope you are
having a fun time.

Okay, today, we're going to
talk about domestic violence...

[laughter]

[man] Boys and girls...
Boys and girls...

[laughter]

*quirky curious music

[Scott VO] Now,
we're really ramping up.

We are probably...

80 people on site
a day right now,

we're strengthening the roof,
getting our rooftop units in,

running overhead, all of
our mechanical ductwork,

running cable trays
for our low volt wire...

***

[tools whirring and grinding]

We've got our rock experts;
they're working on sort of

augmenting all the
different rocks around the pool.

All the rock over here
has been touched up.

[chuckles] The rock people have
a bucket of gum that they have

chipped off all the areas.

It's disgusting.

***

We enlarged the pool.

We've removed some of the stones
that sort of jutted out that we

felt were unsafe.

Because we found
the pool had leaks,

we're actually gonna be pouring
another pool inside of it.

***

So this is the sort of
secret way the divers come out.

They'll swim
through below that arch.

It's safer for them, there'll
be a little ladder here,

they've gotta come
up, shower, change,

and go back out.

Ah, it's so nice to not see that
gross ceiling that was in here.

I know.

[Matt] Look at this, wow!

It's so much nicer!

[Scott] Crazy, right?

[Matt] It seems like a nice
place you might wanna be now!

[Scott, chuckling] I know.

This is my favorite piece,
and when you come on this side,

you'll see exactly why.

***

[Matt] Wow, this is so different
than when I was here last time!

This looks like a really nice
restaurant all of a sudden!

[laughter]
Hey!

So, when you shoot that
target, this'll go...

[train whistle]

[laughter]

[gunshot]

You sure shoot a heck of a
lot better than you look!

[Scott] Wow, this
is fuckin' sweet.

[Trey, laughing] Yeah!
I told you!

[laughter]

I think it's good to have
them back a little bit,

and then we can frame 'em.
You know, it's like having

these...
[Scott] 'Kay.

[Trey] A couple more
foreground pieces.

[Scott] Even further?

[Trey] That's
great; no, that's good.

[Scott] Things are starting
to take shape around here;

it's pretty exciting.

[laughs]

Don't go in the cave!

There's a giant
gorilla thing in there!

Gorilla thing?

I thought it was a dragon!

It was a dragon but they changed
it 'cause it didn't make any

sense.

Don't go in the caaaave!

Don't go in the caaaave!

They keep going in the cave!

Yeah, nobody listens.
They keep going in the cave.

[laughter]

The worst part about being a
skeleton is I can't kiss anyone

'cause I don't have rips.

You don't have what?

[skeleton] I don't have rips!

What are "rips?"

No, not "rips," rips!

I can't understand you
'cause you don't have rips!

What are "rips?"

This is more fun than
South Park right now.

Yeah, this is way more fun.

[laughs]
It's like, I don't know...

It's so cool every
time we come here;

it's, like, just coming alive.

[Dana] Hey, Matt, last
time we talk a little bit,

like, we're thinking, like, "Oh,
that would be fucking cool if we

open on Cinco de Mayo."

[man] What could stop
us from opening by May?

Literally it's insane the amount
of things that we have to get

done through --
numbers, financials,

phone calls, invoices, like...

It's crunch time.

It's a lot.

I just wanna be able to
grab my phone and say,

"Financial person,
fucking figure this out."

Yeah, yeah.

[Dana] "Legal, someone
fell in the fucking pool."

[woman] Yeah.

I think that's
gotta be one of those, like,

banned-for-life things.

[woman] Yes, definitely.

Like, fell in the
pool, banned for life.

[woman] Yeah.

And that might not
be worth it to you.

[laughter]

Was it worth it?
Totally.

[laughter]

[laughter]

Some big news today,
from Casa Bonita...

We now have a reopening date for
what many call "the Disneyland

[chuckling] of
Mexican restaurants."

[male reporter VO]
The wait is over.

They're gonna be
opening up in May!

The iconic pink castle
restaurant on Colfax.

[male reporter VO] If
you're looking for a new job,

you could join the iconic
Colorado Casa Bonita team as

they get read to reopen.

Yeah, they're
holding a job fair today,

looking to hire
more than 500 workers.

[female reporter VO]
There is a line out the door.

Only roughly 40 employees
stayed on from old Casa.

We need to hire a
custodial staff,

facilities,
entertainment, servers,

kitchen staff, just a lot.

Today, we are having auditions
for all of our potential cast

and performers.

Bienvenidos a Casa Bonita!

Yeehoo!

Oh God, here we go!

Get!

Stay!

I have roamed the
Caribbean Isles!

Whoop!
Whoop!

[grunts]

Yah!

[laughter]

I think, in this context, being
a good diver is being a good

performer.

[laughter]

[Dana] We're going to
test all of you guys.

When you walk into the
kitchen, once in a while,

I'm gonna say, like,
"Tell me what's in the molé.

Tell me what's
in the camarones.

Tell me what is in this."

*upbeat jaunty music

Yeah.

I'll ask if he can
build permit concurrently,

just 'cause we're under the
gun, and if he says no for some

reason, then, Dan,
I'll call you back...

[Scott VO] The next
eight weeks are gonna be...

very busy.

Like, literally, [chuckling] I'm
probably gonna get a couple of

mattresses for
one of the offices,

'cause we're probably gonna be
here 12 to 16 hours a day just

trying to complete things.

You know, we're supposed to be
done with construction and we

still have, like, five major
projects that we are in the

middle of.

[Scott] Now, just
so you guys know,

February 13 is, like,
when this building is done.

Mm.

Yes, and...

[man] 'Cause the fountain is
gonna run a little beyond that.

*tense music

[Dana VO] They made
the floors too quick.

They wanted to show
that they can do it fast,

but they didn't do it right.

So we, as a team, like...

"We don't accept your floors,
you have to redo it all over

again," so they have to bring
these big machines kind of to

grind everything down,
and then start all over.

I just sorta-- you know, I sorta
had this week on my calendar as

"This is the week
everything's showing up,

and it's all showing
up at the same time,

and that'll be crazy,
and this will be amazing,

shit's just gonna
be flying in here,

and trucks on top
of each other."

Did-- did we just not get all
the deliveries we thought we

were gonna get?

So there's four days' worth
of deliveries stuffed in the

kitchen.
There is?

But the kitchen floor...

Wasn't ready.
Is...

They said it was ready and we
rejected it 'cause the quality

wasn't there.

***

[man] Who's the
supplier getting it from?

[Scott] Yeah, where
is it gonna ship from?

When it's ready, what country?

What supplier?
What's their name?

[Scott] And I hate
to say it, but...

you are holding our end date up.

Well, then, getting the
information on where the fuckin'

distributor's coming from
should be pretty simple, then.

Shaw's got people
working 80-hour weeks in here;

we're burning money.

***

When we filled the
pool up originally,

it lost 10 inches the first
day, which means there's a leak

somewhere.

They'll get in there with dye
and they'll actually swim around

in scuba gear, and put dye
and see if dye gets sucked into

certain areas so they
can patch those leaks.

***

[phone ringing]

[Matt over phone] Hello?

[Scott] I just wanted to
bring you up to speed.

Our pool...

is leaking 5,000 gallons a day.

So what we--
[Matt] Wow!

[Scott clears throat]

I just wanted you to sort of
hear that directly in case--

sometimes, you know, if the
message gets to you guys--

[Matt] How long is
the delay do you think?

Uh, well, it's gonna delay...

It delays sort of the
aesthetic team about a week.

[Matt VO] Fucking hell.
All right.

[Scott VO] All right.
Talk soon.

[Matt VO] All right, bye.
[Scott VO] Bye.

***

We've just hired literally
hundreds of people --

kitchen staff, entertainers.

Some of these people quit their
old jobs so that they could

start with us.

We were supposed to have them
in the building over a week ago,

to start training,
rehearsing, all that stuff.

And until we finish this shit
up and get all our inspections

done, all of that is on hold.

All Matt hears
right now is numbers...

[woman] Yeah.

And so yesterday,
like, I talked to you,

it was like--
yesterday, when I was like,

"Oh, and by the way, we're
$2 million over budget,"

he says, "What the fuck?!"
Yeah.

"It's $32 million?"
And they go, "Yeah,"

and I go, "Well,
Friday, it was $30 million."

They go...
"Yeah, duh duh duh."

I was like...
[laughing] "That's $2 million!"

Just, like...

that was just, like, the
casualness that that was

presented to me.

Ugh.

Tensions are high.

They're high with everybody.

Do we have some places
already outlined for...

[Trey] Yeah, I don't know
what the delay has been.

But, like, I keep saying, "The
more we can get things dressed,

the sooner we can start reacting
to things and putting things in,

and, like, let's just
start throwing shit up,

because it will start to
help us figure it out."

[Scott VO] Matt and Trey are
leaving town to work on South

Park, so we have two weeks to
get all this shit fixed and get

things back on track.

***

[Trey] Okay.

[clears throat]

Kenny, we should
open a restaurant!

[laughs]

[muffled] Why the fuck
would we open a restaurant?!

We could make it
awesome, with, like,

fun things for kids to
do, and rides, and games!

A places that people from all
over Colorado would wanna come

and see!

And we would be the owners.

And we could have all
the hot dogs we wanted.

[muffled] Wow!

Well, we built
the write around...

allowing them time to go to Casa
Bonita so they could make this

May opening.

[Matt] Are you guys
just playin' around?!

No!

We are renovating and opening
an amazing restaurant that will

be extremely profitable!

Then why did you
name it "DickinBaus?!"

Butters, you are the investor.

We are the creatives.

[laughs]

Well, stop being creative and
open the damn restaurant so I

can get my money back!

Just stop dickin'
around and wasting--...

Just stop dickin'
around and wasting my money!

Butters, at DikinBaus,
dicking around is all we do --

dicking around the competition.

[laughs]

We're definitely busy right
now, but Trey's pretty good at

focusing on what he
needs to do, which,

you know, with South Park, he's
just totally focused on this

right now.

But Casa Bonita's
about to enter, like,

Shitsville.

[Cartman] Butters, we're about
to reopen a historic landmark

that means something to people!

You think I'm just doing
all this for the fun of it?!

Hang on a second!

Weeee!

We're creating jobs, Butters!

And we're helping people!

Then open the
stupid place, Eric!

[laughter]

*curious music

Yeah, right?
It feels good.

I know.

[Scott VO] We
pulled it off somehow;

inspections are done,
permits are in place,

and now, what's important
about that is we can move in.

Good morning!

You guys are fully
signed off on phase two.

You may move in!

Now, we have food,
we can order drinks,

we can order whatever we want.

You can tell, in the kitchen,
all the equipment is already in

place.

I think we can start
with everyone just looking.

[Scott VO] We can finally
get some of the actors,

kitchen staff, divers, everyone
in here to start training and

get back on schedule.

How's it going?

Good, how are you?

I just wanna talk
about tone, first of all,

'cause that's really the most...

Definitely, in comedy, to me,
there's nothing more important

than tone.

We don't need to
try and be funny,

because we'll figure
out stuff that's funny.

And then, um,
there's just, like,

nothing worse for most people
than being around someone trying

to be funny, and it's
just like, you know,

if you've seen the videos of
the old character shows that

happened up there...

[high-pitched voice]
Well, no, Sheriff, I haven't!

It was just like, "God,
will you shut up, please?

I'm trying to eat
horrible food."

[laughter]

Your character
takes it seriously;

it's not a joke, but--

even though you will
be doing funny things.

[laughs]

But to you, it's not funny.

Kids will react so much more
to a moment where Amazon Ani's

really sad

than they will her being silly.

[chuckling] You
know what I mean?

And so you'll
walk up to a family,

and you'll be like,
"Hey, I'm Amazon Ani!

I'm just really into
things, knowledge.

Do you mind if I take
your picture?" Right?

And you'll Polaroid and
be like, "You know what?

You should keep this, this is
great," whatever, right?

And then you look at
the girl and you go,

[low voice] "I
need to talk to you."

[laughter]

[singing softly] *By the light
(By the light of the moon)*

*Of the silvery moon...

There's a new idea that Beef
Plate might try to do some

acrobatics, so it's like...

*exciting humming

You know, that kind of thing.

[man] Yup.

Yeah, we can lose the shoes.
Yeah, okay.

[Trey] Yeah, yeah.

"What's up with
these soft tacos?"

What's up with these soft tacos?

[Trey] Oh, right,
can't joke about them!

[laughter]

I had a friend who
was a soft taco,

and then, all of a
sudden, was a hard taco!

Yeah, what happened to you?!

[Trey] I'm gonna
get cancelled...

[laughter]

[Ben] Now I have to
call it a "tostada!"

[laughter]

How am I supposed
to remember that?!

[laughter]

[Trey] Anyway,
how are you doin', kids?

Hi, how's it goin'?
[laughter]

[Trey] Anyone's
parents divorced?

[laughter]

Who's having their
one day with Dad today?

[laughter]

[Trey VO] To me, it is just
like doing Broadway or doing

the show.

You're doing what you always
do, which is trying to think,

"All right, what do people want?

And what are they
gonna think is awesome?

What are they
gonna think is funny?

And let's try to deliver."

And just, you know...

I know it's Casa Bonita, but
it's our regular thing of, like,

"No, this
isn't gonna suck!"

Could we see that timing?

Someone comes out, they
praise, they jump in,

they cli-- as they're climbing,
another person dives...

[Amber] Mm-hm.
No...

[Trey VO] I'm watching the
dive stuff and I start to go,

"Oh no, nothing's the
way I want it to be,

nothing's the way
I want it to be."

Even though I
look at that and go,

"That's more impressive
'cause that's higher,"

we make that look
more impressive, yeah.

[Amber] Yeah.

You're gonna do the same thing,
but instead of the first one

being a rapidfire, we're
gonna have one person come out,

dive, and then we'll
sync her at the end,

just to see some timing on that.

*curious music

[Trey VO] It's been a long
Thursday and Friday at

South Park, when it's just,
like, spitballing and "Oh,

we could do this,
we could do that!"

We're all laughing
and whatever, you know,

and then, it gets to Sunday,
Monday on South Park and I wanna

kill myself.

It's sort of Sunday morning now.
[laughs]

***

[man] Oh, hahaha!
[woman screams]

[indistinct shouting]

[woman makes gorilla sounds]

[Amber VO, laughing] We just...

We're barreling toward opening.

I think that was the gorilla.

[Amber VO] We're creating
a whole immersive world,

and these people have to know
their characters inside and out,

and they have to be able to
respond to whatever audience may

throw at that, and...

be able to know where
they are in the building,

which takes about a week anyway.

Time is very tight.

We're asking a lot from them.

[Trey] The coin
machine is in here?

[laughter]

Now, remember: it's 1973!

We ain't got fancy
things and such!

[laughing] Yeah.

[laughter]

[laughter]

[laughs] With the overalls.

It's like a total just mishmash.

Yeah, dude, fuck it!

Let's put some fuckin'
1973 stuff in there.

It's fuckin' rad!

[laughter]

You know, I always pivot
'til the last minute, right?

'Til I find the thing exactly.
Sure.

And...

I've come to find out...

It really happened when I did
the fucking stupid prospector in

the mines.

I'm like, "This is
what Casa Bonita is."

It's a place in 1973 trying to
be a place in the late 1800s,

[chuckling] you
know what I mean?

So we need '70s
flourishes everywhere!

I would love to get at least our
A cast in here to start hearing

what you have to say about that
so that they can start training

everyone on how they need
to portray these characters,

'cause we're kind of getting
to a crunch time with them.

We just got a little
bit of a switch up,

so the time period is
now 100 years later.

It makes it a little bit harder
from what our original direction

was.

We're still trying to figure out
what the '70s angle is for Bart

and for Captain Isabella.

But we'll figure it out.

People in the entertainment side
of it are getting frustrated.

"They're saying that you kind
of change your mind a lot."

And I'm like, "Well, tell
'em to get used to it!" [laughs]

It's a fun challenge.

I-- I do wish we had a
little more time to pivot but...

we're gonna make it work.

It's gonna be-- yeah,
it's gonna be a brutal May.

*tense curious music

[female reporter VO]
Now that it is May,

we are counting down the
days until the ever-famous

Casa Bonita reopens.

We still don't have a
concrete opening date yet,

but we will let you
know when we know,

'cause I know
everybody's excited about it.

[woman VO]
The buzz right now,

everyone's talking
about it reopening.

Even people who've moved
away from Colorado are talking

about it.

When is it opening back up?
Do you guys know?

[male reporter VO] If Casa
Bonita stays true to their May

opening, then we should see
something happening pretty soon.

[girl VO] On
the news, they said

that Casa Bonita's
gonna open in May.

Is it opening any time soon?

[man] Soon, soon,
that's all I can say.

Soon, but not this week?

[Amber VO] I need them
here; there's so much to do.

What do we need to
get Trey's sign-off on?

We just need time with them!

We keep getting
cut short on time, so--

[Dana] We
haven't had any time.

I know, I know, I
get it, I get it!

You guys have had eight
times the time of anyone else.

I get it, but, like,
they gotta suck it.

Like, sorry.

We are having all sorts of
problems within our departments.

After this
conversation we have today,

I expect all the drama to cease!

We're gonna put a bunch
of shit on the board,

and our job every day
is to empty the board.

I'm hesitant to show it to you.

When they put the
eyes in, he's wall-eye,

and one ear is
bigger than the other.

That's literally what they did.

What in the name of fuck?

I know!

That's why I said, "We're..."

[man] Hey, language, Trey!

[man] Four months?

N-- yeah.
[woman] Yeah.

No, two, two.
I'll give 'em two.

[man] Yeah, that's what
they wanted it to look like?

Goddamn it, dude.

Jesus Christ.

Black Bart's Cave is a signature
and we've been trying to get it

right, it just--
it's taken so much time.

[Trey VO] But he's working on
getting this so that you can...

go-- we can do the
thing: get a fortune,

have it talk, give
you the fortune.

Yeah, so what the process
is, you come over here,

you swipe your card...

I know, but I
wanna see it happen.

He said, "Every time I
come, they say it worked,

but when they went to
show me, it didn't work."

The volcano kind of
erupted, but then,

the smoke didn't
come out properly.

And then, we went to
look at the matador bull,

and it sorta
stopped in the middle.

*triumphant horn plays

I thought he was gonna fall.

[man] That's what
we thought, too.

He was gonna do this.

That's the first time I've
really seen him frustrated.

[Trey VO] I
really need this hung;

I told them last week.

[man VO] Okay.

[Trey] I need it hung so we can
start fucking around with it.

[man] Do you want
just temp hung?

I mean, if someone can
hang it, let's fuckin' do it.

[man] Okay.

[Trey VO] As I walk
around, I'm like,

"Well, that's not
done, that's not done,

it's not even..."

[chuckles] They're talking about
"Oh, we're changing the sched--"

It's like, "You guys,
we're not done!"

[laughs]

And everyone seems
to be like, "Mm."

You know, it's like, look!
Look at this.

This is not done.

I started, like,
hanging pictures up,

because I'm like, "Okay, this
is what this is supposed to be,

remember?"

And they're like, "No,
we should just open!"

It's like, "That's not
done, you guys!" [chuckles]

First impressions are gonna
be really important with this,

you know?

And it's like, everyone's worked
so hard to make it so cool that,

like, why fuck it
up now, you know?

*tense music

My last two trips
out, I've said,

"My next trip out, I
wanna go up with a card,

do the thing, get a fortune."
[man] Okay.

And they've not been
able to get close to that.

And the fucking assayer
to do a fucking coin.

Like, it's-- it's that shit.

***

[door shuts]

[Anne VO] I'm worried for them!

This is a huge thing, and I
think they're not quite ready,

and I wish we had a
little more time.

But in the meantime, the entire
Denver press will be here --

over 100 people.

[Kristian VO] We are so excited
to be able to give you the first

look at the new Casa Bonita.

Now, we are limited on what
we can and can't show you,

but it so amazing in here!

We still don't know when they
will officially be opening.

Well, I don't know about that.

[Trey VO] I feel like
Cartman a lot here;

you know, just going,
"And we could do this,

and we could do that!

You know, and we could do this!
[laughs]

Watching Trey walk
around, you know,

he's feeling it as
much as Cartman would.

[laughter]

People will be lined up all
the way to downtown Denver!

Well, the permits are
cleared, the staff is hired,

and now, it is a waiting game to
see when Casa Bonita will open

for business.

It's all anybody's talking about
in the newsroom, right?

Let's go, guys!
"When is it gonna happen?!"

[female reporter VO] Well, get
this: fans are literally waiting

outside the restaurant
daily to try and get in.

We have definitely been
stalking Casa Bonita...

[laughs]
for the opening.

Most definitely.

We knew it was opening in
May, so we were hoping that this

would be the weekend and
we booked our tickets.

[man VO] I've been camping out
in my car here since Monday.

I called my boss and said, "Hey,
is it cool if I take my vacation

for the rest of the month?"

So, uh, hopefully I'll be
the first one in the door.

People are getting ready to line
up outside because it's the end

of May and say, "They
said they'd open in May!"

We're still doing things;
there's still a lot of work

being done.

*curious music

[Matt VO] We're
having like a hundred,

150 people tonight, just
come through the line,

put their credit card in,
even though it's a dud --

it doesn't
really charge them --

get their water,
come and sit.

And then we'll...

There's a few
little things open,

and we'll have the music on,
and try to make it a nice time,

and then it's like that's it.

We're a little nervous.

*sparse tense music

***

[man] Molé chicken,
Christmas enchilada,

and the brisket suadero!

Who got the brisket?

No?

[woman] You are all set.
Thanks so much.

You have a great evening.

[man] Is this real?
[woman] I don't know.

[man] Okay.

So don't make it
yet, don't make it yet!

No, that's a
different ticket, so...

which one is it?

***

Isabella, I'm here for you!

[Isabella] All
right, see ya later!

Good luck getting down!

There's one thing I
wanted to talk to you ab--

I have a question, Isabella!

All right, sir, I'll
be right behind you.

[chuckles]

[Sheriff] Sorry
about that, folks.

Enjoy your dinner.

[man, singing] *Casa Bonita!
Casa Bonita!*

*Na na na na!

*Casa Bonita!
Casa Bonita!*

*Da da da da!

Oh, cool, ahh!

[cheering]

[hawk screeches]

[man VO] How did you
feel about it last night?

It just was so not Casa Bonita.

It felt like...

It felt like a
nightclub in San Diego.

The steps that we have to do on
the cashier is nine steps per

individual.

It takes for-fuckin'-ever.

I have six cashiers trying to
assign tables at the same time,

which means what happens is
sometimes the same table gets

assigned at the same time.

[woman] Like three times, yeah.

When the characters were
interacting with each other and

doing their little
sketches, always failed.

When the characters really
interact with the kids and the

kids know what it is,
that's when it works.

[Dana] Hopefully
we fix one problem,

and then we can
attack the next one.

[woman] That's what
this is all about, right?

[Matt] Yeah.
[laughs]

And after eight million years...

[Dana] We will
open in a few years!

[laughter]

*tense curious music

[Trey VO] As soon as we opened
the doors and brought people in,

that's when it
was just like, "Oh,

this is completely wrong."

***

Now we have two days to figure
out what do we need to fix and

what do we wanna make look
better and what do we wanna add?

***

It's like, "Are you kidding?

We're gonna have
the public come in?"

You know, and it's
just like, "Oh my God!

Like, this isn't ready!"

But it just makes you go.

[beeping]

[explosion]

Yeah, if we can, it'd be nice to
get some over there, too.

[man] Over there also?

***

[Trey] So first, the lights dim.

Then, it lights up there.

Then, it starts to
explode and go off.

There's part of me that feels
like the doors are gonna open

and I'm gonna bolt,

because this isn't perfect
or that isn't perfect.

***

Holy shit, man, I'm so tired.

***

[hawk screeching]

***

I'm excited to see, um,
how Casa Bonita has changed.

I had my
seventh birthday here,

which was my lucky
birthday, actually!

[man] I like your t-shirt!

[boy] Yeah!
Thanks!

We've been coming here since he
was about that high, so...

[man] Oh, really?
Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I'm excited for her to
experience what I did all those

years.

[Dana] All right, everybody!

This is our first night!
Whatever you're doing, have fun!

But also, don't fuck it up!

[laughter]

Today is your day
to lead your teams!

Certain things, we can fix!

Certain things, we cannot!

So it's important that we're
all together in this as a team!

We are doers!

We're here to make shit happen!

Okay?!

[crowd] Yes!

[cheers and applause]

*tense exciting music

Yeehaw, baby!
Everybody to spots!

First guests are
coming through security!

[man] Let's go!

[man] Everybody
get your smiles on!

Everybody get ready!

Get to your spots!

*upbeat nostalgic music

How you doin', Phil?

[chuckles]
How you doin'?

Okay, how you doin'?
Great!

You look good!

***

I like this sky -- the
little stars in the sky.

[Phil] Oh, yeah, yeah.
[woman] Were they always there?

***

[man] Chili relleno.

***

[man VO] First time I came here,
I was disappointed because the

food wasn't that good.

But right now,

yeah, it's on point!

I enjoyed it.

*"Mexico" by Elvis
Presley playing*

*Mexico

*Mexico

*They've got muchas
mucha-chas, amigos...*

[Trey VO] The dives [chuckling]
I'm super happy with,

'cause I think that was a real
collaborative thing that became

something that was different
than any of us thought but was,

like, "That's Casa Bonita."

***

[cheers and applause]

That was the best thing ever!

That went well!

The crowd's so much
bigger than earlier!

Did you see up here, Daddy?

You don't wanna go in there.

Yeah, there's a ghost in there!

[both] Scary!

[both laugh]

[buzzer]
[girls scream and laugh]

[ghost] There's
no treasure there!

[shrieking]

[skull] You may have
found my treasure,

but you'll never escape!

[load roar]

Oh my God!

[laughing] Are you okay?!

What do you think
of Casa Bonita, Betty?

I love it.

It's the best
restaurant I've ever been to!

*upbeat funky music

Ah!

[laughs]

[disembodied voice] Someone
up there has just made a wish!

Well, I'm here to tell you
that your wish will be granted

tomorrow afternoon at 1:30.

We hope it's
everything you hoped for.

[woman] Yeah!

You don't mess with Isabella!

[girls] You don't
mess with Isabella!

Come on!
We're giving it the Sheriff!

It's mine!

No, it's mine!

It's yours!

[Sheriff] No, it's yours!

[Bart] Thank you very much!
[Sheriff] You're welcome!

Hey, wait a minute!
[kids laugh]

Go get him!

Tarnation!

Looks like someone wants a coin!

[coin jingles]

What coin did you get?

My turn!

I went on a treasure hunt with
Isabella and I got a treasure!

***

Yeah!

[man's voice] It's gonna blow!

[explosion]

***

[squawk]
Bad news!

[woman] Oh, no!

One, two, three...pull!

***

The volcano...

is about to erupt!

[rumbling]

***

[chanting] Puppet show!

Puppet show!

Puppet show!

Puppet show!

It reminds you
what it's all about.

You kinda...

I think, you know, we lost...

[chuckling] we lost a
bit of track of that.

You forget that-- that...

you know, it's like doing
theater without an audience.

*Welcome to the
puppet show*

*It's about to start

*Get ready...

[Trey VO] Watching little kids
run around having the time of

their lives is
fun for everybody.

And now, please give
a big welcome for...

a taco!

[cheers and applause]

I think a lot of it is like,
"I remember that feeling,"

[chuckles] you know what I mean?

Especially if you
came here as a kid.

This is about...

This is about kids.

*tender mellow music

[cheers and applause]

Pretty big success tonight.

Congratulations.

Can we hug?

I think that's what
success looks like.

It was really good.

[Trey] Ladies and gentlemen,
let's hear it for everyone

working so hard at Casa Bonita!

[cheers and applause]

*mellow cheery music

Cannonball!

***

[cheers and applause]

*mellow cheery music

[Matt VO] It's super cool;
we're super proud of it.

I don't know anybody who
could come there and be like,

[nasal voice] "Well,
it was better before,"

'cause it fucking
wasn't, you know what I mean?

[chuckles]
It's so much better now.

But, I mean, we're not
gonna be here making it happen.

You know, we
don't even live here.

All you can do is-- it's
kind of like having a child,

where you get them ready
to go out in the world,

and then you let go.

***

No one would've done it
like the way we did it...

'cause it didn't make any
sense and it wasn't smart.

[laughing] You know what I mean?

So it's like...
You know?

But it's so...
I'm really, really proud of it.

It's cool, man.
It's a really cool thing, so...

***

[Trey VO] I never let
myself try to think that, like,

I own Casa Boni-- that
Casa Bonita's mine in any way.

'Cause it's not; it's
fleeting, and it's like,

I know-- I know that this is
just a moment in Casa Bonita's

life.

***

A lot of the work and the
money was just saving it,

was just making it be able to
be there in another 50 years.

***

[bull grunting]

[man screaming]

***

Honestly, I could do this
for the rest of my life,

and I could probably be pretty
happy doing it -- you know,

move to Denver, I'm just sort
of creatively in charge of

Casa Bonita.

And, you know,
that's a cool life.

But...

this really crazy
thing happened where...

we kinda had the
first just like "Okay,

we're gonna let a lot of
the public in tonight,"

and people were
coming in and going,

"Look, there's the waterfall!

Look, there's the mines!

Look, there's Trey Parker!"

And, you know, they
would just come up and go,

"I'm gonna get a picture
of my son with Santa now,"

and it was just like,
oh, yeah, I'm just, like,

a distraction.

And it was just this really--
[chuckles] this kind of really

sad moment of, like, "Wow...

I can't be here!"

***

It really was like a breakup,
because I was so intensely

involved -- emotionally and
physically and all of this stuff

-- with Casa Bonita.

And then it was suddenly like...

this place that had
brought me so much happiness...

I kinda can't go.

***

It ended up being just like
the episode of South Park,

because it's like
the cops come to me,

and they say, "Well...

you've spent
millions of dollars

you might
never get back,

you-- you've spent
a ton of time and, uh--

when you, you know, could
have been doing a lot of other

things,

and you now have made
Casa Bonita a place you can't

even go enjoy yourself.

Was it worth it?"

Totally.

[laughs]

*upbeat exciting music

*We wanna walk on
down to Casa Bonita*

*Gonna have a holiday

*When you step inside,
it's another world*

*Bet you're
gonna wanna stay*

*Casa Bonita!
Casa Bonita!*

*The fun family restaurant

***

*Casa Bonita!
Casa Bonita!*

*The fun family restaurant

***

*Casa Bonita!
Casa Bonita!*

*The fun family restaurant