Awesome New Idea's and Concepts 2009...Read On!

[drfrightner]

Okay I think now is the time to start sharing some thoughts and idea's about things we've seen or heard that could help our business maybe not only this year but next year and beyond.

Remember haunted houses aren't about scaring perse they are about entertainment if you entertain then no matter the fashion they will be back for sure!!!!

If you haven't heard Six Flags now offers a parade at the end of the night a blacklight one... people stick around to watch it, as they do at Disney and so on and so forth.

Well this might be one of the best idea's I've ever heard but...

I know of a haunted house who bought EVERY SINGLE Full Size costume from Gore Galor to everyone else out there and started their own haunted parade...Parade of the Dead.

He does it three times per night, they play music and all these full sized costume monsters do a Parade and he claims this is one of the main things people want to see.

I think that is a pretty cool idea...that has me thinking thats for sure!

Larry

[Darkangel]

Would the 10's of thousands of dollars invested in those costumes pay off for a free parade? That's a budget killer!

Darkangel

[graystone]

I have been doing this from day 1!!!

Before its time for our customers to enter the Manor we have free horror movies, band, gift shop and concessions. We always let and encourage our customers to come back in chill and listen to the band and eat and shop and do all kinds of things its been great for us! Shane and its sure you can come back in and chill ( because I know your gonna spend even more money) Shane this time.

[drfrightner]

How much would you spend on renovations of your haunt, if you said NO we won't do any upgrades this year and did the parade instead it would all average out just fine additionally you could advertise something usually reserved for someone like Disney and well now Six Flags does that as well.

To me at least it sounds like an awesome idea.

Larry

[Gore Galore]

Larry,
that is one of the ideas behind our Costumes.

Getting Giant Creatures in front of a huge audience is a great way to promote your event.
That is why when we talk to customers we tell the the investment comes out of their marketing budget not their prop budget.

We recommend taking our creatures to Street fests, festivals, sporting events, concerts, beer gardens, etc..with permission from the organizers of those events of course. Any place that tons of people are gathered that you can get their attention with our creatures and hand our flyers or coupons.

It is just amazing to see how captivated people are by our creatures. I love looking out from a costume and seeing people staring up with their moths gaping open.

[Nightmare_Trance]

Larry,

You could use some of the giant creatures or stalkers up around the stadium. Bring the hearse and Garry and promote away.

Shane,
I think that the band would really be a big hit! It would help draw more people to the attraction and keep them around...

[Slain]

stupidist idea ever

A parade? Come on guys!! Isn't that what the haunt business is all about? Anticipation of what's inside? This will only work if it's Disney or something like that.
Yes it is about entertaining the crowd but if its not scary they won't return.. How many people here have ever been scared at Disney?
Oh that's right they don't have a haunted house they have a haunted ride...

[Allen H]

Halloween Horror nights has been doing a parade for years, its pretty cool. Its a great atmosphere.
Slain,
as soon as I pass disney in ticket sales I will stop looking at their model.
Allen H

[bhays]

as soon as I pass disney in ticket sales I will stop looking at their model.
Allen H

Amen brotha!

[Raycliff Manor]

We've been having a number of our characters perform the Thriller Dance at opening each night and it appears to be catching on. Each weekend there are more people arriving early to see it. Of course we don't have the entire cast doing the dance so there are plenty of character surprises inside. Our challenge with two attractions and providing outside entertainment mid-show would be our parking. It looks like we're going to need to address this for next year.

Kel

[scattered screams]

We now have a building on a main street here in town and my wife gave notice to what a great location we have, that in May we have a parade down this street and we could open our doors maybe do some sidewalk entertainment scares that kind of stuff, hand out candy to the kids. I know its not during the season but its get people thinking ahead. Just my 2 cents.

Andrew

[Gore Galore]

Slain,

How it is a bad idea to get thousands of people's attention at a single moment in time. That is what I call maximizing your investment. Maximum exposure for minimal effort.

You have something that is bigger than life demanding people pay attention to what you are doing and it is a bad idea? I just don't understand.

It is only a teaser to your event. When people see this teaser, they just want to know what else to have to offer. How is that not peeking their interest in your event? How is that NOT good marketing.

thanks

[drfrightner]

I think its a great idea actually I think its an awesome idea and once I heard about it that was all I could think about was if I should do something like that. In the past I have considered doing a parade something that entertained the lines and always thought about how could I pull that off.

Once I heard someone simply bought all the big oversized costumes that seems like an easy way to do it... me personally I couldn't just do that I would have to go another step or two but still he's onto something here with all those oversized costumes.

The problem is ... and yes I agree there is a MAJOR problem here is that it would take a TON of labor to do it. Secondly what if people sat around waiting to see it and didn't free up parking spaces, and well the cost the investment would be high.

Those are major hurdles to overcome for sure however would it be worth it if you figured the whole thing out. Does Universal or Knotts do things like this do they aim to entertain or simply scare. I say entertain and they have 40,000 per night while we struggle to do 40,000 in an entire season.

I think the whole industry should move more and more towards entertain people give them everything including the kitchen sink if you can and your crowds will grow bigger not smaller.

NO one is saying DO NOT SCARE THEM inside the haunt, simply entertain them from start to finish. I think its a fantastic idea personally but with all great idea's there might be a problem or two.

I have to think it through more before doing something like this but I am at least considering it as a viable option to offer a level of entertainment that no one else offers!

Larry

[Nightmare_Trance]

Not only the oversized costumers, but you could incorporate sliders and other entertainers into the mix.

[WelchWitch]

At an amusement park that I used to work at we would do a walk from one end of the park to the front of the haunt. We would all follow a hearse. It wasn't all the actors but most of them. We had people lining up along the whole path to see what they would soon see inside. We did it to announce that the park was no longer for kids and non scary, the park had now turned scary for adults.We had our sliders, guys on stilts and few others. Lots of pictures taken, way to promote your costumes and scare people in the daylight

Then beginning this month in honor of the movie Zombieland, we with few other haunts did a Zombie crawl through downtown. We started at one location and ended at one of the haunts about 2 miles later. It was early in the day. At the end we had a costume contest that the people watching voted on and the winner won tickets for themselves and 10 friends with a limo ride to 6 haunts. People from the movie were there and handed out swag for everyone.