Haunted Attraction Review

[NightmareAftershockLLC]

Movie Relics,

You're right everyone DOES have an opinion, that doesn't mean they can't keep it to themselves creating a site and then saying they thought it wasn't worth the money or not scary enough or the parking lot was too far away is nothing more than a tool for a tool who can't do it for themselves and and hurts people's business for the sake of a power trip to be a part of it all.

There are review sites for movies etc, but they get mass funding and can always rely on DVD sales and rentals whereas a haunt does one thing, charge a ticket price for a all an too precious short period of time and we all work our fingers to the bone and are emotionally spent and then you have some guy come in who has no idea how hard this sh#t is and might rate it bad therefore swaying the public from trying for themselves and then the business owner suffers.

DA

Exactly my point as well. Why bother with a review site for haunts? And as Jim said, if it sucks, they'll notice in their pocket books. They don't need someone on a power trip trying to make a name for themselves. Now if the haunt sucks, are you going to offer up your lack of experience to help them improve? Or watch them burn. Very hypocritical if they don't themselves have the experience of operating a haunt. Anyone can toss a haunt up, but it's sustaining the business that shows true talent. We don't need someone putting their two cents in about a haunt. If it sucks? They'll fail. End of story.

[smasters]

I have attended haunts with fantastic reviews only to find out to ME they were horrible.

I have gone to haunts with terrible reviews and I thought were awesome!

SO....... I guess you will never know unless you go personally.

ON A ANOTHER NOTE:

I have owned major haunts in Ohio

I dont understand the comment on you have to own a haunt to rate a haunt. Give me a break.

Your customers do not own haunts either but they do give thier reviews.
CUSTOMERS ARE ALWAYS BEST CLUE ON HOW GOOD YOUR HAUNT IS. PERIOD!

SO I guess owning a haunt doesnt mean crap. The customers knows whats good or bad without the knowledge of owning a haunt.

Smasters

[MovieRelics]

I understand and totally agree with you that people will vote with the pocketbook. But I guess I keep going back to the fact that people are reviewers no matter what. When they tell their friends to go or not, they are reviewing you haunt. If they look up in a paper your review, then that may ultimately help them to choose which haunt they go to if they can only attend one particular haunt. If they go to a haunt and the review was good, but they thought it sucked, then they learned to ignore that reviewer. Just like movies. If I hear the critics think it sucks, then I will most likely like it kind of mentality. I think they can help guide people to you if they are undecided about visiting you or not and it's good free PR for your haunt.

Personally, at the end of the day, I think the ultimate review is the word of mouth recommendation to their friends. Printed reviews by media sites of haunts are good PR and free advertising (assuming they are good), but if I was a haunt owner, I'm more concerned about doing exit surveys of customers leaving my haunt to see what they liked and didn't like so I can improve it for next year. Just showing that level of care for your haunt to your customers will get them to return for next year and recommend you to other people.

[MovieRelics]

Haunt suveys.....

Sounds like you're justifying your own existence! You reviewers act like you're actually needed and you're doing your civic duty by being righteous and reviewing haunts is your way of giving back.

It's simply not needed and if you were really that passionate about the haunt industry you'd be doing your own.

DA

Anyone that is willing to help out any haunt however they can for a positive effect is nothing but a good thing. You don't have to own a haunt to be passionate about the haunt industry. Otherwise, you saying that all the vendors that build great props for haunts, but don't own a haunt, are not passionate about this industry.

[Haunted Illinois]

There have been many false assumptions made in this thread, including the following:

- You have to own a haunt in order to review one.
- If you don’t own a haunt, then you can’t be passionate about or benefit the Haunt Industry.
- Haunt reviewers are all leeches and freeloaders.
- Online Haunt Reviews have no value.

Saying that you have to own a haunt in order to review one is just plain absurd. As zombiephobe stated, you don’t have to be a chef to be a food critic, nor do you have to be a movie director to write a movie review. The same goes for haunted attractions. Haunt reviews are a customer’s way of letting you know what they enjoyed about your attraction, along with what they think could have been done better.

I want to make it clear that you also don’t have to own a haunt to be passionate about the industry or benefit it in some way. I am really sick of hearing that pompous attitude on this board. According to some people here, you’re worthless if you don’t own your own haunt. Poppycock!!! The fact is, there are many people who don’t own haunted houses, who make great contributions to the industry. Online ticketing companies make it easy and convenient for patrons to buy tickets, haunt vendors provide props for attractions, haunt directories provide a consolidated list of attractions for patrons to visit and review sites give patrons a better idea of what to expect, when visiting an attraction. How about haunted house builders, actors and make-up artists? They don’t own their haunt, yet they are all very valuable to the industry. Wait, let’s not forget home haunters, who are often those people who eventually turn pro.

I have been involved in the Haunted Industry for more than eleven years now. I love the industry so much that I created a website to promote Halloween and haunted attractions. In the off-season, I go to as many industry conventions and events as I can, then post picture galleries and reviews of them. I also spend countless hours each October, keeping my website up-to-date, so patrons know where in Illinois to go, if they want to visit a haunted attraction. With that being said, can anyone really question the passion I have for this industry or the value I provide? I don’t think so.

As for haunt reviewers being leeches or freeloaders, I’m sure there are some out there that are like that, but I think that is an unfair generalization. It definitely doesn’t apply to me. When I visit attractions, I don’t ask to get in for free. I pay the regular admission, just like every patron does. As a matter of fact, I don’t even announce myself, because I like to get the same show everyone else is getting. By the way, if you DO encounter a reviewer who tries to “freeload”, just don’t let them in for free. It’s that simple.

You are also mistaken if you feel that online haunt reviews have no value. Yes, consumers will make the final vote with their dollars, but haunt reviewers help people decide which events are best for them. Was there blood & gore? Were there adult themes? Was there a high scare factor? Potential patrons, especially those with small children, want to know these things, the same as a teenager would want to know if an attraction is too tame for their taste. So, are haunt reviews valuable? You bet! Every year, I get several emails from people, thanking me for posting my haunted attraction reviews. There are also a number of haunted house owners who use my reviews (and the constructive criticism in them) to make their shows even better the next season. Not only that, but haunt owners have told me that they like the additional exposure the haunt reviews give them. So with that being said, online reviews can be very valuable tools for both patrons and haunt owners alike.

Yes, I suppose there are those people out there who write reviews with the intention of slamming or discrediting an attraction and that is a real shame. I assure you that the reviews I write are as positive as possible and with the intention of promoting the haunt industry in general. Not all haunt reviewers are morally corrupt as some on this board have implied.

By the way, DA… I can understand why the owner of your haunt doesn’t want you to disclose the name/location of the attraction you work at. I wouldn’t want to be associated with your antagonistic, negative & insulting posts, either. LOL.

[Darkangel]

Adam, if you are that passionate about the haunt industry why don't you just do your own haunt rather than assume your opinion is so valid and even worth a website?

And you still don't get the point. Fact is some reviewers are leeches. You said if they are don't let them in right? So by not giving the reviewer what he or she wants just what do you think he will do as soon as his lame ass can get back home on his computer, write a positive review?

Of course not he'll try to talk crap about the haunt making up stuff to get even.

Haunters themselves stoop pretty low in competing with each other and the reviewers can and do the same.

And Adam, I always respected you until your comments about me. Maybe you should do a haunt you might find a useful tool for weight loss.

[BruiseMuse]

Maybe you should do a haunt you might find a useful tool for weight loss.

Did you just reduce this argument to jabs about his weight? I think that was incredibly out of line.

[MovieRelics]

Look, we all have our opinions and we are obviously not going to change the minds of some about reviews. If you listen to reviews or don't is your call and how you choose to run your business. Let's just all agree that we're not going to agree and move on before this turn into a trollfest.

[drfrightner]

Just my opinion...

1) I think another haunt owner could make a better judgment of what is the better haunted house than someone who doesn't own one for many many reasons... the main one without a doubt is because we know that on any given night you could have bad acting, a prom or everything go wrong one night or another. We've been there and done that a zillion times...

I think most non-haunt owners judge a haunt almost strictly on 'was it scary' or not... as a haunt owner I myself judge the haunt not by if I got scared because I'm not an easy scare no matter who is acting but based on things I can appreciate like creativity, attention to detail, all the little things most non-haunt owners would never notice. Other things like their costume department, marketing, websites, just the whole entire package not one night in the haunt I would never say a haunt sucks because of one night of a slow show.

Sorry but I myself really feel that I can personally give a better opinion than any non-haunt owner out there, and I feel that most others who have been doing haunts for many years could do the same.

2) I would NOT agree that a non-haunt owner can't do a good review, or doesn't know good from bad or are not able to draw their own opinions. I don't agree with movie reviewers 99% of the time, and think most of those guys are idiots just getting a paycheck. They do it for a living, so I can see both sides of the coin here for sure.

Look the bottom line is simple... EVERYONE haunt owner or not has an OPINION and for whatever reason their opinions and reviews are based soley on how they view what makes the best haunts and again its their opinion. I myself whether or not I own a haunted house do not have to agree but its their opinion or my opinion.

When its all said and done... maybe the best rating, ranking or whatever probably would come from someone unbiased who doesn't own a haunt who gives you their HONEST opinion. To find this person someone with no ties to anyone, no friends or foes would be hard to do... and these rankings or ratings should be based on seeing them all but we all know that hasn't happened so these are all what they are just opinions based on whatever.

Nothing to get in a flap over...

Larry

[mindtumor]

See, I actually think people that don't own haunts might possibly be better reviewers. In my opinion haunt owners may just appreciate things differently then the average customer. I know I have been to many haunts I wasn't impressed with but the people attending them with me were very impressed. That would be like only taking other filmakers opinions and not the average movie goer when looking up movie reviews. Film makers are going to have a different slant on it being that they are behind the scenes. Same thing with haunt owners. I spot things in haunts other people don't care about.