Haunt Season Attendance Numbers Up or Down... Follow this thead all season

[drfrightner]

Our numbers are DOWN with NO rain. The economy is terrible just horrible. There is really no telling just how this season will end up but we will not reach our numbers from last year this I know for sure. You know you might hear about a lot of haunts saying up but if you are a growing haunt you should be going up... if you are an established haunt going strong for many years your numbers are somewhat established ... like every year we do 40,000, or every year we do 32,000 or whatever. You know without a doubt you are up or down because you are always around that number maybe a little up or a little down from an established number.

So I hope to hear more from very established haunts here soon.

Larry

[the ogre]

Rain has been aweful in Pa. our opening night thursday the 29th was a wash out, friday we closed an hour early because of rain and last night we got a full night in but it downpoured for the last 2 hours and we have to close our forest maze untill there is dry weather. i am only a supervisor at my haunt and right now im thanking god i dont own it. if this rain keeps goin this season will be a total disaster. on the plus side my actors are kick ass this year. im hoping for dry weather just so we can showcase our crew. i dunno about numbers being up or down but once the first raindrop is felt cars stop pulling in. this rain is bullshit! on another note, We start the 2012 production line for Haunt Tactics next week!

[Dman]

Opening attendance in MA

Hi Larry,
We are a 20+ year Scream Park in Western, MA and the weather has been horrible (Rain go away). We opened on Friday to a above average crowd only to get a downpour 2 hrs into the evening, this didn't stop folks from arriving. We were rained out Saturday and we will take a rainout this evening. With 2 days out of 3 rained out, our attendance is slightly down but our payroll is way down due to the closings. We are controlling our biggest expense (Payroll) to increase our bottom line. This is a Business, do not make business decisions based on emotion. If you don't make a profit, you Can't play anymore.

Dan Augusto
Owner Tombstone Productions
Monster Mash Scream Park

[krazedklownkilla]

Numbers up!!!

We have had A great opening weekend. this is our first year in this location but, We put out the most promotion we have ever done and it has paid off. We have easily tripaled any other year numbers. cant wait to see how the rest of the season gos. Hoping everyone else dose well!!!

[Allen H]

up

Established haunt and we are signifigantly up over last year. In north TX, locally it sounds like TX is up.

[bhays]

We are established (11th season) here in southern Indiana. 9th year in same location. We're up overall about 25% in 6 nights open so far. We have had two nights, last night being one that have more than doubled last year's attendance.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.962118,-85.903585
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JamBam]

down

We are in NE Indiana and thirteen years in this location with seven years of slow growth on the line. Friday saw periods of cold rain and Sat was cool with us down some both nights. Looking for much better solid weekends the rest of the month.

[1mando]

UP

3rd year haunt and we doubled our advertising and we are up up up from last year

[TheGreatPhantasmo]

We have been open for the past two Friday and Saturdays. We had pretty much a monsoon on our opening night and we are still up in attendance by about 15%.

[HordeOfUndead]

I just started a similar thread in the other forum before realizing this one was here.

I don't know about other areas of the country, but Buffalo, NY had some pretty miserable weather this past weekend. On the plus side this whole upcoming week is supposed to be nice!

We certainly learned a lot just in the past 3 nights of our grand opening for District of the Dead. Couple glitches Friday night, but a good turnout. Saturday night was an awesome crowd, better weather, and much, MUCH more organized as far as actors and glitches fixed. Last night ran just as smooth or smoother and for a Sunday night not too bad a crowd. We did a little over 300 guests for opening weekend. Our location is excellent and our marketing efforts have been directed to many colleges, universities, and high schools within a very close proximity of where we are. Social marketing efforts over the past couple months have been excellent as well. Not everyone is in full blow Halloween mode on the first weekend so we anticipate a steady increase in guests for the remaining 4 weekends, especially with the buzz created on local campuses. And we managed to make the news last night! 8-)

Without our excellent actors, volunteers, and support from everyone that attended District of the Dead's grand opening over the weekend we would have not had such a screaming good time! Can't thank everyone enough for supporting WNY's Newest & Most Frightening Haunted Attraction, Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, and The Food Bank of WNY. :grin::grin:

Our crew hopes all the other excellent haunted attractions in WNY had a great opening weekend too!

Anyone have any wild or entertaining things that happened on their opening weekend worth sharing??

We had all sorts of issues with one compressor that kept blowing a breaker. I ran laps all night and luckily the breaker was only controlling one pneumatic prop. All is fixed now. 8-)

[wickedfarmer]

Need more parking lot before season is over

If weather is good Sat. Oct. 15th I am expecting to direct cars away to a haunt 2 miles away. Sat the 8th was our second biggest night of ALL nights of 11 years. Blew away corresponding weeks of previous years. Firday night was good; not anything exceptional. Will be cutting my advertising next year. Am on FRONT cover of magazine style mailers, postcards in 120,000 mailboxes,..... tv, Haunt Guide, Fear Finder etc. Large plywood sign with all our ads displayed and ask everyone how did you hear about us. Word of mouth, our own flyers, and "been here before" is kicking butt...nothing else even close. So I turn cars away to my 'competitor" and say come on a friday night or earlier in month next time to all of them. Send business to newer haunt (former employee) help them get established and have exit 122 off I-96 become known as place to go. Then again if it rains...I'll have parking to spare.

Wicked Farmer

[drfrightner]

Update: Our numbers are way down. I talked to a rep at a radio station who told me, Six Flags was down, and all the other haunts around these parts are down as well. So basically everything around these parts are way down. Not going well around here... nothing that will kill us or anything just going to drop some serious dollars from last year to this year.

I'm guessing there is really nothing we can to change the outcome. People don't have jobs, Obama wants to raise taxes on the rich which will hurt the economy because the Rich will stop investing, which in turns doesn't create new jobs, while at the same time companies will simply lay off people to pay for it, blah, blah.

The presidential election process has started already, blah, blah... what can you do? I don't know how its going for many others but our season is HORRIBLE but not close to be great either.

I've talked to several people by phone most everyone telling me either flat or down. So who knows.

I hope the finish is strong but we'll see.

Larry

[wickedfarmer]

You just imagined drfightner just went political...

Your mind is playing tricks on you from lack of sleep and nerves. You did not read anything political in previous post. Although I agree with the subliminal message that was sent. Well except for that businesses have ALREADY stopped investing. They are sitting on some of largest cash reserves in recent history; because they do not like investing in climate of $14 trillion debt. Back when national debt was smaller % of GDP they wouls still invest. But we reached the tipping point. WARNING...continue political at own risk.

Wicked Farmer

[wickedfarmer]

??????

I never doubted Larry's numbers ...or hits on Hauntworld...still don't. BUT; I am a little leary of "radio guy" saying six flags was down. It VERY WELL COULD BE DOWN in that area. But earlier this summer "theme park" attendance was up and I have grown leary of all local radio ad salesmen (did no radio this year after being one of sponsors of radio stations haunt finding service last year) . Heck I am from Michigan so I understand economy affecting numbers. Just curious of those who chimed in on this thread...what is your admission price? My haunt is $10. Is public still doing haunts in same numbers but going more economical route??? For $10 they are getting a vortex tunnel, 25 actors, Night Frights Bloddy Mary Mirrior & Ghost Bust, talking skulls, Hallway to hell, caged up in prison for a few minuts, and a smattering of smaller ScareFactory animatronics along a 1/3 mile trail. In other words...does haunt industry need to look at producing a great show for less $$$. I understand we are a once a year event and people LOVE this stuff and most will gladly fork over more $$$. But; economy is what it is.

Wicked Farmer

[Badger]

I talked to a rep at a radio station who told me, Six Flags was down, and all the other haunts around these parts are down as well.

I went to my local theme-park haunt on it's second night and it was PACKED. My SIL who works at the park full-times says they have been averaging 18-20,000 each night and they expect those numbers to go up for the final three weekends.

120-acre theme park.
11 mazes.
Most of the coasters and rides open with the exception of the children's area.
Tickets now running between $33.99 to $38.99 depending on night.
Go figure.

I wonder if St Louis and surrounding areas is down due to the tornado damage and subsequent rebuilding. Perhaps they've seen enough real horror this year...?