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How many nights open this year

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  • How many nights open this year

    I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I’m curious how many nights you are planning to be open at your haunts this year. Just four weekends in October, so we are looking at the last weekend in Sept and the first weekend in Nov as options. We’ve been open Thurs – Sunday nights in the past, but I’m thinking about eliminating the Thursday nights. We never really generated enough traffic to pay for the labor.

    Comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

    Kelly Collins
    The Scare-A-Torium

  • #2
    There's a horror movie coming out in April so why would people limit themselves to only Oct weekends?

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    • #3
      Open year round

      Our 5 year plan calls for us to be open year round. Just two more seasons and that could happen with themes for each month or two. We're looking at a new location (a buidling we will own) and then we can look at a year round haunt operation.

      Right now we are limited by zoning for a temporary permit to operate in our present location. Every year we have to secure a 45 day permit to operate. Our new location will have a year round permit to operate. We're excited about the opportunity; we'll see how things shake out.

      Kelly

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      • #4
        Do you have the box checked to save them?

        Comment


        • #5
          HauntedPaws, are you sure you're replying to the correct threads?

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          • #6
            I think it will be 15 or 16 nights for us this year.


            Kale

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            • #7
              Opening

              We are doing 10 nights....the 8 Fri. and Sat. nights in Oct. and 2 Sundays. We are not opening for Halloween since it is during the week. We are trying to just hit the busy nights and if we have to stay open later thats fine. If you dont bring in enough people to pay your actors and bills and be profitable there is no point in opening those extra nights because odds are the people that were coming on Thursday will just come on Fri. or Sat. instead and you wont lose any customers. Some people open in Nov. but I have found for us that our website traffic completely DIES after that last weekend in Oct. Thursday nights are dead here and really we are offering a $2 off discount to come on Sundays to spread some of the Saturday night people out.

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              • #8
                We are doing 8 nights this year. Last year we did 10 (staying open the extra two days Halloween weekend), but those last two nights were really slow, so we are hoping that 8 nights this year will yield better results than the 10 last year.

                I was asked about opening other days, but since we have plenty of capacity left on the busier nights, I'd rather just get those nights busier.
                sigpic

                There are three rules to designing a haunt. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.

                Website: www.HauntedMidsouth.com
                Haunt: www.ScarecrowTheater.com

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                • #9
                  We are going to open an ALL TIME LOW amount of nights. Don't know exactly how many we are going to open yet but it will be our lowest amount ever... we are going to focus on being strong on weekends, loading up on staff like actors, and skip the slowest nights which really is a drain on everyone.

                  Larry
                  Larry Kirchner
                  President
                  www.HalloweenProductions.com
                  www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                  www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                  www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

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                  • #10
                    It's crazy how much time is spent building a haunt, basically year round, but they are only open for a handful of nights.
                    Joshua
                    www.hauntedprints.com
                    info?hauntedprints.com

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                    • #11
                      It's kind of tough calendar layout this season. Hopefully, everything will go well though.
                      Jared Layman

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                      • #12
                        Not sure about during the month of October, but Frightmanor here in Indianapolis has opened once already a few weeks back for one weekend and are opening again in the near future for a lights out night. Their admission is half what it is in October and they must pull in some people to open yet again in the off season. I would have gone the last time they were open but didn't want to take the pregnant wife. While I believe this haunt still is not back up to the level that it used to be, it is getting there. Now that they own the building they have been getting some better scenes but still need some more work IMO, still a good haunt either way though.

                        Actually I just checked and they are open this friday and saturday for Friday the 13th
                        Last edited by VSneader2; 04-12-2012, 10:38 AM.

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                        • #13
                          Yes it is funny... you are right. You work really hard and you only open a handful of nights. Last year we got hit really hard by the World Series our business was WAY DOWN. I'm afraid that the Cardinals will make the thing again... but that isn't my sole reason for opening less nights. I use to be a firm believer in simply saying 'open nightly' now I'm not.

                          So we will try to keep our energy at its peak by opening fewer days, less wear and tear and just focus the marketing on when we are actually open. I think we can save a lot of money this way without losing many if any customers. If people really want to come they will... give them less options to do that, and if they still come on the options you offer, then you save a ton of marketing, labor, utilities, and wear and tear.

                          Larry
                          Larry Kirchner
                          President
                          www.HalloweenProductions.com
                          www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                          www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                          www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            How many nights you open this year

                            We're open 17 nights, Sept. 28th - Nov. 3rd.

                            The Phillies have been killing us the passed few years. Last year are numbers were way up because the Phillies were done early, thank god!
                            Last edited by Phil Miller; 04-12-2012, 06:27 PM.
                            frightland.com

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                            • #15
                              Night games really hurt us

                              We're in Columbus, Ohio and whenever the Ohio State Buckeyes host an evening home football game; it has an impact on our attendance. Noon games and 3:30 games seem to help, but those damn 8:00 games suck.

                              We're eliminating the Thursday nights this year, just opening Fri, Sat & Sun. I appreciate the comments on opening in September and November. We're still thinking about it. Last year we decided to stay open in November, but we didn't give people much notice. We did have about 50 haunters from around the area stop by. It was nice to see familiar faces.

                              Kelly Collins
                              The Midwest Haunters Convention
                              The Scare-A-Torium

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