Rain and Seasonal Attendance

[mrfoos]

Hey guys!

We all know when it rains on a given night attendance is going to be lower. Especially if you run an outdoor trail / corn maze / hayride, right? But do you think it affects your season attendance totals? In other words, do you think the people that don't show up because of the rain never come back... or do you just end up with busier nights later on than you would have otherwise because those people come back on a different night. Obviously there is no way to know all this for sure, but what's your gut tell you?

Thanks!

(I wish I were better at making my questions funny so more people would respond. I should probably take a class for that after I finish Allen's DVDs on air brushing techniques.)

[SCfearfarm]

For most smaller haunts rain kills you. Especially if it rains out a whole weekend. If you're only open 10 nights and it rains 4 of them then you will more than likely be off 40%. Some of the people will still come, some will find other things to do (movies etc.), some that would have come 2 weekends in a row will only come once. A lot of people may see a sign or hear an ad or see the hearse and come on impulse....you won't get those people back. Even an indoor haunt is affected if it is a downpour. People here just don't get out and do anything in the rain and even if you are open in the rain people will think you will be closed and decide not to come. Snow even affected some this past season. However, all that being said....some of the bigger haunts don't miss out on that much business because people want to go so bad they are willing to get wet. We had a good season in the South last year with it only raining one night of our season, so we will keep our fingers crossed for good weather again!

[mrfoos]

If you're only open 10 nights and it rains 4 of them then you will more than likely be off 40%.

Ugga ugga! That's a bummer. That identifies a major risk in my 1st year forest trail business plan for the bank loan or investor. But better to know it up front huh? Entrepreneuring isn't for the faint of heart.

But thank you for the reply. Very important information for first year guys.

[Terrorknight]

I think it depends on your area and how many other haunted attractions are in it. For the most part people that go to haunts ( the fans ) are going to come back a different night. But when it comes to your family customers I think it will be harder, those people need to find sitters or have there months planned out ahead of time so if the night they plan is rained out it's more likely they will just miss out and try next year.

Robert

[blaze]

We got a foot of snow last year on our final weekend(also would of been our busiest) hopefully it won't happen for another 125 years, that's the risk you take with a outdoor event.

[DarkTikiEntertainment]

I remember seeing an ad for haunt rain insurance in one of the haunt mags at some point, but I can't remember the name of the company. I'm sure some Google searching would yield answers.

[Lcox]

I remember seeing an ad for haunt rain insurance in one of the haunt mags at some point, but I can't remember the name of the company. I'm sure some Google searching would yield answers.

We run pumpkin patch and a haunt. I checked out some insurance a few years ago for our pumpkin patch and to cover our busy weekend days they wanted something like 50% of what we would have made. Maybe things have changed.

We were rained out 2 of our last days as well, the fri and sat right before halloween. We would have been open 11 nights all together we would have done 30% better if it hadn't rained. Because it was our last weekend, of course we had not one coming back. If only it rained our second weekend and not our last. Oh well.

In my experience, some people come back. If it rains early enough you might not be down too much. If it rains late, it'll hurt. Its just the luck of the draw.

Good Luck!

[Cliff]

Here is a question that some what relevant, what is worse two rainy weekends or your local baseball team making it to the World Series. The cardinals killed us last year!!!

[Howie Slobber Erlich]

Cliff, we were down almost 2000 people for the season in 2006 when the Tigers made it to the world series. We believe we even took a small hit last year with them making it to the ALCS. You can however put on your advertisement that playoff games will be broadcast live at your event. If you have cable access, play the game, if not put it on the radio so people in line can here it.

Howie "Slobber" Erlich
Deadly Intentions Haunted Attraction
www.deadlyintentionshaunt.com

[Cliff]

great idea!! i should have done that!!