2013 When Will YOU OPEN?

[drfrightner]

Okay folks this will be a hot topic for next year and I want to know for an article i'm working on for the new Haunt World Magazine.

When will you open the doors in 2013? Do you realize next year will have a FRIDAY THE 13th in it in September?

Will you open for this, stay open from there, open that weekend and open back in later in the year what?

Will you close more weekdays to save money what will you do different in 2013 and when will you open the doors and lastly when will you close the doors?

As you may already know Halloween is on a Thursday so will you this year stay open beyond Halloween?

Larry

[Mike Goff]

We absolutely will open on Friday Sept. 13th. This is a great platform to start the season and anyone who normally opens sometime in Sept. would be crazy not to jump on this. We are actually looking to increase the number of nights that we will be open. The rain of 2012 really hurt us, because we are mostly an outdoor event. By adding dates, we hope that we will not be as vulnerable to loosing big on rainy nights. We will also be open on Halloween 7:30 - 9:30. We have never done this before, but we feel pretty good about it.

[Deathwing]

But adding more nights could effect your actor energy level and commitment and since you're paying your actors is it worth paying out so much so early when no one comes and wearing them down long before the busy nights come?

Just adding to this discussion.


Jake

[Mike Goff]

But adding more nights could effect your actor energy level and commitment and since you're paying your actors is it worth paying out so much so early when no one comes and wearing them down long before the busy nights come?

Just adding to this discussion.


Jake

I thought about that quite a bit, and it was my biggest concern. I am very confident in my abilities to keep my crew motivated, and I have a good sense of how hard I can push them without pushing too hard. The thing that is prompting me to do this, is the fact that we really took a beating this year because of rain. The odds of having that much rain next year are probabaly slim, but I never want to go through that again. We also have a problem of getting more customers than we can handle. With the added nights and a few other things that we are doing, we hope to spread the load a bit. Excellent point though.

[terrormasue]

We will definately be open Friday the 13th!! Can't miss that. However we have decided to pass on Sundays until later in the season. So open on the 13 and 14th. Then open again for the season starting on the 27th. We will be open a total of 17 nights. Sundays starting on the 20th of October.

Sue Graystone Haunted Manor

[Jim Warfield]

Friday 13th- OCtober 31st?

Are both sort of "So whats?"... when you are open every night of the entire year. This fact probably is why we usually are not very busy Oct, 31st, people know they can come here pretty much anytime, but those other places will be closed... so they see them.
Ravens Grin , Open every night unless I drop dead. If I do , come on in anyway, I'll be waiting in here for you!
(It's always been a "Haunted", Haunted House-(Original version-definition.)

[Nashville Nightmares]

Yep!!

Opening 9/13 but we are going with less hours open in September as opposed to October this year. Being open for 5 hours on weekends in September was just too much.

[Jim Warfield]

I have also discoverd..

staying open after 10'Clock pm does get you the miserable drunks who you really don't want stumbling around, falling down, starting fights, insulting the other patrons.
We don't take any employees "Off the Clock" that early anymore, just for that reason.
I know of one haunt who always closed at 9:30. probably for that reason.??

[mindtumor]

I am thinking about opening an hour less on Friday and Saturday in September and possibly even the first couple of October weekends. Still debating that. Not sure about Friday the 13th in September yet, its something to think about. And as far as opening Nov 1st and 2nd this year, might have to. It seems like the people I have talked to did pretty decent the first two Nov days last year. There really is a lot to talk about and debate about the way the calendar is laid out this season.

[BigT]

Lots of changes in 2013

Being a smaller haunt, we opened only five nights in 2012, so 2013 brings a great opportunity for us to open 7 nights. We are in rural Virginia, so getting actors is always the biggest battle, and what keeps me awake all September. We are looking at a couple of different recruiting options for 2013 to alleviate this problem.

I wish I could be open Sept 13, but I am not sure we can pull it off. I think for us it is wiser to stay focused on our business plan, and focus on how we will be successful in October/Nov.

TicketLeap was another great addition we used in 2012 (I had to install a public WiFi HotSpot to get online, but it was worth it). We will be looking at ways to expand how we use TicketLeap to maximize this service.

I am throwing away the posters. They simply didn't work for us. But flyers are a must as we often visit other events and need something to hand to people at those events, in addition to the little "fav cards" with our website address. We will be looking at the calendar for any related events in NC/VA as an opportunity to market ourselves - we have a great Tram we built in 2012 (with audio!) that would be great in parades.

Lots of things spinning around in my head right now. I have been busy putting things to paper so in January we can begin executing the plan. Here we go!