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  • #16
    Conga lines

    Nobody likes conga lines.

    I have to say though, I can't think of a time that I've been to a mid sized or large haunt that I didn't get sandwiched between groups, catch up to the group before me or have the group behind catch up to my group. This happens even at small haunts, even at the haunts that open at the trade shows, even on slow nights. I know sometimes haunts are metered part way through which doesn't really work because they usually end up in a line in the middle of the haunt We tried that our first few years. In a 3/4 mile walk or anything approaching it, it seems that this is unavoidable. It is a different kind of show and yes, i think less scary, but at some point don't you just have to accept that this will happen and like FARMER said, design your scares around it or at least have a plan B?

    I've seen people break up their haunt into different attractions, but then you're still waiting in line in between attractions. Or you start charging enough to drive some people away (not usually a good idea) or at least to other, slower nights. Then you get people thinking you're gouging them and that stays with them.

    We do 8 people every 45 seconds, and they usually catch up to each other about 1/2 way through. Other than drastically reducing our capacity I don't know what else we can do besides accept it and plan our scares for it.

    Imagineer, my management walked through your place about 3 weeks ago (great setting, good actors and killer job for 1st year!), you had 50ish people outside waiting to get in, were letting people through pretty slow and we still got sandwiched between groups. If anyone has any ideas I haven't thought of to fix this, I'd love to hear them!
    Lucas Cox
    Cox Farms
    www.Fieldsoffear.com

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    • #17
      I don't have any suggestions for keeping spacing between groups once they're in the haunt, but I went to one this year that had something I hadn't seen before. Each ticket was numbered. Once you bought your ticket, you were admitted into an an enclosed courtyard-like area that a food vendor, DJ, port-a-potties, and a heated tent with some benches. Above the entrance to the actual Queue there was a large digital display that told you what ticket was up. When you're ticket series was up, you got in the (short) queue and made your way into the attraction. Until then, you milled about, grabbed a hotdog, listened to music, got a picture of yourself being torn apart by a zombie horde, and waited in relative comfort. We were there on a slow night and went straight into the haunt so I didn't really get to check out the yard much, but I can definitely see how it would be nicer than standing in a long line on a busy, cold, rainy night. Seems like a good way to keep customers happy while they wait. (And keep them spending money too.)

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      • #18
        I understand your dilemma. Make people wait (and sometimes people get tired of waiting and leave) or rush them through and experience a conga line. Lots of good suggestions from our fellow haunters. Here’s what we do.

        We have two attractions and when guests exit the asylum, they get in line for the funhouse. The wait for the second haunt is usually only 3 – 10 minutes. We control this by the amount of time between when we start the groups at the first haunt. If you pick up the pace at the first haunt, be sure do the same at the second haunt or else that wait line will grow quickly.

        We prefer group sizes of 4 – 6, but sometimes people refuse to divide and we leave it at that. We have three timing levels to start groups; 60 seconds, 75 seconds or 90 seconds apart. It all depends on how long the cue-line is and how close we are to closing. When we designed our new haunt this year we created smaller scenes with tighter turns. I think this helps keep the groups separated too. Also our actors will step in between groups when they start to bunch up and entertain them for a few extra seconds allowing for group separation.

        We utilize dark holding cells to separate a group from the cue-line before entering the asylum. Now the starter already has them divided by group size and waiting to enter when he is ready for them to start. This way he doesn’t have to wait for a group and the dark holding cells are very intimidating.

        Also we tell them before entering; if you catch up with the group ahead of you, slow down for a few seconds and let them get ahead. Even with all of these procedures, we still sometimes have groups catch up to one another. I think some people are so scared, they want to merge with another group so they feel safer.

        Our timing does impact/limit our thru-put, but we prefer to put on a quality show and our reviews reflect it. Hope this helps!

        Kelly Collins
        The ScareAtorium Columbus

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        • #19
          Originally posted by HobzGoblin View Post
          I don't have any suggestions for keeping spacing between groups once they're in the haunt, but I went to one this year that had something I hadn't seen before. Each ticket was numbered. Once you bought your ticket, you were admitted into an an enclosed courtyard-like area that a food vendor, DJ, port-a-potties, and a heated tent with some benches. Above the entrance to the actual Queue there was a large digital display that told you what ticket was up. When you're ticket series was up, you got in the (short) queue and made your way into the attraction. Until then, you milled about, grabbed a hotdog, listened to music, got a picture of yourself being torn apart by a zombie horde, and waited in relative comfort. We were there on a slow night and went straight into the haunt so I didn't really get to check out the yard much, but I can definitely see how it would be nicer than standing in a long line on a busy, cold, rainy night. Seems like a good way to keep customers happy while they wait. (And keep them spending money too.)
          This is actually what we do. Timed ticketing for the corn, the wait shouldn't ever be more than 20 minutes. We have enough hayrides the wait for that is not more than 25. We have a pretty big area that people can go down a gigantic slide, 4 or 5 different food houses, fire dancers, magicians, games and a bunch of huge bonfires. We put on a pretty good Corn walk and the hayride is taking off but the fire scene is what a lot of people come back for. Our target audience is also 12-18. People usually spend at least 2 or 3 hours here all together.

          Its just the bunching up inside the Corn. Its the worst part of our Haunt and I would be stoked to fix it.
          Lucas Cox
          Cox Farms
          www.Fieldsoffear.com

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