Valentine's Day haunts

[Spikerip]

So who's open for Valentine's Day. Looking for haunts to tour in Ohio this weekend. Friday the 13th could be a good night to be open. There's another Friday the 13th in March and in November.

Larry, I thought I saw a post from you about a place to list haunts that are open during special events, but I can't find it. Can you share the link to this page?

We can't open this year, but we might try next year for V-day.

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium Columbus

[sean]

Hey Kelly,

Hope all is well. Designing the Fear has a list of about 40 that are open. A couple are within driving distance if I recall.

http://designingfear.com/#&panel1-1

[Spikerip]

Thanks Sean. I've posted the link on our haunt web site. Hopefully it'll help the haunts that are open attract more guests this weekend. I wish the haunts good luck with customers this weekend, hopefully the weather isn't too awful. Thanks for providing haunt patrons with fear for the holiday!

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium Columbus

[Farmer]

Dark Hour - open all year

We at Dark Hour are opening Feb 13-15. February is our lights-out show. Our St. Patrick's Day show is right around the corner. Our full calendar is here:
http://darkhourhauntedhouse.com/hours/

[Spikerip]

I really like the Dark Hour web site and the way you list your off season events. That's been our plan for several years (open one weekend a month) and someday we hope to be hope year round in Columbus.

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium Columbus

[wickedfarmer]

Realm of Darkness

I am headed to Realm of Darkness in Pontiac Michigan Sat. night. Taking wife and daughter and her boyfriend to Valentines Day Massacre. www.TheRealmofDarkness.com

Wicked Farmer

[hauntfarm]

Its too cold here to open. I think one of the big problems is weather and weather isn't great in January or February. Let me know how it turns out would be interested to know.

[teamzombie]

It seemed like weather was bad across the US this past weekend. How did everyone do opening their haunted houses?

[afears]

We were open for Friday night only and wasn't sure what to expect as our area is not use to having a haunt open during the "off-season". However it turned out to be in my opinion our best show yet! We were very happy with the turnout as well!

Nicci Fears
Fearsome Entertainment, LLC
Phobius Haunted House

[afears]

We also were able to visit three other haunts on Saturday night in Chicago. It was fun to see what other communities had to offer. However, I am definitely NOT a fan of RED glow lights. They are absolutely worthless other than allowing actors to see patrons. I ended up hiding my light in my coat and walked in the dark instead.

Nicci Fears
Fearsome Entertainment, LLC
Phobius Haunted House

[Spikerip]

A group of my actors drove to Cleveland to tour Factory of Terror and the Fear Experience. They said both did a great job and were busy with customers. I don't think we could afford to heat our building (40,000 sq ft). I'm spending $1000 a month right now with the thermostat set at 44 degrees so the pipes don't freeze. It would cost me a couple thousand dollars to heat the building up to 60 degrees so my actors and staff would be somewhat comfortable. We had below zero temps and blowing snow most of the weekend. Aurgh winter sucks!!!!

Kelly
The ScareAtorium Columbus

[drfrightner]

Kelly,

I'm right there with you... its brutal cold here and I mean brutal. Last night it was like 15 degrees maybe. I'm not opening when its freezing ... down in Texas its not so cold as it is here. I hope Dark Hour did well.

I to would be interested to hear how everyone did.

There are a couple reasons I don't open for these types of events...

1) Over the last 6 years we've been renovating for transworld which keeps our haunt down from November to the show itself. Also in the summer its just too hot the actors would all pass out without air conditioning I think. I think having the right heat and air conditioning might be key. We would open for Mardi Gras which St Louis has the second biggest in the nation and its right here in Soulard where the Darkness is if we didn't do this tour for TW. The Darkness is NOT ready to open and won't be for another 2 to 4 weeks.

2) The other reason is I can't see opening for 200 to 300 people seems like a lot of work for almost nothing. Seems over the years the reports I can back are anything from 100 to 400 people for these holiday type openings. Considering you need insurance, you need to market you are open, and all the risks involved and work you would do to open it just doesn't seem worth it. I don't see the advantage to it.

3) We might try something this year maybe open on March Friday the 13th maybe as a warm up to TW possible... talked about SCREAM BREAK many times but never pulled the trigger maybe this year we'll try something.

When or if we do I'll report back my findings.

In the meantime I'm still loving to hear reports from everyone who tried it.

Larry

[Farmer]

The cold front didn't hit Dallas until Sunday night. Friday and Saturday were sunny and about 65 degrees. We had a huge turnout for our Love is Blind show, one of our busiest off-season shows so far. Our dinner & haunt combo package was a success. We teamed with a nearby restaurant for Fine Food & Frights where couples could do the haunt and have a nice dinner on site in our event room, which was dressed up in a nice yet dark sort of way. They loved it.

[remyghost]

We also were able to visit three other haunts on Saturday night in Chicago. It was fun to see what other communities had to offer. However, I am definitely NOT a fan of RED glow lights. They are absolutely worthless other than allowing actors to see patrons. I ended up hiding my light in my coat and walked in the dark instead.

Nicci Fears
Fearsome Entertainment, LLC
Phobius Haunted House

We also went to three haunts in the Chicago area on Valentine's Day. It is nice to be able to see other haunts since we never have time during the season. Each one seemed to have a fairly steady stream of customers. As far as the darkness goes, the glow sticks didn't really work. Unless you were the one using it, you couldn't see anything anyway.

[Badger]

I went to the Haunted Pyramids in Lawndale NC. No real Valentine's Day themes there, more like a continuation of their Halloween show. However, it was a fun evening as always whenever I visit. They do plan to be open on Friday the 13th's and perhaps some other holidays.