Pushing Larger Numbers Through.......

[morte615]

I really think someone from the larger amusement parks would be a good choice. They push the largest numbers through every year.
Some do it better than others, so who does it best?

[Farmer]

There will be a seminar about this at TW this year... I already made sure of it.

Who do you think should speak about it? Larry

Yes, someone from Knotts, Busch Gardens, Universal, or an established mega haunt would be a good choice.

[eanderso13]

Perfect Seminar!

I know that if this seminar happens I will be attending with my crew! Its our first year open and while we're getting better every week at pushing people through, it still seems like a bit of a struggle sometimes! We've had some LONG lines the last couple of Saturdays (not a bad problem to have, but it worries me to think what will happen if we get even more people in a night).

Just curious, how often do you guys put a new group in and what size groups do you use? We started not allowing lone groups of two when we're busy; pair them up with another group of two or three. I've heard many of the theme park haunts do run a lot of people through, but I've also heard that many times its like a continuous line of people with no separation, which is not what most haunts would want, I would think.

Thanks, guys.

[HauntedDeadEnd]

We try to limit groups up to 6 as best as possible. As crowds grow and line to enter grows we increase group levels 8-10. They walk through haunted trails and Haunted Houses. At each station within the haunt we have Queue lines to help alleviate the entrance lines a bit. As these lines begin to max out there is not much more we can do but to cut down the storyteller story a bit to speed up the pace. Overall we have had wonderful crowds this season if they missed a scare we made sure they got it the next scare.

[monsterwax]

Conga lines reduce the experience, there is no doubt about it. Not only do they reveal where most the scares occur to others further down the line, they also make the audience feel safer because people feel more vulnerable when they are alone (and there is safety in numbers). All the conga line haunts would be scarier if they put them through in smaller groups, but they would lose tremendous amounts of profits, so not surprisingly, they do the conga. Yes, it is selling out to a certain degree. But few among us would resist increasing our income five or ten fold when the crowds come waving their money in our faces and want us to increase the flow. The good news is, if you're not there yet, ENJOY IT. Enjoy scaring the CRAP out of people while you still have the chance. You'll still get some good scares with the Conga line, but you will get MORE and GREATER scares without it.

We prefer small groups, but as the lines grow, we increase the size of each group. I prefer six to eight per group, but once the line reaches the corner of the block, the groups increase to ten-- and if they wrap around the corner, they go up to twelve. We offer up to 33% off if people come sooner, but if they chose to come Halloween or the night before, they are not going to get the super small groups. That's the trade off.

Another VERY important benefit about avoiding the conga line is that it allows you to tell stories, perform small skits, illusions, or macabre magic. They have to be kept short (under 3 minutes for us), but this is one of the main reasons we dread going to a conga line. We love the personal interaction with the customers, not only getting in their face, but getting in their BRAIN. You can see it in their faces as the story or illusion really starts to sink in and they get either really excited or scared. (If they don't react positively or seem awestruck, you just shorten it and move them on-- but that rarely happens except for drunks.) Just last Wednesday, I could see this one woman get more and more wide eyed as I told her what was going on in our basement, then explained how she shouldn't be too worried about it, because their bodies were dead and they could only walk and limp at a very low rate of speed. As long as she walked a little bit faster, she SHOULD be alright-- assuming she didn't go down any dead end paths... That did it, she literally became hysterical. She threw up her arms and said, "I can't do it! I can't! I can't!" and even though her friends tried to restrain her, she peeled away from them and RAN back to the entrance door, screaming all the way. I went after, because I was afraid she might go into the office instead, but she didn't. She was out the front door before I could get to the ticket door. Everyone in the lobby looked dumbfounded and stared at me drop-jawed. I took a deep breath and declared, "We have a word to describe customers like that. We call them... SMART!"

That's another way to reduce the size of each group, my personal favorite method: Get them to chicken out in the very first room! It happens every night, but when they go berserk in the process, that's what makes it all worthwhile.