Adverse weather

[Doug Kelley]

What is the impact to your haunt when the weather is bad? I'm talking rain/snow/cold, not something catastrophic like some have had to contend with! Do you see a 50% drop in attendence? 25%? Do you have an outdoor or an indoor haunt? Is the queue inside or outside?

[Jim Warfield]

As long as it is still October people in general will tolerate alot of really nasty weather to see the haunted house.
November arrives and that's it, if the weather is crappy. As quick and final as a guillotine blade, "Wham! It's over!
Sometimes I have been made to wonder if the threat (and reality ) of nasty weather inspires some people to give it a go, it's the challenge! (Or something like that?)
35 years ago when I worked in a local grocery store when it rained ice the only people out walking to the store were the very eldely!?? They fall one time, break something and it's off to the nursing home for the rest of their days! But they would do this, everytime!???
You cannot expect people to stand in the cold, freezing rain to see the house, I erect a carport tent, sometimes X2 with side walls made of wood, but there is also a tavern right next door looking down upon my place so people can hide in there from the weather.
The funny thing about bad weather , I would interveiw a potential employee, asking them if they could tolerate working outdoors in bad weather?
So many times there would be an uncalled for enthusiastic positive response to my question...then when it got cold or whatever, they were the first person seeking shelter and heat! Even though they were told to dress for the job, and sometimes they were dressed for it, it didn't matter, they just wussed-out!

Of course advance paid reservations kind of insure at least a certain number of customers will be there no matter what!

[spookologist]

Hey Doug.....

Weather can be a challenge if you are an outdoor haunt. We have a 45 minute walk-thru with about 29 mostly covered scenes and when we have heavy rains we cancel. Sometimes even if the rain ends and its real windy we have to close due to falling limbs. Being in the woods it can be dangerous. Rain insurance is available and recommended. One year it rained 9 days in a row. It was brutal but we survived.
Its amazing how many people show up in the pouring rain. We have to turn them away and they get really pissed. We've also had people wait in the freezing cold for hours but attendance does vary with rain and the cold.
When we rain out it gives us an opportunity to see other indoor haunts in the area.
Hope this helps.

Wayne
www.trailofterror.com

[Jim Warfield]

My outdoor portion of the tour is partially covered to afford some protection from a light rain with no wind. I think if I covered it better it would just become a big bird/bat/bee house. (Don't need that!) (Shitt, bit, stung!?)
If it is too nasty out the loop becomes 90% smaller just exposing them to about 5 feet of unprotected travel as they re-enter the house.
One door opens, another closes and we short-circuit the circiut.

[Mr. Haunt]

I read in one magazine about a haunt that delt with a blizzard and lost power to the whole building. They had to bring in few generators and rewire the haunt to open later that some day! Not sure about the turn out though.


Brian

[Jim Warfield]

Mr. Haunt, You might be referring to a recent Transworld experience.
Generators, loss of power, ex cetra.....I stayed home, I only live 120 miles away but I figured the roads and weather were insurmountable, no mount for me, I stayed in Mount carroll.