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If you can see the line at about 150 head deep and the parking jammed full from the street, patrons will drive on by to the next haunt or back home in some cases. Saying to themselves they will come another night which they conveiniently forget about dealing with lines and parking ever again this season.
So you should have adequate parking off of streets or intended as parking or in a rural setting a large flat field roped off where the ground is good. For really long lines the building should be big enough to have a hidden que line, in other words a bank line waiting to go in not visible from outside. Yet some line is actually desireable to be shown that you are indeed open and must be popular if all of these other people thought to come. So some line is desireable.
I have heard all sorts of explainations why it was a 1 hour, two hour even 3 hour wait. And every time I would go to a small haunt I was the only one and they just started a 15 minute break. Resetting props, something got torn up, more breaks. Waiting for the next pusher to take a pee? And then there is the why not just let groups go through unattended? People will tear things up as they go through. Even if built so there is nothing to be torn up most operators want to totally control the speed of the group.
In a lot of haunts, I'm not sure what this experience is that is trying to be savoured. Or you are being slowed so the same actors can work you coming and going and have time to do so. All the more manic depressive actors didn't show up until 8 PM? The feeling that some 4,000 staple were used to install the decorations and if there is a group of more than 4, they won't get to see the staples? It was a lot of work and they need to see that.
But if the actors only see someone every 3 minutes they get bored and wander off so they push a crowd through and then have to put everyone back that wandered off and then do another group. A 15 minute technical discussion that results in the determination that a complicated prop will never work again. House managers chosen because of their new fresh excitement that becomes an instituting of new made up rules and a power trip to carry them all out. Someone had to go home and now we need someone for the 20th spot when the whole house could be run on 4 people.
Not to say a 4 person show will bring great future business but it could be done if the place had detail, effects and props to carry the show.
After about 45 minutes in line though, anticipation turns to psychotic evalutation of the situation you have put yourself into as a customer. As an owner watching people drive past because you have exceeded 3 acres of parking turns to psychotic evalution of the situation you have put yourself into.
The answer to it all. Vaseline on props so people won't want to touch all the props as they go through, actors that actually scare people forward like a machine instead of get their attention for their little 15 minutes of fame, when props break keep running, when actors break, not all at one time and keep running with alternate or even lack of some positions. Slopes and gravity help a bit. Monsters with digital watches. Have lots of parking, rural haunts do more business in this region because of no limitation or bother to the customer to park.
Other strategies are some larger places have figured out you pay not being able to see any lines with large open areas, there is ample parking, lots of advertising and then they have only a few haunts and run them at too slow a pace. Then they don't care if you are in line for an hour or more each hoping you won't see all the haunts and will have to come back to see it all someday. On the flip side if you have 14 haunts and no lines it would be very effecient for the customer but not good for the owner. You would be selling stock and hoping to sell socks with your company logo on them instead of entertaining people.
So you should have adequate parking off of streets or intended as parking or in a rural setting a large flat field roped off where the ground is good. For really long lines the building should be big enough to have a hidden que line, in other words a bank line waiting to go in not visible from outside. Yet some line is actually desireable to be shown that you are indeed open and must be popular if all of these other people thought to come. So some line is desireable.
I have heard all sorts of explainations why it was a 1 hour, two hour even 3 hour wait. And every time I would go to a small haunt I was the only one and they just started a 15 minute break. Resetting props, something got torn up, more breaks. Waiting for the next pusher to take a pee? And then there is the why not just let groups go through unattended? People will tear things up as they go through. Even if built so there is nothing to be torn up most operators want to totally control the speed of the group.
In a lot of haunts, I'm not sure what this experience is that is trying to be savoured. Or you are being slowed so the same actors can work you coming and going and have time to do so. All the more manic depressive actors didn't show up until 8 PM? The feeling that some 4,000 staple were used to install the decorations and if there is a group of more than 4, they won't get to see the staples? It was a lot of work and they need to see that.
But if the actors only see someone every 3 minutes they get bored and wander off so they push a crowd through and then have to put everyone back that wandered off and then do another group. A 15 minute technical discussion that results in the determination that a complicated prop will never work again. House managers chosen because of their new fresh excitement that becomes an instituting of new made up rules and a power trip to carry them all out. Someone had to go home and now we need someone for the 20th spot when the whole house could be run on 4 people.
Not to say a 4 person show will bring great future business but it could be done if the place had detail, effects and props to carry the show.
After about 45 minutes in line though, anticipation turns to psychotic evalutation of the situation you have put yourself into as a customer. As an owner watching people drive past because you have exceeded 3 acres of parking turns to psychotic evalution of the situation you have put yourself into.
The answer to it all. Vaseline on props so people won't want to touch all the props as they go through, actors that actually scare people forward like a machine instead of get their attention for their little 15 minutes of fame, when props break keep running, when actors break, not all at one time and keep running with alternate or even lack of some positions. Slopes and gravity help a bit. Monsters with digital watches. Have lots of parking, rural haunts do more business in this region because of no limitation or bother to the customer to park.
Other strategies are some larger places have figured out you pay not being able to see any lines with large open areas, there is ample parking, lots of advertising and then they have only a few haunts and run them at too slow a pace. Then they don't care if you are in line for an hour or more each hoping you won't see all the haunts and will have to come back to see it all someday. On the flip side if you have 14 haunts and no lines it would be very effecient for the customer but not good for the owner. You would be selling stock and hoping to sell socks with your company logo on them instead of entertaining people.
Yes, decreasing time delay, and increasing group size does work. However, that takes away from the scare quality. If people are waiting in line for 3 hours, I think they want the best show they can get. Also, sell "VIP" tickets for an extra $10 or something, and advertise as no wait, and maybe throw in a goodie bag. 
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