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  • #16
    Originally posted by Howie Slobber Erlich
    Smacky,

    I understand your point but we have found that many who chicken out will still come back the next year to try again. If nothing else to prove that they can do it. Some even come back the same year, so now they have paid twice.

    Also, it is great word of mouth for people who are looking for a very scary show. Just imagine the talk around the water cooler when the chicken tells everyone at the office that they were too scared to make it all the way through the haunt. Or even better when the friends the chicken came with tell their friends how the guy the went with last night could not even make it past the first room.

    We have had a lot of people not make it through the entire haunt the last four years since we opened. Yet every year except one, our numbers have increased. So, our very intense type of show seems to attract more customers rather than lose them.

    I look at it like this, there are several dozens haunts in the area that cater to a "family friendly" consumer. We are one of the only around that go for the old school, in your face approach. It sets us apart from the crowd and gives us our unique customer base who are looking for the thrill that comes from being terrorized.

    The few that we lose to the "extreme" experience ultimately translates into more customers in the long run knowing they can't go anywhere else for our type of haunted house.

    We hear all the time that we went to this haunt or that haunt and it was very pretty or well designed but it had no scare factor at all. When it comes down to it, I believe that most haunt visitors while wanting to be entertained also want the biggest scare for their buck as well.

    Just my 2 cents,

    Howie "Slobber" Erlich
    Deadly Intentions Haunted House
    www.deadlyintentionshaunt.com
    Don't get me wrong Howie, I am not being critical at all. I was only pointing out the obvious paradox and using your numbers as an example. Haunted Houses are probably the only business in which dramatically exceeding customer expectations risks losing their business. No one ever says, "Disneyland was way too fun, I'm never going back there!" or "This Lobster tail is too big; I want a tiny shriveled up one!"

    I will say this though. I think we both have met MANY people, even adults, who were so terrified by a past haunted house experience that they will never (or rarely) try one again -- even years later.

    But what's the solution? Obviously the intensity level cannot be lowered to match the desires of the overly sensitive, or not if you want to stay in business.
    "To be matter-of-fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy - and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful." Robert A. Heinlein

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    • #17
      Last year I had a whopping 25%-30% not make it through but it was due to chav-baby-pram-teenage girls and their latest fling bringing toddlers in past family times... After 8pm it is for adults (13+) but not strictly enforced....

      they had to make a hastey exit when the kids would start wailing!!

      But with with young mothers as young as 12 themselves and their spotty boyfriends who look like 13 it is easy to see why they make these decisions... ;-0

      But this year - the crowd was normal - more middle class /older and everyone bar 4 or 5 didn't make it through...

      we also had a lot more families during the day and really nice customers!! No problems at all during the day or night!

      However another bigger but not as good haunt about 15 miles away had three 13 year olds carrying knives, an actor punched in the face, and about 4 fights per evening (in the ques) - several props and sets destroyed... sounds like the chavs went some where else ... ;-)

      I couldn't be happier

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      • #18
        An old mystery may have been figured out here.
        I'm open almost every night of the year and I am the one leading customers through the house , the only one during the off-season, any month except Oct. the end of Sept. and the first few weeks in Nov.
        I have some excellant helpers here in-season but they can't get away with doing everything that I normally do during a tour because when I am doing the entire show the customers sort of get to know what kind of person I am and possibly do not over-react to some of the things I normally do, in a physical way, whereas my helpers are only seen and heard for a very short time during the tour so they don't have the same trust or knowledge of them, thereby aggressive reactions sometimes are forthcoming from the customer that I do not see ever coming my direction.

        If you need customers to behave better :

        1) Just say , "NO!" to Drunks (No admittance)
        2)Invest in video cameras
        3)Have customers go through in small groups
        4) Make it a guided tour, one guide leading and one following
        5) Have your haunt a little more well lit than more dark
        6) Be as human, nice, civil to the customers as you can be , at least most of the time. This can have an extra advantage of setting them up for the scare.
        hauntedravensgrin.com

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        • #19
          I just imagined the front room routine being the viewing of Gone with the Wind, the full 4 hour version with no pee breaks. Please Mister let us out of here! No this is the best part!
          sigpic

          Another fabulous post from the U.S.Department of Wild Imaginings, now in spectaclar stereo, sponsored by the Adhesives and Sealants Council, suggesting ways to stick things together since the 1800s. Not fabulous in a gay way. Your results may vary. Illinois residents add 8% sales tax. These posts have been made by professional post makers, do not try this type of posting on your own without extensive training, lovely assistants and a trusty clown horn.

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          • #20
            Controlling another person's bladder , yet promising them relief "soon", yet continuing, is one of the tricks cults start out doing to get that old mind-control going.
            Yep! Read that years ago.
            I think I might have also heard that "Gone With The Wind" was one of A. Hitler's favorite movies?
            Can't you just imagine the urine turning into sweat and popping out the pores as nobody wanted to get up in the middle of that movie and anger Adolf.
            hauntedravensgrin.com

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            • #21
              I've read for years where haunts have bragged, "We lost a HUGE percentage of people through the emergency exit" or "Our floors had to be mopped constantly." Reading this, I thought these haunts must have been killer "over the top" haunted houses - a level I probably would never reach.

              Well.....

              This year, a woman fainted on us. It was due to her eyes rolling in her head that it all came clear to me.
              It is NOT necessarily the haunt itself, but the CUSTOMER! This woman did not want to go in. Her friends begged her. She said, "I always pee on myself in things like this. I can't handle it!" She was right.
              Did we loose people in the exits? Yup. Did people pee on themselves? Righty-O. Did people including adults cry? Check-a-rooney.

              BUT...

              We also had children go through and run out laughing. We had adults who went through, jumped in their cars, went home, grabbed their children and brought them to go through, as well. THIS is the way we desire our customers to leave. I find them to be our trophies and our reason for bragging. Not the ones who met with a tragic haunted experience.

              I only know of one time customers said they would not come back and that was from a girl who bags my groceries. She brought two of her friends (The Soda Guy and Deli Gal) who also happen to work at the store I've been shopping at for over five years. It was their first time ever going through a haunt and all at the tender ages of 18 - 20. It normally takes me 90 seconds to tell the story to the group, ring the dinner bell and send them on their way. It took this group FIFTEEN MINUTES!! I coudn't get them outta there. They kept screaming at every little wind that blew through the curtains - at every little sound. I finally had to promise them that I would follow in order for them to continue. Thank goodness they were the last group. It was ridiculous! I had to keep my hands out in front to protect myself from them injuring me. When it was finally over, this is how they looked:

              The Bagger: on her hands and knees on the cold, cold concrete. She stayed there for quite awhile trying to collect herself since she was the one driving.

              The Soda Guy: Eyes as big as quarters. He wouldn't speak and that's when I noticed something....he was having an asthma attack! Big dummy! We warned them of fog machines and such before they went in, but he went anyway. When I asked him about it, he pulled his inhaler out and got to pumping.

              The Deli Gal: Bent over catching her breathe, BUT laughing. She was the only one who truly enjoyed herself.

              I doubt we will ever see The Bagger and Soda Guy here again. Of course, I'll see them at the store. I just hope the bagger doesn't squeeze my bread....on purpose. :wink:

              Comment


              • #22
                It is true for us as well.

                I one of my early postings I did a poll "How far do you go?" because previous years we got so few people completing it and yet by "certain standards that cannot be named" it is so tame.

                The 3 year old next door went through the first year and came out laughing but grown men were crying!!

                We don't have anything viseral - the clown was doing 'snakes in a can'. However content only plays a very small part.

                What got the biggest reaction and laughs was a personification of well known UK figure 'P'. But we are in the entertainment industry and because of S-------- I---- and P---- & J--- it is what the public here expects.

                After reading this forum for awhile I can see that there are some fundamental differences in approach.

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                • #23
                  I would like to buy a vowel. Is it Peanut Butter and Jelly?
                  sigpic

                  Another fabulous post from the U.S.Department of Wild Imaginings, now in spectaclar stereo, sponsored by the Adhesives and Sealants Council, suggesting ways to stick things together since the 1800s. Not fabulous in a gay way. Your results may vary. Illinois residents add 8% sales tax. These posts have been made by professional post makers, do not try this type of posting on your own without extensive training, lovely assistants and a trusty clown horn.

                  Comment

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