Queue Entertainment

[Haunting Copy]

Hi, All

Just curious (as I am but a yard-haunter), have any of y'all tried "appease the masses" by providing entertainment while they're waiting?

I've seen mentioned that some of you play audio loops. Anything more "hands-on"?

Sarah

[bodybagging]

That sounds like SOP for all Haunts, que line entertainment is a must have. Movies, commercials, rules, being played on various monitors, top notch queline actors interacting with the line, strategedly place scares near the line, Interactive games at varios stations of the line......more more more

[Haunting Copy]

What got me thinking about this was another thread that discussed entertainment *after* going through the haunt.

It got me wondering why it wasn't also done *prior* to going through the haunt.

While they're waiting, and somewhat captive, they might be more inclined to spend their money on side attractions, as opposed to having the freedom to run helter skelter out of the haunt and go home - or to the competition.

Maybe the queue could be arranged in a different way. For example, have the customers pay *first thing* as they arrive, ushered into a fenced-in area, and then have their groups into the haunt, restaurant-style.

Am I beating a dead horse here? It just seems like the potential for greater revenues would be far better this way.

[FearSeeker]

It sounds like a good idea to me. You would just have to come up with some side attractions that they could leave immediately when it's their turn to go inside the haunt, kind of like when you're waiting at a bar in a restaurant and your "buzzer" goes off to let you know your table is ready. You can take your drink with you into the restaurant, but you couldn't do that in a haunt, so you would have to come up with things they could leave at a moment's notice without missing anything.

[FearSeeker]

OK, so I've been thinking about this some more and I also looked at the Side Attractions thread. I think it's very boring to wait in long lines and think Sarah has a great idea here. I think the fortune telling thing could work here if you have a fortune teller who somehow gets a signal when it's the group's turn to go through the haunt and can "foretell" that to them.

I also think paintballs hurt and that nerfball fights could be a fun way to make long lines seem less boring, and you could charge for the nerfballs. I think there would be less liability/injury problems that way as well.

I doubt there would be time before the haunt to do the laser maze, but they could get started and come back to it. It may be good to get them interested in something, have to leave it to go through the haunt, and then want to come back and complete it or do it again.

If you have a gift shop, give the customers those buzzers they give out in restaurants and let them go shop until their buzzer goes off. If you don't have a gift shop, you could have them create their own T-shirts on a computer, or something like that, and they could pick them up at the end of the haunt.

There are also lots of ways to make money with photos taken while waiting to go through: charge for photos taken with the group or with haunt creatures, take pictures with customers' heads in those silly standup cutouts of halloween costumes or creatures, take pictures in dungeon-type setups around the queues, like in gallows or other haunt-type settings, etc. The list could go on and on. And they could either get their pictures immediately or at the end of the haunt.

These are just off the top of my head, but I will keep thinking.

[Haunting Copy]

FearSeeker: Yeah, I thought about that. Some kind of "early warning" system would have to be put in place. Like have the hostess call out, "Party 1234, you have ten final minutes to live before entering the Dungeons of Death. Please say your good-byes and proceed to the Gates to Hell."

[Haunting Copy]

There could be all sorts of things. I hadn't
thought of the tee-shirts and gift shop!

You could also use the opportunity to
collect info from customers who might
be willing to take a survey later on.
Let's say you get their e-mail addresses
and place them on a newsletter, with
their permission, of course.

Another idea would be a raffle for
prizes/souvenirs.

How about advertise that you invite
guests to dress up, and then offer a
prize for the best costume every two
hours or so.

[FearSeeker]

I think all of those ideas are great. And if you do get any info about them ahead of time, you can always use that in the haunt.

I was taking my niece through a haunt once, and they had gotten her first name up front. One of the creatures kept following her around calling her by name and kept asking her to be his princess. It nearly scared her to death. I didn't know whether she would make it through the entire haunt because of that.

We have also discussed getting people's info up front and having them walk into their own funeral. Lots can be done when you get people's info up front. They could see their own info on a headstone in the haunt if it's something temporary that could be changed quickly.

[Haunting Copy]

The idea of walking into one's own funeral is great.

Curious, FearSeeker, how old was your niece at the time?

[FearSeeker]

She was about 9, and we were going through with her sister and her sister's friend. They were both about 12, and it turned out to be the friend that we almost had to take out one of the side exits because she was the most terrified. After it was all over, they were so excited about it, they wanted to go through again, but I just couldn't do it one more time because it was all I could do to get the three of them through the entire haunt the first time.