At what point do you create two haunts

[Boni]

We have a 40,000 square foot building.

This year we made one very large haunted house. It takes about 40 minutes to go through it.

What are the pros and cons of dividing this into two distinct attractions. We have the room. Make one a dark maze type attraction and the other would stick with our Haunted Hospital Theme.

This year we charged $8. Next year I was planning on raising it to $10. We had approximately 600 each night this past opening weekend and had to turn people away because our actors were told they would be done at a certain time.

So my thought is to not raise the price, but instead add a second attraction at the same price. Thus getting $16 out of most people, but they feel they got two shows instead of one.

Has anyone made this jump and what were your experiences?

[Spookyfinder]

We are charging $15 for 3 shows... instead of selling by the house, it's a general admission for all houses. For our show, we need 30K sq. ft... this includes the houses, lobby/wait lines, ticket booth, concession area, etc. etc... all indoors.

In your position... I would do the same, the two attractions, but offer it as a general admission for both shows. Also, don't give your actors a set time to leave and having to turn people away, that's just craziness! Our plan, open at 7pm... close at 1am... that means we sell tickets all the way up until 1; then we'll just cycle everyone through until every customer is gone.

Again, this is just what we are set-up to do. You can run your show however you see fit, we just take notes from other, compariable events! -Tyler

[gadget-evilusions]

I build another haunt when I hit enough scenes for one. We operate on our county fair grounds, we put an attraction in each building, between 4 and 8 depending on the year and how big we want to build dependin on themes. With 40,000 sf, you could get at least 3 if you wanted, or go with 1 large, all depends on how you want to run your event.

Also, just wanted to comment to Tyler, 7-1am+ for actors is rough man. We got stuck with that schedule at the haunt we are managing the actors for this year, and it's really tough on them to get there at 5 for make up and possibly not leave until 2 or 3. Hopefully your using actors over 18 also, we use alot that are under and have to watch child labor laws also.

[GothycDesigns]

Our attraction is also 40k sq. ft., we have 3 haunts. Admissinos for all is usally $20.00 but we have $5.00 off coupon all over town and online on our website.
So with the coupon used it breaks it down to $5.00 a house, which is great cost for the area. Most haunts here are 1 large and charging up to $20.00. I think thats fine IF they are using a 30k or more space for ONE haunt.

I think if you split it, you have more of an attraction. Some people need a break between scares, so 40 minutes is pretty long, cool, but way to long for most.

Most of our actors are volunteers. Our operating hours are 7-10 M-T and 7-11 on Fri and Sat. but will still be open long if needed. So we stop selling tickets at 10 or 11, and there has been time that we have almost 3000 guests that soemtime we may get out at 1a. If you have paid actors that also have other jobs, than make schedules for them. If mostly volunteers, then if they are core haunters they'll be there till closing.

[Spookyfinder]

Brian,

We are essentially copying how Frightworld is operated. At FW they open at 6:30pm and close at 1am... actors get there around 4-4:30... but they're all paid!

Kentucky child labor laws allow us to use actors as young as 14 for 8 hours on a non-school nights, so on "busy" nights (Fridays and Saturdays) they can stay 8 hours! This is with a break, free food/drink, candy, etc. etc.

But, we have made the decision to not use actors that young... we are setting our age limit at 16 or 17! We will:

-Pay ALL actors/crew
-Provide breaks
-Provide free food before and after operation
-Provide free drinks/candy/etc. during operation
-Give a "crew" shirt to every actor and crew member
-Give 2 free tickets to every actor/crew member
-Host post-season party with awards
-Opurtunity to attend industry shows/seminars/etc./etc.
-College credit for theater/drama seeking students
-Extra credit for high school drama students


We're still working on this and this list could and most likely GROW!! But that's just how we have it set-up. -Tyler

PS: Sorry to get off topic!

[Boni]

Options for the second attration, which way do you think is the right way to go.

• Open up another haunted house but with different scare tactics, scenes, and themes
• Divide the current attraction up, one would be a dark maze, the other the haunted house
• What other options are there?

[brad]

Well, you could focus on a seperate themed event for your 2nd haunt.

The 1st, or primary haunt would be your hospital, and the 2nd could be a psycho ward, ormaybe even a morgue, for all the dead ones from the hospital.
Mainly when you split an event into 2 smaller ones, all under 1 roof, you probly wanna stick to an overall general theme.

So, maybe the hospital and then something else that can relate to it. Say, a psycho ward, or a morgue. As opposed to a hospital and a crazy clown haunt.

[Spookyfinder]

I would do a contrasting event... if your first attraction is a hospital, then maybe the second attraction should be a 3D circus. This would allow you the oppurtunity to charge seperate prices for each. But if you going a route where the attractions are similar... I would not. -Tyler

PS: Hospital, Asylum, Morgue... all similar!