How was opening weekend???

[kpolley]

So...as a vendor I am concerned about the financial situation my clients are in. Just wondering how everyone did this weekend (or the past couple if you opened earlier). With the economy still not pulling around and economists saying it won't anytime soon I'm very curious to see if that effects all of us as negatively as it has effected other areas of the economy. I'll post another poll at the end of the season and we'll see if things got better or worse...but for now...how was the first go 'round???

[drfrightner]

I think this is going to be a DOWN YEAR... all signs point to that at this point. Some will make up the difference because haunts seem to be charging more than ever and to be honest that could be one reason why the attendance is going down. I think there is only SO MUCH people will pay for this but what do I know.

But anyway I think the attendance is going down this year from years before for some it will go down by a TON and others it might be slightly off and maybe some haunts whom are still growing might go up! I doubt however that any bit peeked haunts are going up but rather flat to down.

How much will this affect vendors...hmmm...

Just depends it really depends on if the majority of haunts keep their jobs between now and then as most people in this industry have real jobs. We'll see what happens... I know if our business doesn't get back close to last year or something like that we probably would not spend as much money as last year.

But the difference for us is we spend the majority of our money on labor and materials not vendors. So we'll see... this is a thread we need to continue to update and follow.

Larry

[HauntedMemphis]

This was opening weekend for two haunted attractions in the Memphis area (with the rest opening next weekend). I was just attending, not keeping numbers, but if the crowds and number of cars in the parking lots are any indication, both looked to be up from my visits last season.

Next Thursday will be big for Memphis haunts, since it is opening night for both of the area's traditional indoor haunts.

[MindWerxKMG]

That's encouraging news for our area.

[HauntedMemphis]

Yes, I found that very encouraging.

One of the big reasons I go to all of the haunts in the area (other than I like going to haunts) is to talk to a lot of the customers. Between Friday and Saturday, I probably spoke to around 50 different patrons. One of the things that really shocks me is how few people actually know about other haunts in the area. (This is especially true at Haunted Maize with well under 50% of the people I spoke to knowing that other haunts were around and opening this week.) I must have given out instructions to find HauntedWeb and Nightshade Manor at least 20 times this weekend.

This is pretty much the same thing I found last year, when I found most patrons would want to go see other haunts in addition to the one they were attending, but they didn't know more where out there. I have kept my polling very informal, but have consistantly seen the same trends. (I kind of wish I'd kept more formal numbers with consistant questions, but I've tried to just be conversational and steer the conversations to the topics I was gathering info on.

Anyway, I'm hoping for a very successful season for all haunts in the Midsouth area, and it looks like we got a good start with the launch of the haunt season.

[Tater]

But I thought Haunts were Recession proof...I even watched a video about it.

The Haunt that I appeared at seemed to be plenty busy, they kept me entertained and had enough people going threw that they always had a line

[kpolley]

For a while there the numbers were really mixed, but they are starting to trend toward better rather than worse. I know there are a lot of other haunt owners who haven't responded yet, so I'm anxious to see how things look with more votes.

Best of luck guys!

[brad]

This was our opening weekend but with no accurate records of our last year open, which was 3 years ago.

I say we had a great weekend, but Thursday and Sunday weren't good at all because of rain.

[FablesStudios]

Its been nothing but rain and cold here in Chicago..

Everything should pick up once it dries up.

Have a great season!!!

Peter T
FS