Why even open???

[Boni]

I am reading a lot of posts about closing on a week night due to low attendance, or being open and only having 60 people in an hour.

Are you really gaining anything being open Monday through Thursday if you are going to only get 60 people, and then have 500 a night on Friday and Saturday.

It seems like it would be better to just be open 2 or 3 days a week and pack them in during those times.

If I go by a Haunted House and see actors lounging around, no cars, I ain't going in. The negative image you give when you are open and have no guests really doesn't seem worth it. I think your guests will simply come on Fri or Sat when your packed and its a fun experience because you get to see friends in line, talk with people, its the place to be.

Also, it would drive my actors nuts to wait 10 to 15 minutes between scares, they would be bored stiff and start getting antsy. My time is too valuable to try to manage my way through a night with 60 people.

[Kelly Anderson]

Stay open or close

For our haunt, last friday night we ran about 75 people through in three hours. Not alot of people I know. Definately not very many groups to scare. I think sat. night was about 180 people from 7-10. We're about right on in attendence with other years. For us that first weekend is so important. If something isnt right, we have some time inbetween groups to fix. Being we get alot of new actors every year, some that have never worked a haunted house or even done any acting at all. This gives them a chance to really learn what works and what dont.

But most importantly, its that much more people that know about our haunt and will hopefully spread the word. Going to be hard to get customers if your not open.
Hopefully the haunt owners that pay their help have bugeted for the early and slower season. My 2 cents!

Kelly

[monsterwax]

I agree with Kelly. We have one early "sneak peak" show (last Saturday) which happened to be right during the big football game. Only 70 or so people came (or could get parking) but they sure had a great time, and they'll be telling everyone else about it for the next week when we open the next weekend. Most importantly, we had a chance to work out all the bugs between groups, so now we feel much more ready for the big crush.

Of course, I warned the actors it would be slow the first night. It won't be that way from next Friday/ Saturday or the weekends afterwards.

[freak 'n' stein]

I agree with Monsterwax, although we had a slow first weekend, we didn't close early and it allowed us to fix all the kinks.