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  • Looks like bad news...

    I have talked to SEVERAL haunt owners now and most everyone reports the following... DOWN between 15 and 30%.

    Ouch! Our haunts here in St. Louis are down as well maybe 20 or so percent... I have talked to at least 20 different haunt owners from around the country and everyone reports the same.

    Maybe people will wait until closer to Halloween don't know yet that remains to be seen. Now some report they are UP... but all those haunts who tell me that are haunts who haven't yet peaks in market awarness or are smaller haunts with lots of room to grow. The big haunts who have been doing well are have peaked ... for example reached numbers like 30k or 40k or more might have reached a number that would be hard to go over so really you could go up a little or down a little each you, you are at a number that give or take 5% that is where you fall each year... those haunts are DOWN big time.

    Does anyone else have news to report on this subject? Don't be ashamed to admit its not going as well as you had hoped, because we are all in this together and find new ways to pull through it. That is what we do. I'm working on some stuff some really cool stuff, all the travel channel stuff will kick in soon, hopefully more media and other junk so we'll see.

    If you are DOWN what do you think we can do to turn the tide ... days are counting down.

    Larry
    Larry Kirchner
    President
    www.HalloweenProductions.com
    www.BlacklightAttractions.com
    www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
    www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

  • #2
    Crappy Weather

    Well I am sure the crappy weather has people hiding inside. I for one have caught a cold.... ( DAMN ) I usually get sick once a year but not in Oct. but then again I have run my body into the ground !

    I did watch America Haunts the other night.... Areeebis looked great on film !

    If the weather around the widwest cleans up Im sure the numbers will too !

    just my .02
    Last edited by maliciousstudios; 10-08-2009, 02:25 PM.
    "I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

    Malicious Studios
    www.maliciousstudios.com
    "HORROR FX THAT STICKS TO THE ROOF OF YOUR BRAIN !"
    http://www.myspace.com/maliciousstudios

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    • #3
      Actually Larry, here in NC we're seeing higher attendence at local, regional events due to people less people going off to the beach for vacation. they still want to be entertained, but they aren't traveling as far to do it. We had 2800 people at a demolition derby the other night that should have only done 1200. It's still early in the haunt season for us to tell on the door numbers for that yet. I don't see how it can possibly worse than 2001, right after the twin towers got hit. Man that was a rough year. We were not in the mood to put on a show so I know the majority of fans weren't either.

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      • #4
        We are good!
        Ben Armstrong
        NETHERWORLD HAUNTED HOUSE
        www.Fearworld.com
        www.NetherworldNetwork.com

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        • #5
          Larry,
          this is contradictory to your "haunts are recession proof" posts a few months back. Luckily I think that a good bit of the country had crap weather last weekend. SCREAMS in TX did fine, a bit under last year but sat night was a monsoon. I amazed we had the crowd we did. We are a mega haunt and do more than most haunts in our area.
          to quote Ben "we are good"
          so far.
          Allen H
          www.Stiltbeaststudios.com
          http://www.youtube.com/user/Stiltbea...s?feature=mhee

          Comment


          • #6
            1 in 4 familys..

            Has been directly hit by the bad economic times beginning last year, this was a news story from a day or two ago.
            Some CEO's are still downsizing their payroll (laying off, firing people.)
            Here we have seen a great number of commited new fans deciding to finally come see the Ravens Grin after hearing about it for many years, this is always very gratifying to me.
            Impress them with your show and showmanship, give them a different experience and they will talk others into having to come see what you have going.
            Since usually THE busiest night of the year is the Sat. before Oct.31st, but this year it is Oct.31st, who knows?? This may diminish the business of Oct. 24th?
            November business can be good here as long as the weather stays "Predictable", of course staying "Good" would be even better.
            Sudden fog, freezing rain sometimes missed by the Weatherman are scary , nasty tricks most people really strive to avoid. Add to this the trusted gps units that decide to send them down questionable backroads in the dark and life gets challenging...
            Last winter a gps sent a carload of girls down a road only 15 miles from here that I wouldn't drive down in the daylight. After they got here they said they would nevwer be driving on that road again either.
            Next new product needed..a gps that thinks. or just knows.
            hauntedravensgrin.com

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            • #7
              FIRST Year as pro haunt and our attendance is freaking skyrocketing out of control and we are doing next to no advertising.

              we have lines of hundreds of people half an hour before we open and there is just a constant stream of people all night! each night obviously we get better and better and compared to who was in our building last year i believe were doing much better now.

              the other haunts in town there doing much better as well this year..
              Owner of The Fear Experience Haunted House in Cleveland, Ohio, voted the #1 haunted house in Ohio, and #14 in America by Funtober. The Fear Experience Haunted House was called the premier haunted attraction in northeast ohio by cleveland.com and #1 in cleveland by metromix.

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              • #8
                After opening weekend we are up 17% over last year.
                Kevin
                MindWerxKMG, LLC

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                • #9
                  Spookywoods Season so Far

                  Our daytime events are through the roof! I had to open a 3rd window in the ticket booth for our daytime events due to the huge crowds waiting to buy tickets today. This is the first time needing to do that in 9 years at the Corn Maze. The Spookywoods haunt tickets are up year to date as well. The weather has been great the last two weeks, that is a major factor with both my events.

                  Keeping my fingers crossed to pull one out of the hat again!
                  Tony Wohlgemuth,
                  Comes up with the fun stuff!
                  Kersey Valley, Inc.
                  www.KerseyValley.com

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                  • #10
                    Awesome!!!

                    GREAT NEWS! Thanks for the updates.
                    I am soooooooooooooooo glad to hear everyone is doing well : }
                    sigpic
                    PEACE, ADAM
                    www.poisonprops.com

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                    • #11
                      Is it possible the drop off in attendance is relative to how hard the area was effected by the recession?

                      The Southern states are doing fine but the more northern areas seem to be hurting...

                      How is Michigan doing?
                      Guerilla Haunter

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                      • #12
                        Michigan haunt here. I have spoken to a couple different haunt owners in the area. They are saying their numbers are down 30 to 40% from last year. As of last night we are only down 22% but even that hurts bad! Weather has been cold but only a couple nights with a tiny bit of rain. I guess I feel somewhat lucky considering what we are going through in this area economically.

                        Howie "Slobber" Erlich
                        Deadly Intentions Haunted Attraction
                        www.deadlyintentionshaunt.com
                        1986-1997 (Mutilation Mansion,) 1998 (Screamers Haunted House,) 1999 (Evil Intention Haunted House,) 2000-2001 Concept Creator/Business Partner (Urban Legends Haunted House,) 2002 Floor Plan Designer and Consultant for a (Haunted Barn) Owners had city challenges & were never able to open, 2002 Floor Plan Designer/Construction (Fright Nights Haunted House) 2003-2012 Now retired Owner (Deadly Intentions Haunted Attraction)

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                        • #13
                          House of Shock was up but then the rain came...

                          Now we are about even... The first weekend our numbers were up about 50% from our first weekend last year. This past weekend we had about 70% chance of rain predicted and it did drizzle quite a bit but we had a pretty good window of no rain between our opening hours. So I don't know if people just figured the bad weather had us closed but our numbers were down this past weekend. So now we are about the same... Maybe a little up?

                          We hope for good weather for the rest of the season for everyone!

                          Godd luck to all!
                          Ross
                          The House of Shock

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Things for us are starting off very slow! This time last year we where doing WAY better. I do hope business picks up soon.
                            ~Bill Mlinac
                            The Deadland Haunted House
                            www.facebook.com/Deadlandhauntedhouse
                            www.Thedeadland.comsigpic

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                            • #15
                              Not all houses around the country are down, some of the really great houses might even be up... See story below:

                              http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...NG03/910110318

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