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  • How far are custoners willing to drive

    How far will your average haunted house customer drive? Not us or haunt fans but your average customer. Have an opportunity to move into an amazing location but the town it's in only has a population of about 2500. It's right on a major freeway (I65) and about an hour south and an hour and a half north of two major US cities with a few smaller towns in between.
    Last edited by DeadManWalking; 01-06-2016, 10:41 AM.
    Pain is just an un-avoidable side effect

  • #2
    I've second hand info on this very subject. I spoke to a haunt owner that had a place, right on the highway, exactly in between two decent sized towns. 55,000 on one end and 75,000 on the other end of the hwy. They did ok. They setup under a tent, in a parking lot. A large road sign on the road. This place was about a quarter mile from a major gas station. He told me they set up on a budget of about $20,000 (had a bunch of stuff already) and spent about $2,000 on radio and 2 billboards. Though he didn't tell me exact numbers, he did say they did about three fold of their expectancy.

    I asked if he would go to a permanent location now or keep doing the tent thing and he said he wasn't sure. Never saw him again, but one of his 'hands' met me at the craft store and he said the guy moved out of town. No one knows if he's doing the haunt again. So we can take that one of two ways, lol. He got ran outta town, or he made so much he was able to do what he wanted, and just left. lol.

    IN MY OWN OPINION.... I'd say that's a long ways, bub. I'd hate to see you try your attempt and it shut you down because attendance was so bad. An hour drive? I'd market the SH#T out of it if it were me, but that's only if I had no choice to be there. On one hand, a hwy is an INCREDIBLE amount of exposure, especially if you toss up some eye candy by the road to grab even more eyes passing by. However, there's a big, big risk, in my opinion, on doing that location. It could be a deal breaker. But it could also prove to be 'not so bad'. If the distances were closer I'd say you'd have a good shot at making it work there, but that's a long drive from both towns. Me? I'd say, If you can attempt that location, and STILL go on to do another year if it bombs, try it. But if you were to bomb and it would put you out for good, not worth it.

    I'm not a pro. I'm not a marketing analyst or anything, but that's just what I think of the sitch. Good luck either way you choose.

    Edit* OHH, to answer your question... (forgot to add this in at the end).. I live in a town that has almost at least 2 haunts every year locally. Sometimes a third being done by pure amateurs. Just right at an hour away, (not all highway driving either) there's a pumpkin farm that has a haunted house as well on the weekends. It's a huge operation, many actors, etc. NOT a small time thing... and people drive tehre from all over, up to 2 hours away (or more)... BUT... they have a pumpkin patch, where many schools take field trips there etc, and been doing so for years. However, THERE STILL ARE PEOPLE, MANY PEOPLE DRIVING AN HOUR OR MORE TO GET THERE!!

    Hope this helps.
    Last edited by Hacksaw; 01-07-2016, 11:41 AM.

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    • #3
      We do exit polls nightly and then analyze the date from each season; our average customer drives an hour for our haunt.
      Katie Lane
      Partner/VP
      Raven's Wolf Art Productions (www.ravens-wolf.com)
      sigpic

      Bansheette Morningstar (www.bansheette.com)

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      • #4
        I am along I-96

        Town of about 2500. Zip code responses most are within 40 minutes but we routinely get people from a couple hours away and further. Give customers a reason to come back and word will spread. Offer a show that is no reason for them to come back and word will spread but your draw will not.


        Wicked Farmer

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        • #5
          This is the property.

          http://www.tranzon.com/TAA-1613

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-H2...layer_embedded
          Last edited by DeadManWalking; 03-28-2016, 02:07 PM.
          Pain is just an un-avoidable side effect

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          • #6
            I live in an area with a dearth of great haunts. Most of the 'well-known' haunts in this state are 90-120 minutes away by interstate. Many of my friends (not haunters) who enjoy haunted houses think nothing of traveling that far to see a good haunt. Remember, this is something they don't do all the time so they're willing to put in a bit more effort to see it. I will drive 3.5 hours to Atlanta every year to visit a well-known haunt down there and a couple of friends usually make the trip with me.
            http://www.bigscaryshow.com
            http://www.rabidbadger.org

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            • #7
              Originally posted by BruiseMuse View Post
              We do exit polls nightly and then analyze the date from each season; our average customer drives an hour for our haunt.
              Ditto. #saysmypostistooshort
              Brett Hays, Director
              Fear Fair
              www.fearfair.com

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              • #8
                If you sell tickets online and sell a lot of them you'd have a good snap shot of just how far they would go. When you can look at your ticket sales and see the states people travel its amazing. The web has opened the doors for people to go far and wide to see something truly unique. I believe over 5% of all our customers are coming from more than 3 hours away. We have tons of customers from Chicago, Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas believe it or not.

                They come from everywhere.

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

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