ScareAtorium haunt review - bus tour

[Spikerip]

Did anyone on this forum attend the MHC Friday night bus tour to the ScareAtorium? I’ve heard some people on the last couple buses waited a long time to enter the haunt and unfortunately they were late to arrive at the second stop. In hindsight, we could have provided VIP entry for those guests (there were about 20 people impacted). We thought most of our guests attending both events were going to be on the first buses. I apologize to those who were impacted. I hope you found our haunts to be entertaining.

We sent groups of 4 – 6 into the haunts every 60 seconds. How was our timing? Did you catch up to the group ahead of you?

My question is; if you were on the tour, what did you think of our haunts? What did you like and what would you have done differently? Did you like the drop panel in the piano or the two story Maximum security scene in the asylum? Did you like the UV Warp Tunnel or the jungle scene with the Venus flytrap in the Funhouse? What did you think of the 3 minute escape rooms? Did you tour our costume and makeup rooms? Did you try the séance room?

How did our actors do? We ended up with 112 performers; 88 from our staff and 22 guest actors. How was their makeup and costumes? Did they stay in character?

We started actor training and construction in January. We worked really hard to prepare the haunt for the tours. Hopefully you saw props and scenes never featured in a haunt before. What was your favorite scene and actor?

You can respond here or email me directly at Kelly@Scareatorium.com

I will post pictures and video here soon. Thank you for your comments.

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium

[nzanesmith]

We had a great time!

Hey Kelly I really appreciate you opening up and putting on a great show for everyone. My girlfriend and I attended, we were one of the early groups through and were paired up with a group of three haunters from NY who were fun. We had a bit of a ticketing issue, I think mhcs ticketing servers were having problems not on your end. It was quickly resolved by the ladies at the ticket counter.

I enjoyed the blacklight mural in the que lime, several of us were trying to spot the light projecting the ghost.

Timing between groups was great, I don't remember running into the group ahead of us at all, we walked pretty slowly to take I'm everything and I don't think the group behind us cought up either.

I loved the dark maze and the chain link/hardwire panel maze section although I think that section could have benefited from a stronger strobe in it, or multiple strobes. I very much liked your two story cellblock scene and the general detail throughout. The damn snake in the hallway startled me, I was looking else where and saw it out of the corner of my eye (I hate snakes!!!). The fun house was AMAZING I was commenting the entire time how cool it looked and how I loved the murals. When I turned the corner into the LED hallway I was like YES!!!! That was a great looking effect and something I'd never seen in a blacklight section. I also loved the dot room. One of the best UV mazes I've see.

We did RIPs box car and had a blast trying to figure it out. We got close but ran out of time before figuring out the last part. I never even noticed the countdown on the video we were so focused on figuring stuff out. I would have loved to have seen the other two rooms.

I enjoyed the back stage areas as well, I liked the board with all the cast pictures on it and all the space to relax and comfortable chairs. I spent about 30 minutes in the makeup room looking around and picking the brain of several of the artists. I like the inspiration pics all over the walls and I loved the idea of the UV room.

On our way out we did check out the Seance room and loved the surprise at the end.

Side note I also attended your seminar on Saturday and found it very helpful. I'm a data driven professional in my day job so having you lay out some hard numbers was music to my ears.

Overall I had a fantastic experience and walked away with tons of ideas. This week I've found myself thinking of ways to tie in sponsors with escape rooms as you recommended.

Respectfully
Nick

[Spikerip]

H Nick, I'm really glad you toured our haunt and I really appreciate your comments. Whenever a guest asks about the floating ghosts on the queue line walls, I tell them they come out of the floor. We just switched the light in the cage maze and I agree it isn't as bright as it should be. Our crews spent a lot of time building the Maximum Security scene (2 stories tall) and I finally had to tell them to stop and move on to the next list of scenes. They were having a blast detailing it out. We are the first haunt in the country to add the UV Warp tunnel in the funhouse. Mini Spot Light has already sold several more after haunt owners saw it. So much better than a vortex tunnel and fairly easy to install. I think our 3D painters did a fantastic job preparing the Funhouse for the tours and your comments help support our efforts.

The Boxcar was our first 3 minute escape room. About 30% of our guests solve the clues and escape. During the season we offer free bowling passes to everyone who is successful and solves the clues.

We have 3 Chief Makeup Artists and they designed the makeup room. Bright lights and lots of mirrors, a sink with running water and a bathroom attached. Not many haunts have that and the dark room attached with black lights is perfect for our artists painting actors for the Funhouse. We had 13 artists working that night helping 112 performers with makeup. It was a little crowded, but organized and they finished about 20 minutes before we opened.

Glad you attended my class on the 3 minute escape rooms. I think they are the next opportunity for haunt owners to generate more sales and profits.

Thanks again for your review and I'll share your comments with our crew! Hope we have an opportunity to scare you again.

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium

[Haunted Mansion]

We had a group we did all the haunts and overall the haunt tours are a thumbs down. The worst of the worst was Fear Fair as we and many other found the haunt to be unsafe and unpleasant. Fear Fair had their actors maul us from start to finish. My girlfriend was picked up off the ground by an actor. They had a very unsafe walk way, sharp objects that scratched people in our group. Overall experience was awful. As for Kelly's haunted house seemed like we waited for a very long time to get into the attraction. Finally when we got thru and over to the party the party was essentially OVER. I think a lot of people got upset about this one. I'm not going back to MHC next year and here are a couple reasons why:

1) The tradeshow floor is cool but most of the major vendors didn't have booths and those who did brought very little stuff.

2) Haunt tours seemed to have run dry. We've been to MHC now 4 or 5 times and the majority of the haunts are either very amateur or put very little into the tour. I'm also tired of pre-convention tours where you ride on a bus for multiple hours. We also had this experience a Transworld main show driving to Kentucky and the bus getting stuck in the mud. I don't want to sit on a bus anymore for 10 hours.

3) The show has become more of a horror haunt fan show than anything else. Its fun but I think I'm going to skip it next year.

To answer your question Kelly I really appreciate you and all haunts who open but when you pay $100 bucks or more you expect a lot and this years MHC overall was a real let down. I think when you produced MHC it was much better. Transworld should stick to what they know best and leave shows like this to others. Clearly Transworld has no clue who's haunt they should tour.

VERY DISAPPOINTED!

[drfrightner]

We have been doing tours for 8 years now and we've learned more about running them in the FIRST year than the other 7 COMBINED. Haunters all feel like they are royalty ... none of them want to wait in line, they all want VIP, they ALL want EVERYTHING to be perfect. I'd like to go to their haunt some night and see how much stuff is perfect... I'm sure it wouldn't even be close to what they expect other haunters to perform to. With that being said even though the expectations are SKY HIGH and in MANY or MOST cases unrealistic that is the level that you must attempt to perform at.

I've heard total morons say to me over the last couple years... ah we didn't attend your haunt tour this year because every year its never done, you say at the last minute something won't get finish, or something wasn't working. Give me a break. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and you are going to beat me up over some animation that didn't work, or some light burnt out... please find a bridge and jump off. LOL Many haunt owners expect a standard that is probably multiple times higher than what they produce for their own customers. But that is the nature of a haunted house tour for haunt owners.

There is an old saying if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. And its true.

I have to say and I'm just being honest ... ANY HAUNTER who does a HAUNT TOUR and allows your actors to touch the customers has NOT payed attention to previous haunt tours. The #1 cardinal rule is DO NOT TOUCH the customers and that goes 10 times for haunt owners. Haunt owners have go NUTS about getting touched in haunts... its like an industry sin!

You could have the best haunt in the UNIVERSE but if you touch the customers the backlash is going to be heavy duty. I don't agree with ANY haunt that allows their actors to TOUCH customers period end of story. NOTHING GOOD can come from that... NOTHING but a giant lawsuit.

I've had customers even tell me if they touch you we are not going in... customers DO NOT want to be touched.

A haunt that allows touching is totally irresponsible and totally oblivious to what kind of PC world we live in today. My number 1 complaint that I hear day after day is 'I GOT TOUCHED'. We tell the actors over and over again DO NOT TOUCH the customers... yet you accidentally touch the customer and they think they've been assaulted. But touching haunt owners we've seen on these very boards haunts that opened their haunt and allowed their actors to touch the customers, they have been torched.

In short I can only say this... no full contact haunt is going to do big money, big business, big crowds, and will be NO fan to other haunted house owners.

I'd love to know the rational while any haunt should allow their customers to be touched by their actors. This I do not understand.

Larry

[mindtumor]

We have been doing tours for 8 years now and we've learned more about running them in the FIRST year than the other 7 COMBINED. Haunters all feel like they are royalty ... none of them want to wait in line, they all want VIP, they ALL want EVERYTHING to be perfect. I'd like to go to their haunt some night and see how much stuff is perfect... I'm sure it wouldn't even be close to what they expect other haunters to perform to. With that being said even though the expectations are SKY HIGH and in MANY or MOST cases unrealistic that is the level that you must attempt to perform at.

I've heard total morons say to me over the last couple years... ah we didn't attend your haunt tour this year because every year its never done, you say at the last minute something won't get finish, or something wasn't working. Give me a break. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and you are going to beat me up over some animation that didn't work, or some light burnt out... please find a bridge and jump off. LOL Many haunt owners expect a standard that is probably multiple times higher than what they produce for their own customers. But that is the nature of a haunted house tour for haunt owners.

There is an old saying if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. And its true.

I have to say and I'm just being honest ... ANY HAUNTER who does a HAUNT TOUR and allows your actors to touch the customers has NOT payed attention to previous haunt tours. The #1 cardinal rule is DO NOT TOUCH the customers and that goes 10 times for haunt owners. Haunt owners have go NUTS about getting touched in haunts... its like an industry sin!

You could have the best haunt in the UNIVERSE but if you touch the customers the backlash is going to be heavy duty. I don't agree with ANY haunt that allows their actors to TOUCH customers period end of story. NOTHING GOOD can come from that... NOTHING but a giant lawsuit.

I've had customers even tell me if they touch you we are not going in... customers DO NOT want to be touched.

A haunt that allows touching is totally irresponsible and totally oblivious to what kind of PC world we live in today. My number 1 complaint that I hear day after day is 'I GOT TOUCHED'. We tell the actors over and over again DO NOT TOUCH the customers... yet you accidentally touch the customer and they think they've been assaulted. But touching haunt owners we've seen on these very boards haunts that opened their haunt and allowed their actors to touch the customers, they have been torched.

In short I can only say this... no full contact haunt is going to do big money, big business, big crowds, and will be NO fan to other haunted house owners.

I'd love to know the rational while any haunt should allow their customers to be touched by their actors. This I do not understand.

Larry

Not all of them are like this, some are appreciative and realize how much time and effort go into it. But I would agree that a very large percent are as you describe. I have always thought it has to be incredibly hard to open early for tour. It is hard enough getting ready for the season as it is.

[Spikerip]

This is addressed to the person who responded as “Haunted Mansion, Very Disappointed”.

I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts about MHC. I will share your comments with the producers of the show, but I no longer produce the convention and can’t address your concerns about the show. I’m sure they will appreciate hearing your comments as they too want to put on a great show and try to please everyone. They’re trying lots of new ideas and will figure out what works and what doesn’t. Finding haunts willing to open during the off season is a huge challenge. Most can’t and those that can have many obstacles to overcome. Then they end with 120 – 200 guests (most of them experienced haunters), hardly enough to pay for their labor. As a haunt owner, I understand their challenges and always thank them for their efforts and I send them an email with my comments on their attractions. I tell them what I liked, what could be improved and I thank them for their efforts to entertain our group.

The main reason for my post was to collect feedback from those who attended our haunt, the ScareAtorium. This was our third year of operation in this location and like everyone else on this forum who owns a haunt, we’re constantly trying to improve. Opening a haunt for “haunters” is always a risk. It is extremely hard to scare a haunter as many have seen the typical scenes and scares. We know the actors are just that; performers trying to startle and scare guests. They aren’t really going to injure you or harm you and standard drop panels, dark mazes and loud noises are predictable and obvious attempts to startle. So we try to come up with scenes/props no one has seen before. Some of our newest creations were one of a kind and designed to specifically scare/startle/impress fellow haunters. Like the drop panel built into face of the upright piano or the two story Maximum security scene in the asylum with custom built props and animatronics? Or the UV Warp Tunnel (the first ever built by Mini Spot Lite) or the jungle scene with the custom built Venus flytrap or the UV painted floors (with a variety of optical illusions) in the Funhouse.

What did you think of the 3 minute escape rooms? We are the first haunt in the country to design the 3 minute escape room and about 30% of our customers spend the extra $5 to try their problem solving skills to escape and win a prize. Which room did you try and what did you think of that experience?

Did you tour our costume and makeup rooms? Did you take a break after touring and enjoy your White Castle sliders and beverage? We turned on 3 HVAC units and set the temp at 68 degrees, it was really hot outside and we wanted our actors and guests to be comfortable. It’s a 40,000 sq ft building and when it’s 90 outside it can get really hot in there. We do this during the season too with heat or AC. It’s a major expense for us, but I couldn’t imagine what the experience would have been like if we hadn’t spent the money to cool the building down.

We started construction in January with a crew of 4 guys working 5-6 days a week. More team members participated on weekends. We replaced about a third of our haunt and tweaked the rest of it. We also held monthly training classes with our actors to help them hone their skills. We hold training workshops for our crews Jan thru Sept every year. We also require our actors to audition for their jobs. This helps us weed out the people just looking for a paycheck. We want actors. We told our actors they would be entertaining experienced haunt owners and actors. They would be hard to scare, but that you would appreciate good acting and that was our goal. If we couldn’t scare you, we wanted to show you a good time. Hopefully you picked up some ideas for your actors on characters, lines and makeup.

During a normal season, we would start construction in April, when the weather is warmer and the temps in the building are comfortable, but this year we were opening for MHC night and so we got an early start and turned up the heat to keep our crews warm. We spent thousands of dollars and many hours to open in June for haunters. It took a tremendous amout of effort in a short period of time for a few hundred guests; many of them experienced haunters and critics. We want to learn from them and continue to improve for the upcoming season. We want to be the best haunt in Ohio and we have some very impressive competition.

I’m looking for constructive criticism or positive comments I can share with our crews so they can smile and appreciate their hard work or learn how we can improve our haunt and make adjustments for the upcoming season.

I know many of our guests waited a long time to finally enter our haunts. I can’t do anything about that now. If we open for MHC guests again; we will address that and figure out how to regulate the arrival of guests so they wait inside the convention center before boarding buses and aren’t waiting outside in the heat for more than 15 – 30 minutes at the haunt. Hopefully there won’t be a major party going on at the same time so everyone isn’t rushed to get to another event. I heard many of our guests were moving slowly and looking at everything, not our typical seasonal guests who run through the scenes with their eyes closed. I was told by my staff that many of our guests stayed in the escape rooms after their 3 minutes were up taking pictures and trying to figure out the games. Some even poked their head behind the back side to see how it was set up to interact with guests. This slowed down entry into the escape rooms so everyone got backed up in that queue line. The escape rooms are something new and many of our guests are interested in starting their own and so they took the time while there to understand how we operate them.

I’m sorry you were disappointed and I really do appreciate your comments. If you have a few minutes I hope you will provide feedback on our haunt so we can improve what we are doing. Thank you for your time and for supporting the industry.

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium

[drfrightner]

Kelly,

When we opened the first year here at Transworld we spent like 1.5 million dollars between building onto our building, creating Terror Visions from scratch, updating The Darkness I mean it was CRAZY... and people got so upset because the power went out the first night, that it rained on Saturday, that we let them in late, it was like everything we did was magnified 10 times.

I learned a lot... on the electric it worked fine. People said didn't you test this... ah yeah and everything worked but then on the behind the scenes tour you let in 500 people and everyone is setting off everything at the same time created a problem we didn't see coming. It was fixed the following day and has never stopped working since. Sometimes on the first day which technically this is the first night and first night by what 5 months (LOL) you fix things for the following day or weekend.

I remember why we didn't open on time... we didn't have radios we forgot to charge them. In the process of building a new building, terror visions, and renovating the darkness it never crossed our minds to charge radios. LOL

Now its a running joke a month before the tour opens we are like CHARGE THE RADIOS!

Considering the first year I still think we did an outstanding job, but for haunt owners they only saw the mistakes not the overwhelming positives. I learned its the LITTLE THINGS that matter the most so now we are aggressive the little things and the big things and everything between.

Doing this haunt tours has honestly made us much better operators by a long shot... so all the slamming from the first year didn't detour me it only made me stronger. There is a difference between a TRUE LEADER and someone who just gets by... a leader never quits and finds solutions.

I put new things into place after that first year to ENSURE 100% success ... we still had some complaints the second year but it was reduced by I don't know 90%.

Now NO ONE complains about our haunt tours we get nothing but kudos, respect, thanks and more. I think some people come out of the exit MAD that they don't have anything to complain about. LOL

Here is my point, you should learn from these haunt tours and take the negatives as building blocks to do better. If you can make a haunt owner happy you can make ANYONE HAPPY! We strive to make these haunt owners HAPPY and that rolls down hill to our customers in St Louis.

One other things opening for the haunt industry overall is probably not the smartest move for most haunt owners, if you can't perform at your PEAK LEVEL you are setting yourself up for a lot of negative criticism. I took so much the first year I was NEVER going to do it again... but I took it as I'm going to show them and I did.

I think our haunt tours have proven out to be one of the most valuable assets to the Transworld Haunt Show each year... a lot of the thanks goes to the vendors who help me, and most importantly the haunt owners who give us their comments pro and con.

Larry

[haunter1313]

We went to MHC and it was fun but we'll probably not attend next year. It doesn't have the same level of haunt tours and things pre-Transworld owning this thing. I really wanted to support this event when it was owned by haunters but now its just blah. We support Hauntcon as well because we want to support someone trying to do something out of their own pocket. As for the haunt tours overall it wasn't that great. Kelly really appreciate all the hard work you put into making haunts feel at home and the lengths you went to but that was a long wait. I was actually more upset about missing the party and what was the excuse for cutting off the party early? Never got an answer there.

I have to agree with the other poster who said Fear Fair was a disaster. We felt unsafe between the actors grabbing us and an overall unsafe attraction.

MHC needs an anchor attraction to be the highlight for the event and this year that just didn't exist. You know they talk about the main show moving how about moving MHC? Why does it need to stay in Columbus? Out of the two shows I prefer that MHC move to a new city because the event is heavy on haunt tours. Transworld main show does not rely on haunt tours rather the vendors. So my suggestion move MHC to a new city this show is tired and needs a revival.

I would also like to mention the seminars are beyond horrible. The quality of seminars between MHC and Transworld are tremendous. I understand with the main show they have a bigger pool to choose from but MHC will need better speakers going forward. Some of the speakers clearly had no clue or you got a sales pitch.

Kelly maybe you can buy back MHC. Please!

[Spikerip]

I appreciate your comments and I will share them with the team at MHC. I believe they truly want to keep the feel of the show the same and they need to hear what people are saying. What can they do to bring back the convention connection with you? They have a core team of haunters who help them with the convention. MHC is a different show with a target audience. When we sold them the show they wanted to keep the convention for haunt owners and operators (non-profits, low volume and the big guys), actors, makeup artists, home haunters and Halloween enthusiasts. I think they are trying some new things to appeal to a broader audience. Before you give up on the convention; why not send Jen an email with your constructive criticism Jen@haashow.com . Let her know what you liked and what you didn’t like. What would you like to see changed? How can they address your concerns?

The pre-convention bus tours are tough. Most haunts can’t open for us and some of the haunts that can open have challenges with staffing and getting their haunt construction finished by June. Some haunts can’t open during daylight. We’ve been to most of the haunts in Ohio that can open and so we’re reaching out further into surrounding states. That means driving at least 2 hours to get out of the state, plus the time to reach the first haunt. I always tried to come up with a haunt or haunt business within 1 – 2 hours from the Hyatt to break up the long drive. I also hosted two day tours giving us more haunts to tour since we’re already in a new demographical area. This requires an overnight stay which adds to the cost. It requires more work and planning to coordinate two day tours. I’ve talked with Jen about returning to the 2 day tours and she’s willing to consider it. We’ve never been to the Louisville area on an MHC bus tour. I’m recommending we head that way in 2017. Anyone on this forum want to offer suggestions on which haunts to tour?

I was hoping for some feedback from those who attended our haunt, the ScareAtorium. I’m sorry about the wait to get in, I can’t do anything about that now. If we open for MHC again, we will address that with a timed bus ticket. It’s the only way to reduce the amount of time guests spend standing in line to board the buses at the Hyatt and to wait to get into the attraction. That’s how we used to handle the Friday night bus tours. It took us a couple years to figure that out and I think we’ll be able to convince them to try it again. So what did you think our of haunt? The asylum or funhouse, the actors or the 3 minute escape rooms. Good or bad; I would like to know what you thought.

Thanks again for everyone who took the time to comment.

Kelly
The ScareAtorium

[bhays]

I appreciate the comments in this thread. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and we at Fear Fair are motivated to make our event the best it can be. I guess the contact haunt thing is a regional phenomenon. I know that it is the rule rather than the exception with haunts in our area such as Haunted Hotel in Louisville, Dead Acres, Nightmare on Edgewood, I could go on all day. I did understand that it would be announced on the buses that we are a touch haunt, as we have been for over 10 years now. Only actors with over 3 years seniority are allowed to touch and we do monitor the degree to which the actors take it. When fellow haunters from our area visit, they always want the full contact experience and request it.. so I assume the actors thought this would be no different.

At any rate, apologies to anyone who was taken by surprise or offended. The scratchy walls are being addressed as had been the plan all along, but time ran out...

Again, thanks for your input, it is appreciated and noted. I hope you found something to enjoy at our event, if not, sorry. Now let's please stay on topic and give Kelly the feedback he is looking for with his event. I posted a similar thread asking for feedback on FB and we got many replies, the vast majority of which were very positive. Feedback is good, and necessary to improve.

Opening your doors to the entire industry is not easy, I commend and appreciate those who do it.

[drfrightner]

Brett,

Trust me I know all about not easy. As I've pointed out the first year we opened to the industry we hit more bumps according to the people who attended than home runs. I actually feel the opposite we hit a MASSIVE home run doing what we did in the time allowed. It was the little things that over shadow the positives like not opening on time or it raining, or whatever the complaints. I learned the little things matter the most hence we've focused 110% on the little things with these tours we've operated. Having non-finished scenes that can cut or scratch people is a little thing... those are the things that people focus on and forget all the hard work you put into everything else.

You can only learn how to produce these tours by doing one, and the one tour of mistakes makes everything you do from here forward 10 times better trust me.

Before Transworld I don't think we ever opened the first night on time, and since we've opened every night for our customer base on time.

Why? It's the big picture I think most focus on when actually its the little things that keep you from doing the best job.

Hey you live and learn.

Larry

[monster]

Kelly,

This thread got a bit sideways talking about other haunts than your own. I'm new to the forums and I went to MHC. This was my third show and overall it wasn't the best one. The haunt tours and seminars which seemed like the historic backbone of MHC was lacking. I took in some of the seminars and got nothing but sales pitches. I know you asked specifically about your haunted house this conversation was veered off talking about MHC experience in general. So I will make a comment or two about your haunt. I'm personally not a big fan of haunts that have multiple themes going on like switching from one thing then its clowns then something else. I can't sit here and say your haunt would be on my 'must return to see list' only for that reason. On the other hand I really liked some of your unique scares and the passion your entire staff put into the operation. I would simply say the flow of the haunt with changing themes, actors in all different types of roles makes it more of an 80'S style haunt. I like the haunts with consistent themes, storylines, and great attention to detail. I believe when visiting a haunted house you want to be removed from reality, you want the feeling of suspension of disbelief. The entire time inside your attraction I knew I was inside a haunted house. If you're looking for constructive criticism this is what I can offer. On the flip side I'm sure your attraction wasn't done with many months to go prior to Halloween so what you offered was more of a preview. I get that. I must admit I've never felt more welcomed to ANY haunt tour than yours with the food, openness to show us around, and the warm and kind greetings by your staff.

The take away from your haunted house was positive overall. You had some unique scares and a great sense of pride in what you do. I think many people got upset about the long wait and if you do this again I would skip seeing the actors room, providing food, or any of that. I would simply stick to running your attraction as a haunted house and nothing more. Show us what it is like on Halloween night. Had you done this more people would have had a positive experience.

As for Fear Fair this was simply a waste of my time. One of our actors who came with us got her arm completely scraped up. There was this bridge inside the attraction with no rails or even a rope, with actors running around trying to grab and push you anything could have happened. There is nothing good to say about Fear Fair so I will leave it at that. Fear Fair was a horrific experience to say the least. The owners of this attraction should be ashamed of themselves if they open that haunt in this condition to the public. How does this attraction pass inspection?

One last comment on haunt tours in general. We've been to the Darkness tour they do a fantastic job we all know that but in general aren't haunt tours becoming old news? MHC has basically toured everything within 200 miles, in St Louis we've all done Darkness several times. Maybe MHC should move to a new city to give haunters a new experience. Larry keeps saying he's never opening Darkness again but always does. I will say Darkness changes drastically from year to year but maybe haunt tours in general aren't the most important thing available to us.

With Escape Rooms coming on fast and strong maybe tours and experiences should shift to new ways to create revenue. Just a thought. Lets find new ways to spend our time when we gather in one location. Maybe I'm burnt out on haunt tours I don't know. Sorry for the rant.


Mark

[bhays]

Kelly,

As for Fear Fair this was simply a waste of my time. One of our actors who came with us got her arm completely scraped up. There was this bridge inside the attraction with no rails or even a rope, with actors running around trying to grab and push you anything could have happened. There is nothing good to say about Fear Fair so I will leave it at that. Fear Fair was a horrific experience to say the least. The owners of this attraction should be ashamed of themselves if they open that haunt in this condition to the public. How does this attraction pass inspection?
Mark

There is only one bridge in the entire haunt without a railing or rope and it is where a Gore Galore prop comes out. It is less than 4" off the floor? Oh well, thanks for your input. I'm glad the live crocodiles and alligators in there didn't get you.

[Tater]

Kelly,

I must admit I've never felt more welcomed to ANY haunt tour than yours with the food, openness to show us around, and the warm and kind greetings by your staff.

As for Fear Fair this was simply a waste of my time. One of our actors who came with us got her arm completely scraped up. There was this bridge inside the attraction with no rails or even a rope, with actors running around trying to grab and push you anything could have happened. There is nothing good to say about Fear Fair so I will leave it at that. Fear Fair was a horrific experience to say the least. The owners of this attraction should be ashamed of themselves if they open that haunt in this condition to the public. How does this attraction pass inspection?

One last comment on haunt tours in general. We've been to the Darkness tour they do a fantastic job we all know that but in general aren't haunt tours becoming old news? MHC has basically toured everything within 200 miles, in St Louis we've all done Darkness several times. Maybe MHC should move to a new city to give haunters a new experience. Larry keeps saying he's never opening Darkness again but always does. I will say Darkness changes drastically from year to year but maybe haunt tours in general aren't the most important thing available to us.


Mark

Wow Im not sure what bus you were on...but my bus got Food at Fear Fair, they got a behind the scenes tour and to talk with the actors and staff of the event. My bus was also told that it was a extreme haunt with Touch....my bad your bus captain didnt relay the message to you about it. Yes the first set of scenes were rough but thats because he is in the middle of build season and has changed about 75% of that haunt in the last year. He has plans of smoothing out the walls. Fear Fair was the star of the tour in my opinion and please dont get me started with Larry and his haunt.....I dont want a 4am phone call.....