HauntCon reviews?

[Feargore]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Taylor

[Mr Nightmarez]

First Year I have had to miss... but due to numerous reasons we were not able to attend.

I will be driving to PA this weekend to attend the Eastern Haunters Convention and I will give my review upon returning!

The pre-show was what I hate missing the most... Had a great line up.

[MMManiac]

The frozen tundra tour only covered two haunts in the Green Bay/Appleton area I believe. Southern WI has tons of excellent haunts and so does Green Bay. Yes, Terror on the fox would probley be the Main haunt being toured again, BUT.... It's well worth it. Being only located three blocks from terror on the fox and having the privilege of seeing them each other I can tell you its a totally different haunt. The bad boys do an excellent job redoing their haunt each year so its never the same. I for one will be attending Hauntcon for the first time next year.

[MDKing]

Boy is this discussion getting interesting.....

[Speculo]

I got back from Hauntcon yesterday, and had a great time! I want to thank all the haunts, 13th Gate, The Chamber of Horrors, The House of Shock, The Mortuary, Nightmare on the Bayou and Phobia for opening their doors to such a tough crowd, and thanks to the organizers for setting this up. Those of you who missed it ought to be kicking themselves!

I also got to catch up with lots of folks I missed in Vegas, saw some seminars and had some fun. The costumes and make-up at the costume ball keep getting better every year as well, it is cool to see everyone pull out the stops!

As to going back to Wisconsin again, I guess we will have to see what shows will be opening for the event. In truth I would rather go to another area we haven't been to yet, like Philly, for ALL those great Haunts, Kansas City, or maybe somewhere with those ships, like the Queen Mary in LA or the USS Nightmare.

But at this point it is so far away, I am more concerned with this season and whats up with Transworld in the near future.

But anyway I am now inspired (and roasted by 20 foot HOS flame cannons!) to get back to work and knock em dead this October!

Thanks

Ben
NETHERWORLD

[Jim Warfield]

Seeing the same haunt ever so often and having a few bus loads of people hateing the long ride through endless miles of cornfields, The Ravens Grin artistic deflector, Mr. Tuxedo, Spookhouse Cat has invented the ultimate Ravens Grin tour package!
Yoo payz thu munny, git on du bus, you say yer r bored, the UFO lands right there in the crap, er, crop circle and abduckz everyone!
How meny kan sai they be "ducked" before? Probablie knot just 16 months ago either or you alien offspring would be keeping you home to care for it! them dern aliens bring the real payne of chilbirth to men, it hurtz too! Pregnancy plays no favorites!
Fun fun fun!

[Jim Warfield]

Anyone owning a business , once it gets profitable enough to hire excellant employees, can find more freedom from the dailey sometimes mind-numbing aspects of running it to attend meetings where new helpfull ideas may be found and associations formed to make even more possibly profitable situations.
I certainly am not and probably never will be in such a place with my business or life.
To those who are I say go for it!
It's not a trust issue it's just who has the time, money and the will.

Maybe I just can't trust committes? A committee built the atomic bomb which is no big deal...until they all begin going off!

[Tattoo]

I knew Wisconsin was one of the choices for next year but did not find out until it was announced in Houston. Terror on the Fox will be one of the Attractions on the pre-show tour and I look forward to everyone seeing our BRAND NEW ATTRACTIONS!

We re-design 90% of Terror on the Fox every year and by the time HauntCon rolls in next year it will be re-designed once again, it will have been 3 years since the Frozen Tundra Tour and we will also be setting up our second event TORMENT!

I'm very happy that the tour is happening in May and not in February! There are a lot of great Haunts in Wisconsin that deserve the chance to be seen and toured by members of the Haunt community.

I have already started the planning stages for the pre-show tour and Sponsors have been calling! I believe this tour will be bigger and better than the Frozen Tundra Fright Tour and look forward to working with all of our wonderful sponsors again! (You interested in being a sponsor Larry?)


On a side note, I heard good things from the vendors at HauntCon and we had a blast teaching our full day seminar! I am happy to report that we raised $850 by auctioning off our scene at the end of class! This money will be donated to another friend in the Industry who has been battling breast cancer and we are happy that we can do our part to help.

I look forward to seeing everyone at EHC and MHC!

Take care,

Tattoo

[drfrightner]

Good for you Mike to donate that money. If you look on the blog of Hauntworld we have all the info to support the same person. I hope everyone donates money that is for sure!!!

Let me know if there is anything else we can do!

Larry

[xxxdirk]

Mike,

I think it is wonderful that you guys donated that money! I really loved seeing you guys and as we talked about, I will be happy to throw whatever talents I might be able to bring to the the table to Hauntcon 09.

Hey, did you guys take any pics during the seminar? I had given half a thought to flying back to Houston after my shows, but my credit card, family and lack of sleep were all screaming at me to stay.

Ron

[Monster-Tronics]

We were setting up our booth during the Frozen Tundra Tour the last time and did not get a chance to attend, so I hope we can make it this time, I would love to see Terror on the Fox. Monster-Tronics was a sponsor last time and hope to be again, so stay in touch.

As far as vendor sales at Hauntcon, I went around on Sat. and talked to at least a dozen vendors and all but one said they were doing very well. Our sales were slow on Fri & Sat but we received a lot of orders on Sun. and ended on a high note and working on a bunch of large future orders that if a few of those come in, it will have made for another great show. I know there were some large buyers there from out of the country which was good for everyone.

Monster-Tronics donated money to the PayPal account for Kathryn DeSautell and also donated product for the Silent Auction Karen Murphy put together for her. Many other vendors donated as well and the Silent Auction raised over $1,400. It’s great to see the haunt community getting together to help out a haunter in need.

There is another lady that is fighting the same battle which there will be some fund raising at MHC, and we will do what we can to help her too.

[xxxdirk]

When I have a booth at a tradeshow where people book me as entertainment for their event, it always seems many groups wait til the last day. Many groups Window shop the 1st day, confirm on the second, have a meeting and then write on the last day. Ehen I am buying for my haunt, I normally wait too...

[drfrightner]

I talked to two vendors who said they didn't sell ONE item, and another who said they finally sold something on Sunday. When you look at the vendor history of this show it points to what I'm saying... the list of vendors who have not returned is long and major! This show is just not a buyer seller show. The show was down to an all time low in terms of vendors, and most of those who did come this year where new. I've already been informed by at least 5 vendors who said this was their last Hauntcon.

I think the show will be down to maybe a row or two of vendors next year maybe less. People have to understand if you don't make money you can't vend. Its not about wanting to support something to be supportive, its about spending money to make money, and when you spend it and don't make it back well you don't come back.

There is no doubt the show is fun for those who, some of the speakers did a good job and helped people, and the tours are worth their weight in gold. This show has some strong points to it, and that i why I think he should do away with the tradeshow floor and just go to a conference setting with just tours, seminars and communication.

He'll save himself money in the long run and the event would probaby be just as popular. I do think he will lose another big chunk of vendors for 2009. In part because of lagging sales of the past few Hauntcons, but also because of going to Wisconsin a place that has already been toured.

Mike said TOTF changes the attraction, but so does every haunted house. People come to my haunted house during the season, but don't usually come back the following season because in their mind they already saw it... but we change the scenes too. Its a lot of expense to attend these events. Hauntcon should have gone to Boston, or New York or something along those lines not a place where a tour just came through town.

There is NO DOUBT that the haunts are worthy of a zillion tours, year tours, monthly tours, but will people attend when they don't live there if they already did the thing? I doubt it... people want to see new attractions and that is why they go in the first place.

Just my two cents.

Larry

[Darkangel]

Until Scarefactory, Unit 70, and Distortions attend every year, plus others like Lafond, etc start showing a lot of people will probably skip it as they would go to transworld because that's where the above companies go.

Darkangel

[Tattoo]

I don't attend conventions BECAUSE Scarefactory or Distortions are there, thats kind of a funny statement. I attend conventions that feature new products AND new vendors! I also attend conventions that feature great seminar line ups!

To each their own, find the convention(s) that you like, I tend to support several.

So, if TW goes to Vegas next year, does this mean we will not tour any Haunts in Vegas because we have "already done that"?

Just asking...........................



Take care,

Tattoo