With 26 Days to go...

[drfrightner]

I just counted Transworld Haunt Show has 105 different vendors per my count. It doesn't look like they will sell out the show but I do think they will sell more booths to more vendors. I think we could be looking at 120 different vendors when its all said and done.

In the future I can see the show selling out, gotta get more IAAPA vendors and I think it will happen. There is a lot of room to grow, I mean look there is only one insurance company attending the show and thats a company I don't even use. There are no glow product companies, no food vendors, blah, blah. Turns out this was a bad date because SHOW WEST is like the same time or one way or the other they overlap.

Next year.

But still 120 or so vendors that is awesome.

What else?

With 26 Days to go Behind the Scenes tour 2 is almost sold out.

The Darkness I've concluded can not possibly be completed specifically the museum area. The retail store will be just empty just white walls.

Lots of little things can't be done, but we have got more done than I ever thought... with 26 days to go we'll do our best to finish.

With 26 days to go we're working on another Hauntworld Magazine.

With 26 days to go the new HHA is trying to finalize a lot of loose ends to make their first every appearance.

With 26 days to go the clock is ticking even faster than before!

Now it's getting scary!

LOL

Larry

[Grimley]

Is there a more updated list then the HCP site. I counted 83 yesterday. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place. 105 is great.

[Gore Galore]

I was told the other day it was up to 250 vendors.
So, it looks like the hauntshow website is way off base.
They were looking to get 300 vendors but don't think they will make that goal.

But said their buyer registration is up over 3000.

[Ken Spriggs]

Hmmm

You know it is hard to do business like this.

How many of us have gift shops? How many of us sell costumes trinkets and who knows what?

Larry are they going to be there?
Sure a few of them

They need to bring the shows back together.

[N2SPOOKINU]

That is disappointing to hear there wont be any food vendors there. We are expanding our concession area and were looking forward to meeting food vendors to talk about products. The glow neclaces and bracelets are another thing we purchase at the show. They're not gonna be there either???
Disappointed! Greg

[LightsAlive]

Just got off the phone with TransWorld. They confirm the vendor count for St. Louis is currently 105, and Vegas is at 300. Of course they're hoping for more by show time.

Steve Peterka
Lights Alive

www.lights-alive.com
www.myspace.com/lights_alive

Booth 815, 14th national Haunt and Attractions Show
March 27-29, St. Louis

[graystone]

Kevin

Some of us would feel better to know that there is 250 rather than 86. So thanks for that update. CAN SOMEONE CALL THESE STUPID PEOPLE AT TRANSWORLD AND TELL THEM THIS IS MARCH UPDATE THE DAMN SITE!!!! SHANE AND ITS DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SHANE THIS TIME.

Ok this is an edit. Thanks Steve for the update.

[Haunted Illinois]

...

it looks like the hauntshow website is way off base.

Unfortunately their website isn't even close to being right. Per my count five minutes ago, there were 83 vendors in their vendor list and 105 shown on their floor plan. This is so frustrating! When is Transworld going to get off their a@@ and update their website regularly???

At the very least, if they don’t want to keep their website updated, they could include such information in their mailings! I just got an email from them on Feb 26th and it was pretty much the same general crap they always send out, with the exception of huge green letters at the top of the email reading “The Biggest And Best”. Why make such a claim, then not back it up with facts? How stupid is that? Give us some proof, show us the numbers. Only then will anyone be impressed. Until you do that, it’s just another empty promise.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not getting down on the show. I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to go, but it just amazes me how poorly they promote their own convention. I have high hopes for this show, but Transworld Exhibits isn’t doing us any favors with their lackluster promotion. This has been a problem for years now. How sad!

[Jolly Pumpkin]

I'm really looking foward to the show, but I never understood why they hardly advertise. It's not like they don't have the budget. Smaller shows with smaller budgets are advertising much more than Transworld. All they have to do is sign up to all the message boards, write an update every week and just copy and paste. It's that simple, but I guess it's not worth it to them. They could also join all the banner rotations, exchange banners, advertise on Myspace, google, and any site that would bring them traffic such as hauntedhouse.com, horrorfind.com etc. They could also add a live chat feature to their website for people who would like to talk to customer service.

Shane is right. You can't have haunted houses without Halloween. What the Hell is Transworld thinking? Did they actually think the show would be as successful without the Halloween section. It's never going to happen and everyone needs to face the facts. Haunted Houses can't thrive without Halloween? Would you have a Christmas lights convention and not mention Christmas. No, that would be crazy. Halloween and Haunted Houses go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter (haunts) is great by itself, but when you add Jelly (Halloween) it becomes complete and that much better.

Why are haunts open mostly in the Fall because fall is associated with Halloween and everything that is haunting. Halloween is a much bigger business than the haunt industry and we need their help. It's that plain and simple. Without Halloween the show will never be as successful as it could be. I guarantee you that this year numbers will be down for vendors no doubt about it. With a much smaller crowd you'll get much less business. I hope I'm wrong, but I kind of doubt it.

[drfrightner]

CORRECTION THERE IS 112 VENDORS/254 booths sold

ONE HUNDRED AND TWELEVE SO FAR ARE ATTENDING... with 26 days to go this can grow and probably will.

There are several mixed numbers posted but we are at 112 the most of any haunt show ever produced.

We will probably pick up another 15 or more over the last 26 days.

There are more booths sold for this Hauntshow than any other hauntshow ever produced with 254 booths of products and services from people who want to sell you something.

This is a success and our industry needs to final show some professionalism and some enthusiam. This show is for people who own haunted houses and that is a major accomplishment.

Lets not forget how many people asked for this, demanded this, especially when most of us almost got shut out of the show a few years back when retailers asked for us to all be removed.

THIS IS A TIME TO CELEBRATE!

Larry

[drfrightner]

amusement owner operator. We are not far off that number...see Haunts are bigger than we gave ourselves credit for!

I'm overjoyed!

112 vendors are coming.

254 booths sold so far.

Transword will be at the Halloween retail show trying to sell more booths!

Expect that number to grow over the next few weeks.

Larry

[Jolly Pumpkin]

There actually is a Christmas Covention. They have one every year and it's called Planet Christmas Plus. But it's way overpriced for the seminars and everything else. I think it would be great to see some Christmas Vendors at Transworld since many haunts are having their own Christmas events after their haunts close for the season. But the Christmas Industry would be better off with their own quality show that's reasonable instead of a few vendors at the Haunt Show. Transworld may want to think about starting their own Christmas lights convention. It's a huge industry to say the least. I decorate my house every year with a huge syncronized lights display and people spend thousands every year decorating their yards. So it's a big business not just for Christmas Light events.

[Spookyfinder]

I'm so happy we finally have our own show... I mean we have MORE vendors, 3000 MORE buyers than EVER... it's just going to be awesome. I can't wait! I'd love to see a "haunted" version of IAAPA happen... that'd be sweet as hell!

I will say this about the show... I will support vendors, who support our industry and this show!

LOVE IT... can't wait. -Tyler

[drfrightner]

Noah,

Do you have a link to this show. I'm interested in learning more. Pass along more info!

Now back to Haunt Show... (the static you hear is my changing the channel back to channel 13). LOL

Larry

[kennyny]

You can find information on PLUS 2009 at http://www.planetchristmas.com/PLUS2009.htm. PLUS is pretty much an event for hardcore home Christmas light enthusiasts (comparable to home haunts). They do have some great vendors such as Light O Rama, Animated Lighting, plus many more.

We used to do a Christmas event, but sat out last year. Managed to fully turn our 5 attraction haunted event into a 3 attraction Christmas event within 3 weeks and with the help of less then 10 people. Christmas was very difficult on top of Halloween.

When I spoke with my rep at Transworld I asked about a Christmas section in the coming years and he sounded interested. As of right now there are two Christmas vendors at the show this year. We have been debating branching into the vendor arena of Christmas, but I know that last year it was a difficult season for events that did Halloween and Christmas so we’re holding off for now.

You can check out the photos of our event at http://flickr.com/photos/21837946@N05/

Christmas is a whole different topic all together, but you can check out our light show at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKjDNEriQuU