Haunted Attraction Network

Spencer Terry is the GM of Fear Factory in SLC and was the first haunted attraction to reopen back in May. After reopening, Spencer shared his team's reopening guidelines with the industry, and helped many attractions navigate their own reopening. But today, we're discussing the upcoming season and some of the common questions Spencer is receiving now about reopening. Spencer is also a board member of the Haunted Attraction Association and they're collecting feedback for their strategic plan.

St Patrick's day is just around the corner and that means some haunts are opening for an extra off-season event. On today's show Max speaks with Sean Norman from Wells Township Haunted House in brilliant Ohio. Sean is planning a LIGHTS OUT low-capacity event for St. Patrick's day march 19-20 and tickets are $14.

The industry professional's weekly dose of important Theme Park news in 30 minutes.
Americans are holding on to $1.3 TRILLION and you must be ready to catch the wave of demand when the gates open. On this BONUS episode of green tagged, we’re discussing preparing you for the tidal wave of demand coming this year. Stories covered: “Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary to transform park icons into “Beacons of Magic”” “A Touch of Disney: Brand New Ticketed Festival Experience Coming to California Adventure in March,” “Far from done with lifetime achievements, former Imagineer Joe Rohde joins Virgin Galactic in key role,” “Herschend takes over as operator of Kentucky Kingdom.”

Last week we aired the two-part special “Flattening the Curve: Aftershocks for the Attractions Industry,” which was taken from the first industry keynote to discuss the pandemic’s impact on attractions. That panel was moderated by Scott Swenson. Today I’ve bringing Scott back to discuss how he’s planning for this upcoming season. Scott also previews another upcoming panel that he’s moderating with Fear Expo.

What's it like to run a haunt from your apartment parking spot - while in a gated community during COVID? Today we’ll hear all about it from Charlie and Graciela of Dead Last Drive In. These first-time haunters used the pandemic as the push they needed to start a budget friendly experience, setting an example for anyone dreaming of becoming a haunter.

The industry professional's weekly dose of important Theme Park news in 30 minutes.
This week on Green Tagged, we discuss two new industry reports. First IAAPA released a study showing the impact of COVID-19 on the industry. Thinkwell’s study is the ‘2021 Guest Experience Trend’ and focuses on artificial intelligence.

This week we explore the avalanche of reopenings and new openings happening worldwide. Sit back and relax for this feel-good episode that shows light at coming at the end of the summer. Stories covered: “More than 40 U.S. theme parks set 2021 reopening dates,” “Disney World visitors may be wearing masks through 2021,” “Reopening guidance issued for New York amusement parks,” “Hong Kong theme parks resume operations with changes,” “New section to open at Energylandia in Poland, in 2021,” “Yerevan Park set to open in spring 2021 in Armenia,” “Bath, England, to see debut of Mary Shelley museum,” “Harry Potter exhibition planned for 2022,” “Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart now open at AREA15 in Las Vegas,” “HOLOGATE WORLD planned for Germany,” “Disney California Adventure Park to debut ticketed food and entertainment event in March; 1,000 employees to return to work.”

This is Part 2 of our trip into the past reflecting on the changes in the attractions industry. If you’ve not listened to the previous episode stop and go back. In part 1 our panelists mainly discussed the impact on your attraction’s operations. There’s a new normal we’re operating in, and it’s something you must account for when planning this season. Its not just the social distancing. It’s understanding how the entertainment landscape and guest expectations have changed. In this part, we look at the predictions our panelists made and see what held up.

This week we passed the heartbreaking marker of 500,000 official deaths from COVID-19 here in the US. The entire entertainment industry was thrown into chaos, and every haunt has had to adapt. And yet, there is hope: by mid-year, we should have enough doses to vaccinate our entire population. This mid-year mark shows itself also in the reopening announcements from attractions across the US. For us haunters, that means hopes are high for this year’s Halloween. Therefore, we’ll be spending the next few months on helping you plan for this season. But this week, where we stand at the intersection of heartbreak and hope, let’s spend some time reflecting.
Our team produced the attraction industry’s first virtual conference called Virtually Prepared on March 28th and 29th 2020. Back then, we never could have imagined what awaited us. And yet, many of the insights we discovered then still hold true for our planning now.
Today I’m playing pieces of the Keynote Panel called “Flattening the Curve: Aftershocks for the Attractions Industry” which went live at 9AM on March 28th 2020.
Join me in this trip into the past to reflect on planning our future.

Keeping everyone safe in 2020 yielded a new scare system concept at Dead City Haunted House in Salt Lake City Utah that was so effective, it will continue to be used long after the pandemic subsides. Owner Timothy Riggs conceived and engineered a new system for actors to operate props safely from a distance while above patrons. Nicknamed "The Puppeteers", each of these actors operated dozens of unique scares from a single bridge out of sight. The puppets movements were very startlingly scary and also a very cost-efficient use of actor staffing. Design methods are not expensive or complex and can be fabricated with the skill set of the average haunter. Listen to learn more about the design of this new prop puppeting system as well as how it was implemented. Thank you to HAuNTcon for allowing us to broadcast this education. HAuNTcon returns in 2022 and you can be the first to find out by signing up for their newsletter at hauntcon.com