Haunted Attraction Network

This week on Green Tagged: ‘Schoolcation’ packages debut at Four Seasons Resort Orlando, Cancellations for Mickey’s Christmas Party and IAAPA Expo, live performances are coming back, and the theme park capital of the world battles public attitude.
Read the Full Show Notes:
https://greentaggedshow.com/theme-park-industry-news-green-tagged-sept13/

We divided this week’s news into three piles: the Florida and New York governors’ responses to how themed attractions can move forward during the pandemic, the evolution of IP experiences, and the trend to virtual.

Full show notes here: https://greentaggedshow.com/theme-park-industry-news-green-tagged-sep6/

Right now, the haunt industry is being faced with something we’ve never done before—reopening our attractions in the midst of a pandemic. We’re all wondering when and how to make this happen. In this article, you’ll hear from the general manager of Fear Factory in Salt Lake City, Utah, Spencer Terry, about how his attraction did just that.
Show notes: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/reopening-haunted-attraction-covid-pandemic/

Scott discusses the importance of unity within the industry during the 2020 Halloween Season.

2020 is giving haunters a wonderful opportunity to birth novel ways of telling our stories. In this podcast, presented by David Jones, we explore effective methods of scaring from a distance. Specifically, you’ll learn how to create a cohesive character that does three things:

Evokes a specific fear.
Creates rapport with guests.
Stimulates unanswered questions in the minds of your guests.

Key Takeaways:
The story of your haunt must be a hero’s quest—with the guest as the hero.
A haunt is a dramatic tragedy that guests participate in.
Monsters already exist in the guest’s psyche, so the job of the haunter is to evoke that fear.
Create a relationship between the guest and the monster.
Make your monsters specific and intentional to evoke a genuine fear.
Your monsters must fit your fear culture.
Define your monster’s motivation and how this leads to consequences.
The monster’s movements and appearance are critical.
Create questions your guests can’t answer.
Write stories to your guests’ deepest fears.

Read the full article: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/stories-scare-differently-2020/

Learn from the mistakes and accomplishments of the Fear Factory in Salt Lake City, Utah, and how they opened their attraction in the middle of a health pandemic and successfully did it!

Here's a link to their Contingency Plan to help you do it.

http://fearfactoryslc.com/contingency-plan/

If you want to join us in our next Live session, join here:
https://www.haunterstoolbox.com/main-pages/haunters-toolbox-membership/

This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing the news and, unfortunately, that means covering a lot of COVID-19 related things including limited haunt openings, closings and more things in between.

But that's not all we have this week, we also have a spate of new drive-thru haunts, haunts that are taking a different approach and a lot of other news from the haunt industry.

So buckle up as this is going to be one long ride!

This Week's Episode Includes:

Intro
COVID-19 Resources
Vendor Spotlight - Svenpuss Productions
Last Week's Winner
Question of the Week
Housekeeping Notes
Haunt Openings Announced
Haunt Closings Announced
Stranger Things Drive-Thru Haunt Announced
Pirates of Emerson Planning Drive-Thru Experience
New Mexico Haunt to Host Mile of Terror
LA Haunted Hayride Offers "Drive Up" Experience
Kings Island Cancels Halloween Haunt, Announces Tricks and Treats Fall Fest
Six Flags Cancels Fright Fest, Announces Hallowfest
Shocktober Haunted House Goes Virtual
Halloween Bash Fright Nights Cancelled
Busch Gardens Tampa Alters Howl-O-Scream
ScareHouse Moves to Pittsburgh Mills Mall
Why Halloween Candy is Out Early
Lorton Arts Nightmare Prison Faces Pushback
Lemp Brewery Building Partially Collapses
Haunted Garage in Danger Due to Storm Damage
New Haunted Mansion Crocs at Disney World
Return to the Weekly Question
Conclusions

This podcast is a recording from a recent panel on personalizing your messaging to guests in preparation for opening your haunted attraction this season.
The discussion is divided into three sections—recommendations about messaging for guests before you open, while guests are on-premises, and after it closes.
Full article: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/haunted-attractions-messaging-marketing-pandemic/

Key Takeaways:
Include safety in your messaging but focus on fun.
Be aware of the rules and regulations in your area.
Talk to this year’s haunt demographic.
Be nimble and dynamic in response to feedback.
Have a protocol for crisis management.
Consider requiring advance, online purchase of tickets.
Add value and raise your ticket prices.
Introduce your safety messaging at the right time in the right places.
Encourage guests to share their experiences on social media.
Have staff visibly cleaning your haunt.
Have a protocol for screening staff and responding if someone has symptoms.
Let your guests know they’ll be scared safely.

“Green Tagged” - The Top News in Theme Parks This Past Week
An insider's take on the attraction industry's trending news.

August 30th Edition - Welcome to the Green Tagged blog, based on our first podcast episode of Green Tagged, in which we (Philip Hernandez and Scott Swenson) covered the news stories and trends in the theme-park industry in 30 minutes.

Top Stories

Guggenheim approves plan to become more inclusive and racially diverse following accusations by employees of racism at the museum in New York.

Chessington launches free safari experiences including entry to the theme park.

Singapore’s S.E.A. Aquarium offers dining with underwater views.

Georgia’s Wild Adventures park unveils Pumpkin Spice Festival instead of its “Terror in the Wild” experience, which won’t be happening this Halloween season.

SeaWorld San Diego opens a zoo and dining experience.

Full Show Notes Here:
https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/theme-park-industry-news-green-tagged-aug30

As bad as COVID-19 has been for haunts, it's been similarly bad for our sister industry: Escape rooms.

However, many escape games have taken a different tact, launching virtual experiences that come in a wide variety of flavors.

These include everything from simply playing existing escape rooms with a totem to new experiences that were built from the ground up to be virtual.

So that's what we're looking at this week, the different approaches to virtual escape rooms and finding which, if any, are right for you.

This Week's Episode Includes:

Intro
COVID-19 Resources
Vendo Spotlight
Hurricane Note
Question of the Week
Background on Virtual Escape Rooms
A Return to the Roots
The Three Types of Virtual Rooms
Advantages/Disadvantages of Each Type
Some Considerations Regardless of Type
Our Experiences
Return to the Question of the Week
Conclusions
All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!