Haunt Tips Archives - Page 4 of 15 - ScaryVisions: We build your Haunted House

Marketing & Building Fearfest Haunted House with Owner Greg Allen

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:16:48 — 105.5MB)

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As a seasoned Haunt Owner or a first time Haunt Manager, you know that it is difficult to increase attendance each season and also save money on marketing. What if there was a way to do both at the same time?

Greg Allen, owner of Fearfest Haunted House in Columbia-MO, meets us in the dungeon for some secret tips and tactics to get more with your marketing dollar. He also shares the struggles he went through those first years as a new Haunt Owner. After 11 years of managing Fearfest, he is still fine tuning his skills but has learned a lot from experimentation and some failures along the way.

You also get a behind-the-scenes audio exclusive as I recorded a LIVE WALK THROUGH while we went through the Forbidden Haunted House within Fearfest.

Yes…me, my wife, and my 16 year old son get startled and the girls in front of us screamed a lot! Make sure you listen to this episode to hear us scream.

Here are a few things you will discover in this episode of HaunTopic Radio:

How Greg saved $65,000 in marketing and still increased his attendance
A simple way to train your scare actors and keep them coming back
How to build permanent structures without spending lots of cash
How one mistake cost Greg $1,000s of dollars and hurt his attendance
Using side shows to entertain your guests as they wait in line

We also play some Scary Christmas Tunes from Sam Haynes. He is also giving away 5 Digital Downloads of his CD “Spine Chillers”!! You must be a member of HaunTopic Radio to enter. You can subscribe here for free.

HaunTopic Links in the show:

Win 1 of 5 Digital Audio Downloads from Sam Haynes! You must be a member of our Haunter’s Toolbox Newsletter (it’s free.) Subscribe Here

Managing a Haunted Attraction with Mario Garit from Haunted House Makers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:36 — 90.1MB)

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Last year we sent our West Coast representative Mario Garit out to Haunted Hollywood Sports (Bellflower, California) to interview some of their staff, navigate through their highly-detailed Haunted Attractions, and check out the zombie paintball zones they call Kill Houses.

A few months later they made him Haunt Manager.

In this episode of HaunTopic Radio, we talk to Mario about his opportunity to work with an amazing staff of Haunters and how to handle all the moving parts of managing a multi-attraction scare event. We also announce the winners of the Gore-Galore digital giveaway and play a short track from the Halloween Music Galore download library.

Mario Garit, from Haunted House Makers, has worked with many Haunted Attractions over the years. As well as created props and acted for movies such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and X Files. His well-rounded experience gives him the insight needed to add value to any Scare Attraction. While managing a Haunt is one of his favorite things to do; his passion for creating animatronics and props is high on his list.

This was Mario’s first experience working with a Haunted Attraction that uses live action paintball mixed with a haunted theme. Hollywood Sports is one of the largest paintball venues around which then transforms into Haunted Hollywood Sports through the Haunting Season. Over 23 acres of amusement becomes 23 acres of TERROR!

When you shoot zombies here, you are up close and personal. Kill Houses are walk-through attractions where the undead are hiding and you get to unload your paintball weapon as you navigate your way through mazes of darkness. The only downside….you want to do it over and over again. RELOAD!

Haunt Topic Links from this episode:

Haunted House Makers

Haunted Hollywood Sports

Buy Gore-Galore Music (played in this episode)

Email Mario

The Winners of the Gore-Galore Giveaway Music Soundtracks are

J. Gonzales

Jimmy Castro

If you want a chance to win next time….Sign Up For FREE Here.

How To Make Foam Weapons (plus 13 Halloween/Haunt Songs to Die For)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:48 — 84.9MB)

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How To Make a Foam Weapon — Prop Design by MadCity Haunt

Happy Halloween!!

It’s really Halloween all year long…isn’t it?

If you’re anything like me, you are always planning & thinking about the next October before the current October ends.

Well…after you grab your pen & paper to jot down these awesome tips from MadCity Haunt on How To Make Foam Weapons; we want you to RELAX to these creepy and eerie soundtracks from some great Halloween/Haunt/Horror Musicians (with a few surprises thrown in.)

No interview this episode. Just an awesome way to make that Sledge Hammer in the pics included in this article and a new way to make any foam weapon. Plus a bunch of twisted tunes to keep you motivated the rest of the month.

You like surprises right??

mad city prop — Prop Construction by MadCity Haunt

Here is a list of the some of the dark musicians you will hear in this episode:

Gore Galore
Midnight Syndicate
Prelude to a Nightmare
Mystary
Sam Haynes
The Night Keep
Throne of Anguish
Verse 13

Thanks again to Mad City Haunt for his detailed tutorial on Making Your Own Foam Weapon! I also throw a tip in there on How To Keep Your Foam Tombstones in Your Yard. Plus, Gore Galore is giving away 2 Soundtracks of their creepy sound effects digital downloads!

Win a Special Effects Download from Gore Galore!!

Become a member of our Haunter’s Toolbox to Qualify. It’s FREE. Sign Up Here.

The Journey from ‘Haunt House’ to ‘Phobius’ with Nicci & Justin Fears

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:54 — 94.6MB)

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The Haunt House (one of HauntWorld’s Top Haunts in 2012) in Dallas,TX is gone right? Or is it?

Nicci and Justin Fears from Wright City,MO may have just raised most of The Haunt House from the dead!

In early 2014, Nicci and Justin purchased The Haunt House from the Butler’s and moved the entire show (except the building) from Texas to Missouri. After many truck loads of decorated wall panels, trailer loads of props & costumes, and numerous caffeinated road trips…they have transformed The Haunt House into Phobius!

Phobius Haunted House is a NEW Haunted Attraction located in Wright City,MO…..somewhere.

The reason I say ‘somewhere’ is because when you arrive at Phobius, you are not actually at the Phobius. You arrive at 420 East First Street South and then get on a bus with black out windows and then you are blindfolded. A few minutes later you show up at Phobius. So if you think you can run away…nope.

After your short awkward bus trip, you arrive at a huge creepy warehouse where you’ll get to meet Dr. Cyrus Fears and his family of twisted souls and carnies. Yes…a psychopathic circus Doctor searching for more elixir and suffering from ongoing periods of rage and delusions. Sounds like fun right?

We interview Justin & Nicci about What New Haunt Owners Need To Know Before Starting, The Challenge of Moving The Haunt House from Texas to Missouri, and What to Expect from their Haunted House Phobius in 2014! You might just relate to their story or maybe you just want to go check out this Haunt yourself.

We play some more twisted tunes from Sam Haynes and announce the winners of four of his NEW CDs “Spine Chillers”.

In the Haunter’s Toolbox, we include a quick and easy way to corpse a skeleton with just a few tools and materials.

Haunt Topics in this Podcast Episode:

The WINNERS of our monthly giveaway for the month of September are

Shawn Doepke

Conan Berry

Dave Melson

Kirby Jarvis

They won this CD from Sam Haynes Halloween & Haunt Music. You can buy one here.

To be included in our monthly giveaways SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE.

Moving a Haunt from Outside to Inside plus a FREE Place to List & Find Haunts

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:53 — 79.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple

You think to yourself….”Should I start an outdoor Haunted Trail where the atmosphere is already creepy?” or “Get a building where it’s nice and dry during those wet Octobers?” There are disadvantages and advantages of both. Ian Austin from Circle of Ash Haunted Attraction sits in the dungeon with us and explains the challenges he faced during his transition from moving his Haunted Attraction from outdoors to indoors. He also shares a new website he has developed for listing your Haunt and finding other Haunts around you.

In this audio interview, Ian Austin walks you through some tips if you are thinking about moving your Haunt from outdoors to indoors. Reasons why he might enjoy Haunting in the woods just a little bit more than being indoors. And get the update on his NEW website (find haunts.com) for listing your Haunted House for FREE and find other Haunts around you. It works on your mobile phone too!

We also play some morbid music from Sam Hayne’s New CD “Spine Chillers”, MadCity Haunt opens up the Haunter’s Toolbox with his segment on easy ways to carve foam and make foam wall panels, and we announce rules on how to win one of Sam’s new CDs! (We are giving away 4 copies.)

Ian’s Haunt- The Circle of Ash Haunted House & Attraction is in Cedar Rapids, IA. Started in 2010, by Frightmare Forest Productions, Circle of Ash has grown to five events since 2012. The off-season shows are Scare Up Some Love for Valentine’s Day Weekend, and Monsters during the Independence Day Weekend. There are three different shows during the Halloween season, Lockdown, Halloween Homicide and our main attraction, Circle of Ash. Plus, The Journey’s End Coffin Ride.

Haunt Topic Links From this Episode:

The Circle of Ash Haunted Attraction
Sam Haynes Halloween/Horror Music
Find or List Haunts in Your Area
MadCity Haunt & More Haunter Tips
Sign Up To Win Monthly Prizes

MONTHLY PRIZE GIVEAWAY: 4 SPINE CHILLER CDS FROM SAM HAYNES!

ENTER BEFORE SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2014.

SUBSCRIBE HERE TO ENTER THIS CONTEST

LISTEN TO 3 FREE MUSIC TRACKS OF “SPINE CHILLERS” IN THIS EPISODE!