The final hours
This time next week the Halloween season will be a memory. A few rotting pumpkins and stray yard decorations will be the last reminders of another October that has come and gone.
When I mention that I work at ValleyScare, people ask me what it's like. I don't know what to tell them, especially when they want to know if it's scary. Some people think our mazes are terrifying. Others think they're boring. The first thing I typically tell people when they ask about the big corporate amusement park: "Don't go on a Saturday."
Saturday nights are busier than Fridays, and I know our Saturday nights are more crowded than they were several years ago. After eight years ValleyScare is well established, and it draws plenty of people, including plenty of youngsters who have season passes to the park. I could spend an hour writing about the season pass concept, and my opinions related to it. But that's irrelevant. The reality is that Saturday nights are huge nights at the park, particularly during the last week or two leading up to Halloween. I'll leave it at that.
Halloween weekend won't be our busiest weekend. We'll be plenty busy, but a lot of people do something other than go to a haunted attraction on Halloween, and I suspect that will be the case again this year, as there should be plenty of people having Halloween parties on Friday night. Saturday night will draw a good crowd, and just about every haunted attraction in America is open on Nov. 1 when Halloween is on a Friday night. Whatever the reason, it doesn't have the same draw as Saturdays before Halloween. And the fact that this weekend will be colder than we've seen during recent weekends won't help entice people who are on the fence.
So it all ends this weekend. It's a weird world I live in. I and my co-workers gather most Friday and Saturday nights over the course of seven weekends, then go our separate ways, more or less, for 10-plus months. There's no doubt I'll see some of them in the near future, including Nov. 7 when the first of several social gatherings take place as a result of our shared occupation.
Around the globe
Last week I had a chance to visit Feargazm, a new haunted attraction in downtown Minneapolis.
For the record, I received a complimentary ticket. I didn't go looking for one, I was offered it simply because I had shown interest in learning more about the new haunt on the block, and perhaps because I tend to share opinions on the local haunt scene with the few dozen people who pay any attention to my blog or Twitter feed during the Halloween season. For what it's worth, I think I had a bigger audience in 2006 than I do now. I've never done what I do with the goal of building a mass audience. It's for me, I've always said. If somebody happens to enjoy what I share, that's a bonus.
I coordinated a small group trip to Feargazm on a recent Thursday night. Because I work on Friday and Saturday nights, I have to go to haunted attractions on Thursday or Sunday nights, should they happen to be open. In doing so, that typically means I'm not getting the best show. You don't get as many warm bodies working at a haunt on a "school night" as you do on a Friday or Saturday night. Although the crowds aren't as big, either, so you don't wait as long. At this point in my life I'm not interested in waiting in line all night for the show, so I'm happy with what I can get on a Thursday or Sunday.
Feargazm is trying to do what the Soap Factory does with its haunted basement: give you a more personal experience than pushing you through a maze like ValleyScare does on a Saturday night. That kind of experience commands a premium price, and I understand that.
Feargazm is on the second level of the Gay 90s, a downtown Minneapolis bar. They have room to work with, but not unlimited room, so they have to be creative in order maximize the space they have. The venue dictates that they run something akin to the Soap Factory rather than a traditional maze.
On our Thursday visit, six of us showed up for an 8:20 p.m. gathering. I can just about guarantee that Feargazm won't be open on Thursday nights if it returns in 2015. I ended up getting there earlier than I needed to, and I saw one group of three enter the building from Fourth Street during the nearly 30 minutes I stood outside the building. Nobody was showing up for this on a Thursday night barely a week before Halloween.
I like the set up and the concept of Feargazm, but it needs work. Again, this isn't a traditional haunted house. You don't walk through a maze where people jump out and yell "boo." It's more interactive and creative. They have good ideas in play, but if feels as if they need to come up with something more to make the experience stand out.
I learned a few things a day after the fact. For one, a ValleyScare co-worker I don't know is working at Feargazm on her off nights from the big corporate amusement park. That's a serious commitment to scaring the crap out of people.
More importantly I learned there's an element of the attraction that is dependent upon there being a crowd at the bar when you visit. I'm not entirely clear how that works, but the lack of a crowd in the bar areas of the second floor of the 90s on that Thursday night resulted in a diminished experience during one portion of my adventure.
This is an 18+ attraction, meaning you have to sign a waiver, as they will make contact with you during your visit. Combine that with the small group approach to ticket sales, and you have the makings of an enticing attraction. Now they just need to improve on the execution, no pun intended.
When this haunt launched they were charging $25 for a ticket. It looks like the price dropped to $20 since opening weekend, and last week there was a promo code that would reduce the cost to $15 if you receive their email alerts.
Even though it was an incredibly slow Thursday night when we visited, and the handful of actors working in the maze were probably starving for any sort of stimulation they could get, my visit was over in about 15 minutes. If those were 15 action-packed minutes I'd be raving about the attraction. But obviously I wasn't overwhelmed by the experience from start to finish.
Some of the comments Feargazm has received on its Facebook page seem to love it. Oddly it's a page that was created days before the attraction opened. (The online presence of Feargazm is less than you'd expect in 2014.)
There's no doubt the potential is there, and I suspect the experience is better on a Friday or Saturday than it was on the Thursday I visited. For now, I can only speculate. If it returns in 2015 I suspect Feargazm will be fine tuned to build upon what it does well. We shall see.
As for the first "extreme" haunt on the scene, the aforementioned Soap Factory, two people who went to it this year were not blown away by the 2014 edition. It sounds more like a 30-minute "Choose Your Own Adventure" journey than a traditional maze. They try to do something different every year rather than trot out the same formula on an annual basis, as I understand it. Perhaps they've run out of ideas.
A new, interesting twist on the scene this year is that Screamtown is offering a "lights out" night. This is a late addition to their schedule, and not one I've seen done locally. On Sunday night, Nov. 2, three Screamtown mazes will be operating, without lights. You get a glowstick to help see your way through the mazes, and that's it. Like an extreme haunt, you sign a waiver, and tickets are limited so that small groups don't run into each other inside the maze.
I think it's a great idea, but it comes at a premium price: $40. I'd love to be a part of it, as either an actor or as a patron, but I have a family obligation that night which prevents me from visiting Chaska. I'd love to hear comments on what the experience is like.
For whatever reason, Fail at Terror is not open on Thursday nights this year. (Perhaps they weren't last year, either.) I have a few comps for this year and was going to take my friend and his daughter on Thursday night, until I learned that they aren't open on Thursday any more. I read recent Facebook comments about Fail at Terror and most of them weren't overjoyed with their visit, not to my surprise.
My ninth year in the haunt industry is about to come to a close. Where does the time go?
When I mention that I work at ValleyScare, people ask me what it's like. I don't know what to tell them, especially when they want to know if it's scary. Some people think our mazes are terrifying. Others think they're boring. The first thing I typically tell people when they ask about the big corporate amusement park: "Don't go on a Saturday."
Saturday nights are busier than Fridays, and I know our Saturday nights are more crowded than they were several years ago. After eight years ValleyScare is well established, and it draws plenty of people, including plenty of youngsters who have season passes to the park. I could spend an hour writing about the season pass concept, and my opinions related to it. But that's irrelevant. The reality is that Saturday nights are huge nights at the park, particularly during the last week or two leading up to Halloween. I'll leave it at that.
Halloween weekend won't be our busiest weekend. We'll be plenty busy, but a lot of people do something other than go to a haunted attraction on Halloween, and I suspect that will be the case again this year, as there should be plenty of people having Halloween parties on Friday night. Saturday night will draw a good crowd, and just about every haunted attraction in America is open on Nov. 1 when Halloween is on a Friday night. Whatever the reason, it doesn't have the same draw as Saturdays before Halloween. And the fact that this weekend will be colder than we've seen during recent weekends won't help entice people who are on the fence.
So it all ends this weekend. It's a weird world I live in. I and my co-workers gather most Friday and Saturday nights over the course of seven weekends, then go our separate ways, more or less, for 10-plus months. There's no doubt I'll see some of them in the near future, including Nov. 7 when the first of several social gatherings take place as a result of our shared occupation.
Around the globe
Last week I had a chance to visit Feargazm, a new haunted attraction in downtown Minneapolis.
For the record, I received a complimentary ticket. I didn't go looking for one, I was offered it simply because I had shown interest in learning more about the new haunt on the block, and perhaps because I tend to share opinions on the local haunt scene with the few dozen people who pay any attention to my blog or Twitter feed during the Halloween season. For what it's worth, I think I had a bigger audience in 2006 than I do now. I've never done what I do with the goal of building a mass audience. It's for me, I've always said. If somebody happens to enjoy what I share, that's a bonus.
I coordinated a small group trip to Feargazm on a recent Thursday night. Because I work on Friday and Saturday nights, I have to go to haunted attractions on Thursday or Sunday nights, should they happen to be open. In doing so, that typically means I'm not getting the best show. You don't get as many warm bodies working at a haunt on a "school night" as you do on a Friday or Saturday night. Although the crowds aren't as big, either, so you don't wait as long. At this point in my life I'm not interested in waiting in line all night for the show, so I'm happy with what I can get on a Thursday or Sunday.
Feargazm is trying to do what the Soap Factory does with its haunted basement: give you a more personal experience than pushing you through a maze like ValleyScare does on a Saturday night. That kind of experience commands a premium price, and I understand that.
Feargazm is on the second level of the Gay 90s, a downtown Minneapolis bar. They have room to work with, but not unlimited room, so they have to be creative in order maximize the space they have. The venue dictates that they run something akin to the Soap Factory rather than a traditional maze.
On our Thursday visit, six of us showed up for an 8:20 p.m. gathering. I can just about guarantee that Feargazm won't be open on Thursday nights if it returns in 2015. I ended up getting there earlier than I needed to, and I saw one group of three enter the building from Fourth Street during the nearly 30 minutes I stood outside the building. Nobody was showing up for this on a Thursday night barely a week before Halloween.
I like the set up and the concept of Feargazm, but it needs work. Again, this isn't a traditional haunted house. You don't walk through a maze where people jump out and yell "boo." It's more interactive and creative. They have good ideas in play, but if feels as if they need to come up with something more to make the experience stand out.
I learned a few things a day after the fact. For one, a ValleyScare co-worker I don't know is working at Feargazm on her off nights from the big corporate amusement park. That's a serious commitment to scaring the crap out of people.
More importantly I learned there's an element of the attraction that is dependent upon there being a crowd at the bar when you visit. I'm not entirely clear how that works, but the lack of a crowd in the bar areas of the second floor of the 90s on that Thursday night resulted in a diminished experience during one portion of my adventure.
This is an 18+ attraction, meaning you have to sign a waiver, as they will make contact with you during your visit. Combine that with the small group approach to ticket sales, and you have the makings of an enticing attraction. Now they just need to improve on the execution, no pun intended.
When this haunt launched they were charging $25 for a ticket. It looks like the price dropped to $20 since opening weekend, and last week there was a promo code that would reduce the cost to $15 if you receive their email alerts.
Even though it was an incredibly slow Thursday night when we visited, and the handful of actors working in the maze were probably starving for any sort of stimulation they could get, my visit was over in about 15 minutes. If those were 15 action-packed minutes I'd be raving about the attraction. But obviously I wasn't overwhelmed by the experience from start to finish.
Some of the comments Feargazm has received on its Facebook page seem to love it. Oddly it's a page that was created days before the attraction opened. (The online presence of Feargazm is less than you'd expect in 2014.)
There's no doubt the potential is there, and I suspect the experience is better on a Friday or Saturday than it was on the Thursday I visited. For now, I can only speculate. If it returns in 2015 I suspect Feargazm will be fine tuned to build upon what it does well. We shall see.
As for the first "extreme" haunt on the scene, the aforementioned Soap Factory, two people who went to it this year were not blown away by the 2014 edition. It sounds more like a 30-minute "Choose Your Own Adventure" journey than a traditional maze. They try to do something different every year rather than trot out the same formula on an annual basis, as I understand it. Perhaps they've run out of ideas.
A new, interesting twist on the scene this year is that Screamtown is offering a "lights out" night. This is a late addition to their schedule, and not one I've seen done locally. On Sunday night, Nov. 2, three Screamtown mazes will be operating, without lights. You get a glowstick to help see your way through the mazes, and that's it. Like an extreme haunt, you sign a waiver, and tickets are limited so that small groups don't run into each other inside the maze.
I think it's a great idea, but it comes at a premium price: $40. I'd love to be a part of it, as either an actor or as a patron, but I have a family obligation that night which prevents me from visiting Chaska. I'd love to hear comments on what the experience is like.
For whatever reason, Fail at Terror is not open on Thursday nights this year. (Perhaps they weren't last year, either.) I have a few comps for this year and was going to take my friend and his daughter on Thursday night, until I learned that they aren't open on Thursday any more. I read recent Facebook comments about Fail at Terror and most of them weren't overjoyed with their visit, not to my surprise.
My ninth year in the haunt industry is about to come to a close. Where does the time go?