[osenator]

We almost did it again this year, I had multiples options to go pro but we decided not this year as I am going to list some of the reasons.

-Kiss your life goodbye for Septermber/October, as you will be busy concentrating all your time on the haunt.
-No time into seeing other haunts, no seeing other anything actually!
-You will be exhausted, tired and near the end, wanting to end it so badly, you don't give a crap anymore.
-Tons of work, more you can ever imagine, because you realise, this still need to be done, and this, and this and this...
-If you have multiples peoples, you will be rehearsing, doing makeups, constant repairs, making and doing costumes, LOTS of traning, fighting, wanting to kill people, ordering lots of pizza and food, lots of constant driving too!
-Leaving home early, coming home late, going back to work in the morning, like a zombie, without some makeup!
-Mother Nature smashing everything, as she loves tormenting you.
AND forget about doing your home haunt too!

So, we decided, we are just too tired this year and we want to see other haunts and such. And the weather this year been horrible, summer was a complete bust, I am guessing October weather will be very cold and wet (hopefully, wrong).

And the #1 reason, we want to have our home haunt to be AMAZING (but it's Mother Nature that has the last say).


JM

 

[DoctorGrim]

So, I'm not sure. Are you for or against doing a pro haunt?

Good luck with you home build, i'm sure it will rock

 

[osenator]

Well, part of me would love to make another Pro haunt, but like mentionned, it's so much work and variables in play, I just feel I don't have the energy for it. Weather here as been so bad, that Summer has been a huge dissapointment here for almost everyone.

I think next year, I will be motivated to go Pro again, as like mentionned, doing the Pro haunt last year really sucked the fun and energy out of us. I think we need to recharge our batteries in the love of Halloween again.

It's hard to advice people into going Pro. If done well, you can do lots of money, but it's looots of work. Like many mentionned in the past, sometimes, it's simplt not worth the trouble.

I am a person, that challenge myself a lot, and we did pretty much everything now about Halloween as we can go, been multiple times on TV, Newspapers, websites, doing a Pro Haunt..

I think the only challenge I might try is to go on National Canadian TV (L) (yes, I will try it).

Anyway, I still might do something, I'll see, we still have some time.

JM

 

[screamqueen2012]

we are with you os.. weather here has been rain almost everyday...farmers almanac, isn't looking good for our fall either and i'm tired this year...gonna just do the front yard and the inside of my house heavy instead.... my "help" all gone to college too now....i'm going to look at my pics from last year and cry alittle then enjoy my fall this year...we are going to do a party inside and i'm going to do a good trick we did years ago for the kids, the "shipping box" in the front yard and that's it....drink and be merry, opps scarey...

 

[Halloweenfan]

I think the biggest problem with burning out & being tired is that you probably need to get more help. If you have kids, try to get your kid's friends to help you out, or ask some neighbors if they mind helping you. I go through some of that with just putting up Halloween & Christmas decorations inside my house. I have a bunch, and when no one else helps, it can be a pain, but I still care about all of that stuff I have acquired over the years. It's just putting it all up that can be the pain.

 

[awokennightmare]

I think a home haunt is a much better idea! If you don't do a pro haunt right, then its not worth the customer to pay for. I think of all the pro haunts that are loaded with props that cost thousands of dollars and i'm happy to pay to see them, but I am disapointed when I go through a pro haunt that really doesn't have those things. It all depends on what the cost of the haunt is, but either way, i'll take a good home haunt over a pro haunt any day!

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

Owning a pro-haunt for 26 years and having it open almost every one of those 9,490 nights is usually fun, something I love doing and I look forward to it , wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.
With that said.. October is a Bear! Hired help act helpless, they argue over nothing important. "He said-She said" round and round it goes. "HEY PEOPLE! Act like ADULTS! This is important to me and I pay you directly from what we take in here!"
All of this got so much better for me when I met my Wife, Jessica. Besides being very smart and intune to other people much more than I could ever be, she runs the business aspect here, hires, fires, fills out the state paperwork,sells the tickets, handles the customers before and often after they have been inside the house, if needed.
All of this frees me to do what I love doing. Entertaining people during most of the year as a one-man-show.
Yes a full-time haunt is a large amount of work. I work on it every day, sometimes all day long and I usually enjoy this aspect of it too.
I can very truthfully say that I have probably done 95% of the work here during the last 26 years. THE thing that has begun to irritate me the most over the last couple of years is the increasing number of people who will brag how much THEY helped Me to do all of this!? (I feel like "Henny Penny")
I have a very short list of those who did help me here in ANY way, as far as inspirationaly or otherwise.(Physically)
I have gotten to see a very few other haunts but then many haunters come to see mine, so maybe it kind of balances out?
Another pro haunter told me that he misses "Halloween" because he is always so busy running his haunt and spending way too much time on the phone trying to persuade enough people to man his place every night.
My biggest disappointment has always been never finding very many people who share my own enthusiasm for scaring people and haunting. I once thought everybody felt like this, enthusiast. No.
To be totally fair when I am speaking about my employees, some of them have been very good, even outstanding! And they all got paid in real US money too! Some of them worked for us for 6 years or more.
We have had customers come here from almost any country one may care to name.
We give tours for kids. We give tours for bus loads of the elderly and the mentally handicapped too.
Of course on a busy October night the tours all have to be what they are, if you know what I mean, those special tours require much more time and sometimes work plus care and time.
Since the house tour covers 5.000 sq. feet and can take 60 to 90 minutes we can not tolerate drunks in the house, Screaming and Staggering around, so if they are too drunk, they have to leave.(and life becomes much more simple then.)
This Fall? We are to be featured on a new TV show"Creepiest Homes In America". We don't know what channel , since it could be on more than one, they said.

 

[GhostTown]

The constant nagging of the Halloween paparazzi, the flash bulbs always going off, the interviews, the GOING PRO money, kissing babys, shaking hands, giving out treats, the EXTREME popularity......

Halloween fame isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Sometimes ya just want to be normal, ya know?

I don't blame you for skipping it this year. I am, too.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I am "popular" for maybe 90 days a year and that is more than enough. I marvel at some sort of local very popular DJ's who seem to be "On" and on the road every moment, appearing at various watering holes every night (or so it seems?)
I would be very despondent if such was my everyday existence.
I need and crave some "My Time".