BACKGROUND OF FRIGHTWORLD:
FS - When did you start and how did you get started? Was it from a yard haunt and you worked your way up to the pros?

See Frightworld history >>

FS - What funding if any did you get to start your haunt, and how much did it take to start it up? Professionally, it was our biggest undertaking and we always had to use sponsors.  Since we had our start at the fair (see history), we also received a lot of backing from them.

FS - Is there a theme involved in your haunt?
Frightworld has 5 full sized houses, each with their own distinct theme.  The House of the Dead, which resembles an old decrepit house; CarnEvil, our 3D attraction that reminds you of a time long past when portable carnivals came to town; the Castle of Fear, where you can travel through a monster filled castle; Reaper’s Revenge, which took a whole new direction this year by adding challenging rooms to our dark maze of blackness.  Our 5th and newest house is always kept secret until we open every year.


FS - How long have you been a "pro" haunt?
Professionally, this will be our fifth year.  Our first year we only had three houses, but we’ve had five ever since.


FS - How big is the target market you are in?
Our target ranges with people from around twelve through their mid-twenties.  The city of Buffalo has 300,000 residents and Erie county has over 1 Million; our guests will travel around 100 miles to reach us, how would you gauge our market?


THIS YEARS LAYOUT AND CONSTRUCTION PLANS

FS - How often do you change your layout?
Every year.  Each year we come up with a new house and redesign the ones we already have.

FS - Do you stay in one central location? If not how do you choose your location and what advice might you give others when going about doing such a thing?
We have been located on the outskirts of the city of Buffalo since we’ve opened.  We’ve moved a couple of times, but each time it has been to a bigger and better place.  But, we still have remained faithful to our fans and kept ourselves in a particular location. 

One thing we’d like to add is if you do move, make sure you keep your name to keep your customers coming back.  Budget for the best location and make certain you have a guaranteed length of stay, you don’t want to be ‘hopping around’ every year.

FS - What is your favorite part of putting together these plans?
Creativity.  Every year we like to give our guests the best so we’re always adding to our attractions, even if they’ve been around for many years.

(CONSTRUCTION CONTINUED)

FS - Do you hire people to do the construction or it is just yourself and acquired friends?
We have a dedicated group that we’ve hired year after year to help us out.  They know what we want and we like their work.

FS -What is a common problem you might share with others you tend to run into while constructing your layout?
Plans on paper don’t always work out like they’re supposed to.  You have to know when to finagle placing a wall or doorway that the guests won’t get hurt by anything.

FS - How long does it take to do your construction each season?
We start planning years in advance.  As soon as the season is over, we’re already working on something new for next season.  Actual building begins in the early Spring and we’ll have our superstructures built well over a month before we start our detailing.

FS - How long does it take to do a layout change?
That depends on the amount of change we are going to have within the house.  Some changes may take a couple of hours, or even a week, while others will take us months to redesign.

DECORATING

FS - For everyone that dreams of being a pro haunter, what decorating tips can
you give them that is both inexpensive and scary?
Do your homework.  People love the details; if you want to build an old house, go to an old house and build what you see.  The key word here is details, put in those details.  Sometimes, a faucet or an electrical outlet makes all the difference in the world to make it look real.

FS - What tips for pro haunters do you have to keep your decorations both scary and unpredictable, without confusing your customer too much?
Keep it simple but creative.  If you have to think about it too much, so do they.  Always keep yourself in the customer’s point of view.

FS - What are your thoughts on haunts that run mostly expensive over the top props all throughout their haunt, compare to those that only use maybe one or two and rely mostly on the atmosphere?
Look for what works for you.  Your guests will tell you whether or not they like an attraction, if its good, keep it, if its bad, junk it and start from a different angle.

FS - Any tips for pro haunters that don't want the public to play with props too much? (ol Vaseline on the prop trick, or liquid nails?)
Hire a good staff.  The actors within your haunt will act as security since they also enjoy what you do. Design the house well, a customer that tends to get bored will tend to destroy your haunt.

Good communication between your host and your customers.  Your host isn’t there to just take tickets and make friends, they’re welcoming the guests into your attraction.  They are the ones that should inform the guests on behavior within the attraction.

OPENING NIGHT

FS - On an avg. night / year how big of crowd to you draw?
These two can be answered together.  The season always starts off slow and builds exponentially as the season gets closer to Halloween.

FS - Are there any special promo nights you run for college students, family specials, and just how much do these promos help your attraction?
We have Sunday Family Days, Student I.D. Nights, and this year we have Ripley’s coming during the season and we even have our very own movie premier for “FrightWorld: the Movie”.  Basically keep all your ideas new and fresh and they’ll work for you.

FS - Are your nerves as stiff as a new corpse on opening night, or are you having so much fun everything just kind of goes by quick?
We are very prepared for the season so I guess you could say we’re cool and confident.

FRIGHTWORLD DOCUMENTARY: PART 1 | PART 2