[0:19] Hello, everyone. I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal. And this is Haunt Weekly,

[0:24] a weekly podcast for the honored attraction and entertainment community. Whether you're an actor, owner, or just played an aficionado, we aim to be a podcast for you. And we come to you this week with episode 480, which, oh, quick check, the math says it's visible by four. That means it's time to do the news. Now, I gotta say, looking at the notes this week, there's not a lot of quantity in the news but there's some pretty big quality going on so i'm actually really excited to dig into some of this week's topic i think there's gonna be lots to talk about but on that note please do check us out at the places we exist we're at hauntweekly.com or hauntweekly on facebook and youtube.com slash hauntweekly you can also catch us wherever podcasts are distributed and that turns out to be an increasingly large number of places, someone's like hey i heard you on pod snout and i'm like what is that podcast for pigs i don't know i don't know any of these i i i still want to call it like itunes.

[1:27] Even though now it's apple podcast and apple music which are two totally separate apps that do very different things supposedly but to me they just make audios come to my ear holes so I mean, they're doing the same thing. You know. Anyways, yes, please do check us out at all those places. No housekeeping notes this week. Things have been going along, going along. Yeah. Work we did for the haunt. We actually had illness last, over the weekend. Yeah, I actually used some sick time. I think that's the first time in a year and a half I've used sick time at work. Now, you took over half a day Friday. Yeah. And we're completely out of commission on Saturday, pretty much. So, what we did for the haunt was, I played 12 hours of Star Wars Outlaws. And I rested. I watched Arcane, though, on the times that I was awake, and that was very good. Yes, that's the one based upon League of Legends. Yeah, I don't do MOBAs, so I don't know my League of Legends from World of Warcraft, which is not a MOBA. I know. Shut up. Yeah, I don't play it either, but it was beautifully done. Oh, God, it was beautifully done. I mean, the little bit I saw was beautiful, and it did look like a decent enough story to carry us through. So, yeah, it looked decent. Yeah. I would recommend it based upon what I saw, but you would know way more than I.

[2:51] But, yes, we've been ill. Luckily, it was just a two- to three-day illness, but we had other events on Sunday, so we really didn't get to do very much. That said, the next tasks for us, one is to finish cleaning the yard. Right. Even though we haven't heard from the... No, when I checked, we have not. So do that. Also, we've got to have some house maintenance. But after that, I was inside the haunt searching for something else. I'm like, yeah, we've got to get that goddamn panel off the quote-unquote storage area. Yeah, yeah. I think that your shoulder's probably recovered enough that we can do all of the moving and shit we need to do. Yeah, I think as long as I don't deliberately lift very heavy things with it, I'm fine. I've been able to carry sodas. I've been able to carry things. And it's been without question. Yeah. Not even any tension. So I think I've put enough rest on it that we can, you know, get out there and do those things. And the yard, the rest of it, and that was kind of like the thing with the yard, right? Was that... We were like, oh, this is going to take several weekends. Yeah. You know, we don't have time. But then we get out there and we put like two to three hours into it. And we were like 80% done. It always seems like we always put a lot of extra time in our head for things. And then it's never as much time. It's never as bad as we think it's going to be. Well, then we get the problem when we're getting closer to deadlines. Where we think everything's going to take less time than it does.

[4:19] It depends on the deadline. And it also depends on the project. Yeah. Because we are absolutely god-awful terrible at estimating how long it's going to take to do a haunt build. Probably because we don't actually know the challenges we're going to hit doing it. A lot of the times we've been stymied by random bullshit. Like, I remember one time we were putting up walls and we were stymied completely by the fact that our measurement of the garage was off by, like, two inches. Yeah. And we couldn't get a wall in place. oh my god that two inches turned into be the biggest deal it's like one it was nothing and i don't even know how we missed the measurement because we did everything right to the best of our knowledge but that's the haunt gods for you they give it and they take it away take it away right all right well every week we do ask a question of the week and last week we asked you what's the creepiest place you've accidentally wandered into.

[5:18] Uh roberta mcclellan said with my legs stuck in the mud at the edge of a swamp near twilight alone and a few other social situations okay social situations don't count okay a lot of people find those creepy but the stuck in the edge of the swamp i'm gonna give you that one that's accurate um chris gay said on a muddy dirt road along a steep hillside adjacent to a rundown gunshot riddled mobile home early gps was scary in rural early gps yes, chris spelled it correctly yes it just came out of my mouth wrong i know your mouth misspelled it yes oh no i understand completely but now yeah that does sound bad and you are right early gps.

[6:02] Was a fucking mess like i think the real benefit of apple maps and google maps both of them is that since they have completely violated all of our privacy and know where we're going at all times, they have finally realized nobody goes these ways. And can kind of like update the algorithm a little bit to not send people down stupid roads. Or into ditches. Or yeah, I remember when we were trying to find Chamber of Horrors once, is what you're trying to think of. It's like, turn left to arrive at your destination, and left was literally off a dam. Yeah, it was into a canal. But no, there were news stories a lot in those early years, too, of people just following blindly and running into, you know, water or off of bridges. I remember one person died because their GPS took them down a road that was closed for the winter season, but that information wasn't in the GPS. Yep. So...

[7:00] It was wild. It's gotten a lot better. But those of us who were alive and driving then are very traumatized. All right. Don Garlic says, I went with my mom to look at a house to rent. No amount of sage or holy water would have killed the murder house vibes we got from it. I want to go there is my problem. Well, it's probably local to us. It probably is. And, you know, it's just I get exactly what you're saying. Oh, yeah. Definitely been in spaces like that. Not a place we went on accident, but the place in Budapest, the murder house, which was very deliberately a spooky place, but even a horrible place, I should say, spooky is not the right adjective. No, we thought it was going to be a spooky place, and it turned out to be a history lesson. Very dark history lesson about why Nazis are the bad guys, and so on. And a very important lesson, but, yeah, we just got the wrong kind of discomfort out of it for what we were anticipating. Moving on. It's like going to see Up and expecting something happy. Well, you got something happier after the first five minutes. Anyway, Daniel Barnett said, Middle of nowhere, Maine, at night, with a flat tire, no cell reception, and no one for miles. It was a level of quietness I've never heard before or since.

[8:24] Yeah. You know, I have hearing issues.

[8:31] And one of the things with the hearing issues is a lot of like softer, especially lower noises, I don't hear. So I oftentimes get plunged into what feels like complete silence. But then I put in the AirPods or put on a hearing aid or something and suddenly it's like, holy shit, there's so much going on. I don't like this. But so I've had, but yeah, I do know what you mean about just the sheer silence being intimidating. And Jerry Ferratio said trapped at the bottom of Bell Rock in Sedona after dark on a moonless night with no light why? How in the hell did you get there? that sounds like it was poor planet more than accidental.

[9:17] Like I get how a lot of this stuff happens but seriously that takes some effort, alright and this week's question of the week, based upon one of the stories coming up so we'll be giving you our answers in just a minute do you think a year-round haunted attraction can work in vegas we'll be telling you more about that in a minute but let us know your thoughts let us know on hauntweekly.com hauntweekly on facebook and youtube.com slash hauntweekly all right it's also an even number episode that means it's time to do the conference reminders crystal why don't you begin and let the nice people know what's coming up Okay, April 4th through the 6th, it's April Ghouls in Athens, Georgia. At Southern Brewing, they will be doing a Haunted Trail, bands, vendors, and more.

[10:09] HauntFest.net for more info. All right, then, April 24th through the 27th, it's East Coast Haunters Convention in the Oaks, Pennsylvania, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. Pre-haunt tour featuring Brighton Asylum and Fright Factory. Friday tours featuring Hershey Park and Field of Screams. Paired with the East Coast Christmas show, EastCoastHauntersConvention.com. I'm always very curious about them because it's the same organizers as Transworld, but I'd never seen nearly as much from it. Anyway, moving on. Okay, April 25th through the 27th, it's Spooky Swap Meet in Los Angeles, California at the Heritage Square Museum. Great place to purchase gently loved items, including costume and decor, created by the co-founders of Midsummer Scream, SpookySwapMeet.com. And finally this week, March 10th, It's halfway to Halloween Expo in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the Washingtall Family. Washingtall. Jesus Christ. Wow. Beep, beep, boom. The Washingtall Farm Council Grounds. There's her show, Food Trucks, a local haunted house collaboration. Halfway to HalloweenMI.com. If you're a local haunter, they want pro-income home honors as well. Look up the website and participate in that collaboration. It sounds like a ton of fun.

[11:38] Alright, well, as we said, it is episode 480, divisible by 4. It means it's time to do the news. And we have a pretty big announcement. This article is by Philip Hernandez at Attractions Magazine. Universal horror is being unleashed on Las Vegas. And the big question that the headline asks is, will year-round scares succeed off the Vegas Strip? Basically, this is the first time Universal has done a year-round haunted house. They're famous for, of course, the Halloween Horror Nights. Right. Universal Studios attract hearts. And each of them, they do multiple houses, scare zones, all the stuff. We've heard it all. Yeah, and this isn't going to be... Okay, so it's going to be different, but it's not going to be that different because it's 100,000 square feet. It's opening on August 14th. Day after my birthday. Yeah. They will have four houses, themed bars, some of which are scare zone bars. That seems like a bad mixture. Yeah. Food venues, entertainment spaces. So basically it sounds like you can spend an entire night there. Yeah, I think that's very much the plan.

[12:57] They do. They do. Man, I should not have made that joke about your mouth misspelling. I'm being punished for that. Yeah, well, I'm on the struggle bus today, so... Well, it's okay. But, yeah, they do plan to change the houses out periodically. But they are starting with four themes. Universal Monsters, a.k.a. the Classics. The Exorcist Believer. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And Scarecrow the Reapening. Yeah. That's one I'm not familiar with. Admittedly, I've not been keeping up on my Universal horrors. I could be the one that's...

[13:30] You know the idiot here but still um there are 40 sets per haunt so it's a total 160 rooms yeah that's pretty significant size that is and like one of the criticisms i've always heard of halloween horror nights and also i've never been to hhn but don't live close enough to universal to make it realistic but i've seen the walkthroughs i've read the reviews and i've seen what other reviewers have said is that the haunts are well done but very short right and you go and you look at walkthroughs on like youtube or something they're like five to six minutes long walkthroughs like that and they're moving pretty slow and it's not a lot of rooms it looks great the actors are doing a good job it's just very small especially considering how long many people waited in line for that well and one of the things that the article talks about is that hhn you get the conga line yeah going through and this one they're not expecting to do that most of the year most and i don't think they should not only they will small groups and because that's one of.

[14:34] The things we've learned is that you know most people aren't thinking about haunted attractions out of season like when we showed up at raven's grin in yeah um jim warf is like well y'all are the only ones come on yeah like literally it was 7 0 5 8 p.m y'all the only ones come on let's get this over with so i can shut out and then by get it over with it means spend three and a half hours in the house not very much getting it over with at that point no let's get this shit started.

[15:04] But yeah this does sound more like four full-size haunted attractions it does and they also are going to have extra spaces where they can build up um seasonal haunts so like if they wanted to do valentine's day or christmas they could do that or something special for actual haunt season yeah and it'll be completely different from the four houses that are there already um now as far as why vegas they said vegas is america's playground new orleans wants a word with you.

[15:42] Well they do get 40 million visitors annually i don't know how many people we get but you're probably right there probably is more new orleans yeah but yeah but the city is more but and new orleans is too is more centered on adult aged entertainment yeah you're not gonna find in either vegas or here a glut of things to do with your kids great we have some great things to do with kids. Right. But it's not, but you have to kind of hunt for them. It's like zoos and museums and aquariums and. Oh, and there's, you know, some great parks and there's, I mean, and there's the children's museum. Right. There's a lot of neat stuff to take kids to. Don't get it twisted. It's not like kids aren't welcome in New Orleans or anything. No. We check you as you come across the Bonnie Carey Spillway to make sure you're not bringing any unwarranted infants into the state, the city. Well, not only that, but most bars that serve food and do not have poker machines you can bring kids into. Yeah. Seeing children in a bar is not an uncommon sight. No. Maybe not a particularly welcome sight, depending upon the child. And the bar. And the bar.

[16:54] But not an unusual one. Right. So, yeah, as long as your child's well-mannered. And as you know, the bar does not have video. Our situation with video poker in the States is weird. I know. Because it's like, we don't care if kids see you getting drunk. No, drunk's fine. Wasting your money in a machine. Fuck it. Yeah, you can. And the thing is, it's like it's so paper thin. Like if you have the machines out in public where they're visible it's got to be 21 and up the entire space but if you put them inside like a bathroom stall with a curtain over it with a curtain on a door that closes suddenly now kids can dine in well and actually ellie whenever she had a event um a celebration of life for her previous partner um her son was able to go to and it was at a gay bar. Yeah. And they just covered up the machines with fabric. Like little car covers or something.

[17:49] Just threw it over the machines. Yeah, it's wild shit. Anyway. It's very, that's a complete aside. But our relationship is very, very weird. Yeah. They say they're going to lean heavily on IP to draw people away from the Strip because that is one of the words of warning here is that this is not on the Strip. I'm not familiar enough with Vegas geography to help much, but it seems to be some distance away. Right. You're not going to be walking there. Yeah. And tickets will be $59 to $99, and they expect to reach $15.8 million in annual revenue. And that is a lot of fucking tickets are hoping to sell. It is. And I'm not sure where they're getting those numbers from or how long they think it's going to take to reach that point. But it'll be interesting to watch. There were quite a few warnings in the article from someone who is in the haunt industry. It might have even been Philip.

[18:48] But basically saying that the IP might not be as unique as they expect it to be, because some other haunts do rip it off. Yes, constantly. Yeah. Well, I mean, okay, and let's go over those haunts again real fast. Universal Monsters. Okay, look, I love my Universal Monsters. This is the shit I do know and love, right? But Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy, Werewolf, those are all public domain ideas. Every other haunt is totally free to do their own twist on it. Now, I've got a whole article on my day job site, Plagio Someday, about the copywriting of Frankenstein. Yeah. So go, I'll read that. Maybe I'll drop it in there and probably we'll forget. But regardless, you can find it easily.

[19:34] But those are not unique to Universal. The Exorcist Believer? The Exorcist? Yeah. I mean, I get it. It is a popular horror franchise, but The Exorcist? Well, I mean, we've seen the scene many times. Yeah, and haunts. We've seen exorcism scenes. Exactly. Just, you know, you have a priest, generic priest costume and someone that's possessed. And that raises the next point, which is what IP is unique to the exorcist. Exactly. Because like you said, exorcisms existed way before the exorcist. And you can't copyright priest clothes if you try that. I'm pretty sure the Catholic Church is going to want to have a word with you. And they need money. um but but you know so that doesn't seem to have a strong ip um texas chainsaw massacre i give you that one that one's good that one you've got some unique shit leather faces of course canon that's great scarecrow the reapening though yeah i think we'll have to look that up and watch it because I'm not sure what that's about. What the fuck is that? Yeah. Like, okay, even if it is actually a horror movie and I'm the idiot here, that, I'm gonna just say that if I don't know it, there's a good chance people roaming the strip don't know either.

[21:01] Mm-hmm. And apparently it's just a Halloween Horror Nights house. Right. Yeah. So, it's Scarecrows. They're bang, and Scarecrows, you can't copyright Scarecrows. No, Like, lots of haunted houses have scarecrows. One of the best scares 13th Gate ever had was a scarecrow. They still have them. Yeah, some of them. They still have them. Yeah, we don't know who's in there. No. But, yeah. Oh, my God. So, you're banking on IP, and that's the IP you bank on? Mm-hmm. You're universal, man. Yeah, and basically, these are the...

[21:39] The four points that the article makes is that year-round haunted attraction model is rarely succeeded when it scales up to year-round okay yeah because you miss out on a lot of the fomo buys and stuff like that and people expecting to go with their friends at this time but tradition and i'll play devil's advocate in this or i guess angel's advocate here and say you do get some of that back in a tourist environment though right where you're only in vegas for a week this might be your only chance ever to go see the universal horror thingy yeah exactly so you get some of that back yeah and i mean i would actually consider going to this oh i would absolutely but are we normal no we are not normal well i mean not everybody has 480 episodes of a podcast but But haunted house people will definitely be able to go to this year-round when they might not be able to go to HHN during the season. That's true. That's what I'm saying. And I can see myself going to Vegas someday. Number two. The focus on fear rather than entertainment might limit the broader appeal. I disagree with that. Disagree with that one totally. Because people who are looking for haunted houses are going to go, and they want to be scared. Well, and the other thing is... Entertainment is important. I think the author here is misunderstanding something, that fear is a type of entertainment.

[23:07] Yeah, and there's a whole long section of the article on this specific topic. About why it's maybe not likely to work. About why you need entertaining sections and some humor and varied scares and that kind of thing. Okay, and I've been talking about that shit for years. Yeah, exactly. Basically, anybody who's in the industry knows this stuff. But I'm looking at this from the perspective of someone, if I'm roaming the strip, and I get handed a flyer for this, and I'm not the weirdo that goes to every haunted house he's ever gotten a flyer to in the whole of his life. Yeah. Literally.

[23:42] Including the one in Waterloo. The point is, it's like, fear is a form of entertainment by itself. But yes it is different from going to see a Cirque du Soleil show or gambling or the other stuff you might typically do in Vegas it's a very different type of attraction and I think that could actually help it so I disagree with that one yeah we already talked about the IP yeah and then um, claimed competitive advantages like continuous immersion are less unique than portrayed agreed.

[24:22] Agreed uh that is that's every haunt hopefully that's pretty much every haunt we can claim complete immersion in our garage when you go for a minute and a half for a minute we can immerse you completely one to five minutes man depending on how many times you fall down we got you yeah so yeah i like i was very like we talked about this previously when it was first like hinted at and rumored and supposedly coming and i was very on board with it i'm not now i am a skeptic i am not gonna i don't i believe this concept can work but i don't think this is the one to do it i don't know because like the universal name does have a lot of pull um i i think we're gonna have to wait and Like, I'm on the fence on whether or not this will succeed or last long-term. Yeah. Because even with changing out your houses often, I... Yeah, we'd have to set a rule for what is, like, the break point. Like, two years, maybe? The break-even point? Like, when do we consider it a longer-term success? Two years? Well, most businesses... Fail within a year. Within five, right? Yeah. Five years is the... I'm going to forget in five years. Yeah, you're definitely going to be around for a while after five years. Yeah, I don't know. But we'd have to set a time.

[25:48] The price is not actually bad. No, it's not. Considering you're getting four full-size haunted attractions, even like $100, the highest tiers, is $25 a haunted house. That's just normal haunt prices in the year of our Lord 2025. Right. and you can go and eat at restaurants and hang out in bars and there are areas to wander around in between scenes and houses so there's other stuff to do I want an arcade can we get an arcade in there, Definitely, definitely think this is a place you could spend an evening. I think that part of the idea is good. That is the smart bit. But here's the problem. It's going to be a very human-intensive operation. Yeah. Very labor-intensive.

[26:37] Most year-round haunts that I've been to have been operated by, like, two people. Yeah. Like, no labor costs at all. Like, literally, the very first haunted house I ever went to on my own was run by one guy who literally took the tickets. It was the old winter pickle haunt in Myrtle Beach. Took your tickets and said, okay, go in that door, and then he just disappears from the ticket booth and goes and scares you. Yep. It works. You can do it. But, yeah, that's the type of cost-cutting year-round haunts do. And mind you, Myrtle Beach, even back then, was a significant tourist zone. They were not, I was not the only customer in line. Yeah, and even when we went recently, there were two haunted houses operating year-round. And both, we were not the only customers.

[27:30] Yeah, so they've got, and these were, one of them was right on the strip, a.k.a. the heart. They both were. No, there was the one we did that was way off, the Wax Museum one. We did three. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, the Wax Museum's like... Yeah, it was a ways away. That was far off. That wasn't a focus on a haunt. Yeah, that's true. That was a focus on a Wax Museum that happens to have a haunted place in the basement where somebody got shot. Yeah, regardless. But yeah, you're talking about the two on the strip we did. Yeah. Yeah, both were right on the strip. Both had decent business. Both had great exteriors that were definitely getting attention. Right. And I think that if...

[28:07] I think the only way you're going to get people from the Strip to this event is going to be shuttles. I was about to say, this sounds like it needs a shuttle. Yeah. Because, A, you're offering bars and alcohol and stuff to drink there. So what you do is you find somewhere on the Strip, you pick people up, take them to there, and then take them back when they're done so they can walk to their hotel room. Get some character actors to interact with them on the bus. You know, get them, you know, ready for a party. Universal, I'm going to give you a tip. Talk to Japes. Yeah. Japes Palace. Look at our previous episodes. He's there, trust me. He's the guy you want to talk to about this. Yeah. Right? Just try that. Does it right. He knows how to do it. He does it well. You can even sell a VIP package that, you know, gets you the shuttle the whole night there, the shuttle, return shuttle, prizes on the bus, maybe a drink ticket or something. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, all in all, I was really on board with this when it was first announced, when it was first rumored, but I have fallen off, and I'm still trying to keep some of your on-the-fence spirit, but it's hard, man. I'm hoping that.

[29:28] I'm hoping it succeeds. I hope it succeeds, too, genuinely. I think that not being on the strip is going to shoot in the foot. Yeah.

[29:38] But if it does succeed, then maybe other people will be wanting to open up similar attractions that are year-round. Yeah, and look at doing more robust year-round attractions and other tourist destinations. Exactly. So, yeah, that would be my hope.

[29:56] Like that's the best outcome like i the best outcome for the industry is that this succeeds no doubt that's what i hope for that's what i really would like to see but my fear is that they've really hamstrung themselves here with weak ip a bad location and i just well we don't know if it's a bad location we just know it's not a prime location yeah okay we'll just say then a less than prime location yeah yeah true you got a point there yeah i don't know man this is just frustrating i really really want to like this and say that this is going to be awesome but that is not my gut right now they clearly are putting in the effort i mean yeah 160 sets total that's a lot of fucking work it is and that's probably why they announced it a couple of years ago and are just now getting to open this august so yeah we'll have more on this probably um in the coming news episodes as we know more and more but yeah now we have details about this and i'm i my my skeptical needle my needle has moved way more towards skeptic because of it so anyways moving on. All right.

[31:14] Herschend. Yes. I was going to say it with you so I could learn to say it. Oh, okay. Herschend. Go ahead. Yeah. Herschend is going to acquire Palace Entertainment's U.S. Attractions from Parks Reunidos.

[31:31] So they are celebrating their 75th year entertaining families by expanding into the U.S.

[31:39] They're acquiring 50 historic entertainment venues that include campgrounds, water parks, amusement parks, family entertainment centers, hotels. That's 20 venues, I thought. Yeah, what did I say? 50. Sorry. Sorry, it's 20. 20 venues. 10 states. 10 states, yes. You did get that part right. Go ahead. Sorry. Okay. No, it's okay.

[32:03] Like I said, struggle bus. All right. Yeah, so they'll be in, they're acquiring Kennywood in Pennsylvania, Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, and Light Compouts in Connecticut. Yes. Which are some of their big names. And all of these have wooden roller coasters, it looks like. Oh, I didn't know that. That's interesting trivia. Yeah. And several of them have haunted attractions. Yes. Which is why we are talking about them on this show. So, yeah, this is going to be interesting. There was some concern that because Herschend, to the article's knowledge, does not operate haunted attractions anywhere else, might not fully know what to do with them and might not see the value in them. So we're going to have to watch what they do with the parks haunted attractions over the next few years as they operate these parks. But yeah, the main news story here is that this big bad international company is making inroads in the U.S. And buying a ton of entertainment venues, including several historic theme parks and amusement parks.

[33:14] All right, next story this week, Scarehouse Windsor, named finalist for Innovator of the Year at the Southern Ontario Tourism Conference. This is the Windsorite.ca news staff, and it's nice to have some Canadian news, isn't it? Basically, the finalist for the Southern Ontario Tourism Conference Award that recognizes businesses, programs, events, or immersive experiences. There's that word again. Yeah. Scarboroughs Windsor is the only nominee from Windsor Excess across all categories. Of course, Ontario is a, crap, what do they call them in Canada? Not states. It's going to hit me in a minute. I don't know. The only word coming to my mind is province, but I'm pretty sure that's it. Oh, that is it. That's it. Okay. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's it. Anyway, but they've been building the haunt for 18 years. Yes, provinces. Thank God. Thank you. I don't know why that was such a struggle. That's it. It's Struggle Bus Day. Choo-choo.

[34:25] Yeah. The Struggle Bus is now a train.

[34:31] Anyway, yeah, but the owners are excited that they've gotten the recognition for the support to the tourist industry that they are getting from this award. Yeah, and how they are expanding past Just a Haunted Attraction. Yeah. Because they are operating themed dining rooms, which sounds interesting. I know. They each feature their own storyline, special effects, and live interactions. Yeah. It's dinner and a show you know i have been really curious about we have friends who do these murder mystery dinner theater shows been very curious to check one out but it's never worked out time-wise because they those things are like weird fucking hours and we eat you know at like even weirder hours yeah so but yeah but this sounds like that but more on a more recurring basis so you can go to a seance room the black and white frankenstein chamber that just sounds badass yeah it does um you see frankenstein not copyrighted yeah look at this universal looky looky look at it um each space uses like i said lighting sound effects pneumatic triggers and live actors to fully immerse guests this just sounds fun and like something the haunt industry as a whole should be looking into now i don't think the haunt industry should do to this what they did to escape rooms no you know what you did on industry you know what you did.

[36:00] Anyways yeah moving on moving on um.

[36:05] So fia pablo alan enze will ashley radson flores and lauren king have bonded over haunted attraction now who are those people yeah aaron brent uh brent eusebio sorry i butchered that from sorry aaron from gabinet network gma network yeah um they are they are the stars of gma afternoon Prime series, Princea Ng, City Jail, a new adventure, basically that they, so the actors got together and bonded at a haunted attraction and went to Nightmares Manila. Yeah. Yeah. And Paranac City. Thank you for putting the pronunciation in that. You're welcome. Wow. Such a radical concept. I would not have gotten that based upon the spelling. I'm just going to be honest now and say I would have fucked that up horribly. But, yeah, some great positive international press for the industry. And good to see that, you know, Philippine haunts are getting. Yeah, we actually, you know, reported on Nightmares Manila when it opened a few years ago. At least I think it was a few years ago.

[37:20] So it was one of the first in the area to open. I believe it is also a year-round haunt. Yeah, most international. See, this is one of the things. International haunts are year-round typically. Yeah. We've talked, like we've had Kyle want to talk about the ones in Japan. Right. They're all year-round. They might be closed certain days of the week, but they have a regular schedule all throughout the year. Yeah. The ones we talked about in the Middle East that we're opening up, like in Dubai, are year-round. They're in malls. Right. um and we've been to ones in the uk yeah which means that some of the um tourists that go to vegas maybe they will go and especially if they are international tourists no especially if they're international i then that's going to be my next question is what percentage and we're just coming back to the first story constantly yeah i know but it's fine um it's fine um because i know vegas Vegas used to, I don't know if they still do, but they would subsidize domestic flights to Vegas. That's why it was always so cheap to fly to Vegas. That makes sense. And so that's one of the other reasons why conferences were so often held in Vegas, because they knew more attendees could get there easily.

[38:29] I don't know if they still do that or not, but that was a big thing. But I don't think they ever did that with international flights. So I don't know if Vegas is an international destination. I bet it is. But is it compared to New York or L.A.?

[38:43] I bet it is. Okay. Because there are a lot of conferences there, too. That is true. It is still a conference capital, which makes it even weirder that I've never been there because 99% of my travel has been conference-related. Yeah. Anyways, moving on. University of Georgia grads Halloween-inspired springtime event returns to Athens for three spooky days. Article by Andrew Scheer at Online Athens. April Ghouls is set for April 4th and April 5th at Homsfest held at the Terrapin Beer Company.

[39:18] But, yeah, this is being put on. I did not know this about this event. We've covered it in the conference reminders, including this time around. But, yeah, it's interesting that this is done by a University of Georgia student or University of Georgia grad and it's tied with the school. So, yeah, this is a fun little write-up about how the event works. And an interesting fact, on Sunday, they have a family-friendly day at Haunt Fest, which is trick-or-treating, and a mini-monsters costume contest. Which is adorable. Which is adorable. And people who make fun of that need to remember, the kids got to get started somewhere.

[40:01] I know I got started in fucking pirates and ninja costumes, so, you know, everybody's got to get in somewhere. So, yeah, HauntFest.net. All right moving on all right um next is a new product that is coming out it's called potion cast and it's a tech driven haunt experience that's opening in orlando this is by bea michelle mitchell at blue loop.com um and that was blue loop yeah yeah b-l-o-o-l-o-o-p Blue spelled like blue from Foster's Home and Imaginary Friends. Exactly. Not like the color. Anyway. All five people who were fans of that show are laughing right now. Yeah.

[40:51] So there's not a lot of information out, but Potion Cast describes itself as a high-growth, tech-driven company building the future of immersive Halloween entertainment. Yes. And it's, they said that you'll be able to choose which level of fear you're going to go into, and I'm not really sure how that's going to work, because it sounds like, So the pictures look like it had actors, but the product sounds like it doesn't. So I'm not really clear on the concept. The other thing we're not clear on is obviously they're opening a location in Orlando. Right, for Summerween. That you can go and check out. But they're also trying to sell this to other places, it sounds like. Yeah, they've got three events coming up in Florida and one in Boston this year.

[41:51] And you can get on their site a founder's pass for $49, which gives you unlimited five-year access if you're in the area that it's at. Yeah, where it happens to be is the problem. Like, if they never come to New Orleans, we're hosed. Unless we go to them. But it's not year-round, so we probably can't do that.

[42:14] Yeah, it's interesting because they are, like I said, touring around with it, and it does seem like they're also kind of working to pitch this other places yeah it seems like they're they're really doing their testing grounds right now yeah um and i think that may be part of the reason we're confused is they don't know what it is yet they don't know what to do with this, so and this is what this tour is about is trying to figure sort all that out is this something that they should because like i know that like this weekend in new orleans they're bringing this giant fucking bounce house or as i like to call it ankle breaker 3000 um to new orleans and you can pay like 20 bucks and fuck around on a one acre size bounce house all day and they're doing that on tour this they've been doing it at lots of different cities so i think it's that type of thing right now is what they're kind of looking toward but maybe they will find a market for selling and you know yeah i have no idea but i'm really curious about it and and i'm looking forward to reviews when they're out.

[43:19] Well our final story this week comes from adam savage it's a youtube video a psa about online shopping scams and that doesn't sound like haunt weekly would cover this wait a minute yeah wait a minute no no it's a 10 minute video it's a real breeze of a watch honestly yeah um and it starts out talking about haunt industries one of my haunt industry's most beloved people, Gary Faye, and his magical extension fingers, which when you say it like that sounds dirty, but it's not. I promise it is not. Yeah, he made the fingers, and as Adam Savage notes, it's been worn by Lady Gaga. It's been in concerts. They've been in movies. They've been hither and yon. And one of the places they've been on a lot, quote unquote, is T-Moo. Yeah, and other cheap imitations are out there. And we actually went back on an episode. We did an episode of Team Advice. We bought one of the imitations. Yeah. And we knew it was an imitation. And it was crap. It was garbage. Now, it did do the best thing I think it could realistically do, which is make me want to get one of the originals. Yeah. Because it was good enough that I could see the concept. Like, this could work if it didn't suck. Yeah. Basically. But that's the problem. And I loved how the one we got, it came with the fingers and basically string it. Build your own asshole. Yeah.

[44:44] Yeah, and the joints... You paid six bucks, you're not getting... Yeah, the joints weren't as well-crafted. It was just not well-made. Clearly low-quality 3D prints. Yeah. Very low-quality 3D prints. So, yeah, it was rough. But anyways, this is a video talking about knockoffs and things like this. And we also, I remember we've ordered fake masks off of Timur Wish. Those were hilariously bad. Yeah, they were. Um we've done that we've done other imitations and the general rule is if timu and wish you're you're not getting yeah what the image says you're getting you're not and you know i know that we talked about different scams and how to watch out for them but this video gives a great breakdown of how to make sure you're buying from a reputable company and um you know not get.

[45:42] Get something that's just cheap and and not worthy of your time and i've paired this with another video you and i watched over the past month okay and i know linus tech tips is a very polarizing name i get it it is and i sometimes want to punch linus in the face too i mean who doesn't it's a very punchable face you have to admit but anyways um they did a video that i do actually have to seriously recommend about the tracking number scam. Yeah. And Adam and the person who was in the video with him, and I'm sorry, I cannot remember your name. You were next to Adam Savage. It's not your fault. Yeah.

[46:24] Had actually gotten a fake tracking number whenever you went to buy something. And that's why they went into how to make sure that the company is really a company and not going to send you a fake tracking. Yeah. And the fake tracking number situation is scary as fuck right now. It is. Because if you watch the Linus Tech Tips video, which like I said pairs greatly with this, they actually show you how easy it is to buy a tracking number. Say I'm shipping a package to, you know, Augusta, Maine. I can go on a site and I can find a tracking number, buy a tracking number that's about the same amount of pounds going to Augusta at roughly the same time, theoretically, and provide you that. And it will look exactly like a real tracking number, except it's to your neighbor, not to you. Yep. It's genuinely a frightening thing. And I won't, like, spoil everything in the Linus video, because he has some theories on where they get the tracking numbers from, which I think have water, actually. I think they're probably right. But the interesting thing about it was that this problem started...

[47:34] Because marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, et cetera, required their affiliates, the people selling goods through them, to use one of a select number of shippers. So UPS, Postal Service, FedEx, whatever, right?

[47:56] And a lot of times those companies would try to cut corners by using a cheaper shipper that maybe didn't have as good a tracking so getting a fake tracking number was a way to gain the system for them but then it quickly became well if we can get the fake tracking number we don't have to send them shit yeah exactly send them a fucking brick it doesn't matter anymore and yeah so i think what's going to have to happen is that a tracking number is going to have to be because right now one of the issues is if you look at a tracking number it like the information gets you really kind of sucks it doesn't even tell you what zip code it's going to just what city yeah and that like new orleans that's not particularly useful information oh so it's going anywhere from new New Orleans East, Algiers, all the way to Fat City. Yeah, well, yeah. Fuck you. I actually run into this problem a lot at the post office. Not with fake tracking numbers, but with just tracking the tracking numbers that I'm sending.

[49:02] Because I have to, like, make a list and make sure that they're put into the system in the exact same order because they are all going to the same city, sometimes the same zip code, but it has no other information on it at all. Yeah. And the thing is, like, if you have the tracking number, you should be able to see the address. Yeah. Because theoretically, you're either the shipper who already has the address, address is not private information, or you're the receiver, and you know your own address. And if you look at the tracking number and see someone else's address, you know something is wrong. But they don't do that for privacy reasons. And that's one of the reasons why you cannot trust tracking information in the year of our Lord 2025. And it just it pisses me off how the internet keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse yeah because it's like well at least i can buy stuff online that's super convenient, yes get scammed with tracking numbers yes and real quick it was norm who was on the podcast on the video with adam yeah sorry we were just fucking with you but yeah you You were admittedly sitting next to Adam Savage, so, yeah. It's entirely your fault. Don't sit next to Adam Savage if you want me to remember you.

[50:24] That is so weird. I would forget me if I was sitting next to Adam Savage. Yes. Okay. But yes, indeed. So that's the main thing there. Be wary of it, and definitely check out Adam Savage's video, and I'll also put a link to the LTT one in case anyone's interested in that. Yeah, and by the way, the cost of one of those fake tracking numbers, real fast, a quarter. 25 cents. Why? Okay. Anyway. That's just so cheap. Yeah, it is. That means... And that's one of the customized ones where you set the weight in the town it's going to. Yeah. In the time frame. Yeah.

[51:09] It's just sick. that's anyway on that note on that depressing bombshell um this has been a haunt weekly episode 480 doing the march news you can find more haunt weekly at hauntweekly.com haunt weekly on facebook and youtube.com slash haunt weekly until next time i'm jonathan i'm crystal and we will see you all.