Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

So nothing too "news worthy" is happening around here, slowed WAY down due to the holidays! So, this may be my last blog post for awhile until we get out of the holiday season and on into Jan.

Speaking of Jan., we are planning our first MAJOR meeting with all of our crew/staff and family. We'll be talking, in detail, about all of our plans, the haunts, exhibit logos/graphics/pics, and just have a fun time. This is also our crucial meet-and-greet for our staff to meet the family. We'll also be talking about our upcomming Transworld/St. Louis trip... more info on that later!

I'll be taking lots of pics at this meeting so I'll post up some of them in late Jan. or Feb.

So until next time... please...

Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy Haunting,
Tyler

Long time no read!

Well, it's been awhile huh? hahaha... I figured a day or two ago I would go ahead and wait until it's been one full month since the last post to write another one... so here we go!

Since we last talked, my partner and I went up and visited FRIGHTWORLD!!! I don't think I can come up with a word that describes how awesome this haunt was... wait, that is one word! Anyways, Ron and Jason are doing what I think is the BEST haunted event in the country. Frightworld has the best of everything, literally... top notch/scary haunts, concessions, two movie screens, detail out the ass, awesome actors, high-end ticket booth and... well I could go on and on for hours... but this was something that has to be seen!

On another note... all preliminary designs are now finished! YAY!! LET THE CONSTRUCTION BEGIN!!!! I'm so ready to get this going... and so are alot of other people! ;)

We've started to put our team together and have made some excellent friends that are going to help... also, we're planning for Rons, Jason and Eerie Productions trip down here to KY to help. Ugh... busy, busy....

Also, we're planning our trip to the Transworld Hauntshow in St. Louis. This IS the haunt convention for everything, well... haunted! We plan on hitting up EVERY seminar, EVERY tour, and then buying some stuff off the show floor... good times! hahaha....

More to come! Soon! ;)

-Tyler

Not much happening...

Well, not much is happening around here these days, it's kinda slowed down for now. We did however decide on a company to help with our website, more on that later!

We are still planning our trip back up to Buffalo to see Ron, Jason and Frightworld in action! We are going this weekend, I think it's the 18th, and will be back that Monday morning. We're both EXTREMELY excited about going. Of course, I'll be, try to at least, taking a TON of pictures while we're there and will post them when I get back.

As for the haunts, we've finaly chosen the last and final design for our last haunt. It was fun designing it, the twists, the turns, the scares... So now we are pricing everything out and gathering the equipment we'll need to start construction!!! YAY!!! Details later, much later!

Until next time...

Happy Haunting,

-Tyler

ScreamTV

It's been awhile since my last post... so to just catch up on a few things:

-We are planning our trip back up to Buffalo to see Frightworld in action. I'm very excited to see this haunt is full swing, I'm sure we are going to learn ALOT!!!

-I went back up to Kings Island for Halloween Haunt... I got to see alot of my old friends, that was nice. As for haunt... well, I won't get into it! ;)


OK... so, the past few days I've been working on something I think is REALLY cool! Right now I'm calling it screamTV (it might change) and it's basically a closed circuit TV network for the q-lines of the haunts. The TV's will be set up to loop a DVD montage of spooky videos, music videos, and well, a few more little presents I threw in there!

I'm not however going to post the vid... you'll just have to come to the haunt next year and see it. Trust me, I think you guys and ghouls would love it!

Until next time...

Happy Haunting,

-Tyler

Website!

Here is our website for the event:

http://www.scarylexington.com


ScaryLexington.com is right now just a teaser site, and will remain in it's current state until March-April of '09... and then will be fully launched mid-Aug. 2009. The site and graphics were made completely in house by RRA, LLC. But our fully launched site will be made by a haunt industry firm, of which has not been decided yet!

Stay tuned!

-Tyler

Some pics from our trip to Buffalo...

Here are just a few pics from our trip to Buffalo:

For ALOT more pics view my album on photobucket:

http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq352/tbarnett17/Buffalo%20Trip/

Again, a HUGE thank you to Ron and Jason... and the rest of the Eerie Productions/Frightworld team!

Another thank you goes to the guys over at Scair at the Fair, you all are AWESOME... and Jim, your an mad genious! See you all soon!

Happy Haunting.

-Tyler

Real quick...

Real quick here... we are on the road on our way back home. We've signed the deal, paid the cash, etc. etc. etc.... WE ARE HAUNTERS!!!!!

Damn, it feels really good to say that! hahaha... I really can't wait to get this thing going solid, I just want to start building and painting like RIGHT NOW! Ron and Jason were so nice and so helpful, I really don't think this was a business deal... we made some serious friends up here!

Last night we went up to the falls, my first time... AMAZING... and while we were there we did about 3 haunted house, a blacklight mini-gold and a darkride; awesome time! I mean, the haunts were ok, had a few good startles, but nothing much. None-the-less we had an awesome time, oh, and did I mention Niagara Falls? ;)

Once I get home I'll post up ALOT of pics from the trip!

Happy Haunting.

-Tyler

LIVE! From Buffalo!

Hello from Buffalo!

So I'm up here hanging out with Ron and Jason from Eerie Productions here in Buffalo, NY. Let me tell you, these guys are awesome! They are by far the nicest haunters I've EVER met... with the exception of Kelly and Lee (Raycliff Manor) and Gwen!

As you know, we came up here to finalize our deal on the attractions... but I'll just say that they have been so nice and helpful to us... really kind of "taking us under their wing". They have answered every question we had, shown us the ins-and-outs of this industry and have really given us some AWESOME insight on how to run/operate things.

A big THANK YOU to Ron Doherty for being kinda our "tour guide" through Buffalo! Ron was gracious enough to not only show us his haunt location and his shop... but take us to meet the guys over at Scair at the Fair! These guys are just as awesome! Jim, who is a animations genious, is such a sweet guy and really answered questions we had the best he could! Thanks buddy!

Of course, we were not invited bace... WE WERE TOLD TO COME BACK!!!


Again, I'm still up here in our room in Buffalo... but I will post more once I get back home, maybe throw some pics in with it! ;)


Until next time, Happy Haunting!

-Tyler

A quick update...

... and then another! I'm about to have phone meeting with Ron from Eerie Productions, the great company we're getting our attractions from. As soon as the call is over I'll write a new blog discussing it, so... stay tuned!

-Tyler

Cumulus Radio Metting...

So a few days ago we had our meeting with the team over at Cumulus Radio about our advertising campaign. All I can say is I'm ready to get this up NOW... haha. We've worked out a "paid sponsorship" deal for around $4K. This would include 3-4 ads (:30 seconds) a day from mid-Aug. through Oct. 31st. This would also include a live remote from our location with radio personalities, the big radio "van", on air promotions and giveaways, etc. etc.

So yeah, it's all looking really good right now. We are still working no the deal on our end. We are going to try and see if we can't get more of a "sponsorship" than a paid one. Maybe we can get another station in on it for the same price... double the action without double the money, catch my drift! ;)

Our deal is already slotted for the highest listened station in town, a modern top 20 station. But we are also seeking the local rock/modern rock station as well as this would include our entire demographics. But we're working on it, and you know I'll keep you updated! ;)

Happy Haunting.

-Tyler

A new piece of art... almost!

Today I put the final touches on an artwork rendering made for a poster. Now, before you glance, remember this is just a rendering I made... we are NOT using this as the final product. This is what we'll send the company doing our artwork (BrainstormStudios.com) to use as an insight as to what we wanted. They'd be able to do a MUCH better job than I EVER could... haha. So here is my first rendering for the first attraction:

What do you think? Scary? Horrifying? Lame as hell? Well, this is what I mocked up and will send to the real artist. I'm still tweaking a few things, but I think this is kind of how I want the artwork to look like.

Happy Haunting.

-Tyler

Something new...

Well today I finally got some good info from Cumulus Radio, a local radio broadcasting company here in town, and I'm really getting excited. We've worked up a plan to play our radio ads from mid-Aug. through the end of October in 2009. This would also include a 2 hour live remote from the haunt with plenty of giveaways and placement for us.

So far, Cumulus Radio has been awesome. Easy to work with, working within our means, and are trying to provide us the best possible deal they can. We are working on getting a "paid sponsorship" with them... meaning that ads and stuff won't be completely free to us, but we'll get more out of it. I gave them our offer and alot of info about the haunt, but I haven't heard back yet. Of course, it was only today! ;)

But like I said, so far so good. I think this is a company that we'll stick with as far as radio ads go.

Also, I've also been thinking about our actual "plans" for the haunt... and I've realized that we may need to scale back a bit. Not like drop the haunt size or quality or anything, but we've been talking about doing stuff that I'm afraid won't bring any more money into the haunt. I'm afraid that we'll dump so much cash into getting it up and going that we won't make as much back. My partner, Ed, is so ambitious with this. I know it's a good thing and he's really starting to become a haunter on his own... but I think that he's thinking to big for this first year. IDK... I'm going to talk to him about it at our next meeting... see what happens from there.

Well, until next time. Happy Haunting.

-Tyler

A fun day today...

Today I started to really work hard on a marketing/advertising plan with an temporary budget. Now, I say temporary because I do have a set budget to work with, but that may grow or shrink depending on what kind of deals I can squeeze out of some of the haunt vendors and local advertisers! haha...

Anyways, today I gathered prices and/or quotes on stuff ranging from logo creation and custom art work, website creation and hosting, radio ads and marketing campaigns, and even some quotes from local TV stations. One really cool thing I'm researching is creating a marketing campaign with the Regal Entertainment Group/ScreenVision! I think this would be really cool because we could have a :30 second ad made (same people doing our TV ad) that is extremely theatrical/movie-ish and it would play as a trailer before a movie in area theaters! Now, HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!

Another thing that Screenvision can provide is custom lobby displays and ads. This would include LARGE banners hanging in the lobbies, custom popcorn bags and drink cups, coupon hand outs, window decals, floor decals, posters... etc. etc. This is one thing I really want to do to help promote the attraction next year. Think about, how cool would it be to go into a movie and see a trailer for a terrorfying local haunt! HELL YEAH!!!

Anyways, everything is going good though... so far I'm WELL under budget on the marketing campaign.... so far! I just keep thinkin... "YOU HAVE TO YELL IT, TO SELL IT!"

-Tyler

I'm working on a project, a BIG project!

Hey guys,

So, I'm working on a very big haunt project that will take place in the fall of 2009 here in Lexington, Ky. I've been a "haunter" for many, many years... starting as a young child for a family haunt; later into the high school drama club in which I was in charge of their haunted fundraiser; then to work at Kings Island (amusement park near Cincinnati, OH.) and was involved with their haunted event, Halloween Haunt. I've been to haunt conventions, taken tours of both haunts and vendor workshops... done seminars out the ass... and have read and watched almost every piece of educational material available in the haunt industry.

Whoo... that's alot of practice!

But now, it's time to put all this education and "training" to good use! I've teamed up with a very good friend of mine, Eddie Embry, and together we will be opening Lexington's premiere haunted attraction! Did I also mention that it may also be the LARGEST haunted event in Kentucky!

I know, it's a HUGE undertaking... but I'm ready for it. So... please, cross your fingers and say prayers for us! ;)

Thanks.

-Tyler

Here's my blog, so... yeah.

Ok, so... I am completely new at this as this is my first "blog". I know, I know... i'm a little late on the bandwagon, right? Well, better late than never! I'm going to try hard to keep this thing updated on a regular basis. I have alot of stuff to talk about and some "new things" to document within this blog, I hope you find it at least a little entertaining!

Thanks.

-Tyler