Hoodies & Hot Cider - What Do Haunt Customers REALLY Want?

What makes the perfect haunted house gift shop? 👻🛒

In this episode, Bryan from Team Skelegore is joined by Taylor from Team Brady Pack and a brand new guest on the podcast - Lindsay from Team Lone Wolf - to dive into the world of haunt merchandise!

From hoodies to hot cider, shot glasses to customer-character items, they break down:

• What makes a great haunt gift shop experience
• Frightful foods
• The must-have merch every haunt should offer
• Weird or surprising items they’ve seen (and bought!)
• What they personally collect after every haunt trip
• And what they wish more haunts would sell 👀

If you love haunted attractions and love to shop after you scream, this one's for you.

🎃 Haunt owners: grab a notepad - these are real tips from your real customers!

Transcript

0:00

Shadows crawl and nightmares call. Brace yourselves, one and all. It's The Scare Factor Podcast, Season Four. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Number One Haunt podcast with jokes so dry we're on fire. My name is Brian of Team Skelegore in central New York. Joining me again is Taylor of Team Brady Pack in Kentucky. Indiana I don't know, somewhere in the Midwest. Taylor, how are you? I'm doing good partner. How are you? I'm doing okay. Thank you for asking. Also joining us this week, longtime listener, first time caller Lindsey of Team Lone Wolf. Also, incidentally, somewhere in the Midwest. I think we're seeing a pattern here. I might be the only one that's not in the Midwest. Lindsey, how is it going? Hey, I'm doing all right. I'm ready to rock. How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you. So, so over the weekend, I am breaking the fourth wall here. We record these on Mondays. So over the weekend, I did a thing that I saw on Facebook. And let me tell you, folks, this is not something you really want to do. A lot of is seeing, baking and cooking videos on YouTube and Facebook and then going and trying them because they usually don't turn out the same. But this one did kind of turn out the same. It's a video where like somebody made homemade chocolate chip cookies and they so they took the little dough ball and then they had, cinnamon bun like unbaked cinnamon bun dough. And they wrapped that around the cookie, and then they baked them both at the same time. And they looked really good in the video that I saw. They don't they don't look as good. Real, mine don't look as good. But I got to tell you, these are so good. It turns out chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns bake at the same temperature and time. My mind is blown ed to the to the possibilities that I could do with this. And my daughter had a lot of fun helping make these. I just did this with, like, store bought, you know, pre-made cookie dough and the Pillsbury, OG cinnamon bun tube, whatever, which is a lot of fun to open. You know, it's like a giant glow stick or you crack that bitch and a half, but, Yeah, I got to tell you, this would be really good with, like, homemade, from both side. Taylor actually came up with the idea of sour dough cinnamon buns, and I'm intrigued. Taylor, tell me more. Oh, my gosh, have you never done, like, a sour dough starter? Or have you had something to do? I mean, I assume that. I've had sour dough French toast before at like Cracker Barrel, but that was a really long time ago and I remember it being really, really good. But I don't I don't really have the time to do, like, a sourdough starter and, like, make my own bread and all that shit. I just that's that's over my head. Yeah, it is a little time consuming, but when you get started into it, you can make up anything you want, like I've done. I try to make some like kind of cinnamon rolls, but they turned. I was doing more of like a fruit roll. So I had my sour dough and I rolled it out, did the same thing as I would have for cinnamon roll, but instead I made my own, like, fruit tree kind of thing. And I went inside it, it was so good. And that took some of the work and sour dough is just the best thing. That actually sounds really delicious. It is time consuming though, but good. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's kind of the big thing, right? For me is I just, I don't know if I have the time to dedicate to it. We're going to turn this into a podcast about the haunt industry and cooking, which, incidentally, is kind of what we're talking about today. We're talking about food in, in a way, today we are talking about merch and food. What do customers really want? And the reason that Lindsay is on this episode is because Lindsay, before joining The Scare Factor, went to like, what, 40 horns a year or something? What do you do? You know the exact number, Lindsay? It really varied. I would average, at least 20 or more seasons. That is absurd. Like, the only other people I know that do that regularly is Tyler and Nora. And I'm not fully convinced that they are, like, 100% human. Like, I'm pretty sure there's, like, some biomechanical parts inside of them that just keep them running 24 over seven to be able to do everything that they do. Yeah. It's so many. So that's, that's, primarily the reason I've brought Lindsay onto this episode is because she is going to have some really good perspective and insight as to the types of offerings that hordes have. And she's probably had some thoughts about, like, hey, how come more haunts don't have this or that? Or why does everybody have this one thing that really sucks? So we're going to jump into the merchandise side to begin. And I think it's important to establish the typical offerings. Right. You think of shirts and hoodies and hats and shot glasses for some reason, because, you know, nothing goes better with horns than getting hammered. You know, stickers, pens, magnets, that sort of thing. You know what? What are the things have you guys seen in terms of merchandise? That's pretty much the typical thing I've ever seen. Stickers, maybe some enamel pin badges, as I call them. Hoodies. But, there's one. It's, Oh, man, I just blanked on the name, but either way, they have, like, a whole store that's set up with all these other icons, like, out there. Do like Q actors, they have like, little action figures of them. It's kind of cool, but they're so prized and they have other things like vintage Halloween decorations, but it's only for that one particular haunt. Other haunts are pretty much the general t shirts, sticker and enamel badge. Anything like that. Yeah, you mentioned like the keychains. That's something I'm starting to see more of are the character specific keychains. And, during East Coast Hunters convention, I, I chatted with the guys at, Field of Screams, and they mentioned that you can go to that company and you could just pay to have, like, your own custom little caricature or voodoo doll type keychains made. And guys, I'm thinking we might want to get some of these for those of us on the podcast and sell them. Oh I'm down. How great would it be to have a little Brian keychain? I would get one. I'm just saying I would get one. I would get one to like I expect everybody to get one so they can stick like pins in it. Right? I mean, it's like a little voodoo doll. I love that idea. I'm, I'm. I get the whole bundle. Absolutely. Yeah. That's something that I, it's not every haunt that offers them. But I am starting to see them more and more. And I think it's, it's more like the bigger haunts that just have larger budgets are starting to offer them, and it's starting to filter down into, you know, I guess the mid size haunts. I think before long we'll be seeing that in pretty much every haunt. In terms of food, what what sort of things do you guys normally see for food? Something that's consistently that consistently goes over well. Sweets. People love the funnel cakes. They love the deep fried Oreos. Things along those lines. The mini donuts are always a hit. I mean, that's why you always see them at all. The big haunt, trade shows and conventions and stuff. I love deep fried Oreos so much. Oh, definitely. That's that's a favorite of mine to see at a haunt. If they're done right, like it doesn't have like old oil, it taste gross and that's true. And then for like savory options, there's a lot of I see chicken tenders, a lot hot dogs, nachos pretty easy to put together. I mean those are really accessible at to lower budget haunts who might not be able to offer a lot by way of concessions. But you can do hot dogs, nachos. Right. You can you can go you if you have a Costco membership, you can go pick up, you know, 80 gallons of nacho cheese and, you know, right. Big bags of the chips, and you can sell them for a few bucks apiece. Pizza as well. I see a lot of pizza by the slice. It's pizza's hit or miss for me, in my experience. But, yeah, nachos, hot dogs and chicken tenders really seem to be the the haunt staples. And I got to tell you, my diet just goes to the complete shit during haunt season. I heard. Felt honestly. Yeah, I, I, I do like, cause, you know, I like me, regular listeners know that I'm, I am AA1 man force, within the, within the scare factor. Lindsey is very much the same way, you know, Team Lone Wolf. Where do you think that's coming from? Right. So, I mean, like, you're probably like me in the way of, you know, you're going to go out to the haunt and it's like, well, I might as well eat while I'm here. I don't have a bunch of people going like, well, we got to get to this other place, and I want to go here, and I want to do this and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, I mean, you just end up eating at the haunts and oh my God, I gained 20 pounds every October. So we've kind of covered what, what the typical offerings are, who has the best merch and who has the best food. Is it the same haunt? Is it two different haunts? What do you guys think? I'm going to say roughly around the same haunt, which would have like more interactive spots on it, maybe more sections. The storyline is really good, and then when you get to the gift shop area and then they have some of the best merch you can get. I mean, I'm looking for specific haunt names here, like who then? That's like who has the best? Like what's the best you've ever had at a haunt in terms of merchant food? For me, probably talent falls. That was actually the one I was talking about before. Talent Falls is very interactive. It's such a really good haunt. And then when you get to the gift shop, it's so huge, but it's not too confusing to get. It has pretty much anything that anybody is looking for to remember them. And they actually have some of those, like voodoo doll keychains in the gift shop. Yeah. Lindsay, what about you? Where's where's the best merch and best food you've ever found at a haunt? Oh, goodness. Food is kind of a tough one because the whole I was going to say ended up losing their food vendor, which kind of sucks. But, Terror Town, now known as Cincinnati Beer Fest, has pretty good food options there. Really. You can't go wrong with most of like, the Scream Park style haunt they usually have quite a few options, so they're pretty. They're pretty good about the food. As far as merch goes, I can name so many like I've seen some killer gift shops, and last year I actually gave out an award for best merch or best gift shop. So locally, the American horror looks and Louisville, they've got a really, really good gift shop. It's got not only a variety, part specific merch and like, they've got their characters featured on so many things. That's awesome. But they've got a lot of traditional Halloween stuff for sale, too, so you could remember Nora saying she could easily spend like an hour in there. And I don't disagree with that. I also really like the Dent Schoolhouse, and Cincinnati has a lot of awesome merch. I just I gotta stop by that counter every time I'm there. And Hellgate haunted House in Illinois, that's another fantastic gift shop. I mean, there's more I could go on, but those those are a few of my favorites. I actually have a piece of Hell's Gate merch on my wall right now. It's a it's a metal wall sign. Yeah, I will I will 100% agree that Hell's Gate has a fantastic gift shop. And I think part of what is creating a great merch option, or a great gift shop and great, food options is I think that the comments link we're seeing here are places that have a bigger mid ways, right? Larger common areas. They're just they're able to sink more into that space. For me I think the best food is a really good question. Right. I'm trying to really wrack my brain of like where's the best food I've had at a haunt? It's all I know. It's all kind of the same to me. I don't, you know, it's. Yeah, it's hot food. Give me now best merch. On the other hand, it really depends I, I'm going to agree on Hell's Gate being a really great one. Just because I have merch from them sitting on my wall. But I also think that terror roulette, which ran for like one season in Chicago, they had it was a small gift shop, but they had some really cool stuff in there. I have a deck of cards that has like all their branding and stuff on it, and it's got like a printed blood splatter on them. Super cool. Eastern State Penitentiary had a has a really cool haunt gift shop as well. They have a bit of a larger space, similar to how Hell's Gate has theirs. And you know, you can find some really cool stuff in there that's all like haunt branded. They have the voodoo doll, keychains, that sort of thing. So, yeah, you know, I think that's would you guys agree that the common link here is kind of larger mid ways equals bigger and better gift shops at least? Yes. Because it's more of an all night experience for the customer. So they're going to be more inclined to stick around and maybe do some shopping. Absolutely. Yeah. And the better your option the better your offerings in that gift shop, the more people are willing to spend. Right? If you have the the same standard assortment of crap that everybody else as well, you know, at. Look, man, maybe I'll buy a t shirt depending on how much they are. But yeah, you know, do I really need another haunt t shirt? The answer is yes, but that's rhetorical. Okay. So, you know you guys touched on this a little bit non haunt specific merch you know. So like those places that offer vintage Halloween stuff or you know horror movies sorts of of collectibles. What do we think of this. Is that a good thing. What do you think more haunts should start offering those if they have the opportunity? Or do you think it's kind of like, do you think it's it's a cheap money grab? Like they got these cheap and now they're trying to sell them off to people who are likely to want them. It really depends on what it is like. But I've definitely seen some honestly kind of cheap random crap thrown in and gift shops. I'm just. And they're like, who's buying this? You know? But I do think it's important that they have some options for people who, you know, might might find it interesting. Maybe they don't want to come home for whatever reason with a souvenir from the home, but this is something else they might like. Okay. Fair enough. Taylor, what do you think should haunt? Should more haunts carry that? I mean, I'm going to actually say like, no, maybe not like the random stuff like random Halloween decorations or like movies, books any like, anything for doesn't actually have to be at every haunt. But, I do think it's interesting to see, but even when I've seen it, that doesn't make me want to just buy it there though, because when I'm there for the attraction, I either want to find something for the attraction or I don't get anything at all. I'm very much with you on that sentiment. My thoughts on this are it's cool to see, and I like to browse through it because you never know what you're going to come across. There might be something that just, you know, really stands out to me, and it's like I've never seen one before. But but for me, it's like when I buy something at a haunt I want to remember five years from now, like, oh, this is where I bought that thing, right? It's it's kind of the same idea of, if you've ever been to Orlando Studios, Universal Studios in, like, Orlando or Hollywood, and you go to their CityWalk, right? Like, there's a bunch of shops that just sell a bunch of whatever random crap out there, and they have a bunch of bars and whatever. You know, it's just it's kind of like a little it's exactly what it sounds like. It's CityWalk. Right? It's a it's a nice, like, nightlife sort of area right on their property. And, there are shops like Brookstone there, like, why would I here's the question. Why would I pay the elevated price to get some Brookstone junk just because I'm at CityWalk, when I could go home to Brookstone and buy the same thing for like $20 cheaper. And the same thing for me, I think applies when I go to a haunt. Right. Like, why would I buy a DVD of some horror movie here from you for $10 when I can go home and I can get it on eBay for $2? You know, it's it's not specific to your haunt. It doesn't it's not special to you. It's not even a rare item. It's just like, hey, you went to the dollar bin at Walmart and picked up horror movies, you know? So I think, I think unless it's something really special that has some connection to the haunt or maybe to the owner. Yeah, leave it out. It's. I don't think it needs to be an every haunt now, if it's if it's a specific vendor that's selling that stuff and they're just set up because they're, you know, they're friends with the haunt or whatever, that's a little bit different. But yeah. Yeah, lot of that stuff is going to be more unique to the vendor itself. I mean, hopefully at least for like movies and stuff, you can go home and stream that anywhere most days. Now. So unless the actual merch is new because the theme is now, most times haunts are going to have someone that's similar stuff. Yeah, I mean, I've seen some cool like, you know, figures and, you know, physical collectibles of stuff and it's like, wow, that's cool. But like, I don't know, collectibles are such a weird thing for me. I enjoy collectibles, I have a bunch of collectibles, but then when I stop to think about it, it's just like it's a thing that I spent money on. And I look at it and I and I see where my money went. And, you know, it's like it doesn't it doesn't provide anything other than like, that's kind of cool. But those are the best things. You know, model models, models are a little different, though. Models at least provide me an hour or two of entertainment while I put them together and curse at it. So looking at other things that maybe haunts aren't doing a lot of, or at least not a lot of haunts are doing this. When you go to amusement park, right? This where as we're approaching the summer here, when you go to an amusement park and you ride a roller coaster, they're taking your picture at some point on that ride or at least a good number of them are. And then later on, or when you come off of that ride, or maybe at the main gift shop and, you know, in the case of like Hershey Park, they are willing to sell you that photo. Is this something you think more haunts should do? Because I say, yes, there are some haunts that do this nightmare fear factory was like as like a really famous one that did this. Lindsay, I think you mentioned that there were, a couple of places you'd been to that, that that does this. Right. Where were they? The men were not thought of was Nightmare on Edgewood. They're in Indianapolis for contact haunt. So it gets pretty crazy that every night they put a photographer in one of the rooms and they just snap away as groups are coming through that room and get reaction photos. And then some of them are hilarious. So do you think more haunts should start doing this? I, I completely agree. Yes they should. It's right. Yeah. I think that sounds like a really interesting idea. Unfortunately, I haven't been through a haunt that does that, but that would be really cool and something I would actually want to get. Yeah, yeah. I mean it's it and it is a lot of fun. You know, at the end of the, at the end of that attraction, you come out to the gift shop and you can see your picture. It is a fun thing because, you know, you look at it in your point in your life. Hahaha. You know, look at us. We look so stupid in that, you know. Yeah, I think more haunts should I think more haunts should carry, or should do this anyway because you come out, you look at it, you laugh with your friends about how stupid you looked in the picture, and then maybe you buy it. Maybe you don't. But like, it is another layer of entertainment, right? I, you know, haunts that are listening to this show. You you can have this one for free. Okay. Just set a camera up somewhere, take pictures, sell the prints. Trust me, people will buy them. But you got to put it in a good spot. You can't just, like, get people wandering around through the dark. That's not as good. You got to get them during a big scare. You're welcome in advance, by the way. I'm not going to charge you for that one. So, so speaking of things that haunts don't really do a lot of something I've noticed is there are not that many haunts that do bespoke items. Right? Really unique things. And by that I don't mean the regular crap with their logo on it. I mean really unique, like maybe handmade thing. I have a, I have a keychain, a leather keychain that I bought in at Dark Matter Scream Works in Rochester, New York, and it's made by somebody that works there. And I think it's really cool. And I'm willing I was willing to spend 12 bucks on that thing. That's a lot for a keychain, by the way. I have from, Haunted Overload in New Hampshire. I have these two little wall hanger things that were handmade by the owner of the haunt. And I think this is such a cool thing. Right? I'm willing to spend basically however much money they're asking for these things because they are so unique. You cannot buy that anywhere else, right? You can't just go and get that logo and slap it on something. These are super unique to that specific haunt. So my question for you guys is what have you seen in terms of really unique bespoke items that just really stood out to you? Maybe you have them in your homes now. I don't have any of these because I am a cork. But when Cincinnati for your first was All Hallows Eve, Terror or Town, they kind of. So it wasn't just a haunt. They also were kind of, a prop company, too. And they sold these hyperrealistic severed hands, fingers, you know, just corpses, whatever you could think of. They made them in-house and customers could buy those. And I did see people walk out with them. Just super, super cool. I'm not sure if that's what you're thinking of, but that's the first thing I thought of. Yeah. I mean, if they're making them in-house, that's exactly what I have in mind. I love that shit. The more gory the better. They really did look very realistic, like silicone and everything, and they're priced accordingly. So like I said, I didn't I didn't get the opportunity to bring any home with me, but they were super, super cool. That's awesome. Sounds really. Cool. And if they're being made like by their in-house special effects and makeup departments, like, yeah, if those like, you can see the quality of their work in action in the haunt, I'd be like, oh, those guys made this stuff. Yeah, I'll bring that home because, you know, it's it's well made. Taylor, what about you? What have you seen that maybe you've bought or maybe you've wanted to buy. Something that I which I'm assuming it was at Town Falls. They had, like, figures that like action figures that really seemed similar to their characters, actors. And I thought that was on purpose. And maybe I was just thinking like, oh, that action figure looks like that scarecrow guy on stilts outside. But it also could have just been any kind of scarecrow action figure. I didn't get it, but I kind of thought it was really cool. Other than that, I haven't really been to any haunts that have made their own merchandise. Or at least not that I had noticed. Yeah, it's it's not something that I see a ton of, but every now and then I'll come across something and go like, hey, that's really cool. Can you tell me more about these keychains or whatever? And usually if they're made in house or they're made by somebody that works there, the person running the gift shop is more than happy to talk your ear off about like, oh, yeah, these are made by one of our actors, and they. This is what they do in their free time, and they own a business and all this, like, they'll tell you all about it. Yeah. Ask questions if you see something that's kind of cool and kind of weird. That's not like your standard. Like, you know, t shirt or whatever. Ask questions about it, you know, because you might you might come across something that's really cool and it's made by somebody there. And it's like, this is your opportunity to buy something again, really awesome and really, really, really unique. But along those lines, how much are you willing to spend on merch? You know, do you have a budget when you go to a haunt to say, like, this is how much I'm willing to spend on, you know, merch? If I see something I want? I mean, no, not really, but mentally I'm like, yes, you can always spend X amount of dollars. So if I'm going to the gift shop and I'm like, I see a really cool t shirt, I'm like, all right, it's so cool. But how much is it? Even though I know kind of deep down I can afford it, but I'm like, maybe if it's not more, if it's less than $20, cool, I'll get it. But if it's more, I might think about it, because sometimes that larger price really sets me aside from wanting to get it. Because again, it's it's really cool. And maybe it's just a t shirt or like a bandana, but how long am I going to have it? Yeah. Fair enough. You know, I think t shirts are going to last you a few years at least. You know, I mean, I, I feel okay paying $20 for a t shirt because I know I'm going to have it for at least five years. But, you know, here's the question. Would you pay $50 for a hoodie? Because that seems to be, you know, pretty average or pretty standard these days. Is that too much for a hoodie? I would say probably not. I mean, clothing items. Yeah. It can be price range to a really low point. And then there's a really high point. The $50 for a hoodie in the long run is really not that much. I mean, you can go to Walmart and you can still spend at least $25 on a hoodie, but it's just probably a plain hoodie or really low material. Yeah, yeah. That's fair. I mean, you go to a concert and hoodies are, you know, $100, you know, that's hopefully hands don't get to that level of price gouging. Although I'm sure there are some out there that will or already have Let's see. What do you think? You're pretty quiet on this one. What are what are your thoughts? So to touch on your question about budget, I don't really have one. I am selective about how much I spend on like apparel, especially because I've got so many hot shirts and hoodies and stuff. I might look at it and be like, well, do I really need this? You know, it used to be I would just every time I went to a new haunt, I had to have the shirt, especially if it was a hot that's out of state. I might not be able to get back there for a while, so gotta have the shirt. But now I'm a lot more selective about it. I really I prefer things that you don't see quite as often, and smaller items, you know, more subtle ways to express that you enjoy the haunt when people see you out and about, you know what the merch. I will say, the most I've spent on something was, again, I'm going to pick on Tarrytown. Sorry, Cincinnati, for your first, there's a vendor there. She's been there for years. And I think this kind of touches on the the topic about bespoke items to. But she paints and she's done a lot of paintings of the characters at the haunt. But she had one for sale last season. That was all the actors and a particular asylum scene on the haunted trail. I don't remember off the top of my head what season it was from, but I recognize a lot of people in it, and I saw that I was like, oh my God, I have to have it. It's one of our most prized possessions and it cost me $80. It is the original, though. That's not bad. Honestly, I'm an original. You know, and if you know a really well-made piece of art that you really love, I think 80 boxes, that's a steal. Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of the same, I, I used to be the same way as you. Lindsey is like, you go to a place that's kind of far away, and you're like, I got to get something. These days, not so much. You know, I, I will get something if it really catches my eye and I go, wow, that is that that thing is so cool. I've got to have that. You know, it's such a, for example, the, the wall hangers from Haunted Overload, right? I saw those I went two years in a row, actually, the first year I went, they were selling two of them. They were selling like a pumpkin. One and a skull. One. And so I had bought the pumpkin one just because that was kind of all I could really spend at the time. And they were, I don't know, 25 bucks or something for the pair. And they were willing to let you know you could buy. If you bought both of them together, you could get them for like $40. And it was just a little too much for me. So I bought the pumpkin one or no, I bought the skull one first because I thought that was the cooler of the two. So I went back the next year and I stopped at their little gift shop. At the very end of the attraction I was, I was chatting with the attendant in there and I, I said, oh, hey, you know, last year you guys were selling these little like, homemade, wall hanger things that the owner made. Do you have any of those left? She goes, actually, I do. I have, you know, a small handful, maybe 5 or 10 of them left because. Did you want one? I go, yeah. Which ones do you have? She goes, I think all we have are the pumpkins. And I'm like, that's the one I don't have. Yeah, I'll take that one. So, you know, I was very lucky in that, like I went back the second year and was able to get, you know, both of them, but, you know, that's the sort of thing that I kind of keep an eye out for. T shirts and hoodies, whatever. It's. Maybe I'll get one if it's if it looks really, really cool or like, in the case of, East Coast Hunters convention, we went to, Eastern State Penitentiary for the for the Saturday night party. And we get there and I did not have my hoodie on because my hoodie was soaked by the rain the previous day. And it was just it was not a good time. And, so we get there, I was like, I'll be fine without a hoodie. And we. And it turns out, no, I was not good without a hoodie. Because, you know, the wind picked up, it was much cooler and so we, we, we ate. And then as soon as we got done eating, I told Tyler and I was like, hey, I'm going to run down to the gift shop and just pick up a hoodie because I am freezing. And, so I got a hoodie down there and I'm glad I did, just because, like, it did help to keep me warm. Even though that hoodie is really thin, it's really lightweight. Maybe I should have bought a heavier duty one, but, you know, that was like $75 or something. It was. It was pricey for a hoodie. Right. I that's that's kind of the other scenario is like, I'll buy a hoodie if it turns out that, like, I need one and I don't have one, right. You get it out of necessity. But, like, I'm glad I have it because it is like a nice summer white hoodie that I can wear on a cool summer night, that sort of thing. You know, I can wear this during haunt season while it's still somewhat warm out. You know, it's it'll have its uses. Don't get me wrong. I'm going to get my $75 worth out of this thing, but $75 for this super lightweight hoodie, I think was a bit much. It was a little over what I wanted to spend. But what are you going to do? Right. Now, what about really super unique items like tapestries and area rugs? Have you ever seen this? I know Terror Fields in Clyde, New York. I've seen they they have an area rug. I don't know if it's for sale, but they have one. How much would you spend on something like a tapestry or an area rug? Or maybe a curtain set or a bath towel set? What if you saw something like that? Like what? What's a reasonable price to pay? I've never seen like a tapestry or, rug at a whole before, but I would say, depending on the size, anywhere from 75 to maybe $90, depending on size and quality. That's a pretty heavy duty item. Yeah. I mean a rug is going to be expensive just without the branding on it right. Oh yeah. Definitely. Tulsa I don't know, 50 plus dollars. I'm not sure. That's another thing I've never really seen at a haunt. What about custom toilet paper? It's not something I've ever seen, but I'm sure that somebody out there has got it. I've not seen any of these things out a lot, so it's kind of hard for me to gauge. Well, well, that's that's kind of the point, right? It's the absurdity of like, what if you saw something super weird with the horns, a logo on it? Like, how much would you pay for it? Like, would you buy it? Probably just to have it to be funny, like the toilet paper? The hell? Absolutely on that. But that would just be so funny. Yeah, I for me, the most I'd spend on like, novelty toilet paper is could be like ten bucks, right? Yeah. Ten, 15. Oh, no, 15 is way too much. No, $10 absolute maximum, including tax. I am not spending more than $10 flat on custom toilet paper. But yeah, I don't know what towel set. Like if they're well-made towels. Like, yeah, I might spend 40 or 50 bucks on like really good quality towels. And they have the logo of like a height. Oh, yeah. No, good quality towels are they can go for a lot more than that. They, go to like a bed Bath and Beyond and go find like they're, they're like premium brand towels and stuff. Trust me. You can spend on some towels. Oh, yeah. No, unfortunately our our bed up on the on closed. But they had some really good towel. I don't know go go somewhere that's that carries like premium brands for like linens and go find like some you know really you know luxurious towels really soft towels. Oh my god. Yeah. You could spend on them 100 bucks for a set is not unheard of. Those target client count. I don't think target counts. That I think I'm out of the best game. Okay. No shame in target. I own a lot of target towels, and they hold up pretty well. Hey, there we go. Oh, look, I mean, you know, if you need a budget towel, that's going to hold up for a while, like, it's it's not a bad option. Incidentally, I don't go to target anymore. We're not getting into that. That's way too political for the show. Yeah. Target's made some choice decisions lately. So back on topic here because we're not getting into that on this show. No you got to tour. You got to tune in to Brian after Dark for that conversation. So let's think about food at haunts. How much do you spend on food at a haunt in general? Like you go to a haunts? How much are you willing to spend? Is it like ten bucks you get a dog and a soda? Are you willing to spend a little more like 20 bucks? You get, you get, you know, protein, a drink, sweets, fries, whatever. Depending on what they've got available, I average probably about $15 for a decent meal. And that's not just like hot dog and drink or anything. That's like burger and fries and drink and not even be able to get some dessert. If I thought it, say, 15 to 20, as a rule of thumb. But I've also definitely been to haunts where you could just drop$10 and goals on the. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, pretty much same for $1,520. But I mean, I've also been the haunt that don't offer food. They might have like a can soda in there charging anywhere from 2 to $3 for that can. Yeah. That's a lot I mean that's but you know they know that you're going to pay for it right? You know you're dying of thirst. You'll get it. Oh absolutely. For me, I, I generally try not to spend too much more than around 15 to $20. Now if I have my daughter with me, obviously, like, we're just gonna end up spending a little bit more because it's like, you know, she'll want something, and then I'll get something because, like, while I'm standing in line, I might as well, you know, so it's like, I think when, when my daughter's with me, I end up spending somewhere in the neighborhood of, like, $25 ish, but. So if it's just me. Yeah, 15 bucks, maybe at most, you know, because it's like, I'll. I'll get a bottle of water. If I'm getting food, like, I'll get a can of soda. If they have fried Oreos, I'm getting them, I don't care. I needs the fried Oreos. Now, the haunt I used to work out for Nightmare Farms, the, they used to sell. And they probably still do sell what they call the fright mare platter. And it was really intended to feed two people. And I want to say that it was like 15 bucks just for this whole thing, not counting your drinks. And it was like it was like two hot dogs, a pile of nachos, fries and chicken tenders. And, I mean, it was a lot of food, you know, and it was like I said, it was 15 bucks, you know, and then you spend another, let's say, $4 between a couple of sodas, you know, I mean, you're easily up to $20 on this thing, but almost every actor would come out at the end of the night and be like, give me that fright mare platter. Love me. Me being one of them, right? Because like, I worked in the house and the house was usually one of we were usually the second one to get dismissed. So like there was, there was another, now they have a hayride, but I worked there before the hayride, so there was a, an indoor slash outdoor, like, hybrid sort of attraction. They called it the labyrinth. And then there was a fully indoor attraction that was the house. And then you had a fully outdoor trail. So the trail was always the last one to close down because the recommended, the recommended flow, I guess, was labyrinth House trail. And so I was, you know, I just always ended up being in the second group that got dismissed for the night. And so, you know, it's like they still had like enough stuff by the time I got out and was out of costume to, to go and and get one of these. I can't say the same for all of the trail actors, but, you know. Yeah, every night I'd go over there like, give me the Fright mare platter, and they'd give us a little discounts, you know, because it's like, they know we're working hard in there and whatever, but, oh, my God, it's so much food. Like thinking about it now, I have no idea how I ate a whole one of those every single like twice a week. But I did it. Yeah, I don't know. I don't spend a ton on food, so I just I went rambled, I don't really know where I went during all of that. I'm going to be honest with everybody here. I talk sometimes and it just it's like a motor. You start the motor, the words come out, I'm not fully here when it happens. If I say something that's like way off base, just go with it. Understand that I don't know what's happening either. So I understand. Would you spend more money on like, higher quality food or more diverse options? Is that something you would do, or would you just be like, yeah, who cares that food's food? Oh yeah. Definitely. So when you say Lindsay, you say you would spend unlike more on higher quality food or more, more diverse options, what sort of things would you like to see in terms of that? I'm really not picky. I just like to see what has options beyond the standard fare that we talked about earlier. Hot all the nachos and all that stuff. Not that I don't enjoy those things, but it is nice when I see a lot of variety. If I can call it a hot for that blood prison in Ohio has like their own food midway. It's fantastic. So many options. So I like seeing things like that. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, every now and then I see something that's a little out there and I'm like, that's not a bad idea. But, you know, the problem is I'm usually just like, I'm not hungry enough to go get anything. Yeah. So the Fright Nights, they, So the family that owns the Fright Nights, they also own these, like, fried dough stands that they set up at the fair. It's called pizza fruit. And it's really good. And it's super popular at the fair. They always have a line ten miles long. So they sell pizza for eats during their haunts, like on their outdoor midway area. And I got to tell you, like, it's it's as popular then as it is during the state fair. And that's something that I always enjoy seeing. And you know that you're never going to see that anywhere else. So it's like, well, I might as well get some, some fried dough while I'm here. I mean, you know, where else am I going to get this for the next, you know, nine months or whatever? I mean, more diverse options, though, for me, like, I don't really know, like, I'm not I'm not expecting a steak dinner or anything. Right? Although, I will say, I think the key to success here is for haunts that want a more diverse option. Partner with local food truck operators, you know, find some that are doing different things and then have them come out and set up shop at, you know, just outside your haunt because people are coming outside and they're like, oh, hey, you know, crooked descent this, this past year, in 2024, they had a food truck set up the night I was there that was selling like lumpia and other, you know, Asian sort of, dishes and like, Middle Eastern sort of dishes, that sort of thing. And it's like they had a bunch of, like, different foods and stuff that was like, oh my God, it was so good. Yeah, I like that. I do it kind of gives to the community too, right? Right. You know, and I think the first year that I saw Crooked Descent, they had a food truck there. I think it was the same one every weekend, but they sold like brisket. They did barbecue. And I'm like, yo, you got brisket? And the brisket was actually really good. You know, it's like, that's not the worst idea I've heard. You know, so haunts partnered with food truck operators. Come up with a deal where, you know, you say, hey, you can come set up and you know, pay me 5% of whatever you make for tonight, you know? So that way the haunt is getting there. The haunt has a reason to let these people set up on their site, and the food truck operators get a little extra business in a time that's not not necessary. Peak food truck time. Right. And, you know, maybe you get some new some new people who are like, oh, I see your food truck all the time downtown. And I never stop. Now, I know your food is awesome. I'm going to go in there next. I'm going to stop by next time I see you. Right. So now these food trucks are getting new customers. Everybody wins. You get, you get a higher, more selection of food. You get higher quality more often than not. Horns. Why are we not doing this more frequently? Right. That's another freebie. You can have that one. The next one I'm going to charge you for the hot cider. How do you take yours? Like apple cider? Yeah. Hot cider. You ever had hot cider? I don't think so. No, I've had, like, chai with apple juice, but that's not cider. I like mine with whipped cream. Maybe a sprinkle. Cinnamon. See, I girl after my own heart. I'm telling you, I, I got to have my hot cider with, you know, nice spritz, whipped cream on top, dash of cinnamon, maybe a little pumpkin spice in there. Because I am a basic white girl after all. Yes, Queen. Listen, listen. Every year, as soon as Starbucks offers them, I go get a pumpkin spice latte. I don't care what either one of you have to say about it. They are. Oh, damn. I'm a I'm the first one in the line waiting back. Yeah. I'll meet you at the front of the line. We can hold hands this year. I'll come up to New York just for this. Yeah, right. Yeah. I mean, I got to get that pumpkin spice every year, you know, just like in me, on me. Whatever. Just. I need it near me constantly. Through the month of October. Yeah. I mean, kind of a funny question, but, for folks listening that have never had hot cider and for our international audience, if they're out there, in the UK, cider is an alcoholic drink right in, in the United States, we call that hard cider because it is it is apple cider that is, you know, been fermented and, you know, now got alcohol in it. What we call apple cider is not quite apple juice, but it's it's a similar product. It is a juice like product that comes from apples. There's a whole thing about like how apple cider is different from apple juice. Just to know that when I say apple cider, I do mean the nonalcoholic variety. So hot cider is apple cider that has been heated and then put into a, receptacle, by which you will drink it. And then, again, you can have it just like that if you want to. But, I mean, that's boring. And who likes boring? Not me. So, you know, now, what you do is you take yourself some, some ready whip. You're spraying that on top. Get yourself a nice big dollop up there. Get yourself some cinnamon. Sprinkle it on there. Get yourself some pumpkin spice. Sprinkle it on there. Maybe get yourself some of that like chocolate powder stuff. That cocoa powder that, that Starbucks has. You can put in your drink, put a little, a little bit of that on there. It's actually pretty good. Enjoy it. Trust me. You can thank me later. It's delicious. Making it esthetically pretty. Yes. Absolutely. It look, the better it looks, the better it's going to taste. Okay. Now, I used to pick on Nora because she had never had hot cider. She always wanted to try it. And then she did try it, and I was like, oh, you know, how did you, you know, like, how did how did they heat it up and like, you know, how do they make it? And she's like, oh, they just had it like on a hot plate in a coffee pot. And I'm like, oh, I mean, that's one way to do it, I guess. You know, it's it's a step up from like, you know, just fucking microwaving a cup of cold cider. But all right, I guess that's one way to do it. I'm going to hurt your heart, Brian. But, I get the, like, half gallon jugs from Walmart of apple cider during the fall, and that normally just does it for me right there for apple cider. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with cold apple cider. Trust me, I, I love I love some apple cider, but I also live about 20 minutes just to the north of, one of the largest apple orchards in the country, in terms of volume of sales. So I live very close to Beacon Skiff. And if you're familiar with hard cider brands, they they are the people behind to 1911. And I gotta say, say they're hard cider, delicious. Upset that they don't carry their hopped hard cider anymore. I really enjoyed that. But, you know, they they're original awesome. Every, every single, variety of their hard cider I've had delicious. They make they make whiskey. They make vodka. They do all sorts of good shit. They're just straight, plain apple cider again. Awesome. Amazing. Delicious. In the summer, they do a concert series where they bring, like, you know, indie indie rock artists in. They had Lord Huron play. I've seen Death Cab for cutie. They're. I got to tell you, there's bacon. Skiff might be one of the greatest places on earth. All right. And if anybody listening knows about Beacon Skiff, we're in solidarity here, right? I'm here to tell you, Beacon Skiff is an amazing place. So. Yeah, I'm with you. Cold cider. But it's got to be from Beacon Skiff. Yeah, I I've not had that. I don't believe so. I will have to try to find that. After this podcast, I will get you a link and you can find where 1911 is sold near you. It's it's a little chat. So speaking of alcohol, some haunts offer this for sale. Is have you been to anywhere that does that? And do you think that it creates more problems than it's worth? I have been to a few hot that do offer alcohol and I really don't hear much of it being a problem. I mean, it can be, you know, it always can be, but they're pretty good about weeding out people who can't handle their alcohol. So obviously it's not been enough of an issue for them to, like, stop selling it. But yeah, I have been to some that I'll. Alcohol. Fair enough. Yeah. I went to field of scream stirring, East Coast Hunters convention, and I mean, they have like a bar on site there. They have like, their own beer that's made specifically for them, which it was very good beer. You know, I don't you know, I didn't think at the time to ask, like, you know, the people get rowdy or anything, but, you know, I think I think just considering the fact that they've sunk a lot of money into that bar and the beer and everything, it probably hasn't caused that many problems for them. Taylor, what do you think? See, I've only been to just like a small handful. I can't recall that I actually ever got any alcohol while I was there, but I didn't see any issues as it arose. But I'm sure that it could be a problem most times when alcohol is involved, especially if there's not really a limit, or if their friends are getting their friends their drinks like could be a problem. But so far I haven't really seen a problem. I'm pretty sure it's not that much of a, I guess, a problem. Yeah. Fair enough. You know, I, you know, I think that I think for the most part, the places that offer it kind of have a good handle on security. So and that being said, I think it's something I would like to see at more haunts where you do have a, a bar sort of area where you can have that and you can enjoy that. I think that, like, their security game really needs to be on point before they offer that. But, you know, just food for thought. It's something that that kind of crossed my mind as I was writing the outline for this episode. I'm like, hey, that counts as food, right? I mean, who among us hasn't had a liquid lunch a few times a month? So. So that brings us to our final question. I asked both of you yesterday before, as we were planning this episode, I asked both of you this question and asked you to come up with an answer for this. What is something that haunts rarely, if ever, offer that you would like to see more of? Go? I can think of a few answers for this one. Maybe I'll give two if that's okay. Sure. Speaking as a great big hot nerd, I definitely want to see more character specific merch. I'm not really picky to what it is. I'm just really big on characters. And if there's a character wrestle and I really like that character, the actor made a lasting impression. Of course, I want to take home something that reminded me of that, and I'm a big coffee drinker, and it kills me because, like I see so many normal drinking glasses, I see tumblers, I see shot glasses where the coffee mugs, I mean, I do see them, but it's hardly ever seen, you know, that. I see them in a gift shop. So coffee mugs are more more character merch. Interesting? Yeah, I do see coffee mugs from time to time, but, yeah, I not everybody carries them interesting tailor go. All right. So I'm a really big patch person. Have you ever seen the Lost Boys? Heard of it? Never seen it. Awesome. Well, that hurt my soul, but there's a character in it who has a jacket that's full of patches, and that has always been my favorite thing. So I have a jacket that I put patches on. So anytime I go anywhere, I try to find a patch so I can make my own patch jacket. So I really love patches, but I hardly ever see them at any attractions that I go to, so I really love to see that. Interesting. So you're making a battle jacket? Basically. Pretty much. Yeah. And I have one more ideal that I think would be really cool if, like these horns, we're doing it kind of like a comic book slash, like a trading card situation where like if they have a storyline, they turn it into a comic. I like that, I really like that. Yeah. I went to one convention where they were trying to do a starter up for serial killer trading cards, so I'm sure Ponch did something similar, like with their Q members, especially if they had like a really solid storyline that can be really interesting to have. And there's plenty of nerds out there who love either a really solid, awesome comic book cover or the trading cards would just be really cool to have as well. Yes, I, I agree with that. I would love to see that. However, the artwork needs to be commissioned by an actual artist because if I find out it's I slob, I'm going to riot. I don't know if they still have them in the gift shop. The Wicked World Square Grounds, which is in the Lexington, Kentucky area, did at one point sell trading cards of their characters, like with professional photos. Actually have a deck of those. That's cool. I like that. Yeah, yeah. That's awesome. I would love to see more of that. That's actually a really good answer to that question. I think my answer is I would love to see more really bespoke and unique items that are specific to that haunts that you just absolutely cannot find anywhere else, whatever it may be, you know, handmade stuff. I really love that. The other thing I would really like to see are like, haunted Overload and Field of Screams and probably a few others around the country have their own specific, like they have their own beer that's made for them. I would love to see more of that because I am a beer drinker. And if you have a great beer, I want to buy it. And I want to try it, and I want to see if the cans have the artwork on, it is cool. Hey, you know, like, why not? Right? You know, you've got, you got you'll get my money. Don't worry. Like I'll pay for it. Yeah, I bought it's already a collectible. Yeah. So any any additional thoughts before we close this thing out? Just have cool shit. Have cool shit. That's. That's what customers want is cool shit. And don't charge an arm and a leg for it. So that is just about all the time we have for today. You can find all of us here on The Scare Factor on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Check out our website. Thus Scare factor.com to read reviews, find haunts, and to check out the newest section, Spooky Spots, where you'll find fun and spooky places to go all year round. This podcast is available on YouTube, Spotify, Buzzsprout, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, Pod Chaser, Deezer, player Ofthem, and Podcast Index. If you're listening to it, you found it. The scare factor is now an affiliate of Franken. Fuel energy drinks for weirdos like you. Yes, you. You can get 15% off your order today by going to Franken fuel.com/scare factor or by clicking the affiliate link in the show's description. Franken fuel wake the dead, fuel the living. We have been Brian of team Seliger. Taylor of team Writing, Ram Lindsay of Team Lone Wolf. And this has been the Scare Factor podcast. Stay scary.