[RP TownTalk] Goat Man Hollow

Tue Oct 23 18:22:24 UTC 2007

Hello everyone,
Thanks for visiting GoatMan Hollow, and I'm glad you're all enjoying the event!  
Just in case there are some others of you who may be interested in attending GoatMan Hollow this weekend or on Halloween, there were a few things in the recent posts about our event that I'd like to clarify:
Our box office did NOT close at 9:30 on Saturday night.  We closed the box office sometime between 10:45 and 10:55 PM.  What Nancy may have seen was our actors' break, which I believe did happen around 9:30 on Saturday.  We temporarily halt the show for our actors, who are all volunteers - about 40% of those volunteers being children between 10-17 years of age - to use the restroom, grab a drink and get a quick bite to eat.  Break is usually about 10 minutes.
Yes, there is some waiting in line involved in coming to GoatMan Hollow - as there is at virtually every haunted house everywhere.  But, we try to make the experience of waiting in line as fun as possible!  We have a projector and show old spooky cartoons, 50s monster movie trailers, etc. on the big screen - we got the project up and running on the weekend of the 13th.  We have a magician, Jonathan Frost, who entertains guests with up-close magic tricks.  We also have a concessions stand selling hot cider, cocoa, coffee, popcorn and candy bars as well as T-shirts and some toys.  I just don't want folks interested in coming to our haunted house to be turned off by the fact that there were some guests who grew tired of waiting in line - we don't just leave everyone standing there with no entertainment at all, true it may get boring after a while but we do our best to use all our available resources to entertain our waiting customers.
And a word about our online sales structure:  Our online sales cease 2 hours prior to our opening time, so online sales on Fridays stop at 6 PM, and online sales stop at 5PM on Saturdays.  Tickets are still available for on-site purchase at our box office until approximately 11PM, barring an extreme weather incident (as happened Friday night), or a completely sold-out situation (this has not happened yet).
We decided to limit the number of "entry times" for online sales to ensure that all customers who purchased advance tickets would get in.  This is why the "entry times" cease at 9:30, rather than at 11.  The term "entry time" refers to the time that you actually enter GoatMan Hollow proper and was calculated to include wait times.  It was never meant to be intentionally misleading, and I apologize to those who felt misled.  Many amusement parks and haunted attractions are now offering "VIP Passes", which give customers the opportunity to pay extra to avoid waiting, so maybe that's something we should consider for the future.
Again, my sincere thanks to you all for supporting GoatMan Hollow!
Cheers,
Jenny Wright
-- "Nancy Augustine" <nya_md at verizon.net> wrote:

Since I brought it up, here's how it worked out.   I got there around 9:15. I understand they stopped selling tickets at 9:30 - but I don't know how late they let advance ticket-holders get in line.  I would guess there were 60 or so people behind us.  They take people through in groups of about 12, moving from room to room.   I think it was about 10:30 when we went in, and it was 11:00 when we finished.  I was fine with all of the waiting, but my 12-year-old nephew and another adult with me got grumpy.  Unfortunately, we were in line with some cynical / obnoxious early 20-somethings who entertained themselves by complaining and criticizing.  I get it, I was the same way when I was their age, still it was tiresome.  I have to wonder if the crowd isn't friendlier earlier in the evening.    Thanks to all who put it together. Very creative, and clearly the result of a lot of work.  
From: towntalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org [mailto:towntalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org] On Behalf Of kathy galleher
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 9:12 AM
To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Goat Man Hollow

Nancy
I bought advanced tickets the second night.  Actually the 8 pm entry time  was  a bit misleading.  We got there and into the courtyard during our time period but then had to wait in groups of 6 for our turn to go through. Since it is a long haunted house, and since they only run one or two groups at a time, the waiting time actually took an hour, and it wasn't that crowded.  If you are just one person, they might match you with a group that is "near the front".  My suggestion would be to go a fifteen minutes before it opens for the night.  Then you can be at the beginning of the line and it might shorten your wait. If you get there at 9pm, then all the folks from 8 or 8:30 who are still waiting will be in front of you.

Mind you- I have no complaints.  It was fun and scary and I was impressed at the hard work they put into it.  
Kathy

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Subject: TownTalk Digest, Vol 15, Issue 20

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Today's Topics:

  1. Goatman Hollow? (Nancy Augustine)
  2. Goatman Hollow (OurDollMom at aol.com)

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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:38:05 -0500 (CDT)
From: Nancy Augustine <nya_md at verizon.net>
Subject: [RP TownTalk] Goatman Hollow?
To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
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    <14513199.1230251192923485386.JavaMail.root at vms068.mailsrvcs.net>
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Folks -
I was planning to go to Goatman Hollow, tonight, but it looks like I missed the opportunity to buy advance tickets.  Does anybody know if it's realistic for me to walk up and buy tickets?

Also, the third entry period is 9:00 - 9:30, but it's listed as open until 11:00. I don't get it - how late can I go and get in?

Nancy

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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:09:15 EDT
From: OurDollMom at aol.com
Subject: [RP TownTalk] Goatman Hollow
To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
Message-ID: <c9e.17c6232f.344bf2ab at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I went thru the first night it opened.
It takes about 30 minutes to walk
thru - It was kind of neat.  There are
little rooms with scary things and 
you wander in darkened halls between
the little scenes.,

Em

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