Slated for I-Drive this Fall
Terror in Orlando to feature two themed walk-through areas, retail shop
ORLANDO -- Greg and Susan Davis dream about scary things.
That's why the Orlando couple are giving up their jobs to concentrate on turning a home-grown seasonal haunted house into a year-round, for-profit business.
Working with Leonard Pickel, publisher of Haunted Attraction magazine and regarded as the godfather of the haunted house industry, the couple plan to spend more than $250,000 to open Terror in Orlando this fall on International Drive.
The attraction, at 7316 International Drive, will include two different walk-through areas with separate admission tickets and themes, and a large retail store.
In addition to marketing the attraction through the traditional local tourist information guides and advertising, Greg Davis is also working on developing partnerships with the Halloween specialty stores that spring up during the season.
Guests won't be allowed to dress up, however. Davis says that's the norm in the industry to keep customers from getting confused with the real actors paid to scare their pants off.
However, there will be no age limits at this attraction. Davis says parents have to decide whether the shows are too intense for their youngsters.
Notes Davis, "There are some 5-year-olds who watch scary movies that I can't watch."
The couple's hobby started innocuously enough with only a few carved pumpkins and some lights, Greg Davis says. Starting in the yard of their east Orange County home, the show grew over seven years to, last year, include more sophisticated features, such as fog machines and an inflatable, enclosed walk-through cave in the front yard surrounded by hand-dug graves.
After a visit in 2004 to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) in Orlando, the couple discovered a well-organized industry and a list of vendors to supply them. It was after that visit that they decided to get serious, Greg Davis says.
So, Greg, a former construction supplies salesman, and Susan, who worked for a large local audiovisual company, quit their jobs and started looking for a location for the business. They consulted with Pickel, who brokered a deal with his own haunted house and convinced them that a year-round attraction was viable.
Florida Attractions Association President Donna Ross believes "boutique attractions" such as this one are an important part of every Florida vacation.
"There's something for everybody in Florida," she says. "Whether it's ghosts or snow at Christmas, the smaller, half-day attractions fit nicely into the visitor's schedule."
However, the Davises will face some competition in their quest for scariness, even though year-round haunted house attractions are unusual. There are only two currently open in Central Florida.
An IAAPA spokeswoman, Beth Robertson, says more than 10 million people visit free-standing haunted attractions or theme parks a year, generating an estimated $275 million, with most of the business around Halloween.
"Haunted theming is popular for all attractions because it allows facilities the opportunity to re-decorate, add new attractions or shows, and present new marketing campaigns," she says.
Another, more specialized industry group. the International Association of Haunted Attractions (IAHH), estimates there are between 3,000 and 5,000 haunted attractions open only in October.
Today's haunted house-goers expect more than just a few cheap tricks like peeled grapes substituting for human eyeballs, Pickel says. That's why thrillmeisters now use high-tech robotics and fake body parts to scare visitors. They also gather new ideas at the Hauntacon, the industry's annual convention.
The big seasonal Halloween event here is Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. The company doesn't publish attendance for the event, but, as Pickel says, the event "sucks the life out of every other competitive event" in the area.
That's why, to compete on that level, the Davises have a couple of ideas up their sleeves.
One involves an area called Mayhem Manor, an attraction that operated in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for several years before going on the road for month long seasonal appearances in several cities. It is owned by Pickel, who says a technical update is planned before opening here.
The second, with a working title of 3-D Fun House, has been developed by the Davises. It will feature Kilmore the Clown and -- for most of the year -- be a much less intense, more illusionary scare adventure, relying on polarized glasses and three-dimensional special effects.
"But, during October," says Davis, "we plan to turn up the volume on both of them."
Installation for the 7,500-square-foot attraction will begin later this month, targeting a Sept. 1 soft opening.