[Haunt Tour 2013] What it's all about and why we do it

Image by Oomizuao (Seriously awesome artist)

With September nearly half over you're going to hear a ton of talk about "Haunt Tour 2013" from me and probably +Carrie H.C., amongst others that we know. In fact, we're off to our first event of the year in just a couple of hours.

 So, just what is this all about?

Well, after years of working in the haunted attraction industry, Carrie and I decided that our bodies needed a little break. During our first hiatus, we decided to hit up as many haunts as we could to see what others were doing.

Who knew that years later, and yet another acting stint happening, that we'd still be doing this? Not us...

Last year we only managed to hit up a few events and it was decided that we'd make a much larger effort to get around to a lot more for this year. To start really digging in to see what they're up to and see if some of our old favorites are still what they once were along with discovering new haunts along the way.

Now, many people ask if we get paid at all for our reviews. Simple fact is, we don't. In truth, usually we lose money on the deal due to travel costs, lack of sleep and god knows what else. 4,000 miles and 30+ haunts will take a lot out of ya. Even with that, neither of us would trade it for the world.

Sure, we may get media invites, free tickets or other special perks at many of the haunts that we go to throughout the season, but that never sways our opinion. We can't be bought and we won't be any time soon. Don't like that? Afraid that your haunt may not live up to the standards we look for and are just looking for an easy glowing review? Find someone else. That's not us and it never will be, we tell it like it is as we experience it.

Another unique thing is that we both write our own reviews as each of us as our own perspective. You can find mine right here and Carrie's on her blog, InSanity lurks Inside. Guess you could say we're a 2for1 deal when it comes to haunt reviews! 

We love the Haunted Attraction industry, it's a part of us. Especially when you consider about half our lives have been spent in and around it. Both of us have a combined 35+ years in the business, which is extremely scary to think about but it puts us in a very unique position. We know the pain, the long hours, the small pay (or even no pay) and all of the other sacrifices that go into putting a Haunt on. Strangers to the business we are not. We've seen, heard and done a lot over the years but that just gives even more of a unique perspective into each and every Haunt we visit.

When we get to a haunt we take everything in, nothing gets past us as we try to experience each attraction as it was designed for everyone to go through. Sometimes we do get special access to things or certain areas, but that's pretty rare and when that does happen, it's usually marked as "not part of the usual experience" and only helps to show off the haunt we're visiting a bit more. 

A lot of the time it's just Carrie and myself at the haunts doing the reviewing, but sometimes we end up with other staff members and sometimes even friends as well. Why? We've been around a long time and getting a fresh perspective isn't always a bad thing from time to time.

Overall we try to attend every event as it was intended to be seen. Everything from multi-million dollar productions to mom and pop hayrides, it doesn't matter to us. Each and every haunt is a unique and strange beast which we take into account for. You can't compare a local hayride to Universal Studios, it's just not fair to the haunt, the readers or ourselves. Weirdly enough, some of the best events that we've been to had little to no budget, some of the worst spent hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Just like anyone else, we usually have no clue what to expect and we like it that way.

So, there ya have it. A little look into the whole idea behind this mess that happens every year around here. We've got a lot of amazing haunts lined up for this year and we're working on adding even more to our insane list too!

If you want to help out we do accept donations to help the cause of getting us places, damn gas prices and that whole food thing. That's entirely up to you though...we'll still do our best to get to everything and then some but any help is always immensely appreciated and never forgotten.

You can follow along with the madness as it happens with both Carrie and myself on Google+ and Twitter and of course right here after we've attended the events. Just follow @ISIParksBlog or @KitsuneHazard on Twitter or +Carrie H.C. or +Kitsune Hazard on Google+. Also keep an eye out for the hashtag #HT2013 on both as we'll be using it while at every event this year!