Fright Zone?

I was at the park over the weekend and spent quite a bit of time on friday and saturday night in the fright zones. I had a little bit of time alone in the park after the kids went to bed.

I noticed that as I was walking through all of the areas that I didn't once have any screamster attempt to scare me. Is it normal for them to only target the girls and kids? I've worked as a "screamster"
at haunted attractions now for about 5 years straight and that type of work wouldn't be tolerated.

If we only tried to scare 50% of the customers no one would come back the next year or tell any of their friends to come.

I don't scare easily so I didn't expect to get scared really... but not even one attempt! Is there something about 1 person walking slowly through the area that says don't scare that guy?

There are a few screamsters on here so please help me out to understand why this would happen.

The atmosphere on friday was a little hard to work in, I can understand that it was a bit windy and the fog was blowing around pretty bad. But saturday was a different story the fog was extremely thick.

The place looks great though kudos to the props dept. on the setup. and the costumes were very good.

The screamsters are good at their jobs I'm not saying that they are bad. I spent a little time sitting off to the side and people watched and it was great. I'm just a little put off at the lack of trying on the guys in the groups.

There's no reason the veterans shouldn't be trying to scare everybody, although in my experience, you can almost always tell what will work with who and who you can scare. For most guys, the only kind of scare that typically works is to wait until they are distracted by something else, then be inches in front of their face when they turn back around. If nobody ever sees that they have that opportunity with you, it's unlikely they will go for you.

I personally strive to scare guys. Girls and kids are too easy. One of my best scares last year was a guy with a full beer who screamed and launched his beer through the air, only to have the full cup hit his teenage daughter in the face. That being said, the newbies (and we have a lot of them this year) are still trying to find a groove. I plan on personally coaching a few of them this coming weekend. Most girls/smaller built screamsters are actually cautioned against scaring guys due to the sometimes violent reactions they can have. It's sort of unfortunate, but safety to the guests and ourselves is a priority.

Yeah I mean it is hard for us to make sure every person that walks through gets scared or pay attention to. And if you walk through and you look like a person who is getting a kick out of everyone else being scared we probally won't target you because you are watching us and know when we will come so it would kind of be a watsed scare. Yeah I tend to aim for the guys in the group because seeing them jump is better then the girls running away because the guys try to be tough. I'm sure if you come again we will go for you.

In addition to what is posted above, If there are 1 or 2 people walking with a large group 30ft behind them, I am going to wait until the large group comes by.

I did recieve a handful of threats from guys that didnt want to be scared, why they go into a fright zone? I have no clue.

^ that sounds like a lack of team work... You should have it so the large group of people watches the smaller group get scared or attemped to be scared, and while laughing at the other group make use of the distraction to get inside of the group and scare the pants off the "I'm a bad a$$" talker in the group.

Again, this was the first weekend. That sort of collaboration among screamsters will develop as time goes on and they get used to their characters, their surroundings, and each other.

I'm going this weekend and I cannot wait. I would love it if one of you could just scare the bajebus out of me and the group. But like JTaylor said, I don't scare easy. So good luck. and I'll high five who ever does it.

Give them a break it was there first weekend working as a screamster for many of them. Yes, there some areas some need work on but they will get them worked out. Anyone getting started on the first day of the job aren't going to be perfect.

WHat would you rather do...scare a small group of say 3 or 4....or take down a larger group of 7-10 people. Personally, seeing a larger group disperse is way better then 3 people. And yeah give us time, the newbies are getting use to it and all of us veterens are doing are best to scare as many people as possible while the newbies get use to what they have to do.

Like I said in my first post, the people are doing a great job. I was just a little put off that I got no attempts at being scared.

When I was watching the areas all the screamsters where trying to get people and most were sucessfull.

some people you just can't scare, either they're watching the back to much and not letting go and allowing themselves to have a good time, or someone in the group is pointing out everything.(those are the worst)

JTaylor said: I noticed that as I was walking through all of the areas that I didn't once have any screamster attempt to scare me.

It’s a Saturday so the guests outnumber the Screamsters by a large number. It IS possible to walk through a zone and NOT have a Screamster approach you. It can and will happen. Just because an attempt to scare you was not made, doesn’t mean that every Screamster out there was not kicking ass. You are not the only one in there.

You also talk as if you were standing along the midway watching the Screamsters do their job scaring people. If so, then this is a good reason why no one tried to scare you. Most of the time if a guest is enjoying watching everyone else, then the Screamsters will try and scare more people moving along the midway as if showing off for that person. So if you are just watching, don’t expect every Screamster walking by to jump at you.

... What 99er said.

This was my first weekend as a screamster and I tried my best to mix it up and scare an equal amount of guys and girls. There were some scenarios where I would let a group go... for example I have my eye on a couple that has their attention focused on someone else, while another group is walking in front of them watching me the whole time.... Im not going to make an attempt to scare the people that already have me in view. You really have to look at each situation to figure out how you are going to get the best results.

Here's videos taken near a few FZ Screamster character areas. You can see which ones they (or you perhaps) go for in that period of time.

Fright Zone Snake Screamster Area HalloWeekends '07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdiXTfDD5zo

Fright Zone Tunnel Screamster Area HalloWeekends '07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juUdHWCvlKA