This is day 32 of our 61-day Hauntathon 2021 countdown to Halloween. Today we’re sharing a visit Scare Factor’s team Houdini made to Hundred Acres Manor in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and their discussion with Spencer.
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What Is Hundred Acres Manor?
“Hundred Acres Manor is Pittsburgh’s largest and most extreme haunted attraction spanning over 1 mile and ranked as one of the top in the world. You will come face to face with some of the most terrifying zombies, creatures, monsters and products of your worst nightmares.”
Hundred Acres Manor isa full attraction with a wagon ride from the parking lot, a beer lounge, and five different attractions inside the haunted house, and tickets start at only $27. Scare Factor’s team Houdini gave Hundred Acres Manor an 8.95/10 rating on their 2021 review
Ticket Information
Tickets are available online now for Hundred Acres Manor, and new this year, there is no service fee for purchasing them online! Hundred Acres Manor is open Wednesday through Sunday through to Halloween night 2021, with two special Black Out Nights in November as well.
Pricing:
General Admission $27.00
VIP $40.00
Super VIP $60.00
What Is New at Hundred Acres Manor?
SP: So this year we debuted 1 1/2 new attractions we’ll call it. So, we have folklore, which is our Winter Wonderland Gone Wrong. So, you journey through 7 Valley Springs Mountain Resort that has been overrun by a snow legend that is reclaiming its title as the Badass Beast of the Woods. We also have Voodoo the Spell, which is an expansion on an old attraction where we re-themed the back half of it to emulate what a new spell has been cast will feel like.
HT. You have a total of five attractions then?
SP. Yeah, there were six. We did our elevator show to start it off, but we had to cut that this year just because of COVID.
COVID Policies and Plans for Hundred Acres Manor
SP: We have all of our safety plans and procedures that we were planning to follow in 2020, but we re-implemented a lot of those. The main one, all of our staff is masked at all times.
HT: What about customers? Are you leaving that up to the customer mask, no mask?
SP: Yeah, because we’re an outdoor attraction, and we’re in Allegheny County Park, so we leave it up to them to make sure that if they feel more comfortable, they can.
Changes in Ticket Prices and Dates
SP: Our general admission ticket prices, VIP things like that we raised those prices a little bit, but we actually got rid of our ticketing fees for our customers. That wasn’t to offset that, it was just because we felt like they shouldn’t have to pay for extra fees on top of a ticket price.
HT: You’re doing pre-sell tickets to right? You’re one of the first to open, one of the first in our area at least, so how’s that been going with results?
SP: It’s been going good, people are excited. With us not opening last year we found that people are excited more now than anything to do stuff for Halloween. So we’ve had a really good turnout so far.
HT: Have you had to adjust or change the amount of days you’re open or is it been pretty consistent with your previous years?
SP: We’re keeping the same schedule that we’ve always had, we haven’t added or taken away any days. Our schedule kind of relies on the days of the week at the time of the year. So, if October hits earlier in the week, October 1st, we’ll open that Wednesday and Thursday, but in total, I think we’re open 36 nights this year.
Actor Retention at Hundred Acres Manor
HT: Have you noticed any shortages or that because of COVID? Or has it been harder to get people to work this year?
SP: We did get less of an inquiry with our applications and everything like that, but we found that our retention is a lot better now. I run about 60 actors. Usually, we have like over 400 applications every year and I will show you these numbers if you don’t believe me, I promise you I don’t bullshit this stuff, but this year we didn’t even hit 150. What we found is that the people that are coming out to work at the haunt this year, they want to work at the haunt; the retention is better now. So, we’re sitting about the same amount of actors that we had in 2019, but we haven’t had a huge drop off of actors within the first couple of weeks that are like, “oh, I don’t want to do that.” So, that’s been really nice.
Future Plans at the Haunt?
SP: I know that we are removing another attraction, I know which ones leaving I don’t know if I should say that. I’m not going to tell you what we’re putting in place, but we will have a brand new attraction, just like we do every year.
