This is day 16 of our 61-day Hauntathon. Today Team Zombillies reviews Malice Manor
Tyler and Nora with Team Zombillies and ScareFactor.com explore Malice Manor and talk to the owners Amanda and Sean Durkin
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What Is Malice Manor?
Nora: We are covering Malice Manor Haunted Attraction, located in Clarksville Indiana, and talking with the owners Amanda and Sean Durkin. They are a single attraction located all indoors, they’ve got an indoor queue area and everything. This is their third year in operation, and they are continuing with their theme about Lord Rancor, who according to the owners has definitely lost his mind. So, as you go through this haunt you start off in the Rancor Manor, if you will, and as you go through the house kind of changes back and forth between time periods, sort of. Each of those scenes are kind of representative of Lord Rancor’s Madness in his and his wife’s desperate search to find their beloved daughter, Alice.
Tyler And Nora Explain What To Expect In Malice Manor
Tyler: It’s very much an actor-driven show. They do have a nice mixture of some animatronics and some good scene detail, all that good stuff. It’s a very original haunt. A lot of your classic scenes though, like you’re still going to have your kitchen and like a butcher shop, that kind of thing. But then, there are also some very unique scenes like they’ve got a pirate ship with a great big zombie shark, we absolutely love that thing. They’ve got an interesting twist on like an arcade ring, and they’ve got an old mechanic shop. One of the most memorable parts is the vibrating floors.
Tyler and Nora Explain What to Expect in Malice Manor
Tyler: It’s very much an actor-driven show. They do have a nice mixture of some animatronics and some good scene detail, all that good stuff. It’s a very original haunt. A lot of your classic scenes though, like you’re still going to have your kitchen and like a butcher shop, that kind of thing. But then, there are also some very unique scenes like they’ve got a pirate ship with a great big zombie shark, we absolutely love that thing. They’ve got an interesting twist on like an arcade ring, and they’ve got an old mechanic shop. One of the most memorable parts is the vibrating floors.
What Is New This Year?
Tyler: New for this year we got a B&B sandwich, that is Butch and Bubba. They are happy to make a sandwich for you when you go through. If you’ve been through already this year, then you definitely know what we’re talking about. That being said, they’re also a light touch attraction; except for the sandwich, that wasn’t really light.
Nora: You’ll get more of the subtle just caress your hair or just like touching your ankles, but it really adds the way that they use the sense of touch.
Tyler: We really enjoyed the new queue area for this year. Last year it was all kind of wide-open inside the waiting area, but this year they’ve added all kinds of archways, facades, and like wrought iron fencing and vines and different things outside. It really brings home the idea that you’re walking up to a Manor, for sure.
Tickets, Passes, Weekends, And Walkthrough Time
Tyler: Tickets this year are $25 for general admission and $40 for Fastpass. They do also offer a front-of-the-line pass for those that just want to get in and out as quickly as possible.
Amanda: “We have actually kept the same ticket prices and options we have had since we opened. We have general admission, VIP, and then we have a front of the line pass, so if you want to, you can skip the line completely you just go straight to the next room and the door.”
“We have been really prepared this year and open for another 9 weekends like we did last year. Presales were kind of hard to judge because it’s only our 3rd year, but tickets go on sale 2-3 weeks before we open. I think right now it’s probably at about average of how many people are getting out this early in the season. So, I think the trend of picking up and more people coming out is going to be really good.”
Tyler: I’d say our walk-through time was probably about 20 minutes or so.
Nora: They added a lot of interaction this year with each character, so they were able to expand the time of their show for sure.
Tyler: So, that brings it over a little bit over a minute per dollar on the MPD scale, so very good. We try to say that one minute per dollar is about average.
Actor Retention, Getting New Actors, And Health Policies For Malice Manor
Amanda: I think every haunt struggles with [getting and keeping actors]. It always seems like We always say it takes a special breed of person to do this. A lot of people think it will be a whole lot of fun, then they realize what it actually takes. So, it’s just finding the right people. Pretty much we have stuck with what we used to, incentives might be an option we look at in the future, just kind of got to see what happens.
Tyler: are you doing any requirements for staff to disclose if they’ve been vaccinated?
Sean: Absolutely not. We’re all about just the freedom of what you do with you is what you do with you.
Amanda: We have not had any requirements by our health department. If our health department had said otherwise, then we’d have to follow their guidelines.
Tyler: Are there any policies you’re bringing from last year into this year? I saw some hand sanitizer in there.
Amanda: We left the hand sanitizer out, figured that’d be a good thing to leave out.
Sean: It is cold and flu season; any little bit helps.
Tyler: Keeping the haunt funk at bay, totally appreciate it.
Read Nora and Tyler’s Full Review
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Make sure to visit our website for the full review of Malice Manor.
