Connecticut Trolley Museum presents Rails to the Darkside for the Fall 2009 season!



Hope you can join us for a screamingly good time!

http://www.ct-trolley.org

Hows everyone doing getting ready for the fall season? We are getting busy setting up for both of our Halloween related events now. How does everyone feel there fall event attendance is going to be? Our you expecting it to increase, decrease or stay the same with the economy the way it is?

Is this a family event? Do you expect parents bringing little kids or a scare the hell out of you event more for older folks?

Tom,

The event is billed as a PG13 event. Technically not for the kiddies, but last year it did not stop the parents from bringing 7+ crowd along with them. We were running flat out last year during the event. 500-700 fares a night.

Ted.

I think it'll depend a lot on if we catch a lucky break on publicity...

My own view is that "it's the economy, therefore our numbers must be down" is nought but a self-fulfilling prophecy, for us. When the economy gets bad, people give up the outlandish multi thousand dollar getaways like Esalen, the Hamptons or Vegas. However they still want to have family fun, just for $40 and half a tank of gas. Things like county fairs are a problem because $40 only gets you parked and in the gate, and now everything fun costs more money. That's the sell of a railway museum, $40 admission is it. No more surprises... well... unless you see the menu prices at "Nick's Eats"... ;)

Hi Tom:

We actually run 2 Halloween events during the month of October. We have a pumpkin patch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the younger children and their families. Our Rails to the Darkside is geared towards the older crowd. We have found that both events play very well off each other. We found that Rails to the Darkside gets a lot of attention. When people call asking if it is suitable for younger children our office staff recommends that they bring them to Pumpkin Patch as it is more suitable for them.

I think it'll depend a lot on if we catch a lucky break on publicity...

My own view is that "it's the economy, therefore our numbers must be down" is nought but a self-fulfilling prophecy, for us. When the economy gets bad, people give up the outlandish multi thousand dollar getaways like Esalen, the Hamptons or Vegas. However they still want to have family fun, just for $40 and half a tank of gas. Things like county fairs are a problem because $40 only gets you parked and in the gate, and now everything fun costs more money. That's the sell of a railway museum, $40 admission is it. No more surprises... well... unless you see the menu prices at "Nick's Eats"... ;)

I can't agree more Tom. Contrary to public opinion we have seen a double digit increase in ridership this year so far. Our own museum was having some internal disagreement over this very issue. Their were those in the leadership who felt that things were going to get tough and we will have to sell off items to get by till the economy improved. Research through our records indicated just the opposite. We removed some of our leadership and replaced them with people who could take advantage of the economy to improve our situation. Bold steps are being taken and the above poster is just one of them to garner more attention to our museum as a destination worth checking out on a tight budget.