Jan. 29, 2026

Allen Hopps on Valentine Haunts, Interactivity, and Trends

Dark Hour Haunted House (Plano, TX) will bring back https://www.darkhourhauntedhouse.com/ for Valentine’s weekend, reintroducing the event with a new interactive mechanic that turns a traditional blackout haunt into a choice-driven experience. The...

Show Notes
Transcript

Dark Hour Haunted House (Plano, TX) will bring back Love Is Blind for Valentine’s weekend, reintroducing the event with a new interactive mechanic that turns a traditional blackout haunt into a choice-driven experience. The limited-run event will take place Friday, February 13, and Saturday, February 14, at Dark Hour Haunted House in Plano, Texas. Unlike earlier iterations of Love Is Blind, this version incorporates gameplay elements from Dark Hour’s Dead by Dark Hour format, asking guests to actively manage how they move through the attraction rather than simply endure the darkness.

In this interview, I sit down with Alan Hobbs, owner of Dark Hour Haunted House, to discuss the event, why he's merging interactivity into it, and what haunters should be thinking about in 2026.

Read the article here.

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Dark Hour Haunted House is bringing back Love is Blind

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for Valentine's Weekend, but this time with a new interactive

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mechanic that turns traditional black light haunt into a choice

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driven experience.

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Welcome to the show.

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I'm Philip on the Hunt Attraction Network show. We bring

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you the news and stories you need to prepare for Halloween.

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This podcast is just one part of what we do.

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You can find videos, articles, and our free weekly newsletter

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linked in the show notes. Dark Hour Haunted House in Plano,

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Texas will run Love is Blind on Friday, February thirteenth

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and Saturday, February fourteenth. Dark Hour previously offered Love is

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Blind as a traditional blackout haunt, but the reception was mixed,

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so building on their previous successes with the Dead By

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Dark Hour series, the team set out to resurrect Love Blind,

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drawing what they have learned from those.

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More interactive events.

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The core mechanic for this year's Love is Blind centers

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around a glowstick that both helps and hurts. Guests need

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the light to see where they're going, but monsters are

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drawn to it, so if the light is visible, actors

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respond If guests hide the light by covering the glow stick.

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The monsters have passed them by, but then they can't see.

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Today I'm joined by Alan Hopps, and we're learning all

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about Love is Blind and why he wants guests to

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interact with the world as part of the design, not

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just react to the scares. Here's Alan, Alan Hopps, the man,

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the myth, the legend that.

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Is that's excessive. I've just been around a while as all.

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We're speaking because you have a Valentine's event coming up,

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tell me about what you are planning.

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Okay, many years ago we had our Valentine's Day event,

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Love is Blind, and that event was way before we

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did Gamify Dead by Dark Hour. It was just a

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lights out, haunted house with a glow stick, and it

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was mildly successful, but we actually got more complaints because

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we're known for our set work and set design and costumes,

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and for any show that's known for that, a blackout

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show is anti climactic or unreboarding. A lot of enough

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customers made note. We change it into a zombie show

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that we called Fever, which was good. We did that

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for a while until we stopped doing that. In the Pandemic,

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we just stopped opening as much after the pandemic. So

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in wanting to do a Valentine because this is a

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the Golden Valentine's here Friday thirteenth, Saturday fourteenth, every haunt

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should be open. So because of that, I wanted to

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do something a little special, and I thought that bringing

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back Love is Blind would be a good way to

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do that, and combining it with some of our Dead

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by Dark Hour mechanics that we've done in the past,

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and we tested a mechanic that worked really well in

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our December show sleigh Belts. So that mechanic is that

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they get the glow stick and as they're going through,

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the monsters are of course drawn to the glow stick.

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If they make an effort to hide the glow stick

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and not let the light come out, the monsters will

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pass them by because they didn't see them. So that

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means if there's a monster in hiding, they're going to

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start making noise as they come to you, and then

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they can kind of you can hide that light, but

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then they might see someone else and go after them.

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And I think the whole concept of this is that

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hopefully people are coming in couples. I know we'll have

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a large amount of couples, and I think we'll get

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some of those situations where in order to distract the

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monster from your so you know, you will let your

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light shine a little bit and then the monster gets

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drawn off of them to you. That's the dynamic that

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I really want the actors to play with. We've had

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some really cool stuff where in the past we did

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the Banshees for our Saint Patrick's show. We had a

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mechanic there where if you weren't moving, they wouldn't see you.

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They can only see you if you're moving, and that

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really added some intensity and some you know, just a

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fun dynamic in the show. And I think this whole

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hide the light, which you really need to guide yourself,

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you know, but if you then if you release that

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light and you know you can see well enough to move,

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then the monsters are really going after you. Every blackout

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show is kind of oh, the glowstick just draws the

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monster to you. Yes, let's use that and let's you know,

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then give them a way to hide that light, cover

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it up and they're in the dark for a bit,

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but then the monster can't get them.

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I really like the idea of adding an element that

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allows you to play on the concept of a date

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night specifically too, where it's this is meant to be

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not just an interplay between the actors, but it's meant

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to also be an interplay between the people going together

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in groups.

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Yeah, yeah, again, this is a dead by Dark Hour

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show in that the we've made creatures called the Red Ones,

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and they have led the eyes so you can see

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them coming around corners because their eyes are like headlights,

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so you can tell when they're in the area, when

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they're coming, and if they're about to sticker. You know,

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someone in the back of the group, but the light

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shows up in the front, you know they It's a chance,

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a chance, it's a chance to play. And what I

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love about the Dead by Dark Hour format in general

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is that it gets people who are really used to

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haunted houses and maybe they're a little jaded, it gets

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them back into it. I think that there's a need

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to have the audience interact with the world in more

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than just a I get scared or I don't wait,

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that's right.

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Yeah.

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If you sit there and you watch a chainsaw exit

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at a haunted attraction, get you watch some people are

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scared and they run. But what is really revealing is

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the ones that just don't yehause there's no negative consequence

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to not running from the chainsaw help me. Yeah, yeah,

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like I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk out of here at

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a reasonable pace because I respect what you're trying to do.

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I'm not gonna make you feel bad, but I'm I'm

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I'm too fat to run. Also, let's you don't do that.

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In the past, most of the off season events have

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just been blackout. I mean that's like the industry standard.

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It's just turn the lights off and oh it's a

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new haunt.

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Now, Yeah, there's less input and you know, what are

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you changing as far as input goes? Yeah, and in

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this case, it's a it's kind of a game mechanic.

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I think that's something that haunts are going to play

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with these different techniques. And the Dead by Dark Hour

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show is its concept is that the killers can kill you,

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and they kill you by putting a sticker on you,

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and each killer has their own, so you end up

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with people who don't want to get killed and they dodge,

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and then you get people who they want to be

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killed by everybody because they want all the stickers and

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even sell a poster in the gift shop that they

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can stick their stickers to as a memento. Yep, yep.

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It's finding new ways to do this mechanic, like with

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the lights, like with the monsters not seeing you if

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you're not moving. Has been a lot of fun. It's

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a lot of fun for the actors. It's a lot

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of fun for the audience. And you know, I've learned

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that they can only remember two rules at a time,

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two at a time. They can remember two at a

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time and make whatever those things are look very different.

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That's about it. And you have to do a video

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to introduce them to it. In the front. We play

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that in our lobby, and we played in the first

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room just in case it didn't catch. One of the

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lobby plays through. And it's a pretty good way of

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conveying the information. My audience is now rather informed on it.

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If we do these enough, I have that I have

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a core group of about four or five hundred who

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are going to come to every show, every off season show,

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and now they know exactly what to do.

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Yeah, I was that's gonna be. My next question actually

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is like how are you operationally handling it? And it

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sounds like if you have a good amount of repeat people.

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They know that there's something they can do to interact,

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and then they're just waiting for you to explain what

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this version of the rule of mechanic is.

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For our holiday show, I was out by the queue

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and I'm talking with somebody and there was like five

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or six young ladies and all at the same time.

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They were like two groups from going in. They all

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pulled the hair tie off their wrists and they put

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their hair back in a ponytail, and I'm like, are

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you ready for adventure? They're like, now the stickers won't

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get caught in their hair. So they knew, you know

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what I mean. So they had been here before and

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they knew the mechanic and they were kind of prepared,

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which is you can't ask for more than that. As

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far as that's an interactive audience who has made decisions

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ahead of time based off of the dynamics of your event. Ye,

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that means you're in their head and you're affecting their

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everyday life. That's awesome. It was just really cool to

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see of how invested the people were, and you know,

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the more of that I think that you can do,

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the better.

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It's just fascinating to hear the evolution of this too.

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I think there's a lot of listening involved, like you're

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watching as well, but you're also paying attention to cues

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from the audience to really understand what they're resonating with,

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and I.

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Want to understand what involves them. I think one of

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the hardest things we have to do is kind of

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make people give a damn about what we're doing and

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make them care about why we're doing this. And it's

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not my story. It's not you know that you should

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just support haunted houses all the time. It's that I'm

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going to find a way to wake up your soul

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and yes, make you feel hunted a little bit, make

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you feel a little more awake and alive. And that's

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so huge to what we do in actor training all

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the time. I say, an antelope never feels more alive

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when it just escaped a lion. That's when it feels like, yes,

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life is good, I'm alive. And you want them to

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have that feeling in your haunted attraction. They escaped, they

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got away, they did it. And what mechanic can I

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add to play with that. In the Dead by Daylight

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video game, they have where a character can get taken

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out of your group and they get hooked. They get

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hung on a hook somewhere and you have to go

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find them. And that's a mechanic that we're working on.

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It's actually a lanyard, so you can stand them on

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a one foot box and then you put a lanyard

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on their neck and it looks like the hook is

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coming out of their chest because you put that lanyard

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on them, and if their friends want to get them down,

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they have to take the lanyard off and hang it

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on the hook beside it so that the killer can

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go get the next person. But then you have to

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move them forward into your show so that the group

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comes to get them. And so that's a mechanic we're

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going to try and work in and it might be

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for Valentine's we'll see.

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So that's Love is Blind and some of your future

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plans zooming now a little bit. We're coming up on

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transworld now, and of course this is when haunts are

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thinking about their seasons and on this year. In your opinion,

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what are the big things haunted houses need to be

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thinking about? Is they going into twenty twenty six?

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Boy? Right now, the world sucks. I'll be honest with you,

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it's how divisive is the world at large. There are

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two camps of people, and there's probably multi mini camps

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within those two camps, and we have to think about

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I have a this is a hard word to use

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because it has a connotation now, but we have to

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kind of make a safe space where everybody can come

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and have the brand of fun that we're giving. And

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I think it's important to not have a message. I

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think it's important to not your brain doesn't have to

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do anything but come to my haunted house, get chaste

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and survive, you know. And that's the message. It's haunted

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houses are easier and better than the real world because

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I label the bad guys. All the bad guys are

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in a mask. All the people who are going to

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come after you, I'm paying them to come after you,

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you know, And you chose to be here. What a

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lovely labeled world it is inside of a haunted house.

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And I think getting that message out to people that

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they can kind of take a brain break while they're here.

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But I also think there's things in twenty twenty six

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that I'm going to do to extend the night. We're

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creating an audio file that I want them to listen

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to on the drive in that way, on the way in,

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I want here. It's part of your night. It's part

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of the night too. Play this audio while you're driving in,

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whether it's headphones, whether it's in the car for the

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group of people. But ideally you're going to have a

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group of people in a car, encourage them to carpool

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and helps your parking lot. But you're making that little

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evil dead cast in their car as they go in.

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Is it a family, is it a group of friends

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and you are. They're playing the audio and that sets

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them up for the haunt, and then you give them

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that experience. We don't do anything interactive in that way

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in October at this point. The dead by Dark Hour

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format I find kind of breaks down a little bit

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at about two two hundred people in an evening. More

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than that and I would need to be open a

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little longer.

259
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But yeah, I really like both those ideas, especially the

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I think the safe space concept, just because you know,

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if haunts are escapism, then they need to actually function

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as escapism, they can't be the other something like that.

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But I also like the idea of the value like

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extending the night, what that does also in principle, is

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it plays to that value minded consumer that I guess

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it depends on your haunt and where you're located. But

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you know, we are we're hearing about the VIP people

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that you know are going to pay five times as

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much because they want a frictionless experience. Then you have

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the more value minded customers who really are making tough

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choices about their entertainment, you know, and you're up against Netflix,

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so they can have a month of Netflix where they

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can go to your haunt. And what is the value

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that you're extending. I like the idea of you're adding

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on extra value for that that they get to part

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of the experience.

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I want to make two quick notes. You mentioned VIP.

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I realized that at no point did our VIP customers

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get our rules because this year I stepped into security

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and I was I'm like, why are so many of

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these security calls VIP people? Are they paying more so

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they feel entitled? Maybe That's where my brain immediately jumped,

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and then I'm like, wait, no one ever told them

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the rules because they come in, they go into a

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little room, and then they go into the show. We

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blast the rules. If you're in line, you're gonna hear

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the rules five or six times, and even if you

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get into a shoot, there's a big rules sign in

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front of you and it's okay. So now the VIP

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concierge has to read them the rules so they know.

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But that got me thinking of there's so much of

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the experience that they're missing by doing VIP and Trevor

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Noah was doing an interview or talking with someone and

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he said he really felt like he had made it

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when he reached out and told one of the theme

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parks that he wanted to go with some of his

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friends to the theme park and they were like, okay,

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we're going to set you up with a VIP concierge

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and you're going to go from and he said there

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was They we went to a roller coaster, we did

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the roller coaster, they picked us up, they walked us

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to the next ride, and we did that ride and

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the next and he said it wasn't as good of

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an experience because he didn't get the anticipation of talking

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with his friends beforehand about what they think it might

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be and what's going to come up, and then at

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the end they didn't get that decompressing conversation in line

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for the next ride, and they didn't even spend as

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much time in the gift shops because it's and he's

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right there. That's part of the EXPERI sperience is the

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people that you come with and you're sharing this with them,

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and I think that's an amazing part of what we

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do and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

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I think where it breaks down, and this may not

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be a problem for all most haunted houses, so I

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might just be in crazy world with thinking about it

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in a different in a bigger space, But I think

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where that breaks down is Disneyland rides that are four hours, right,

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you don't need four hours of anticipation. So I think

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where it breaks down is where like maybe the better

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way to think of it is audit your VIP experience

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and ensure that you're not leaving an element of the

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experience out, like the rules, but also the crowd engagement.

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So like, they will need to wait two hours to

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get into your haunt if they're paying more, but maybe

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they still get to see the line and be in

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the room of the line, but it's not like as long,

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So I think there's probably a breaking point somewhere there

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where it's okay, this is too much.

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I want people to be in line between fifteen and

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thirty minutes.

332
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Yep, that's reasonable.

333
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I think that actually helps the haunted house experience because

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you do have that anticipation. You're watching groups go in

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and you know, and you're watching how they act as

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they go in, and then you know you have a

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chance to talk about that upcoming and enjoy the comfort.

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I think the worst date that you could go on

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like a normal date is going to the movies, because

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you get there, you go into the movie, and you're

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both supposed to sit there in the dark and not

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talk to each other for two hours, and then the

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date's over and you go home like you learned nothing

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about that person. That's right, and in all honesty, there's

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not a lot of communication inside the haunt. You want

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them to have that twenty minutes or so to talk

347
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in the beginning and then go through the show and

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then have a gift shop, have a relaxing place where

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they can come out, catch their breath, maybe buy some

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merch and talk about the show that they just did.

351
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It's about the communal experience, right, It's about going through

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a thing together, but then you also need the reflection

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time on the thing. I will say, if the haunt

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has a midway, or if it's a bigger attraction, or

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if it's a theme park and they have multiple things,

356
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it's a little bit different because you have the time

357
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in between. Is there anything that I didn't bring up

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about the about Love is Blind or any of the

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things you're thinking about going into this year.

360
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As an industry, I think that we need to have

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a conversation about AI as an industry. I don't want

362
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us to use AI for logos. Ye, I don't want

363
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us to use AI for our art. If a horror

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movie has a video cover that is AI generated, I

365
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think the movie's bad. Yeah, you know, why wouldn't you

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think that about a haunted house? Show me a picture

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from your haunted house.

368
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I don't know. It's weird because if it becomes indistinguishable,

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then how will you know if it's AI? And then

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also it comes back to doesn't really matter if a

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human is accountable for it. I think that has to

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be the key, if a human is accountable for the output.

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And at that point, I'm not sure if you if

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00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:07.359
it does matter?

375
00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:10.920
Just AI listens every meeting I have in my office.

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00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:12.759
I turn this sucker on and then I get a

377
00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:17.440
transcript of it. And I want AI in my ticketing system.

378
00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:21.680
I want AI in my spreadsheets. I want AI to

379
00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:24.319
help me with math and taxes and all of that.

380
00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:27.519
I'm okay with AI adding art into a place that

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00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:30.200
wouldn't have had art otherwise. There's a lot of things

382
00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:33.160
where they never would have hired an artist for an image.

383
00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.519
They might have stolen one, but they wouldn't hire an

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00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:40.480
artist for it. But they will just hop in chat

385
00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:42.480
cheap at or whatever and make an image for this

386
00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.759
which would not have had an image before. I'm a

387
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Haunt consultant and I do things. I will hop into AI.

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00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:53.640
I'll describe a set of what I want this set

389
00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:56.319
to look like, and I'll say, and I wanted to

390
00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:58.599
feel like this movie, and I want it to feel

391
00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:02.160
like this movie or this scene or this chapter from

392
00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:05.759
this book, and I want to see this in that set.

393
00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:09.039
And here's my color palette. And I'll put all that

394
00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:13.480
in and it'll spit me out some images and a

395
00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.519
lot of the time it's pretty good. And then I'll

396
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