Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Banuelos.
Chris, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My family and I since the turn of the century have been putting together home haunts in our neighborhood for the kids on Halloween. Every year it became bigger and bigger. In 2012, we decided to make the big leap into going pro! Of course it was not as easy as we first imagined, but after 2 years of research and planning we officially opened up for the 2014 Haunted Attraction season (October) In 2015 we moved to our current home of West Oaks Mall and got a little closer to what I imagined our haunt could become. Because of many issues and problems we were forced to sit out for the 2016 season but we are back for 2017 as a sort of re-birth.
Has it been a smooth road?
Of course not! We originally dealt with problems finding the right location, and dealing with not so trust worthy “partners”. Then the struggle to find good employees became an unforeseen problem. In 2015, we were dealing with our biggest problem yet; understanding and planning to get a permit through the city. We understand why we must go through these channels but it was definitely a struggle for us to really get a good grasp on the ideas and processes.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Hellusions Haunted House story. Tell us more about the business.
Our company is called Hellusions, and we have a haunted attraction at West Oaks Mall, “HELLUSIONS HAUNTED HOUSE”. We specialize in interactive haunted experiences. Our haunts put the customers in control when they go through our attractions. We want you to be able to touch the scene and be part of the action. We are very proud of our customer service and how we treat our customers with respect and an understanding that they want to be placed in a world that is real, terrifying and exciting. So we provide that to them by being “on” at all times, bringing new kind of haunted experiences and by all means by being safe.
We build Hellusions Haunted House for the haunted house attendees, because it’s built and planned by them. Our attraction begins as soon as you step through the doors, you don’t even have to buy a ticket before you are in the action.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I believe the haunted attraction industry is changing right now. Especially since the rise of the escape room, I don’t imagine the haunted maze attraction will ever go away but I believe different style of haunted experiences will start to poke their head through. That is one reason we are interactive, we want to be different and hopefully change the way you can experience haunted attractions.
Pricing:
- We have 4 attraction available
- The prices vary from $5 – $13 each attraction with group discounts
Contact Info:
- Address: 1000 West Oaks Mall
suite 600
Houston, TX
77082 - Website: hellusions.com
- Phone: (832) 280-7692
- Email: questions@hellusions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellusionshh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hellusions/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hellusionshh
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hellusions-haunted-house-houston
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