Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Reeder.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Cory. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Three years ago, I was living in Burbank, working in television. My girlfriend, a professor at Palomar College, and I were dating long-distance and always looking for new things to do during our weekends together. One of the things we got hooked on was going to escape rooms, which weren’t very well known at the time, then discussing what we liked and what we would change if we had designed them. One of the biggest things for me was that this could be a wonderful way for families to interact together, sort of a new twist on family game nights that I grew up with. Several months later, it came time to advance the relationship, so I returned to San Marcos, the home of my alma mater – CSUSM. The move brought with it a departure from the Hollywood entertainment industry. In discussing potential new careers, the idea of building an escape room came up, and I felt my next creative endeavor take root. I searched for a location in North County for a few months before finding the perfect location at Lake San Marcos, right across the street from the Lakehouse Hotel and Resort. Along with designing and building out a fun and challenging room, I needed a name. Naming the company after my blue-eyed Bernese Mountain Dog, Mighty, just seemed like the perfect fit, as she would often come to be the greeter of guests at Mighty Awesome. I received the keys to our location on the 1st of January 2016, and opened the doors to our first room (The Office of Professor R.K. Alogee) 2 months later. My dream of a family-friendly escape room came to full fruition when we started getting families with members of three generations coming in to work together! Just before Thanksgiving we opened our second room, Twilight in Tinseltown, in the same location. Nearly a year later, we have revamped the room with all new puzzles and a twist to become Terror in Tinseltown (family-friendly terror though!) for the Halloween season.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There were plenty of issues along the way. The biggest thing early on was finding a location that we could be zoned and permitted for. The City of San Marcos, claiming to be pro-business, proved to be only pro-BIG business as they gave me struggle after struggle with places that I wanted to use (most of which are still empty today, two years later) because they didn’t have an existing category for my type of business, and supposedly didn’t have enough parking. Meanwhile, I watched Buffalo Wild Wings begin construction in the middle of the busiest parking lot in San Marcos with a building that doesn’t fit the design scheme of the area in any way. Yes, parking must really be a problem…
Just after beginning to design Twilight in Tinseltown, I suffered an injury outside of work that required surgery to rebuild my shoulder. This drastically slowed down progress on the room and left me setting up puzzles with one arm.
The biggest challenge with an escape room in North County was that when we opened, almost nobody knew what an escape room was! Having never owned a business before I was trying to figure everything out on my own, from social media marketing, to flyers and figuring out which events to hit for a good target audience. While all of these proved to be useful, the biggest thing was word of mouth. Once people started coming and having a good time, they were excited to tell their friends, family, and coworkers about the Mighty Awesome experience they had.
Mighty Awesome Escape Rooms – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Essentially, the purpose of an escape room is to give the players a story, put them in a room that immerses them within the story where they have to work together to find and solve puzzles to progress the story until finally solving a mystery and escaping the room – all while an hour countdown clock ticks down. At Mighty Awesome, we focus on providing an experience that is family-friendly, fun, and still appropriate for corporate team building. We make all of our puzzles accessible for novices (sometimes with hints), yet still challenging for experts. What puts a smile on my face every day is seeing families interact with each other directly. It may only be for an hour, but that time spent completely unplugged and working without the distractions of television, email, the internet or a phone ringing/buzzing is truly priceless.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My first family that came in to do the Office of Professor R.K. Alogee with three generations together was so incredibly memorable. It was also the first time I had someone in a wheelchair do one of my rooms. You can plan for things all you want, but until you actually experience it, you don’t know how it’s going to work out. All three generations worked together in harmony and each had a different way of thinking through the puzzles to contribute toward their success. The father in the wheelchair was able to get around without any issues and feel just as immersed in the environment as his nimble son. They had done other escape rooms previously, and felt inclined to write “Thank you for a Mighty Awesome time!” on the dry erase board before leaving the room. That was the moment I knew I had truly succeeded in creating something magical for everyone.
Pricing:
- Our pricing starts at $80 for 2 people, and $20 for each additional person.
- SD Voyager readers take 10% off in 2017 with Promo code: AWESOMEVOYAGER
Contact Info:
- Address: 1040 La Bonita Dr #140
San Marcos, CA 92078 - Website: www.mightyawesomeproductions.com
- Phone: 760-571-9775
- Email: mightyawesomeproductions@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MightyAwesomeEscapeRooms/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mighty-awesome-san-marcos
- Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g33028-d10754926-Reviews-Mighty_Awesome_Escape_Rooms-San_Marcos_California.html
Image Credit:
Mighty Awesome Productions
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