Dannette Hornbrook and her family opened Hornbrook Hollow’s Funhouse in August of 2020. Hornbrook Hollow’s Funhouse is a UV Glow entertainment facility with 18 holes of mini golf, an eight-cannon Balladium Blaster, Glow Party rooms and a hot and cold fair style concession.
The creation of their fun destination was inspired by the seasonal Halloween attraction, the Hornbrook Hollow’s Haunt (The Haunt).
The Haunt is a maze that weaves visitors in and out of buildings and the woods with different times and features for all ages and scare levels ranging from daytime Child and Chicken Runs to the full-on Scare Maze for Halloween fanatics.
Dannette and her family have been operating The Haunt in Grovedale for over eight years.
The Haunt is about 25 minutes away from Grande Prairie city limits and draws in visitors from as far as an hour and a half away. Since opening The Haunt, they have scared over 12,500 people. Many visitors come back for the frightening experience in October, each year.
“Some families would come back two times a year, it was their family thing to do,” said Dannette.
The success of The Haunt and Dannette’s passion for creating a thrilling Halloween experience each year led to the Hornbrook’s expanding the business and opening Hornbrook Hollow’s Funhouse (The Funhouse) in a permanent location in Grande Prairie to reach a larger market and operate the business year-round.
“Because The Haunt is not everyone's cup of tea, I wanted to offer something that was for everybody,” said Dannette.
The Hornbrook’s leveraged their brand recognition and exposure of their seasonal Halloween business to provide an entertainment attraction as a viable business plan to expand. Dannette grew up and started a family in the Grande Prairie area, and found inspiration in contributing to the community by providing a fun family-friendly environment.
“We realized there were limited things to do as a family and decided The Funhouse would be an amazing idea to bring to Grande Prairie,” said Dannette.
Hornbrook Hollow’s Funhouse is professionally decorated with UV glow decor that provides an upbeat, bright, magical and mystical experience – unlike the scary experience The Haunt provides.
“It’s not dark and gloomy. Most people don’t know what to expect,” said Dannette.
The atmosphere is like stepping into a bright glowing mystical world that creates an escape from your busy day for a round of mini golf and allows customers to de-stress with a couple of rounds of balladium or let loose for a party of any kind.
“I knew how much fun this place was going to bring people. The community's response, once they find out about us, is just ecstatic,” said Dannette.
Dannette and her family have future ideas on how they could expand the business even further and provide more activities for Grande Prairie families when they are ready to grow the business again.
Visit Hornbrook Hollow’s Funhouse as an after-school family-friendly activity, date night or a night out with friends. They are located only minutes west of Muskoseepi Park at 9818 105 Street. Find more information about Hornbrook Hollow’s Funhouse on their website, Facebook, or Instagram.