The Two Ladders
Fright Academy runs October 9-31, 2026 at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The Children's Museum Guild produces the house, which the museum calls its 62nd annual Haunted House and its largest annual fundraiser.
The museum publishes a group ticket ladder on the Fright Academy page. Tickets cost $9 each for 1 to 19, $7.50 each for 20 to 99, and $7 each at 100 or more. The ticket excludes museum admission. Groups buy through Customer Service at 317-334-4000.
A hotel prices rooms by night. The block is where the two ladders meet.
The Two Price Steps
Nineteen tickets at $9 cost $171. Twenty tickets at $7.50 cost $150. The twentieth ticket takes $21 off the total.
Ninety-nine tickets at $7.50 cost $742.50. One hundred tickets at $7 cost $700. The hundredth ticket saves $42.50.
Fix the ticket count against those two lines before the room list goes out.
The Roster the Hotel Needs
The museum prices tickets per person and the hotel prices a room per night. Nothing on the museum site converts one figure into the other. Write down the total people, the adults, the students and the occupancy per room, then send those four numbers to every property you ask.
Two published rules set the head count. The museum asks group reservations be made at least two weeks in advance of the visit. Groups of 20 or more take 20 percent off general admission. Children under 2 are free.
The Arrival Slot
Fright Academy runs two programmes. Uranus Fudge Factory Friendly Hours run Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Frightening Hours run Thursdays through Saturdays 4 to 9 p.m.
The museum publishes no Frightening Hours on Friday, October 9 and none on Halloween. The slot sets the bus departure time.
The Dates That Close to School Groups
The museum opens to registered school groups Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It closes to school groups on weekends and during school breaks. Fall Break runs October 12-23, 2026.
Inside the Fright Academy run, school groups can book Friday, October 9, then Tuesday, October 27 through Friday, October 30. The museum routes weekend visits and school-break visits through childrensmuseum.org/group-visits.
The Bus Route and the Free Parking
The museum publishes the drop-off route. Travel north on Illinois Street past the museum, turn east onto 32nd Street, then south onto Meridian Street. The museum's bus and freight drive is the first drive on the right. Stay on the left side of the drive to Entrance 4, stop at the first stop sign until the greeter motions the driver forward, then unload at the second stop sign.
The driver then moves to the school bus parking area off Illinois Street. Vans park in the surface lot at Illinois Street and 30th Street. The museum states that all parking is free, including the garage at 3000 North Illinois Street, and the garage connects to the museum by skywalk. The museum address is 3000 North Meridian Street.
Put the drive time to Entrance 4 in the request and ask each property to quote it.
The Sack-Lunch Room and the Meal Clock
The museum publishes a designated Sack Lunch Area. Groups bring coolers, boxes or bags, and the museum stores them without refrigeration. Lunch slots run 25 minutes at 11:15, 11:45, 12:15 and 12:45, subject to availability. The reservation goes through Customer Service.
A morning Friendly Hours slot lines up with an 11:15 or 11:45 lunch. A 4 p.m. Frightening Hours slot puts lunch ahead of arrival. Tell the hotel the meal needs before the bus leaves.
The Terms to Price
Blocks, a room-block software vendor, names the terms that carry cost in its guide of 4 September 2026. The list: the pickup floor, a rolling release schedule, a resell or mitigation credit, and force majeure protection. The guide sets its worked example on an 80 percent floor with review dates 90, 60 and 30 days out, and it tells the reader to check whether the floor is measured per night or across the stay.
Ask each property for its own pickup floor as a percentage, its release review dates as calendar dates, and whether a shortfall is measured per night or across the stay. Ask what the hotel charges for overnight bus parking.
Where the Rooms Are
The groupRooms directory lists 273 hotels in Indianapolis. Nearby destinations carry Warren Park 6 hotels, Meridian Hills 2, Homecroft 3, Zionsville 2, Carmel 5, Speedway 4, Clermont 2 and Fishers 14.
The platform publishes 103,857 hotels across 46 states, savings of 15 to 40 percent below rack rates, no fees or markups, more than 50 hotels per request, and a response window of 24 to 72 hours. Those figures are the platform's own published claims.
The Two Checks Before the Rooms Go Out
Check the ticket count against the $7.50 and $7 lines. Check the room count against the roster with the occupancy written down.
The museum's two-week request window decides the calendar. Fourteen days before a Friday, October 30 visit is Friday, October 16. Fourteen days before opening day, Friday, October 9, is Friday, September 25.
Send the request to more than one property and compare the term sheets side by side.
