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**derekatronic** · 06-28-2010, 08:20 AM

It would be cool to implement the spider area with a swarms of small spiders rather than the standard big spider. One thing I like about this idea is that there's no risk of blunt damage to the guests, so you can get them closer to the scare. Also, I think that most of the scare is lost when spiders get too big, even very well implemented spiders like in Return of the King. Spiders scare us as the iconic creepy-crawlies.

For instance, You could decorate the area with a bunch of cheapo plastic spiders.

<-- (click) 144 spiders for $5

Run a thin cable (rope, belt, whatever) over some pulley wheels, put a cheap motor on one wheel and you've got a track for the spiders to travel on. I dunno if there's a standard way of doing little critter tracks like this, but here's a more involved way to hopefully achieve what I think would be a better effect. Get some plastic tubing, like this, and ball chain (or some other chain) that fits loosely inside of it. Attach magnets, like these, to the chain at regular intervals. Run the chain over a motorized pulley or sprocket, like these. Attach magnets to the plastic spiders so they follow the magnets on the chain as it travels through the outer tube. Now you're in a position to wrap this tube system around trees, set pieces, across the ground (stir up some leaves, oooh), wherever. One potential pitfall would be spiders snagging on things and falling off the tube - however this is better than securing them to a track, which could cause the track to halt if a single spider got snagged on something. Just be careful how the tube is routed.

Another effect that would be cool to implement in this spider-infested stop is to lower spiders on webs right in amongst the passengers. The web could actually be a 2-position cable. Hook up the 2 wires to the two terminals of a little vibrating motor, like these ones that cost less than a buck each, and you've got a bunch of little living spiders "crawling" over your passengers.

This area would still be missing a centerpiece, and I think the perfect one is a body (or several) that's been completely overwhelmed by the spider swarms. Perhaps in various stages of decomposition as they host spiders in their skin. Pile on the spiders, run some tracks to have the spiders crawling over them, and the audience will know what they're in for if they remain in this area!

**Medusa53** · 06-29-2010, 08:23 PM

Cornfield: Make a big scarecrow that looks like Jeepers Creepers, with the hat and long jacket and then have someone dressed like Jeepers Creepers jump out from behind the scarecrow. Or, have an alien or two like in "Signs"

Spider area: Any way to cover the path that the hayride takes with spiderweb? You could make a spider cave that it has to travel through!! I love the ideas from the previous post too.

Campsite: You can give the group something to think about right before they get to the campsite by placing a well lit sign with the saying from the original Wolfman: '" Even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the moon is full and bright" Make a large yellow moon and hang it high in a tree.Have wolf howling sound effects. Put up a small pup tent and put red glowing eyes inside. Have a wrecked campsite..pots laying around, bloody clothes hanging in the trees,etc. Just as the hayride is about to leave that scene area, have the tractor suddenly " break down" ( turn motor off ) As the driver is trying to get it started again, a pack of werewolves come out from various areas and advance toward hayride , then, in the nick of time, have the tractor start up again and pull away as the pack follows!

Asylum:Have a madman in a cage with the bars made out of garden hose spray painted silver. Have the madman " bend" the bars and escape to chase the wagon.

Toxic waste: 55 gallon drums painted to look like toxic waste containers. Tip one or two over, make some toxic waste, maybe out of that Great Stuff expandable foam, spray paint that a flouresent green or yellow. Get some mask that looks like a melting or burned face ( try Thinktanktoys.com...plenty of masks and costumes and only $2.99 shipping!) and dress your actors in clothes or lab coats that you put big burn holes in. Put grey makeup on their arms and hands to look like soot.

Witch: Have a witch stirring her cauldron and chanting " Bubble,bubble..toil and trouble" and place her under a tree in which you can attach a pully to a limb. Run a dark thin string through the pully, to the cauldron and attach a rubber arm. Have someone in the background pull the arm slowly up out of the pot and have the witch scream at the arm and hit it with her big spoon " Get back in that pot!!'

Graveyard: Shallow graves that actors can rise slowly out of. An old gravedigger digging a fresh grave, saying " We have a hole to fill... any volunteers? Or, have a zombie jump up out of the grave and drag him in.- or- have the gravedigger holler 'It's out! It's out! " and have a zombie ambush the hayride from the opposite side or rear of the wagon.

Hope these help.

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