Dealing with rain

[Paranormal Fear]

Hi everyone I'm opening a haunted attraction hopefully this next October. Some of it will be inside, but I really want to have part of it outside as well. I was wondering what people do to deal with rain for outside haunts. I've been to a couple major outside haunts, like The Haunted Forest in Provo, Utah. There's tons of animatronics and electrical equipment all along an outside trail. How do you deal with electrical hazards for outside equipment? And what about the victims? Do they just deal with the rain? lol. Any ideas, advice, referrals to other threads, or just anything would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

~Josh

[HauntedPaws]

drizzle is fine a down pour no one is gonna come drop money to be miserable. Many make little doghouses/huts to put the compressors, generators etc in.

[Frightener]

Yeah, little boxes to house all your junctions in is fine. I make them about a foot tall with legs. If you don't put an X of legs on it, it could roll over.

[NateTheGreat]

purchase rain insurance? If it rains and no one comes out on a usually busy night, the insurance company will compensate you.

[Mike Goff]

The things that you do before it rains is what really matters. Tile where you can, and make sure that your customers are walking on a good base of gravel. Even if you have thick healthy grass, heavy traffic will beat it down to mud in no time. Grass will grow through 4/11 stone and appear that there is no stone, but once the grass gets beat down you are covered. Once it rains, it is too late to be moving gravel. Attempting to do so, will make things worse. For emergency quick fixes, you can haul mulch in wheelbarrows and 5 gallon buckets. If you can afford it, a bobcat and John Deere gator is a Godsend.
If you have areas that collect water and tile was not in the budget, you can dig a hole roughly 12" deep and drop a submersable pump in the hole to pump the water out. Remember to fill the hole in afterwards, or you will have a trip hazard. Have plans in place to deal with these issues. If our parking lot (which is a hay field) is a swamp on a Sunday night, I will close for the night. If it is a big Saturday, I will work all day to make the property suitable for opening. The cost of losing a Saturday far outweighs what it will cost me in man power to get ready.

I use small buildings as decoration outdoors, they also double as shelter for sensative equipment. I'm a big fan of Atlas and Klipsch indoor outdoor speakers. They will take a beating, are efficient as hell and sound great. Any hard surfaces like bridges, that your customers will be walking on outdoors need the slip test. I test these areas for slipping before I am faced with a rainy night. If you wait until you are about to open, it is too late to do anything that qualifies as safe. I also give extra training to my actors to stay clear of hard walking surfaces and inclines, such as a hill. Even though I preach to my guys not to chase, you can't control what a customer will do when scared. People are more inclined to flight in an outdoor environment.

We have had flood advisories and actually had bridges wash away and worked through the day to prepare to open. You have to make the determination of which nights are worth saving and how hard are you willing to work to save them. Like with anything in life, draw your line in the sand before trouble approaches, so that you may have a clear head when the time to act presents itself.