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Rooms That Change or Move?

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  • Rooms That Change or Move?

    Has anyone ever done or seen a Room that changes or Moves while the customers are in it? Other than a "Hellevator". I have an idea on a room that changes - from a Hotel Lobby to a Basement, by having the customers enter into an elevator that seems to take then from the lobby to the basement. (the elevator will only have one door - entrance/exit) Thus only taking up one room. They will enter from the same room they will exit into once the elevator stops. The exit or passage to the rest of the haunt will be different from the way they can into the room. I started thinking about this after realizing that the theme of the haunt doesn't really lend itself to a lot of different scene options.

    I know that this idea is not through put friendly, but the haunt it self isn't that through put friendly. Other than through put concerns, any thoughts?
    Chris Riehl
    Sales@spookyfinder.com
    (586)209-6935
    www.spookyfinder.com

  • #2
    We did an "elevator" that had heavy duty wheels, we put them in and simply turned it to the next room entrance. Side note, we also used a merry go round from a playground to move people around with pretty good success.
    Like a midget at a urinal, you gotta be on your toes

    http://www.wellstownshiphauntedhouse.com

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    • #3
      Originally posted by sean View Post
      we also used a merry go round from a playground to move people around
      hmmmm... interesting, thanks for sharing.

      We once did a cage that moved across a large room we split up into 3 scenes, 2 on one side and 1 on the other. Customers couldn't see the scenes when they entered the cage. The first screen was on one side, the second was on the back side of the cage and the third was back on the original side. Each scene was a good surprise.
      Chris Riehl
      Sales@spookyfinder.com
      (586)209-6935
      www.spookyfinder.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Just to point out... I absolutley love rooms like this!!! In fact they made for some of the best haunt rooms I've ever done! They do take a lot of thought and like you said there are some things that can hinder the ability to move people along with in the haunt.

        Anytime you design a room that either moves the group or the room itself changes some how, your typically dealing with ONLY ONE GROUP at a time. That can be a challenge to be certain your able to restage the scene and be ready for the next group as they get to the entrance of that scene. Depending on how many people you run through your haunt each night and the rate you send them through, this may or may not be a problem...... But as your inquiring, you do need to know what the concerns will be and how to handle them.

        In regards to just doing this type of room in general, Id say try and set this haunt room up at the beginning of the haunt route. This room will set the pace of the haunt. You wont really have much issue with jamming up the flow by getting several groups that run together, cause your putting them in the haunt when that room is restaged and ready for another group.

        I would also consider how many people you can have at maximum in this moving or changing room, this way your ticket takers (or whoever is putting the groups through) know what the max number can be per group. Also consider how long this haunt room will take to operate from the time the group enters till the time they leave and then restage for the next group. If it takes 2 minutes to run a group through and then restage the room, then that's (at a minimum) the rate the groups can enter the haunt.

        Also consider that you may need to have a character at the entrance of the room (letting groups in) and characters at the exit of the room (to make sure the groups get out of the room so it can be quickly restaged). This entails extra staff that you may need just to be characters someplace else.

        Also to bring to your attention, its possible that when you involve building structures that phisically move people, you may be getting into issues where your inspector says you would need to bring in different inspectors to “sign off” on if he isn't comfortable with what you have going. I built a moving Hallway (moved about 13.5 ft). All worked very well. I took special attention to different safety matters incuding having enable switches (requiring 2 staff members to opperate) to assure that nobody could ever get caught in the track system or half-in/half-out of the room (being pintched). They liked what they seen but being the room moved the called it a ride which put it subject to inspection by the amusment park inspectors....... So they had to come and sign off on it which they did....... You may or may not have a problem.

        Ive done several rooms like this, all which have gone over extremely well from a patron standpoint but did create issues that needed to be addressed in order to be certain this room could work. Another thing that came up halfway through our season was when the room was down for about fifteen minutes...... NOW WHAT DO YA DO! Well we had another route set up so we could bypass the room if needed. When we had a mager JAM-UP, we were able to divert a couple groups to keep things moving. But that sucks too because then a couple groups dont get to see one of your more significant rooms. But thats also why it helps to put this room at the beginning of the haunt and let it set the pace.

        Below is a link to a few of the rooms I did that either changed or moved. Hopefully they can fuel some of your thoughts and ideas! Good Luck and ENJOY!

        http://www.hauntyourhouse.net/haunted_house_2.html
        http://www.hauntyourhouse.net/haunted_house.html
        http://www.hauntyourhouse.net/haunted_house_rooms.html
        Kelly Anderson
        Owner- Halloween Undercroft
        http://www.halloweenundercroft.com/
        Owner- Haunt Your House llc

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