Need quick schooling on haunted woods.

[tonguesandwich]

Trying to buy 50 acres right now ., offer out. Never been to a haunted woods but would like use the woods on the land. Never been to a haunted woods... Soooo anyone want to give me a quick scope on it. Do you have elec and air run the complete course $$$ or are you using generators at power points etc.. Is it all actor base or do you mix with animatronics etc. I'm sure everyone has their own thing I just want to know whats up in the firing line.
How do you manage people sneaking in?
I plan on ending it in a small fasade town.. So I don't even know what the popular wording would be??? Haunted woods, trail or scream park etc..
Ugh!

[RobfromErie]

If I was building a haunted woods attraction... The first thing I would have done is visit a haunted attraction set in the woods...

As someone who started out as an actor, and someone currently saving to open a future haunted attraction, the one thing I CAN do is visit as many locations as I can to see what works, what doesn't, how it's done, etc (and for fun of course).

When I ran a woods event, electricity was wired throughout the entire course. Of course you will have to set up air compressors near any animatronics you have in the woods. But you could avoid that but using only actors. Yet you would still need to route electricity extensively for lighting and sound. It really is up to you to decide where and how to use actors or animatronics. That's where the visiting other haunts comes into play, to see what YOU think works best.

People sneaking in...Have your actors have walkie talkies behind the scenes to call the manager if someone is causing trouble. Walk through with a group on occasion to see what's going on. Fences work best, sometimes overnight security, depends what is most feasible for you.

Whatever you do, ensure what you build can withstand the weather, especially wind.

[tonguesandwich]

Thanks .. I agree I should of visited a shot load of wood haunts but this situation came unexpected and I can run 2 of my other companies from that location cutting my current overhead in half.
I may just starting building this year and then do visit studies this October. I will be running probably 50-75 animatronics.

Trying to get a little clue before this deal goes through.

Thanks for the input... More please!

[MillersThrillers]

Haunted Woods

Give me a buzz tomorrow and I can chat about several things with you. May have several ideas that could be a win win for both! 9316981664

[pondo198]

16 acres is a lot of area to cover. We run an outdoor/indoor attraction that uses 10 and we needed to hire an engineering firm to design our structured wiring/air systems. With 50-70 animatronics, (especially if they are to be placed sporadically throughout the area), it can get rather complicated. this is certainly true if most will require compressed air. There ended up being a lot more involved than what we originally anticipated in regards to power and air usage. At one point, we ran our entire operation from 2 20kw generators, and eventually had the local power company put in a much more efficient underground wiring system. This also allowed us to place larger compressors in a few strategic places, keeping our air line lengths to a minimum and allowing for a much more efficient operation.

This is certainly a great way to go, and entirely feasible and profitable. I would just suggest; however, that you talk with an engineer, an electrician, or even your local electric company to get a better idea.


Also, as a side note: We only run about 10 animatronics in the outside portions of our haunt. The rest is done by actors and/or static props. I don't know where your planning on opening the haunt, but it rains a fair amount where we are at. And, on nights that it does rain, we have to make sure our outdoor props are sheltered and/or covered and disabled so as not to ruin them. In addition, all of the props that we use outdoors are covered on a nightly basis after close. It takes roughly 45 minutes to cover and secure everything. Just something else I think you may want to consider.

We have never had any problems with people "sneaking" in, but I'm sure that's based on location and general accessibility.

Good luck with this project. I hope it all goes well!

[tonguesandwich]

Thank you for your input. Highly appreciated!!!

[drfrightner]

Woods are easy and cheap to theme because its dark and its already scary. Make sure you have a safe path for them to walk meaning roots and rocks and or stumps ar are removed. Man I'm going with lots of old houses, cabins, a Jason theme is easy as hell, witches think blair witch project, its pretty endless. Larry

[tonguesandwich]

Thank you!

Im curious ...do you measure the size of your outdoor haunt by feet of the path? what would be a good size path/haunt for woods?

Is there any additional warnings you put on your warning signs? Like the ones at the Darkness warning of health risks.

[Dark Tiki Studios]

You might consider doing a search for posts by WickedFarmer and elowther. They both post a lot about outdoor haunts.

[drfrightner]

Need to make a list of all the movies that took place in the woods those things are great inspirations... I'm going to break out Blair With Project again! This conversation has inspired me to find it and watch it... now my kids want to see it.

Larry

[spookologist]

Well I think being outdoors has some advantages but it also has many disadvantages. What we have found is that just a walk in the woods doesn't make it a haunted attraction, people demand substance. Yes it is dark and creepy but they don't need to go to an event to get that. They can even get that by walking down a dark alley in a city.
Like any haunted attraction you need to get with your building and fire people in your town and see what they want you to do. Many are lenient and many are strict. Find out before you do anything. We have been around for 20 years and have gone through 5 Fire Marshals and they have all been different. Just like an indoor haunt you need to have lit egress paths to make sure everyone can get out safely.
Security can also be an issue because you have a lot of square footage to manage. Cameras are a must.
Another thing you have to think about is that when you are building a scene you have to build it from the bottom up, and that includes not only walls, floors and ceilings but proper wiring (low voltage recommended) and regulation walkways. Make sure they are primed/treated so they last. As someone mentioned, try to find out which buildings are having animations so you aren't running air lines everywhere. We like to have holding tanks close to the actual animation so it never get low on air.
Larry mentioned that its "easy as hell" to theme an outdoor attraction but it certainly isn't easy to set them up properly. We change about 70% of our haunt each year and it takes us all year to break it down and make those changes. I'll let you know how easy it is compared to an indoor haunt because we recently purchased a 27,000 sq ft brick armory for our 2nd attraction. It will open in 2015. I'm pretty excited to know that I can theme and re-theme a room that already has 4 walls and a chilling. Also once the building is set up its good to go. I can flip a switch and shut everything down for the night instead of walking through our entire trail making sure everything is secure and turned off.

Lots of luck, it will be a great experience. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Wayne

[Jim Warfield]

A 357 and no open toed shoes.

I know an outdoor haunt who had large medical bills because a woman was wearing open-toed sandals and she mangled some toes on a tree root.
"Security"? A 357 Magnum with blanks keeps customers ON their trail:"A voice in the woods yells:"I said Stay on the trail!" BANG! BANG!" from maybe just 40 feet away does keep people on the trail. (I was told.)
Today at my house the gnats were absolutely winning, but then I was out-numbered about 10,000 to one.
A small camping trailer for a night watchman might be an excellant investment. If a local car dealer had done this many years ago he would have saved a fortune in stolen tires, parts, cars and looking like an idiot when walking a customer out to see a car that was now missing it's transmission or radio.
See Wicked Farmer's posts about drainage='s giving water a path to keep your walk ways dryer quicker, getting back open sooner may make the difference between showing a profit some years or not.
Always look "UP". Tree limbs don't always let you know in advance when they will come crashing down. Have someone who really knows how to trim and cut trees and has experience, people get killed when trees fall.
As far as special effects? The sky is the limit. I was shown a video from an outdoor haunt in Iowa that did an excellant "Pepper's Ghost" in the woods!? No frame to be seen, no glass there either or so it sure seemed?
If the property is sort of private by it's location and design, look into renting it out in the Summer for a Nudist Colony but keep the legal rights to operate a sun-screen stand or sun blocker stand for yourself!

[BigT]

Love the outdoors!

We are also in the process of purchasing land for a new haunt location. We will be building both an indoor and an outdoor attraction. For the outdoor attraction, I plan on using small steel sheds scattered throughout the woods, for storage and facades. This way I can have "cabins" in the woods, and lock them up with my props at night. And they will keep valuable stuff sheltered!

Low voltage is the best way to go for lighting in my mind. I use some par cans in the main compound because they throw a lot of light, but I use LED lighting everywhere else (we have a small outdoor attraction now but moving it to make it bigger). When hanging things from the trees, do yourself a big favor and buy a little tool tree trimmers use - its a throw line that they use to get over tree limbs. Tie your rope to it when it hits the ground and you will be able to get ropes pulled over limbs real quick. I rig mine with a pulley, and a "hang line" for my body props so at night I can release the "hang line" and bring the props down very quickly for storage.

We sleep on premise (campers are great for this) to keep a presence. During the haunts open hours I have personnel with radios all over the place, so sneaking in doesn't really buy them anything. They have to have a ticket to get on the tram, and they have to have a ticket to get into the haunt. For a walking path, rope off the area to keep people on the path, and make sure actors keep their eyes peeled for anyone off the beaten path.

I like the idea of blanks! I think I may be loading up my .45 this year!

One thing I have always wondered about - we don't have a heavily wooded area but we are moving to one. How do you all handle snakes?

[tonguesandwich]

I closed on 50 Acres.. I was allowed to by my wife because she liked the house. I think I can make it background candy with the right lighting and scaffold it off for the haunt. ??? Excited to build.. i got so much sh&T to finally use.Its been a long move!

[RJ Productions]

Congrats on the closing!! With everything need for just the house move, focsing on a 2015 is the most logocal step. That also affords you the opportunity to visit as many trails and hay rides as possible. In naming the event in your original post: Trail or Haunted Woods if they walk through, Traile ride or Hayride if you transport them through, Sreampark only if you have seperate multiple attractions.

Any suggestions guys where he can go to get a number of good outdoor haunts in one or two areas? This visitation couls make for an ex iting season!!! Good luck (if there's a big shop/barn on property I'm jealous!!!








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