Tours vs. Walkthrough

[Greg Chrise]

This plastic stop watch and a whistle could become a haunt character! Penalty! improper use of theatrics!

[Jim Warfield]

I like the striped uniform, whistle, stop watch, all official looking and ready to kick a troublemaker out of the tour!!!!!
"Unnecesarry distracting verbage! Non-stop idiotcy, 15 yards and lost of the tour, Out You GO!"
"TWEET!" Stop the clock, time out." (Must be time for another beer commercial? )

[Greg Chrise]

Commercial

Yeah, something with the Coors Light Twins!

[tot13]

Great thread. This is an issue we are considering. Our background: fund-raiser, guided trail in the woods approximately 5/8 mile, staff of 100 (includes guides, actors, concessions, - everybody), tour takes about 30-35 minutes. We have "scare stations" that are skit-driven with several actors and more extensive props along with "stand-alones" that are 1-2 actors for more of a "boo" effect. Keep group size to 10 or less, although sometimes customers insist on keeping their larger groups together.

2006: 10 nights, 11 scare stations, +2000 customers, averaging 200 per night. This was our first year.

2007: 6 nights, 14 scare stations, -2000 customers, averaging +300 per night for our second year. Became much more efficient in getting the groups ready for the tour. Better turn-around for the guides.

I really want to integrate the "no guides" into our trail to remove some of the customer "security" to make them feel more vulnerable. I know we have to keep guides to some extent for safety, supervision, and to keep them moving.


We used a different location in 2007 from 2006, but we expect to be back at our 2007 location in 2008. We won't cut the new trail until the Spring of 2008, but I can't wait to see how I can integrate your suggestions of assigning guides to a specific part of the trail. I think this might help our less talkative guides create a role if they only have to work a particular area. Also, we have a few guides who get a lot of requests that can't always be filled because they're already on the trail with another group. This would let every group spend time with every guide and create a more polished (I think) performance.

I'd be curious to hear more from those of you that have used this type of partially guided tour, particularly outdoors.

[Greg Chrise]

Outdoor trail.

Once a group gets the idea that they will be walking and set a pace, they will keep that pace and try to stay together. It is human nature. So, you guide them with wide trails that have ropes to say you have reached the side and occasionally from the dark (under trees with little or no moonlight) you have some dim bulbs come on as the groups target. They will go to the light rather than just stand in the dark.

The next level of preparedness comes in setting up the lay out of the trail. If you imagine your hand, anywhere from 4 to 6 fingers, tracing the outline, the groups go in big irregular loops and back to the center where ultimately this is where the scares, things that require power and group monitoring is done. They have walked a strange un predictable zig zag and are un aware they are coming back to the same general zone or zones.

The back of one facade is actually another facade on the other side and to the customer it looks like they walked hundreds of feet to a completely different building. Wonder how they can walk for half a mile and that same guy pops out 5 times? Are there 5 guys? Is he evil? a Clone? Really athletic and inspired?

Plus if there is a real emergency, one need not travel 5/8 of a mile, they only have to go a few hundred feet down onw of the fingers. The layout can get more complicated than this and even cross over here and there and from year to year places that were behind the scenes are the show side this year and juggled about from year to year.

[Nightmaretony]

Me likey the traffic signal idea for guided tours as well. Works out for theatrical scenes. Tentative is the rope guided method which is nice because it cuts out vandalism completely. (10 foot rope, bout 5-6 p[eople per group, guide leads in a wedding walk speed, guest hands must stay on rope at all times. As a bonus, if anyone falls, they are hanging on the rope so it is a soft landing...

[thehauntedhollows]

This repeating of go through a hallway or two, hear/see a theatrical presentation, get a scare, lather rinse repeat any number of times from 10 to 20 times has been done since the Jaycees sent pamphlets to ever Jaycees Organization that you can make money with a haunted house since 1980. For Christs sake that's nearly 30 years of lather rinse repeat.

I find going to these haunts that all you do is walk through hallways with guys just hanging out in different scare spots is more lather rinse repeat than the jaycees. Maybe the jaycees you went to as a kid or what not were not the best, but the jaycees i was familiar with put on a hell of a show that beat any for profit haunts. They bring in an incredible crowd of people and i have waited in 3 hour long lines, cursing at the damn jaycees the whole way through the line, then when i finally exit the haunt praise them for how much it was worth it. Maybe the for profit haunts around me are not that good either. Come on, how many more haunted 1 story warehouses do we need? The jaycees were set in cabins deep in the woods which already provided a creepy atmosphere. And lastly, CREATIVITY. They are creative. Anyone can purchase an animatronic. These guys beat that 100 times over.

[Jim Warfield]

Well, Gregg, now that you have shown him the "Finger", I'll "moon" him.
Take a look at the calender for next year, check out what sort of moon phases your haunt nights will be having, then go check out your location in the early spring before the foliage pops out and see what it may look like come fall with leaves leaving the branches and this may give you some new and better ideas as to using natural shadows, ex cetra when you cut those trails for fall.

[TheCareTaker]

both have great pros and cons a tour is nice if you have a good host to guide you. a walk through is great if you have good staff to get out and perform thier scqres the problem with a walk through is your scares and such must keep the patrons moving and you now how important through put is to a haunt MONEY MNEY MONEY.

so both are good and a haunt should be designed with the particular method you have in mind.

just my two cents not worth even that.

[Jim Warfield]

..but how dilligently will your haunt designer work if you just pay him that measley 2 cents?
"Jeb! You mean to say that you spent the family's last 2 cents on a haunt designer!?"
"Why, for 2 cents I'd give you a good thrashing!"
"But I now know that you ain't got that 2 cents! I'm finally safe."
"But I can call that haunt designer to tell him to design a nice room just for you, the spanking room!"
"Can I bring my little ape too?"
"He's not a little ape, I know he's a full-fledged Monkey!"

[Greg Chrise]

Great, your Monkey just ate my coin collection.

[Jim Warfield]

Then by all means feel free to spank my monkey.
that'l learn him!

[WeAreTheUnion]

Where I work we have floaters who serve as both scares and guides.
They are the first scare groups get, usually jumping out in the lobby from behind the ticket booth or through secret doors before they even enter the haunt. The floater then decides, based on their reaction, how they will act towards the group. Sometimes they'll guide them all the way through. Sometimes they'll use secret passages to "disappear" for a few scenes, or in some cases for the rest of the haunt. We get all sorts of "uh dude...are you coming back?" and "But I can't find my OWN way out!" type reactions.

This gets rid of any dependence on the "and to your right you will see a headless horseman blah blah blah" formula, but also allows us to utilize it should a group react well to it.

[MMManiac]

it appears as if some people are "pushing" their guests through faster so they can get in more people therefor making more money. I agree bringing in money is very important, but so is giving the guest the best show you can! Make sure your not taking away from the guests entertainment so you can make a few more bucks every night. Trust me in the end you will be alot richer if you keep the show at 110%.


Sean

[Jim Warfield]

A few years ago some different people had said that in their states the law tells them they must have guides leading the people through their haunted houses.
It can't get much safer than that.
Unless of course your guides are escapees from an instituion for the criminally insane, or the ex-husband of a woman in the tour?