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  • worried about vandels

    One concern I have and was wondering about was if you all have had any experiance with this . Teenagers can do some dumb stuff, has anyone ever had anyone intentionally damaged anything inside your attraction , showing off for their freinds or just for the heck of it? if they did how do you handel it ?
    SYTHLOR
    Doug Crawford owner
    Rockville Fear Factory Llc
    Vernon Ct, 06084

  • #2
    Originally posted by sythlor
    Teenagers can do some dumb stuff, has anyone ever had anyone intentionally damaged anything inside your attraction , showing off for their freinds or just for the heck of it?
    Heck yes. One customer kicked open the make-up room door. Unlucky for him, the haunt owner was on the other side. His excuse for why he did it was, "I dunknow." He was kicked out of the haunt right then and there. So now the door and his ass have something in common, they both have a foot print on them.

    But violent behavior isn't limited to the props and scenery, it can also happen to your actors. We've had people that have been punched, kicked, and as for me, I had a door slammed into my face. It's true that some people get too scared and hit someone out of reflex. But it's also true that some people are just evil bastards and want to put on the hurt. If any of your actors get assaulted by the customer (or anyone for that matter) don't hesitate to take them out of the group and call the cops.

    We've also had people steal from our store. Weither it be via shoplifting or breaking in after hours and robbing the place. Security cameras helped us in this regard; in fact, it's how we caught a would-be shoplifter (he later went to court and was found guilty). Yep, extra security is worth it. Cameras, alarm systems, wire fencing on the windows, I suggest them all.
    Last edited by Smiley; 04-19-2008, 06:47 AM.

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    • #3
      There is a mentality among some people that a "Prank" emotion is in effect for Halloween and if you just scared them then they have a right to bust up your stuff or somehow seek revenge upon you and yours, even though they paid you to do this to them!
      Vandalism and violence also happen because the customer feels ripped off either in too short of a tour or a tour that was not as advertised or because they had to wait in line too long, all weak excuses made more viable with the consumption of alcohol.
      Maybe the level of implied violence and bloody carnage sets some people off on the same mission as they want to see it?
      The basic underlying "message" some get from a haunt experience is counter accepted behavior according to polite society , you know. It's not polite to frighten someone. As Kindergarten students we would get in trouble for bringing a snake into the classroom unannounced and chasing little Sally around the room , remember?

      Surveilence cameras, real and imagined help a great deal to keep those people prone to misbehavoir from acting up.
      Not allowing screaming, staggering drunks in your door will also help tremendously.
      If you lose a couple of hundred dollars a night turning away drunks, you will be thousands of dollars ahead serving the sober customers and making a tour the way that you intended it to be, free of the disruptive drunken problems.
      You can just tell them before they get a ticket:"You must have a note from your bartender to come in here."
      As you look at a bunch of roudy drunks just ask yourself:"Would any business want them as customers right now? Even a bar?"
      "Good by!"
      hauntedravensgrin.com

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      • #4
        Security Problems

        At our haunt we get literally hundreds of drunk people every year. Our ticket takers will warn us over the radios that we have a rowdy group coming through so security and the supervisors can keep an eye on them. For the most part, they just toddle through and are no problem. But now and again their liquid courage gets the better of them.

        If a prop or an actor gets *touched*, then the customer is warned and allowed to go on. Usually when they discover that yes, we are watching you, they behave themselves. It's only then we get repeat offenders or anyone who intentionally hurts an actor or damages a prop or scene that, for the safety of our actors and customers alike, we remove them *immediately* from the attraction and hand them over to Security, or as we affectionately like to call them, "The Wall of Black".

        Our security is made up mostly of some really great guys who also just happen to be from a local motorcycle club. So when we escort people out of the attraction, they are usually pretty loud and belligerent until they are confronted with a half-dozen bikers in black "Event Security" sweaters. Then, oddly enough, they become pretty compliant as *the entire group* is marched out to the parking lot. We don't refund and we don't discuss.

        Why the whole group? you may ask. Two words: peer pressure. If we just kicked out the jack-ball who's causing problems, then when he catches up with his friends he just laughs about how he got kicked out, wasn't that funny? But if all of his friends lose *their* money and have *their* fun ruined as well, then suddenly it isn't as hilarious with all of his buddies pissed off at him.

        We hardly ever have to call the Sheriff, and I can count on one hand the times when altercations have turned physical. When that happens, we *always* call the Sheriff, if only to get reports for insurance purposes.

        Keep in mind that we are a large haunt (over a hundred on-site personnel) so this level of security might or might not be appropriate for your haunt. Your mileage, as the man says, may vary significantly.
        We're not unreasonable. I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes.

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        • #5
          I have had "Security" people here in uniform who would turn there heads away from the drunks climbing up the spouting to the second floor of my house just because they didn't want to deal with it.
          Advance reservations, meaning they sent me a check a week in advance solved many problems caused by boredom of waiting, turning to drinking, ex cetra, although
          the crowds that used to be standing around waiting did spend more money with the local businesses .
          hauntedravensgrin.com

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