# Question, walk thru or stand alone yard haunt?



## southerndownfan (Sep 21, 2007)

For all you pros out there , ive got a question. This will be my second year that I full on decorate for Halloween. By full on I mean last year I had alot of stuff, props, cemetary, fog machine, signs, etc, etc, you know the basic stuff. Well this year I have a ton of stuff , way more than last year. So my question is should I have a walk thru yard haunt or should I just put everything in its own location throughout my yard like I did last year? I am assuming that if I was to do a walk thru I would have to build walls and such, right? Please help.


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## Darkside (Aug 6, 2007)

I have done a large display for years now. Last year I considered doing an organized walk through, but eventually decide to just add to the display each year. For me personally, it just isn't feasible right now, but I do hope to do a real haunt after my kids are a little older.
If that is what you want to do, I would use the walls or paths or what ever. Just some way to direct the folks in one direction in a organized manner. I do use short fences and borders to keep people out of certain areas.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

I've been through a lot of good yard haunts that didn't have actual walls per se; it was just walking a path around the house. Then they'd hang some tarps here and there that you'd have to circumnavigate just so the scenes were visibly blocked from each other. Some didn't even use scene blocking; it was all out in the open and you just walked along past it. Sort of an interactive display I guess you could call it. You just do it whatever way you feel like; the mere fact that you put forth the effort will make your neighbors love you for it.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

I used to do a better home displaybefore I started making a haunt.
Then it died down considerably.
This year in addition to the haunt I plan to make our house awesome as well.


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## Moon Dog (Oct 3, 2006)

A bunch of us go to a campgrounds for halloween... we decorate our campsites and create a walk through.

We'll either sweep a path in the leaves, or use rope lights to light the way.

Then we'll dress up and be in various parts of the haunt!

Great fun!

I say make it a walk though!


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## Death Wraith (Mar 23, 2006)

Don't forget all the hassles that come when you do any type of enclosed haunt. Creating walls, maybe extra insurance, passing fire inspection which can mean all kinds of hassles and kills the fun. Having a lossly structured outside pathway with scenes might help you avoid all that.

I have the ideal set-up since the city where I live creates the indoor space for the haunt and let's me fill in whatever I want. They handle all the inspections, insurance, hard work and I get to have all the fun!!!!


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## Darkside (Aug 6, 2007)

Death Wraith said:


> I have the ideal set-up since the city where I live creates the indoor space for the haunt and let's me fill in whatever I want. They handle all the inspections, insurance, hard work and I get to have all the fun!!!!


Lucky dog, what a great deal.


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## THeme ssaGE (Jul 16, 2006)

Ya how did you get it set up like that Deathwraith? 

Southerndownfan - A structure will change everything for you. Building walls means a theatrical environment....allowing you to hold light, fog, sound, etc. inside. 

And you shouldnt have any problems about fire codes...since your just decoratring your house. If you were trying to charge money then you would get messed with by the city. 

If your building walls, expect attention from the city. As long as your not attaching a structure to your house, your fine....it has to be free standing ...not attached to your house. It is not as much of a fire hazard as people make it out to be. Christmas lights are fire hazards too and people string those up all over the place. 

If you're gonna do the yard display thing....I think that can look really neat. I don't like when yard displays have props everywhere, spaced out just right. I like a yard display to focus my attention in certain spots.


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## Death Wraith (Mar 23, 2006)

Well just a few days ago the local paper had a small article on haunted House safety. Their take is that if you change the layout of a room then you may need a building permit and inspection. They even mentioned sprinkler systems! Two years ago some people opened a haunted house in an old storage warehouse and I don't think they were ever inspected. The fire dept closed them down after a couple weekends. It was pretty elaborate. No mechanical scares but a lot of atmosphere with furniture and props.

Yeah my deal is pretty sweet. The city started running a haunted gymnasium about the time I started building props (3 years ago) The second year they asked for volunteers and I took some stuff in. They gave me a hallway and loved how much stuff I had and the costumes I made. This year they started calling me in the summer wanting to know what to buy, how to layout the haunt, when to run it, etc. It's a perfect set-up!!


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