# Super-Cheap Labyrinth Door System



## Toktorill

Greetings All,

The largest prop in our 2009 haunt was a series of doorways, three of which were interconnected, one weighted to close by itself, and one on garage door rails to move horizontally. All five doors had at least one side that looked like a wall.  As the guests traveled our little gauntlet, they were required to open doorways by pushing on them. This changed the layout of the haunt, turning walls into doors and vice versa.

If you wish you could get a little more use out of the space you have, this system might just do the trick!

For your enjoyment, a small how-to video:





In the video, the 3-door system used:









:jol: For each door, you need approximately:
6 X 8' 2x4 studs
2-3 door hinges
scrap plywood
"wall" covering to match your existing walls.
nylon cord

:jol: Some additional points:
We screwed thin, lightweight plywood where the guests would push the doors, and at the vertical ends. So 3 pieces, approx. 1' x 2.5'. The rest of the door was cardboard for rigidity, covered with black poly to match our walls or decorated.

We found the guests got confused in the dark until we put large "push" signs on the doors. We used neon letters with black lights.

A few small pieces of 2x4 were screwed to the top of the door 2x4, to give our connection arms a little more wood to screw into.

Guests got very, VERY disorientated, and our regulars made comments of how much "bigger" the haunt was than last year.

Thanks for reading, comments more than welcome!!!


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## hedg12

Very cool idea! Thanks for posting - gives me ideas...


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## halstaff

Clever design. This would really be great for all of us with limited space.


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## The Archivist

I had a similar idea once for a small maze for the kids too small to ride the trains for Ghost Train last year but was, as usual, shot down. I like what you came up with.


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## Zurgh

Now that is a very cool door system! Thank you for posting this!


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## bourno

that was pretty ingenious, thanks for sharing


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## spideranne

Wow, impressive idea and you made it work!


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## apetoes

Freaking Brilliant! The video was a great way to demonstrate the concept. Thank you for the inspiration.


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## The Archivist

Do you have any videos of the completed set? I would love to see how it worked out in reality.


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## niblique71

I agree with the others, What a great and yet simple concept. I LOVE Simple and cheap as long as it's effective and you obviously got it spot on... GREAT WORK!!! Now how will I find this thread in a year or two when I can implement it LOL


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## Toktorill

The Archivist said:


> Do you have any videos of the completed set? I would love to see how it worked out in reality.


Unfortunately, this is one of my least-documented haunts. My bad . I'll have to check in my disk archives to see if there are some vids or pics I missed.

I did get a few guests to carry the camera with them on one of their tours, but its almost entirely screaming. Oh, waitaminute! Sorry hauntforum, forgot who I was writing this for. Of course you'll love to see that!

Timeline:
1:29 Enter.
1:59 Glimpse of door 1 (already open).
2:23 Brief pause, as camcorder gets stuck in someone's hair.
2:39 Walking past door 2.
2:58 Another pause, someone lost a shoe.
3:06 Walking through door 2.
3:10 Walk past the ribbon wall.
3:17 Past door 3.
3:24 The 10' Grim Reaper is just before the first time through the sliding wall/door (gray box in the how-to video).
3:37 There's a glimpse of the sliding door at 3:37.
3:41 Going through the sliding door.
3:45 Screaming, running. When they saw the straight lighted hallway they took off like a bullet.


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## tot13

Neil, this was really cool when you designed this last year, but seeing the video really shows the genius of your idea. I am in awe and wish I did an indoor haunt just so I could imitate your plan!


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## wickedwitchwest

Great idea to change things up!


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## debbie5

It's 15 year old GIRLCAM! LMAO


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## Toktorill

tot13 said:


> Neil, this was really cool when you designed this last year, but seeing the video really shows the genius of your idea. I am in awe and wish I did an indoor haunt just so I could imitate your plan!


Aw shucks Johnny, I'm blushing! :devil: I thought you *did* do a clown tent last year, wasn't that indoors-like?


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## tot13

Toktorill said:


> Aw shucks Johnny, I'm blushing! :devil: I thought you *did* do a clown tent last year, wasn't that indoors-like?


There's no comparison to a tent and a labyrinth! And btw, the tent has since been blown away, lol.


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## Howlinmadjack

Ingenious design, If you don't mind, I think I'll borrow your design for the zoo haunt this year. It gave me several ideas on how to expand the haunt, but still use the same amount of space.


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## Toktorill

howlin mad jack said:


> Ingenious design, If you don't mind, I think I'll borrow your design for the zoo haunt this year..


I don't mind one bit- sharing my best ideas so people CAN use them is why I write how-to's. Just be sure to post some pics somewhere and send me a PM with some details!


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## Wildcat

That is an awesome design. Well done. Oh and the video of the girls is great.


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## toymaker

all i can say is WOW

who says ingenuity is dead :jol:


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## Denhaunt

What a great illusion - thanks for posting this.


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## sharpobject

Great idea!! And for the trouble makers at the haunt, you can have it so they just keep going around and around......


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## The Watcher

I really like the way you design things and your use of material. I used your vortex idea last year. I hurt my knee and didn't have time to build the one I had planned. But I had my mind set on having one last year. So thanks to you I was able to get it done. You are certainly making a difference in peoples lives all over. This is another great idea.


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## The Kibosh

This is totally awesome. I'm doing something similar in my backyard haunt this year, so maybe I'll try something like this. Thanks so much for posting this!


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## ELH Erin Loves Halloween

I wish I could have been there awesome system


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## ELH Erin Loves Halloween

oh and Labyrinth fav movie


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## kprimm

Very cool, i also did something like this in my haunted house years ago. I only had two doors, but worked a little different than what you did here.I basically had the door be pushed open and whn it did it sealed off a passage to the side of it where i had an actor hidden. So when the door swang back shut there was instantly a monster standing right behind them in the spot that they had just walked through, scared the crap out of alot of people.Ha Ha good times.


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## thealmightyzenk

Nice!!!


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## TNBrad

Awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## sickNtwisted

Incredible!!!!!! Aren't you a clever cleaver


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## Granges Grim Ghouls

I love this idea. It make good use of a smaller space.


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## GhoulishGadgets

awesome idea - great video, thanks


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## RoxyBlue

I'm bringing this thread back to life for anyone currently planning a walkthrough who might need ideas for how to get more space without actually using more space:jol: it's an ingenious system of doors that turn into walls and vice versa as visitors pass through.

Thanks to halstaff for locating this thread for me!


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## GothicCandle

Wow this is brilliant! I'm so glad I came upon this thread! 

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk


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