# How do you keep those waiting entertained?



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

So we're in Australia and Halloween Trick or Treating is really just taking off. This year absolutely took us by surprise with the number of people who came on Halloween night and we had a LONG line of people waiting almost from the opening time till closing. One of the girls I work with told me they had a wait of 25 minutes (she said she wasn't bothered by it because it was worth the wait) but I can guarantee there were others who waited longer. We can only have so many in the haunt at one time because otherwise none of the scares are going to be effective. So my question to you is - what tactics to you use to make that wait less boring. Do you have actors working the crowd? Do you have things to do - things to see outside the haunt? We will definitely have to look at this for next year so I'm open to a bit of inspiration.


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## Cephus (Sep 10, 2018)

Depends on the haunt. I've had scare actors working the crowd but I've also had a video playing with the background of the haunt. It depends on how story-centric your haunt is, but anything that can keep them interested or get the excitement up works.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

As Cephus said, it depends upon the haunt, if it's something the guests are going to walk through, then it probably has, or needs, a story line. Introducing the story with a series of signs that have them, the guests, warmed up and ready by the time they actually enter the haunt itself helps to build suspense, but it also helps you offer a more fulfilling experience. Since you don't have to try to tell the whole story with scenes, actors, etc., it means you can focus on the spookier and scarier aspects within the haunt. Adding a soundtrack that last longer than the normal wait means your guests won't get bored by hearing the same thing over and over. again, and, like the signs, it an help tell the story and set the mood.


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## SkeleTom (Oct 5, 2007)

If you have space for it, you can add simple entertainments to the line area. AtmosFX video projections are fairly obvious candidates. It could be generic sight gags like the singing Jack O lanterns, or the characters who sing or tell a story or soliloquize. If you can incorporate the canned stories into your haunt storyline, so much the better.

I just do a fairly straightforward yard haunt, but with two zones, friendly stuff out front for the youngsters, and scarier stuff in the back yard. We found that the singing Jack O Lanterns were nice to keep the little ones entertained at the front of the house while the older/braver ones went to the back yard where the scary stuff is.


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