# How do Spirit Halloween's props hold up?



## EverydayisHalloween311 (Oct 14, 2011)

I have decided this year on a 50/50 rule (half probably gonna buy, half probably gonna build) This being my second year there was so much i wanted to add and at the same time so much that i wanted to try and build. I think we can all agree it's no fun to just buy props and have a yard full of mass manufactured (things that everybody else has) props. lol.. So with that being said i have decided to buy a few. ..Maybe. 
The animatronic stuff they sell that's similar to pneumatic props such as jumping spider, jumping zombie, etc etc etc.. How well do these things hold up outside and with TOT's ? You know, taking a bruising? Not burning up and quitting on me?


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I personally have never had much luck with Spirit animatronics. They always tend to break very early on for me.


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## EverydayisHalloween311 (Oct 14, 2011)

Lol. Haunt forum lot lizard lol jk


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I believe their jumping spider prop from last year held up pretty well. It worked and got decent reviews from buyers. Aside from that, last year when we went to the local Spirit stores, a good number of their animatronic props were not working properly. I don't know if that was a reflection on the props themselves or the local help they hired, but that was what we were seeing.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

RoxyBlue said:


> I believe their jumping spider prop from last year held up pretty well. It worked and got decent reviews from buyers. Aside from that, last year when we went to the local Spirit stores, a good number of their animatronic props were not working properly. I don't know if that was a reflection on the props themselves or the local help they hired, but that was what we were seeing.


Unlike most of our haunts, Props in the stores aren't well protected from patrons. They get a lot of abuse. They also run 10 hours a day 7 days a week. That's several seasons of run time for the average haunter. Even with that I've also noticed quite a lot of thier props are already malfunctioning two weeks before halloween. Ovderall I'd say thier quality is "Medium". Not great but not bad. Homebuilt stuff has the potential to last a LOT longer if well designed and built. I might also add that Homebuilt stuff is often easier to repair and maintain.


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## EverydayisHalloween311 (Oct 14, 2011)

The only thing spirit has going for them in we folks who can't/don't do pneumatics it's kinda the only other option for moving scare props. Even at 80-120 bucks for some of these props it still beats the price of buying a compressor and everything you would need. But for me personally i'll probably eventually get into pneumatics but not this year


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## scarrycher (May 30, 2012)

I have the jumping spider and it takes a licking, It scared my husband (he he) and he tossed it across the room and it still works fine.. the stone lifter, however, one I got at spirit for $5 because it was broke. I have a second one and it broke befor Halloween because the wind blew it over, arm mech. not good at all. I always got stuff from spirit after halloween for half price (which is still high).. concidering with help from the people here on this fourm I built a ground breaker out of messager for $10, its going to last alot longer than the stuff I got retail. the lights, strobes are ok but I still will be building LEDS because of the education from this fourm.. this year will be only my second year for haunt so I am a newby also, I think the moving stuff I am making is better quality hands down that store bougt.. hope this longwinded responce helps


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

I completely understand what you mean about not having the knowledge to do your own animatronics and such. I do have quite a few of Spirit's animatronics. I'll be completely honest, mine are great. There's been one or two that I had to return because of problems with each one that I would purchase. Last year it was "The Gravedigger". Loved it, but each one I got, and eventually returned, had something wrong with it. I never did get one that worked. Also a few years ago, I had gotten the witch stirring a misting cauldron. Bad, each and every one. I've gotten many, many props from them and they're just fine. I think some are better quality than others. 

My favorites I purchased from them are the "Caged Beast" which is a werewolf in a cage and he howls and says things. Scares the crap out of the tots all the time! Hehehe! Also is Jason. It has the "ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah" which everyone recognizes. His eyes, head and arm holding a machete moves also. 

This year, since joining the forum I'm going to tweak my store bought animatronics and make them more my own. The witch sweeping a broom is my first project and I can't wait to dig her out of their cave, I mean storage room. 

My only suggestion is to put the prop together as soon as you get home. Keep it together for a couple days and make sure it's worth the price you pay for it. Return it if it loses its appeal or if it's broken. 

Good luck!

P.S. - The jumping spider is AWESOME! Makes tots, adults, dogs jump every single time!


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## Dan The Welder (Jul 18, 2012)

I had a zombie hunter hatchet from spirit and it broke within 5 minutes of having it


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## Horror Roots Productions (Jul 8, 2012)

Im not sure about spirit - but last year i went to party city a few days before halloween and they were practically giving their props away. Animatronic skeletons and zombies that were normally 150-200$ were all 75% off. I bought a bunch of 1000 watt foggers for like $28 each... and the big stobe lights were like $5 bucks. Just a heads up - as i know some people only set up for the day of halloween...


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## Smexiigirlygrl (Aug 5, 2010)

If you're not capable of building things that move or doing big projects then Spirit may be the way to go. I personally have two jobs and I'm full time student so I get to decorate for Halloween the day before and on the day of. I do not have time for as many projects as I want. :-( I bought a ground breaker that connects to a fog machine and it comes out of his mouth and he worked perfect all night long. A little wobbly if not set on even surface but otherwise he was what I paid for. Although, because I was so excited to get him I did not check if my current fog machines would hook up to him...They sadly did not so I have not seen if he lasts long enough with the fog included. I also have a non-moving zombie prop and he hasn't fallen apart or anything. Both pieces survived being lightly rained on as well. So generally I've had no problems with Spirit.

Costume Castle props although do have some issues. They have many types of Halloween products from different makers and I think I've had just crap from them. But I did wait till after Halloween and they were having their sales so it was cheap crap.Which is always fixable


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## evil_ol_man (Oct 23, 2012)

Sprirt electronic props are made by Tekky toys, I have 3 of their props in my haunt. They are cheap. cheesy and not very durable. Their "Demonica" is the biggest pile of junk you could waste your money on. Tekky toys refuses to recall this prop which has been prone to failure since it was introduced. (And we are talking Catastrophic failure with the Demonica prop, in 3 hours or less! Demonica failed and did damage to the other props on first use, Neither Spirit or Tekky toys wanted to do anything about it!) The other 2 i have...well..They are put only on the day of....not before...again Cheesy and prone to breakage. The Circuit boards inside the props are not even held into place with screws or stand offs...if your lucky they used a little glue....IF YOUR REAL LUCKY! (Also Note, Spirit props are intended for INDOOR use only!) I guess that way if it fails...it can damage anything in close proximity) Buyer Beware! For the Price you spend on some of them...you can build your own.


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## Great Pumpkin (Feb 21, 2011)

Well we have decided not to purchase anymore life size Gemmy or Tekky Toy props! We are sticking with Distortions and Gag Studio props! Too amy of our props have died after 1 season and we paid out lots of money for them too! Quality over Quantity from now on.


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## Saturday8pm (Sep 5, 2012)

The best thing remaining after Halloween was a really neat full size skeleton that might have 
been marked down to $25, a great deal if true.

But their large props with animatronics and corrugated walls with a price of $400 was ambitious.


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

Well don't know about any of the other Spirit stores but ours didn't even carry any coffins of any kind. Went in and asked if they had any and was told they weren't even going to get any in for this year. The last one I bought from them was this balsa wood type coffin for right at about $100.00. Needless to say it lasted about 2 seasons and was in the trash the next year. 

So I ended up building my own toe pincher coffin and I know it will last a long time. I was really disappointed this year with what they carried. I think they had a lot left over from last year and are trying to resell it this year. Just really poor showing!


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## EvilEye (Nov 14, 2012)

I'd never had any Spirit animatronics but picked up some items before and after Halloween this year. My electronic electrocutioner box decided to quit closing the trigger circuit the day of Halloween (worked all month during tests). The other items are still working but what scares me is that if something goes south on a prop (like the electronic box did), I can't jump in to quickly resolve or replace electronics. I'd rather do my own so that I know it'll be robust as well as if something fails I can more easily repair/replace.

On the other hand, at the price point on some items I picked up after Halloween, they will make good backup/fill in props at a fraction of a cost (e.g. 2 zombie ground breakers at $35/ea).


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## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

I was given the broken animated props from a Spirit store when they closed last year. While waiting out the storm that swept through this Halloween my daughter and I pulled them out and started repairing them. What a nightmare. Demonica was the easiest repair. It had ground to a halt twisted up in it's own poor arm design. Merely moving it manually started it going and it's worked since. The Gate Keeper is a great looking prop in the dark, but it's the most poorly designed (weight distribution wise) piece of crap internally that I've ever seen. It was made badly with the wiring not routed properly, and the power line had wrapped around the motor arm till it killed itself. Also the arm holding the swinging lantern is way too heavy for the pivot point and had snapped off. Over two hours machining a replacement part. Pinhead from Hellraisor needed a new speaker. I still haven't gotten to the rising Dracula which seems to have shattered all of it's PVC pipe and fittings all on it's own motion. There's another Zombie one I can't remember the name of, which seems to not be working because the factory wiring is shorting itself out at the motor, the positive and negative lines connected to each other before entering the motor, then split apart and attached to the motor, lol
Having had a lot of these apart, I can say they're made with cheap parts, the wiring connections are poorly made, most circuit boards are held on with a dab of hot glue, and unless you have them in really strong light, most of them won't self trigger. That kinda doesn't work in a dark spooky haunt atmosphere.
If you can get them cheap enough, and are handy at repairs, and are willing to take a risk on them dying just when you need them, they're okay at filling in a haunts dead zones.


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## Lamborgman (Jul 14, 2013)

We got the Limb Ripper Werewolf animatronic for 2012 and it worked great, did change the nylon clothes that came with it as they looked cheasy we built a really cool cage for him to be housed in. Will have pictures up soon.


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## Georgeb68 (Mar 26, 2013)

I agree , not having as much time to build as teachers do Orkney after 3! Also we don't have summers off ( summer school) . We're w I , oh yes, I buy Spirit props and others and out of the 5 so far that I have....Wizard of Oz witch(for my wife which is setup in her Oz room),jumping spider,cemetery greeter,witch with misting cauldron and the evil riser ( comes up from behind a pumpkin). The only one I had a problem was with the last one.....looked like a store return .....but I wrote to Spirit and before I got a reply ,they had sent another one out with a conformation #. 

So, I would say for the money that it cost ,really they should last 4 halloween setups. I believe that they are a A++ on customer service for me.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

I have lots of spirit props. I haven't had that much trouble with mine. I have bought some that were broke and fixed them. But Props like the Jason. Even if they break, it is hard to build a life size Jason for the money they charge. Especially if you get them on sale. They motors and and boards are not top of the line. Once they go you can't get a replacement. But that that is almost the same every where. You might be able to get boards and motors from some of the other dealers. But the programming is gone. You can Always use you own motors and boards to to bring a Spirit prop back tp life. But don't put them out in heavy wind or rain. They are all made for indoor use. I set mine up in houses or under a tent. But I would buy another from them. I have to work on the stuff I make also.


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## Sloatsburgh (Jun 25, 2007)

I bought 2 Rising from the Grave 6 years ago. 50/50 is an appropriate assessment.


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## tattman98 (Jun 29, 2011)

We have bought props from the spirit one was the spider, and the other was the zombie girl and we had absolutely no problem with either prop. With the spider you do need make sure it held down securely. And the zombie girl is annoying after listening to her for 16 hours of haunting. But I have learned that there is no feeling as good as when you build a prop yourself and someone looks st it and says that is awesome. No better feeling than that..


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## ssmonte84 (Oct 20, 2013)

*spirit halloween/ tekky toys no customer service #. BS*

I have spent alot of money on Spirit halloween/tekky toys animitronics in the last 3 years That I have been building my haunted yard.
Im giving up on them. everything I have bought.... grave lifter, ghost hover, bloody nurse, and many more I bought never worked from the day I got it. whats the chances that none of them work from the beginning? well I got them all. Spirit halloween wont even put a customer service phone number on the receipt. Nor does tekky on there instuctions. 
I have now started buying from grandinroad.com. I will never buy from spirit again. There crap!!!! beware. think twice before u buy from them.


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

I have older spirit props from back when there was actually metal frames. All of my older spirit items are in good working condition. I have noticed that they carry less and less in there stores each year and more stuff online. Some of there online stuff looks better than what in the store.


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## Lady in White (Nov 13, 2012)

I bought several animated props from Spirit over the past year, and used them for a one night event. Most worked fine but I had a couple of issues. 
The electric box for my electrocuted prisoner worked fine all evening, until I went to take it down. I went to lift it up off the screws on the board that I mounted it to, and the door popped open and now won't close properly.  I barely touched the thing!

The other problem is probably my fault. We dropped our Gravedigger when we went to move him. He moves fine, but the audio seems to be gone. I would love to know what to do to fix him. I know how to solder if it's just a matter of something popping loose, but would like to know which wires lead to what before tearing him all apart. (Though it may come to that! Grave digger autopsy, so to speak...)

The other props all held up pretty well - Damian, John Doe, Jumping spider, Animated tombstone, crawling zombie... but again, I only used them one evening.

If there is a thread that has info on how to fix Spirit Props out there, I would love to know!


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