# Official 'what went wrong/lessons learned' thread



## Mizerella (Aug 6, 2009)

I waited to long to test fog! Not one worked no time to fix so I had to run and grab a cheap one just so I had something!

My biggest lesson I can not rely on anyone for help! If I am going to keep doing this no more actor reliant scenes. No one showed up to help tonight except my mom in-law and she was awesome. My husband even though I begged him to get home early this one night showed up after 6pm.
I think I may do Terra's chroma depth panels next year anyway. I've been wanting to anyway so this is just further motivation.

Also I got to get better sensors or foot pedals for my stuff. I hate scares being ruined by noise setting of a prop too early.


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## rotokid (Sep 26, 2010)

Well all in all it was a booming success but There where some very important things i learned this year that i should have learned long long ago. I do a very large yard show and it usually takes myself and 6 adult family members about 8-10 hours to get everything set up wired and checked. From now on we will be having a training well ahead of the big day. I added allot of new electronics, props, and lighting this year and everyone stood around waiting for me to explain the new items. I couldn't very well tell one of my sisters (who has no wiring/ lighting experience hey just go setup the lighting trusses, make sure you attach the dimmers, the gobo projectors go on the end, and don't forget to daisy chain the DMX cables before we lift it. So the final connections on new 16 channel main board was done with a little flashlight and several attempts. I have to say they gave it there best even when I started to get a little testy.


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

Mizerella said:


> If I am going to keep doing this no more actor reliant scenes.


My actors did a great job tonight, but I either need to get twice as many or drop the idea altogether as they couldn't keep up with the crowd since they manned multiple positions. I'm leaning towards the latter at the moment as it's simpler to manage things when you know you'll just have static stuff, instead of trying to figure out where you can get actors.

Another lesson...programming the lightorama is very time consuming. This cannot wait until September. Need to try and do a song a month so I don't get burnt out.


The other thing, no more running any out of town races in October..I lost way too many setup days to that


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## DexterSinister (Aug 13, 2011)

Figure out where I need power for the things I haven't yet put out. Run the extension cords and make sure outlets are where I need them in advance of the final setup. Come up with a better power distribution arrangement to avoid the tangled rats nest.

Likewise for the speaker wires; put them in place ahead of time even though I'm not putting the speakers out yet.

Get a power supply for the laser effect instead of relying on batteries.

Buy a minimal amount of candy and come up with cool stuff that's easy to keep for next year. Way too much candy left over.

There's not enough time at the last minute to break out the bunch of battery operated clip-on LEDs and place them strategically. Set 'em up early or forget about it. (maybe the TOTs will get clip on LEDs next year)

Find a way to keep the friends who are gathering (to TOT as a group) from loitering in the driveway and keeping the motion activated prop running continuously and spoiling the surprise.

Can't have too many Jack-o-lanterns. The movie Trick-R-Treat got that right. No matter what your theme, lots of lighted Jack-o-lanterns just look right.

A little fog juice goes a long way.

All of those were minor and didn't detract from the haunt.


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## bl00d (Aug 26, 2010)

Lesson learned not to walk away from my haunt even if it next door

Group of teenagers ran through it stealing what they could.

They also stole all of the candy.


Lil did they know that I run and workout everyday so I chased them down and got my stuff funny having a zombie chase after you lol

After catching them I told them I have you all w/ stolen property I am calling the police and you were also caught on hidden cameras.

pulled out my cell phone they begged and pleaded, pretended to start calling the police, but instead I gave them one option, I call the police because they stole my props n candy or they can return the props back and all of there candy that they have dump it into a garbage bag and hand it out to TOTers while I supervise.

They chosed my option and I hope they learned a vaulable lesson.


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## GobbyGruesome (Sep 14, 2005)

ˆWell played! That night turned out a little different than what they were expecting.


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## Ghouliet (Nov 5, 2010)

I learned I would like another fog machine in my graveyard next year and I also need to do a better job of lighting up the spider area in my yard. Extra back up light bulbs are a good thing to have on hand, I had one thank goodness and you can never have too many batteries.


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## The Red Hallows (Sep 21, 2009)

More battery operated lights for our floating pumpkins.

Another American DJ 1200 fog machine. I love the one we have, but my husband and I fight over it.


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## talkingcatblues (Jan 30, 2009)

One thing I learned was not to count on having all the prep time the calendar says you have, because some weekends that *seem* free are going to be eliminated by unexpected family obligations, the weather, having to redesign something and start over, etc.

Also if any of the "eliminated" time had been at the last minute, which it could just as well have been, I would not have gotten nearly as much done as I had wanted to. So I should really try not to last minute it, although that's very hard for me to do.


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## blackfog (Oct 9, 2008)

I couldn't agree with you more shockwave199 about the time flying for set up during the day.!!! The things I learned was NO SNOW two days before Halloween. I set up everything the day of because I am to afraid of things being stolen.....it happened once and can't get over the fear. Well the snow messed me up on Saturday plus we lost power, I was going to do all of my wiring for the lighting and set up the wooden dowels for the tombstones and props. Didn't happen either on Sunday cause we still didn't have power until 11:30 that afternoon and there was to much snow to be messing with electrical wiring. Hubby took off from work to help and couldn't have done it without him! Got things done just in the nick of time with no time to spare. Didn't put out some things due to time but got the main stuff done which no one even noticed except me. Also like Mizerella said testing the fog machine well in advance. We had a major scare about 4:30 Hubby started the fog machine and nothing. Then he got some pipe cleaners and tried some more and thank goodness it worked. Dispite these things it was a great night and for a second there did a double take when the countdown clock said today was Halloween lol!


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## bamtunebam (Jan 1, 2010)

Actors: Every year Actors are a headache for me. Now granted I use pre-teenagers, but it is amazing how I get permission from parents 2 months in advance to help me out and I still get multiple cancellations the day of. I might have to get understudies (ha ha).

Set-up: Just like everyone else I run short of time at the end. I need to have everything set up the day before so I have time to work out the kinks. 

Batteries: This was a lesson from two years ago. It will be dark and supplies will be hard to find. Know where your spare tea lights and batteries are so you can quickly get replacements. 

Fog and wind: Even a slight breeze can destroy a rolling fog. Perhaps I need a fog machine on each corner of my cemetery to adjust to the current wind direction.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Scatterbrains said:


> My actors did a great job tonight, but I either need to get twice as many or drop the idea altogether as they couldn't keep up with the crowd since they manned multiple positions. I'm leaning toward the latter at the moment as it's simpler to manage things when you know you'll just have static stuff, instead of trying to figure out where you can get actors.
> 
> Another lesson...programming the lightorama is very time consuming. This cannot wait until September. Need to try and do a song a month so I don't get burnt out.
> 
> ...


That's funny you say that. I'm looking at it from the opposite direction. Would love to scare actors and reduce the props. Gah, I guess both options have problems.



bl00d said:


> Lesson learned not to walk away from my haunt even if it next door
> 
> Group of teenagers ran through it stealing what they could.
> 
> ...


Good for you and bet that was a better lesson to learn then even calling the cops _(which is what I would have done). _Making them stand there all night and hand out the candy is something they will never forget and probably stopped their thievery dead in its tracks. Oh, how I would have loved to see you chasing after them though. Straight out of the movie 28 days - LOL!


My lesson - add one more day to prep. I trimmed a day thinking I didn't need it and was regretting that decision sorely. Had to push it hard to get it all done and by the time the ToTs arrived, I was beat. Thankfully, once the scaring begins it all washes away...


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## Smithy (Aug 4, 2010)

I think the main thing we learned this year is to anchor props down properly. Over the past few years we've had bits of rain which didn't bother us or the props too much but this year we were hit with more wind than we expected. We decided not to use the large iron railings around the main area of the garden so we had quick access to stand things back up. All of the plastic spikes on our tombstones were snapped by wind so at the last moment we decided to use plants in the garden to hold them down. This actually worked quite well as it gave an old neglected kind of look to it.

The next lesson we learned is not to let people walk around the garden. Usually the iron railings would have prevented this but we didn't use them so people were walking around the garden taking pictures and unfortunately the uplight for the grim reaper got trampled.

I agree with testing the smoke machines. We have had to buy 4 new ones each year. This year however we had a go at repairing the old ones. Most of them started working but died again not long after. Luckily some new pumps arrived on saturday just in time to repair them all properly. All of our smoke machines happen to use the same type of pump and some have been modified to work properly with our electronics so replacing the entire thing is a bit of a pain. I would definately recommend having spare pumps around just incase.

The last one is wiring again. This took most of our time because our current system requires 1 wire from each light or prop to be run back to a controller somewhere in the house. Next year we plan to have something like stage boxes which will be fixed to various walls around the garden days in advance so all of the props only have short wires to the nearest box. We will be upgrading the lighting too. The lights themselves will be better protected, be full RGB and work using a similar method to DMX so we can daisychain them.

Overall this year went quite well. No major problems with any of the props or electonics but there's definately room for improvement.


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## Shadowbat (Sep 27, 2009)

Make a list of everything I need to put out. There were a couple of items, one that was an intrical part of the set up, I forgot about until the night was almost over.

More replacement candles! Every candle in the lanterns completely burned out twice! Even the Jacks burned out around 9 or so. 

I need to get more actors back. 2 of my friends who use to do this with me stopped a couple eyars ago, now its just my brother and me. Next year my son will be 17 and he'll start haunting with us, but another would be nice. We get swamped at times and it gets very overwhealming.


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## Tannasgach (Nov 1, 2009)

I learned to remove the cat tail _before_ sitting on the toilet.


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## ZOMBIE7666 (Feb 1, 2011)

bl00d said:


> Lesson learned not to walk away from my haunt even if it next door
> 
> Group of teenagers ran through it stealing what they could.
> 
> ...


hahahahaha that is soooo amazing!! good work man!


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## ElGuapoGuano (Oct 5, 2006)

The biggest lesson I learned was NOT to use a sewing machine motor for the Axworthy. Worked great for about 15 minutes, then some rain came, which weighed down the already over weight ghost and she came to an almost grinding halt. Still looked cool glowing, floating in the air, but it didn't fly as long or as well as I had hoped.


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## ScreamingSkull (Oct 21, 2008)

Lessons Learned-
1) You can never start too early
2) Schlepping stereos (including adapters & correct wire lengths) to accompany props is time consuming - and back breaking, if you've got a lot.
3) When time slips away, and youre getting down to the wire, how do you maintain a happy attitude amongst your family members?
4) Pack your stuff away in an organized manner
5) Make sure you use the correct audio connectors - my stereo jacks worked poorly one year when I mixed mono plugs in with them. 
6) Test your pnuematics & controllers well before the big day.
7) Never underestimate how long it takes to do set up.


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## Jack Skellington (Oct 25, 2005)

My talking corpse in the coffin needed more volume. He sounded great all week long but when everyone was standing around and talking with all the other noise you could barely make out what he was saying.

I had some mini amps and speakers but ran out of time to get them setup. The powered computer speakers just weren't loud enough.

I also need more space for my Haunted House. Of course there isn't much I can do about that until I can build a 2 car garage.


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## Jack Skellington (Oct 25, 2005)

ScreamingSkull said:


> Lessons Learned-
> 1) You can never start too early
> 2) Schlepping stereos (including adapters & correct wire lengths) to accompany props is time consuming - and back breaking, if you've got a lot.
> 3) When time slips away, and youre getting down to the wire, how do you maintain a happy attitude amongst your family members?
> ...


I totally agree with all of these especially number 4. Last time Sally shoved everything in any bin where it would fit so nothing was in a logical place this year. I told her we're going to get organized when we pack it away like we used to. She didn't like that idea at first but saw the benefit as we started to discover things we had in bins and were buried under something else. Unfortunately she had already run out to buy more.


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## SheerTerrorHaunt (Jul 22, 2011)

Being my first year, I learned a lot of things:
-Audio can be a pain-in-the-butt.
-Train actors 
-Have back-up lights
-Start earlier
-Build props before-hand
-Need to figure out a better way to control groups


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## Not-so-sunny-lane (Jan 31, 2009)

Lesson #1: Stop Procrastinating!!!! Set up ALWAYS takes longer then expected
Lesson #2: Don't get fancy trying to cook a meal to feed your actors. No one ever says no to free pizza
Lesson #3: Organize when putting things away, Never let your husband do it while you're at work because you'll never find everything.
Lesson #4 and most important: So what if you forgot to start your fog machines or that a prop didn't come out exactly right. As long as you get screams, laughs and overhear a few cool compliments, it was a successful night.


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## serpensphile (Nov 12, 2008)

ElGuapoGuano said:


> The biggest lesson I learned was NOT to use a sewing machine motor for the Axworthy. Worked great for about 15 minutes, then some rain came, which weighed down the already over weight ghost and she came to an almost grinding halt. Still looked cool glowing, floating in the air, but it didn't fly as long or as well as I had hoped.


For my Axworthy ghost, I used plastic grocery bags which made the ghosts 1) white 2) VERY lightweight 3) rain proof and they simply FLOW in the air!!!


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## scarybella (Aug 4, 2010)

always have spare bulbs lying around. Don't think you can set up everything in one day like me lol then start shouting and swearing that you've run out of wire then you have to go out and but more then you start swearing even more lol. lay out everything in advance so you can see what wire cables you need. Bur my biggest thing learned from this year is have your dinner early as it took me around 2 hours to eat mine, no sooner had I sat down to eat more TOTs would arrive at the door lol

But I loved everything about it even my cold dinner lol even though the wind was blowing the fog all over lol


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## GhostTown (Jul 6, 2011)

Our learned lessons are pretty simple:

*1. No fog right next to the front door.*
- Opening and closing the door while the fogger was blasting allowed quite a bit into the house. I'm sure it's fairly harmless, 
but I'm not real keen on the thoughts of some of that nasty, sticky fogger residue being all over things..... no matter how 
thin it might be.

*2. It's a good idea to plan on it being windy/breezy enough to kill the effects of a fog chiller.*
- I should have been smart enough to see this, but my inner child so badly wanted to see creepy fog rolling over the feet of ToT's at
the front door. Fail. There was a light to moderate wind blowing all evening so all I did was blow fog (big fog machine, 
through a big chiller, piped through black corrugated pipe and out small drain holes) right into the face of our visitors. 
While it might have been kind of cool to some, in the end I think it's kind of tacky. Fog should be seen from at least a 
small distance, not billowing around the head of a 4 year old child. Parents might worry about that.

- Plan on having fog in the middle of the yard only, and even though it may run through the best chiller in the land, expect it to be blown
down the street.

*EDIT:* After re-reading that, it might look like I was actually shooting fog TOWARDS the faces of people. It was at their feet and chilled with 80 pounds of ice through a vortex chiller, but the light wind caused it to swirl around too much and draft upwards. It doesn't take much for it to be at face level of a 4 to 6 year old kid.


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## Ravenfell Manor (Oct 2, 2011)

What did I learn this Halloween?
1. Do not let hubby blow off Halloween prep when I suggest beginning back in June. This year got completed like 10 minutes before TOTers showed up. 
2. Make sure I have more weatherproofed props so I can start putting them up before the day of Halloween. To save time I cut some corners to get stuff done but I paid for it because most stuff couldn't go out until that day. 
3. Plot out the lighting better and test it out beforehand. There were a few dark spots that hid some things. 
4. Play with the fog machines and chillers ahead of time to get the right effect. Also more fog machines. 
5. Keep a chain around hubby so he can't get away. Every time I tried to light a cigarette hubby would somehow predict that TOTers were coming and simply disappeared on me. Since I will not smoke in front of little kids I put out numerous cigarettes because I couldn't have him take over the candy bowel while I finished one.


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## MrOCT31 (Oct 15, 2007)

ScreamingSkull said:


> Lessons Learned-
> 1) You can never start too early
> 2) Schlepping stereos (including adapters & correct wire lengths) to accompany props is time consuming - and back breaking, if you've got a lot.
> 3) When time slips away, and youre getting down to the wire, how do you maintain a happy attitude amongst your family members?
> ...



This is a great list!
For me #6 is the big one followed by #7! I didn't test my controllers early enough and had issues on the big night! Which leads me to a lesson I learned a couple of years ago that if it breaks, doesn't work or whatever on the big night, don't worry about trying to fix it, just let it go and take care of it later. Running around trying to do repairs just makes the night a lot less fun. Unless it's completely obvious, no one else will notice so don't stress about it!


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## HKitten (Sep 20, 2009)

I learned that you have to make sure your points-based games are foolproof to ensure that one ultra-competitive friend won't mess it up for everyone.

We had four teams of people and one of the ways they could earn points was answering questions that I carried about in my cauldron. Most people were happy to get two or three, then wander off. This one guy, who is a huge fan of the subject matter, answered almost twenty questions in a row. Eventually I had to tell him I wanted a break to get some food and sit down. He was bugging me all night and even though his team won, he still left early with his girlfriend after whining within earshot of me that he shouldn't have been penalised just for being a fan.

It's not that you're a fan mate, it's because you don't understand the concept of 'fun for other people too'! Having him answer every single question, not giving anyone else a chance or giving me a minute to enjoy my own party, isn't fun.

So in retrospect, I should have set a limit to the number of questions per team, so that each team could only get a maximum number of points anyway. I'll remember that for next time.


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## Thumper7 (Aug 23, 2009)

My lessons learned? Hmmmm. where to start.
Fog machines fail when you are least expecting it.
CD players suck.
If you think that you have enough access............ you dont because the gawkers will bottleneck everything at the most popular props or scenes.
Wear eye protection when breaking up dry ice.
and finally, DO NOT STRESS!!!! Have fun and dont let yourself get uptight, this is supposed to be fun and enjoyable.


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Even though I set up Halloween Day there _must be_ more items that can be put out a head of time to save time on the big day.

I have a few foggers bought but still have yet to use them, duh. The wind at this time of year so far has always been blowing towards our house (not good) so need to figure out a good place for them and not wait until the last minute to decide if I'll use them or not. Silly to have them and not use.

Take the time to nicely pack away electrical cords after use so they unwind freely when you need them. Can't believe how much time it took and how aggravating it was to try to untangle my 50 ft cords when you are pushed for time setting up. 

Lighting is important. I could have used more of it inside my coffin that has holes in it. I had two purple spotlight bulbs from Big Lots purchased a few years ago (mfgr appears gone so can't get more) and needed both for the scene I was setting up as a wall wash. One burned out apparently 10 minutes into turning it on. The second one was fine but I didn't have time to go back and find something to fill in the space for the first one. Dang I really love these bulbs too! Great depth of color.

It's fun to sit out together on the porch waiting for the ToTers; and hoodies work great to keep you warm when the winds pick up. Having a thermos of hot chocolate prepared would be even nicer!


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## BeaconSamurai (Nov 5, 2009)

1) Have a way to open my garage when I have no power. My plan was to do a test setup on Saturday and Sunday to work out any flaws. But with the storm and no power. I couldn't get to my props in the garage, I have an electric door opener with the safety release inside! I couldn't get to them!

2) Need to build a fog chiller - looked great but rose up and I live on a corner and the wind changed direction like a thousand times!

3) Need more extension cords, lights, well more of evertyhing just in case.


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## beebs (Sep 20, 2011)

1. When you think you have enough candy, buy one more bag just in case! 
2. Always have one extra extension cord and power strip on hand.
3. Make a back up jello brain, just in case a rotten kid sticks his whole hand in one because he "just had to feeeel it!"
4. Use a table and a chair for the candy station that do not have wheels. (I have a very steeply inclined driveway, my candy and chair almost went for a ride several times. 
5. Have dinner ready by 5pm, that way you won't be starving and running from the kitchen to the candy bowl trying to eat between waves of kids.


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

BeaconSamurai said:


> 1) Have a way to open my garage when I have no power. My plan was to do a test setup on Saturday and Sunday to work out any flaws. But with the storm and no power. I couldn't get to my props in the garage, I have an electric door opener with the safety release inside! I couldn't get to them!....


All of our electric garage doors have had a key release on the door. Looks like a little round lock that when you access it with a key it pops out and you pull towards you. The back of the keyed area has a cable to your release latch on the garage door track. Pulling it lets you manually lift the door. Has come in handy when our power went out and we needed to get to work. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for you to have all of your halloween stuff in there and not get to it.


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## Smithy (Aug 4, 2010)

Yes, getting dinner ready early is a good idea. We had breakfast around 9AM and due to lack of time we didn't have anything else until around 11:30PM after bringing all of the props back inside.


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## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

Everything went pretty smooth.But for me
1-Have plenty of AA batteries
2-why must it rain
3-fogger blew out some cool fog on the upper porch which was the ship
4-I will never put my fcg on my covered porch again.This one is ruined the hanger is rusted and put rust on the cheesecloth.So now it will have to be redone.Darn that hubby I let him talk me into it.My other fcgs are perfect that was hung in the crypt.
5-up the prepared treat bags.I don't have many tot's so on a school night I figured 20 but ended up with 35.
6-take down day is the saddest day all year for me


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## ezekiel (Nov 4, 2007)

Regardless of how many times you tell people not to run, when they get scared they will bolt for the exit faster than the speed of light ... just thankful we only had one minor incident from a guest who decided to walk backwards through a room.


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## Minakitty (Jul 29, 2011)

1. Prepare any haunt soundtrack well in advance (kept procrastinating, and voila, no soundtrack).
2. Don't go to a late party the night before your own (especially if it involves food prep!).
3. You CAN bake cupcakes a day or two early (not that I did).
4. Get in better shape to help the husband chase down vandals/thieves (poor guy was exhausted, but got the bluckies back)!

...and props to bl00d for catching the thieves, recovering the stash, and finding extra help for the evening, all in one shot!


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

What I learned (but should know by now)

-BATTERIES OF ALL KINDS!! I swear if I think I need AAA I really need AA or vice versa.

-Remove all those ridiculously teeny, tiny, screws from the back of the light (or whatever) if it's not needed. 

-Make sure my husband actually take off the WHOLE day. It's just the 2 of us doing this & he helps a lot. Normally he does take off, but for some reason he didn't think of it this year & his boss scheduled a yearly review. Go figure, it's not like we haven't been married for nearly 12 years, it's not like he hasn't been helping me paint my groundbreaker, walking around all the boxes, & looking at all the decorations for the month. He went in half day & was home by 2PM, which worked out OK, but still, I coulda killed him & made him part of the display when I first heard he "had to go in."

-IT WILL BE WINDY AT SOME POINT IN THE DAY IF NOT ALL DAY!! Thankfully, it stopped before ToTing started so some fog was seen.

-I need a more powerful fogger or a few more of them.

-I need a lighter coffin or make the current heavy-as-crap one into a groundbreaker. That sucker was free & now I know why. It takes 2-3 people to carry the thing & one of those 2-3 should not be me. It was made of pressed wood & meant to house a real person. I don't need such a thing at the moment & even if I didn't I don't need one that frickin' heavy.

-CHARGE YOUR CAMERA BATTERY!! I got 3-4 pics & it died. At least I got a few which is better than none.


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## andjarnic (Oct 27, 2008)

@Blood.. holy crap that had me laughing my butt off. That is awesome! The fact that you caught teenagers who should be pretty fast at that age, is great.. that would have been me. Only problem is, I'd be afraid of them telling their parents and some sort of ridiculous law suit. That said, that they were so afraid of the cops and came back and handed out their own candy is great. I only had one set of teens show up without costumes. I made them catch their candy if they wanted it for being too old and not dressing up.


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## hauntedgraveyard (Sep 8, 2008)

Only a few minor mishaps.

The CD for the bottomless pit wouldn't read, so no sound effects for that. Should have checked it a couple of days ago.

Should have fully tested cauldron witch, it was leaking water as well as the sound issue.

Biggest mistake - taking photos on my SLR camera with my old glasses on! Normally my night shots can be great. Just fuzzy crap. Oh well!









I bought lots of extra batteries, cheap, from Dollarama. AAA, AA and the ones for the tea lights. Smart move.

Extra extension cords. My hubby bought more to keep up with the expanding graveyard.


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## andjarnic (Oct 27, 2008)

@BeaconSamurai,

I used a 12' corrugated crap the last two years.. packed it with dry ice and it worked ok.. it allowed my fog to be directed a bit.. however, it wasn't that great and if the wind picked up at all.. it was all over.

This year I got a second fog machine and had one on each side of my walk way, it provided tons of fog, but I ran it through chillers I made this year. I built two igloo 60qt chillers and used regular 20lb bags of ice. It worked ok.. but I noticed a couple hours in when I checked on the ice thinking it would be low.. instead I had one big block of ice.. I forgot to add salt. But the ice formed into one block so my fog wasn't chilling much by that time. Being this year it was on a Monday, I think it is ok though.. most of our ToTers were done by 7.


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## osenator (Nov 3, 2009)

-Even when you think you have check everything, you forgot tons of things to check.
-Praying to Mother Nature does work! Best Halloween weekend weather ever!
-Being on TV and the best newspaper does not bring in more kids, as I expected. worst turn out ever (around 200 only.. usually 300 to 500 kids..) Why so low?
-START IN SEPTEMBER! So much can be done before October!


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## MrOCT31 (Oct 15, 2007)

Don't use cheap heavy duty batteries on anything making sound! The 9v works fine for LED eyes but the AA and AAA that I used in MP3 and CD players don't last long at all! Pay the extra for quality batteries next year!


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## cinders (Oct 12, 2003)

- Do not wait until September to start working on props. Lots of rain in Sept. and Oct. prevented making things outside.
- Everything is going to take me 3 times longer than I think it will take.
- Don't forget to buy batteries. Had to scrounge around the house for some, and then not get to use some things.
- Make sure to have enough plug adapters. It does me no good to have run the power cords out into the yard early in the setup only to find I don't have enough adapters. Alternatively, it would have been a non-issue if I would have run out to get more immediately when I realized I couldn't plug everything in.
- I will no longer assume that the floodlight I blindly moved while not being turned on is actually going to be lighting the area I want lit. One of the few things I made was not lit up because I haphazardly stuck the light where I "thought" it should go instead of coming in from a whole different angle.


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## Smithy (Aug 4, 2010)

Ahh yes, other parties don't help much. I definately shouldn't have gone to work's party on saturday. They had an open bar so most of sunday was wasted too.


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## Lea32R (Oct 16, 2008)

I learned that everything takes longer than you think it will. At my party, we didn't even get to the horror movies because the pumpkin carving/party games took up so much time!

I also learned that I always need more cider than I think I do. I make spiced, honeyed cider and every year people go nuts for it!

Waiting until everyone was there to make the food actually worked really well. It meant I wasn't using up too much food and the food didn't get a chance to go cold. All I did was stick the stuff in the oven, come back to the party and set an alarm on my phone for when it would be ready.

I also learned that all the food I made this year was a big hit so I will be repeating it next year...marinated bat wings, mummy's fingers, pumpkin soup and garlic bread (NOWHERE could I get doughballs to make garlic eyeballs) oh and people LOVED the graveyard brownies.


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## ezekiel (Nov 4, 2007)

Mizerella said:


> My biggest lesson I can not rely on anyone for help!


Forgot to +1 that one ... several people volunteered and then were late shows and/or had no clue what we had previously discussed. Some things were beyond their control but ... this year reinforced to me yet again that relying on others is asking for disaster.


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## Mizerella (Aug 6, 2009)

I agree time was really and issue this year. It just seemed to melt away!

@Lea32R do you share your spiced honey cider recipe?


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## VirusHaunt (Oct 9, 2011)

Mizerella said:


> I waited to long to test fog! Not one worked no time to fix so I had to run and grab a cheap one just so I had something!
> 
> My biggest lesson I can not rely on anyone for help!




Im a strong believer in this


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## Growler (Aug 12, 2008)

If it's going to go wrong, live with it because something always will. And have plenty of pain pills. I had put my huge garage spider up and had made a new base for it this year I was really happy about. I got everything up there and putting it together the base collapsed and just about took me off the roof. I torqued my back so the day was miserable from then on out. 
Watch parents as closely as children because, they can't keep their hands to themselves and will poke, smack and prod the props. 
Run your music ahead of time. I burned a disk and ran it through itunes. It kept jamming and then would jam my computer! 
When something breaks, don't worry about it. I snapped a mounting bracket that is party of a pneumatic cylinder but, the trash can trauma still made noise enough to scare people. 
Buy larger foggers. I bought 3 small 400w foggers and they hardly put out any fog. 
Do NOT plan anything for the next day. Especially a doctors visit at 8:45 in the morning! I did NOT want to even think about crawling out of bed, let along go to the doctors.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Victim of our own success: Had to form a queue line this year, but that instantly cut actors in half, and made communication between the front and back of the haunt impossible. 

I either need help or technology to overcome.


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## BlueFrog (Oct 20, 2009)

ezekiel said:


> Forgot to +1 that one ... several people volunteered and then were late shows and/or had no clue what we had previously discussed. Some things were beyond their control but ... this year reinforced to me yet again that relying on others is asking for disaster.


Can I have an Amen?! Everyone backed out in the final 24 hours (mostly for understanble reasons of illness or injury), leaving two people with serious musculoskeletal issues to set up the entire haunt... which meant that, for all practical purposes, an entire year's worth of planning went down the drain. We got a few of my flashiest purchases out on the lawn in a themeless explosion of Halloween stuff, but that was about it. Best of all, my we didn't have the time or strength to remove the blow mold display so my Victorian display casket was surrounded by cute plastic ghosts and pumpkins. :/ 

My lesson learned - and folks, read and heed this one: *Always have a fully charged cell phone on you in case of a potential emergency*. Do NOT plan on running into the house to make a call. 

My elderly mother was manning the ToTs outside when a man drove to our house specifically in a car with out of state plates. He was not in costume per se but did have a dog leash hanging from his back pocket and what appeared to be a gun in his front pocket. He hung around and was carefully watching the groups of ToTs traveling down the street. He quietly slipped away when it was clear there was going to be a steady stream of large groups for the forseeable future. Thief? Pedophile? Something was up, and my mother was afraid to go to the house door in case he would try to force himself inside. Had I been in her position I would have done it anyway but she was afraid to. Things turned out fine this time, but it just as easily could have gone the other way. This is the second year in a row we've had a problem with adults (last year it was a group of "drunks" who were trying to get into the house and the back yard) and neither time did we have a cell phone handy. The local police force loves our display and had we called them I have no doubt they'd have been there in a flash. Never again are we going without that basic protection.


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## bl00d (Aug 26, 2010)

@ andjarnic 

One of them did call thier parents and I explained the situation to them and invited them into my home to discuss. They were not too happy w/ thier child lol


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## Shockwave199 (Jan 18, 2007)

Batteries have been mentioned a bunch in this thread. It seems I forgot the lesson learned last year- invest in power adapters for every single thing that uses one. For all of the money I spent in batteries last year, I could have invested in power adapters and come out around the same price as all the batteries, only the power adapters don't run down and die. I spent 100 bucks on adapters for all my props after halloween last year, having learned that lesson. This year it was sheer joy not having props die and changing batteries. But what do I do? I plunk batteries in the cd players! Moron! I didn't remember the golden rule- eliminate as many batteries as possible. It is WORTH the investment in power adapters.

Fog has been mentioned too. The winds must have been calm by me because my three 400 watt foggers smoked me out big time! It was amazing! Loved it!

Dan


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## obsessedjack (Sep 3, 2010)

Don't put fake door knockers on your door. Ppl may think they're real and break them.


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## dariusobells (Sep 24, 2007)

Moisture . Yeah every one gets rain and fog and snow.. I resealed my crypts about 5 days after rain.. too bad they weren't dry enough I trapped the moisture inside the wood (under monster mud) and the props came apart while trying to break down... maybe a moisture meter is in order?


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## Beatlejuice (Jun 6, 2010)

This is great to read through and I've been nodding my head continuosly - yep, that's right ...yep, that's right ... If I can add one thing, it will be that if you have more elaborate things that take apart and set up, just remember it's been a whole year - you tend to forget how things go together. Memo to self "Must remember to better mark things - this panel goes on the left side, this piece is the top, the front, etc." What works for me (and I'm going to do a better job, as I put things away), is clearly marking the pieces and even drawing a diagram on the back side depicting the completed mausoleum, etc. and where that particular part goes, because sometimes the right side looks a lot like the left, and they don't interchange very well, especially when your working against the clock. Nothing like a picture - it's why they show you all the food on the Waffle House menu (not just because it's usually 3:30 in the morning and your hair hurts)


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## Dr.Psychosis (Nov 2, 2011)

1. Always have a multi-purpose fire extinguisher on hand!! The electric drill that runs my electric chair prop fried, and we had real smoke!!

2. Always check "all" the fog machines before the big day, and have at least one back-up tested and ready to go...I ended up with no working fog machines!!

3. Change motion sensors to manual triggers!!! This way I can control the scares and props won't get overworked or accidentally triggered by cars.

4. When inviting friends over, make sure the costume up!! Especially if they'll be hanging out on the front porch just distracting everyone, and just constantly being in the way!!

5. Most important thing I learned...Always have fun, no matter how stressed on the big day!!


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## Ulfric (Nov 10, 2010)

The actors did a great job. Got all of my setup done on time. Even had time for food before the TOT showed up. At 2:00 that afternoon my air compressor stopped working. No pneumatics  Luckily I had just one pneumatic prop so we were able to recover.


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## CycloneJack (Jun 30, 2011)

I learned that if we're not enjoying what were doing, then its not worth doing. When folks in our group start getting a bit frazzled, I had to remind them of this addadge. In other words, I repeated it quite often, therefore it was permanently etched into my brain!


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## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

Do not misplace the remote control for the setups! The breaker tripped and after we turned it back on I couldnt find the remote that turns EVERYTHING on. I freaked out. 

I did find it eventually but not before I had trapped like 5 kids in the garage and my family was still asking questions about scissors and crap for their unfinished costumes. dang it I was super stressed!

Oh, and test the inflatables with the entire setup, I think thats what blew my power 4 times because it was the only thing I added the day of and didnt test. >< 

I need moar powah! 

-Have lots of paper towels around, drinks were spilled several times

-Get better batteries, the cheap ones die way too soon. Even if you wait last minute to turn everything on.

-Love the remote controlled haunt but need to keep the remote attached to my hip, along with a flashlight in case power goes out again, lol.

-PRE-ORDER the pizza. Going inside to order and find out that you cant get delivery sucks. I missed 15 minutes of action and I had about 80 tots, though alot of them were parents/family.


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## Gryphon (Sep 28, 2011)

Trigger malfunction followed shortly thereafter by a total self destruction of the control arm of my 4 bar


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

Terra said:


> That's funny you say that. I'm looking at it from the opposite direction. Would love to scare actors and reduce the props. Gah, I guess both options have problems.
> 
> 
> .


I'd rather have more actors, but don't know where to get them. Get lots of promises, but few I can count on.


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## ondeko (Oct 14, 2008)

[1] you can NOT have too many batteries or extension cords. Check the batteries on everything that uses them and have extras. Plan out electrical placement before hand and have an extra extension cord or 2 anyway. 

[2] set up takes longer than you think. Start earlier than you think you must and try to start an hour before *that*.

[3] get wife to take the day off. she doesn't help with a lot of the set up, but she runs errands, handles the candy table and double checks stuff for me.

[4] Test stuff before hand--I always check the fogger and audio but I decided to change the placement of the blowmolds and changed my lighting and had problems. There was too much light overall and the props didn't have enough specific lighting. set up and check light at least the night before.

[5] keep plans modest and don't try to add too much at once. 

[6] draft out the planned layout so friends who drop by to help can help without having to try to read my mind.

[7] put up a sign defining a start time so ToTs don't show up while I'm still putting out props. it's distracting and adds to an already chaotic time and leads to forgetting stuff. some props never got put out because i was busy dealing with ToTs who were out way before dark and my wife wasn't home yet.


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## DontWorkWithDemons (Sep 10, 2011)

1- No matter how you set up a fence, someone will_ always_ get through it. 

2- Never enough extension cords.

3- 14 bags of candy will _not_ be enough next year. 
3b- Pileups will occur if you have to go back in the house to replenish the bowl. Expect to replenish again when the horde leaves.

4- No, you won't have time to do ___ later, do it now while you're still thinking about it.


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## Forever Haunting (Jan 1, 2009)

1. Sweat the small stuff in advance.
2. Don't sweat the small stuff during Halloween.
3. If something breaks...don't spend very much time correcting it...because it isn't worth missing out. 
4. It's more important to have fun than for everything to go as planned.
5. Mentor and encourage young ToT's and others who show interest in haunting.
6. Foster Halloween fun for all!


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## serpensphile (Nov 12, 2008)

Scatterbrains said:


> I'd rather have more actors, but don't know where to get them. Get lots of promises, but few I can count on.


I agree Scatterbrains. To me actors are more effective in the long run because after the initial *shock*....they keep scaring! But, I'm thinking about making a couple of props (air cannon and MIB) because I never know who's going to actually show up and/or help out. I can't even depend on anyone handing out candy except me!


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## GhostTown (Jul 6, 2011)

Good grief!

I didn't realize how involved most of you get. Wow... I thought I was a bit stressed over my _display_ on Monday, and I was fully set up the week before. Actually the display it's self was set up two weeks in advance, I just finished the fog layout the week before. lol Sheesh...


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## serpensphile (Nov 12, 2008)

Yes...there is always a BIG push at my house near the end even when I'm trying to make it simpler. Trying to get it all done, candy, food, lights, etc makes for heavy caffeine consumption the week and days before the big dance!


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## Ween12amEternal (Apr 15, 2006)

I learned the ghost hanging from the tree needs to be moved away from the light post because it keeps getting tangled in the lights that are wrapped around it, & to pack more carefully & with things that are displayed together, packed together (took until Halloween night to find the spider that goes on the big spiderweb ).

Also thinking of resurrecting this thread on Labor Day 2012 so everyone can be reminded what they thought right after last holiday & can prepare better.


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## blackfog (Oct 9, 2008)

Resurrecting this thread is a genius idea Ween cause I know What I said but will forget how the time flies that day and doing all I can do ahead of time will help so much and make things so much easier and most of all less stressful. Plus I will have more time to get dressed and not feel like I am just slapping on my makeup.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

I second that!


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## Bruzilla (Jun 3, 2011)

1. There's no such thing as too many extension cords because there's always something else that needs power and it's two inches beyond where all your cords reach!!!
2. No one carries white flourescent paint. If you need it, you gotta order off the internet ahead of time.
3. If you mix Tide laundry detergent into white acrylic paint to try to make white flourescent paint, it doesn't work. 
4. Fiber cobwebs hold up pretty well in a driving rainstorm or two, or three. 
5. Buy more Reese's peanut butter cups. Even eight jumbo bags weren't enough!
6. Use a tripod to take pictures. I got a nice one for $15 at Office Depot.
7. My son needs to update his Halloween creepy music mix CD.
8. We need to start making tombstones instead of using the store bought ones.


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## Mizerella (Aug 6, 2009)

Resurrecting this page on Labor Day is a fantastic idea! 

I see a lot of things on these lists that I've already forgotten about that went wrong for me too.

I also have to remember to eat ...and not just candy and caffeine! I lost 17 lbs in October, not healthy!
I just forgot, then I kept getting dizzy spells, almost fainted a few times. Plus I burnt out way too early every night. 
It did help with my Zombie on Halloween night.


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## ScreamingSkull (Oct 21, 2008)

Fence problems? You STILL have TOTs coming through, even with a fence?! 
I've done without fences every year, only to gnash my teeth as teens blow through the props. But if they still push through, what's a haunter to do?


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## bayork (Oct 27, 2003)

Lesson learned this year...you cannot keep adding electronic devices to the same circuit forever without consequences. I added multiple new draws on the power, and it not only tripped the breaker...but it was the final straw for a GFCI on the line that has been misbehaving for a while now. It fused the GFCI and it had to be replaced on Nov. 1st before the circuit was back up and running.

There's nothing like having everything staged, running, and then having to reroute the *entire* configuration so it has power with 30 minutes or less before the hordes of TOTs will be descending......

:-O


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Last minute projects will take longer than you think and you don't want to save them until Halloween Day because you will drive yourself crazy and either do a lousy job on it or cause yourself to abandon it anyway. Set yourself a project cut off date and make do with what you have done at that point in time. You will enjoy halloween more if you get fed, showered and maybe even dressed in costume before the ToTers start arriving. Better to scare the kids with costume and makeup instead of the real frazzled looking you.

Test out triggering your props the night before. Make sure they all work. Some props will need a light beam to be broken and if the light isn't strong enough, they won't get set off, like my haunted lantern. Don't rely on battery sources of light to provide that light. 

Other props might need sound to set them off, like my flying ghost that I wanted to turn into a floating candelabra. Consider pre-recording some loud audio sounds at predetermined intervals you'll be happy with so that you can rig your mp3 player near your sound-activated prop and run on a loop throughout the night. Again, don't rely on battery operated devices for the sound output.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Late on a busy Sat. night this Oct. my front door broke.
I laid there supposed to be sleeping figuring out which direction to drive that Sun. morning to which store to get the parts and estimating how long this would all take , since we had a reservation (paid in advance) for 3 that Sun . afternoon.
With luck I bought all the parts in one store and returned home in good time from my 50 mile round-trip.
I avoided frustration, somehow as my thought process mulled over the order of assembly , after the removal of old parts, step ladder climbing, tool searches, grease to be avoided all were considerations I mindfully kept weighing these things as they happened.
I heard people outside, it was 2 O'Clock.
"We are here for our reservation."
"I'll see you at 3."
"Our reservation is for 2. I called and e-mailed you needing to move it to 2." (I discovered she was right!)
"Well, it will be 2:15 because I'm in the middle of fixing something that needs to be fixed." I held up both my hands smeared with two different types of grease, white & black.
At 2:15 I spoke to them via the copper speaking tube that is hidden outside beside of the door, "Get away from the door!"
I yanked the steel bar quickly (so it made a definite clanking sound), put my hand against the inside of the door to give a slight push, as it started down I controlled it's "fall" with a hand crank and gearing via the antique post drill mounted on it's side.
I don't know if an old normal looking door becoming a drawbridge opening to begin a haunted house tour is more impressive and memorable than the feeling the customers feel once in the house to hear it slam shut behind them as they seem to be trapped inside? But then, it's all GOOD!


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## shadowless (May 1, 2009)

ScreamingSkull, try an electric fence. Heh heh heh....

http://highvoltageperimetersecurityarray.com/?p=1810

Of course, this might open a whole new level to the "what went wrong" thread.....


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## spinachetr (Nov 12, 2009)

1. I need a queue line to funnel kids 1 or 2 at a time to the treat table, and not a horde of 20 or 30 at a time stacked up.

2. Have all giveaways removed from their packaging and ready to hand out. (I only had about 150 of the 420 LED wands unpacked) They would get tangled up when taking them out of the pack.

3. Don't give out 2 or 3 different treats (and nothing that is breakable). "My son/daughter dropped it and it doesn't work now, can I have another" The money I spent on fun size candy, silly bands and LED wands could have gone into full size candy bars.

4. Get a helper to hand out candy so you can take care of problems(fog machine ran out of juice, lightning machine track ended).

5. Need better prop triggers.


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## stickman6 (Nov 6, 2010)

I learned to make sure I have a ridiculously large amount of prosthetic adhesive remover. I had to do 4 rather intensive applications on Me, my wife, and our 2 friends. It all went reasonably smooth until I had to do two quick emergency removals and one drunk one... By the time I was ready to remove mine I had about a shot glass full left (my face hurts)... The biggest lesson I learned was not to obligate myself (directly or indirectly) to doing too many things the day of. I will now do no more than two make-ups a halloween.


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## Trex (Nov 6, 2010)

1) Test equipment, especially foggers as they are known to fail unexpectedly. Fortunately we were open Oct.30 and Halloween night, our smallest one crashed on Sunday. I managed to find a replacement unit at Spirit for the BIG night. 
2) Control the group size of people going through the maze/haunt after about first 45 minutes we realized this and kept group sizes between to 3-5 people.
3) Keep track of repeat kids going through the maze as they can ruin it for others.
4) Batteries of all sizes really.....we had one actors flashlight go out making it tough to navigate behind the scenes. We had D-size replacement ones on hand, so no issues but it is easy to forget battery sizes for things we infrequently use.


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## Hearts1003 (Aug 23, 2010)

Need another fog machine, which means build another fog chiller.

Make a list of everything I have to put out. Stupid I actually forgot to put a few things out! Sweet Lord how I did that I'll never know.


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## robzilla69 (Sep 8, 2009)

when you run a 4500 watt sound system for your party, dont thing you can save space by stacking a main , amp and mixer on a subwoofer. Because just as the party gets rolling and all the girls are on the dance floor, you will be in the kitchen doing a shot and all you hear is silance fallowed by a loud crash. As you come around the corner you hear from certain people, "I wathced it happen but couldent do anything". A 80lb amplifier falling off a 5' tower of gear shure does a number on a cell phone let me tell you! Not to mention the crushed laser light unit next to it. All in all it could have been worse. Could have crushed one of the girls mis stripper move!


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## GhostTown (Jul 6, 2011)

*face palm*


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## Tish (Aug 5, 2008)

Always have at least 3 more extension cords than you think you need. In varying lengths.

Make sure things that need to get manually turned on are reachable for everyone who might turn them on or off. My bf is tall, I am short. I could never reach some things, especially sucked when I got home before he did.

Do not assume people will not touch things. We had things crash by people wanting to touch them. Oy. "Do not touch" signs, next year, maybe.

There is no such thing as too much advertising. We expected much more TOT's. Next year, a sign on the main street to lure them over. Have way too much leftover candy.

Take the next day off from work. 

Make sure bf takes day off work and tries his costume on before the big night. 

We need to figure out a new solution for music. Our stereo needs to be turned on every night and is housed in the garage,which is a hassle to get into. Remote control doesn't work through the door.


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## serpensphile (Nov 12, 2008)

Ghost of Spookie said:


> Test out triggering your props the night before. Make sure they all work.


 And other quotes from above!

Remember there is a huge difference between practice and rehearsal for entertainment.

*Practice* is when you are learning a song, a magic routine, or getting a prop to run.

*Rehearsal* is when you do a COMPLETE run through before the actual performance as if you were actually performing for the crowd.

It sounds like a lot of people should have "rehearsed" instead of setting up Halloween Day and hoping for the best. I try to live by the "Seven P's": Previous Proper Planning Prevents Pi$$ Poor Performance. Ok..I said I TRY!


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## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Lessons learned:

-Never buy 400watt fog machines from the stores. Completely useless.
-Since we were reported to the county several times from hater neighbors, they are now trying to pass legislation to stop us from doing this next year. Lesson learned? Go commercial. Get a sponsor. 
-Hire professional photographer dedicated to the photo shoot of the patrons. I personally took great shots of the Haunt and next time, hire a videographer!


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Ween12amEternal said:


> I learned the ghost hanging from the tree needs to be moved away from the light post because it keeps getting tangled in the lights that are wrapped around it, & to pack more carefully & with things that are displayed together, packed together (took until Halloween night to find the spider that goes on the big spiderweb ).
> 
> Also thinking of resurrecting this thread on Labor Day 2012 so everyone can be reminded what they thought right after last holiday & can prepare better.


Ilove the "resurrecting the thread" idea. Maybe title it: Things to do for your haunt, things not to do.........


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

kittyvibe said:


> Do not misplace the remote control for the setups! The breaker tripped and after we turned it back on I couldnt find the remote that turns EVERYTHING on. I freaked out.
> 
> I did find it eventually but not before I had trapped like 5 kids in the garage and my family was still asking questions about scissors and crap for their unfinished costumes. dang it I was super stressed!
> 
> ...


I make sure my costume has easily accessible pockets...Actually that's my motto most days


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## Scruffywolf (Sep 2, 2008)

At the last minute.....my PIR sensor trigger for my coffin pop-up failed unexpectedly. Time to get a new one from the supplier.......3-7 days!!!!! Oh well, i'll be ready for next year............As far as everything else goes...learning from past mistakes from the last 15 or so years, i had enough of everything....lights, extension cords, outlets, compressors, glue sticks (and back-up glue guns) etc. etc. etc. but something always goes wrong huh? You can't plan for every contingency........


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## creepy jane (Sep 27, 2010)

*What did you learn from this year's Halloween?*

...that delegating to willing participants doesn't save any time but makes others feel included... that cheap jack-o-lantern kits suck and... 
you can ADD IN a battery-tealight to the Head-in-a-Jar instead of lighting from outside!


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## FarmerChad (Oct 21, 2008)

I learned that by taking the year off, I realize how much more I want to do a haunt.


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## ezekiel (Nov 4, 2007)

That if you are running a haunted house that you need to ...

1) run it more than just Halloween night

2) advertise longer than two weeks

3) clearly state that after sundown inside the haunt there is NO MERCY


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## Ween12amEternal (Apr 15, 2006)

Keep plenty of batteries on hand (rough count: 33 "AA"  ) and that I need to pack up more carefully (which I did for next year  ).

Also, you may want to check out this similarly themed thread: http://www.halloweenforum.com/gener...l-what-went-wrong-lessons-learned-thread.html


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## funhousewizard (Oct 10, 2011)

have back up foggers, not get volunteerd(sp?) for doing a haunt i didn't want, or section. having more than 2 weeks to get it ready. ah and not finding this site.


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## GhostTown (Jul 6, 2011)

Lighting is key. You can have not a single pumpkin, prop, or Halloween decoration at all, but if you light your house and trees up properly it will look awesome. Everything else is cherries and whip cream.

Fog is a very big attention getter, and spending the money on a quality fogger, and quality fog juice is beyond worth while. Just don't run the fogger right by the door where the ToT's will be. Soon the house will fill with fog, and really it's kind of tacky to be fogging the bajeezus out of 4 to 6 year old kids. Keep it in the yard.

My plan to use a lot of disposable decor turned out awesome. I worked out getting truck loads of corn in the late summer, I got to the local pumpkin patch early so I had a decent selection, and when it was all done.... poof! It's gone. That stuff was a hit in my set up, and now I don't have to store it. We're going to try and build our display next year to be about 75% disposable (love the way paper and glue comes together, then fits in the trash can!). 

Don't get a large variety of full size candy bars and let the kids pick out their own thing. They pick through it, some try to grab two or three, most dislike nuts, blah, blah.... We're going to give away large pixie sticks, glow necklaces and/or sticks, and maybe a cheap toy all pre-packaged together next year. We'll also have a candy bowl full of stale tootsie rolls for the not so nice parents that feel the need to take candy home to their crack head siblings who didn't bother showing up.


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## immecor (Aug 31, 2011)

To be more careful with a box cutter when making foam window boards...three stiches later. I still have to wear a bandaid. But the looked great....LOL


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Definitely blood dripping from your window boards is not a cool thing when it's human blood! Glad you're on the mend.

My lesson, and should have known this already, is that there is no such thing as extracting a realistic schedule from a contractor, landscaper or not. Been through enough projects that I should know better. Therefore, save yourself energy by just going with Plan B from the beginning.

While I didn't get to do what I really wanted to do, the weather this year for us was great, the turn out was great and it was fun all the same.


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## BeaconSamurai (Nov 5, 2009)

I learned that although I made progress this year. I still have a looooong way to go.


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## ter_ran (Jan 14, 2006)

*I learned once again that when you break a sweat setting up at night outdoors.... GO Inside!!!*


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## Savage Night (Jan 11, 2008)

I learned that trying to hire a photographer to properly document our haunt would cost at least 1500 dollars that we could not afford. I learned that I should have bought the individually wrapped baby cookies earlier, as Wally World ran out and did not have them again until November. And let me tell you, the incredibly popular boxes of animal crackers were expensive! Also, I learned that I shoulda been a psychic. I am the proud possesser of a ten-pack of unwanted doggy treats, when last year, we gave away nearly every one. What happened to all the dogs? Would it be okay to donate them to the food drive? After all, the people who need free food might still have pets. Oh, and I learned that the creeps who robbed us last year, lived next door. The police came to see us a couple of weeks ago. It seems that our former neighbors are on the run from the law, and the landlord is lamenting the loss of two air conditioning units, as well as the general trashing of his property.


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## Savage Night (Jan 11, 2008)

Lesson learned, do not let brilliant, prop-building hubby put off making Halloween stuff until late summer or early fall. Everything should be made by June, at the latest. Otherwise, work duties, holidays, and gawdknowswhatelse, will interfere, and come Halloween, the props just will not be there. Also, the hard gravestones, for some reason, will get chipped all to heck.. Better to stick with the styros and replace every couple of years, or make cement ones, which is what I'm thinking of doing, for 2012, especially as so many of our stones were stolen in 2010.


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## Ween12amEternal (Apr 15, 2006)

Savage Night said:


> I am the proud possesser of a ten-pack of unwanted doggy treats, when last year, we gave away nearly every one. What happened to all the dogs? _Would it be okay to donate them to the food drive?_ After all, the people who need free food might still have pets. Oh, and I learned that the creeps who robbed us last year, lived next door. The police came to see us a couple of weeks ago. It seems that our former neighbors are on the run from the law, and the landlord is lamenting the loss of two air conditioning units, as well as the general trashing of his property.


Never thought of animal crackers - that's a good idea! As to the doggy treats, do you have a Humane Society/animal shelter near you? You could donate them there. And I guess it's a good thing they creeps are ~former neighbors. Hope they get caught!


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## Deadview (Aug 9, 2011)

My CD player gave me fits. It would not repeat after going through the five CD's in it. I had to go inside and start the play all over again. Also the animation. After each night of running I had to check each piece just to tighten a screw here or replace a motor there, quite aggravating.


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## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

Good idea to bring this thread back to life in sept maybe that way I will remember that over 128 people at my party is to many.Note to self for 2012 cut the guest list.


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## tinafromidaho (May 8, 2008)

Scatterbrains said:


> My actors did a great job tonight, but I either need to get twice as many or drop the idea altogether as they couldn't keep up with the crowd since they manned multiple positions. I'm leaning towards the latter at the moment as it's simpler to manage things when you know you'll just have static stuff, instead of trying to figure out where you can get actors.
> 
> The other thing, no more running any out of town races in October..I lost way too many setup days to that



I'm with you on not using the actors and having stuff that's not just static. My garage is a maze with black plastic that's hung on hooks from the ceiling and 
scenes set up when actors jump out and scare people or trigger like a leaf blower scare. Then some stupid teenage girls (15 yrs old or so) went through 
and the second time through were jumping and screaming and carrying on and ripped down one section of the maze and knocked over my zombie baby crib.
Needless to say that was the end of the maze for the night, but thankfully the evening was about over and we only had to turn away a few people from 
going through the garage. With all the decorations and everything in the front yard, I made the command decision to skip the fog this year and didn't miss it
a bit, it was actually really nice not running around to different ones and checking to see why they weren't working right.

And amen to the races scatterbrains I didn't do any out of town, but I ran a half marathon one weekend then the next weekend did a 10K and hosted a 
Halloween party that same night. I think I may skip any and all races next October.


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## serpensphile (Nov 12, 2008)

tinafromidaho said:


> Then some stupid teenage girls (15 yrs old or so) went through
> and the second time through were jumping and screaming and carrying on and ripped down one section of the maze and knocked over my zombie baby crib.


Hmmmmmm...maybe use pallets instead of black plastic next year?? 

http://www.halloweenforum.com/general-halloween/106627-building-pallets.html


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## Jack Skellington (Oct 25, 2005)

tinafromidaho said:


> Then some stupid teenage girls (15 yrs old or so) went through
> and the second time through were jumping and screaming and carrying on and ripped down one section of the maze and knocked over my zombie baby crib.


The kids used to do a HH in the basement with black plastic. They went wild one year and ended up ripping it all down running around. That was the year before I build the HH walls with furring strips and cardboard.


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## serpensphile (Nov 12, 2008)

Jack Skellington said:


> The kids used to do a HH in the basement with black plastic. They went wild one year and ended up ripping it all down running around. That was the year before I build the HH walls with furring strips and cardboard.


That's the year I would put the blade BACK on the chainsaw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

ALMOST No patron of your haunted efforts will ever respect the work and money that went into it like you do.
Keeping drunks OUT helps alot. Kids? Some have those kid-problems needing to act-out which some of them will never out grow even as they sit in solitary confinement.
Smaller groups, more adult supervision, more lighting(NO! Not THAT!) will all help.
I also discovered yrs. ago that customers at my haunt gave ME fewer problems than they gave my employees. Maybe they know I'm the one who cares the most? Maybe it's my age, old enough to be their Grandfather? (Maybe it's a naturally psycho look about me?... genetic?) hahahah!
Maybe it's that Police car circling my parking lot?
Living in the county seat in a small town has "protective" advantages. County Police AND City.


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## GhostTown (Jul 6, 2011)

tinafromidaho said:


> With all the decorations and everything in the front yard, I made the command decision to skip the fog this year and didn't miss it a bit, it was actually really nice not running around to different ones and checking to see why they weren't working right


There was a good wind here in Nampa Halloween night. Probably the same in Boise. The fog that didn't blast inside my house went flying right down my street.


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## geyser463 (Nov 14, 2011)

I learned that next year everything has to be done and ready to set up by oct 1 so that I wont have any problems when I do set it up two weeks before halloween.
I need to put all my lighting cables in the ground(actors kept tripping over them and pulling the wire off the LEDs)
I need to be stricter with my actors and tell they what they can do so that they don't start taking, and make them stay in character.
I need to have as much set up the night before as I can.


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## DeltaGirl (Jan 12, 2004)

Replace CD players with MP3 players (most of my cd players decided to die Halloween night)
make your own ICE (usually got it from McDonalds but they don’t supply it anymore due to health concerns)
confirm that your helper actually asked for the time off instead of waiting till the last minute and being told no
replace incandescent lights with compact fluorescents (bought a bunch more flood lights and ended up blowing the breaker when the foggers turned on)
make a list of all the projects you want done at the beginning of the year
make sure that tiki torches are well away from anything flammable (this is the second year I have had a fire and is also the second year I have had fire extinguishers on hand coincidence?)
Remember to turn on the recording function on the webcams so you actually have security footage (nothing happened but still its safety)
walk slowly when takeing the video its not a race.


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## Shockwave199 (Jan 18, 2007)

> replace incandescent lights with compact fluorescents (bought a bunch more flood lights and ended up blowing the breaker when the foggers turned on)


Yeah, 90/100 watt floods don't play nice with even modest 400 watt foggers when the totals of each start climbing. CFL color party bulbs have been dramatically effective for color, and especially great at lowering the wattage used overall when factoring in lights and multiple fog machines. They are a game changer. Also effective was to run the main lines from different zones in the house. One outlet from the garage serviced one side of the haunt. One outlet serviced the front door and middle section. And although it was a PIA, a third main extension cord came from back to front because the kitchen is another zone. Three different zones servicing the display, so the wattage was spread out. Well worth the effort, no matter how tempting it was to just plug into the nearest open socket at my feet out there.



> Remember to turn on the recording function on the webcams so you actually have security footage (nothing happened but still its safety)


This was at the top of my check list- the key being a check list. And yet I blew the easiest one- dropping the ball with the cd players. I still think about it and wonder how I ever thought cd players would run 5 hours on batteries. Stupid really. Never again.


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## Terror Tom (Nov 3, 2008)

I learned that I need to buy the colored flood lights with the built in colored glass and not the painted ones . After a few minutes on, the paint started flaking off from the heat. The bulbs were 12 years old, though.

I learned that I need to find my Halloween soundtrack and have the audio setup before the 31st.

I learned that I need to setup the fog machine just in case the wind dies down, LIKE IT DID!!!!


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## Halloween Scream (Sep 29, 2010)

-Backup batteries for everything. By the end of the night, all of my small battery strobes were dead.
-I'm just not happy with our sound effects yet. The boom box out the window didn't seem loud enough, and I think I need to find a little bit "scarier" soundtrack. 
-More candy! Started getting worried as it ran low, and finished the night with only 8 pieces left.
-2012 will be all about fog. My wimpy 400 watt fogger just isn't going to cut it anymore.
-Train the hubby a little better. My full costume and makeup "scary non-talking witch of the haunted house" persona gets blown to pieces when he steps outside on the porch in his Charger's sweatshirt and tells the kids he likes their costumes. This year he agreed to dress up as well and help with the creep factor.


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## kuroneko (Mar 31, 2011)

I have to agree with alot of this including the candy and the batteries. The big thing I learned last year is make sure TOTs can actually find you! I did everything off my back deck of my condo figuring because it happens to face the street, I would get TOTs. However, very few actually came over. This year, my primary objective is figuring out how to get their attention. A note on your front door and lots of lights around back won't cut it!


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## AthenaHM (Oct 27, 2011)

We do not do a HH and I don't really care for most animatronics, so I don't have a lot of the same issues, and certainly, not on the same scale. I did a grandiose party for about 15 people, complete with Tempt Your Fate and a costume contest. It was put together in less than a month. I found that the best way to do the music, and a really fun twist on the usual order of things, was that I hooked my laptop up to our TV via HDMI cable, and let it play through my Youtube Halloween playlist all night. Not only did we have the fun Halloween music, we had the creepy videos to go with them, including Thriller. That was a big hit.

I do have to say that i had way too much planned for that day, and did not do enough in the very busy days beforehand to make it easier the day of. I spent most of my time cooking, and still did not really have everything made that I wanted. I learned that it is important to cut out all of the fates well in advance, as well as the labels for the individual bottles of liquor that we used as party favors(they had Alice-style tags that said drink me! on them). I also have experience with monster makeup, and so I do some of my friends' makeup if they need help. I made the mistake of not factoring in how much time that would take, too. All in all, i am starting now, to be sure that when the big day comes, i am not scrambling and yelling at my poor husband and kids because I am frustrated, lol. This year, I am getting organized EARLY.


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