2,200sqft

[Uptown Haunts]

Thanx... I'll check it out now. :idea:

[Nightmaretony]

Steve, one free resource which will help are the JBCorn haunted house books. I am hosting them on my website, check out www.nightmarepark.com and click on the JBCorn CD link. You can then download the entire CD.

The CD is a member perk to IAHA members as well as the upcoming videos set to DVD. After release to members, it will then be hosted for downloading.

[Kevin Dells]

reply

We will be going to a much smaller building this year if we so decide to buy a building instead of lease.
With that said i look forward to a smaller haunt and not the goliath we had.
If you need a drill it's 400 feet over there!

Going smaller as somebody said gives a much better chance with the actors,group scares i believe are the best,line them up and everybody gets them one right after another,everybody setting the next scare up!

If your ceilings are high enough, plan a few overhead scares as well but build it safe. The crowd least expects flyers and overhead scares especially in a small building.
Lastly, Lots of details are the key! If you have a small haunt with little detail the crowd will know they have been juked out of their wallets and will not return next year. Same haunt although small and detailed for a good price the crowd will love and want more, thats why you get a little bigger the next year and so on.

It's really not about building the haunt the first few years it's about building a fan base!

[Jim Warfield]

When designing a small haunt remember to pay close attention to your wall's thickness because in a small venue an extra inch here or there adds up by the time you get to the other side of the project.
And if you built the whole place out a space-age metal, the aliens can tow it to their planet and you can run it there, gathering enough experiences to fill several scripts for Hollywood. So probably a circular design with metal doors would be necesary.

[Uptown Haunts]

Here's another thought

Are there any haunt floor plan design books, programs, etc? Would anybody be willing to share some of their floor plans? Maybe you can utiilize something like that in planning your haunted house project. I've been looking for something like this ever since I made the insane decision to be a haunter but, no luck. Anybody know where we can find something like this?

Steve....

[Uptown Haunts]

Here's an odd example...

I grew up in a boating family and I'm an active RVer. If you consider how these manufacturers squeaze comfortable living space into small, mobile structures, figuring out your plan will be a little easier. I know they have nothing to do with haunting but there are a number of trailer haunts around the country and they've packed alot of "Boo" for the buck in these tight spaces. Terror on the Fox is one such haunt as well as The Asylum and Hotel Fear in Las Vegas.

Most of us tend to think "outside the box" when planning haunts. Those of us with limited space will have to go back to thinking "inside the box" but not in conventional ways. Use the RV industry as an example of efficient use of space. I think you'll surprise yourself once you've altered the design thinking process.

Steve...

[Jim Warfield]

Yes their bodies will only be inside a 2,000(something?) sq. Ft. "Box", which may seem small, unless you work to free their minds, leave the body behind.
Your haunt will be as big in direct proportion to as much as you can affect your customer's minds .
Having very unusual color schemes and really different things not normally found in haunts will be a big start for stimulating people's minds.

[kdsboi]

the building i am looking at now is in mira mesa ca, like 5 minutes from downtown san diego..... trhank u guys so much for the comments you have made..... i think my plan is pretty good and unique and i kno it can work jus dont kno how much space i need.....

[Uptown Haunts]

Small Haunts

Howdy,

Where is your haunt going to be located? I'm in the process of setting up my first "open to the public" haunt for the 2007 season. There are some who feel that all you really need is about 1,000 sq. ft. and have an effective haunted house but, the main focus of that size is to get the maximum throughput possible. Quick scares with detailed sets, walls, etc.

My haunt will be in a 3,200 sq. ft. retail store located inside (unfortunately) of a Philadelphia, Pa. area mall with useable haunt/scare space which totals about 2,000 sq. ft. The rooms will be just big enough to house the actors, props, etc. with a couple of turns in between each which will block line of sight of the patrons from one room to the next. There are 12 rooms planned with emergency exits after every second or third room (depending on how well it all fits inside the space) along the short corridors with interior passage for actors in/out of each room and 4' wide egress around the perimeter of the actual haunted house floor plan. Just keep it simple and don't try to rape the wallets of your customers. Put on a good show at a reasonable price and you'll be everybody's hero.

Steve....

[John Coen]

Plus a big mirror will make it look TWICE as big!

[xxxdirk]

Well, a few things to consider. How much do you want to charge, and how scary/entertaining can you make it? I have seen some 10,000 sf haunts that were pretty unscary. If you are charging $10 for a 2000 sf haunt, and it takes 5 minutes to go through, you will have a lot of unhappy customers.

Ron

2200 sq ft. can definitely be enough room if you do it right. For 13 years I ran a charity haunt that only used 920 sq feet. It was usually 6 rooms and a maze. We did very well every year. So it's all in how you put it together.

Howie "Slobber" Erlich
Deadly Intentions Haunted House
www.deadlyintentionshaunt.com

[Nightmaretony]

True, but intelligent designing of the maze will give plenty of breathing room to work with, methinks.

I love the central corridor idea of JBCorn with the maze wrapped around it in a U. No need to have branching actor hallways, just little doors into actor rooms, and the 60 degree method gives plenty of walkway space and confuses the patrons....

[kdsboi]

i kno but as a haunt actor i kno how it sucks to b confined to a small area yakno

[Nightmaretony]

"tis not the size of the shrimp, tis the motion of the ocean"