What it takes to start a haunted house attraction

When a person finds a need to visit a haunted attraction, there are several reasons for it. For some people they enjoy being scared, some enjoy it for the entertainment value of it, some enjoy the art and design of it. It is often used as a way for family and friends gather to have a good time and to be together. Whatever brings you to a haunt is always a good reason. The next time you find yourself visiting a haunt look around at what it takes to start one. I am going to list a few.

1.       Capital

You need to start with capital, lots of money. You will need to have a few thousand in the bank before planning can start.

2.       Location

Once you have found the capital whether you borrowed from the bank, family, friends, or investors, you are going to need a place to set it up. When you are in the search for a location, you need to keep in mind that you could be a successful haunt and you need room to grow. Find that area where you can grow and add new attractions plus you have to make sure that you plenty of parking spaces for your actors and staff members. This location also needs to an easy access to main roads and highways so your customers can find you fast.

3.       Management Team

These are the people that are just as excited about being a part of a haunt as you are about being an owner. Once again you should look at growth and break down the areas of your haunt and delegate areas of responsibility so that you as the owner can concentrate on meeting your customers and the PR work.

4.       Creative Team

With location laid out, you meet with your design staff and bounce around ideas and ways to carry out these ideas. This includes an overall theme of your haunt and then the break down theme to each room or scare zone to the haunt that draws people to want to see what you have to offer. These people are the ones that dream up the scares that brings you the money.

5.       Actors

With everyone and everything in place you need to make sure that you have the best people for the right roll. When you placed these people in their place they will shine like the sun on a rainy day. You also need to take care of your actors and make sure they are safe and happy.

6.       Advertisement

Here you will need to start early as soon as you find your location. Start with word of mouth, flyers, posters, social media, and other “free” methods that you can find and use.

These are areas that you should investigate before starting your haunt. There are several smaller details that you will run in to. I suggest that you partner with a small scale successful haunt that you can get your question answered. As long as they don’t see you as direct competition, they will be more then welcome to help you in any way. The haunt community is growing and extremely friendly and enjoy sharing stories and ideas that they have done and seen results either positive or otherwise.  

Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens

When it was announced that there was a works in place to start writing and filming a new set of Star Wars movies, the fans were excited about how the worlds they loved for so long, was going to be once again brought to the big screen. Episode VII was to take place 30 years have "Return of The Jedi". We wanted to see what has happened to the old characters and welcoming in the new ones.

I will do everything possible not to reveal any story line spoilers, but rather who the characters are.

The following list and order was copied from IMDB.com.

Han Solo -- Harrison Ford

This person needs no introduction. He is Han Solo and the husband of Princess Leia. When we officially seen him and his harry co-pilot friend and he spoke "Chewie, We're home" and we hear Chewie's response "arkakera", it brought happy tears of anticipation about bringing these two back together again. The BIG return

Luke Skywalker -- Mark Hamill
Luke, as we all know is the "New Hope", and he is a powerful force in this new film that I do not want to give you any spoilers about. When it was announced that they were bringing back all the old cast, this was one of the them that we wanted to know about. Luke and his Father have been the main focus over the past six films, so we have to know where Luke is going in this story line. So buy a ticket and see this movie to find out. The picture I am adding is a casting shot as I did not want to post a shot from the movie itself.

Princess Leia -- Carrie Fisher
We welcome her back with open arms. We all love this person as she is a strong role model for both boys and girls when I was growing up. No matter the wardrobe her character is wearing, she has a way of getting what she wants. Carrie Fisher continues to be strong in this movie as if she never stopped playing the roll.  

Kylo Ren -- Adam Driver
The most anticipated character of the movie. We do not know much at all about who this guy is or his backstory. what we do know is he wears all b lack and has one bad-ass light saber that is not like anyone else we have seen in the past. When leaks of it surfaced on the web, fans had mixed emotions on whether they liked it or not and how it was powered. I say who cares, it is more flame like with double flames at the hilt. It was a wonderfully designed weapon related to the traditional sword we grew up with. By far my favorite character, I love the good guys but it's always the villeins that are the coolest and Kylo Ren is the coolest.    

Rey -- Daisy Ridley
Rey is a brand new character to the film. What we know of her from advertisements is that she is a scavenger and lives in the desert. Rey follows the lead of Princess Leia and Queen Amidala, she is also a dominate female that wants to take the lead. There has been many speculations as to who she is and where she comes from. She is great and is full of knowledge and it will be fun to see her in the upcoming movies.    

Finn -- John Boyega

This guy came from out of the sky and just like Rey and we have so many questions about where he comes from and why he was dressed as a new Stormtrooper in the new First Order. In the film, Finn is a likable person who tries his best to help as long as he was able to break free from the situations that he gets in to. There are a lot of answers that may not be given in this movie for you so I hope we can get more from the next. 

Poe Dameron -- Oscar Isaac
This character is a strong model person that wants to save the republic at all cost. He can fly a ship like no one else. I am not going into too much detail with him because  he needs to be seen rather than read. It will be good when you see him in the upcoming films.  

Maz Kanata -- Lupita Nyong'o
Not much to be told about her as well. You will need to watch the movie. If I can find more details about her without giving you too much information, I edit the post. I am including the main movie poster for this character, she is just about BB8 and R2-D2.

Supreme Leader Snoke -- Andy Serkis
There is not a lot of description that I want to give detail about because of the story line that follows him. with this much information, I have said too much already.

General Hux -- Domhnall Gleeson
Ill keep this one under wraps as well. I will tell you that he is a powerful leader of the New Order that has access to those people more powerful and with more control of the army than he has. Much of the characters introduced in this film are younger than in the previous films. 

C-3PO -- Anthony Daniels
One of the only characters that have been in every Star Wars movies. This time he is sporting a new colored left arm. Here is a little non-story related SPOILER, he speaks of his new arm but does not go in to any detail. I'm not sure if or when his arm will be detailed in a story. We all know that C-3PO loves to talk, but those around him chose not to want to hear what he has to say.

Lor San Lor -- Max von Sydow
Here is a master of acting and has been in movies for many years. He is a strong pivotal character from where the story starts. I hope we can get more background story about him in the upcoming films.

Chewbacca -- Peter Mayhew
As I had said for see and hearing Han Solo, Star Wars is not the same at all without the big Wookie. He delivers another strong lead with his friend again in this new space epic. It was so nice to see him back in action with his blaster.

Captain Phasma -- Gwendoline Christie
another character that so many of us were wanting to see. It is great to see that the ranks are separated, or at least with her being higher ranking than the rest of the troopers. According to IMBD, she will be making a return in the next installment in Episode VIII. We can never get enough troopers and this movie brings us a whole new batch of troopers.

Chewbacca Double -- Joonas Suotamo
I never knew that there was a second person that plays Chewie. I was shocked but yet happy that they found someone that can do it. Peter is Chewbacca, but because of his height, he has difficulties with his getting around the set. I'll have to watch the movie several more times to watch during the running scenes to see if I can pick out which one plays in that scene.