Thread: Ravenfell Manor 2011 Second year overview with vids.

Tweet

Wow! That is all I can say.
So this year I was finally able to convince hubby to begin planning and prop building right at the end of August. We both wish he had listened back in June when I suggested beginning then. Due to funds and time we weren't able to build the most weatherized props so most set up wasn't done until the day of Halloween. I'm kinda thankful because Sunday we got hit by strong winds and rain that would have messed a lot of stuff up. We finished with minutes to spare and both of us are so sore today we are hobbling around. But it was completely worth it. Through all the pain, there is this warm content sensation just flowing through all of my aching joints. Halloween was a success.

Last year I was only able to convince hubby to do the haunt 2 weeks before Halloween. A trip to Halloween city and a chance to see all the options was all it took to finally win him over. That was the moment our yard haunt began. I was happy with it last year but knew I wanted more. I think it turned out okay for the time we had, but I do not think it warranted the type of responses it got. People loved it. I guess they just aren't used to someone doing a lot for Halloween. I told them all wait until next year it will be bigger and better, hoping that I could fulfill that promise.

This year I truly believe we lived up to that promise. There are things I would have done different, but it just felt right. We had people all over the place taking photo ops with their kids and neighbors coming from all around to tell us how great it looked. This year when people told us that someone should call the paper, I smiled and said thank you and thought, "You know this year I actually believe it."So what if the mausoleum crank ghost whose assembly was put together last minute didn't move very much, or if the werewolf wasn't quite as nice as I would have liked, we made a ton of people happy including ourselves.

The videos are in four parts because we are still learning the video camera, two day time and two night time.
Ravenfell Manor- Daytime Part 1 http://youtu.be/-3cbrCaqVBQ
Ravenfell Manor Daytime Part 2 http://youtu.be/ux74kZMEqP8
Ravenfell Manor Night Part 1 http://youtu.be/YjxAWgc69Gw
Ravenfell Manor Night Part 2 http://youtu.be/t82S0A1lZ9U

That came out great!! Did you add a light to the wolf cage for night? I didn't see one.. I am wondering if you can make it move a little bit when people walk by.. or play a wolf growling sound as they walk by? I love the yard size..wish I could build a walk path like that to make kids walk around to get to stuff. I need to put a few moving/motion activated props out in the front area and lots of fencing.. the fencing is like $10 for 2 little sections (1/2 off today)... need to make something from wood and paint it I think.

Where do you store all the big props? Those must take up a lot of room!

andjarnic-
Storage- The mausoleum is just 3 panels with a black table cloth back drop. It can be disassembled for easier storage. A lot of things fold up or break down. But yeah it does take a decent amount of storage. The pillars are a little bulkier and need to be stacked. Thankfully the rounded columns just slide off of the tops of their bases.

Regarding the werewolf, his head did move just slowly. It was made from of of those wire reindeer with the moving heads. There was a small strobe in the werewolf cage and he had a red spotlight on him but the strobe got shifted and had to be repositioned and the spot didn't show up well. As for the sounds for him I really wanted to add sound effects for his cage and that is on the list of upgrades for next year. Although he is also getting a makeover.

The fencing we use in the backyard to protect my gardens from our monster dog Brody, we just move it to the front for the day. We wait until it is on sale and buy a few sections at a time.

Thank you for the compliment.

Looks great!!!!

Nice job, Ravenfell Manor