Thread: haunted house tour guides or no tour guides

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I have come to the posse of halloween forum to ask this question.
I run a haunted house out of my house for the last 8 years, every haunted house we go to we have no tour guides. I have always employed the neiborhood kids as the tour guides, problem is it takes a lot of cordination to get all the tour guides on the same page, as well as the group to listen to the tour guides. So, do I post the tour guides so the group knows where to go although that will be boring for the "tour guides" keep it the way it is or eliminate the guides I dont want to do that Im afraid the group will get lost. SOme of the haunted houses I have gone to you dont know if you are going the right way.

I would do a couple things if you are having problems with your guides. First, I would make the path as clear as possible so there is no way for people to go the wrong way. Secondly, instead of having the guides actually guide the people I would place them at stations through out the haunt so make sure people are going the right way and make sure people dont get bunched up. My haunt is simple and consists of my front and back yard but we still see 2700 TOTers on Halloween and another 1000 on the night leading up to Halloween. We do this and it seems to work.

Tour guides can add to the haunt, especially if they are dressed up and "in character". They can fill in some of the blanks that ToT's may have otherwise missed. I agree that it does take some coordination to put them all together. Tour guides can also add to some security of your haunt, as thieving ToT's may be less likely to swipe something when an "employee" is present.

I do the same thing with my actors - several early meetings to discuss rules, dialogue and costumes, then one last costume check. I post my actors at designated spots throughout the haunt with the option that they can rotate to different spots every 45 minutes or so. That way they don't get bored with one spot, gives them a chance to go to the bathroom, and keeps the scares fresh.

We do a tour guide with our Scout Haunt, but I write up a simple script and the guide is interacting with the rooms as part of the story. He is mainly there to keep the groups moving along well and make sure they are following the rules. Working with the Cub Scouts, I wouldn't want to do one without a guide. We had two to three last year, depending on the need. It was actually fun to be the guide.

Some things I've heard that we're going to try this year - no tour guide, but a rear follow up of sorts. Someone who works with the tour (in a large noticeable costume, maybe grim reaper) to follow the group and gently guide any who either backtrack or start doing damage (which was our bigger issue last year). If you work the setup right (ours was a single file maze), there's only one way for them to go.

Stacy

A tour guide wouldn't work for me....but having scareactors throughout the haunt can keep the ToTs moving and maintain security. Being a guide sounds lame to the younger assistants, but being part of the scene and scaring the ToTs, then ushering them along keeps them happy

on contray a guide is some of the younger ppl really enjoy. I know I can work them elsewhere, I know several that may be disapointed thats why Im throwing this out there now, that way I can sell them on whatever idea that I use.

Guides leading groups is good to keep things on pace & visitors where you want them, when you want them (especially if you use a rope lead that everyone holds onto single-file.) I agree, though, that if your haunt is fairly narrow and only really allows visitors to go one way, having them go through on their own in groups can work with a few planted guides dressed up to blend in/scare and keep things under control.