Thread: Crowd Control

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I am curious what techniques that some of you used to control the flow of T0T'ers and attendees at your haunt. For those of you with walk-through haunts, did you have a pre-planned que'ing or waiting area, and do you have any suggestions for those of us that are planning to make a walk-through haunt next year.

Great question because we faced this on Halloween night (not a good time to figure this out). Hubby (in costume) was in front of the entrance which has a curtain. He broke the groups into smaller groups (no more than 4) and let them into the haunt when the last ones exited. But, the kids were so excited they all just spread out and didn't form a line and some of the older ones were trying to cut in front of the little ones. So, next year we're either going to make or rent stanchions (or even hay bales) to start funneling the kids towards the entrance so it'll make it easier to control them and more relaxing for all.

i always have someone working the door. they've been able to keep waiters in line. otherwise you have kids coming in at will and it gets to congested and no control over the kids. we don't have a lot of kids though because we are a small town. the hay bale idea sounds good if you do have a lot.

i spent the big day on a street where every house had somehting HUGE going on. THOUSANDS of people went through there. the most successful ones had a defined entrance and exit to their house for the ToTs. fencing that lead them up to the candy and out the other way.

as for walk throughs, stancions are easy to make, pvc pipe and a bucket with sand. just drill a hole in the pipe and feed some rope through. thats the easiest way.

I'm considering making stanchions like Terra and LadyAlthea mentioned, but will probably opt for chain, as described in this link, between the stanchions to fit in better with our theme:

Cheap Plastic Chain - HauntForum.com

We put in a chain closing off the cemetary gates that mark the entrance. The year before everyone trampled into my graveyard while they were waiting to be let in and my lawn was a disaster. We have a gatekeeper that lets in the groups and breaks up the larger ones.

We usually play some movie on a TV to keep the crowd entertained, but couldn't this year because of the rain.

Crowd control is so important.

It only takes a few knuckle heads to rune the whole party for everyone!!!

What really gets my goat is when you have drunk "teens" that ramsack your set and brake or steal your props

A few years ago our haunt was getting out of hand, so I hired the local High School Football Team to dress as Zombies and keep the crowd under control. In return, I kicked in $200 for the team's Wrap-up Part after the season. The boys got right into the spirit, we had far more than we really needed, girlfriends included, but, boy, I spent a lot on soda and pizza that year!

Nobody got out of hand or touched a thing, BTW.

I usually have 3-4 people "front of house". One to split the groups of TOT's and lead them down into the main haunt area and one to hand out treats to the very young or those that are too nervous to come down into the haunt itself.
We also have a security chap (in costume) wandering around just in case, and also somebody on standby to go out and "play the crowd" in case things get really busy, as they did this year and the line starts to back up.

It pays off to bribe your friends for help with pizza and beer. Then they can be used as actors and crowd control and to watch for pesky party poopers who would mess with the props.