New 'old' member

Hello, I'm from the upper Midwest, were it is snowing like crazy. I'm 56 years old and have managed a apple orchard and pumpkin patch for years. We did a haunted house and hayride in October. Unfortunately, the owners of the orchard have retired and now the place sits. The retirement has also eliminated my job, therefor I sit too. Last fall I invested quite a bit of money, rented a couple of large 'barn & buildings' on a farm, cleared out a trail threw woods, and had hayrides threw a dark hilly pasture, which brought the guests around to threw a corn field over a bridge and to the parking lot (part of the corn field we cleared out) to drop them off. (parking lot was part of pasture and corn field. This way, I did not have people entering the same way they leave. It went fairly well. We had everything open each weekend in October. There is nothing else like this around the area for people to do at Halloween time. Biggest challenge was finding workers. I paid, 25.00 per night (some higher if more responsibility) which was paid in one lump at the end of season. This year I have to make it bigger and better, without relying on humans to do all the scaring. So, here I am, seeking knowledge on animatronics, rigging, making things faster and easier and less expensive. So there is my intro. Thank you