Scott Messinger's : The Zen Of Haunting

"It's not fine furniture, it's Halloween" ? Someone told me this a long
time ago. If you build a lot of things for your haunt, you may be
putting more work into it than necessary. Detail and fine workmanship
tend to be overlooked when someone is running screaming from a zombie
in the dark. "Good Enough" will work OK.

"Only you know what's missing" ? So what if you didn't accomplish
everything you wanted this year? No one will notice. They will be too
busy admiring what you did accomplish. And don't complain about what
you wanted to do. Just bask in the compliments of your admiring fans.
No one will be the wiser.

"A wise man knows when to give up" ? Things will break. Spend a few
minutes trying to fix it, then give up. You aren't going to enjoy the
evening, sitting in the front yard cursing at an inanimate object
(although others may be entertained). Let it go. Really. It will be OK.

"There's always next year." ? If it breaks or if it didn't get done
this year, there is always next year. Sure, you might get hit by a
truck before then. But then you'll have bigger problems than making
that pop-up zombie work. So relax! Halloween comes every year. You can
look it up!

"Are we having fun yet?" ? Remember, this is supposed to be fun. If you
are losing sleep and snapping at your kids and kicking holes in walls
(my bad!), then you aren't having fun. Well, some people might have fun
that way, but they are even weirder than us. So if you can't remember
the last time you were having fun, start following the rules above.
Life is too short to not have fun.

Regards,
Scott Messinger
http://hauntspace.com/ScreaminScott
"We all float down here!"
Continue reading The Zen Of Haunting

Mickey's Ten Commandments

Found via Haunted Wolf on the Hall-L email list.

Every theme park designer should know what's been done in the past. Benchmarks and precedents are extremely important. With that in mind, you should learn the ten guidelines to theme park design developed by Walt Disney Imagineering President Marty Sklar.

Continue reading Mickey’s Ten Commandments