Haunted Attraction

Since a few years, I am fasinated by Haunted Attractions but then not the type you see in the USA. Every halloween thousends of Haunted Attractions open their door, the most famous and biggest are Scarehaunt, the Darkness, etc. What these attractions have in common is of course the scary part but also that it should be disgusting. They should have blood on the walls, intestines should be splattered all over the floor and the puke should be dropping from the ceiling. The monsters are as ugly and possible and the smell is horrible.

I have a total different idea of a haunted attraction and I came to the idea when I was in the Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. The Phantom Manor is one of my favorite attractions and what I like about it that it is not scary but beautiful. That is exactly my idea of a haunted mansion. The mansion that I designed is beautiful but also scary (in contrast with Disney).

I am not a big fan of the evil dentist with his slaughter machines or the deranged psycho. I like subtle effects more like claustrophobia, darkness, cold air and ghostly appearances. This is why I choose for a haunted mansion as the basic outline for the attraction. Guests will walk through the house that reveals parts of the story in every room. More details about the script will be given in a different article.

The first question I ask a person when he/she wants to make something new: "What is the Story?" I believe that something only works if the story is solid. Look at movies, the story is most important aspect of the movie and that is also what Disney does. The Phantom Manor has a whole background (You can read it here) and that makes it credible. My haunted attraction will follow a story like a thriller. Guests will receive little pieces of information in every room but they will find out the truth in the end with the grand finale. The walk through is a mix of attraction and show. In the next few weeks, I will share my idea of my haunted attraction that would be situated near Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I will discuss technical details, storytelling, theming and marketing because I thought about almost every aspect of this plan.

Location

First the location: I choose Amsterdam in the Netherlands because I live in this country and it is easier for me to find information to give the story a credible background. Next to that, Amsterdam has a lot of tourists visiting every year and has a perfect setting.

A short market analysis would show that guests would be interested in this kind of entertainment as long as it is not too scary. Same with Amsterdam Dungeon: it is more a dark museum tour than a haunted attraction. The most ideal place for my haunted attraction would be the USA because Americans are more in the Halloween theme and they are more effusive. Stil I like the setting of Amsterdam because it has something sinister and I love the style of the old side of Amsterdam with the canals and high buildings. I will talk later about the style of the house but it should be free-standing.

I hope you enjoyed the first edition of the Haunted Mansion Project. In the next post I will give a more detailed idea of the story and how guests move inside the Mansion.

© 2009 Pieter van den Broek