Last Day!.....?

Today we finished closing up the Haunted Graveyard for the season. Ernie and I took apart and threw away a few pieces from the queue line entrance. They are going to be rebuilt next year. Justin and Kurtis finished closing up Slaughterhouse. Kurtis used it over the weekend for one of his projects so it was the last house to be closed. Justin and I also took apart a few very old queue line peices that have been sitting in our storage area. Julio and Julio worked on the canal all day. They plan on finishing it tomorrow. Ernie still needs to take the batteries and a few other things home so we may help with that but everything else is done.

Its been a good season despite all the rain. We'd like to thank everyone who came out this season to see us and thanks to everyone who viewed this blog. We hope to see you next year.

Temple roof

Bryan and Justin finished the Temple roof today. Kurtis and I helped a little after we finished with other things. I also finished some lighting and sound things. Kurtis finished stuff on the list. Julio and Julio kept working on the water trench. Its supposed to rain hard tomorrow and Saturday so their work should get a good test.

The picture is Bryan, Kurtis, and Justin working on the Temple roof.

clean up lists

Bryan, Justin, and Kurtis worked on the list today. Justin and Bryan were supposed to start roofing Temple like Manor but they didn't enough roofing stuff at the store ;p I took down the solor powered lights since the batteries don't seem to last through the winter. Julio, Megal, and Julio kept working on the water trench. Ashlee continues to clean costumes.

Graveyard canal

Justin and Bryan finished the Manor roof today and started working on a list Ernie gave us. The list has stuff we need to do before we finish for the season. Kurtis also worked on the list. I took down the emergency lights. Julio, Megal, and Julio finished taking down Spiders. They also started to work on the water problem we have. There is a spring of water behind the Bamboo hut in Fish Puppet and also when it rains a lot of water comes down the mountain in the same area. A trench was built many years ago to redirect the water but it has a few leaks. They are going to try and fix it.

closing up

Now that the props and mannequins are out of the show closing up has really begun. Julio and Julio started taking down Spiders. Justin and Bryan started roofing Manor. Kurtis and HB Mike started tarping things also like the Temple face. I continued my way through the show taking down lighting and sound stuff. I finished Manor which was my last big area.

The first picture is Kurtis and HB Mike covering the Temple Ball face for the winter.

The second is Justin and Bryan putting the roof on Manor.

Kevin's last days

The last two days we continued cleaning up the props and mannequins. Justin, Kurtis, Bryan, Ernie, Julio, and Julio have taken most of the stuff that needs to get stored out of the show and they have started closing rooms up. I've continued to take down lighting and sound stuff. Ashlee has continued to clean costumes.Kevin, Dan, and Elgin started taking down the animatronics today. They got about halfway finished by the time they left today. They are going to take the rest down tomorrow.

The picture is Kevin and Dan posing with one of the animatronics.

Many more props stored

We continued taking down props and other things for the winter. Justin took all of the plants from the Temple facade area and stored them in the Dungeon rooms. Trail 2, Spiders, Fear of Death and other areas had their props and mannequins taken down and stored. Julio, Megal, and Julio finished taking down Demons and then brought the rest of the tombstones across to be stored. I took down speakers and lighting things down in Pumpkins, Cornfield, Trail 1, and Vampires. Bryan finished the roofs over the porta potty areas.

The first picture is the Temple facade area with Justin taking down the plants.

The second picture is, left to right, me (James), Justin, Elgin, and Kurtis squashed into the box truck.

More stuff put away

Today Mike, Justin, Kurtis, Ashlee, Taylor, Ernie, and ??? worked on taking down stuff in Pumpkin Patch, Cornfield, and Trail 1, Zombie forest, and Vampires. Megal, Julio, and Megal brought all the tomb stones across to be stored. They then worked on taking Demons down. Demons and Spiders are on the Compounce access road to the log flume so they need to be taken down every year.

Bryan worked on putting roofs over where the porta potties go. Ernie wants to use that area as storage during the winter. I took all the lighting and sound stuff down in Cemetery, Demons, and Spiders. Elgin worked on testing and cleaning fog machines and he numbered the Spider panels. The new Spider area was supposed to be temporary for this year only but it looks like Ernie is considering keeping it like it is for next year.

The first picture is Ashley and ??? with the Zombie Forest poles in the box truck.

In the second picture most of the Cemetery monuments are on the flat bed.

Cleanup day 2: More people

Today we had more people and got a lot more done. Ernie, Dan, Justin, Mike, Julio, and Bryan finished up the Queue line stuff. They then moved onto Catacombs and got all of the props out of there. They also got all the mannequins out of Cemetery. Elgin worked on testing and cleaning fog machines. I worked on taking all of the lighting and sound stuff out of Catacombs.

The first picture is Justin, Bryan, and Julio moving the Queue Line pieces with the new cart Bryan made the week before.

The second picture is Ernie walking into the Cemetery with all of the ground props ready to go across the street. Elgin is also near the center Mesoileum testing fog machines.

Cleanup begins

Today we started cleanup. We need to get the queue line down as quickly as possible so Compounce can get their parking lot back. I was the first one there after Ernie and I started taking pictures of the queue line so we remember how it goes back together next year. ;p

I took down all the lighting and sound stuff while Kevin, Dan, Ernie, Hunchback Mike and Kurtis started taking down everything else. They started on the Endless tunnels. The last 16 feet of tunnel runs over the road and has to be taken down every year. They then started on the entrance and exit signs. Then then started on the corrals then finally started on the back wall. We got less than half down but we should be able to finish it tomorrow.