Trimper's Haunted House

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Although many enthusiasts have taken a ride on the Haunted House, it is impossible to see behind the scenes images of how the ride works. The first shop is located in the first room right behind Tracy’s Rat. This shop is the main headquarters for the ride, and houses the circuit box, digital sound repeaters, computer, and radio equipment. If a car’s dodge gearbox or transformer breaks down, this workbench is where you are most likely to find it. Scott, Haunted House manager, primarily uses this shop as his own space to work on his projects. From time to time, you may also find other maintenance men of the park in here working on projects, too.

Notice in this shop the single switch located above the workbench on the right; this switch is connected to all the sounds. A single “flip o’ the switch” is all it takes to make the haunting sounds barrel through this attraction, both inside and out. The Count, located in the lobby, requires manual power—the ride operator must kneel down and flip a switch located on the backside of this animatronic. Sometimes, as your coffin rolls into the first room, you may be privileged to find the door to this shop open accidentally. This first-room shop is where the magic happens in this attraction.

The second Haunted House workshop is located right behind the Gravestones in the Graveyard. This room is sometimes called the "Compression Room" because the two main compressors for the ride’s air-controlled stunts are kept here. Back in the day, this room was not sealed off with a wall, and patrons could peek in here at any time. But, because the compressors were so noisy, the Trimper’s decided to build a wall dividing it off from the rest of the ride. In this shop, you will often find remnants of old and new effects, such as hands, fingers, heads, old motors, pneumatics, air cylinders, etc.

Sometimes, parts are re-fiber glassed here and/or fixed. Most of the time, this shop is not in use per say, and sits vacant. But, in times of trouble or over-crowding of the main shop, you may find one or more employees here.

Throughout the Haunted House, in conjunction with the workshops, you will find what I like to call “cubbies” where workers can hang out and watch patrons or even work on a project. Shown below is a cubby behind the pneumatics for the Water Curtain. There is another cubby behind the Cuckoo Clock at the ride’s ending which is mainly used for storage. All attractions need a place to work and a central-point of operation. In some attractions, these areas are bigger than others. But nonetheless, the Trimper’s have some well-located workshops to help get the heavy loads of work completed.