Abstract

Every enchanted Fall season, a segment of the public flocks to a multitude of haunted Halloween attractions across the U.S., to experience fear as a form of amusement and entertainment. Psychologists continue to research the physiological and cognitive behaviors that are associated with fear and the "fight or flight" responses that are triggered when individuals are engaged in a heighten sense of danger. However, as guests traverse through these haunted attraction experiences, it's commonplace for guests to enter into these typical modes of "fight or flight" behaviors very quickly. Once this response kicks in, the guests' instinct is to scramble through each haunt scene as quickly as possible, in order to return to safety, thus rushing through and fleeing the experience. The most standard blueprint for these types of themed attractions, are typically in the form of a maze-like walkthrough floorplan. These designs and layouts, however, have become excessively routine and exceptionally predictable to guests, thus setting up a preconceived expectation of the experience to come. This enables guests to preemptively know how or what to expect and are likely able to predict typical scares in the attraction. This study will work to examine and explore a haunted attraction design that incorporates themed haunted attraction experiences in a series of singular rooms, as compared to the traditional walkthrough haunted maze layouts. This proposed design concept will also work to incorporate various ways of guest engagement, increased attraction intensity, and deeper depths of immersion by combining advancing methods of Promenade Theatre & Breaking the Fourth Wall with guests.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2022

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Weishar, Peter

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Theatre

Degree Program

Theatre; Themed Experience

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0008944; DP0026277

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0026277

Language

English

Release Date

May 2023

Length of Campus-only Access

1 year

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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