Halloween // Laser tripwire for animatronics

Since the first year of covid, my family has been putting up decorations along a deer path in the woods next to our house. Originally, it was so the neighbors could social distance and still have halloween fun Two years ago, we bought a jumping spider from spirit halloween. It has an optical sensor that activates it when you walk in front of it.

The thing works great when you're testing it, but we found out that the trigger is definitely an optical trigger and not IR. As soon as the sun sets, the woods get dark, and it stopped working unless an unlucky parent shined a flashlight on it.

Last year, we tried keeping it illuminated with a small spotlight, and it worked a little better, but it still wasn't great.

It does have a footpad attachment port, and I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck either buying or hacking together an IR trigger like a garage door sensor into an animatronic.

Note, a footpad isn't going to work. It's dark in the woods, and I don't want a tripping hazard.

Anyone have any pointers or advice?