880 W. Lake St Addison, IL
years: 2011
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Put simply, Disturbia is one of those pay haunts that does not live up to the hype. It is touted as one of the best haunts in Chicagoland, and although we at the Tourers are always skeptical of claims like that, usually haunts that are overhyped are decent or, as in the case of Screams in the Park, actually do live up to their publicity. Disturbia, at least in our opinion, does not.
In actuality, the only reason we even went to Disturbia was that we had a bad experience at Asylum 13 in Bolingbrook and wanted to go to another (hopefully better) haunt. Since it was early in the season very few were open, so we wound up at Disturbia.
Overall, Disturbia was a big disappointment. The only good thing was that there was no wait. We bought our tickets and got right in. Since there were so few people there was no wait entertainment to speak of. Despite there being so few people there, we ran into a group of six people about 1/3 of the way in and never got separated from them. There was no attempt to keep us apart. There were few props to speak of. The haunt consisted mostly of endless corridors, with one area of cages/mirrors/strobe lights intended to disorient and confuse. There were also a few pressurized flexible wall areas that you had to squeeze through. There was also little variation in terms of live actors. Most were simply dressed in normal clothes with zombie makeup of the sort one could pick up anywhere. They also were of the "jump out and yell at you to go away" variety, with little variation across different areas of the haunt.
Perhaps the most annoying experience in Disturbia was when wound up locked in a metal cage with several people and no one would let us out for about 5 minutes. There were several live actors in the room (which was otherwise devoid of any props), but they completely ignored us. After several minutes it became slightly claustrophobic in addition to the fact that it was boring. Finally we were let out, with no ceremony or even actor interaction.. It was not entertaining. In fact, about 1/3 of the way in we were really regretting even being there. It was unfortunate as the beginning of the haunt was very promising - upon entering there was an outdoor scene, with giant webs everywhere, fake grass, and a "stone" path to follow to a doorway. Being in a giant blowup dome really added to the effect of being in a huge outdoor space, and the webs were supplemented by laser lights that gave everything an unreal, spooky quality. Unfortunately things went downhill rapidly.
We were taken through the same area of cages and strobe lights at least twice, and very few actors bothered to do more than just yell at us. Overall, we found it to be a very ineffective use of the huge space that the dome afforded, and for $18 per person the entertainment value was very low. Personally, the only thing that 'disturbed' me about this haunt was the price to get in. If there were more actual sets, more things to look at and more varied actor performances this could be an excellent haunt, but unfortunately it's currently a case of "don't believe the hype", with the advertising being very out of synch with what is actually delivered.
In actuality, the only reason we even went to Disturbia was that we had a bad experience at Asylum 13 in Bolingbrook and wanted to go to another (hopefully better) haunt. Since it was early in the season very few were open, so we wound up at Disturbia.
Overall, Disturbia was a big disappointment. The only good thing was that there was no wait. We bought our tickets and got right in. Since there were so few people there was no wait entertainment to speak of. Despite there being so few people there, we ran into a group of six people about 1/3 of the way in and never got separated from them. There was no attempt to keep us apart. There were few props to speak of. The haunt consisted mostly of endless corridors, with one area of cages/mirrors/strobe lights intended to disorient and confuse. There were also a few pressurized flexible wall areas that you had to squeeze through. There was also little variation in terms of live actors. Most were simply dressed in normal clothes with zombie makeup of the sort one could pick up anywhere. They also were of the "jump out and yell at you to go away" variety, with little variation across different areas of the haunt.
Perhaps the most annoying experience in Disturbia was when wound up locked in a metal cage with several people and no one would let us out for about 5 minutes. There were several live actors in the room (which was otherwise devoid of any props), but they completely ignored us. After several minutes it became slightly claustrophobic in addition to the fact that it was boring. Finally we were let out, with no ceremony or even actor interaction.. It was not entertaining. In fact, about 1/3 of the way in we were really regretting even being there. It was unfortunate as the beginning of the haunt was very promising - upon entering there was an outdoor scene, with giant webs everywhere, fake grass, and a "stone" path to follow to a doorway. Being in a giant blowup dome really added to the effect of being in a huge outdoor space, and the webs were supplemented by laser lights that gave everything an unreal, spooky quality. Unfortunately things went downhill rapidly.
We were taken through the same area of cages and strobe lights at least twice, and very few actors bothered to do more than just yell at us. Overall, we found it to be a very ineffective use of the huge space that the dome afforded, and for $18 per person the entertainment value was very low. Personally, the only thing that 'disturbed' me about this haunt was the price to get in. If there were more actual sets, more things to look at and more varied actor performances this could be an excellent haunt, but unfortunately it's currently a case of "don't believe the hype", with the advertising being very out of synch with what is actually delivered.