formerly of thornton, il
year: 2010-2011
Doorway to Doom is a former home haunt located in Thornton, IL. The Tourers first visited here in 2010. We actually visited several times, although we only got to experience the haunt once, as despite being listed as open, each time we went there the haunt was closed. The first few times we didn't mind so much, as it was close to home base and we understand that home operators sometimes have things come up. Also, we did often show up later (around 11pm or so), and even though the hours were until Midnight, we figured that it had simply closed early. We were intrigued, though, so we kept coming back. However, after about the 4th time it got a bit monotonous.
Finally, we arrived earlier on a weekend night and the haunt was still not operating. We did see several people inside the house sitting around a table, though. Since Paul had spoken with the owner on a previous occasion and was assured they'd be open, Paul decided to knock again this time and see what was up. Paul told the owner that we had been there half a dozen times and really were looking forward to seeing the haunt, and we didn't understand why they were closed when it was early and the hours said they'd be open, so the owner decided to put it on just for us. |
The haunt itself was excellent. We entered through a large faux stone arch (the eponymous "Doorway to Doom") and passed through a long corridor lined with various props. A live actor dressed like an insect or spider crawled out of a tunnel towards us and guided us to the back portion of the haunt. This was filled with all kinds of props, from coffins to severed heads to a funeral display, complete with live actress in a coffin. She was very effective and kept still until it was time to scare us all.
The end of the haunt featured a crematorium simulation that looked a bit too realistic - it even used real flames and smoke. We were quite impressed and eagerly looked forward to 2011. When 2011 rolled around, we found that Doorway to Doom had moved to a local bar in the area and was now charging $13 admission. Still, given our enjoyable experience we were looking forward to see the expanded location. Unfortunately, it was not quite as exciting as we were anticipating. Although there were some good scenes, there was a lot of empty space, and the $13 price tag was quite a shock. We felt it was worth about $7 as a pay haunt.
The 2012, Doorway to Doom morphed into Zombie Annihilation and moved to Hawthorne Race Course. Although we tentatively scheduled this for a visit, we frankly weren't too enthused given our 2011 experience, so we wound up skipping it. We did enjoy our experience when Doorway to Doom was a home haunt, but sadly it didn't continue in the same vein.
The end of the haunt featured a crematorium simulation that looked a bit too realistic - it even used real flames and smoke. We were quite impressed and eagerly looked forward to 2011. When 2011 rolled around, we found that Doorway to Doom had moved to a local bar in the area and was now charging $13 admission. Still, given our enjoyable experience we were looking forward to see the expanded location. Unfortunately, it was not quite as exciting as we were anticipating. Although there were some good scenes, there was a lot of empty space, and the $13 price tag was quite a shock. We felt it was worth about $7 as a pay haunt.
The 2012, Doorway to Doom morphed into Zombie Annihilation and moved to Hawthorne Race Course. Although we tentatively scheduled this for a visit, we frankly weren't too enthused given our 2011 experience, so we wound up skipping it. We did enjoy our experience when Doorway to Doom was a home haunt, but sadly it didn't continue in the same vein.