601 Dundee Avenue, East Dundee, IL
Year: 2014
Located inside Santa's Village Azoosement Park, Nightmare from North Street is unusual in that the haunt combines an outdoor part and an indoor part which makes good use of the actual location.
The haunt begins with a guide leading visitors through the many trails inside Santa's Village. Along the way there is ample opportunity for live actors to sneak up on visitors. They can literally come from all sides, and the actors during our visit had some very clever hiding places, including inside some of the smaller kiddie rides and along the sides of buildings. The trail also takes visitors around the back portion of Santa's Village, which makes it seem like they are venturing into an abandoned area. There was an excellent setup with some werewolves who came to life, and a great scene featuring Halloween classic Mike Myers as visitors made they way to the barn where the main haunt was located. The barn itself was decorated in an eerie blue light that made it stand out against the darkness and gave it an otherworldly feel even before we made our way inside of it. The inside of the haunt contained numerous scenes, including a cannibal lunch counter, where a butcher in the back served up the freshest of meat portions. The famous electric chair scene from previous years made its appearance this time as well. It always provides some great comic relief as the executioner really seems to enjoy his work! We also loved a
fenced in maze area with a rather amusing live actor dressed in a
glowing skeleton mask. His comedy was terrible, but it was so bad it was good! There was even a hallway lined with curious velvet
paintings and inhabited by a vampire like creature who followed us
through the entire area.
There were numerous actors inside the haunt as well, and although many were younger, each played their part well and displayed a range of characters. Instead of the typical screaming "get out" type of acting, there were quiet creepy actors, angry actors, funny actors, and some good surprise pop outs as well. We particularly liked the actor who surprised us after we entered the first room. He had some chains that he kept banging on the walls as we walked by - quite effective. Overall, the haunt scenes are varied enough, and there are some clever setups that one doesn’t always see. The addition of the outside sections, both before and after the haunt, is what really makes it stand out. We loved the live actors who jumped out at us on the pathways, particularly those who pretended to be props and the creepy clowns with the pipes that they dragged along the paths as they walked. Congratulations to all on making Nightmare from North Street 2014 our favorite of all the times we've visited! |
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