9703 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL 60018
year: 2012
tourers: bryan, paul, laura
cost: $20
chainsaws: 5/5
Screams in the Park is a new pay haunt that opened initially in 2011. It is based on the true story of serial killer H.H. Holmes, who terrorized victims during Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and built an actually murder castle on Chicago's North side, filled with traps and various methods of torture. Since the Tourers missed it its first year, they made a point of checking it out in 2012. One very big problem with this haunt was that the location and lack of good signage made the haunt so hard to find that we drove there one weekend only to turn around and leave believing it did not exist. After looking up the directions again in the near future we realized that we were actually right where we needed to be but no signs pointed us to the actual haunt. We did make our return trip and we were correct, the haunt was extremely difficult to see - they no doubt lost a lot of business because they did such a poor job of pointing the way there. The "in the Park" part of the haunt title should probably be "in the Parking Garage" as that is where this haunt is actually located - in the lower level of a parking garage across from the Muvico Theater in Rosemont. We arrived on a cold, wet, rainy evening, which made our search rather uncomfortable. We did manage to see a sign, but the wind of the Windy City blew it down on the ground - you can see Bryan and Laura running past the knocked down sign (see photo) trying to get to shelter.
We actually spent about 20 minutes trying to find the entrance, and wound up in the basement of the garage where the haunt was located. However, we went the wrong way to get there and wound up behind the actual haunt itself. While down there, Paul encountered one of the live actors running from one door to the next and, Paul being Paul, he decided to run along with her. One of the haunt operators saw us and asked us how we got down there. We told him and he was surprised, saying the door we used was locked - apparently it was not, as that's how we entered. After getting over his surprise, he kindly escorted us to the proper entrance, which was located upstairs by the OTHER elevator entrance. Luckily, the entrance problem was the only fault with the haunt. We were delighted to have some discount coupons given to us by a group of girls saving us a couple bucks off the steep $20.00 price tag - but no worries - this is well worth the full $20.00.
We were greeted with the usual rules at the entrance (including no photos, which is why we only have the one you see on this page) and entered into the haunt. There were so many wonderful props, including a huge demon-like animated character that must have been about 20 feet tall that came towards you. It was easily the largest animated prop we have seen. This demon-like character also had a large animated dog on a leash. We had seen this dog before (most particularly in The Blood Shed in Frankfort, but having it attached to this demon figure made it look tiny! Many of the sets looked like movie sets - for example, the cemetery scene filled a giant room and came complete with trees, fog, creepy lighting, animatronics and live actors.
At first glance, one might think that a parking lot is an odd place to have a haunt, but overall it makes a lot of sense - it is indoors, protected from the weather, and provides a lot of space. The space was very effectively used as well, with many internal twists and turns. A number of the rooms featured very detailed sets, including an Egyptian-themed room, a very large lab setup in the basement (complete with an excellent live actor who pretended to be a prop - he was so good that he almost fooled all of us), large working mechanical props like a pendulum, hidden entrances, an excellent fake elevator setup complete with sarcastic bellman and more. There was even a funeral you were invited to attend. Bryan and Laura entered the funeral parlor but Paul, lingering behind as usual, wound up being shut out of the "services" (he did get to see the next round, though, after Bryan and Laura exited) - the actors provided some good performances, much better than some of the overlong, stilted storytelling that one sees at some haunts. The funeral setup was worth the payoff - don't be surprised to see sleeping corpses rise at this haunt. The other actors also were top notch - never breaking character and being either very scary or very entertaining or both.
Overall, there was so much to this haunt that we all were pleasantly surprised. It was easily 25-30 minutes long, which is on the longer side for pay haunts, and for a haunt only in its second year of operation we were impressed. All 3 of us gave this 5 out of 5 chainsaws.Having seen as many pay haunts as we have over the years, it's not often that we give such high marks to one right out of the box, but Screams in the Park is well worth it. If they didn't lose too much money by not clearly marking this location, it will make a very welcome return haunt for the future, the empty parking garage of a Chicagoland area building does make a great location for a haunt. We found that using a GPS gets you close to this haunt, but we did find ourselves across the street from it when we followed the directions exactly. A good piece of advice is to look up the address of the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, IL. The haunt is located in the parking garage directly across from it, and to get to the entrance, you can walk to the middle of the garage where the elevators are and head up to the first level. This should get you to the proper haunt entrance.
We actually spent about 20 minutes trying to find the entrance, and wound up in the basement of the garage where the haunt was located. However, we went the wrong way to get there and wound up behind the actual haunt itself. While down there, Paul encountered one of the live actors running from one door to the next and, Paul being Paul, he decided to run along with her. One of the haunt operators saw us and asked us how we got down there. We told him and he was surprised, saying the door we used was locked - apparently it was not, as that's how we entered. After getting over his surprise, he kindly escorted us to the proper entrance, which was located upstairs by the OTHER elevator entrance. Luckily, the entrance problem was the only fault with the haunt. We were delighted to have some discount coupons given to us by a group of girls saving us a couple bucks off the steep $20.00 price tag - but no worries - this is well worth the full $20.00.
We were greeted with the usual rules at the entrance (including no photos, which is why we only have the one you see on this page) and entered into the haunt. There were so many wonderful props, including a huge demon-like animated character that must have been about 20 feet tall that came towards you. It was easily the largest animated prop we have seen. This demon-like character also had a large animated dog on a leash. We had seen this dog before (most particularly in The Blood Shed in Frankfort, but having it attached to this demon figure made it look tiny! Many of the sets looked like movie sets - for example, the cemetery scene filled a giant room and came complete with trees, fog, creepy lighting, animatronics and live actors.
At first glance, one might think that a parking lot is an odd place to have a haunt, but overall it makes a lot of sense - it is indoors, protected from the weather, and provides a lot of space. The space was very effectively used as well, with many internal twists and turns. A number of the rooms featured very detailed sets, including an Egyptian-themed room, a very large lab setup in the basement (complete with an excellent live actor who pretended to be a prop - he was so good that he almost fooled all of us), large working mechanical props like a pendulum, hidden entrances, an excellent fake elevator setup complete with sarcastic bellman and more. There was even a funeral you were invited to attend. Bryan and Laura entered the funeral parlor but Paul, lingering behind as usual, wound up being shut out of the "services" (he did get to see the next round, though, after Bryan and Laura exited) - the actors provided some good performances, much better than some of the overlong, stilted storytelling that one sees at some haunts. The funeral setup was worth the payoff - don't be surprised to see sleeping corpses rise at this haunt. The other actors also were top notch - never breaking character and being either very scary or very entertaining or both.
Overall, there was so much to this haunt that we all were pleasantly surprised. It was easily 25-30 minutes long, which is on the longer side for pay haunts, and for a haunt only in its second year of operation we were impressed. All 3 of us gave this 5 out of 5 chainsaws.Having seen as many pay haunts as we have over the years, it's not often that we give such high marks to one right out of the box, but Screams in the Park is well worth it. If they didn't lose too much money by not clearly marking this location, it will make a very welcome return haunt for the future, the empty parking garage of a Chicagoland area building does make a great location for a haunt. We found that using a GPS gets you close to this haunt, but we did find ourselves across the street from it when we followed the directions exactly. A good piece of advice is to look up the address of the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, IL. The haunt is located in the parking garage directly across from it, and to get to the entrance, you can walk to the middle of the garage where the elevators are and head up to the first level. This should get you to the proper haunt entrance.