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HauntedIllinois.com's
2004 Lombard Jaycees Haunted House Review
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Lombard
Jaycees Haunted House
1000 N. Rohwling Rd.
Lombard, Illinois 60148
Reviewed:
10/29/04 |
| Visibility/Location: |
This event might be a little hard to find, if you don’t know exactly where to look. They were located in a mall, set off the road. There was a large vinyl sign at the main entrance of the mall parking lot, but unfortunately you could only read it if you were coming from the South on Rohlwing Road, because of the way the sign was angled. On the face of the mall building itself, there was also a vinyl “haunted house” banner above the
entrance (see picture above). |
| Wait
Entertainment: |
To avoid the long lines, I arrived about fifteen minutes before their advertised opening time, but unfortunately they opened about 20 minutes late, so there wasn’t any wait entertainment during that period of time. When things got started, though, they did have some good wait entertainment. Shortly before 8pm, a truck pulling a small trailer pulled up to the entrance, with flashing lights on top and a siren blaring. When the trailer opened up, smoke rolled out and crazy clowns emerged, riding mini motorcycles and an ATV. They rode up and down the length of the parking lot a couple of times to entertain the crowd, before the ATV shot a huge ball of flames out of its tailpipe. There were also a
few actors walking up and down in front of the building, scaring the patrons in line. |
| Admission
Price: |
$8.00
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| Length: |
13 Minutes+ *
*
= Since people move through haunted attractions at different
rates, your time will vary. |
| Scare
Factor: |
Medium-Low.
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| Atmosphere: |
Although there wasn’t really any theme outside of the building, a spooky atmosphere was established by the actors interacting with the customers waiting in line. Once inside, there were more actors in the indoor waiting area, as well as a nice 15 foot high “haunted house” façade. There was also spooky music playing in the background. |
| Crowd
Control: |
There was some room for improvement here. There was one time when my group caught up to a group in front of us and a couple of times other groups had caught up to my group, from behind. Some additional spacing between groups would have made traffic flow a little smoother throughout the house. |
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Summary:
In this
attraction there were several scenes separated by several long,
winding hallways. While some of the hallways were
extremely dark, others were a little too well lit. In a couple
of areas, the bright reflection off the ceiling was a little
distracting.
Throughout
the house, there were a number of detailed scenes. The Alley
was very well done, complete with a real car, street signs and
graffiti spray painted on the walls. The Dungeon was also
nicely detailed. It featured gray 'stone' walls, an
executioner with an axe and a girl chained & shackled to the
wall. As she screamed for help, the 'executioner' slammed
the axe against the wall to startle you.
While other scenes were less detailed, they were very
creative. One room had little more than a strobe light,
but the floor had springs under it, so it bounced up and down as
you walked through. In another area, "Welcome to
Florida" was painted on the wall. Throughout the room
there was a chest of drawers and other assorted furniture in
disarray, simulating the effects of a
hurricane.
Many of the actors did a fine job; however, there were a couple
of times when actors broke character, diminishing the
effectiveness of the scene they were in. In one scene, there was a
frightened girl cowering in bed who said “There’s a monster in my room”. She
performed convincingly, but the “monster” in the scene
didn't do much. He walked around the corner, saw me,
then said (in a normal voice) “Hey, how ya doin’?”
Needless to say, that was a little disheartening. Most of
the actors were very enthusiastic; however, there were a number
of them that were more tame and didn't even approach you.
Overall, the Lombard Jaycees Haunted House was a lot of fun to go through. For the amount of time spent inside, the admission price
was very reasonable. To quote
a person in the group ahead of me: “Man, this house is big.”
The Lombard Jaycees have traditionally put together a good show
and this year is no exception.
Click
here to find out more about this event.
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