13th Floor Haunted House 2021
Located at 5050 River Rd, Schiller Park, IL 60176
So last year the13th Floor Haunted House was in Melrose Park. This year, they moved to their new location in Schiller Park. Now we have to say this, as you arrive at 13th Floor, you DO have to pay for parking. To park your own car, it’s 20 dollars and Valet parking is 10 dollars.
One of the new changes is that it is an outdoor waiting area. The last location had an outdoor/indoor waiting room. This year it was ALL outdoors. We have to commend them, 13th Floor did a really good job spacing out people due to corona and all the actors were wearing masks.
As we entered the rules area, we ran into our good friend, Monkey. He was so excited to see us! This monkey was running around taking pictures with everyone, but just when you least expected it, he would smash his symbols together, scaring the living daylights out of you!! Watching the monkey is always entertaining to watch. The way he interacts with people is amazing. One minute he could be very nice and lovable. Other times he can be mischievous and will play tricks on you.
Now there are some amazing rooms we want to point out. The first one is the Tilted Church. When walking up to the church, you see the outside of the church as if it was blown over. As you walk in you see everything is slanted, even the floor is slanted on an angle! It’s kinda hard trying to walk up on a 30 or something degree floor. How they did it, we don’t know but it is so amazing and the design of it is so cool! I love how they made you feel like the whole church fell over and you were forced to walk a slanted floor.
Another great room is the plant room. Right in the middle of the room, they had this huge Venus Fly Trap. This fly trap looks absolutely amazing! The room was filled with vines and plants making you feel like you were in a terrarium. 13th Floor does so well with room design and huge set design. In one room they have a wobbly bridge. Now, some haunts have a wobbly bridge that would move a little bit and it was fun. 13th Floor has a wobbly bridge that makes you feel like you’re going to fall off, so hold onto the railing and be sure to wear appropriate shoes!
As we talked about the set design and the details, we must talk about the acting. Unfortunately, on this night the acting wasn’t good. The actors would just scream at you, walk around acting weird, or just stare at you making creepy sounds. Now we are not saying this is a bad thing, but when you have multiple actors doing the same thing it gets really boring. After our walk through, we talked to management about it and we found out that it was all new cast. Very few returning cast members came back this year, which kind of hurts the experience at 13th Floor. With this being said, like anywhere when dealing with a new team it takes a minute for an actor to learn his or her spot. Just like any job, you have to learn it before you can master it. Every new haunter in the industry goes through this. Now, there was an actor in the bar area in the haunt that was on point. Asking what we want to drink, and how he can help us like a real bartender. Same goes for the actors in the wait line, they were really good at interacting with people. Making you laugh or by scaring you to death. Now as the season goes on these actors will get better after they get used to their spot and learn who their character is and how to build on it. Again this is some of these actors’ first year, so like everything…they will get better. Plus, 13th Floor has some great actors that have been there for years who will show them, teach them and give great advice.
In conclusion, 13th Floor moved into a great location where there is food and bars all around in the area which will bring in the customers. They have great set design and amazing detail they add to the sets. With the right training to the new haunters, there is no doubt that 13th Floor will once again become the world famous 13th Floor and become the go-to haunt in the Chicagoland area.
