The Halloween Experience 2022

The Halloween Experience
37W955 Big Timber Road
Elgin, IL 60124
https://www.thehalloweenexperience.com/
Visited on Saturday, October 22, 2022

Vital Signs:
Year opened: 2020 (Revamped for 2022)
Number of seasons to date: 3
Number of attractions: 1
Number of actors: 0
Setting: Inside car
Parking: Not needed
Fun Fact: Located on the grounds of a functioning Boy Scouts of America camp, Camp Big Timber
Even More Fun Facts: This is part of the Elgin Haunt Central group that promotes THREE amazing haunted events in Elgin that provide Fear, Festival, and Family!

Camp Big Timber is no stranger to hosting events during the Halloween season. Starting in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the camp hosted an attraction lasting two years that kept guests inside their cars driving through haunted scenes with live actors. But, realizing that there is a very large untapped market to help produce an event geared towards families, they switched focus, and production companies, and introduced us all to a new concept for 2022: The Halloween Experience.

For anyone that is wondering, this attraction is closer to one you might experience in a theme park or zoo, and does not have any live actors in costume. The goal here is very simple: to entertain all ages of Halloween lovers without having to worry about any guest of any age waking up with nightmares. Helping to showcase that Halloween is more than “things that go bump in the night,” The Halloween Experience wants to make sure your visit is all treats, with no tricks.

Don’t worry about packing your hiking boots, because this adventure is completely contained inside your vehicle. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets, snacks, and even attend in their pajamas as they experience nearly a mile of Halloween-themed decorations and lights. As you enter the property, guests are provided with a handful of candy and small snacks, and set off into the darkness. Now what could possibly be the perfect accent to your journey? How about a personalized spooky soundtrack from our friends at Midnight Syndicate right over your car’s FM radio! (So cool, right?!)

Lining the trail are hundreds of larger-than-life decorations, tunnels, and inflatables. Now, when we say large, we mean HUGE! Like our SUV could fit under one of the arms HUGE! Trust us, you have never experienced inflatables quite like this before. And might we add that the pictures don’t do them justice! (Most are bigger than a two-story house!) To top it all off, each of these decor pieces are custom to The Halloween Experience. As veteran, keen-eyed lovers of Halloween since 1999, we can tell you we have never seen these inflatables on the market before!

Scenes include an enormous zombie, Frankenstein, monster hands, spaceman, tentacles, Ghostbusters car, dinosaurs, and even a smoke-breathing dragon! Even when we thought we had seen it all, we were shocked as the trail twisted and turned unveiling another surprise around each bend.

The Bottom Line: We can’t phrase it better than how they list it on their website: “For families and those who love Halloween, but don’t want to be scared.” The displays are beautiful, the lights are gorgeous, and the experience is truly one that will help to accent your Halloween season! Grab a friend, bring a snack, hop in the car, and head on over! AND get ready for a bonus at the end: a free pumpkin! Who can ask for more?

Don’t just take our word for it, check out these images from our visit: