Haunted Trails Family Amusement Center Review

It's a shame that Yelp won't allow me to post photos right now, because this is a pretty neat mini-golf course.  They have an eclectic Halloween theme--pretty cartoony, but still a lot of fun.  You've got a Creature from the Black Lagoon, a haunted house, a Dracula's castle, a giant skull, a bubbling pool of blood, and so on and so forth.  The garbage receptacles are five-foot pastel ghosts with wide-open mouths.

The course is fairly easy.  I shot an even-par 46, which included a true hole-in-one on the 12th hole, plus another on the final hole, which netted me a free game by shooting the ball down a narrow chute and into the skull's mouth.  However, on a couple of holes where you must shoot the ball up a ramp towards a structure (e.g. the haunted house) it is unclear where you should be aiming.  Also, there's no provision for when your ball goes into the water hazard accidentally.  I caught a freak bounce off the side bumper on the 5th, and my ball kicked up into the air, off the course, and into the water.  There are no signs posted around or instructions on the score card about lost balls.  So I climbed over the little fence and fished around in the drink with my club until I pulled out two balls; sadly, neither were my original one, but that was my penance for hitting a bad shot, I suppose.

After your round, of course you have to check out the games inside.  This facility is apparently the sister location of Enchanted Castle in Lombard.  I like the Lombard offerings better; Haunted Trails is smaller and lacks the really cool games such as dinosaur hunting.  However, they do have Skee-Ball for fifty cents per game (nine balls).  I love that stuff, man.

The candy selection seemed limited too, but we made off with some Twizzlers and Junior Mints and a Charleston Chew, and a few other delightful retro candies.

I would definitely come back here for mini golf.  I would say that this is one of the three or four best courses in the greater Chicago area.  I wonder if they are open through the Halloween season...

7759 S Harlem Ave
Burbank, IL 60459

(708) 598-8580