13th Floor Haunted House San Antonio — Local services in San Antonio

As an avid haunted house enthusiast (and prior actor) I enjoy haunted houses for different reasons than most. I’m from Houston but was vacationing in SA and decided to try this haunted house out. First off you have to pay a decent amount for parking since it’s directly downtown ($10-$20) which is kinda bummer ontop of the $75 ticket price for 2 people (total price) the line wasn’t very long but still took about 45 minutes. There were some roamers out in the line which made the wait better but once you get downstairs for the entrance it was just dark with nothing to keep you entertained (maybe add a tv with horror stuff playing) the first thing once you enter is a photo booth (have to pay for pictures) and then you finally enter. The themes of the rooms seemed slightly repetitive but overall they were all well decorated. It seems like there might’ve been a slight shortage of actors as there were multiple areas with no one to scare us. The actors themselves had very simple costume and makeup and didn’t really have anything to offer other than roaring and screaming (known as pirates) I would’ve liked to see more action such as dialogue or crawling or something more. They had a few sliding actors but they were missing the best part…. FLINT!! If you have flint on the pads then they spark like crazy. It’s way more entertaining than seeing a night gown actor sliding at me in the dark when I can barely see anything. After you finish you enter straight into a gift shop and axe throwing area which is kinda fun. Then you just leave with nothing else to do. I timed the entire walkthrough right after I finished the photo booth till I exited into the gift shop and it took right at 19 minutes (I walk super slow to enjoy the sets) which is pretty long for a haunted house. Overall I enjoyed it but I just hate when there’s nothing to do but leave afterwards. No ambiance or hanging out in an area where roamers can...

We went during the blackout event:

The workers leading to the haunted house were very rude. I understand it's supposed to be scary and you sign a waiver and everything but people still are anxious going into this place no matter what. So just because they work there and know where to go and what will be happening it seems they think they have the right to yell at you. They didn't give clear instructions when we went inside. They admitted us all in as a big group with other people and made it seem like we were all supposed to stick together. They gave a little speech as we were going up the stairs where my friends and I couldn't hear anything. You're in panic mode and they throw the glow stick down the chute and we were so confused. My group didn't get a glow stick so I asked if we could have one and they said, "sorry i already threw one down". We went down the slide and were already lost (yes I understand that's the point) but what ticked us off is we were going back and forth because we couldn't see where to go and thought everything was closed off. We went to the slide to possibly gather ourselves and this person (a worker) yelled "STOP COMING BACK GO THE OTHER WAY". It's not our fault we were set up for failure and were paying for this so why should we be yelled at.

Anyways the whole haunted house aspect is a JOKE. Like everyone else says, it's just a big maze and I could do the same if I just turned the lights off in my house.

Maybe it's just the blackout night, but the actors just wore black cloths and had white paint on their face. Not impressed.

I guess we went at the wrong time and wrong day, but it was NOT...

I went on a Saturday, Halloween night 2020. First off, the stellar COVID-19 protocols (temperature checks at the door, all patrons must wear face masks and social distance) allowed me to focus on the experience instead of worrying about my health.

The house is well decorated and the actors were excellent, with a few solid jump scares. It wasn’t so much scary as it was suspenseful, and it was manageable for my girlfriend (who typically scares easily).

Unfortunately, other Google reviews were right about the horrid spacing between groups. We even asked if they could delay a little, but they bluntly said they’re trying to get as many people through as possible (to get as much money as possible). The poor spacing between groups meant we were running into the group in front of us and behind us often and had to slow ourselves down several times (we were walking leisurely to begin with after seeing the other reviews). At one point I saw 5 different groups all in one area! This toned down scare factor considerably as we could see jump scares coming up, and several actors didn’t have time to reset positions before we got to them. This house’s business model is a paragon of quantity at the expense of quality.

I still enjoyed the experience overall since I love haunted houses, but if you’re looking for the best bang for your buck, I’d recommend trying someplace else. Also, general admission tickets are fine even on Halloween on Saturday night if you show up at 6pm for their first time-slot. I would have given a lower rating for sure if I’d gotten the pricier Skip the Line tickets considering the poor...