Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream 2024

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
Status
The first entry in this thread is a WikiPost. As such, it can be edited by anyone with the appropriate permissions.

Attraction Lineup​

Haunted Houses​

  1. Clown Town [New] (Festhaus Parking Lot)
  2. Monster Manor [New] (Germany Event Pavilion)
  3. Lost Mines: Bloodstone [Updated] (Beneath Escape from Pompeii)
  4. Death Water Bayou: Morte [Updated] (Behind Roman Rapids)
  5. KILLarney DIEner: Condemned [Updated] (Killarney Simulator Building)

Terror-Tories​

  1. The Bash [New] (Aquitaine)
  2. Stalker Street [New] (New France)
  3. Fest-Evil [Returning] (Festa Italia)
  4. Gorgon Gardens [Returning] (Da Vinci's Garden of Inventions)
  5. Scary Tale Road [Returning] (Rhinefield)
  6. Ripper Row [Returning] (Banbury Cross)

Shows​

  1. Fiends: The FREAKquel [New] (Abbey Stone Theatre)
  2. Monster Stomp on Ripper Row [Returning] (Globe Theatre)
  3. Phantoms of the Festhaus [Returning] (Das Festhaus)
  4. Skeletones [Returning] (Il Teatro di San Marco)

Official Website​

Howl-O-Scream: Virginia Halloween Event | Busch Gardens Williamsburg

The spirit of Halloween is unleashed at Howl-O-Scream! Find haunted houses, escape rooms, scare zones, live shows & roller coasters if you dare.
buschgardens.com buschgardens.com
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Click to expand...
I noticed that Little Red Riding Hood in Scary Tale Road has a new costume this year. Now she looks like the version from the Never After from the olden days of Howl-O-Scream.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deacfan31 and Mwe BGW
Came back tonight. I have zero reason to return again. Not just BGW, but the event this year is the *worst* Halloween event I’ve ever experienced.

Fiends is awesome and is really the only thing holding the event together. Houses suck, crowd sucks, the entry/exit experience. All of it sucks this year. The park gave up. There is no passion to be seen either. The staff working the houses know they have been given nothing to work with.

2/10 this years event. Yall have fun with it….
 
Last edited:
  • Sad
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: lightninlady, Great Adventurer, Mwe BGW and 9 others
Man, seeing these recent reviews kinda got me dreading my trip next Friday. It's sad to see HOS isn't the event that it used to be and the fact the park isn't doing anything about obnoxious kids. Not saying it hasn't happened at Halloween Haunt but I've never had a bad experience there. The park definitely needs a chaperone policy. I'm not sure what it is about theme parks and Halloween events but it seems to bring out the worst of people, especially in recent years. As far as the quality of the event, it's very disheartening to hear how much it's gone downhill. I've only been to this even twice, 2005 and 2013 and I remember it being some of the best Halloween events out there. Now granted the main reason why I'm visiting is to get night rides there but I was also hoping to do a house or two but if they aren't that good, I'm not sure if I would bother. Still looking forward to my trip but still very anxious on how it will play out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Le Moose, Great Adventurer and Mwe BGW
Burnouts said:
Click to expand...

This incident is being discussed in the Busch Brawls thread, here: https://parkfans.net/threads/busch-brawls.7069/page-26#post-311758

Though these issues do directly relate to Howl-O-Scream, they're becoming so common that if we kept conversations about them in this thread, it would be difficult to discuss the actual event itself. Given that, we're probably going to try to keep safety and security discussions segregated in their own threads this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, deacfan31, Mwe BGW and 2 others
Zachary said:
This incident is being discussed in the Busch Brawls thread, here: https://parkfans.net/threads/busch-brawls.7069/page-26#post-311758

Though these issues do directly relate to Howl-O-Scream, they're becoming so common that if we kept conversations about them in this thread, it would be difficult to discuss the actual event itself. Given that, we're probably going to try to keep safety and security discussions segregated in their own threads this year.
Click to expand...
👍 What a state of our society when we need entire threads devoted to brawls.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, Great Adventurer, horsesboy and 3 others
From what I have seen in YouTube videos, the scare zones are okay this year. Stalker Street in New France is a theme that I honestly think fits the area well. It makes more sense to me than undead Vikings or cannibal butchers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd and Mwe BGW
Fun fact: My favorite areas for scare zones at Busch Gardens Williamsburg for their Howl-O-Scream are Germany and Italy.
 
cricket said:
Happy to report that crowds, houses, and scaresones are great today! Everyone’s in a good mood and it’s a lot of fun.
Click to expand...
We had the same experience today, minus the houses. After last night we just couldn’t justify bothering with them.

The mood/atmosphere was notably better, and employees were especially quick to say the same.

Lastly, for a first timer for Fiends in general, The FREAKquel was an awful lot of fun. I was prepared for “anticipointment”, but was very impressed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mushroom, Coolguy15, Le Moose and 1 other person
cricket said:
Happy to report that crowds, houses, and scaresones are great today! Everyone’s in a good mood and it’s a lot of fun.
Click to expand...
I can confirm this! I don’t think I heard anything about a fight at all tonight. I did see security question a few groups because of potential incidents, but nothing violent, everyone cooperated with them, and it was overall a good time. This is what Howl O Scream needs to be!
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Coasternerd, Great Adventurer, Coolguy15 and 1 other person
Beaumont said:
I noticed that Little Red Riding Hood in Scary Tale Road has a new costume this year. Now she looks like the version from the Never After from the olden days of Howl-O-Scream.
Click to expand...
Some fun info: the roaming group this year (replacing Hack Pack) are all legacy characters. The version of Little Red Riding Hood you saw is actually part of the roaming group and not Scary Tale Road, and IS in fact the version from the olden days. It's fun trying to figure out where the other legacy characters from the roaming group and The Bash are from!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, Mwe BGW, CastleOSullivan and 2 others
Murphy said:
I think maybe this event is no longer any fun whatsoever?

I’m not sure I’m even being hyperbolic.
Click to expand...
I agree and I don't think it is an exaggeration.

What is it about Halloween and Howl-o-scream that gives people license to be rude and insulting. This applies to guests and scare actors. Yesterday was the first time I experienced scare actors verbally insulting me and others. What makes it acceptable to insult a guest on what they are wearing, the way they walk or where they are standing? If the scare actor thinks they are being "evil", they are not. It comes off as disingenuous and rude. I can now understand why some scare actors are getting verbally and physically assaulted.

On a separate note: All the shows are quite good with talented performers. The shows, IMO, are the only reasons to return for a second trip.
 
  • Sad
  • Like
Reactions: lightninlady, outhikn, Nicole and 2 others
Celticdog said:
Yesterday was the first time I experienced scare actors verbally insulting me and others.
Click to expand...

I've never liked this either. I remember many years ago when Ports of Skull has pirates who would make fun of guests just walking by and I hated it then too. Hurling insults at guests, unless said guests have specifically volunteered for a roasting, is not fun or funny and certainly not spooky or scary. Plus, some subset of the population will become legitimately angry which makes it a completely unnecessary confrontation risk for the actor(s) in question. Furthermore, it's playing with fire—making fun of someone for the wrong thing, as a business, can go really wrong, really fast.

Unfortunately, given BGW's (complete lack of) scare actor training, it's unlikely anyone has covered any of this with the actor(s) in question. Hopefully it changes though.
 
  • Like
  • Sad
Reactions: lightninlady, outhikn, Nicole and 2 others
One of my biggest issues with the event is the music and overall lack of immersion. Multiple sections of the park were playing metal and hard rock music as if those genres equate to being "scary" and there was straight up EDM in the line (just a maze of turnstiles in a parking lot) for Clown Town.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: tursiops, Mwe BGW, Beaumont and 3 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
The first entry in this thread is a WikiPost. As such, it can be edited by anyone with the appropriate permissions.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad