Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream 2024

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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
 
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MikeLovesKD said:
Makes sense. Why hot just decorate the rides for haunted themes. I'd enjoy that a lot more than half staffed scare houses. Or just do three big mazes and pack the scare actors in there.

I'll tell you something. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, Six Flags America only had two scare houses and they were Hall Manor and Brutal Planet. Brutal Planet was the bigger of the two and it was amazing. It wouldn't be hard just packing 2 or 3 scare houses.
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Budget. Corporate dictates how much money each park gets to spend on haunt. Corporate usually gives more money to the Florida parks so they have a bigger maze budget. It sucks but BGW seems to make it work.
 
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Went last night only did 3 mazes till I decided marathoning alpengeist with 0 wait was 100x more fun than the houses.

Lost mines - 2/10 Very detailed but couldn't of had more than 7 actors at best

Clown town - 1/10 What a dreadful waste of parking lot. There was probably 6 actors at BEST in it. Once you get through the beginning squeeze thing its just a whole minuite of walking through the stupid red and white things with nothing around. It just felt like I was there to look at props lol

Monster Manor - 6/10 Figured I was going to hate it with how much crap it gets on here but last night they must of had 15 actors in it and it was kinda neat. Also helped I had some young girls behind me getting scared the whole time. Thankfully as I got out when i did because a bunch of medic and security went to the exit because some handicap lady freaked out and her friend outside was scraming shes prone to seizures. Wonder if they shut the maze down or not for that.

Scarezones were so complete lack luster I completly forgot the park even had them till I randomly walked by an actor. So sad.
The music in the park is dreadful. The line for clown town was playing the most random crap, not a single clown sounding thing

On a positive note though, the fog was amazing. They really let it go and when I was going up alpengeist the park had a blanket of fog over it.

Just because, Alpengeist 100/10 back row and night is a absolute god send and not even i305 can beat it
 
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This analysis has brought me to a discovery. The late 90s and early 2000s had a better quality of scare. Most theme parks only had two scare houses at most. The quality was was better, with them building a big tent and packing at least at least 30 to 40 scare actors in there a night. Park guest would be just as happy having only 2 or 3 mazes that are big in size, and having a scare actors in every corner waiting to screw with you. Aside from that most people are at the park admiring the decorations, shows and rides at night. Too many parks are trying to do over 5 mazes and they can't even get more than 20 scare actors to fill it. All that time to decorate the maze and the quality isn't good.

If BGW were to re-scale the event to just 2 or 3 big scare houses, where could they put it and what theme would you want them to be?
 
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Massively disagree.

BGW debuted Howl-O-Scream in 1999. At the time, it lasted just a weekend or two and took place during a portion of the calendar in which the park had previously been closed. 2000 stayed at a single house, 2001 brought a second house, 2002 brought a third, and by 2003, BGW was already up to four houses. The scale of the event scaled in tandem with the popularity of the event.

BGW moved up to five houses in 2007, six in 2008, and seven in 2009. In 2010, the event contracted back to six houses and, since, BGW has hovered between five and six houses per season—despite crowds continuing to grow since.

Not only was the expansion of the event through the 2000s wholly justified, it should have continued as the event continued to grow in popularity throughout the 2010s.
 
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I would love it if Howl-O-Scream did a Peter Pan scare zone in either their England area or their Scotland area. There is so much potential for that idea. They could have lots of twisted Neverland characters such as evil fairies, zombie pirates, and undead children.
 
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7 actors going full on scaring in a house could be good. 7 actors "setting the scene" ("save me" "don't go in there" or just standing there looking costumed) but none coming through with any energy still needs 7 more good ones. Back before mazes got more detailed, it was almost entirely the energy and creativity of the actors that made for a good house.
 
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We found a pocket knife in a planter box yesterday near the park entrance. I hope someone forgot they had it on them and didn't want to walk back to the car. We turned it into Security but given the Busch brawls we were a little on edge the rest of the day.
 
I was at the park for one more run last night.

Crowds were really inconsistent. Some stuff was a walk-on and some stuff had long waits. I had a few HOS Quick Queues and didn't really have to use them for most of the night.

Actors were 50-50 either firing on all cylinders or standing around. I ran through every maze except Lost Mines. Scare zones were performing really well all things considered. Staffing issues aside, the event was ok overall.

Monster Stomp and Fiends were great as always.
 
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I went last night, and I had a fun time. The scare zones were a little bit light on the actors, but overall, it was not bad. I did Killarney Diner and Lost Mines; both were good. Solid 8/10 for both. As for the overall atmosphere and livelihood of the park, it has definitely been toned down in recent years. I remember pre-COVID when there was a party zone or bar almost anywhere you looked and now it's not that anymore. The decorations were ok. The Bash definitely was the least decorated, in my opinion, but I think that it's only temporary since you only turn 25 once.

I wish that Oktoberfest and Ireland would get a dedicated scare zone for themselves. They could do some sort of haunted leprechauns or something for Ireland and Oktoberfest could get wolves and Black Forest stuff.

I hope new things come eventually, but for the most part, it was a fun time.
 
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