Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream 2025

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Im sorry to disappoint many, but here is our ranking of each haunted house base on actors, themeing, costumes, and exterior cosmetics updates.

+actors and their abily to tell a story
1. Bloodshot
2. Clown Town
3. Werewolf
4. Killarney diner
5. Death Water Bayou

× actors ability to scare us
1. Bloodshot
2. Killarney diner
3. Clown Town
4. Werewolf
5. Death Water Bayou

÷ best themed/ decorated
1. Killarney diner
2. Clown town
3. Bloodshot
4. Death Water Bayou
5. Werewolf

=best queue line and exterior cosmetics
1. Bloodshot (new bar outside its queue line and its themed to the house takes the win here. And the cashiers are in costume.
2. Clown Town. For this to still look brand new as a permanent outdoor maze. It looks incredible. Wish the queue line entrance had a hos booth selling cotton candy and snacks.
3. Killarney diner. Get a new chain link fence for its extended queue line and not a roped queue line inside the parking lot.
4. Werewolf. Queue line is next to the Clown town exit/ maze quick queue. Could be confusing. Line has new exterior lights along the pathway and the entrance of maze has a military spotlight.
5. Death Water Bayou. Queue line is ridiculous as you can literally see the entire back side of roman rapids and some torn down rafts. Still not a fan of the quick queue line being the same as the exit.

! Best costumes
1. Killarney diner
2. Bloodshot
3. Clown Town.
4. Death Water Bayou
5. Werewolf
 
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bgw enthusiasts said:
Im sorry to disappoint many, but here is our ranking of each haunted house base on actors, themeing, costumes, and exterior cosmetics updates.

+actors and their abily to tell a story
1. Bloodshot
2. Clown Town
3. Werewolf
4. Killarney diner
5. Death Water Bayou

× actors ability to scare us
1. Bloodshot
2. Killarney diner
3. Clown Town
4. Werewolf
5. Death Water Bayou

÷ best themed/ decorated
1. Killarney diner
2. Clown town
3. Bloodshot
4. Death Water Bayou
5. Werewolf

=best queue line and exterior cosmetics
1. Bloodshot (new bar outside its queue line and its themed to the house takes the win here. And the cashiers are in costume.
2. Clown Town. For this to still look brand new as a permanent outdoor maze. It looks incredible. Wish the queue line entrance had a hos booth selling cotton candy and snacks.
3. Killarney diner. Get a new chain link fence for its extended queue line and not a roped queue line inside the parking lot.
4. Werewolf. Queue line is next to the Clown town exit/ maze quick queue. Could be confusing. Line has new exterior lights along the pathway and the entrance of maze has a military spotlight.
5. Death Water Bayou. Queue line is ridiculous as you can literally see the entire back side of roman rapids and some torn down rafts. Still not a fan of the quick queue line being the same as the exit.

! Best costumes
1. Killarney diner
2. Bloodshot
3. Clown Town.
4. Death Water Bayou
5. Werewolf
Click to expand...
Actually agree with basically all of this. I woulx move the outside decoration of werewolves up more. The red lights, the music, the fog and spotlight going around really added a cool depth and feel to what I was going to go into
 
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It just came to me what HOS is missing. The atmosphere. It has nothing. Theres no erie music that follows you around, the fog, the park feels empty. Scarezone are laughably trash. Scarecrows??? Come on dude. A dance zone/party in france? Like what the actual fuck are we doing. Theres 0 props to do ANYTHING with or hide behind. The actors feel more like greeters than actual people intending to scare. Where are the chainsaws?
 
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MrBradferd said:
It just came to me what HOS is missing. The atmosphere. It has nothing. Theres no erie music that follows you around, the fog, the park feels empty. Scarezone are laughably trash. Scarecrows??? Come on dude. A dance zone/party in france? Like what the actual fuck are we doing. Theres 0 props to do ANYTHING with or hide behind. The actors feel more like greeters than actual people intending to scare. Where are the chainsaws?
Click to expand...
Yes!

And to throw a little gasoline on the fire - The access road behind Sesame Street Forest of Fun, is lined with crates of unused Howl-O-Scream decorations. The two things that stuck out most to me were the crows and the candy skull garland banners. (I'm not sure what to really call them, they still hang a few across the pathway at Marco Polo, and were from the Italian wedding scare zone from a few years ago.) It was so depressing to see so many crates of decorations sitting unused, and I have a feeling that all those decorations are probably still sitting back there.

howloscreamExtras.png
 
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willrobs3 said:
Yes!

And to throw a little gasoline on the fire - The access road behind Sesame Street Forest of Fun, is lined with crates of unused Howl-O-Scream decorations. The two things that stuck out most to me were the crows and the candy skull garland banners. (I'm not sure what to really call them, they still hang a few across the pathway at Marco Polo, and were from the Italian wedding scare zone from a few years ago.) It was so depressing to see so many crates of decorations sitting unused, and I have a feeling that all those decorations are probably still sitting back there.

View attachment 39578
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Intresting. I never seen that. How can you even see those? On grover?
 
The husband and I had a pretty good time at Howl-O-Scream tonight. All scarezones and houses seemed decently staffed. The new Christmas themed scare zone in Rhinefield was pretty cool. The Skeletones in Your Closet show in Das Festhaus was really good. It was our favorite of the three shows playing and one of the better shows the park has put on lately.
 
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This weekend felt way more alive than last weekend. There wasnt a spot that didn't have creepyish music playing and I saw quite a bit of fog. Bloodshot is such a fun entertaining house. Killarney is still packed with actors. Wolves has decent scares but still 0 wolf actors. Clown town is still so so empty. I wish they would take like 3 from killarney and 3 from bloodshot and put them in clown town. It needs it so bad
 
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I'm glad I went this weekend instead of trying to go opening weekend. Usually opening weekend is a little rough around the edges but the event feels a bit better now.
  • Mazes were staffed ok. Still a lot of dead room but the actors seemed pretty high energy.
  • Ripper Row needs to be replaced and there were no actors in the Gorgon scare zone but the other scare zones were pretty solid. I love that they put a small one right in front of the Festhaus.
  • I'm so glad the spider bridge and the troll are back. I thought those were goners but they're so iconic to the event.
Bloodshot - I loved the decor in here. Definitely reminded me of the Forgotten maze in Tampa (it wouldn't surprise me if those were Tampa's props in there). Actors were decent but there weren't many of them in here that I can recall.
Werewolves - I get the concept, but they shouldn't have called this Werewolves. There were only two werewolves in the entire maze. It seemed pretty decently staffed and the actors were actually pretty good in there.
Clown Town - I've forgotten how long this maze was. It feels like it goes on forever. The decor feels a bit cheap and the actors are often clustered in groups leaving a lot of dead space. That beings said, I like the length and the different gimmicks in each room.
Killarney - Not much change here. The actors are pretty good and the park actually did a decent job staffing it. I do think its showing signs of age though. Maybe replace it in a year or two?

I'm dealing with a family emergency so I arrived late and didn't have time to see the shows. I might try to check it out today if I can. I heard Fiends is great this year so I'm looking forward to seeing that for sure.
 
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MrBradferd said:
It just came to me what HOS is missing. The atmosphere. It has nothing. Theres no erie music that follows you around, the fog, the park feels empty. Scarezone are laughably trash. Scarecrows??? Come on dude. A dance zone/party in france? Like what the actual fuck are we doing. Theres 0 props to do ANYTHING with or hide behind. The actors feel more like greeters than actual people intending to scare. Where are the chainsaws?
Click to expand...

netdvn said:
I'm glad I went this weekend instead of trying to go opening weekend. Usually opening weekend is a little rough around the edges but the event feels a bit better now.
  • Mazes were staffed ok. Still a lot of dead room but the actors seemed pretty high energy.
  • Ripper Row needs to be replaced and there were no actors in the Gorgon scare zone but the other scare zones were pretty solid. I love that they put a small one right in front of the Festhaus.
  • I'm so glad the spider bridge and the troll are back. I thought those were goners but they're so iconic to the event.
Bloodshot - I loved the decor in here. Definitely reminded me of the Forgotten maze in Tampa (it wouldn't surprise me if those were Tampa's props in there). Actors were decent but there weren't many of them in here that I can recall.
Werewolves - I get the concept, but they shouldn't have called this Werewolves. There were only two werewolves in the entire maze. It seemed pretty decently staffed and the actors were actually pretty good in there.
Clown Town - I've forgotten how long this maze was. It feels like it goes on forever. The decor feels a bit cheap and the actors are often clustered in groups leaving a lot of dead space. That beings said, I like the length and the different gimmicks in each room.
Killarney - Not much change here. The actors are pretty good and the park actually did a decent job staffing it. I do think its showing signs of age though. Maybe replace it in a year or two?

I'm dealing with a family emergency so I arrived late and didn't have time to see the shows. I might try to check it out today if I can. I heard Fiends is great this year so I'm looking forward to seeing that for sure.
Click to expand...
Gorgan gardens isn’t a scare zone this year.
 
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Got here today about 2:45 and they parked us in Scotland. Wife and I thought it was gonna be packed but so far the longest we’ve waited was about 30 for griffin. Ready for the houses, gonna hit bloodshot first! Anybody had any not to miss drinks/ snacks?
 
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