You might consider going to KD’s Haunt, which is typically a more intense event. Just for #Science.
Not that either could compete with ”single woman in NYC.”
Not that either could compete with ”single woman in NYC.”
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream 2026
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
Not sure how randy got this? Park isint open yet unless they did a preview somepoint for media?
They did a test run with employees and invited guests tonight. He knows enough people that someone always sends him an invite.
Oh I know randy has reach. I just had absolutly 0 idea the park was doing this tonight. So the entire park was closed minus the 1 maze?
I am not 100% sure if it was just the one maze or was a wider team member night event but it was an event for employees and invited friends and family.
I spy more completely and totally inept house design. No surprise there.
The Spirit Halloween selection is limited, okay?
They wouldn't need to worry about the costumes much at all if they had ever actually seen a functional Halloween attraction before though. The fact that BGW thinks they just need to build hallways and put actors in them to make a house is the single most depressing, most embarrassing thing about Busch Gardens Williamsburg right now. These products are a legitimate mockery of the brand and the fact that after years of this BGW still doesn't get the problem boggles my mind.
BGT has some of the best house design in the country. SWO isn't great for a separate ticket event, but its average is passable by non-upcharge/minimal-upcharge standards. Meanwhile, BGW continues to provide some of the absolute worst house design the industry has ever seen. Even events with no budget like SFA's (RIP) deliver year after year because they understand the basic concept of "fill space with stuff, hide actor in stuff, actor jumps out from stuff to scare guests." SFA's stuff was often literal trash. I have been through DRAMATICALLY better houses at SFA made from discarded chain link fences and actual trash bags than I have experienced at BGW with what should be a major park's Halloween event budget.
You don't need money (which, to be clear, BGW has), you don't even need tons of talent and experience (which, to be clear, BGW should have), but you DO need the bare minimum understanding of "we should do something to conceal actors" and "we should build a spooky environment that makes guests feel naturally uneasy."
Having to explain fundamental ideas in tiny baby words year after year to BGW makes me want to never visit the event again.
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Thats it. Thats what I couldnt figure out felt off at howl o scream. 90% of the time you see the actors long in advanced. I assume its to cater to the kids so they can see it coming
It seems like BGW leadership has a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes a haunted attraction work. It’s like they think the mere presence of scare actors is what people are coming for. The post-COVID scare zones have been the same way: scare actors walking around basically empty pathways.
If that really is their (misguided) belief — that the scare actors are what people are coming for — then their attraction designs over the past several year make a lot of sense. Why waste money on hiding spaces and props when all people care about is actors in costumes?
If that really is their (misguided) belief — that the scare actors are what people are coming for — then their attraction designs over the past several year make a lot of sense. Why waste money on hiding spaces and props when all people care about is actors in costumes?
It's done because the park is lazy and creatively bankrupt—well that and because the masses keep giving the park money for this complete and utter slop.
This is WAY too advanced for where BGW design is at (they're around "Baby's First House" level while these concepts are "Year 2 at a Bad Halloween Event" tier) so it's dangerous to even provide this thought here, but...
You need a mix of visible actors and concealed ones working together like an orchestra to bounce guests back and forth between scares. Startle scares are the easiest genre to accomplish in a vacuum and hence, are what BGW needs to figure out first. That said, in an ideal house, you should have a mix of startle, intimidation, and narrative-focused actors—all positioned to make the house run like a well-oiled machine. The house itself alongside its intimidation and narrative roles should be used to draw guests' focus to both physically and mentally conceal the startle roles until the last possible second for the maximum effect. Startles need to be arranged so they can reset super quickly and so that they're only visible to the minimum number of people at a time. Different houses are designed with different balances of these roles to provide variety in "house tempos."
Meanwhile, at BGW, like you said, 90% of the actors are literally just left standing in largely empty hallways in houses designed with zero atmospherics or scenic sophistication and, worse yet, the casts are offered essentially no training. The park seems to think randos off the street should be startling people by... saying something to guests as they walk pass...? Unclear.
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I feel like it’s worth mentioning: in all the other parks in the chain, Halloween is the big moneymaker. For Williamsburg, it’s Christmas. Hence why Williamsburg separately tickets Christmas and not Halloween. I know it doesn’t account for the idiocy, but it does at least explain why they may not put AS MUCH money into Halloween as they do Christmas.
KD charging for mazes just makes BG feel like they don't even have to try as hard now even more. Which sucks. Most average family GP are just going to go with the free haunt no matter how shit it is because it's "good enough" and free.
Not there but I bet you that it won't get good reviews.
It was a cool house, not the best, but better than I thought it would be.
Museum is a big win for this event. It was funny and had some unique visuals that were much higher quality than what I was expecting. I see some opportunities for unique scares. Good house!
Christmas hasn't been a separate ticketed event since the roll out of the memberships.