Halloween Harvest 2020

[Memles]

We didn’t even ride anything, we were there for some halloween fun. The music was a odd mix or previous years ambient music, songs from previous HOS shows then a weird mix of pop music that had nothing h to do with Halloween. Marco Polos was a cluster for distancing, people were just everywhere looking at the menus and you basically had no choice than to squeeze through to get up to get food. The scare actors also were doing great and even got a jump out of me when one snuck up behind me and said something right in my ear. Overall for me the event just didn’t have the excitement I hoped for.

I definitely think it’s fair to say that adults who would normally go to Howl-O-Scream for the atmosphere/scares are not going to find much value in the event as it’s laid out, which is definitely a conscious choice on the part of the park in terms of how they‘re using the limited resources they have to ensure these events stay profitable.

I do think, though, that the way they’re handling the Halloween stuff is “enough” for younger guests to have a more positive experience. There’s the trick or treating during the morning session, they can get their photo in front of the giant pumpkin or the giant grim reaper, and the concentration of scare actors does mean that a bunch of kids will leave with a memorable scare or two (the “jump scare” dude was getting some good mileage out of his position, we saw a couple of kids jump out of their skin walking behind them). And in this way, I think the park has succeeding in achieving the goal of an event like this for that age group: creating positive memories that will make them beg to come back in the future, where COVID-willing there will be a more robust experience awaiting them come next year.

 

[WDWRLD]

Good points but with the "trick or treating" during the day I had this impression that during the day would be for kids with no scare actors but the addition of trick or treating. I actually expected to see some of the booths like they are using in their Florida parks setup for the daytime event. For me I think the lack of themeing right as you enter the park is what threw the night off for me. I was at least expecting so lighting changes, and some minor decor. To be honest tinight felt like the week before HOS in past years where they have some stuff up, some lighting changed over but HOS was still a week away. Another small thing that would have added a great deal for me would have been a fog machine or two around the park. That smell alone screams Halloween!

 

[VAparkLover]

I don’t want to come across needy or unappreciative with what the park put together tonight but I feel like a lot was left to be desired. Did I have bad day? Absolutely not, but for the first time in a very long time I felt very bored at Busch Gardens. As much as I typically disagree with what @WDWRLD says, he almost echoes my personal experience from tonight entirely.

I’d first like to thank any BGW staff on the forum for working yet another month during such an unfortunate time. Every single team member I encountered tonight was freaking awesome!

Halloween Harvest. That’s what I came into the park expecting. A scaled down Halloween event caterering to both the younger and older demographic. My first glimpse into England really killed the mood for me...I really hate to say it but having gone to BGW for so many years I simply expected more. Even at bare minimum I expected something, but England looks like regular old England. Ireland looks like regular old Ireland. Scotland... Blah blah blah. I noticed Festa Italia and Davinci’s Garden were lightly decorated. I never stepped into Sesame Street so can’t speak on that. The only “scares” took place around Turkish Delight in Festa. Fantastic effort was displayed by all working tonight.

And unfortunately, that’s all there really is to say about Halloween Harvest. No fog, a repetitive and annoying playlist, an empty stage, and large lack of decor.

I really did think the few actors that were out did an awesome job, though I find it hard for somebody to find enjoyment walking circles for 4 hours around Turkish Delight to experience scares. There was no consistent immersion. Once you walk out of Festa it feels like the same BGW as last week.

What would I change/alter realistically? Hate me for it, but I’d close Octoberfest's bridge (Eliminating Bolt/Swings/bar) and allocate that budget for a show of some sort in San Marcos Theater. Nothing crazy, but a show of some sort. Having Marco Polos as the only true dining option resulted in a fair number of people eating at the tables in front of the theatre. Could put anything Halloween related there and it would likely do well and encourage guest spending at the neighboring restaurant. I’d also move all current actors and spread them out from Pompeii (huge dead area) to Davinci’s garden with no actors in Festa at all. Want to watch the show? Experience scares getting there. Want to ride Pesto/Apollo? Experience scares getting there. Walking back to Nessie/Finnegan? Experience scares. Add a small number of atmospheric fog machines and a huge improvement would be made. I’d also decorate England with something. Doesn’t have to be scary. First impressions are huge. Walking through England as is left a salty taste in my mouth.

I don’t think it will take a lot to make the event more entertaining. For some I’m sure the rides will be enough to entertain you. I thought the addition of Apollo was great! But I can’t currently recommend Halloween Harvest to anybody purchasing tickets if you are looking for a bit of scares. I’d recommend looking into some of the states local haunt attractions. I’ve heard some great things from a number of them. I do however, recommend the event for anybody that is looking for a few good rides, a scare or 2, and low crowds.

Please don’t argue with me. I love BGW and I really do try and maintain a positive attitude about the park and completely understand why the park chose not to invest much into the event. I, like a few others, just expected more. I came in expecting a bare boned event and left rather surprised at how bare boned It truly was. I still had a decent time and am thankful that BGW is allowing members in for free and is even open for that matter. I’ll probably return to the event a few more times this month to support the park but won’t be going for anything but Apollo rides, an occasional ride on Nessie, and to spend a few $$$ to help keep the lights on. I’ll be looking for my Halloween fix elsewhere.

(A lot was left to be desired for me personally. I did the best I could to honestly explain my personal experience tonight with consideration of current circumstances. I’m sure other people feel different and really hope that others had and will have a good time)

 

[Memles]

Please don’t argue with me.

Nothing you’re saying is arguable really: beyond the fact you’re entitled to your opinion, you are 100% right that the park has built this event in a way that pretends “bare bones” is somehow Halloween theming because skeletons.

I think the one thing I would say is that shifting to prioritize scares by closing attractions is an issue simply in terms of the event’s footprint, and spreading out the 1000 people. As it is, the footprint feels much smaller than the previous event, with fewer open spaces, and so adding scares within the path to get to Festa strikes me as a fundamental hazard given it’s already too narrow as it is. I have to wonder how much the park is wary about that factor, given the left side of the park lends itself less well to distancing.

 

[WDWRLD]

We sat for a while having dessert at Marco Polos and discussed the event and some ideas that would make it better with minimal additional staff. One thought was shows without a show. Sitting in that theater with a lifeless stage had no energy. One thing I though of was that im sure somewhere the park has full show videos of past Monster Stomp preformances. Why not play them on a giant screen for guests to watch while dining, in fact have shows scheduled just like if they were live. I for one would love watching some of the older versions espically of they could dig up some from way back when it was in the old Jukebox theater where the Catapult is now.

Anyhow, after tonight I would just as soon as the skipped Holiday Village or whatever they come up with for Christmas Town this year.

 

[Nicole]

Reading through these comments, in my inexpert opinion, I think it is good that they didn't use fog machines. I don't think pumping out chemicals that can make people cough and sneeze is a great idea during this pandemic. Additionally, I think it is important to have a full view of the paths, so you can maintain social distancing.

 

[wombat96]

I had a good time at the event last night.

The event feels like the most least Howl-O-Scream ever. The iconic music is there, a bit repetitive, especially In Festa, but it is there. There are props and lightning, but only in areas highly concentrated with guests. There's actors, but only in Festa and while they have a lot of energy, the scares weren't effective at times. It is important to recognize that this is not going to be HOS, this is a more fall-esque family event and it feels like the park hit that nail on the head.

The area outside of Pompeii looks phenomenal, lined with scare crows and ambient orange lightning flooding the path. The skull has been moved to the field near Festa, with some tombstone adorning about the mulch beds and that area looks incredibly solid, it feels like HOS over there. The Italy gardens themselves look nice with tombstones and blue lighting changes. As for the rest of the park, it mainly just consists of hay bales, cornstalks, and pumpkins scattred throughout the park. The lack of lighting changes in areas like Scotland, Ireland, and England were very noticeable and made the event feel rushed and lacking that atmosphere that is usually found during HOS. Scotland looks nice from the main pathway, but the area by the horses and bathroom was lacking lighting changes to truly convey the halloween atmosphere that the park is notorious for around this time. England had essentially no decorations outside of a red skull, no lighting changes, and the InvadR soundtrack which was playing on repeat the whole night, which doesn't exactly scream halloween. Ireland feels like it was a last minute addition solely for food and beverage sales, no lighting changes and very scare decorations.

Festa is flooded with actors and that feels like the most "normal" area in the park. There's at least ten actors in this one area alone and it does a great idea of tricking your brain into thinking this is HOS. They all had a lot of energy throughout the night despite the lack of props, fog, or lightning changes. Some of them weren't doing anything extremely effective, but they are trying and it'll get better as the event goes on. There was a few actors by the bridge and near Apollo who we're doing a stellar job, however. I do wish they would force the actors to roam throughout the park or delegate a few actors to a certain area and spread them out. While the mass amount of actors in Festa make it feel like a scare zone, it makes the rest of the park feel hollow and lacking the heart and soul of the event. The guard instantly dropped once I realized there was only going to be scares in a dead end of the park.

I do wish this event had at least one sort of "walk-through," not even a house just some sort of open air haunted house with a socially distanced line. Tampa has two one way scare zones that look like short, one way haunted houses and seem very effective. If they could squeeze some in, that would've been really nice and a great way to satisfy everyones appetites for houses. It would be nice if there was some sort of extreme, up-charge walkthrough throughout the closed half of the park. They wouldn't even need that many props, the park is already scary enough at night when you're by yourself with minimal lighting. Just any haunted house or walk-through would do wonders for this event and really solidify it as an adult halloween oriented event.

Despite the flaws of opening night, this is still the best event of 2020 by far. The park feels like there is an event going on, it feels alive, and it doesn't just feel like another continuation of Busch Gardens Lite™. The props, audio changes, and actors made the park "feel" like HOS. The limited food offering was still solid given the budgetary boundaries in place, really enjoyed the shrimp po boy, which is a great value for only six beans after the pass member discount. All of the employees were incredibly nice yet again. Oh, it was also great to get some night rides on Apollo with the Harvest Moon illuminating the sky. Just don't go in with the mindset of this is Howl-O-Scream 2020 or you will leave disappointed. For what it is, this event gives me hope for Christmas and last night almost felt normal to an extent. Which in today's environment is a highly sought after thing. Go do yourself a favor and check out this event, maybe buy some food or merch, you'll have a good time.

 

[Applesauce]

Not that I was there last night, but just hearing the decoration aspect of it just kinda leaves me more "well what did you expect?" Not from a mini event perspective. But from a time inbetween perspective.

Besides Festa, San Marco and Scotland the rest of the park has been open. And nobody's really mentioned visible Halloween decorations. So they've had what, like 3.5 days to get stuff out? I say this, since others have noticed some Christmas work, or at least Christmas decorations that may possibly stay up year round, in other areas of the park.

I feel like they may add a little more next week in the more bare areas. But I honestly wouldn't expect a lot.

I say this now, but I know when I see it in person I'll prolly be just as disappointed as others who have seen it. You're allowed to be disappointed by the lack of decorations, but I do think the amount of time inbetween the events has something to do with it.

 

[Mushroom]

What would I change/alter realistically? Hate me for it, but I’d close Octoberfest's bridge (Eliminating Bolt/Swings/bar) and allocate that budget for a show of some sort in San Marcos Theater. Nothing crazy, but a show of some sort. Having Marco Polos as the only true dining option resulted in a fair number of people eating at the tables in front of the theatre. Could put anything Halloween related there and it would likely do well and encourage guest spending at the neighboring restaurant.

I like this idea. Maybe they could dust off one of their projectors and bring back Movies of the Macabre. Those old, spooky black-and-white movies are all in the public domain, so it would be basically free, socially-distanced entertainment.

 

[wombat96]

I've thought about the idea of miniature one way zones with less than ten actors how the park can do them in a safe way. BGW Entertainment, if you're reading this, the ideas are yours, seriously, no credit needed. We can meet and discuss somewhere in the Burg if you need more help. I'll even chip in for the green spray for the dots in the queue.

Mummy Mayhem: An archaeological dig site gone wrong, a relic was discovered and the dead are being brought to back to life as mummies, small outdoor zone in the area outside of Pompeii. The line would snake through the open air Pompeii queue with green physical distancing markers. . The actual attraction would only take one to two minutes, it would just go from the where the boats load to where the current relaxation zone near the exit of Dystopia is now. Move the car from Wendigo Woods here, don't even have to relabel it, have someone hit the horn every once in a while and have the lights turn on. Mummies were an obvious choice as the masks are hidden and it fits the theme of Pompeii, the archeologists will be wearing masks to try and avoid the toxic air. Some Midnight Syndicate Egyptian-esque music would be playing in the area. Just find some old props that fit the theme, since this a dig site cones, and scafolding work along with any old Revenge of Pompeii props like mummies or columns. Throw in a ghillie suit and it's a guaranteed hit.

Feargrounds: Use the half of the Circo queue by building a wooden wall, and have people go through the Roman Rapids queue entrance, on to the turn table, and out through the exit pathway. Two temporary bridges would be needed to be to connect the turn table to the main queue. The Roman Rapid queue could have a tarp or wall of sort separating it, keep in mind none of this would be enclosed, there would always be at least one wall missing to allow for air to come into the attraction. Just a lot of barrels and anything that can be moved from Circo or Side Show Square could go here. The first portion of the maze would be in the roman rapids queue which would be the industrial behind the scenes portion, the turn table would be the actual fair, and the exit queue would just have a few hidden actors blended in with fake clowns and a chainsaw scare.

Untamed: The once thriving kingdom has fallen in decay due to a plague, the only remaining life on the ground is a ravenous group of werewolves. The line would start to the right of Der Marketplaz and lead to the QQ entrance of DK. The attraction would simply go through the old DK queue, but in reverse, using the full extended queue. Ghosts of the the past kingdom would be in the first portion of the "house" to warn guests about the werewolves. Wooden walls would be placed throughout the garden queue, similar to the scare zone Unleashed, to create tension and give more hiding spots as well as some tombstones and statue props. There would also be a few ghillie suits hidden throughout with shaker cans just to throw people off. Guests would then exit through the DK entrance and right next to the entrance by Der Marketplaz.

Obviously this isn't feasible at all. The park doesn't have the actors, budget, or time to make this happen for a limited four hour event. Still, as a nerd it was fun to create fictional scare zones for this event with pre-existing resources for the current world we live in. But in all seriousness, BGW, if you're reading this, go ahead. Add a bar or a glow stand in the queue to cover the cost. Like most of this would take maybe three to four days to set up, call back only twenty to thirty more actors, come on, you know you want to.

 

[Buschfan777]

Any Howloscream pins out?

 

[VAparkLover]

Just one. It’s an HOS key. They have the other generic ones from last year too. Nothing for any mazes or houses.

 

[Applesauce]

I had a good fun time tonight. I would have enjoyed more decorations, but honestly just sitting in Ireland with the Fiends playlist going and some orange lighting, with the cool temps was just perfect for me. I do wish they had done something like @Connor suggested and had a mini-house over in the outdoor section of pompeii. It would have been the cherry on top of it all. But I think it's a decent event.

My biggest complaint: why the fuck is there a DJ in the only place that has scare actors. Why isn't he in Ireland, or in the theater in San Marco? Having the DJ with the actors just kinda makes the actors more pointless. They already have enough of a hard time with nothing to really use as props to hide behind. But making it a dance area??? It was.more comedic than anything else when a Ripper went chasing one of the girls with the fan and YMCA is blasting over the speakers.

That being said I do think the actors are doing amazing given the circumstance, and I think this is a pretty good event. And the Scary Cone is delicious, and comes with gummi worms. Which isn't listed on the menu.

 

[Buschfan777]

I had a good fun time tonight. I would have enjoyed more decorations, but honestly just sitting in Ireland with the Fiends playlist going and some orange lighting, with the cool temps was just perfect for me. I do wish they had done something like @Connor suggested and had a mini-house over in the outdoor section of pompeii. It would have been the cherry on top of it all. But I think it's a decent event.

My biggest complaint: why the fuck is there a DJ in the only place that has scare actors. Why isn't he in Ireland, or in the theater in San Marco? Having the DJ with the actors just kinda makes the actors more pointless. They already have enough of a hard time with nothing to really use as props to hide behind. But making it a dance area??? It was.more comedic than anything else when a Ripper went chasing one of the girls with the fan and YMCA is blasting over the speakers.

That being said I do think the actors are doing amazing given the circumstance, and I think this is a pretty good event. And the Scary Cone is delicious, and comes with gummi worms. Which isn't listed on the menu.

hahahaha I saw mr Jack the Ripper chasing one of the girls that was funny

 

[Buschfan777]

Tonight’s event was great! Scare-Actors in Festa and Oktoberfest, DJ was moved to San Marco stage. Carnival games hosts were doing great and Da Vinchis cradle was running! overall it was a great time

 

[ludmarco]

I haven’t made it out yet, but would you say the event has gotten better with each day?

 

[Buschfan777]

I haven’t made it out yet, but would you say the event has gotten better with each day?

I would definitely say so, every day it seems more and more decorations are up and they’re figuring out what works best and what doesn’t! I’d say it’s definitely the most fun event they’ve thrown together this year!

 

[Owls R A Hoot]

Hey y'all. I only pop up around Halloween time on this page so forgive me.
Are they still serving the aluminum beer bottles around the park (Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, etc.)? We saw the special event bars but were curious if they still had the ol faithfuls available.

And also I saw someone mention above scare actors in Oktoberfest, so does this mean the area with the games and such in front of the Festhaus is open? Is the Halloween store available this year around that area or is it not accessible? Thank you in advance.

 

[VAparkLover]

I can’t comment on the beer selections so somebody else may have to jump in.

The scare actors are mainly stretched between Mach Tower and Verboltens exit. Some linger off a bit further, however nothing else is open that way with the exception being Der Wirbelwind. It’s completely blocked off preventing you from going towards the games/Festhaus/shop.

 

[belsaas]

There is a team of arborists near my house working on some trees.

And the constant chainsaw noises are giving me huge HoS sadness.