Howl-O-Scream 2009
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
Wings said:
I plan on being there Friday afternoon, and probably Sunday too. Like Chris, I'm usually a twice-per-weekend guest
Surprisingly, I enjoyed the Catacombs the most as it seemed to have the best decorations and hiding places for the characters. It was short, but for a first year effort well done.
Close second to the trio of mazes/scarezones on drachen fire's old lot, they're great year in and year out.
Honorable mention to cavern of darkness, not so great this year, but boy it has the potential to be the best in the years to come!
Close second to the trio of mazes/scarezones on drachen fire's old lot, they're great year in and year out.
Honorable mention to cavern of darkness, not so great this year, but boy it has the potential to be the best in the years to come!
By the way, don't be thrown off by the number of times I've visited Cursed. It's good, but the first time I went, they had some mist and water drops on and my fiancé didn't want her hair to get wet, so she's been uninterested in going back through. (The second time we went there was no mist or water drops)
You should definitely check it out when you go.
You should definitely check it out when you go.
Just got back here is my complete maze review:
Revenge of Pompeii
Scare: (3/5)
Scenery/FX (5/5)
OVR (7/10)
This one is always a favorite of mine. I don't get scared in any of the mazes, let alone in almost any Haunted House at all. I rated the scare off of how many other people I saw getting scared. As usual, this one has a better amount of scenery as compared to the others.
Cursed
Scare: (2/5)
Scenery/FX (4/5)
OVR: (6/10)
There wasn't alot of SCAREactors in here, and it only seemed like the only people actually getting scared were getting scared by the lady with the cane who ran around outside the Entry/Exit of the maze. The fire effect was alright, but could have been reproduced easily. As for the other effects basically it consisted of strobe lights, and smoke that looked cool from afar due to the crazy amount of lights shown around.
As per the mist in the jungle, out of the two days I went, it was never on.
Cavern of Darkness
Scare: (4/5), (1/5) [NIGHT]
Scenery/FX (3/5)
OVR: (7/10), 4/10 [NIGHT]
I thought this was alright, during the day. As stated by others, it seemed they turned up the lights at night, why? I don't know. I recommend seeing this in the day, as it is alot scarier then. The maze could have been alot longer, but was downed by the fact they insisted on having large open spaces. There wasn't much scenery around that made sense. The only thing that really fit the fact of the title was the walls of the corkscrew hill queue which was built in.
Bitten
Scare: (4/5)
Scenery/FX: (5/5)
OVR: (9/10)
This was one of the best, overall. The scares were pretty good at some points - I personally don't get scared by people growling at me though. Aside from the fact - at certain points their were a few AMAZING scares. I liked the scenery towards the end - but the beginning I found lazy.
Hunted
Scare: (4/5)
Scenery/FX: (4/5)
OVR: (8/10)
Scares were good, not critque on them - the only thing that got me was the scenery. I expected something awesome after Bitten's scenery but instead of getting something awesome I got basically Tormented Tales with WereWolves.
Catacombs
Scare: (5/5)
Scenery/FX: (5/5)
OVR: (9.5/10)
This was amazing, this was the only maze where I had people in front of me who ran for their life. The scenery was pretty good, as it was most from Masquerage, they put a good job putting it together differently. I loved the work they put into the queue area for this one. The only problem was that it was too short.
I did go in all of these 2+ times, I do realize the experience varies from person to person. Just don't think I'm judging this off single experience.
I went in:
Revenge of Pompeii: 3 Times
Cursed: 2 Times
Cavern of Darkness: 3 Times Day/1 Time Night
Catacombs: 2 Times
Hunted: 2 Times
Bitten: 2 Times
Revenge of Pompeii
Scare: (3/5)
Scenery/FX (5/5)
OVR (7/10)
This one is always a favorite of mine. I don't get scared in any of the mazes, let alone in almost any Haunted House at all. I rated the scare off of how many other people I saw getting scared. As usual, this one has a better amount of scenery as compared to the others.
Cursed
Scare: (2/5)
Scenery/FX (4/5)
OVR: (6/10)
There wasn't alot of SCAREactors in here, and it only seemed like the only people actually getting scared were getting scared by the lady with the cane who ran around outside the Entry/Exit of the maze. The fire effect was alright, but could have been reproduced easily. As for the other effects basically it consisted of strobe lights, and smoke that looked cool from afar due to the crazy amount of lights shown around.
As per the mist in the jungle, out of the two days I went, it was never on.
Cavern of Darkness
Scare: (4/5), (1/5) [NIGHT]
Scenery/FX (3/5)
OVR: (7/10), 4/10 [NIGHT]
I thought this was alright, during the day. As stated by others, it seemed they turned up the lights at night, why? I don't know. I recommend seeing this in the day, as it is alot scarier then. The maze could have been alot longer, but was downed by the fact they insisted on having large open spaces. There wasn't much scenery around that made sense. The only thing that really fit the fact of the title was the walls of the corkscrew hill queue which was built in.
Bitten
Scare: (4/5)
Scenery/FX: (5/5)
OVR: (9/10)
This was one of the best, overall. The scares were pretty good at some points - I personally don't get scared by people growling at me though. Aside from the fact - at certain points their were a few AMAZING scares. I liked the scenery towards the end - but the beginning I found lazy.
Hunted
Scare: (4/5)
Scenery/FX: (4/5)
OVR: (8/10)
Scares were good, not critque on them - the only thing that got me was the scenery. I expected something awesome after Bitten's scenery but instead of getting something awesome I got basically Tormented Tales with WereWolves.
Catacombs
Scare: (5/5)
Scenery/FX: (5/5)
OVR: (9.5/10)
This was amazing, this was the only maze where I had people in front of me who ran for their life. The scenery was pretty good, as it was most from Masquerage, they put a good job putting it together differently. I loved the work they put into the queue area for this one. The only problem was that it was too short.
I did go in all of these 2+ times, I do realize the experience varies from person to person. Just don't think I'm judging this off single experience.
I went in:
Revenge of Pompeii: 3 Times
Cursed: 2 Times
Cavern of Darkness: 3 Times Day/1 Time Night
Catacombs: 2 Times
Hunted: 2 Times
Bitten: 2 Times
Behind The Thrills have put up their review of HoS http://behindthethrills.com/index.p...-trip-report&catid=61:park-reviews&Itemid=119
I agree. Their tweets certainly showed they were having a good time, and they conveyed that well in their review.
Their tweets certainly showed they were having a good time, and they conveyed that well in their review.
Chris said:kcracken said:A couple of non-spoiler shots from Howl-O-Scream. Yes, I know the really cool lit up sign is sideways.
Speaking of that dragon, I thought it was a little weird that it was there. There's really nothing else having to do with dragons in that maze. Maybe I'm grasping here, but could it be possible that this is scenery for theming for a new attraction that was just put out there so there would be more than just potted plants out front? (Perhaps a dragon themed ride in a new country?)
I spotted this dragon that is in front of Cavern, it looks like it was used in theming for the train ride in 2001. Here's a screenshot:
Attachments
My wife and I went to BGW on Saturday. It was our first time at the park and our first Howl-O-Scream. We've been been to Cedar Point HalloWeekends, King's Island's Haunt, and HHN Universal Orlando a couple times so we have lots to compare against it.
First, BGW is a great park (despite the cold weather we had). Very nice lay out and great scenery. Apollo's Chariot is one of the better coasters I've ever ridden. Just a smooth fun ride. In fact all of BGW coasters are all very respectable. Griffon is very unique and even the older Loch Ness was very enjoyable. Alpengeist from the front seat was really a blast too.
As for Howl-O-Scream..here's my summary:
1. Loved that waiting in one line got me 2 houses and 1 scare zone. I think HHN should look at doing that since the lines there are even longer.
2. The Monster Stomp show was entertaining and had a great Halloween atmosphere.
3. It's hard to say which house was my favorite. Catacombs was impressive but as said before - too short. But even so, for a 'skeleton house', it was better than HHN's Dead Exposure from last year. Bitten was nearing the same quality as HHN too. Hunger was a little short for me too but impressive - loved the bungy cord jumping werewolf. Cursed was really unique..I liked the mix of outdoor and indoor.
4. My least favorite was Cavern of Darkness. It wasn't very populated with scareactors when we went through and didn't do as much for me.
5. Harvest Hollow was the best scare zone of course but I liked the Watchers too (again the bungy cord scare was getting lots of people). The rest were kind of weak and less interesting.
Overall, for an event that isn't separately ticketed, it's really well done. I think BGW should look at making it separate as the park really didn't get busy until 5 pm anyway.
First, BGW is a great park (despite the cold weather we had). Very nice lay out and great scenery. Apollo's Chariot is one of the better coasters I've ever ridden. Just a smooth fun ride. In fact all of BGW coasters are all very respectable. Griffon is very unique and even the older Loch Ness was very enjoyable. Alpengeist from the front seat was really a blast too.
As for Howl-O-Scream..here's my summary:
1. Loved that waiting in one line got me 2 houses and 1 scare zone. I think HHN should look at doing that since the lines there are even longer.
2. The Monster Stomp show was entertaining and had a great Halloween atmosphere.
3. It's hard to say which house was my favorite. Catacombs was impressive but as said before - too short. But even so, for a 'skeleton house', it was better than HHN's Dead Exposure from last year. Bitten was nearing the same quality as HHN too. Hunger was a little short for me too but impressive - loved the bungy cord jumping werewolf. Cursed was really unique..I liked the mix of outdoor and indoor.
4. My least favorite was Cavern of Darkness. It wasn't very populated with scareactors when we went through and didn't do as much for me.
5. Harvest Hollow was the best scare zone of course but I liked the Watchers too (again the bungy cord scare was getting lots of people). The rest were kind of weak and less interesting.
Overall, for an event that isn't separately ticketed, it's really well done. I think BGW should look at making it separate as the park really didn't get busy until 5 pm anyway.
Good review, the only thing I'll have to disagree with you on is making HOS a separate ticket. That means they probably wouldn't open during the day on Fridays and I'd lose my chance to ride Alpengeist all day with no lines... that would be a tragedy.
But in all seriousness I have to agree with you on most points, but my favorite scare zone is Werewolves, they're usually pretty good at getting some scares, it's the only place I've seen someone throw their drink in the air because they were startled.
But in all seriousness I have to agree with you on most points, but my favorite scare zone is Werewolves, they're usually pretty good at getting some scares, it's the only place I've seen someone throw their drink in the air because they were startled.
I just wanted to say thank you for putting together this forum and for everyone's responses. As a "scare squad" member it is nice to see people enjoying and constructively criticizing Howl o Scream. Believe it or not, it is hard work doing what we do, realistically, some put more into it than others but it does lake a lot out of you.
My two cents on whether or not teen should be banned or not is that this is just the nature of the beast that Busch Gardens has created. As a family friendly park and not charging extra of Howl o Scream Bush has created the perfect baby sitter for the weekend. Rest assured though if things do cross the line, humping, "party boying", shoving cast members, these groups are brought to securities attention and in some cases banned from the park. Just last night someone thought it funny to grab a castmates cape and pull him backwards as he was walking away. As the castemember turned around, the young man told him to "get the f@#k out of my way", he won't be seeing the inside of BG for a while. If you see behavior that is uncalled for or just obnocious point it out to one of the many people standing around in the black t-shirts. That way at least someone can watch them. We could use all the help we can get.
Should be a fun Saturday (if it doesn't rain to bad). Maybe I will see you there, enjoy....
My two cents on whether or not teen should be banned or not is that this is just the nature of the beast that Busch Gardens has created. As a family friendly park and not charging extra of Howl o Scream Bush has created the perfect baby sitter for the weekend. Rest assured though if things do cross the line, humping, "party boying", shoving cast members, these groups are brought to securities attention and in some cases banned from the park. Just last night someone thought it funny to grab a castmates cape and pull him backwards as he was walking away. As the castemember turned around, the young man told him to "get the f@#k out of my way", he won't be seeing the inside of BG for a while. If you see behavior that is uncalled for or just obnocious point it out to one of the many people standing around in the black t-shirts. That way at least someone can watch them. We could use all the help we can get.
Should be a fun Saturday (if it doesn't rain to bad). Maybe I will see you there, enjoy....
family04 said:
Thanks for the insider perspective. I agree with you. I think the last thing Busch would ever do is outright ban any specific group of people since they have worked so hard through the years to make sure the park is family friendly and accessible to everyone.
Good luck on your scares tonight, hopefully the forecast doesn't deter too many from going today.