Howl-O-Scream 2011 Rumors

[Zachary]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Another Howl-O-Scream leak?! It can't be!

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Houses:
"13: Your Number's Up" (Europe in the Air Queue)
"The Dead Line" (Under Pompeii)
"Catacombs" (Royal Palace Theatre)
"Fear Fair" (Festa Italia)
"Bitten" (Oktoberfest)

Scare Zones:
"Widow Makers" (New France)
"Grin and Scare It" (Festa Italia)
"Unleashed" (Ireland)
"Scavengers" (?)
"Stitch It Up" (?)

Shows:
"Monster Stomp Revamped" (Abbey Stone Theatre)
"Jack is Back" (Ireland)
"Fiends at the Festhaus" (Das Festhaus)

(Blue: Confirmed | Black: Rumored | Bold: New Info)

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"Scavengers" & "Stitch It Up"
I've been told that the last two scarezones will be called Scavengers and Stitch It Up. If I had to guess, I'd say that Scavengers will be in England and Stitch It Up will be in Italy. Don't hold me to that though- those are just my guesses.

 

[coasterfan94]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Have they ever had a scarezone in Italy. Over by the Italian restraunt and theater? (I forgot the name of it, my bad.) They could do a lot in that area. It has the buildings and things they just have to work with it.

 

[spookybri]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Last year they only had a hanful of witches by the resteraunt. They didn't have names for sz last year because the "scare is everywhere".

 

[Youhow2]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

A handful of actors sprinkled in an area with the lights down low is NOT a scarezone.

 

[DrMoneyReturns]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

A handful of actors sprinkled in an area with the lights down low is NOT a scarezone.

Just out of curiosity...would anything Busch has done qualify, by your standard, to be called "scare zone?"

If Busch says it's a "scare zone," it's a scare zone.

I dislike CF as much as you seem to dislike HoS, but I'm not about to say it isn't a show.

 

[Gavin]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

A handful of actors sprinkled in an area with the lights down low is NOT a scarezone.

Sounds more like a bad porno.

All joking aside, What would you consider a scarezone? Even if there is the possibilty of you getting scared, it's better that they label it as such to keep guests who don't want to get scared out.

 

[Youhow2]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

The "Spider area" last year was good. It had some nice lighting, tons of props in and around the area to convey a certain theme, even sound. Only thing it was lacking was actors and actual interaction with props and props on the path.


My argument about their scarezones not being scarezones isnt Busch specific. Im going by industry standards. You wouldnt market and label a new scrambler ride as the most extreme ride ever, it's a mediocre everywhere type ride at best with minimal thrill level. Now im not saying a scrambler type ride could never be a new extreme thrill ride, im sure you could put it indoors and have it transport you through hell and encounter a couple cenobites on the way and it'd be the most extreme thrill ever. Nothing HOS does is innovative in the world of haunting though, It's just another haunt event.

What Busch seems to do every year is take a concept that other parks have done, and markets it as a similar experience. It's not true, its not the same and its not even in the same ballpark, then I come and rant about it on here only to have to deal with outrageous justifications... They take the concept of a scarezone, decide they cant really afford all of it or its gonna disrupt their family image or w/e the hell goes on in their meetings and then markets everything just like everyone else is doing. Then time for HOS comes and... Disappointment.

Even Kings Dominion's scarezones have different vibes and feels and themes and props... Just look at their Carnival themed one, its magnificent. Busch has gotten away with doing things like "The Moors". Anyone remember that crap? 4 guys on a path BEATING DRUMS AT YOU... That's all it was!!!! That was a "scarezone"!

That is not a Scare-zone, and go to even a six flags or cedar fair haunt and they can show you exactly how a scarezone should be, whether the event is extra charge or not... Busch has been notorious for marketing and polishing their event as something its not, and then people like me are disappointed year after year, and maybe I just love the park enough to take the fanboy glasses off, or maybe I really am too hard on them, but for the money they make compared to a few houses on my block... There is no excuse why the event and the "scare zones" cant be just a bit more encompassing.

 

[DrMoneyReturns]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

When I hear "scare zone," what I get a picture of in my mind is that, on this particular part of the walking path, there will be people trying to scare me. That's it. I literally just think of the "scare zone" label as a heads-up that I might get jumped-out at.

I don't know that anybody really anticipates anything more than that.

 

[Youhow2]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Well Im here to tell you, at every other event I've been to when scarezone has been used to describe a portion of the event, its pretty much a haunted house, but outside... Less concentrated scare area. More for atmosphere than anything, and if you arent paying attention you have a chance of getting scared. In events that are pure mazes, these normally are the areas between houses that convey the overall theme of the event, in theme parks however they are largely transformations of the dedicated theme of an area with actors and props present.

Have you been to "The Haunt" at KD DocMMD?

 

[Zachary]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

I can (and will) stand by Youhow on this one.

It takes more than a few guys walking around in circles to create a scarezone. I find it almost shocking that the same people who constantly rant about the park not focusing enough on the experience and theming aspects of the place during the normal season can come to the Howl-O-Scream thread and say that a few people in costumes is acceptable. Props change everything. What would the Oompah band be without their instruments? What would the Maypole show be without a Maypole? Pointless. The same things that made us like the park so much during the normal season apply to Howl-O-Scream as well. When you transport people into a different place and time, it can be used to help people forget the normal troubles of life, experience things that they've never had the chance to before, think about things differently, etc. The same should be done for Howl-O-Scream but instead of taking people into a more comfortable, laid back environment, you're putting them into a stressful and creepy one. Your senses are strengthened, your adrenaline starts to flow, and then the guys in the costumes come in for the kill. If you walked up to one of the werewolves from Hunted in the middle of the day in a Walmart, you'd probably wonder why that guy is wearing a wolf costume. This is the brain's natural response. He looks out of place- he doesn't fit with what's going on around him. Now if you're camping in the woods and you see that same guy running between trees and howling, you're going to completely freak out. Humans have a natural fear of darkness- this is why (as Youhow pointed out) lighting is also extremely important. The deeper you can get a person immersed into that threatening environment, the greater the scare will end up being.

 

[DrMoneyReturns]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Have you been to "The Haunt" at KD DocMMD?

No. Maybe that's why it doesn't bother me...because like I said, all I expect out of a scare zone is that it'll be a place where some people jump out try to scare me, with a couple of light theming elements here and there. But then maybe that's an indictment of BG, because it's the only theme park haunt I've been to.

That said, though, the REASON I haven't been to any of the others is specifically because I get the impression from their adverts and tone that they will take it overboard, trying to scare the hell out of everybody, make girls and weaklings cry, cause people who've had deaths in the family to relive the worst parts of their lives, etc. I like what I perceive as the BG approach better...a little less intense, more fun, get a little creeped out but still be able to sleep this week.

Maybe that's not so much an "approach" though, and more just a failure on their part? I don't know. I prefer it though, and I can't be the only one.

Or can I? Celtic Fyre looms in my mind....

 

[Zachary]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Also, I should mention something else: I've only been to one Halloween event: Howl-O-Scream. Like DocMMD, I don't have a desire to go to a vampire strip club or a blood-covered doll factory. I have better ways to spend my time.

BGW has always done a superb job at creating an environment inside of its houses- the problem is that most of the time, the scares didn't live up to the brain's expectations. "O, crap, it's dark in here. I'm getting sorta scared... Wait, why is that skeleton just standing there? Why is that vampire hitting those wooden boards with spoons?" On the other extreme, the people working the scarezones are often genuinely good at their jobs- sadly, they aren't scary because your brain doesn't have anything to put it into that "Am I really safe?" mindset.

 

[Youhow2]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Like DocMMD, I don't have a desire to go to a vampire strip club or a blood-covered doll factory. I have better ways to spend my time.

Cool, more vampire strippers for everyone else.

But seriously, I wanted to tack on to that other epic post you made that You dont need all the rated-R stuff to make a good haunt. Simple things make the best scares. Though I do thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere of Club Blood and The Doll House. Also, If I recall Doll House wasnt a "Gore house", Just throwing that out there.

BGW has always done a superb job at creating an environment inside of its houses- the problem is that most of the time, the scares didn't live up to the brain's expectations. "O, crap, it's dark in here. I'm getting sorta scared... Wait, why is that skeleton just standing there? Why is that vampire hitting those wooden boards with spoons?" On the other extreme, the people working the scarezones are often genuinely good at their jobs- sadly, they aren't scary because your brain doesn't have anything to put it into that "Am I really safe?" mindset.

Yep, and they dont do storylines inside the house. You just aimlessly drift from one haunted area to another and the storyline makes less and less sense as you go through, and it all serves you as a reminder that it is fake. In the scarezones they dont even try.

I WANT TO BELIEVE.

 

[Zachary]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

To play off of Youhow's point about stories, one last thing before I go to sleep...

Busch Gardens, if you can turn a house around backwards (like you did with Hunted last year) and it makes just as much sense that way as it did the original way, it's not a good house no matter which way you turn it.

 

[MMMU]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

there was one scene with a guy with a cleaver hacking up some meat also the factory scene was bloody and the grinder.... but honestly I've never seen "drugs" in club blood just dancing and the chair\bed things, but honestly if swift or dmm did alien outpost or camp killauee or even medievil macabre you two would think you were at bg... but if you did one of there good mazes like asylum or doll factory or toxic plague you would be amazed I would say and id be willing to pay for half of your ticket swift if you'd be willing to go to kd for hh and review it!

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also if you all go to kdfansite.com and look at criminal record 2010 under the KD Haunt page you can see my reviews of all the houses and I think I reviewed the szs not sure about that though

 

[DrMoneyReturns]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Like DocMMD, I don't have a desire to go to a vampire strip club or a blood-covered doll factory. I have better ways to spend my time.

Now wait just a minute...I never said I didn't want to go to a vampire strip club. I just don't want to go to a fake vampire strip club as part of a Halloween theme park outing. No one is naked and it's not very Halloweenish. If anyone knows where there is a real, honest to goodness vampire strip club, they ought to spill the beans and stop holding out on everyone else.

Anyway, a Halloween theme and a Horror theme are two completely different things, imo. I feel that, while there is a bit of cross-over, for the most part there are just certain things that "work" with Halloween and certain things that don't. Halloween things don't even have to be all that scary (or scary at all)...they just have to play with scary motifs.

There are some movies that illustrate this concept, from my perspective. See, to me, Sleepy Hollow is a Halloween movie. SAW is not. Hocus Pocus is a Halloween movie. Hostel is not. As I see it, Busch Gardens has always done a great job of staying in the Halloween neck of the woods, and not straying off course into the Horror side of the tracks, and I like that. Like I said, I've never even been to any of the other theme park haunts, precisely because their advertising leads me to believe that they are running a horror event, and I'm just not interested in that. At all.

Now, if you want to say that the lighting or atmosphere could be improved to make the HoS events better versions of their own selves, then I can get behind that 100%. But I think the content/direction of the park's Halloween event has always been pretty great, and I'd hate to see it "ramped up" if "ramped up" means the inclusion of torture-porn stuff like in the SAW movies, or "edgy" stuff like vampire strip clubs.

 

[Youhow2]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Well, Club Blood isnt even themed around a strip club. It is an incredibly well done maze for what it is. You walk through a shady looking city/alley/street portion, trying to find this new club that's apparently the "best club ever". It's in this portion where you encounter actors portraying hookers and drug dealers to go with the theme and story that you are in the wrong side of town and to build atmosphere. They arent there to really be scary and try to scare you, their job is just to build disbelief like you are actually in this situation. It works.

You find the club, and it is actually actually a pretty well done club scene. There are Go-Go Dancers, A DJ, lights, a bar. It all is pretty normal up until this point. While you make your way through the club, there are people filling the roles of random club attendee, DJ, Bartender, and there's even a guy or two sitting at the bar if I recall correctly. They may smile at you and flash their teeth, and you start to get the feeling you arent in Kansas anymore. So you make your way through the rest of the maze, and you find out vampires are using this club to harvest blood. I'm not gonna do a room by room description, but that's it, and it's really well done. It's a story experience and it makes it that much better.



I dont think there is a difference between Halloween and Horror when it comes to haunting. I see what you mean DocMMD, but...


Club Blood takes vampires and tells a modern story with them. It doesnt make it anymore or less "Horror" than Bitten. It's just presented better.

Also, Hocus Pocus wasnt trying to be scary... It was a fun family adventure movie built around old Halloween Lore.

If you wanna play that card, "Practical Magic" is a Halloween-Themed movie... But if Busch did a House about the woes of Sandra Bullock finding love while being a witch I know for a fact I wouldnt be the only one with a major "WTF" face on. :dodgy:

 

[DrMoneyReturns]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Well, Club Blood isnt even themed around a strip club. It is an incredibly well done maze for what it is...[description]...It's a story experience and it makes it that much better.

No sarcasm: it sounds great...but doesn't have anything to do with Halloween. Sounds like a Horror theme. Not interesting to me.

I dont think there is a difference between Halloween and Horror when it comes to haunting. I see what you mean DocMMD, but...

Well that's probably why I see BG's effort as more interesting than KD's, and you don't.

If you wanna play that card, "Practical Magic" is a Halloween-Themed movie...

Huh? JUST because it has to do with witches doesn't make it "Halloween themed", in the same way that JUST because it's scary doesn't make it "Halloween themed." Halloween has it's own set of rules. I'm not going to try and do an in-depth psychological analysis of what that's based on, but it's a feeling I have, and like I said, I doubt I'm the only person who feels this way.

Harry Potter is about witches...but it doesn't really fit the Halloween theme.

Final Destination is about scary stuff...but it doesn't really fit the Halloween theme, either.

In any case, nothing about night clubs, hookers, harvesting blood, go-go dancers, or anything else you talked about fits the Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-o-Scream image. It's better off where it is, at King's Dominion. You want to do vampires at Busch Gardens? Let's talk about Dracula or Nosferatu. Don't show up with something from Queen of the Damned or Underworld. They're not interchangeable, and the latter just doesn't fit in at BG.

 

[Youhow2]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Your definition of "Halloween" Does not exist anymore, if it ever did.

Halloween for the past hundred or so years has been about celebrating what scares you. The old Gothic literature that we might have sat around a campfire and read while we roasted some sweet corn 200 years ago has evolved into movies and stories like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm street, Hellraiser, etc. New traditions have come along, such as going to haunted houses, celebrating the Holiday by subjecting yourself to fear, etc. While Busch chooses largely to stick to the "Old Guns" (which make sense because their whole park is themed around the time these stories were popular) for you to completely invalidate modern Halloween and call it... Not Halloween? When it is largely taking place just about everywhere else... Is just kinda mind-numbing to me.

And on top of that, Busch has gone with more modern themes before... I dont think Clowns was a legit phobia before this last century, neither were chainsaw wielding maniacs...Just saying...

 

[DrMoneyReturns]

RE: Howl-O-Scream 2011

Your definition of "Halloween" Does not exist anymore...New traditions have come along...Busch chooses largely to stick to the "Old Guns"...you to completely invalidate modern Halloween...And on top of that, Busch has gone with more modern themes before... I dont think Clowns was a legit phobia before this last century, neither were chainsaw wielding maniacs...

I appreciate your love of the horror genre, as it's clear that you have one. To me (and I'm speaking only for myself), saying that everything scary = Halloween is like saying everything cheerful = Christmas. Every happy movie isn't a Christmas movie. Christmas is a festival holiday, and like all festivals, there are symbols and rituals that fit the mold, and then those that fall outside of it. Halloween is no different.

Busch has gone with some more modern things, yes, and they have worked in some cases (Last Laugh). Of course, the Grinch wasn't around when Charles Dickens as writing his Christmas Carol, but Grinch and CC sit beside each other as equals in the Christmas tradition today, so certainly, there's room for new things and growth. But there's a limit, and a line, and I think that some of the things you seem to advocate fall beyond the line. A scary looking lumberjack running around in New France with a chain saw and Racoon skin hat (or something like that) is a far cry from reliving the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and seriously wondering whether I'm getting out alive. Likewise, there's a difference between some crazy clowns in Festa Italia, and encountering hookers and drug abusers outside of the Globe Theater.

Personally, I like that both products exist on the market, that way nobody is stuck without an option. There's absolutely no reason that Busch Gardens should emulate the content of King's Dominion's haunt, or vice-versa. They serve different markets, and they're close enough to one another to go on doing that to the benefit of both parks, and the guests who visit them.