Howl-O-Scream 2011

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Noon isn't usually a problem, what I like to do is get off at exit 242A and you can bypass a lot of the traffic going into the park. For most of the day the camera bag should be fine, I haven't found that much of an issue with people running into you and crushing your stuff. If it does get bad, you can rent a one time use locker by coasters and water rides for cheaper than an all day locker.
 
Anyone have any idea of what the crowds on the 9th will be? I am doind the All-Access tour, so lines and all that stuff wont be an issue, I am just wondering how many people to expect being there.
 
If you read the thread then it says clearly in several areas what to expect on the different days. Soso Friday. Bad Saturday. Usually good Sunday.
 
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Doing the tampa ultimate vip tour tomorrow. I got some pics of the outsides of the houses. Looks really good. You can also get pictures with zombie pin up girls. Haha.
 
BlueWasp said:
last saturday i waited 1 hour 30min for 13, it was not worth it AT ALL.
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I was in that line on Sat too. My friends and I called that part "Phobia of lines" and "Phobia of boredom". Once inside I liked that the maze was longer than others. I got to go through 13, Deadline, & Catacombs from 6pm-10pm; also grabbed some dinner in "Funny Bone" Buffet. Saw "Fiends" and "Monster Stomp" before 6pm. I am glad I am coming back later in the month to experience more Howl-o-Scream.
 
I will be there Saturday. I am planning on being in line for 13 by 5:30 and as soon as I am finished with 13 I will head straight to Deadline. Then make my way to Fear Fair. I hope that I still have time to experience at least Catacombs and Bitten as well. I have been for the past six years. So, I have experienced Catacombs and Bitten in the years previous. But, Catacombs has been my favorite in years past so, I do plan to try to make it to this house.
 
Friday, 7 Oct: Wow what a night. Left late from the house (6:50p) but made the BG I-64 exit by 7:07p and BAMM... wall of entrance traffic! I've been there for Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day holidays and NEVER saw traffic like this ever. It took 27 minutes just to hit the gate attendant. Tram ok, but again, hit the check in gate and the walk-up traffic was back against the bag check tables. Seems like no provisions to meet surge issues. Had the little one along and went first to the train station... and the red line was stuck at Caribou. Pulled after 40 min delay. Otherwise, rides were sparsely populated and you were able to walk right up to any ride. Since I had to stay away from the Houses/Mazes I could only assume thats were the crowds were located. Caught Fiends in the FestH and did well by my little girl since they sing and dance. Glad the Nurses were there for me (wow). Otherwise in my short time out there this evening, seems like all were having a great time. BTW; leaving the park past 10p is also a nightmare!
 
My review of HOS from Friday, October 7th. Arrived about 6:30pm, crowds were moderate.

First of all, I love the Dark Side of the Gardens theme and the Lady of the Gardens. In the future, I would like to see a maze based around this concept featuring her character. She should at least be walking in the park somewhere.

Deadline:
The themeing in this maze is incredible. I was very excited when I got to the hall with the fans spinning! High level of detail makes a great experience. The first time through scares were ok, second time was much better. There are some good hiding spots in here.

13:
Interesting concept, but only worked in some places. The smells in here were terrible. Again, portions of the maze were very well themed. The fear of heights and fear of death rooms had very cool effects. Some of the scenes were unsettling, but not extremely scary.

Catacombs:
I think it was brighter in here than last year, so it doesn't make you as nervous. The actors blend very well with the walls though, so it still gets good scares.

Fear Fair:
I liked the idea of the tents with different scenes. The clown atmosphere doesn't really scare me, but they got me a few times with jump scares. There was a terrible smell in this one too. One of the tents has similar looking walls on all sides where one wall was actually the way through, but it didn't work as well because the people in front of you figured it out already. It was a good length though. Improvement over Cursed.

Bitten:
Long line, skipped it.

Maze Impression:
I thought that all 3 of the new mazes displayed a larger investment in themeing and general thought put into the story and idea behind the maze. I'm excited if this is the direction HOS is going. Especially based on Deadline.

Scarezones:
It was fantastic that there were props in the way, but unfortunately it made smaller scarezones. I didn't get scared here. Scavengers was the best themeing and scare wise. I think it would be neat if next year, in addition to the marked scarezones, they used the "Dark Side of the Gardens" theme and had ghillie suits and various garden-like costumes hiding in random places across the park.

Monster Stomp:
Still a good show, female lead was better than last year, male lead was ok. I just need it to change completely now. Its been around for a while.
 
Went to HOS on Saturday, October 8th, with friends. Arrived about 5:20, park was at capacity most of the time we were there. When we got there, they directed us wayyy back to a parking lot near the brewery. Took the Scotland-Barvaria tram, which was okay. Walk-up traffic at the entrance was rather light.

13: So, then we made a beeline towards 13, and got in line. Sweet Jesus, what a long line. We waited a total 94 minutes before we got on. The line started right where the eagles are, and went out and back once into an area with a shed. Then, we went into the area where you normally go back and forth 3 or so times. After that, they put us in a giant snaking area in the England parking lot about 8 rows wide. Then, we went into the house. 13, however was worth the wait. My favorite parts were the Fear of Bed and Fear of Death rooms. The acting was good, but the detailing was even better. The only thing was that we had to ask a staff member how to get out of the Fear of the Dark room. Grade: B+

So, after 13, we went over to Festhaus to get dinner, and caught part of the Fiends in the Festhaus show. It wasn't extraordinary, but it was much better then the dreck they had last year. After doing the swings, we headed over to Fear Fair.

Fear Fair: Two people in our group said that they had been here earlier, and said that it was terrible, so I had low expectations for this one. However, this turned out to be my favorite by far. The clowns yelling at the guests were a nice touch. I also liked the clowns with chainsaws coming out of the fog. Grade: A

After Fear Fair, we went on Apollo, then headed onto Deadline.

Deadline: Despite all of the theming, this one was my least favorite. I waited about 35 minutes to get in, but wasn't really scared until the very end. I also noticed ALOT of reused stuff from Revenge of Pompeii. Also, the acting was alright at best and terrible at its worst. However, I did like the bathroom and subway car sets. Grade: C

Didn't do Catacombs or Bitten, as they had hugely long lines.

Overall, it was a good experience, despite it being really crowded. Left when park closed, got home at midnight.
 
October 8th

Before, I give my opinion on each of the houses. I just wanted to say that Busch is going in the right direction with HOS. It was ten times better than years previous. Also, suggestion be at 13 before 5:30. I got to 13 at about 5:45 and waited a hour and half.

13: I thought that this house was average. It has a lot of potential. The themeing for each phobia was good, but some of the acting was off. The Fear of Doctors kind of got me. The Fear of Heights scared me even though I still have no clue how they achieved that. Overall score 3/5

Deadline: This house is a huge step-up from Revenge of Pompeii. The layout, themeing, and acting were all top notch in this house. The story was pretty decent. I don't think there wasn't a moment in this house when I was not scared. Overall Score 5/5

Fear Fair: This was probably my favorite out of all of the houses. I know people said that the first week it had serious issues. But, I thought the themeing was great. I thought there was an appropriate number of actors. It's layout was probably my favorite. I really felt with the many different tents to travel in and out of that I was at a carnival. Overall 5/5

Catacombs: This is still a great house. All of the improvements were good. It was packed with actors and they all did a great job. The only complaint is lighting. It could be a little darker. Overall 4/5

I didn't get to make it to Bitten. But, if it was any thing like last year I didn't miss anything.

Scarezones were great. I think they could have been a little longer though.

The park did a great job this year. I believe that they took our input from last year and actually applied it to the event. Deadline and Fear Fair are definitely tied for my favorite and I consider them don't misses.
 
Here's my review of HOS 2011:

Bitten-similar to years past, but when I went through, it had a ton of actors. I jumped a lot. 7/10

13-really cool effects, wasn't too keen on the smell, but it added to the gross factor. This house had a great use of the building it was in, unlike Cavern of Darkness. Very cool concept for a house, but could use more detail esp. in the dentist room (it was just black curtains w/ a chair in the middle). 8/10

Catacombs-felt longer, but unfortunately, our group missed a lot of the scares because we were at the end of the pack. It is still creepy, and the guys in the ceiling always get me. 6/10

Deadline-I was very disappointed. Too much open space, not enough people. I went through twice, same story each time. I love the theming, execution, renovation, and the storyline. But, i just wasn't scared enough, it felt empty to me, but easy to improve. 5/10

Fear Fair-This was definitely the best looking maze, it felt like being in a carnival. The scares were moderate, and the creep-factor was set to high. Better scare tactics could make this a real winner; maybe if they hid in the grasses or behind the posters in the path. 9/10 (might be biased I love clown themed houses :D)

Scavengers-I think the location is a bit odd, but I like the idea and the crow-people. 6/10

Stitchin' Time- Um, they just kind of looked at me. Some would jump at you, but it wasn't that unexpected when they did. I liked the length and the concept, but it needs some work. 4/10

Unleashed- I love the obstacles in the path and the bush-people (not the Republicans). But, it is way too narrow, very crowded on Saturday. Also, I would dim the lights a bit. 5/10

Grin and Scare it- Creepy clowns were creepy. Some good jumps. Should be expanded. 6/10

Widow Makers- I love that they have free reign of New France. The spiders are unnecessary, but look good on the bridge (I miss the anamatronic ones from last year :( ). These guys have mastered the scare tactic if distracting you with one actor while another pops out behind you. People were literally running through here. 8/10

Fiends- Good, but not like it used to be. 7/10

Monster Stomp- Good, but not like it used to be (although I like the new Zombie routine) 8/10

Jack is Back- Didn't bother.

Overall, it was a great year, definitely several steps in the right direction. Get Quick Queue on Saturday, it makes life a whole lot better. Keep up the excellent work BG!
 
Sunday... not too bad capacity-wise. Dating myself, but when did they stop having character actors participate along the train routes? Kept waiting to see a ghoul approach the train from the darkness, but nada! Italy also seemed sparse for hallo-scares. You had ghosts in the trees and evil clowns on the bridge but well lit, no smoke, nothing much really happening. Can't do the Houses/Mazes but DeadLine seemed packed with the line ending near the industrial dryer. Heavy crowd exodus by 9:00p.
 

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Just so everyone knows, I'm still adding all your reviews to the first post. In theory, after the event ends, the first post will be migrated over to the BGWFans Wiki to be preserved for years to come. If we do this with all the events, we should be able to build up quite a database of info that people will appreciate far into the future. Too bad someone wasn't doing this a decade ago.
 
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merc1182 said:
Sunday... not too bad capacity-wise. Dating myself, but when did they stop having character actors participate along the train routes? Kept waiting to see a ghoul approach the train from the darkness, but nada! Italy also seemed sparse for hallo-scares. You had ghosts in the trees and evil clowns on the bridge but well lit, no smoke, nothing much really happening. Can't do the Houses/Mazes but DeadLine seemed packed with the line ending near the industrial dryer. Heavy crowd exodus by 9:00p.
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Deadline will look long but if it was at the drier its just a 20min wait. Not that bad and its defiently worth it:D
 
We were there from 10-7:30 yesterday. Got pretty packed in the evening. We saw the 6:00 Fiends and the line for the bar was out the front door, line for food was back to the bar. Yuck. We got there about 5:15 and were able to get food and seats right up front by 5:30. Show started right after we ate. Worked out well.

Passed Deadline about 6:35. The line was all the way out of the queue and back to the water canons. The 7:00 MSR was full by 6:45, so we missed it. Walked over to check out the line for 13. Holy cow. Even though they've expanded the queue there TWICE so far, the line was still down past Eagle's Ridge.

I can't imagine what Saturday night was like if Sunday night was this crowded. FWIW, Friday night wasn't bad at all. Got in line for 13 at 5:50, was in the house by 6:05, did Deadline and Catacombs all before 7:00. 5-10 minute wait at both. Just something to keep in mind for the future.
 
Shafor said:
I can't imagine what Saturday night was like if Sunday night was this crowded. FWIW, Friday night wasn't bad at all. Got in line for 13 at 5:50, was in the house by 6:05, did Deadline and Catacombs all before 7:00. 5-10 minute wait at both. Just something to keep in mind for the future.
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I was there Saturday. The line didn't go past eagle ridge. it was expanded out into what looked like a parking lot, but I had QwikQueue so I didn't wait down there. It was very busy but it wasn't at capacity. From what one of the park employees told me, the park wasn't at capacity but the parking lots were. They didn't have anyway of getting more guests into the park. Additionally, I don't know if this actually happened but they mentioned parking guests in the employee parking lots.
 
coasternd said:
I was there Saturday. The line didn't go past eagle ridge. it was expanded out into what looked like a parking lot, but I had QwikQueue so I didn't wait down there. It was very busy but it wasn't at capacity. From what one of the park employees told me, the park wasn't at capacity but the parking lots were. They didn't have anyway of getting more guests into the park. Additionally, I don't know if this actually happened but they mentioned parking guests in the employee parking lots.
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Park WAS at capacity. The turnstiles were shut down.
 
And parking guests in the employee lot would never happen. ;) Most baseline employees don't know much more than the GP.
 
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