RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012 Rumors
I hate to go on another one of my infamous youhow2 HOS rants, so I'm gonna (attempt to) keep it short and sweet. [edit: Failed]
I wholeheartedly always expect HOS and BGW to be a better experience for guest than "elsewhere". There are other haunts that have kept the same houses around for ages... But you wont see many complaint in regards to those houses that stick around cause usually they will tweak the story of the houses and change a few of the rooms up, and these are 100% noticeable changes, They go in and re-design whole rooms and change routes...
The vampire maze at "that other place" has been around longer than Bitten, But I don't believe one year has passed where it has remained the EXACT SAME THING. There is always a few new rooms, new props, new hiding places for actors etc... It remains a park favorite and though it will eventually come time for it to pass... While it has been around a while and the concept has remained constant, the attraction remains a different experience every year. Some of the other mazes don't get the same attention, but the usual 1-2 new mazes on top of the other changes in the other mazes keep the event and mazes fresh.
I don't think mazes like Deadline or Fear fair need much tweaking... But if they are returning there should be something new about them. I think Deadline needs to be a tad bit darker, and some of the hiding places for actors can be changed... And I think if they adjusted the story to where people were full fledged classic zombies near the end of the maze attacking everyone, it would be a small tweak that could keep the maze fresh... They could even say since last year the project has been abandoned and go in and distress the props and the new story could be they have sealed off the area and rescue attempts have been abandoned, etc... A group of urban explorers or someone dumb unsealed the passage way into the area and now you are part of a new rescue effort to report what has transpired over the last year and find the urban explorers.
That's just one idea, and it's something relatively low budget to keep the attraction fresh. A few new props , maybe some large glowing mushroom type things? Some paint for deterioration effects, Maybe two or three 5 hour video shoots ( A newscast, "training video", Footage recovered from the urban explorers cameras) to redo the queue videos, Maybe one day in post? Slight changes to the costumes and new make up designs for the actors? I mean, compared in the grand scheme of the budget for the whole event how much can small stuff like that cost? What about the increase of value to the event by making these small changes, keeping the mazes feeling "new" while leaving the infrastructure intact.
But anyways, my main point is I dont want to see any of the new amazing mazes end up like Bitten. Bitten was at one time a great and effective maze (though I like hunted better) though I felt it had room for improvement in some areas... But after years of frequenting HOS and seeing the same thing, not only to us, but to the GP it's got to be old.
Bitten needs a serious face lift that noticeably changes the attraction. Keep the concept around because the people love it, but some of the set design needs to be redone.
Oh and for 13.
The maze is literally a blank canvas. The infrastructure mainly consisted of black walls... The whole thing had kind of a dreamy/twilight zone aspect to it that could be intensified with the strategic use of Hazers and a few lighting tweaks... But That's besides the point. The maze is too blank not to change or be added to. There are completely blank hallways and transitions that could have things added to it, and a good story in the maze that could be expanded upon. New fears that could be added in place of less effective ones and definitely alot that could change... The "fear of going to sleep scene" was a bed and a dresser. They can make it look like an actual bedroom by adding more or, because the room is so simple they can change the whole fear. I think the Doctor/Dentist/torture scenes were great and could have a little review but short of removing them I cant think of much else they can do with them, but I wouldn't remove them... they were very effective, but then again even a small layout change and very small tweaks here and there can keep the mazes feeling fresh.
Really, I think last year Busch found their sweet spot with HOS and that's the main reason I decided to audition last year. But they cant start slacking now. It was great... Keep it great. I honestly feel letting the mazes stay EXACTLY the same is a step in the wrong direction. Keep the event fresh all throughout. Smaller changes will be seen and appreciated and keep it fresh for your locals, and they WILL be able to squeeze more life out of their already established mazes by giving them some small changes, and further developing certain parts of the mazes and things associated with them.
