Howl-O-Scream 2012

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netdvn said:
More 2 cents

Hoardes vs. Scare Zones
Hoardes are a good concept, but BGW really skimped out on them. I wish there were more roaming around or maybe larger groups of people. Scare zones last year were either really good or bad early in the season. The park should expand the scare zone concept and add roaming hoardes to the mix to make things really scary again. Later in the season, the scare zones did get better I'll admit though. Hopefully we'll see the same changes with the roaming hoardes.

Root of all Evil
This maze had tons of potential to be great, but like the hoardes, I feel it's all wasted on too much open space, not enough places for actors to pop out or not enough props around for them to utilize. I expected a few monster plants to attack, a few chainsaws, and some makeup that doesn't involve fake-looking leaves attached to your face. Unlike the other mazes though, there are a few unique scares and a few cool scenes that really stand out.

Theming-wise, the park actually did a solid job with the theming. Some parts of the park looked amazing (England, Scotland, Ireland, New France). Other parts were forgettable (Festa - which didn't have much last year either, San Marco, Oktoberfest). Honestly I didn't let that bother me. Oh and the San Marco glow stand actually looks good.

I think opening HOS early was a mistake on the park's fault. It's been stated before that the park was still short staffed on scare actors, which explained the short staffing in some of the mazes. I also feel that a lot of the park's atmosphere may have been lost in trying to open a week early and rushing to get all the theming in place. Give them another week to add a bit more theming and a few more actors around the area and you'll probably have a better event.

Oh and fog on Verbolten is awesome. They really should keep that year round instead of just for HOS.
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So, considering these have been the most talked about/biggest disappointments both here and on FB, how can the park fix them?

I agree with what JordanFord said above, and I actually said the same thing in a post on FB a day ago- do smaller hordes and a few scarezones. At the very least, bring in the clowns (and werewolves in the reserve, perhaps the chainmen in NewFrance as well). Alternatively, have the hordes be a bit more stationary- a horde that only wanders through Festa and San Marco, one in Octoberfest + Rhinefeld, one in France/New France, and one for Ireland/Scotland (with the current number of people in each horde, of course they would be a bit smaller- but being more stationary would ensure at least being seen).

Now on to Root of All Evil. I realize I'm one of a (very) few who liked the maze. I think the middle section (the pond to the path-switch) is brilliant. That being said I also realize it's pitfalls. First off, I've done it twice- once before and once after dark. Obviously, going in the day is a big no-no-- unfortunately, there isn't much the park can do about daylight unless they move in indoors.

Next, we have the issue of the actors- the ones inside the actual greenhouses are bad- very bad. I hope this is one of those cases in which people improve as the weeks go on.

Then, the spacing/arrangement of the maze- once again, inside the greenhouses are horrible. They need to move some of the taller plants inside or something because the current arrangement does not work.

(I am glad they opened early, but if they do this in the future it would be smart to label the first week a "preview" or "test run" like Tampa does (I think they do?))

EDIT: Also: they either added (or I just didn't notice them on Friday) feather dusters to touch you through a couple of the mazes and I hadn't ever seen/felt those before and they work pretty well haha. Used Quick Queue for 13 as well- I didn't use it last year so I'm not sure, but they switched up the QuickQueue line- instead of the main entrance you go in through EiTA's exit right next to the exit for 13.
 
Crackel said:
Any haunted event your going to get hit. Coming from a person whose been punched in the face.

Also, boohoo if they touch you. Your not going to die. I do it. Sure were not supposed to but what's it going to hurt? Please don't whine about stupid things.
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It's not that I actually care, it's that they deliberately touch you, and they don't apologize, whats to keep me from touching you? It just makes me mad because I know people who have gotten kicked out for touching actors on accident. That's all.
 
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SO I went twice this weekend, Friday and today. Overall I'm happy with the event, but here are some specifics I wanna point out.

The shows this year are GREAT. My favorite being Night Beats, followed by Fiends, then Dig It Up. Everything was stepped up: talent, design, costuming, choreography, was all wonderful. I liked the changes made to Fiends between Friday and today. Besides for the wig mishap at the beginning of tonight's 7:30 showing :p

Now for houses.

Deadline: Has to be my favorite this year. Like I said last year, I love the theme and all of the little tiny details in the house. Throw in some good scare actors, and that house is a hit. Never waited more then 20 mins for it.

There's a toss-up for second place between Bitten and Catacombs.
Bitten: Actually kept me interested this year. I don't know exactly what they changed, but I really liked it and had a great experience each time I went through. The scare actors were really on their game as well which is always a plus. Never waited more then 20 mins for it.

Catacombs: I have loved this house since it debuted and I think I always will, even if it is cut shorter. It looks great on the inside, and always has a lot of actors when I go through. The only snag I had was tonight, once I got to the front of the line, an employee inside the maze became "sick" and had to be taken out of the house (ew) Ha, but it was still amazing. Never waited to go in, walked right up to the entrance both times I went through.

Thirteen: Okay guys. I reallllly had hope for this one, I really did. But I just can't come to terms with it. Friday was plagued by power issues and tonight was plagued by everything else. The torture room literally made me gag. I had to plug my nose and run through to avoid vomiting my Das Alpine. I remember an odor, but NEVER like that. Also, once into room 8 or so, the line just stopped. We stood there bottlenecked for at least a minute and 45 seconds, (I even had time to tweet about it) which is never okay unless someone is injured or something. The fear of heights room was apparently the culprit of the bottlenecking? Who knows. I am just always let down by 13. It could be SO good. Never waited more than 20 mins for this one.

Fear Fair: Blah. Never really liked it, always laugh in it instead of being scared. Not much else to say about it. Never waited more than 10 mins for this one.

And now:
ROOT OF ALL EVIL: WHICH HAPPENS TO BE THE WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN AT HOS. I mean come on! It was HORRIBLE. Both in daylight and nightime! I was blinded, scolded, soaked, and bored all at the same time. This maze theme has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. Like a whole lot. I need more lady of the gardens and more movement or something! It just failed miserably for me. I really hope there are some kind of improvements or SOMETHING. If not, I have a feeling ROAE will be gone next year. (at least I hope it will be) Never waited more the 45 mins for this, and it was a WASTE OF TIME.

I only ever saw the clown hoard both nights. Except for tonight, there were TONS of them at the entrance and really awesome looking zombies I guess? Anyway they had chainsaws which is really typical, but they still get great scares, including myself who screamed like a baby. They need more people in each hoard or need to split them up more or something.

One last thing: I have never in my years of HOS been so bored whist walking from place to place. The decor is lacking along with scare actors. Just bring the scare zones back please?

I'm very satisfied overall, but some things need a lot of work. Hopefully since it's just opening weekend they will work out the kinks and be even better in October.
 
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Eddie789 said:
An employee told me that cuts backs have been made to HOS due to assaults on employees.
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I am still trying to figure out if this post is serious. If it is... LOL.
 
Judging by BGW's reaction to the parental outrage that was Fiends of last year, I would think management told the actors and crews to go the OTHER way...
 
My main problem with Howl-o-Scream this year is, it was built up to be the best year ever. I mean the theme was a major hit last year, making last year the 2nd best year for Howl-o-Scream history. Yes, that is based on actual statistics. So they have the great park wide theme, they have the same good houses, two of them being brand new and major hits. Fiends was moved to expand and become what it should be, an adult show. These were just things that built up this year to seem promising. I expected the new house to be on terms with Deadline and/or Fear Fair. I expected the hordes to add to the park theme amazingly. So yes, this year was supposed to be one of the best years.

Sadly, because they made the switch to hordes, they did major decor cuts. Honestly, Scotland and Ireland are the two main amazingly decorated areas this year. Those pumpkins look amazing at night, and Ireland is just pimped out to the Frankenstien monster theme. Other areas like the Reserve, France, the New France Bridge were okay. They weren't nothing to be amazed by, but they did weel in telling that this is Howl-o-Scream and not the regular park. Rhinefeld, San Marco, Festa Italia were just pitiful. Yes at least you have decor, but it was lacking a lot. With Festa, they need to extend those lights and flags into all of Festa. At least put more stuff up, the clowns by themselves are not super scary but creepy.
San Marco is very much like the regular park. Added broken pots and such litter the garden beds near the San Marco grape vine yard. It looked like they just relocated Pompeii's theme. I will give them the fact that San Marco and Italy in general is really hard to theme. I myself have thought of different things to tie to Italy, but honestly nothing is immediately associated with Italy and Halloween. That is why I get and understand that Dig It Up may not be all that Halloween like, but at least they tried. Now, what they could have done, is go with gypsies as the theme for Italy, which works and have clotheslines of dirty clothes hanging, with these gypsies as scare actors. Place small portable potty sized tents in the garden areas with lights inside to add to that feeling, fake campfires, etc. The theme works and the decor can be done well. A dig site is just like a basic any time theme. But I do give credit for them at least trying to follow through with a solid theme. Plus I love the authenticity of the museum signs, with the Italian museum name on he bottom of the posters, alluding to the real museum theme.

Now areas like Oktoberfest is just sad. It has two themes that don't go hand in hand. Vampires and harvest. By the Festhaus you have Vampires, by Verbolten you have the harvest. Now if it was Werewolves and Vampires together, those go hand in hand. Vampires and Harvest don't.

Overall more park decor is needed to set a good atmosphere. Now the scare actors; they don't visit one area enough. I agree with having hordes roam just one area of the park. I think they need to add back scare zones and then have hordes roam an area. For example, have Grin and Scare It on the bridge, but then have a clown horde roam all of Festa constantly. There is no need for them to stop. From what I have seen, they scare very well on the go.
I also feel like they picked the two most popular scare zones and dumbed down the costumes and such. Clowns and Chainsaws. There is nothing wrong with the clowns looking all the same. I even had one person tell me that they thought the clowns look creepier that way. However, I just want a little variety in life.

I have yet to see all shows and haunted houses, so I mean no true judgement on those.

I have seen Fiends three times already so I can say that, there is a difference between good and fun. Something can be terrible but still be fun and enjoyable. Movies are a prime example of this. A movie can be good and have all these theatrical aspects that it follows. Then you have movies that are fun, such as spoof movies, Jack@$$, etc. Fiends is no different. It may not be good, but it sure is fun. It may not have a complicated plot, deep character analysis, or anything like that, but it is fun. It is a show that I can sit and watch over and over again, because the music selection is good and because enjoy the nurses. Yes, even just being able to see a character can make it just fun. If your looking for a deep good show, see something else. If you are looking for a fun, interesting, neat show, this is it. Don't over think it, just flow with it.

Those are just my few cents in the major issues that park has. So far, the decor will probably lack for the rest of the event. Hordes may and probably will improve. They are still hiring from what I understand, plus they can always change how the hordes operate easily, which can easily make things better.
 
Atlantis said:
Eddie789 said:
An employee told me that cuts backs have been made to HOS due to assaults on employees.
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I am still trying to figure out if this post is serious. If it is... LOL.
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Yes. This quote is quite serious. I heard this from another guest at the park. So I asked someone. If you have been lucky enough to see a horde you will notice that there are several security guards walking with them. I saw several security guards stop a guest for their behavior around the hordes, usually children. There was one young couple detained outside of the Catacombs last night for the same reason.
 
So it looks like the most consistent complaint is that the decor is lacking...that you could forget you were in HoS in certain areas of the park.

Obviously, this could change, but if it doesn't...smh. I personally would rather have the whole park look creepy and festive without a single scare actor anywhere than to ditch the decor in favor of a couple of gangs of clowns or whatever. Halloween (like Christmas) is about the atmosphere.

Anyway, it usually sucks early on and improves as more actors show up, issues get addressed, things change. Hopefully, as we get out of September, and closer in to Halloween, things will head in the right direction.
 
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My review of Root of all Evil:

picard-facepalm.jpg
 
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I really don't understand all the complaints. We went yesterday and had a ball. The crowds were very light, all the rides were walk-ons. We were even able to get front row on most coasters.

The decorations were fantastic in Scotland. I'm glad the pumpkins were lit. Ireland was fun with the decorations and the great 80s music playing. The nurses added a nice decadant touch. I spent time trying to figure out Germany. No meaningful theming. I really don't know what's the purpose of Open Casket. Beer is avalable in the Festhaus and at two stands within a 10 second walk. They should have some outside entertainment at that bar.

The shows this year are easily the best in the past 10 years. Fiends was the weakest. The jokes were forced, the song choices are poor, only the lead nurse has the vocal talent. It's not worth a second visit.

Night Beats was a cabaret style song and dance show that I have come to expect at the Festhaus. The song chioces were perfect, the singing and dance are very entertaining. This is the type of show that should always be in the Festhaus.

Dig It Up was the stand out and by far the best show. It's a great combination of Mix It Up and A Night at the Museum. The interaction and dynamics bewteen the cavemen and soilders was highly entertaining. The song choices and use of props made it funny plus it had great musicality. This show is so good, we saw it twice.

We experienced two of the roving hordes. The black-cloaked lepers performed the standard jump, yell and startle. The clowns were the most fun. They had people running and hiding. I saw them chase a group of girls through France and into the bathroom. The clowns then stalked the area waiting for the girls to come out. Eveantually the clowns moved on, but it was laugh out loud funny.

We don't do the mazes, we just enjoy the shows and pathways. I can say that this is easiliy the best HOS has been in years.
 
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Wings said:
As for the lack of decor, maybe they aren't entirely done yet? I did make a comment that it seemed like it was impossible to get it all done before the start of the event.
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HOS has been a major even since before the existence of Illuminights and Christmas Town - if you anticipate you may not be ready, you start approving the overtime to get it done. It's not like the start-date of HOS was decided last-minute...

If you open for HOS and it's only half-done, you look like Six Flags where Fright Fest annually sneaks up on them.
 
Doc Dollars said:
Anyway, it usually sucks early on and improves as more actors show up, issues get addressed, things change. Hopefully, as we get out of September, and closer in to Halloween, things will head in the right direction.
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I think you're underestimating how bad things actually are this year. :s I've been opening weekend of 2009, 2010, 2011, and now 2012. This weekend was awful even as far as opening weekends go. It's bad. On the bright side though, I stick to my guns with the "This is the greatest lineup of shows I've ever seen at the park" claim.
 
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I'm going to write up an depth review of this /sometime/, but let me address the decorations. It really did feel that the park had the money to do decorations from England through Scotland, Ireland, Aquitaine, New France, and part of Rhinefield. Then they ran out of money, collected a few dollar from every worker, and decorated the park with that. Oktoberfest has nothing but a bar. San Marco had a few things that /might/ have been there before, nobody can remember. Festa had some miniature clowns tied to trees...
 
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Eddie789 said:
Yes. This quote is quite serious. I heard this from another guest at the park. So I asked someone. If you have been lucky enough to see a horde you will notice that there are several security guards walking with them. I saw several security guards stop a guest for their behavior around the hordes, usually children. There was one young couple detained outside of the Catacombs last night for the same reason.
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I have watched the hordes. From the times I have been around them they have been incident free with guests for the most part. The bigger issue is mazes where someone cannot turn and run. There are not cutbacks due to assaults on employees. Those have always happened and all always will. Hence why there's a good portion of JCC Police in the park.
 
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Went back to check out more stuff last night. Here's more of my 2 cents.

Bitten was amazing. Everyone seemed to be on their A-game and it definitely showed. Much better than Friday night for sure.

ROAE was better than it was on Friday as well. A lot of the scares were still hit-miss and the maze could still be improved, but still an improvement. I didn't get the lady freaking out about killing the plants at the end of the maze. :( I thought she did a pretty good job in the daytime. I still have yet to do the back path though.

13 was another hit-miss maze. Some of the scares were good, but then again, the maze still has weird rooms and long empty hallways that could use some more theming (I remember there being a lot more last year). Rating 3/5

Dig it Up was fantastic. Any show that combines Star Trek with Queen is a winner in my book. Great dancing, great music, just great all around.Rating 5/5

Make sure you find a good spot to sit in England when everyone is walking out and the two hoardes are together. It's a lot of fun to people-watch. That area would definitely benefit from more fog too.

Theming-wise, I honestly don't remember Oktoberfest or Festa having a lot of theming last year. I remember there being a bit more in France and I do remember seeing ghosts in San Marco. Still, theming was well-done in some areas and in others, it felt a bit incomplete.
 
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