Howl-O-Scream 2016

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Don't know if yall noticed but under dining and spirits on the HOS website, it says their are 4 spirit bars but they only list 3. They also still have pirate baarrrah listed. Seems to me that should be taken and down and their will be 2 new spirit bars.
 
^That's exactly what I'm thinking; the type of amateur-hour theatre that uses cheap slide presentations, and never returns to the same place twice. That also fits the description of two former mazes between the parks.

Obviously it fits Fear Fair in Williamsburg, but it also fits Darkheart's Fear Fair in Tampa. With it being an evil encore, perhaps Darkheart and friends are returning? Williamsburg could maybe even have their own spin on it. Although I believe BGW sold the rights for all original Fear Fair characters to Oak Island after the maze was left.
 
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One thing that I'm excited about this year is the fact that the free passes are not just limited to the first two opening weekends of HoS so hopefully the crowds will be spread out through the HoS season. We went last year on a Friday night and got stuck trying to get into the parking lot for an hour (which is our fault because a person going with us was late getting home from work). Maybe this years theme is going to be like a AHS - Freak Show type of theme??
 
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TheMeowMeoow said:
One thing that I'm excited about this year is the fact that the free passes are not just limited to the first two opening weekends of HoS so hopefully the crowds will be spread out through the HoS season.  We went last year on a Friday night and got stuck trying to get into the parking lot for an hour (which is our fault because a person going with us was late getting home from work). Maybe this years theme is going to be like a AHS - Freak Show type of theme??
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That's TOTALLY what I've been thinking, with the AHS thing.
 
angelicurrr said:
The Tomato said:
netdvn said:
angelicurrr said:
I don't get the carnival or clown theme vibe at all... I always read way too much into these things, but the background on the HOS page reminds me of a swanky old school theater, and the lights around the logo look like a mirror in a dressing room perhaps? All pointing to a stage show encore maybe? Either way, it should be really interesting to see where the new peeps in Entertainment take HOS this year. AND I'm stoked that I can go back into the houses this year :D
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Evil Encore is the overarching theme for all the HOS events this year. The clowns will most likely be announced as it gets closer to the event.
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I think she was referring to people earlier thinking that "evil encore" was a carnival theme.

Also, IIRC, congrats on having your baby!! @Angelicurrr
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That's exactly what I was referring to :) And thank you! We took him for the first time on Saturday and he thoroughly enjoyed!

It was weird to ride past the site of 'Cut Throat Cove' on the train and see barely anything there....

Also, the line "the curtains go up on Sept 23rd" reallllly makes me think this has nothing to do with a carnival, and more to do with a "stage".
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Well maybe we will see a maze themed around a sideshow? When i think stage i think ventriloquist dummys\ clowns. I dont know, we shall see soon
 
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I'm not quite sure what space you're thinking of in Land of the Dragons that is large enough to house a maze, and queue.

I've always thought the bumper car building would be good for a starter maze, if the park wanted to expand their lineup rather than replace a house.

Keeping within the current lineup, maybe the backstage building for the Royal Palage Theater would be a good fit for a starter house, since it's fairly short. That way, the park would spend fewer resources on the starter house, the remaining larger locations would be available to host spookier and longer houses, and the maze would be over quickly for children who get scared. Plus, I'm definitely in agreement with the consensus that Catacombs needs to go.
 
I guess I wasn't clear.

In my opinion HOS needs a less intense maze for adults and children. Not everyone is comfortable in the super-scary houses, but that doesn't mean they don't want to experience the haunt.

Less scary mazes also serve the purpose of providing a way for people to find out how they feel in haunted houses.

Along those lines, I'd like them to bring back the daytime walkthroughs, as well. Seeing a maze without the threat of being startled or stalked is a great way to assess if you could deal with a full haunt.

Curse/Revenge of Pompeii served that purpose perfectly. Cut Throat Cove filled that niche, as well, but didn't have the daytime walk through.
 
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In addition to daytime walk-throughs of a theming-heavy house like Dead Line, I'd also really like to see one house open at noon with half-staffing like they used to do with Catacombs. Those two attractions gave two more reasons to be around during the day at HOS and, more importantly, two fantastic stepping stones for less confident people to experiment with haunted houses.

This method means the park doesn't need to have a "weaker" house to act as a springboard for new haunters too. Seems like a win all around to me.
 
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That's a fair point, it's nice to have something less intense like that. I agree that they should bring back a daytime walkthrough, at the very least. I know when I was younger and still kinda nervous with the mazes, that helped me get in the zone before going in to the staffed ones.
 
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This is just a theory, but I think that they got rid of the pumpkin rating system and such distinctions deliberately. Such ratings can often be a bit arbitrary, and from the perspective of the park, it says that only some of your mazes are REALLY scary. Like I said, just a thought. You could argue that CTC was the new starter maze. Perhaps HoS has bad houses so that the younger crowd can enjoy them, rather than making all the houses super scary.
 
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Just caught up on this whole thread and my impressions are:

1. Don't know what to make of the "Evil Encore" theme- not pumped about it yet but mostly for lack of imagination as to what it could be.

2. Very excited about the possible return of clowns. They work so well with Festa and I like when houses/terror-tories mesh well with the existing spaces they occupy rather than just overlaying them.

3. Of the remaining four terror-tories, I'd like to see Vampire Point go. I'd be sad to see Demon Street or Wendigo Woods go, and I feel pretty neutral about Ripper Row.

4. I have very high repeat-house-tolerance and last year was the year I finally got tired of Bitten. I'd say I hope it's gone but it has so little cost associated with it, honestly it wouldn't be the worst thing if it stayed and they put the money towards other things.

5. Overall I'd pretty much be fine if we didn't get any new houses this year. We got three last year that are still fresh and exciting for me, and I'd rather more energy and resources go towards the terror-tories and overall atmosphere of the park.

I wish there was a way to do an official poll on these forums but since there isn't, I'll just ask informally: assuming the park probably only has the resources to focus on one or two at most of the following, how would y'all like to see them prioritize new houses, new shows and new terror-tories/path scares? I say terror-tories, then shows, then houses (though overall I care about houses more than shows, I just think this year shows are in need of more love)- what's you all's take?
 
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