Howl-O-Scream 2018

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Nicole said:
My observations at HOS Williamsburg, HOS Tampa, HHH at Uni, and Haunt at KD lead me to believe that none of them have really broken the code on path scares. I am increasingly coming around to the view that the costs, terrain, and logistics make effective scares zones out in the open untenable in most locations.
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I think you and I and many folks here would agree that path scares and scare zones are ineffective because they have failed to scare us, personally, but every trip to HOS and HH, I see PLENTY of people who do. Yes, many of them are teenagers, but they seem to make up a decently large percentage of HOS/HH visitors, and I'm sure as far as the parks are concerned, and the scare actors are concerned, they're doing a GREAT job of scaring people. I think they could do much better, but I'm sure they have little to no interest in stepping up their game because what they're doing now works for your average event atendee.
 
No. I was NOT saying that they are ineffective, because they don't scare me.

The individual actors do a good job. As I said, however, I have never been to a park haunt where the scare zones worked as a whole.

1. With the available staff, it seems to be almost impossible to cover large areas, and interact with the number of people walking through. Apparently, the parks are unable to hire enough people to fill both the houses and all of the paths. I don't know if that is driven by a lack of money, available actors, or both.

2. In many places the terrain and layout do not actually lend themselves to scare zones. For example, the paths in parks are not designed for haunts, and many times they are just not structured with places to hide or enough space to for the actors and the guests.

3. I have seen several different solutions, and none of them have proved to be particularly effective, in my experience.
 
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I will say that Six Flags America's Fright Fest is the one exception, in my opinion.

Because the houses, themselves, are not included in admission, I think it is critical for them to have scare zones at their event. For many of their guests, the only actors they will encounter will be on the paths.
 
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Zachary creating the thread for BP made me remember something I noticed back in June

I am fairly sure I remember the BGW website thumbnail for Beaten Path, and if it is exactly like I remember it, isn't the thumbnail for Fools' Court the same thumbnail though the shadowy figure is replaced with a jester?

(I originally was going to post this to the BP thread but I figured since the main focus here is Fools' it is more appropriate here)

I also could be thinking of a totally different house or zone, but I know I have seen a thumbnail very similar to this one from BGW before
 

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lce729 said:
Zachary creating the thread for BP made me remember something I noticed back in June

I am fairly sure I remember the BGW website thumbnail for Beaten Path, and if it is exactly like I remember it, isn't the thumbnail for Fools' Court the same thumbnail though the shadowy figure is replaced with a jester?

(I originally was going to post this to the BP thread but I figured since the main focus here is Fools' it is more appropriate here)

I also could be thinking of a totally different house or zone, but I know I have seen a thumbnail very similar to this one from BGW before
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Its the same image that was used for Ripper Row, they just replaced jack with a jester and changed the color
 
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Stemming off of the thread spam that has occurred today, are you guys waiting to create threads for the new houses until all are announced? Or could DD and Vault go ahead and add to the madness?

You're welcome admins, I know you love doing more work.
 
Optimally threads for new attractions will show up the night the event begins. If we don't have them up that night, then they will be created by moving any relevant posts from the main Howl-O-Scream 2018 thread (read: posts specifically discussing people's experience or observations from that one relevant house) to a new thread in the Seasonal Attractions board.
 
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Maybe he will be a new sort of executioner? One that doesn't support the death penalty and chooses instead to reform his victims and reintroduce them into society.

Sounds pretty scary to me.
 
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mtorange said:
Severed head ban? Explain.
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Buschgot into some hot water (maybe a lawsuit not too sure) a couple years back with their severed heads and body parts they had as decorations at the park, and some people climbing Busch as insensitive to the world climate at the time (Isis beheadings and all that jazz) and being in general insensitive so Busch took all their crap down.

Unless I read a MAJOR April Fool's article on this situation
 
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No lawsuit and no actual outrage honestly.

Some local news outlet found a couple of elderly folks in a coffee shop who thought it was insensitive of BGW to have severed heads at a Halloween event because ~ gasp ~ beheadings exist.

In one of the most embarrassing displays of "Whelp, a couple people are unhappy—time to throw away the baby with the bathwater!" Carl Lum, the Park President at the time, announced that they'd be removing each and every severed head from every corner of Howl-O-Scream—and they did.

It was absurd.

BGWFans had a front page story about it at the time: "BGW Loses Its Noggin; Cuts Severed Heads from Howl-O-Scream"
 
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It wasn't that people got mad at BUSCH, it was that the newspaper put a giant picture of a severed head right on the front page. THAT'S what people were upset about. The park definitely overreacted to any potential upset by removing the heads, but the original outcry was towards the Gazette.
 
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Glad to know Kings Dominion hasn’t been the only park to deal with this stupidity from guests. I remember this happening with Miner’s Revenge and later Maze of Madness (Urgent Scare) at the park. I wish people would stop getting offended and just enjoy the event. Especially if it’s just a small number of people. Also, I’m sure KD still has a ton of severed heads throughout some of its mazes... maybe they should do an article on us! Lol just kidding.

Seriously though, people need to leave their political correctness outside of holiday events. What’s next? Circo Sinistro and/or Sideshow Square is gone because freaks make fun of people with disabilities? Ripper Row is gone because it is insensitive to the victims of the real-life murders? ChristmasTown is renamed to HolidayTown because the word Christmas isn’t an all-inclusive term and is offensive to those who don’t celebrate it?

*gets off of soapbox*
 
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Frame this in context to the mainstream news running daily stories about the beheading going on in the Middle East at the time. Local new jumped on the bandwagon to sensationalize it. I could see where military families and victims COULD be sensitive to this, but removing all decoration and editing MSoRR was an over-reaction in my opinion. I’m more offend by the blaring music. I’m guessing most wouldn’t have even correlated the decorations with the overseas problems had it not been for local news trash.

EDIT: Oops, Nicole got a post in before me. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
 
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