Howl-O-Scream 2018

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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the playing of the DarKastle soundtrack in Germany.

Just watched a YT video of the event and the music in the background in Rhinefeld is the DarKastle score at the "YOU WILL NEVER ESCAAAAAPE"
 
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Zachary said:
I'm sorry, but I think this is the wrong attitude.

Kings Dominion is designing houses that play in the same legue as Horror Nights as far as scenic goes (Blood on the Bayou and Trick or Treat). Busch Gardens Tampa is/was designing houses that feature new, clever, innovative scares and top-notch environmentals—often hitting and sometimes surpassing Horror Nights levels of scares and immersion.

There was a time when BGW's event wasn't trash. There was a time when it could actually hold its own against events that try to grab at the coattails of Horror Nights.

Hell, remember Dead Line? I remember Dead Line. It featured some of the best scenic Virginia had ever seen up to that point. At the time people kept pointing to it as "Horror Nights-like." Compare Dead Line's house design to anything open last night. It's laughable. Busch Gardens Williamsburg's house design has gone to complete shit since then.

What's worse is that somewhere along the line the community just started accepting a subpar event from Williamsburg. We decided that BGW shouldn't even be expected to keep up with the (much cheaper) haunt event down the road in Doswell. We need to correct that thinking. Why should one of the former crown jewels of the Busch Entertainment Corporation ever be worse at anything than the mid-to-low-tier Cedar Fair park in the middle-of-nowhere Virginia?

The house we stole from Tampa looked great. It was an asinine house thematically and I understand that it had a lot of its effects gutted in the move, but overall, Distorted Dimensions is still one of the most interesting houses Williamsburg has seen in a long, long time in my opinion.

The other three new houses (I am counting new Frostbite) were a joke. Downright embarrassing. I've seen better scenic at Six Flags America's Fright Fest than I saw in Vault. I've never actually experienced a house more poorly designed than new Frostbite.

Dystopia was the only non-stolen new house last night that was even the slightest bit presentable in my opinion. It has a few well-conceived rooms that tell fractions of its story, but it looks as if the park ran out of money when it came time to build the other 2/3rds of the maze.

Anyway, overall, last night was bad and Busch Gardens Williamsburg should feel bad. I'm not saying anything about the rest of the park because it's so far from being ready it's not even worth commenting on. The indoor houses were supposed to be done though and... God I hope they aren't.

I may post more detailed thoughts about the houses that were open later on, but for now...

/rant
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What happened at BGW last night was nothing short of a complete f-up. The park shouldn't have opened, if anything BGW could have said, you know we are going to scrap the weekend and add on another weekend at the end a few days after Halloween. Park ops are run by imbeciles, honestly there is no other way to put it.

I personally went through several storms with AB-BEC. And in each case the park staff and OneSource got the park ready and opened to full operation, maybe a few employees short or a ride or two still being worked on, but normalized operations. In honestly, you never knew something just happened walking through the gates.
 
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bill s said:
I thought the sets were excellent in appearance. But have the actors even been trained yet? Are they just all supposed to stare at you when you go by, or just stand there? I don't see why opening a bit premature would cause this. Maybe they substituted decaf.

I enjoyed the night still a lot, after a whole weekend off I needed to ride again. Hopefully the last humid sweatbath night of the year though..
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It is my understanding that they lost most if not all of their rehearsal time to the weather this last week.
 
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After closing for 2 scheduled days, they had to open as as soon as weather excuse wore off even if it ruined their reputation forever, which I doubt it affected much. I'm glad they did, still.
 
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I got a hotel booked for Williamsburg Oct. 4 - 7. I'm looking at other haunts to do besides HOS. I've considered KD Haunt. Any other suggestions?
 
KD's Haunt is a must-do. There's a farm haunt near KD and one in VA Beach. I've heard mixed things about both. Truthfully, neither are likely worth your time.

Unfortunately Colonial Williamsburg's Haunting on DoG Street doesn't start till the following weekend or I would have recommended that one. ?
 
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Zachary said:
KD's Haunt is a must-do. There's a farm haunt near KD and one in VA Beach. I've heard mixed things about both. Truthfully, neither are likely worth your time.

Unfortunately Colonial Williamsburg's Haunting on DoG Street doesn't start till the following weekend or I would have recommended that one. ?
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If you have a day to kill:
Field of Screams in Mountville Pennsylvania. Its a haul (about 4 hours), but honestly one of the best out there. https://www.fieldofscreams.com/

Not part of an amusement park, it's a stand alone thing; but even HHN can't stand up to this IMO.
 
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There’s a couple of farm haunts in the triangle area of NC. If you somehow have a reason to be down there during this time of the season, I really recommend Panic Point. https://www.raleighhauntedhouse.com/

The other one is more linear and the lesser of the two. Fear farm is slightly out of the way, and the houses weren’t as strong as those at Panic Point, but they’re still strong, enjoyable experiences. https://claytonfearfarm.com/

More crowded days are usually better because when they bring in more staff to work, they aren’t needed in the mazes so they’re directed to other things like free roaming and the kick ass corn maze at Panic Point. Overall, if you come anywhere near the area, I really recommend Panic Point, but if you’re not directly going to Clayton, or that general area, it isn’t going to be worth your time.
 
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I've done some of the local haunts near KD, except for a one now defunct they could be pretty decent and different or at least weird and remote, though not entirely recommended. If you don't go when lines are bad, you could still probably get to an amusement park the same night if your feet can handle it. One bad thing is often you have to pay before finding out how much waiting is actually involved on the other end of your hayride part.
 
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MadridBot said:
There’s a couple of farm haunts in the triangle area of NC. If you somehow have a reason to be down there during this time of the season, I really recommend Panic Point. https://www.raleighhauntedhouse.com/

The other one is more linear and the lesser of the two. Fear farm is slightly out of the way, and the houses weren’t as strong as those at Panic Point, but they’re still strong, enjoyable experiences. https://claytonfearfarm.com/

More crowded days are usually better because when they bring in more staff to work, they aren’t needed in the mazes so they’re directed to other things like free roaming and the kick ass corn maze at Panic Point. Overall, if you come anywhere near the area, I really recommend Panic Point, but if you’re not directly going to Clayton, or that general area, it isn’t going to be worth your time.
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I actually live in Garner. I'm familiar with those 2 haunts though I've never done Panic Point. I'm planning to do Spooky Woods and Dark side Manor later in October.
 
Zachary said:
KD's Haunt is a must-do. There's a farm haunt near KD and one in VA Beach. I've heard mixed things about both. Truthfully, neither are likely worth your time.

Unfortunately Colonial Williamsburg's Haunting on DoG Street doesn't start till the following weekend or I would have recommended that one. ?
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I've never done KD's Haunt and they have pretty good ticket discount online. What is the Haunt on DoG street like?
 
BGWScream said:
What is the Haunt on DoG street like?
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Truthfully, at this point, I don't even know. They had a simple walkthrough haunted house the year I went, but the current website for the event doesn't seem to list it (or really anything else of much use).

The year I went (two years ago I think?) it was a nice thing to do for a night in October (especially as someone who enjoys Colonial Williamsburg by day). If they've cut back the already slim programming since my visit though, it may not be worth anyone's time anymore.

Anyway, Kings Dominion puts on an incredible event. Just avoid Saturdays like the plague.
 
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