And everyone wonders why I prefer animals to some people...
Howl-O-Scream 2018
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
But in the end, isn't Halloween about becoming the true animal we all are?
Insert first-year philosophy major sounds
I mean this thread seems pretty made for the job.
Does anybody know how often the fire effect in Fools Court goes off? It doesn't seem like it happens too often, but it's quite breath-taking.
So I'm in town for a bit. Decided to just bite the bullet and upgrade my pass and hit up my favorite Sea World park. So far I've done quite a few haunts this year (including HHN and HOS Tampa) and I wanted to see all the changes BGW had in store. All of the old mainstays are gone now, replaced with a new crop of mazes. I won't really rank the mazes but I'll give my thoughts.
Dystopia - Reminds me of a less elaborately themed Deadline. Same feel, same location, same lack of actors, just a different name.
Circo Sinestro - Interesting concept, but they should seriously bring back the old Fear Fair props. I wasn't expecting too much but I was hoping the sets would be as elaborate as Cut Throat Cove lol
Demented Dimensions - Take Tampa's maze, cut it in half, and put it inside Darkastle. I get that BGW doesn't have Tampa's budget but geez this is ridiculous. I've seen BGW do a fantastic job with the money they're given. Unfortunately they fell short of the mark with this one.
Vault XX - See BGW? This is what you should do with your short budget. While its not as pretty as a Florida maze, it's well staffed, has some interesting set pieces, and definitely feels like a Florida maze. Just take out Demented Dimensions and move the props in here. Would be a far better use of the space.
Lumberhack - I dunno what happened but I remember this maze being a lot better when it opened. I think it was the lack of actors this time around.
Frostbite - I can't believe they replaced a truly unique dark ride for this. While some of the scares were decent enough, I'd much rather have a unique dark ride over an empty show building that's only open four months out of the year.
Cornered - I didn't actually go inside but while waiting for Dimensions, I heard exactly zero screams coming from this maze so I decided it really wasn't worth it. Damn shame because I loved this maze when it first opened.
Scare zones were all pretty much the same. I didn't really see too many actors on the pathways outside of the chainsaw area, Sideshow Square, and the viking one. I wasn't really gonna wait around for actors to show up so I just stopped and took a peak at each one. Sideshow and Fools Court were probably the best of the bunch. The others weren't as strong TBH
No shows this round. I'll be checking out shows at a later date.
So HOS Tampa vs HOS Williamsburg?
- Tampa obviously has the advantage of a bigger budget for their mazes thanks to their closest competitor being the biggest haunt in the world.
- Williamsburg puts a lot more talent into their shows. While I haven't seen the shows this year, I'd pretty much take Monster Stomp and Fiends here over that Bill & Ted wannabe in Florida
- Atmosphere-wise Williamsburg still wins by default. Tampa may have the bigger budget but unless you consider loud rave music to be atmosphere, you're not gonna find much of it outside of the scare zones in Florida. I have noticed there's less decor around the park this year than in years past though.
- That being said, the scare zones and mazes are staffed better down there than they are up here.
- Williamsburg also gets props for including HOS with park admission. Paying extra for HOS in Tampa is a pain in the ass
And final thoughts.
- Williamsburg is upping the ante in terms of maze set pieces. I've noticed less hanging things and more actual sets. I'm also glad to see the park is putting money into animatronics. That being said, bring back the giant troll please.
- VA did a slightly better job with their alternating pathways in their mazes than Tampa did with Slaughterhouse. However, they need to actually staff those alternate pathways. Maybe do something like what Root of All Evil did with the different style scares in each path. Would really help spice things up a bit.
- Also the rooms for the set pieces are too damn big for their own good. One of the biggest plusses to mazes like Catacombs and Bitten were that the rooms were tight and claustrophobic. It helps amp up the atmosphere, helps hide the fact that the maze is in a show building of sorts, gives you something to look at, and the mazes feel decked out better thanks to the smaller rooms. When you have a prop in the middle of a large room, it sorta loses that claustrophobic effect.
- I'd love for them to add a maze to the Royal Palace again. That was a great spot for a haunt. Move one of the Darkastle mazes there. Unless corporate is willing to give the park a bigger budget for mazes, I feel the Darkastle building is too big to house a haunt. Even with two mazes in there, there's still a vast amount of empty warehouse they aren't taking advantage of.
- While I love the Florida haunts to death, I'll always have a soft spot for VA's Howl O Scream.
Dystopia - Reminds me of a less elaborately themed Deadline. Same feel, same location, same lack of actors, just a different name.
Circo Sinestro - Interesting concept, but they should seriously bring back the old Fear Fair props. I wasn't expecting too much but I was hoping the sets would be as elaborate as Cut Throat Cove lol
Demented Dimensions - Take Tampa's maze, cut it in half, and put it inside Darkastle. I get that BGW doesn't have Tampa's budget but geez this is ridiculous. I've seen BGW do a fantastic job with the money they're given. Unfortunately they fell short of the mark with this one.
Vault XX - See BGW? This is what you should do with your short budget. While its not as pretty as a Florida maze, it's well staffed, has some interesting set pieces, and definitely feels like a Florida maze. Just take out Demented Dimensions and move the props in here. Would be a far better use of the space.
Lumberhack - I dunno what happened but I remember this maze being a lot better when it opened. I think it was the lack of actors this time around.
Frostbite - I can't believe they replaced a truly unique dark ride for this. While some of the scares were decent enough, I'd much rather have a unique dark ride over an empty show building that's only open four months out of the year.
Cornered - I didn't actually go inside but while waiting for Dimensions, I heard exactly zero screams coming from this maze so I decided it really wasn't worth it. Damn shame because I loved this maze when it first opened.
Scare zones were all pretty much the same. I didn't really see too many actors on the pathways outside of the chainsaw area, Sideshow Square, and the viking one. I wasn't really gonna wait around for actors to show up so I just stopped and took a peak at each one. Sideshow and Fools Court were probably the best of the bunch. The others weren't as strong TBH
No shows this round. I'll be checking out shows at a later date.
So HOS Tampa vs HOS Williamsburg?
- Tampa obviously has the advantage of a bigger budget for their mazes thanks to their closest competitor being the biggest haunt in the world.
- Williamsburg puts a lot more talent into their shows. While I haven't seen the shows this year, I'd pretty much take Monster Stomp and Fiends here over that Bill & Ted wannabe in Florida
- Atmosphere-wise Williamsburg still wins by default. Tampa may have the bigger budget but unless you consider loud rave music to be atmosphere, you're not gonna find much of it outside of the scare zones in Florida. I have noticed there's less decor around the park this year than in years past though.
- That being said, the scare zones and mazes are staffed better down there than they are up here.
- Williamsburg also gets props for including HOS with park admission. Paying extra for HOS in Tampa is a pain in the ass
And final thoughts.
- Williamsburg is upping the ante in terms of maze set pieces. I've noticed less hanging things and more actual sets. I'm also glad to see the park is putting money into animatronics. That being said, bring back the giant troll please.
- VA did a slightly better job with their alternating pathways in their mazes than Tampa did with Slaughterhouse. However, they need to actually staff those alternate pathways. Maybe do something like what Root of All Evil did with the different style scares in each path. Would really help spice things up a bit.
- Also the rooms for the set pieces are too damn big for their own good. One of the biggest plusses to mazes like Catacombs and Bitten were that the rooms were tight and claustrophobic. It helps amp up the atmosphere, helps hide the fact that the maze is in a show building of sorts, gives you something to look at, and the mazes feel decked out better thanks to the smaller rooms. When you have a prop in the middle of a large room, it sorta loses that claustrophobic effect.
- I'd love for them to add a maze to the Royal Palace again. That was a great spot for a haunt. Move one of the Darkastle mazes there. Unless corporate is willing to give the park a bigger budget for mazes, I feel the Darkastle building is too big to house a haunt. Even with two mazes in there, there's still a vast amount of empty warehouse they aren't taking advantage of.
- While I love the Florida haunts to death, I'll always have a soft spot for VA's Howl O Scream.
but.. BGW got tampas demented demsnsions and flipped the scenes around some, so it should be the same
So I was thinking about this and thought it would be a interesting idea. What if Busch took the DarKastle building and turned it into one big mega maze. Use the entire space for one house. Not really going into too much details but it could start off in a haunted farm house then when you finally get through you are suddenly into the backyard faced with a huge cornfield maze which leads to a haunted barn maze. Im not talking 3 seperate mazes back to back but one huge continious maze that woukd keep your heard racing for 20 minutes or more. There could be multipul paths much like they use in frostbite but have them lead to completely seperate areas, the attic, the basemant and so on. It could make you need to go through the house many times to see it all. This could be a game changer for theme park haunts and put BGW on the map and if they did it right and could even give it that edge over even HHN strictly for the length of time to get through it. Of course they woukd have to do better than the black curtain walls they use now but I think something like that cound be amazing.
Woods of Terror in Greensboro, NC does this. Several houses and themes threaded through the woods of a farm. It takes an hour (a good quality hour) to go through the complete course. There is a "midway" with shops, a band, dancing, eats, and roaming ghouls while you wait to enter. They give you slips of paper with a name on it. Freddie, Chucky, etc. You get in the line to enter the maze when they call your group name. The line is never long to enter, the line through the maze is managed and not too crowded. Not hours wasted waiting in several lines. One wait. One line. We got tickets at 7pm and were out of the maze at 9:30pm. Very well handled.
That sounds... exhausting. I can only take so many spooks per hour. Also you'd probably get pretty numb to it.
its got the same concept as Tampa's maze and some of the same scares, but the maze is a serious downgrade from the original. About half the rooms are gone. With the amount of space the park could work with, there's still a lot of dead room compared to the original.
That's the nature of all haunt events, not just BGW. It's BGW's job to inform new actors that yes they will get physically and sexually assaulted by rowdy guests so the actors know what they're getting themselves into. HHN usually has somebody get arrested on a nightly basis because some rowdy guest decided he'd be funny and assault one of the actors.
Uh uh. Nope. There is zero acceptable reasons for anyone to get assaulted physically or sexually.
This isn't acceptable losses. This isn't just part of the job.
This is unacceptable, and I refuse to let you normalize this sort of behavior.
My heart goes out to the actors who have had this happen to them.
Its not acceptable but it still happens. Parks do everything they can to keep it from happening. That's literally why you're not allowed to touch the actors and vice versa, the actors can't touch you. That's why mazes are staffed with employees with radios and flashlights to watch for this kind of stuff. That's why parks usually hire extra security during these events. People who assault the actors are typically arrested and banned from the park. The actor is allowed to press charges.
But it still happens.
What else does the park need to do to minimize people from getting hurt?
But it still happens.
What else does the park need to do to minimize people from getting hurt?
They need to stop pushing alcohol, in my opinion.
It is one thing to have a themed bar and serve drinks. It is quite another to make drunkeness the core of your event.
I am not saying this as some uptight teetotaler; I enjoy a nice G&T as much as the next girl. I am saying that I have seen the booze replace the haunt as the central theme of the event over the past several years. It wouldn't really matter, if there were not a demonstrated pattern of drunken jerks assaulting park staff. But there is, so it does. In my opnion.
It is one thing to have a themed bar and serve drinks. It is quite another to make drunkeness the core of your event.
I am not saying this as some uptight teetotaler; I enjoy a nice G&T as much as the next girl. I am saying that I have seen the booze replace the haunt as the central theme of the event over the past several years. It wouldn't really matter, if there were not a demonstrated pattern of drunken jerks assaulting park staff. But there is, so it does. In my opnion.
Last edited:
I agree with Nicole, it seems the main focus is pushing drinks....cheap drinks at that and im not talking about cost. They put more effort into "bars" than they do houses. Ive had many actors bump into me completely on accident, and ive also seen guests push them back usually just to be jerks. This year has been the worst I have ever seen as far as the number of security guards and sherrifs and police. It really distracts from the maze when every other turn is a team member and a cop or security guard. The other night at the Vault exit and Lumberhack entrance it felt like a DUI checkpoint, it was obvious they were looking for someone but to have flashlights pointed at you as you are walking out sucks. I wish themeparks would get together and make it known that if you do wrong you will be banned, and enforce that ban. Then work with other parks so if you are banned from one your banned from all......kinda like the TSA for themeparks.