Howl-O-Scream 2019
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
well, they did invest in a werewolf costume for the hunted area of vault, and they definitely got a good scream out of me atleast once. i say we bring in more furry utilities at the park. imagine how scary it would be to have to hear people yell "YIFF" all night within an enclosed space!
@sereniv Only if the costume has a dog squeaker inside of it. And the suit is ice blue and covered in glitter, for the ice wolves. (I have a lot of respect for fur suiters, sewing fur is a massive pain. and making something look more animal like is even more difficult because padding and shapes.)
@Phant0m But what does that have to do with HoS?
@Phant0m But what does that have to do with HoS?
I didn't know BGW has the budget to hire Beto O'Rourke for HOS...
evil stare
Just kidding haha... How come? I'm just curious!
I really hope they retheme that area, it was so bad last season. Especially when you consider how good it was it 2016 and 17...
I really hope they pay extra attention to the Rhine River bridge this year. In 2013 and 2014 its was heavily themed to the pirate scare zone and house and thought the pirates weren't particularly scary, the theming was great and the music they used along with the narration (Nox Arcana I think), the fog and the decor set the perfect tone. For 2015, they themed it to Unearthed which was decent, however 2016 and 17 were dolls and puppets, not so good.
I'm still mad that they had a doll based mascot and did nothing with it.
I've been waiting for a doll based house for years. And they robbed me of this. Before anyone asks, yes I did Doll Factory at KD but it was on it's last leg and wasn't performing. However, I've been specifically waiting for BGW to do a doll house.
I've been waiting for a doll based house for years. And they robbed me of this. Before anyone asks, yes I did Doll Factory at KD but it was on it's last leg and wasn't performing. However, I've been specifically waiting for BGW to do a doll house.
... Was it though...?
Jack was back... at Das Festhaus... for 90 seconds each night. The only other non-upcharge way to see the event's icon was to cross your fingers in hopes that he happened to be in Vault that night (I saw him once in Vault).
Other than Jack (theoretically) being back, and Vault reusing some props from the warehouse in a pretty sloppily-tossed-together house, how did BGW convey the "20 Years of Fears" theme...?
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Signs and banners saying what the theme of the year is =/= a good theme. That's just advertising.
Okay but what about the rest of the park? Just because they have a small thing that most people won't really look at, doesn't mean the theme is good.
The idea of celebrating 20 years of fear is a good one. But, they didn't actually do anything with it. They could have brought back old scarezones, and an old show. They had starfright orchestra, and they oddly took it away. That was the perfect time for the show to perform.
Themes need to be visible and concrete, and throughout the entire park. Not just the front and inside an escape room and the one year house
The idea of celebrating 20 years of fear is a good one. But, they didn't actually do anything with it. They could have brought back old scarezones, and an old show. They had starfright orchestra, and they oddly took it away. That was the perfect time for the show to perform.
Themes need to be visible and concrete, and throughout the entire park. Not just the front and inside an escape room and the one year house
Again - I know I'm gonna get murdered for this but Scott Gasparich did theming so much better than anyone since him. Not saying he was the best but I don't think it has been as good since. I did appreciate Robin Cowie's ambition for Unearthed, though it sounds like BGT got a much better treatment there.
I think BGW is just missing the mark every year, some way more than others. Maybe its a budget thing or maybe they need someone who truly understands what HOS fans want. I can't imagine this forum goes unnoticed.
I think BGW is just missing the mark every year, some way more than others. Maybe its a budget thing or maybe they need someone who truly understands what HOS fans want. I can't imagine this forum goes unnoticed.
I think HOS was intricately-conceived under Scott, but I am not sure that I think it was very scary.
For me, at least (and you can see this in my posts at the time), the park felt more like a party and less like a haunt. Everything was too loud and well-lit for my tastes. Additionally, I never found the terror-tories to be particularly terrifying. They were (at their best) interesting, immersive experiences, but walking thought a street show isn't really frightening. I prefer a dark and creepy ambiance.
For me, there was too much emphasis placed on bars and shows, and not enough on the houses and holistic haunt experience.
For me, at least (and you can see this in my posts at the time), the park felt more like a party and less like a haunt. Everything was too loud and well-lit for my tastes. Additionally, I never found the terror-tories to be particularly terrifying. They were (at their best) interesting, immersive experiences, but walking thought a street show isn't really frightening. I prefer a dark and creepy ambiance.
For me, there was too much emphasis placed on bars and shows, and not enough on the houses and holistic haunt experience.
I agree with you for the most part but I think there is a balance there that I wish BGW would find. I love the immersive quality (something that has been completely absent since SG left) and I miss the scares. I just feel like whoever has been in running the show the last few years is void of creativity.
I felt like it became too "sexy" under Scott. (I'm looking at you fiends) In general it felt to me like the event lost focus and was trying to be all things to all people.
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I think Fiends is what it is. I have yet to see a truly scary show at a theme park, and I think it has to have some sort of gimmick. For Fiends it's sexual innuendos, half naked nurses and pop culture references. Oh and ripping off Young Frankenstein, Rocky Horror and probably several others. But it's supposed to be a stupid show.
I agree. I wasn’t able to make it out to HOS in 2018, but I went in 2017 and it was mediocre at best. I don’t judge an event based on scare count because I don’t get “scared” too easily, but I pay attention more to the immersive-ness of the sets and the acting quality of the monsters. Both did not even compare to KD’s Haunt. I might be a little biased to KD as I call myself a “KD Special Event Expert,” but even when I remove that bias and look at it from unbiased point of view, KD still “wins” in my book. BGW needs to train its monsters a lot better before they can do anything else. Next would be investing more money into the sets. The park seems to make a ton of money throughout the year, and it seems to be a complete mystery as to how much goes to Haunt.
I hope that BGW will try to invest more money into their holiday events this season, especially because KD completely blew ChristmasTown out of the water last year with WinterFest (only debuting a lackluster train attraction against an entire new event with a ton of things BGW doesn’t have? Who ever thought that would work?). It might seem odd for me to want to see BGW succeed, but I don’t see it that way. If BGW improves their events substantially, it will inspire KD to do even better and both events end up being more successful! I anticipate that BGW will try to take a lot of WinterFest elements and put them into CT.
Same here. It’s why I usually skip the shows during KD’s Haunt. I will give BGW a win when it comes to their Halloween shows. I’ll even give them a win with their Christmas shows, but KD’s WinterFest had a few shows that competed with BGW’s lineup pretty well (A Charlie Brown Christmas Spectacular and Tinker’s Toy Factory immediately come to mind!.
Anyway, I don’t really think theme-park Halloween shows necessarily NEED to be scary. If a theme park does it right, most of the scariness should be in the scare zones and mazes. I’ll be okay if the shows tend to just be more family-oriented in a way, just as long as that family feel doesn’t seep into my Louisiana swamps or my prison yards (curse you, KD No-Boo Necklaces!).
