This is my exact concern with this plan. Will they try to stop you? Maybe not—but if they're feeling power-trip-y I think they have justification to not allow it.
Howl-O-Scream Williamsburg 2021
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
This is my exact concern with this plan. Will they try to stop you? Maybe not—but if they're feeling power-trip-y I think they have justification to not allow it.
Decided to head out to the park last night so I could get another photo set in before the bag policy was enacted. Some faves:
Along with the new bag policy and no reentry policy, The park now limits bottle water to one per a guest on entrance and has also banned mettle dring bottles.
A few pictures I took from last night to go along with the ones that @zachclarke2 took. A different color scheme on Pompeii (it changes every few seconds) and a couple of the red light color scheme in England/Ripper Row.
Sorry to double post:
I went to HOS last Saturday and was amazed by how much effort was put into the atmosphere, aesthetics, etc. The scare actors did an amazing job- there were some Oscar nominations that night. There was just one problem: I wasn’t scared. I know that when we go to this event for years we get more and more used to it, but I thought I would still jump. Can anyone relate? Was it scarier this weekend?
Also, my beloved, mutated freaks in Ireland weren’t there. Can anyone tell me that there’s hope they’ll be moved in come October?
I went to HOS last Saturday and was amazed by how much effort was put into the atmosphere, aesthetics, etc. The scare actors did an amazing job- there were some Oscar nominations that night. There was just one problem: I wasn’t scared. I know that when we go to this event for years we get more and more used to it, but I thought I would still jump. Can anyone relate? Was it scarier this weekend?
Also, my beloved, mutated freaks in Ireland weren’t there. Can anyone tell me that there’s hope they’ll be moved in come October?
T
The old Killarney decorations are gone in favor for Jack and pumpkins.
I can't be the only BGW fan that is getting tired of hearing Halloween trap music in the queue lines...
Visited tonight, just some quick thoughts:
Terror Tories -
Meat Market: Best one by far and away. Great props, actors, and atmosphere
Hexed Hollow: Great actors, awful prop set up.
Garden of the Souls: Good props, actors are okay but this zone is more about ambiance and not scares
Ripper Row: This one needs to go. Been a good run but the actors aren't the best and the props are okay at best
Houses -
Circo Sinistro: Still solid, but this should be the final year. Still got good actors but the house itself is in bad condition
Witch of the Woods: A couple cool scares, liked the set up, but I prefer Lumberhack
Killarney Diner: Fantastic set up. The attention to detail in this maze is just insane. Makes you forget you're in the BFE building completely. Good scares but the house ambiance is the star here.
Nevermore: biggest dissapointment honestly. Not any good scares and the layout is just confusing.
Didn't do Dystopia tonight unfortunately, but looking forward to it next visit
Terror Tories -
Meat Market: Best one by far and away. Great props, actors, and atmosphere
Hexed Hollow: Great actors, awful prop set up.
Garden of the Souls: Good props, actors are okay but this zone is more about ambiance and not scares
Ripper Row: This one needs to go. Been a good run but the actors aren't the best and the props are okay at best
Houses -
Circo Sinistro: Still solid, but this should be the final year. Still got good actors but the house itself is in bad condition
Witch of the Woods: A couple cool scares, liked the set up, but I prefer Lumberhack
Killarney Diner: Fantastic set up. The attention to detail in this maze is just insane. Makes you forget you're in the BFE building completely. Good scares but the house ambiance is the star here.
Nevermore: biggest dissapointment honestly. Not any good scares and the layout is just confusing.
Didn't do Dystopia tonight unfortunately, but looking forward to it next visit
I went last week on Sunday.
Went through Killarney first, early. Significant wait but queues are set up so it could be much longer. Sets fantastic but they sent through 30-40 people at a time. No scares.
After some great twilight rides on Griffon and InvadR, backtracked to skyride as just wanted to ride it, then backtracked to Alpengeist for couple.
Next went to Nevermore but long line, so went to Witch. No line, but of course a hike. Already feeling the sweatbath humidity. Of course since this is outside this may have been about the earliest you would want to do it.
Sets were better than expected, but even though sent through with a small group, wasn't first and I must not look like a person easily scared because the monsters pretty much ignored me.
Next Circo. Even smaller group, family of 3 or 4 and me, but again got almost nothing, although I still liked it better than Witch for some reason. I've always liked going through mazes slowly, but everyone in front of me was impossible to out-slow. People used to mostly go too fast, and some of the more scared people would practically run through, what happened to that?
Really like the sets on Dystopia, but similar issues. And what's with the room of people just sitting there? And one of the monsters called me crazy for wanting to get a better look at one of the set pieces.
Took 2 legs of the skyride to get back to Nevermore. Nice!
By this time Nevermore had no line and the 2 in front of me let me pass. I went slow but still quickly left them behind to get their own scares. At 3 different places they used an obvious monster to distract my attention and another for the scare! Excellent. But how much of the difference was the conditions and how much was the house itself I'm not sure.
I think I had one good interaction in a scarezone, but mostly stuff like a guy standing in a clearing revving his chainsaw.
Went through Killarney first, early. Significant wait but queues are set up so it could be much longer. Sets fantastic but they sent through 30-40 people at a time. No scares.
After some great twilight rides on Griffon and InvadR, backtracked to skyride as just wanted to ride it, then backtracked to Alpengeist for couple.
Next went to Nevermore but long line, so went to Witch. No line, but of course a hike. Already feeling the sweatbath humidity. Of course since this is outside this may have been about the earliest you would want to do it.
Sets were better than expected, but even though sent through with a small group, wasn't first and I must not look like a person easily scared because the monsters pretty much ignored me.
Next Circo. Even smaller group, family of 3 or 4 and me, but again got almost nothing, although I still liked it better than Witch for some reason. I've always liked going through mazes slowly, but everyone in front of me was impossible to out-slow. People used to mostly go too fast, and some of the more scared people would practically run through, what happened to that?
Really like the sets on Dystopia, but similar issues. And what's with the room of people just sitting there? And one of the monsters called me crazy for wanting to get a better look at one of the set pieces.
Took 2 legs of the skyride to get back to Nevermore. Nice!
By this time Nevermore had no line and the 2 in front of me let me pass. I went slow but still quickly left them behind to get their own scares. At 3 different places they used an obvious monster to distract my attention and another for the scare! Excellent. But how much of the difference was the conditions and how much was the house itself I'm not sure.
I think I had one good interaction in a scarezone, but mostly stuff like a guy standing in a clearing revving his chainsaw.
Went last night and got to check out all of the houses. Some mixed quality throughout, but we had fun. The best scare zone by far was Meat Market. The environment was very very cool and it was the only area that felt genuinely spooky.
Nevermore - Jumped in line for this one as soon as it turned 6pm. Was mostly excited for this because I love Poe and haven't been inside the DK building since the ride closed. Had high expectations for this one, but I didn't think it was very good. They were sending people in almost constantly, so it was impossible to get any space between groups to actually get effective scares. The lady behind me was so close that she kept stepping on my heels. The sets and costumes were good, but it was a bit incoherent and empty in places, and it wasn't remotely dark enough in the building to provide any good scary ambience. I'd give this one a 4/10 or so.
Dystopia - I liked the (loose) story of this one and the costumes and sets were REALLY cool (especially the scene with the TV screens), but this had a similar issue as Nevermore as they never stopped anyone at the house entrance so it was a constant stream of people walking through the house. I don't remember getting many good scares in this one, but it was a good walkthrough because of the environment and costumes. I won't spoil it, but the one good scare we got was a very good surprise. This one was a 7/10 for me.
Killarney Diner - This was far and away my favorite house. The entrance props were very cool and the scare actors in line definitely set the mood. The props, scenes, and costumes were INCREDIBLE. We successfully got some space between us and the group in front of us, and that definitely helped with the experience because I think we got somewhere between 8-12 very solid scares in this one. The main scene in the diner was absolutely amazing, to the point that I wanted to stay and take a really close look at all of the details. This was also one of the rooms that was PACKED with scare actors and the anxiety was very high wondering who was going to attempt a scare. There were a few set pieces in this house that made the other houses look really low quality in comparison. My only complaint is that the final hallway out of the house was really long and the theming drops out completely. I echo what others have said that any touch of theming or actors in this hallway would've helped. I'd give this one a 9.5/10. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
Witch of the Woods - Boy howdy, after a full day at the park, this walk was grueling on my poor feet. I really liked how far away it was from everything else in the park. Definitely added to the overall atmosphere. Not much stood out from this one, unfortunately. There were a few good scares along the way and the "sacrifice" scene was very well put together, but I felt like it ended with a whimper. Others have mentioned it, but the entire maze is meant to build anticipation and dread (which it does relatively effectively), but the final few scenes don't really pack a punch that met the build-up. I never got to do Lumberhack so I can't really compare, but I will say that I probably wouldn't take the walk back down there to do this one again. 6/10.
Circo Sinistro - Almost didn't squeeze this one in before park close because the reviews hadn't been good but WHOA I'm glad we did it. This was my second favorite house behind Killarney. The sets and props were definitely dated, but this one was a non-stop barrage of extremely effective scares with good anticipation in between. Moving from tent to tent was exciting, because each was set up in unique ways that set up genuinely good scares. There were two rooms in particular that genuinely made my head spin (in a good way) and both ended in some of the best scares we got all night. I also give full credit for some of the set ups. There was one common thread through many of the corridors that served as an insanely effective set up for a great scare later on in the maze. This one was a blast. 9/10.
My main gripe with the entire event was BGW's decision to send groups in at almost a non-stop pace instead of effectively splitting people up for a better experience. I recognize that they wanted to get people through the line quickly, but I would strongly prefer a 20 minute wait with really good scares and a better experience over a 5 minute wait surrounded by other people with zero good scares throughout the maze. The best experiences we had were when we intentionally put a ton of space between us and other groups.
All in all, I thought it was a decent event. I went to Cedar Point Haunt last weekend, and BGW was definitely not in the same league, but was still fun and something I will likely do again next year. I need to check out KD's event next based on the reviews in the other thread
Nevermore - Jumped in line for this one as soon as it turned 6pm. Was mostly excited for this because I love Poe and haven't been inside the DK building since the ride closed. Had high expectations for this one, but I didn't think it was very good. They were sending people in almost constantly, so it was impossible to get any space between groups to actually get effective scares. The lady behind me was so close that she kept stepping on my heels. The sets and costumes were good, but it was a bit incoherent and empty in places, and it wasn't remotely dark enough in the building to provide any good scary ambience. I'd give this one a 4/10 or so.
Dystopia - I liked the (loose) story of this one and the costumes and sets were REALLY cool (especially the scene with the TV screens), but this had a similar issue as Nevermore as they never stopped anyone at the house entrance so it was a constant stream of people walking through the house. I don't remember getting many good scares in this one, but it was a good walkthrough because of the environment and costumes. I won't spoil it, but the one good scare we got was a very good surprise. This one was a 7/10 for me.
Killarney Diner - This was far and away my favorite house. The entrance props were very cool and the scare actors in line definitely set the mood. The props, scenes, and costumes were INCREDIBLE. We successfully got some space between us and the group in front of us, and that definitely helped with the experience because I think we got somewhere between 8-12 very solid scares in this one. The main scene in the diner was absolutely amazing, to the point that I wanted to stay and take a really close look at all of the details. This was also one of the rooms that was PACKED with scare actors and the anxiety was very high wondering who was going to attempt a scare. There were a few set pieces in this house that made the other houses look really low quality in comparison. My only complaint is that the final hallway out of the house was really long and the theming drops out completely. I echo what others have said that any touch of theming or actors in this hallway would've helped. I'd give this one a 9.5/10. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
Witch of the Woods - Boy howdy, after a full day at the park, this walk was grueling on my poor feet. I really liked how far away it was from everything else in the park. Definitely added to the overall atmosphere. Not much stood out from this one, unfortunately. There were a few good scares along the way and the "sacrifice" scene was very well put together, but I felt like it ended with a whimper. Others have mentioned it, but the entire maze is meant to build anticipation and dread (which it does relatively effectively), but the final few scenes don't really pack a punch that met the build-up. I never got to do Lumberhack so I can't really compare, but I will say that I probably wouldn't take the walk back down there to do this one again. 6/10.
Circo Sinistro - Almost didn't squeeze this one in before park close because the reviews hadn't been good but WHOA I'm glad we did it. This was my second favorite house behind Killarney. The sets and props were definitely dated, but this one was a non-stop barrage of extremely effective scares with good anticipation in between. Moving from tent to tent was exciting, because each was set up in unique ways that set up genuinely good scares. There were two rooms in particular that genuinely made my head spin (in a good way) and both ended in some of the best scares we got all night. I also give full credit for some of the set ups. There was one common thread through many of the corridors that served as an insanely effective set up for a great scare later on in the maze. This one was a blast. 9/10.
My main gripe with the entire event was BGW's decision to send groups in at almost a non-stop pace instead of effectively splitting people up for a better experience. I recognize that they wanted to get people through the line quickly, but I would strongly prefer a 20 minute wait with really good scares and a better experience over a 5 minute wait surrounded by other people with zero good scares throughout the maze. The best experiences we had were when we intentionally put a ton of space between us and other groups.
All in all, I thought it was a decent event. I went to Cedar Point Haunt last weekend, and BGW was definitely not in the same league, but was still fun and something I will likely do again next year. I need to check out KD's event next based on the reviews in the other thread
Last edited:
Missed opportunity.
They should have a food booth in the meat market selling sausages or something.
They should have a food booth in the meat market selling sausages or something.
Last edited:
Actually they did have this. But I wouldn't trust this place.
Attachments
I did overhear a couple opening weekend saying they were put off on ordering from Trappers because of the Meat Market theme. I couldn't tell if they were being facetious or not.
Curious if Thursdays they drastically reduce staffing or what, but I went for my first Thursday last night and Killarney Diner was loaded with Nevermore ravens. I thought I was high.
Going tomorrow. Will give any updates I see. Also, this is message #420 