Going tomorrow. Will give any updates I see. Also, this is message #420
Howl-O-Scream Williamsburg 2021
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
Last night was a typical Thursday. The park was super dead and there were some staffing issues. Can't fault them for that being a Thursday night and the actors were engaged and giving their all.
Back from HoS. My thoughts:
Haunted Houses:
Did the two I was thematically interested in. I agree with previous posters that they need to s l o w d o w n the stream of people. I too would rather wait longer and have a bit of distance and isolation.
Nevermore - I had high hopes for this. I was disappointed they went with a plywood maze in a warehouse setup like Frostbite. I could see the warehouse ceiling above me. C'mon, it's Poe. You can make it a little claustrophobic. The hanging sheets area had a pretty good effect, but they didn't really...do anything with it? I feel like they really needed to lean into the source material and make it more about being disorienting, unsettling, and dreadful rather than jump scares.
Witch of the Woods - I liked this one better. Being in a dark forest helped. It also kind of felt like the actors here had more to go on? I feel like if they polished this it could be good. Go in on fog, lighting, and ambient sounds (not screaming!). Have some creepy chanting coming from the sacrifice scene. I liked the bits of rotting village in the woods, that needs to be played up more.
Terror-tories:
Meat Market: I feel like I may be in the minority but I just didn't like it. Again, chainsaws and gore don't really do it for me. I won't say it's bad, just...not my thing.
Hexed Hollow: I miss Vampire Point. I think they dropped the ball on this- there wasn't really much cohesion to the theming. I think more witches, thralls, curse victims, etc. would have been better than generic hooded demon-type monsters? There were two actors that really stood out to me- a lurking evil/bewitched villager being quietly menacing and a suffering/unwell witch-victim. They helped sell the atmosphere/story and were fun to watch!
Garden of Souls: It was fine. I'd prefer it if this one was more chill and about a ghostly feel instead of "scares." An actor in a ghostly suit was really selling it. I think the setup was nicer looking in 2019, but I liked this year's too.
Ripper Row: Probably to no one's surprise, I adore Ripper Row. I preferred 2019's cold blue lighting and much creepier banners to the new red and bloody setup, but I still had a great time here! The actors were less about startling people and more engaging/about the immersion. This is, apparently, where the theater kids are and I appreciated that. I liked being able to play along with them and the story. I saw one of the Ripper type actors drag one of the screaming actresses into an alleyway- very well done! The ambience track had the screams happening too frequently though, which took it from startling to silly. Loved the ghost horse.
Other:
The Once Bitten and Flaming Torch cocktails were fantastic. Whoever was in charge of mixing Flaming Torch up this year had a much lighter hand with the Fireball than the Fireball cocktail of the previous HoS/Christmastown, so it was deliciously spiced instead of a tongue-searing cinnamon inferno.
Werewolf Alley and Lorikeets: Perfect, A+, never change.
The Wood Witch effigy at the park entrance was really well done! They did an amazing job with it, it was very impressive.
Giant spiders in giant webs: Cute.
Loch Ness Monster: For Samhain's sake, run more than one train!
Party Zones: They need to turn the music down, it was tinnitus-inducingly loud. Well done other than that! The DJs were great.
All in all, had a good time. Some things I would change, obviously, but enough was there to delight me.
People jumping out and screaming at me don't scare me. I think chainsaws are overdone and tired and aren't scary.
Haunted Houses:
Did the two I was thematically interested in. I agree with previous posters that they need to s l o w d o w n the stream of people. I too would rather wait longer and have a bit of distance and isolation.
Nevermore - I had high hopes for this. I was disappointed they went with a plywood maze in a warehouse setup like Frostbite. I could see the warehouse ceiling above me. C'mon, it's Poe. You can make it a little claustrophobic. The hanging sheets area had a pretty good effect, but they didn't really...do anything with it? I feel like they really needed to lean into the source material and make it more about being disorienting, unsettling, and dreadful rather than jump scares.
Witch of the Woods - I liked this one better. Being in a dark forest helped. It also kind of felt like the actors here had more to go on? I feel like if they polished this it could be good. Go in on fog, lighting, and ambient sounds (not screaming!). Have some creepy chanting coming from the sacrifice scene. I liked the bits of rotting village in the woods, that needs to be played up more.
Terror-tories:
I got to visit on the last night of HoS in 2019 and they had no scare actors. That may have ruined me a bit because there was something eerie and magical about just engrossing yourself in these very quiet and still places with spooky lighting, music, and fog.
Hexed Hollow: I miss Vampire Point. I think they dropped the ball on this- there wasn't really much cohesion to the theming. I think more witches, thralls, curse victims, etc. would have been better than generic hooded demon-type monsters? There were two actors that really stood out to me- a lurking evil/bewitched villager being quietly menacing and a suffering/unwell witch-victim. They helped sell the atmosphere/story and were fun to watch!
Garden of Souls: It was fine. I'd prefer it if this one was more chill and about a ghostly feel instead of "scares." An actor in a ghostly suit was really selling it. I think the setup was nicer looking in 2019, but I liked this year's too.
Ripper Row: Probably to no one's surprise, I adore Ripper Row. I preferred 2019's cold blue lighting and much creepier banners to the new red and bloody setup, but I still had a great time here! The actors were less about startling people and more engaging/about the immersion. This is, apparently, where the theater kids are and I appreciated that. I liked being able to play along with them and the story. I saw one of the Ripper type actors drag one of the screaming actresses into an alleyway- very well done! The ambience track had the screams happening too frequently though, which took it from startling to silly. Loved the ghost horse.
Other:
The Once Bitten and Flaming Torch cocktails were fantastic. Whoever was in charge of mixing Flaming Torch up this year had a much lighter hand with the Fireball than the Fireball cocktail of the previous HoS/Christmastown, so it was deliciously spiced instead of a tongue-searing cinnamon inferno.
Werewolf Alley and Lorikeets: Perfect, A+, never change.
The Wood Witch effigy at the park entrance was really well done! They did an amazing job with it, it was very impressive.
Giant spiders in giant webs: Cute.
Loch Ness Monster: For Samhain's sake, run more than one train!
Party Zones: They need to turn the music down, it was tinnitus-inducingly loud. Well done other than that! The DJs were great.
All in all, had a good time. Some things I would change, obviously, but enough was there to delight me.
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Not attacking anyone's rankings but for me personally theme park houses just ae almost never actually scary so it's more the mood and setting that do it for me. Nevermore may not get me on the scares but I just find the atmosphere in there to be great. Killarney Diner just doesn't deliver for me in that area. I don't know if it's just as simple as BOF's building bleeds through to much or how it flows but I just can't get a walk through of it that I ever really find good and constantly find it right down with Ciro as the bottom of the houses.
Although I don't think it was *that* busy when we went, yeah we noticed a lot of small children and strollers too when we were there- it was a Friday, too, so not part of the children's event. A lot of them remained in the park after it got "spooky," which was a little puzzling.
BG was actually my first exposure to haunted houses (and I was an adult). I wasn't really sure what to expect the first time but I was disappointed because they weren't scary at all- so I'm glad it's not just me and it's not just BG.
I'm with you on enjoying the mood and setting more (probably why Ripper Row is my favorite area). I loved the idea of Nevermore but I wasn't crazy about the execution. I also think the constant stream of moving people doesn't really let atmosphere build the way it should.
Went this past weekend and after seeing some tweets from the fans acc and other news, etc. I can sadly report and agree with most of the info. Low staffing an obvious issue across many industries and it was definitely reflected in ride ops this whole weekend. HoS houses hit or miss on staff with Killarney Diner being the only one with a ton of people (the "diner" portion specifically). Crowds also in a fighting mode, was in LNM station late night Saturday and a guest wouldn't exit the ride until the whole station cheered for them to leave and stop causing issues...
I went Saturday night as well. Only got two houses in, Killarney Diner and the Pompeii one. Diner was great. My daughter brought two friends and one of them I had ask the cast members to escort us out. Surprising me because she is the tough girl. Cast member was excellent when showing us out. My wife did notice about 4 to 5 cops going pass us as we walked away from Ireland. Not a good sign.
Just wanted to weigh in and report that I had a great time at HOS last night. I arrived at parking about 4:25 PM and only waited a few minutes before they started letting cars in (judged by the sudden movement forward). I was in the park about 4:50 PM and rode four coasters before 6 PM .. no lines at all. The shows and houses were entertaining enough, and there seemed to be more than enough scare actors roaming around. The unexpected pleasure for me was when darkness fell and the park came alive with color, intensified by the fog effects.
The only two negatives I would note is 1) shortage of culinary options .. snacks and adult beverages were plentiful, but if you wanted something to serve as dinner, there weren't many choices. In retrospect, though, I think this was more poor planning on my part. 2) Hanging sheets and/or plastic was overused in the houses and Le Scoot bridge. I felt like it was a automatic car wash for all the human debris to walk through and share cooties.
The only two negatives I would note is 1) shortage of culinary options .. snacks and adult beverages were plentiful, but if you wanted something to serve as dinner, there weren't many choices. In retrospect, though, I think this was more poor planning on my part. 2) Hanging sheets and/or plastic was overused in the houses and Le Scoot bridge. I felt like it was a automatic car wash for all the human debris to walk through and share cooties.
The fog effect was widely used last night.
I think that might be for Holiday Hills. You can see all the Festa Christmas Town stuff ready to go from Apollo