They also did that Friday… disappointing, but not as bad as the night in 2019 when they stuffed the Ripper Row people into Frostbite
Howl-O-Scream Williamsburg 2021
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
Few thoughts from a recent visit:
- Wow is the park lightly staffed. I usually find KD to be pretty low in staffing attractions, but BGW is taking this to a whole other level.
- Based on this, BGW’s already not great accessibility program is almost unusable at some rides. With such limited staff, it’s become very hard to get the virtual wait times to work. Between waiting for someone to help you get a return time, actually waiting virtually, and then getting mixed into to wait in quick queue lines, it can easily be 20-30 mins longer than the actual waits (Loch Ness took the crown for this visit in ridiculousness, but Verbolten wasn’t better with no one actually managing the accessibly/quick queue line). BGW would do well to pick up KD’s system of just giving you the next wait time if they aren’t going to staff the ride entrances.
- Where is there to eat. There are some serious food deserts throughout the park. I get that beer and wine have fatter profit margins, but food service should be a profit center in general for the park. Either outsource some food trucks or add ready foods (e.g. salads or sandwiches) to gift shops, but something really needs to be done here.
One of the chainsaw actors appears to have been injured in Scotland.
It’s not looking good. He was laid out on the riser next to the stables/pen for the horses, etc.
They closed off the whole walkway and security, police, and paramedics were all present.
I hope it looks worse than it is.
First off I hope he is OK.
That said why was he in Scotland that is well away from his area and not even a scare zone.
I hope he did quit. No one deserves an unsafe workplace for the meager pay BGW offers.
I went to howl o scream tonight and it was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had in my 20 years of visiting the park.
Extremely busy, took over an hour to get into the park. As soon as we got there, we went on the Pompeii house. In front of us was a teenage girl, probably 14-16, with her younger siblings and mom. As we entered the maze, she was stopping at every actor and cursing at them. Then she approached an actor and threatened to punch him, raised her fist up to his face and continued threatening to hit him. The actor was all by himself in a corner, no security or other staff present. He broke character and told her not to threaten him and she would be kicked out. She continued berating him as her mom stood by laughing.
That really soured my experience, it was really uncomfortable. We then went on some coasters and noticed TONS of people straight up cutting in line to ridiculous extents. Not just a few people, 8-10 groups of people on both coasters I went on would simply walk into a line, and act like they are meeting someone they got separated from, make their way to the way front of the line and be one of the next on the train... NOT with any other members of a group. It really seemed like people caught on to no one doing or saying anything about cutting in line so people just took it upon themselves to skip the lines by convincing people they were meeting someone and walking through the entire line.
Just a really rowdy, loud, belligerent crowd. People hopping over ropes in lines, running into me. Security looked like a joke, they reminded me of Paul Blart mall cop, just standing in place in groups at highly populated areas and entrances to mazes. People were straight up smoking blunts blowing huge clouds of smoke IN the lines for haunted houses.
What’s going on?
Extremely busy, took over an hour to get into the park. As soon as we got there, we went on the Pompeii house. In front of us was a teenage girl, probably 14-16, with her younger siblings and mom. As we entered the maze, she was stopping at every actor and cursing at them. Then she approached an actor and threatened to punch him, raised her fist up to his face and continued threatening to hit him. The actor was all by himself in a corner, no security or other staff present. He broke character and told her not to threaten him and she would be kicked out. She continued berating him as her mom stood by laughing.
That really soured my experience, it was really uncomfortable. We then went on some coasters and noticed TONS of people straight up cutting in line to ridiculous extents. Not just a few people, 8-10 groups of people on both coasters I went on would simply walk into a line, and act like they are meeting someone they got separated from, make their way to the way front of the line and be one of the next on the train... NOT with any other members of a group. It really seemed like people caught on to no one doing or saying anything about cutting in line so people just took it upon themselves to skip the lines by convincing people they were meeting someone and walking through the entire line.
Just a really rowdy, loud, belligerent crowd. People hopping over ropes in lines, running into me. Security looked like a joke, they reminded me of Paul Blart mall cop, just standing in place in groups at highly populated areas and entrances to mazes. People were straight up smoking blunts blowing huge clouds of smoke IN the lines for haunted houses.
What’s going on?
To keep this insular on BGW (Because I've ranted how all of this stuff isn't a BGW exclusive thing):
@stoney 's recount of the young lady in the scare house.....why is BGW letting scare actors be anywhere alone anymore? They need to be in groups of 3+ everywhere. My rationalization is you need one who can go get security, another to help with calming the situation. It's inexcusable to allow someone to be along like that in the house with the way guest behaviors have been lately.
To the scare actor that was getting medical attention - I hope they are ok. I fear as more of this goes on they are going to reduce the number of roaming scare actors out in the park.
To all the line skipping - again, this comes down to not just a BGW thing. (1) This seems to pop up in the HOS threads more than any other thread or any other time of year. HOS seems to be the biggest time of year when tweens and teens are just "let loose" in the park. (2) It's fine to have the security not on the lines, but for them to be huddled up is inexcusable. Makes me wonder is security is an outside agency BGW pays rather than their own hired and trained staff.
It really is becoming high time that BGW needs to change something with the structure. Sounds like they need night vision cameras in the scare houses, they need to post a single security guard at the entrance and exit of every attraction, they need to start having scare actors be "secured" in houses in a way that a guest can't come near them (like lockable trap doors or some sort of barrier keeping guests in.
But as I've ranted before; this is a symptom of a larger issue across the country right now. These things are going on everywhere, and the problem is only getting worse. Until the media stops giving the problem makers attention and focuses on the other aspects of it, people are going to continue. With cameras everywhere, social media trends that encourage this behavior, and everyone looking for their 5 minutes of fame, this isn't a problem BGW can solve. It's high time social media platforms start cracking down on these trends that are dangerous, illegal, and/or promote violence.
@stoney 's recount of the young lady in the scare house.....why is BGW letting scare actors be anywhere alone anymore? They need to be in groups of 3+ everywhere. My rationalization is you need one who can go get security, another to help with calming the situation. It's inexcusable to allow someone to be along like that in the house with the way guest behaviors have been lately.
To the scare actor that was getting medical attention - I hope they are ok. I fear as more of this goes on they are going to reduce the number of roaming scare actors out in the park.
To all the line skipping - again, this comes down to not just a BGW thing. (1) This seems to pop up in the HOS threads more than any other thread or any other time of year. HOS seems to be the biggest time of year when tweens and teens are just "let loose" in the park. (2) It's fine to have the security not on the lines, but for them to be huddled up is inexcusable. Makes me wonder is security is an outside agency BGW pays rather than their own hired and trained staff.
It really is becoming high time that BGW needs to change something with the structure. Sounds like they need night vision cameras in the scare houses, they need to post a single security guard at the entrance and exit of every attraction, they need to start having scare actors be "secured" in houses in a way that a guest can't come near them (like lockable trap doors or some sort of barrier keeping guests in.
But as I've ranted before; this is a symptom of a larger issue across the country right now. These things are going on everywhere, and the problem is only getting worse. Until the media stops giving the problem makers attention and focuses on the other aspects of it, people are going to continue. With cameras everywhere, social media trends that encourage this behavior, and everyone looking for their 5 minutes of fame, this isn't a problem BGW can solve. It's high time social media platforms start cracking down on these trends that are dangerous, illegal, and/or promote violence.
Agreed, it seemed like most areas of the house had more than one person, but it was this one particular room where it was just the single actor. After she threatened him, we walked into another room right after where an employee was monitoring. She stopped for almost 30 seconds and was berating another scare actor, and all the employee said was “keep walking, keep the line moving”.... I feel like someone should have noticed the behavior wayyyyy earlier and ejected her, it was pretty alarming. There was security just standing in a group at the entrance and the girl and her family just walked off the maze, past security and on their way. Really shocking to me, no joke she was holding up the entire line to curse at, threaten and harass every single scare actor and nothing was done. Making comments like “you’re about to get punched, I’m going to f*** you up” lunging at the actors.
Thursday should be very light. Casts will likely be a little smaller and more shops and rides will be closed, but you'll have no problem doing everything that's open that night. Friday will get crowded by the early evening, but as the night draws to a close, lines should start to vanish again. Saturday, assuming the weather isn't bad, given what the park looked like this last weekend, will be awful. Sorry.I don't know if you're interested in Williamsburg's shows, but that may be a good use of a chunk of time on Saturday—far better than standing in eternal coaster lines or the like.
If it's not too late, I'd seriously consider doing Kings Dominion's Haunt on Friday while you're up here. It's an excellent, underappreciated event with legitimately incredible set design and some fantastic casts. Friday will probably have a healthy crowd at KD, but the event is really worth it. If you don't mind spoilers, some of the house photos @zachclarke2 recently posted will almost certainly sell you on their event.
Wow, I had no idea how serious your Sat warning was...
...I was a completly presumptuous jerk thinking, "I've done HHN...this clown has no idea what crazy crowds are."
Boy was I wrong!!!!
Thursday was dead. But being our first time to the park, we couldn't even figure out where the hell Italy was so missed two houses. Never waited more than 10min for anything.
Friday was fine. Bigger lines and more crowded but still fine. IMPOSSIBLE to get food, but not too bad.
Saturday...dear God! Took us 90min to get into the park around lunch time. We bought the $160 park plus HoS express since it would be ridiculous otherwise. Considering how damn huge the park is, it was INSANELY packed.
Loved the houses, but the event itself was pretty miserable...but I'm blaming Covid and staffing issues. Plan to do it again next year, but earlier in the season and a Wed-Thur-Fri timeframe, never going anywhere near the park on a Sat again.
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Something I wasn’t prepared for when we went through Killarney Diner last night: scare actors on their phones in the house. At least three of them just scrolling away.
It was bad enough that the line just fed straight into the house, with no more than two feet of space between the groups ahead and behind us. Then to have the actors just staring at their phones as we were corralled through instead of making any attempts to scare anyone just put us off.
It was bad enough that the line just fed straight into the house, with no more than two feet of space between the groups ahead and behind us. Then to have the actors just staring at their phones as we were corralled through instead of making any attempts to scare anyone just put us off.
They had Hexed Hollow actors in Nevermore a few weeks ago...
I've seen them put Circo actors in Frostbite back in 2019, so nothing surprises me anymore...
Went yesterday, leaving hexed hollow towards Alpengeist after nevermore and I saw a grown man get scared, slip, fall flat on his ass, get back up and sprint away. That was the highlight of last night.
Went to the park on Saturday; October 30th, 2021.
The park experience was very good. Crowds were definitely a lot heavier, compared to my September visit for Howl-O-Scream. My buddy I, always start off on Verbolten for liability of possible weather that might effect operations. Verbolten's line was of course very busy; but it moved rather smooth. Most of the major rides had about a hour wait. My buddy was so concerned about riding Alpengeist. We must have waited a good hour do to the slow loading times. Then add the Quick Queue riders and it makes the experience a lot slower. Many people waiting got frustrated during one loading sequence where it took fifteen minutes to get a train loaded.
As for maze attractions; I am still not as convinced. I don't mind the long lines; but at least try and scare people. This is the only aspect that upsets me with Howl-O-Scream. The mazes are well themed and have plenty of space. Why are the scare actors so lazy? And I'm not making a biased comparison to an event that requires waivers. I can simply compare it to KD's HAUNT. It's fair to say that KD's indoor Haunt attractions have less space to work with. But for some reason scare actors seem to get the best of park guest. There were years where I questioned whether or not KD's HAUNT was appropriate for kids. I'd say Bush Garden's Howl-O-Scream is more family friendly than any other park I have been to. That's not a bad thing. Maybe they feel that family is where the money is; so why chase mom, dad, and grandpa out of the park
.
Overall, I will say that mazes could be more intense. In what ways, you may ask? Well for me; it's just the basics. For Bush Gardens, this is highly subjected to the maze's location. I am going to list them by name and how I feel each could be improved.
DYSTOPIA
- This particular theme, I feel has a lot of potential. Escape from Pompeii's setting is perfect. But for me, the fun should begin as soon as you exit Pompeii's loading station. That is where the maze attendant should stop and line for the count. Why? I would add an outdoor section of the maze that leads up to the existing entrance. To accompany the new addition, I'd say darken that entire area. A few good jump scares could be executed, to build the adrenaline.
- Once you reach the actual entrance of the building; this is where the fun starts. Once inside, the fenced walkway, should be darkened as well. I'd add strobes to give the scare actors the element of surprise. Why not make it a 3 beat strobe interval with 8 seconds of darkness.
- As you get deeper in the course; is where the feeling of uncomforted should set in. Do something with the P/A system; if there is one. I'd have some sort of recording that plays a menacing voice cautions guest of the ticking time. "This is not a drill. All emergency protocols will fail. You have 3 minutes to make it out, before you sequence 5 is activated. All exits will be locked, with no chance of escape.". Lights dim as this recording plays. As you get closer to the end; there is a lot of fog, which negates your chances of speed walking out.
NEVERMORE
- I like the theme of a plague. However, I feel this attraction would be better if it were Medieval. The castle setting just screams a more intense version of KD's Medieval Macabre. When approaching the old loading station; I feel as if there should be a cold fear of going any further inside. I use the term "NeverMore" as a warning of "Never again should you ever come here". Here is my music if choice for the old loading station: Maze Music
- For this attraction; I'd only let group sizes of 7 inside, with a 60 second gap before the next group can go in. When navigating through this Medieval castle; the feeling of terror should spook everyone in small groups. Not knowing what to encounter around the next is what this maze should have been built for.
- Everything that walks on two feet in a Medieval fairy tale should have been in this maze. And I mean gruesome looking. I'd consider this a jump scare galore if the right medieval style props were added to this maze. I wouldn't even want to tempt any of the castle's inhabitants in a sketchy Medieval setting.
I'll stop for now. Don't want to spam the post with everything.
The park experience was very good. Crowds were definitely a lot heavier, compared to my September visit for Howl-O-Scream. My buddy I, always start off on Verbolten for liability of possible weather that might effect operations. Verbolten's line was of course very busy; but it moved rather smooth. Most of the major rides had about a hour wait. My buddy was so concerned about riding Alpengeist. We must have waited a good hour do to the slow loading times. Then add the Quick Queue riders and it makes the experience a lot slower. Many people waiting got frustrated during one loading sequence where it took fifteen minutes to get a train loaded.
As for maze attractions; I am still not as convinced. I don't mind the long lines; but at least try and scare people. This is the only aspect that upsets me with Howl-O-Scream. The mazes are well themed and have plenty of space. Why are the scare actors so lazy? And I'm not making a biased comparison to an event that requires waivers. I can simply compare it to KD's HAUNT. It's fair to say that KD's indoor Haunt attractions have less space to work with. But for some reason scare actors seem to get the best of park guest. There were years where I questioned whether or not KD's HAUNT was appropriate for kids. I'd say Bush Garden's Howl-O-Scream is more family friendly than any other park I have been to. That's not a bad thing. Maybe they feel that family is where the money is; so why chase mom, dad, and grandpa out of the park
.Overall, I will say that mazes could be more intense. In what ways, you may ask? Well for me; it's just the basics. For Bush Gardens, this is highly subjected to the maze's location. I am going to list them by name and how I feel each could be improved.
DYSTOPIA
- This particular theme, I feel has a lot of potential. Escape from Pompeii's setting is perfect. But for me, the fun should begin as soon as you exit Pompeii's loading station. That is where the maze attendant should stop and line for the count. Why? I would add an outdoor section of the maze that leads up to the existing entrance. To accompany the new addition, I'd say darken that entire area. A few good jump scares could be executed, to build the adrenaline.
- Once you reach the actual entrance of the building; this is where the fun starts. Once inside, the fenced walkway, should be darkened as well. I'd add strobes to give the scare actors the element of surprise. Why not make it a 3 beat strobe interval with 8 seconds of darkness.
- As you get deeper in the course; is where the feeling of uncomforted should set in. Do something with the P/A system; if there is one. I'd have some sort of recording that plays a menacing voice cautions guest of the ticking time. "This is not a drill. All emergency protocols will fail. You have 3 minutes to make it out, before you sequence 5 is activated. All exits will be locked, with no chance of escape.". Lights dim as this recording plays. As you get closer to the end; there is a lot of fog, which negates your chances of speed walking out.
NEVERMORE
- I like the theme of a plague. However, I feel this attraction would be better if it were Medieval. The castle setting just screams a more intense version of KD's Medieval Macabre. When approaching the old loading station; I feel as if there should be a cold fear of going any further inside. I use the term "NeverMore" as a warning of "Never again should you ever come here". Here is my music if choice for the old loading station: Maze Music
- For this attraction; I'd only let group sizes of 7 inside, with a 60 second gap before the next group can go in. When navigating through this Medieval castle; the feeling of terror should spook everyone in small groups. Not knowing what to encounter around the next is what this maze should have been built for.
- Everything that walks on two feet in a Medieval fairy tale should have been in this maze. And I mean gruesome looking. I'd consider this a jump scare galore if the right medieval style props were added to this maze. I wouldn't even want to tempt any of the castle's inhabitants in a sketchy Medieval setting.
I'll stop for now. Don't want to spam the post with everything.