Howl-O-Scream Williamsburg 2021

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
I think you post highlights a current weakness at HOS. Apparently, they failed to convey the theme of either maze.

Nevermore is an Edgar Allen Poe house. The various scenes are from his short stories and poems, like Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart. The house, itself, is named for the poem, The Raven.

Dystopia is about a police state that brainwashes it’s citizens to control them. As you walk through the maze you encounter the resistance, as well scenes depicting ways in which the government is effecting mind control.

Clearly, BGW needs to improve its storytelling.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, Alf33, Mushroom and 3 others
Nicole said:
I think you post highlights a current weakness at HOS. Apparently, they failed to convey the theme of either maze.

Nevermore is an Edgar Allen Poe house. The various scenes are from his short stories and poems, like Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart. The house, itself, is named for the poem, The Raven.

Dystopia is about a police state that brainwashes it’s citizens to control them. As you walk through the maze you encounter the resistance, as well scenes depicting ways in which the government is effecting mind control.

Clearly, BGW needs to improve its storytelling.
Click to expand...

Nicole.

You took the words out of my mouth. Don't get me wrong, the park is amazing; which is why I continue to drive past Kings Dominion. But Howl-O-Scream could be a one of the best events in the mid-Atlantic if they did things right. The creativity behind these themes is good. It does take a good bit of thinking to create a good theme. But as you said; are most people understanding it? That is the major question. So I will counter that, with the question; should BGW experiment with classic horror themes for mazes?

When it comes to classic themes; most of us would think of zombies, aliens, mythical beast and other common things we've seen in Hollywood films. KD has experimented with these themes year after year. And they had success in doing it. The only downside to it was that their mazes did not have enough space to do much with the themes. A few of these names were Outbreak: The Evolution, Miner's Revenge, No Vacancy. Outbreak was formerly known as; Alien Outpost. It occupied FoF's indoor queue area for years; which resulted in suspended ride operation of Flight of Fear during HAUNT hours. Many people questioned why they didn't retire the maze and keep the ride open. Miner's Revenge was good as it tried to take a slight spin off from the Call of Duty Zombies Map; Buried; with the tall man in overalls hidden in the mine shaft. It received slight backlash from the press, when people references it to a mine accident that had happened. No Vacancy was probably one of the most creative I had seen; as it took the theme of a motel where you check in and never check out.

Considering the above themes; could BGW benefit from Aliens, Miners and a dangerous motel? I'd say yes. BGW has the space to pull this off and make it look sexy. The story telling to these themes is easy because you can just about make up anything. Let's also consider that the park doesn't have to have as many mazes as KD does. BGW has the space to create sizable mazes and deliver a better quality. It's a marketing strategy to say a park has 7 or 8 mazes to choose from. But it is a crowd pleaser to say "We only have 5 mazes, but the quality will keep you coming back in".

So; what is the most effective way to deliver this? The rides seem to do the trick when it comes to themes. Let's take the Witch's Trail for this example. It's located right beside Verbolten. Verbolten's theme is the Black Forest. This works perfectly with the forest setting because you would expect to encounter something like a witch in a spooky forest. So incorporating a scary mine theme can play off the Black Forest lore in the maze description/lore. This further enriches the guest in a spooky woods theme when they enter that area. It would be rather nice to see BGW's team create a rather rich atmosphere for that themed area during Howl-O-Scream. For some reason I feel as if it's almost like being in the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter. Verbolten is the magic car and the Castle is Hogwarts. But in BGW's universe; that whole area would be incorporated as a spooky woods/medieval realm.

I could go on and on about immersive atmospheres for BGW's Howl-O-Scream; but this post is already long enough. If that themed section could execute everything I mentioned; I probably wouldn't even want to leave that area of the park once the night hours come. Nicole; please feel free to way in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, ludmarco and Mwe BGW
I actually think you have it backwards. While KD has several dedicated and recurring Haunt locations, BGW struggles every year to find event space for HOS. In fact, we anticipate that they will lose some of the current locations in the future (especially if Drachen Spire is built).

I am also confused by your comments about BGW’s choice of themes for their houses. Since they update and replace their mazes regularly, they have selected a wide variety of stories since HOS‘s debut in 1999. Not only have they used monsters ranging from vampires to clowns to zombies, but they usually have an event icon with a signature house. So, in the past they have had mazes and attractions built around haunted gardens, witches, dolls, and the like. They have also themed entire areas. For instance, for a while there was a pirate terror-tory with a maze, a bar, and a scare zone.

There have in the past been mazes linked to attractions, like Curse of Pompeii, but eventually the park had to relkace them to keep the event fresh and interesting. They have also linked houses and scare zones to the hamlets, like Ripper Row and Catacombs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, Mwe BGW, Mushroom and 2 others
Since I’m not a big Halloween person maybe someone else can answer this:

What’s a good timeline for replacing houses? 3 years? 5 years?

I almost feel like BGW should focus on making 1 good house that’s never leaving but constantly updated. Something European based like “The True Tales of the Brothers Grimm” and do all the scary versions of fairytales they were known for. Always have 1 Virginia based myth house. A couple of original stories. Make the houses short and sweet. 6 total houses. The Brothers Grimm house gets a yearly update and the other 5 get re-done yearly on a rotating cycle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mwe BGW
Three to five years feels correct to me—closer to three if you're not planning to do much to it throughout its run and closer to five if you're able to do a mid-cycle refresh of some kind.

Honestly though, for me, the amount of time houses stick around doesn't matter as much as being sure to always have a couple new or renovated houses each year and always focusing on replacing the worst house(s). For instance, Lumberhack was getting long in the tooth (it was a 2015 house), but opting to replace it instead of Circo is still wild to me. I don't think there was ever much disagreement over which house needed more help. I'd rather poor houses be replaced more often leaving stronger houses to stick around longer than for the park to get super set in a schedule of some kind.
 
  • Like
Reactions: warfelg
Zachary said:
Three to five years feels correct to me—closer to three if you're not planning to do much to it throughout its run and closer to five if you're able to do a mid-cycle refresh of some kind.

Honestly though, for me, the amount of time houses stick around doesn't matter as much as being sure to always have a couple new or renovated houses each year and always focusing on replacing the worst house(s). For instance, Lumberhack was getting long in the tooth (it was a 2015 house), but opting to replace it instead of Circo is still wild to me. I don't think there was ever much disagreement over which house needed more help. I'd rather poor houses be replaced more often leaving stronger houses to stick around longer than for the park to get super set in a schedule of some kind.
Click to expand...
Good feedback, but that plays to my thought (without ever being there) of less houses that are tighter in length might help more. South Central PA has a ton of haunt type places, and they all used to do 1 long hay ride, 1 long house, and like 3-4 "scenes". Many of them went to 2-3 hay rides that are shorter but tighter in story telling. The houses were split into 4-5 houses that still totaled the same number of rooms so it could tell one story rather than 5-6. And they downsized the number of "scenes" and increased scare actors, some of who were just security roaming around dressed up differently. I think the one place called it the "zombie security force" and had them dressed as apocalypse survivors, so they stood out, but fit in with the idea that the central area was a "safe zone" and the scare actors roamed the edges.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd
I went on Friday and WOW. There weren’t too many guests and the actors, costumes, and makeup were EXCELLENT. By far the best visit all season. I was especially impressed with Killarney this time. It was packed with actors and I never noticed the car that nearly “runs you over.” I wish all my visits had been like this, but I was very glad to end 2021 HOS on a good note.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, Coolguy15, Le Moose and 2 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad