i got that picture from a busch gardens calender that people get in the mail every year for being a pass holder. the offer will probably show up online when it gets closer to howl-o-scream.
Howl-O-Scream
- Thread starter wombat96
- Start date
Hey y'all. sorry to barge in. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Huge fan of the reportage that Zachary did to get that post up about the details (such as they are) of this year's HoS. That said, I just want to get a better sense of what his (and other BGW aficionado(a)s') likes/dislikes about the houses of the last few years are. Mostly because:
1) I don't understand the affection for Root of All Evil. Like, at all. I was happy to see it being replaced, but disappointed that it's being replaced with RoAE++. I guess I just don't think plants are scary...?
2) I'm a fan of the Demon Street scare zone even though I think it's silly that it's unrelated to catacombs.
Basically in agreement all around, otherwise. Like a lot of folks, my favorite house remains Deadline, but I think everyone's on the same page that all of the houses need to get the staffing/timing down better such that nobody has to go through a whole house without ever actually interacting with a performer.
Anyway, thank y'all for starting a great conversation about this event.
1) I don't understand the affection for Root of All Evil. Like, at all. I was happy to see it being replaced, but disappointed that it's being replaced with RoAE++. I guess I just don't think plants are scary...?
2) I'm a fan of the Demon Street scare zone even though I think it's silly that it's unrelated to catacombs.
Basically in agreement all around, otherwise. Like a lot of folks, my favorite house remains Deadline, but I think everyone's on the same page that all of the houses need to get the staffing/timing down better such that nobody has to go through a whole house without ever actually interacting with a performer.
Anyway, thank y'all for starting a great conversation about this event.
Zachary and I were supposed to do a main page review of HOS last year, but life got in the way. Regardless, I did post my thoughts to the 2014 HOS thread here. Although he and I did not entirely agree, I think this might answer your question somewhat?
Oh, and welcome to our Forum!
Oh, and welcome to our Forum!
Welcome to the forum!
I personally liked RoAE because I was so busy looking at the "plants" that I was caught offguard by the actors sitting in the pots. I only went through that maze once last year and I wished I had gone through more. In my opinion anything is better than 13 & Cut Throat Cove.
I personally liked RoAE because I was so busy looking at the "plants" that I was caught offguard by the actors sitting in the pots. I only went through that maze once last year and I wished I had gone through more. In my opinion anything is better than 13 & Cut Throat Cove.
I think most of us here probably have some appreciation for plants and other scenic elements. After all, isn't that one of the reasons that we as fans visit Busch Gardens? Personally, I think I am tough to scare in general. However, when I want to have fun, I usually have to put aside my pride for a brief moment. That is when I most enjoyed RoAE.
That maze while pretty, didn't affect me much, even after the improvements. I still had a bitter taste in my mouth for that maze from past years. They may have changed it up, but it still reminded me of a big disappointment. Once I stopped paying attention to "what's coming to get me", I was able to admire the scenery, and be caught by surprise.
As you can see from this photo that a friend sent me, the structures for "Cornered" are already different. They look like they might be located in the same places, but the structures themselves have been altered. This may be enough to help me forget the downsides of RoAE, and give me an opportunity to give the cast members the credit that they likely deserve.
That maze while pretty, didn't affect me much, even after the improvements. I still had a bitter taste in my mouth for that maze from past years. They may have changed it up, but it still reminded me of a big disappointment. Once I stopped paying attention to "what's coming to get me", I was able to admire the scenery, and be caught by surprise.
As you can see from this photo that a friend sent me, the structures for "Cornered" are already different. They look like they might be located in the same places, but the structures themselves have been altered. This may be enough to help me forget the downsides of RoAE, and give me an opportunity to give the cast members the credit that they likely deserve.
Attachments
I don't know, but the house in the video looks better preserved than Bitten has in past years...
I was at the park yesterday and i rode the train past Cornered. There are three shacks that are either set up or have already been set up.
I'm happy ROAE is gone because to me I never got that "immersion" feel you get in something like deadline or even Bitten and Catacombs. I was clearly in a parking lot the entire time, and the trams going past behind the house didn't really help either.
Obviously those problems can't really be fixed regardless of what house is in that location, but while the scares were good, it didn't have the right feel to me.
Obviously those problems can't really be fixed regardless of what house is in that location, but while the scares were good, it didn't have the right feel to me.
I was never really enamored with RoAE either. I thought it was OK but that's it. In thinking about it I always seemed to go though it early when it was still light out. So I think that had a lot to do with it. If I had just waited a hour the experience would probably have been a lot better.
I disliked Root as well. I don't buy the argument that "admiring the scenery" is what made it a good maze. I prefer to be scared in mazes, not look at the pretty shrubbery. The maze felt like the Gardening Section at Home Depot, just a boring walk in between shelves and pots of plants. It just felt lazy to me, like a half-assed high school haunted house that couldn't afford props so they just threw in some plants. Also, the alien theme was just stupid: totally unexplained, completely random, and contributing nothing to the house.
I will not miss it.
I will not miss it.
I feel like I'm on the same page. I like shrubbery but I'd probably be the last person to find it scary. I would be more terrified if the shrubbery was fake, but it wasn't, soooo.... Also, random note, maybe now that they're not using those temp. trees, they could plant them elsewhere. The atmosphere was awful too, IMO. There was no sound insulation to hide the location of scares, it was very light most of the time(because they shined a portable spotlight on the entire area). The scares weren't as fantastic to me as some people on here seemed to think. Last year especially, Catacombs and sometimes Bitten were regularly performing better than Root IMO.
I just hope Cornered will be an all around better house than root.
I just hope Cornered will be an all around better house than root.
Cornstalkers isn't exactly the most original idea for a maze to begin with.
The only thing Root was missing were the unique scares from opening year. Despite being a terrible maze that year, it easily had some of the most creative scares in the whole park. If they had kept those, Root would've been my fave maze of last year. It sorta became generic every year after that. Same scares you find in all the other mazes so it lost some of that luster.
I hope this new maze performs as well as Cornstalkers did last year. That maze was easily one of the best of the night.
The only thing Root was missing were the unique scares from opening year. Despite being a terrible maze that year, it easily had some of the most creative scares in the whole park. If they had kept those, Root would've been my fave maze of last year. It sorta became generic every year after that. Same scares you find in all the other mazes so it lost some of that luster.
I hope this new maze performs as well as Cornstalkers did last year. That maze was easily one of the best of the night.
This. This entirely.netdvn said:
I don't see how anybody could sit here and say "I hope it's not a clone of Cornstalkers." Corn mazes are far from original. Hunt Club Farm has one. And they've been doing it for years. The only difference is, you're actually in growing (or I guess decaying? Since the corn stalks are browning by then) corn. Instead of in a parking lot or... where ever in the back area of KD Cornstalkers is. Since it is in a back area that is connected to the park.
Corn mazes are basically all the same anyways. "Something is the in the corn, and it wants to get you." What that something is is up to the person in charge of the haunt. But 9 times our of 10, it's corn people or scarecrows. Because that's what you find in corn fields/farms, corn and scarecrows.
If they're going to take things from Root, then it'll be aliens. Which by the way
Surprise. Aliens in a corn field.
I'm honestly excited for Cornered, because I loved Cornstalkers at KD, but I also enjoy just your generic corn mazes. I hope it does take from Root. Because I really liked Root as well. It was my favorite maze last year.
Busch Gardens posted a video on YouTube, and just made it private. The description says "Don’t miss the all-new house from the producer of The Blair Witch Project, Unearthed™- Scarlett’s Revenge."
Edit: I guess this sounds more intriguing now. Not that I am familiar with the Blair Witch Project. However, I know that it is popular with some people.
Edit: I guess this sounds more intriguing now. Not that I am familiar with the Blair Witch Project. However, I know that it is popular with some people.
Whoops! I forgot to mention Rob Cowie was the designer of Scarlett's Revenge. (He helped with the Blair Witch Project.) Probably should've mentioned it considering there's a video of him talking about it on the audition website. 
That's really cool! I wonder if he just gave the park designs to you in all of their houses. I hope Williamsburg got personal help with their maze.