Howl-O-Scream
- Thread starter wombat96
- Start date
We went Friday and did everything we wanted. Waited 20 minutes for Bitten 6/10, 40 minutes for Cornered 7/10, 10 minutes for Lumberhack 7/10, and 40 minutes for Unearthed 8/10. Unearthed has some very impressive design and props in it! On another note, the posted wait times were way off. Griffon was set at 1 hour but only took 20 minutes. Cornered was set at 1 1/2 hours and took 40 minutes. Every walkway in the park was packed and they were parking in overflow at 2:30....they need to do something about the 3000 people just standing around blocking everywhere to walk in demon street. Maybe put all those props/decorations out in a field somewhere.
Gavin said:
...*posts Gavin's phone number on bathroom walls*
Here's some pictures I took on the 11th and the 16th that I thought I'd share. Had a good time both days but the house wait times on the 11th were bad but on the 16th they were short. I enjoyed the three new houses and they should come back next year. I found it amusing that the Alpen Express and Balmoral Castle trains already had the lights on them for Christmas Town.
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Now that I have been to Howl-O-Scream in Williamsburg and Tampa, I think it is time for an Unearthed comparison.
Both houses had their strengths and weaknesses. Between the two I feel like Tampa had fewer weaknesses than Williamsburg. Most of Tampa's house is on a larger, more professional scale. They also set up the story long before you enter the house. The first part takes place in the former queue line for Gwazi. They have work lights as you start to wrap around up into the station. You suddenly cross a platform over the tracks, and go down into the maintenance shed underneath the station. They set up the wooden shaft walls on the sides as you are going down a slight slope. At the end of the slope, you see a crooked entryway to the buried house.
The living room has all of the decorations as Williamsburg, except they didn't have to use a narrow venue, so the scale is much bigger. In the bedroom scene, rather than having Scarlett's dead husband on the bed, you see a mannequin of herself as she appeared before she returned to beauty. After this, the house gets muddied up until the finale. Aside from one or two rooms, after the main ones, I think Williamsburg is more exciting.
The cards were done much better, because the actors looked more like the characters they portrayed. Also the cards weren't solid. Instead, the actors reached through spandex strips "fear flaps" that looked like one solid picture. I will say, however, I much preferred the encounter with Scarlett, and the cages in Williamsburg. They were less effective and not as well lit in Tampa.
The differences come mainly from the better venue in Tampa, and fewer contractors used to build props in Williamsburg. Some props were essential in both houses like the mirror with Scarlett appearing. Tampa was able to contract many professional vendors to design those props, whereas Williamsburg is tied to their own resources in addition to one contractor. If Williamsburg had a better venue, and was independent of that contractor, they might have the better house.
Both houses had their strengths and weaknesses. Between the two I feel like Tampa had fewer weaknesses than Williamsburg. Most of Tampa's house is on a larger, more professional scale. They also set up the story long before you enter the house. The first part takes place in the former queue line for Gwazi. They have work lights as you start to wrap around up into the station. You suddenly cross a platform over the tracks, and go down into the maintenance shed underneath the station. They set up the wooden shaft walls on the sides as you are going down a slight slope. At the end of the slope, you see a crooked entryway to the buried house.
The living room has all of the decorations as Williamsburg, except they didn't have to use a narrow venue, so the scale is much bigger. In the bedroom scene, rather than having Scarlett's dead husband on the bed, you see a mannequin of herself as she appeared before she returned to beauty. After this, the house gets muddied up until the finale. Aside from one or two rooms, after the main ones, I think Williamsburg is more exciting.
The cards were done much better, because the actors looked more like the characters they portrayed. Also the cards weren't solid. Instead, the actors reached through spandex strips "fear flaps" that looked like one solid picture. I will say, however, I much preferred the encounter with Scarlett, and the cages in Williamsburg. They were less effective and not as well lit in Tampa.
The differences come mainly from the better venue in Tampa, and fewer contractors used to build props in Williamsburg. Some props were essential in both houses like the mirror with Scarlett appearing. Tampa was able to contract many professional vendors to design those props, whereas Williamsburg is tied to their own resources in addition to one contractor. If Williamsburg had a better venue, and was independent of that contractor, they might have the better house.
Love the decorations all around the park for the HOS event. First time to BG and/or HOS. They certainly go all out. Probably the best theming and decorating I've seen. Even Universal is bland during the day time, only to make it scary at night. Here's a few pics around the park from last weekend.
Edit: Sorry for the sideways pics. Anyone know why it won't post vertical? My Nessie pics did the same thing. I tried to rotate them and this happened.
Edit: Sorry for the sideways pics. Anyone know why it won't post vertical? My Nessie pics did the same thing. I tried to rotate them and this happened.
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Having just done HHN over Columbus Day weekend, I can't say I agree. In my opinion the scares were more sophisticated and the sets were beautiful, but I wouldn't say the mazes were 10x better overall.
Heading up to BG today after work and hoping to get there around 5pm. Here's hoping to no traffic.
Just a heads up; I went to the park yesterday and I was able to do all the mazes by buying 2 single maze QQ's. However, they've increased the price for them from $10 to $15, I don't know if it fluctuates depending on the day of the weekend, but that's what it was yesterday. I mean seriously though, the park must be making a boatload off of those alone.
Also, I was really impressed with the park's crowd control, we encountered almost zero stacking in all the mazes, except for Deadline, before the airbag room and there was a really annoying group of people in front of me in Bitten who kept stopping for no reason. They were having everyone in Cornered go around the airbag building to increase capacity I suppose. But seriously, they just need to rip those things out and put some props and actors in that building and it would make everything so much easier.
Also, the park really needs to work on getting their wait-time estimates more accurate. CTC was posted at 90 mins and was no more than 40. Towards the end of the night Scarlett's was marked at 90, and I've waited in that exact same line opening weekend(we used one of our QQ's for Scarlett's), and it was only 20 then.
One last note, Cornered's QQ entrance has been moved from the exit to the main entrance, now all QQ people go to the left and regular people go to the right at the entrance.
Also, I was really impressed with the park's crowd control, we encountered almost zero stacking in all the mazes, except for Deadline, before the airbag room and there was a really annoying group of people in front of me in Bitten who kept stopping for no reason. They were having everyone in Cornered go around the airbag building to increase capacity I suppose. But seriously, they just need to rip those things out and put some props and actors in that building and it would make everything so much easier.
Also, the park really needs to work on getting their wait-time estimates more accurate. CTC was posted at 90 mins and was no more than 40. Towards the end of the night Scarlett's was marked at 90, and I've waited in that exact same line opening weekend(we used one of our QQ's for Scarlett's), and it was only 20 then.
One last note, Cornered's QQ entrance has been moved from the exit to the main entrance, now all QQ people go to the left and regular people go to the right at the entrance.
The tight space room in Cornered wouldn't be so bad if it was at the very beginning like it was in 13, keeps everything after that clear.
That is the key with the airbag rooms. Like most everyone else, I really don't like them, but if we have to have them, put them at the very start of the house, please.
One of my many objections to the air bags is that I really don't understand what they have to do with the theme of the maze.
What about that story makes you think, "what we need is a room, where people will have to squeeze through giant pillows?" I'll admit that I am not an expert on farms or really anything rural, but I don't think giant balloons are common features of corn farms?
The air bags made sense in 13, because they were supposed to create a feeling of claustrophobia. I suppose they are meant to be disorienting in Cornered? My fear is that the park used them simply because they already owned them and they felt the need to put them somewhere.
Obviously this is all just my opinion, but I really don't see how they fit in a corn maze at all.
BGW said:
What about that story makes you think, "what we need is a room, where people will have to squeeze through giant pillows?" I'll admit that I am not an expert on farms or really anything rural, but I don't think giant balloons are common features of corn farms?
The air bags made sense in 13, because they were supposed to create a feeling of claustrophobia. I suppose they are meant to be disorienting in Cornered? My fear is that the park used them simply because they already owned them and they felt the need to put them somewhere.
Obviously this is all just my opinion, but I really don't see how they fit in a corn maze at all.
Matthew said:
When we were there back on the 16th-17th, the wait times on the app never really reflected any real wait time. I'm not even sure it ever changed. They all said 60 minutes for the most part with a few stuck at 30. The dial clocks outside the rides were over estimated too. They should have the red card to hand to people in line to give to the ride operator in order to estimate wait times. It would make things move a little better with regard to this. We did it a lot at Disney and they really were spot on for wait times. No reason BG can't adopt a similar system. Would give the person at the line queue entry something to do as well.
strycker said:
Busch Gardens Tampa did this when we were down there earlier this month. So at least the concept isn't new to Seaworld Parks (though I don't think I've ever seen it done at BGW)
BGW has done that with many of their newer attractions. I just don't know of them doing that during Howl-O-Scream. In LumberHack's queue line, the flow sometimes stops at the snack stand. After that area of the line, it's usually smooth sailing. I understand that line cutting could be a problem with that, but I think it would be great to find a way to give people a placeholder while they are buying something.
Many parks over estimate wait times. Its nothing new.
Would you rather be told the wait is 90 mins only to wait 60 becauseI wouldn't mind that. It would make the wait seem much faster that way.
- At least that's how I see things.
Would you rather be told the wait is 90 mins only to wait 60 becauseI wouldn't mind that. It would make the wait seem much faster that way.
- At least that's how I see things.
Agreed. Accuracy is ideal, but overestimating is almost as good. If you're using their estimates to plan your day it's far better to end up with extra time than to have less time than expected. Also, if a 45 minute wait is listed as roughly 60, you can still get through the line in roughly the estimated time despite temporary ride issues and/or a larger than expected quick queue rush