We went to Howl-O-Scream for the first time in years two weeks ago (8th) and yesterday.
On the 8th we watched Monster Stomp and Starfright Orchestra and circled the park twice to just soak in the general atmosphere and watch the scare actors/scare zones, especially in Festa Italia where the mechanical doll girl, the clowns, and the ringmaster types were really putting in a lot of effort, as well as the New France area with the guy on the sling/bungee/elastic band jumping out and back. Oh, and we found the Victorian England crew to be very effective too, in several ways -- a couple of the ladies did a great job with the being still in a corner or behind something and then suddenly screaming and jumping out; the fan snappers were great; same with the headless women and the proper British gents. STARFRIGHT was great -- a worthy entry in the series (pretty sure we've seen all or at least most of the Starfright years) and maybe a little stronger orchestra than ever before.
Overall, we thought the experience was FANTASTIC -- really immersive, mysterious, and fun. I liked all the themed areas/scare zones, really. Demon Street looks great to me (the flaming "on fire" look of the area), both as you approach Aquitaine France and once you are in it. The Demon DJ on the Skull stage is really fun. As I said, the Festa Italia area is great -- last time I saw it, the clowns/demented circus was more of a modern or at least early to mid 20th century circus -- now it's more like a late 19th century carnival -- nice, subtle, spooky choice of theme.
Only two big criticisms from that first visit: First, the lack of pirate scare actors in Italy. Other than the servers in the tropical Pirate BARRGGH (or however it's spelled), there weren't any pirate actors that we saw, which seemed a shame because the decorations in the area were quite fun, like the crow's nest, mannequin pirates, etc. Second big criticism was the female soloist in Monster Stomp. Her voice timbre was just unpleasant. She stayed on key, and she was enthusiastic and moved/danced decently -- but she just doesn't have a pleasant voice. The two leads got LESS applause during their bow than the general cast. Woefully miscast because a lead singer should have a pleasing voice. I don't think it was a mixing issue but I suppose it might have been.
Yesterday we went straight to Cornered and Lumberhack because I always prefer outdoor type mazes for some reason -- they seem spookier to me somehow -- more immersive when done well. Cornered was such a long, long maze (wow!) and was full of actors working hard to scare. Actors in Lumberhack kept up the "we want to eat you" mantra throughout, really trying to scare, with several following up an initial scare by waiting a moment and then moving in on someone from behind and getting them a second time. Chainsaw guy at the exit was good at skirmishing with folks trying to exit and making guests work (in a good way) to get out.
Yesterday evening was a short visit, so other than hanging out some more in England to soak in the atmosphere and watch the scare actors for a bit, that was all for us last night. We meant to go Thursday but DH couldn't get off work as planned, so we had to re-schedule. I am going no matter what this Thursday, though, because I want to support the park's decision to be open on Thursdays for HOS. (Poor DH -- yes, I will go without him if I must!)
Again, speaking as someone who hasn't been to HOS in roughly 5 years or more, we found the event hugely immersive, spooky, and FUN FUN FUN. We are planning to ditch a few of our more local/smaller scale fall events next year so we can work in more HOS visits. The park felt to us like a whole land of Halloween to explore and enjoy. LOVE HOS 2017!
