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I think that also rules out a potentially legitimate Halloween event that they thought might have overwhelming demand.
 
Is the park even normally open on Wednesday's this time of year. It seems like a slow period to have mid-week openings anyway.
Usually during this time of year which would be Howloscream we’d have Friday Saturday and Sunday and some Thursdays
 
Usually during this time of year which would be Howloscream we’d have Friday Saturday and Sunday and some Thursdays

A handful of Wednesdays were added last year and they were planned to return for this year too before COVID. The pre-COVID 2020 calendar can be found here if you’d like to reminisce about what should have been...
 
Ouch, that's a real bummer. I'd have to imagine profits and attendance are considerably down on week nights for Taste of Busch Gardens as school is now in session for all of the surrounding counties and it just doesn't justify keeping the park open an extra day of the week. The reduction in nights this early really makes me worried about how realistic it is for the park to be open for a December event at all, and I seriously doubt the park will even try to stay open in weekends during November at this point. With indoor dining and shows being off the table, the park is going to have to get really creative to make something work. I would make sure to get in your visits now and next month as the future for the 2020 season is very uncertain after October if things keep going this way.

Notable that when marketing 2021 fun cards they specifically mention the October event but make no promises for the rest of the year, which doesn’t preclude an event existing but does certainly leave them room to abandon those plans.

I do think that they’ll do Christmas Town: Just The Lights and Hot Chocolate, to be honest, as I do think that it can be a draw in its own right. But I do think that the market for a not fully realized Halloween event is iffy, so not shocked the Wednesdays disappeared.
 
It definitely seems like they are at least trying to match a scaled down version of the Tampa plan, per hiring: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=busch+gardens+williamsburg+hiring&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo-NOZ1uzrAhVjlnIEHcZdDGwQiYsCKAJ6BAgNECk&sxsrf=ALeKk01k2XRbmU34uoksmQ4PIWl2MtkLcQ:1600224874533#htivrt=jobs&htidocid=Dwo4OV_EjF9iUPLuAAAAAA==&fpstate=tldetail

Note that they're looking for a rehire, which would reduce training time. Curious to see where they're intending to put them.
 
It definitely seems like they are at least trying to match a scaled down version of the Tampa plan, per hiring: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=busch+gardens+williamsburg+hiring&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo-NOZ1uzrAhVjlnIEHcZdDGwQiYsCKAJ6BAgNECk&sxsrf=ALeKk01k2XRbmU34uoksmQ4PIWl2MtkLcQ:1600224874533#htivrt=jobs&htidocid=Dwo4OV_EjF9iUPLuAAAAAA==&fpstate=tldetail

Note that they're looking for a rehire, which would reduce training time. Curious to see where they're intending to put them.
Dang I worked for Scare squad last year but am not eligible this year which sucks due to not working 2017
 
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I wonder if Busch will bring back some of the Scare zones that are usually there like ripper row or sideshow for this event or if it’ll be all new
 
I've seen many posts where people are asking what rides are open for these special events. If people can't even figure that out by reading the park's emails, social media posts, or website they are certainly not going to figure out that the Halloween event is not the typical Howl-O-Scream. Many people will show up and be unhappy.
 
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I've seen many posts where people are asking what rides are open for these special events. If people can't even figure that out by reading the park's emails, social media posts, or website they are certainly not going to figure out that the Halloween event is not the typical Howl-O-Scream. Many people will show up and be unhappy. Because people.

I fixed that for you
 
No rumors, just what I hope would happen
While this isn’t a rumor and most likely just a mistake, the park did change the calendar to include HOS and Count’s Spooktacular. Keep in mind, this change happened during the first week of September, as it originally only said Fall Special Event, and then they added HOS and Count’s Spooktacular for about week or two, and then it was suddenly removed. It could be a total concidence and was potentially on some sort of timer to be added to the site during the normal season, but If you try and go to: https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/events/howl-o-scream/
you are quickly redirected to the special event page. You can still access the HOS shows individually through the search bar, but the haunted house, terrortories, and event info are all hidden and redirect you once again to the main special events page. This leads me to believe that with actors being hired, we are going to see HOS lite during the night time event, at least.

I’m going to the park tonight and will keep my eyes out for any changes around the park associated with this upcoming Fall event.
 
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While this isn’t a rumor and most likely just a mistake, the park did change the calendar to include HOS and Count’s Spooktacular. Keep in mind, this change happened during the first week of September, as it originally only said Fall Special Event, and then they added HOS and Count’s Spooktacular for about week or two, and then it was suddenly removed. It could be a total concidence and was potentially on some sort of timer to be added to the site during the normal season, but If you try and go to: https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/events/howl-o-scream/
you are quickly redirected to the special event page. You can still access the HOS shows individually through the search bar, but the haunted house, terrortories, and event info are all hidden and redirect you once again to the main special events page. This leads me to believe that with actors being hired, we are going to see HOS lite during the night time event, at least.

I’m going to the park tonight and will keep my eyes out for any changes around the park associated with this upcoming Fall event.
Actors cost money, but don't bring in any incremental revenue if the park is already selling out it's 1000 tickets easily. Compare that to an employee selling ice cream or wine tastings that brings in incremental revenue being there regardless of the ticket caps. Actors are great when there's not a fixed cap on guests and they can drive ticket sales beyond what the park's everyday attractions do.

IMO there will be the bare minimum of expenses spent to ensure 1000 guests come in every session. Beyond that everybody else will need to be bringing in more revenue to justify being there.
 
While this isn’t a rumor and most likely just a mistake, the park did change the calendar to include HOS and Count’s Spooktacular. Keep in mind, this change happened during the first week of September, as it originally only said Fall Special Event, and then they added HOS and Count’s Spooktacular for about week or two, and then it was suddenly removed. It could be a total concidence and was potentially on some sort of timer to be added to the site during the normal season, but If you try and go to: https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/events/howl-o-scream/

That happened throughout the summer: the calendar is just auto-populating the dates that were originally placed into the schedule. No clue why they haven't figured out how to keep it from happening.

The fact they're hiring scare actors at all means they're planning SOMETHING, but we really have no idea of scale. And I've long been a proponent in this thread of running kid-friendly experiences during the morning and scary stuff during the evening, but it's unclear if they could ever get the messaging clear on that.
 
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