Past Howl-O-Scream Attractions threads

[The Kid]

The wicked woods maze logo looks vaguely like the wendigo woods logo.

 

[wombat96]

There was a kid's maze in 2000 called 'Howl-O'

Where did this take place?
Also, I found a great pic of the swamp scene from Jack's Nightmare Express.

 

[Applesauce]

^The kid maze was held in the extended queue for Wild Maus. It was basically just a little walk through with some fairytales if I remember correctly. It was more fall themed than anything else.

 

[wombat96]

Thanks!
Does anyone remember the name of the Pumpkin Jack used to carry?

I wanna say it was named something like Patchie.

 

[wombat96]

Sorry for the double post but did the New France bridge tell a story or was it just screaming. I remember a voice would come on randomly saying "Get off my bridge! SCREAM!" I hope to see it return at some point. I really appreciate small details like that.

 

[netdvn]

That was the troll bridge linking Pompeii to Festa. The bridge would shake, there'd be strobe effects, and the recording would basically say "Get off my bridge". As of 2012, the effect still worked, but I didn't see it last year on any of my walkthroughs.

 

[wombat96]

I know about the San Marco bridge because that startled me quite a few times. But I remember vividly the recording was originally on the New France Bridge. Remember the Troll originated from the Caribou station, then the Wild Reserve, and then the San Marco bridge. I wanna say the recording was moved in 2008 or 2007 to the San Marco bridge.

 

[Party Rocker]

The New France bridge did have some effect similar to the Pompeii bridge. Not as much dialogue that I can remember. The bridge in New France typically has an extremely powerful Bose speaker that resembles a bazooka in design. Excellent sound quality.

The Pompeii bridge is much more of a story with the troll and strobes, and such effects. The shaking is really just the 50+ speakers added to the bottom of the bridge turned up really loud.

Both bridges provide great effects.

 

[wombat96]

Looking around some more I found some lovely Festa Dementia pictures.

And I finally found some pictures of the living statue scarezone in San Marco.

 

[Nicole]

Living statues completely terrify Doctor Who fans...

 

[Party Rocker]

I want living statues back again. I never had the opportunity to check them out, plus they sound like a cool idea.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

Blah blah..... Doctor Who blah...

*reports post*

 

[wombat96]

I want living statues back again. I never had the opportunity to check them out, plus they sound like a cool idea.

I spent 30 minutes just watching them. It was only like three actors , a few statues , and fog but it was incredible.

 

[MrLaptop]

...Until they shoot.

 

[wombat96]

Look what I found on the Daily Press Site:

Howl-o-scream Ready To Scare More Than Ever
October 06, 2000|By MIKE HOLTZCLAW Daily Press
A year ago, Busch Gardens unveiled its new Halloween attraction and immediately had a problem.

It's a problem all theme parks wish they had - more demand than the staff could handle.

When it first opened, Howl-o-Scream created endless lines and interminable waits, while the roller coasters and other rides were practically deserted. Park management was left scrambling to adjust the Howl-o-Scream schedule and to get enough staffers in the park to handle the crowds.




"It's not that we were understaffed - it's that the new attractions were overly popular," explains Gregg Klich, vice president of park operations. "The lines were longer than we'd normally like our lines to be. We started making adjustments after the first weekend, and we started planning for 2000 immediately."

One year later, those plans are about to be tested. The first change: Howl-o-Scream is opening today, one week earlier than it did in 1999. There are more attractions this time around, and they will be opening earlier in the day to provide more time for guests to visit each one.

The most popular Howl-o-Scream attraction from last year was the Transylvania Express, an after- dark train ride through ghoul-infested woods.

"The Transylvania Express has been juiced up a little bit, with some new additions," Klich says. "We were riding it last night, and there are a couple of pretty huge surprises there."

The centerpiece to this year's Howl-o-Scream is No Escape From Pompeii, an elaborately themed maze in which guests work their way through a mysterious archeological dig while the nearby volcano threatens to erupt at any time.

As with a year ago, Howl-o-Scream will include musical shows, children's activities and other entertainment with a Halloween theme.

The biggest scheduling change this year is that most major Howl-o-Scream attractions will open at noon. Last year, many of them did not start until 6 p.m.

"Our vision last year was that most people would come in the evenings, so that's how we set it up," Klich says. "We quickly realized that wasn't happening. We had daytime patrons who wanted to participate, along with an overwhelming number of nighttime patrons. We made some modifications last year, and this year, with attractions opening at noon, our patrons should have 10 or 11 hours to take in all of the Howl-o-Scream attractions."

Kelly Wiglesworth, the tankini-clad runner-up on the hit CBS game show "Survivor," will be at Busch Gardens today to kick off Howl-o-Scream. Park guests will be selected to compete against her in "challenges" related to the Howl-o-Scream attractions.

howl-o-scream

WHERE: Busch Gardens in Williamsburg

WHEN: Today through the end of the season.

PARK SCHEDULE: Open Fridays through Sundays until Oct. 29. On Fridays and Saturdays, park opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. On Sundays, park opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. Most Howl-o-Scream attractions are open by noon.

TICKETS: $37 adults, $30 children; $60 three-day passes.

INFORMATION: 253-3350, or visit the Web sites at www.buschgardens.com or www.howloscream.com.

Link

September 15, 2006
At the park, each attraction is assigned a rating from one pumpkin (kid- friendly, not very scary) to five pumpkins (extremely scary, no one under 17 allowed). Howl-O-Scream includes a good mix of all the different "pumpkin ratings" to make sure there's something for everyone.

Piratical Purgatory: Pirate skeletons invading the park's England section.

Land of the Dragons: The park's children's area -- not much different than it is during the day.

Monster Street Party: Ghouls and goblins get down in the park's Germany section, dancing with guests under atmospheric lighting.




Werewolf Reserve: It's Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve during the day, but there's a full moon every night, so you'd better watch out.

Festa: The clowns will lure you into the park's Italy section, where you will be treated to a freaky sideshow full of pranks.

Jack's Nightmare Express: A ride on the park's railroad is a very different experience once it's given the Howl-O-Scream treatment.

Last Laugh Industries: A haunted maze in the Italy section, designed to look like a toy factory operated by evil clowns.

Curse of Pompeii: A haunted house-type maze beneath the Escape from Pompeii ride is patterned after an archaeological dig site.

Sleepless Hollow: Haunted house set in the Black Forest, built around the legend of the Headless Horseman -- not for the faint of heart.

Wicked Woods: The new maze, in the park's England section, has a Victorian theme that makes reference to the Great Fire of London and even the bubonic plague.

Witchy Poo and Pumpkin: A fun musical show for kids in the Land of the Dragons.

Jack is Back: Jack, as in jack-o'-lanterns -- the carved pumpkins come to life, along with some friends.

Starfright Orchestra: A musical show hosted by a zombie and featuring Halloween hits at the Teatro di San Marco in the Italy section.

Fiends in the Festhaus: The Festhaus takes on the trappings of 17th-century Transylvania, with monsters doing Motown.

Monster Stomp: A rockin' revue at the Canadian Palladium, at which devilish dancers do their thing to the music of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix and others.

Rockin' Eve's Countdown to Midnight (opens Sept. 22): A live show at the Royal Palace Theatre, combining the magic of Aaron Radatz with hot rock tunes.

HOWLIN' HINTS

Daily Press assistant features editor Dave Schleck, a frequent guest at Busch Gardens, offers some tips to help you plan your Howl-O-Scream adventure:

* Despite the long lines, the train ride on Jack's Nightmare Express is hard to resist. The clickety-clack of the train running through the woods really sets the mood.



* The clowns in Italy's Festa are surprisingly photogenic. Say cheese!

* In addition to the Curse of Pompeii maze (which has lots of frights around every corner), part of the curiosity is to see what lurks beneath the popular Escape from Pompeii water ride.

* Sleepless Hollow Manor features by far the most "scream-like-a-girl" antics of any Howl-O-Scream attraction. Don't miss this one.

* The new Wicked Woods maze sounds suspiciously like the old haunt the park once had in its former petting zoo, which included a writhing figure hanging from a noose. Let's hope this year's creation is fully original.

* The Jack is Back show is not for the claustrophobic -- Jack commands an elbow-to-elbow audience. But dancing to the Village People was never so much fun.

* The vocals that accompany the Starfright Orchestra is in need of an overhaul. The makeup and singing has been frightening in the past (and not in a good way). *

Link

 

[wombat96]

After a lot of searching I found sites with Wicked Wood entrance, Last Laugh entance, and a bunch of other HOS stuff here and here!(Ignore the first one is tagged under Alpengeist, it still has HOS pictures.) I would post these but there under copyright. Highly recommend to check out these links. Great HOS pictures!

 

[Applesauce]

Notice the lack of decorations in the first link. There really wasn't must in the way of decorations for HoS back then. The exception being Festa.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

Festa could use all the decorations it can get.

 

[Applesauce]

^Back then Festa got all the decorations. Like there were clowns everywhere. On top of buildings, hanging off of light poles, in dark corners that nowadays they wouldn't think of putting decorations in.

Not to mention some other means of decorations like the spinning wheel and cannons. Then you had the side show freak scare actors. Festa was the place for a decorated area, in comparison to everywhere else.

 

[wombat96]

Wild Reserve was pretty solid in my opinion. There was tombstones, wolves, and live wolves on the loose! (Oh wait, those were just actors? Ah I see.)