Howl-O-Scream 2018

[OrlLover]

I think the event definitely has a tone problem...Just look at all the new houses and you'll feel it...Also, the choice to blast Skrillex throughout the park is a very odd one

It used to feel like the park had morphed into something terrifying when HOS opened
Now it feels like Summer Nights, but with Zombies

Again, I've been going to HOS since 2000...I see some scary things in its future, not the good kind

Well according to someone here they fired their creative guy. So maybe they need to start with finding a new one.

 

[shiekra38]

Well according to someone here they fired their creative guy. So maybe they need to start with finding a new one.

They did

I think they need to start by taking it seriously again....I don't think they realized what a major player they were in theme park haunts

 

[Octobers Fade]

New found respect for HOS Tampa, even though I see it going down hill every year now, we went to Williamsburg and wow was it bad, pathetic is a great word to describe their houses
Going Saturday again to see if there are any improvements from the preview weekend
Surprised how bad some park haunts are Carowinds was just OK, Kings Island (voted #1 by USA Today) was really bad, and Knotts was a blast.

 

[GAcoaster]

New found respect for HOS Tampa, even though I see it going down hill every year now, we went to Williamsburg and wow was it bad, pathetic is a great word to describe their houses
Going Saturday again to see if there are any improvements from the preview weekend
Surprised how bad some park haunts are Carowinds was just OK, Kings Island (voted #1 by USA Today) was really bad, and Knotts was a blast.

Yes, but HOS Tampa is a hard ticket while HOS Williamsburg is included with admission. There's a difference in quality because there's a huge difference in budgets since one recoups its cost through ticket sales while the other serves to keep people coming to the park in what used to be a slow season.

Their Christmas events are like that too, with Williamsburg's being much more elaborate as a hard tickets while Tampa is included with admission.

 

[MakoMania]

Yes, but HOS Tampa is a hard ticket while HOS Williamsburg is included with admission. There's a difference in quality because there's a huge difference in budgets since one recoups its cost through ticket sales while the other serves to keep people coming to the park in what used to be a slow season.

Their Christmas events are like that too, with Williamsburg's being much more elaborate as a hard tickets while Tampa is included with admission.

SeaWorld Orlando's Christmas event is also included with admission but is arguably one of the best theme park christmas events in the world.

 

[shiekra38]

New found respect for HOS Tampa, even though I see it going down hill every year now, we went to Williamsburg and wow was it bad, pathetic is a great word to describe their houses
Going Saturday again to see if there are any improvements from the preview weekend
Surprised how bad some park haunts are Carowinds was just OK, Kings Island (voted #1 by USA Today) was really bad, and Knotts was a blast.

Knott's rivals HHN

 

[Octobers Fade]

SeaWorld Orlando's Christmas event is also included with admission but is arguably one of the best theme park christmas events in the world.

Xmas town was nice.

Yes, but HOS Tampa is a hard ticket while HOS Williamsburg is included with admission. There's a difference in quality because there's a huge difference in budgets since one recoups its cost through ticket sales while the other serves to keep people coming to the park in what used to be a slow season.

Their Christmas events are like that too, with Williamsburg's being much more elaborate as a hard tickets while Tampa is included with admission.

Xmas town was a hard ticket, and they should start charging because it was horrible. They were given a great haunt in Demented Dimensions and ruined it.

 

[GAcoaster]

Xmas town was a hard ticket, and they should start charging because it was horrible. They were given a great haunt in Demented Dimensions and ruined it.

BGW has a different business model with different competition. Their HOS is free because all their competitors have it free with regular admission. There's no way they could make it an upcharge unless Kings Dominion and Six Flags do the same. They do a better job with HOS at BGW than their competition which is all that matters. You want KBF/HHN level stuff you have to pay extra for it.

 

[Speed]

I went to HOS once a week this October and just wanted to give my opinion on some of the houses and such.
The Black Spot: Looks nice, but for 5+ run-throughs of it, it's not scary at all and only should be done if every other house has a 60-minute wait.
Motel Hell: The scenes are still amazing for this house, but the actors never seemed to care, the scares were mediocre at best compared to years past.
Insomia: Really nice house with great scaring techniques but it's a pain to walk through. The staff sends what seems like 75 people at a time so it takes 8 minutes to walk through the house. Besides that, the house was one of the best this year for me.
DWB: Another great house with some great scares, as much as it needs to leave I hope it stays another year since there are already other houses that need work.
Unearthed: Not too scary this year, but it was a nice house to go through, the flashlights were a nice touch.
Simon's Slaughterhouse: 17+ rating made no sense as we've seen other houses like the Basement do basically the same thing. The splitting up portion that was a reused concept from last year was also dumb since you split up for no more than 5 seconds. Besides that part, it was a pretty good house but could use a few more scares.
The zones: In the zones this year it seemed like the actors had a lot less energy than last year. Instead of scaring or sneaking up on guest, they would instead just stop and scare, giving off a creepy vibe. The gilly suits zone and the sliders were cool though.
Really not sure what they're going to do next year. Saturday's show that they need more than 6 houses as 80+ min waits per ride and house is just dreadful. But since Unearthed is leaving, they have a 6-year-old house, and the Black Spot is rated -5/10 by most, I have no idea what they're going to do.

 

[SeventyOne]

Hit this up Saturday for the first time in a decade or so--everything was new to me. Broke down and bought Express, knew last Saturday before Halloween would be packed so that was fully expected. Prices were very nice in comparison to HHN so that eased the pain a bit. Then the event started ...

First, Ops are a mess, far worse than UOR on even a bad day. Severe lack of signage, employees who have no clue what's going on. No wait times posted on queues. Just felt like amateur hour compared to the Orlando parks. Also, far more kids than HHN--saw plenty of strollers. Event by far seems to be teen-driven.

As for the houses ... woof. Again, everything new to me. The only one I thought came close to being in the conversation with HHN (or even that haunt at Old Town) is Simon's Slaughterhouse. Not sure why it was 17+--I think maybe I saw a naked breast on a mannequin?--but we hit a solid case, the sets and the costumes were at a fairly high level.

The Black Spot was actually my #2. Amazing facade, nice sets. However, what few actors there were had costumes that wouldn't cut it at a Ren Faire. Biggest problem here and throughout the event--there is no special effects make-up. It's all either masks or greasepaint. That and just a lack of scare-actors.

As for the other four: Insomnia is a clever idea and starts strong with the spider room, but then just became a slog. G/f liked Motel Hell but did nothing for me. A couple nice scares in Unearthed but no real sense of story or place-building. Bayou house just sort of there.

Scare-zones were meh. Day of the Dead was just a photo op zone, no attempts to scare. The five or six actor evil toy zone has the misfortune to invite comparisons to the Chucky zone up I-4. Camp DOA was probably the best but again, just masks. I could see all of these and the camouflaged guys working better in a near-empty park, but with the crowds Saturday night, same lack of scares that has driven HHN to try new approaches.

Fiends was ... I don't know. Look, I get it was crafted by B&T refugees over the years, tho I actually think it has more Beetlejuice's Graveyard Review DNA in it. They give so many warnings about the upcoming offensive content, only to offer two questionable jokes (a tired "Head Nurse" reference and a Trump joke that maybe could've been worth a chuckle with better delivery). And the break-dancing Mummy was straight out of 1984's Breakin' 2. So I guess that's retro cool now? G/f lost it when these professional Chippendales were forced to do the "Monster Mash" like a bunch of first graders doing a Halloween show. That kind of sums the show up--a nice venue, plenty of talent, but zero idea how to use those effectively.

Finally the event has a lot of walking for so little content. I get Sheikra and other coasters are near the back (and the coasters are the main event here, longer lines than the houses), but it felt like the event would work better with half the park shuttered. Five minute walks past nothing, just empty animal pens.

Underwhelmed enough I won't be back--and perhaps I'll let up a little on HHN28's issues. I have to recommend skipping this one.

 

[ProColor]

Hit this up Saturday for the first time in a decade or so--everything was new to me. Broke down and bought Express, knew last Saturday before Halloween would be packed so that was fully expected. Prices were very nice in comparison to HHN so that eased the pain a bit. Then the event started ...

First, Ops are a mess, far worse than UOR on even a bad day. Severe lack of signage, employees who have no clue what's going on. No wait times posted on queues. Just felt like amateur hour compared to the Orlando parks. Also, far more kids than HHN--saw plenty of strollers. Event by far seems to be teen-driven.

As for the houses ... woof. Again, everything new to me. The only one I thought came close to being in the conversation with HHN (or even that haunt at Old Town) is Simon's Slaughterhouse. Not sure why it was 17+--I think maybe I saw a naked breast on a mannequin?--but we hit a solid case, the sets and the costumes were at a fairly high level.

The Black Spot was actually my #2. Amazing facade, nice sets. However, what few actors there were had costumes that wouldn't cut it at a Ren Faire. Biggest problem here and throughout the event--there is no special effects make-up. It's all either masks or greasepaint. That and just a lack of scare-actors.

As for the other four: Insomnia is a clever idea and starts strong with the spider room, but then just became a slog. G/f liked Motel Hell but did nothing for me. A couple nice scares in Unearthed but no real sense of story or place-building. Bayou house just sort of there.

Scare-zones were meh. Day of the Dead was just a photo op zone, no attempts to scare. The five or six actor evil toy zone has the misfortune to invite comparisons to the Chucky zone up I-4. Camp DOA was probably the best but again, just masks. I could see all of these and the camouflaged guys working better in a near-empty park, but with the crowds Saturday night, same lack of scares that has driven HHN to try new approaches.

Fiends was ... I don't know. Look, I get it was crafted by B&T refugees over the years, tho I actually think it has more Beetlejuice's Graveyard Review DNA in it. They give so many warnings about the upcoming offensive content, only to offer two questionable jokes (a tired "Head Nurse" reference and a Trump joke that maybe could've been worth a chuckle with better delivery). And the break-dancing Mummy was straight out of 1984's Breakin' 2. So I guess that's retro cool now? G/f lost it when these professional Chippendales were forced to do the "Monster Mash" like a bunch of first graders doing a Halloween show. That kind of sums the show up--a nice venue, plenty of talent, but zero idea how to use those effectively.

Finally the event has a lot of walking for so little content. I get Sheikra and other coasters are near the back (and the coasters are the main event here, longer lines than the houses), but it felt like the event would work better with half the park shuttered. Five minute walks past nothing, just empty animal pens.

Underwhelmed enough I won't be back--and perhaps I'll let up a little on HHN28's issues. I have to recommend skipping this one.

Sorry to hear that. I agree with most of your sentiments, except that I'm a big fan of Motel Hell/Death Water Bayou. I'd say if you want an event outside of Orlando worth it (though it's done for this hear), head to Sir Henry's/Ominous Descent. Cheaper, calmer, far less crowded than theme parks, and more consistent scars (Ominous Descent especially, the most intense cast I've ever had in a house before).

Anyways, if I wasnt nearby, I wouldn't head to Howl o Scream. It's just not worth it when there's better haunts available nearby for less.

 

[RyanH]

2 thoughts: will there be a 2019 thread? And they have an extended calendar for HOS this year, think they will add more houses and get new themes houses? If there are more than 3 repeated houses I will not be attending this year

 

[UNIrd]

2 thoughts: will there be a 2019 thread? And they have an extended calendar for HOS this year, think they will add more houses and get new themes houses? If there are more than 3 repeated houses I will not be attending this year

Then you won't be attending this year.

 

[RyanH]

Then you won't be attending this year.

Isn’t it tiring to go year after year for the same thing.

 

[Brian G.]

2 thoughts: will there be a 2019 thread? And they have an extended calendar for HOS this year, think they will add more houses and get new themes houses? If there are more than 3 repeated houses I will not be attending this year

Eventually - when there is news. I like HoS but it's not what HHN is - as evident by the lack of discussion until now.

But yes - there will most likely many repeated houses. It's just how they operate.

 

[Nick]

Isn’t it tiring to go year after year for the same thing.

HoS doesn’t have the budget to do a ton of new houses every year. They have to work with what they are given.

 

[GAcoaster]

And, unless attendance drops off significantly they won't have much impetus to change that. It's still a very popular event and makes a lot of money.

 

[MakoMania]

Most theme park halloween events in the world are lucky to get a single new house each year.

Being so close to the unmatchable budgets of HHN doesn't do HOS any favours because it really is a world class event in the grand scheme of things.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Yeah after doing Kings Island’s HAUNT last year, which is regarded as a top 5 park Halloween event, I can safely say that Howl O Scream is still second best behind HHN. Some of the other stuff out there is just flat out terrible.