Howl-O-Scream 2014

[Bill-BGTFans]

Next year (September 2015) I will be spending my Honeymoon in Orlando - 1st week Disney, 2nd & 3rd week on I-Drive (as we did 3 years ago). I know to go to Busch from I-Drive they do free transport with FlexiTicket Plus (sold to us Brits endless times), and I know HOS is an add-on event. But does anyone know if it is possible to visit HOS from I-drive area and back? Do they put on transport/can anyone recommend any company that is a fair price? Cheers.

The park has not offered a bus service (through Mears) for HOS like they do with the daytime ticket. They get some requests every year, but so far they must not have had a big enough push for it since they don't offer it. The best option from Orlando is to rent a car and drive yourself down for HOS if it's a must. It's a shame, because I think the transportation issue keeps a lot of tourists in Orlando from coming down to HOS.

Does anyone have a decent promo code.

Define decent. Buying in advance online or buying at Publix seem to be the best prices for non-pass members ($50 - $55). They did offer a groupon last month for select dates that was able to be purchased for as low as $38.25.

 

[highkite]

Last year was the first year that I ever missed HOS (Father was in last stages of GBM brain cancer) I had many friends that were teachers in pinellas. they would generally buy the tickets. I am just trying to pick up where I left off.

 

[Hatetofly]

Last night I finally returned to HowlOScream and let me say I loved it! It's been years since my last visit to their annual Halloween Event and I was very impressed. I didn't have to pay for my admission since I was given a ticket but I did purchase the Fright Feast for the first time and let me say that might be the best value of any park anywhere.

With my paid admission ticket I was allowed to enter the park at 5pm and hit up Cheetah Hunt and its 15 min wait. Then venture over to the project 2016 area for a look around then over to Pantopia on my way to Fright Feast. Upon check in at Fright Feast I grabbed plenty to eat from the buffet. The food was decent at best, aside from those Garlic mashed potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake which were both biblical. Now here is where I was confused all the way up until sitting down for dinner. I thought Fright Feast was just early entry to a few houses and you get an early start on the crowds. I didn't realize it was essentially unlimited express for 90 mins lol. Words can't describe how awesome that value was. Alight onto the event review.

Scarezones: theming wise they leave something to be desired and scare wise they are decent, but it's the areas away from the themed zones that really thrive. The Ghillie suit teams are amazing and with buschgardens size and layout they rotate in and out all over the park. I saw some of the best scares in Morrocco of all places and of the best I've ever seen in a zone of any kind. Oh and best scare zone character in the park, was hands down the zombie wheel chair, I loved it!

Fiends: A decent show with some pretty cheesy punch lines. I felt like it tried a little to hard to be funny at times. The nurses were great but not a one was [HASHTAG]#theone[/HASHTAG] status lol. Bill and TED are light years ahead of this show in every way possible.

Houses, I rank them from worst to best and include how many run throughs I got in last night. It's also important to note I haven't been to this event in years so all these houses are new to me.

7. Circus of Superstition: this is essentially your typical 3D house with gag effects and lots of black light. The house wasn't scary nor was it interesting. A weak house in a relatively strong line up. 4/10

6. The basement: The house had great length as did many of the houses of HOS. But this one was just blah. Cast wasn't really into it and it seemed sort of thrown together. This house had meat but not quality meat. The rat AA at the end as well as the jumping skeleton were awesome though! 5/10

5. Blood Asylum: very well themed house with decent scares. Reminded me a lot of Psychoscarapy but with a tiny budget. Let me say though this was not a bad house and I think I missed a few scares due to a change in casts. 6/10

4. Zombie Containment Unit 15: Ok the award for most creative house goes to this one. This extreme laser tag was so much fun. I will warn you as my review is biased. I actually was able to do this house completely alone, I never saw another person start to finish. So I could see how many would dislike the house due to multiple guests being in the house together but going alone is the obvious game changer here lol. By the end I was i sweating and exhausted from running for 5 mins. I went off course. And back stage like 5 times. Hats off to Busch for trying something unique. Please note this would never work at HHN with its crowds. 6/10

3. Dead Fall: probably the best or second best themed house of the night I admit I was a little disappointed in it. But I'm pretty sure the only reason I was disappointed was due to missed scares and no actors in several spots. I loved the flowers and sets but just missed out on a lot of scares from the sound of things. Also didn't help the rain fell hard just as I was entering this house. Maybe that delayed a change and created confusion who knows. I went through at exactly 830. I wanted to do this house again but when I returned later that night the line appeared to be long. 7/10

2. Zombie Mortuary: WOW!!! This was the most intense house of the night. The cast really just nailed! Theming wise the house was good not great but with scares like this who cares. I do want to point out though that when I went through my eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness but still Even after they did I was still getting scares all the way to the end! A second run through later at night solidified it's spot up towards the top. 8/10

1. Dead Water Bayou: I freaking loved this house! The facade was my favorite of the event, the interior theming was amazing, and the cast continued to deliver. I really loved the scares in the queue and facade exterior as well. The transition from the voodoo queens house to the swamp was awesome. Even better was the swamp rooms and what I think may be the best back to back scares I've ever seen. The two bungee actors that came from the darkness with speed and intensity were just amazing. Words can't describe the terror they brought to everyone they encountered. My only knock would be some rooms just seemed thrown in and were reused from previous houses. But whatever I loved it. 9/10

House Count
Circus:1
Basement:1
Blood Asylum:1
Contaiment:1
Dead Fall:1
Zombie Mortuary:2
Dead Water Bayou:5

 

[Bill-BGTFans]

Glad to hear you had a good time HTF!

Agree with you on The Basement - last week it seemed almost understaffed. A few more scare actors in dead spots (no pun intended) would elevate this house I think.

Zombie Mortuary, being the oldest house still in the line-up, has been panned by a lot of returning guests. I think it's awesome from a non-repeat visitor to hear that it ranks so high. The cast in a house really can make all the difference.

 

[Tobias]

Out of curiosity, has anyone experienced or heard anything about this year's version of The Experiment? I'm really intruiged to hear if they improved it, though at the moment I've heard absolutely nothing about it this year.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Last night I finally returned to HowlOScream and let me say I loved it! It's been years since my last visit to their annual Halloween Event and I was very impressed. I didn't have to pay for my admission since I was given a ticket but I did purchase the Fright Feast for the first time and let me say that might be the best value of any park anywhere.

With my paid admission ticket I was allowed to enter the park at 5pm and hit up Cheetah Hunt and its 15 min wait. Then venture over to the project 2016 area for a look around then over to Pantopia on my way to Fright Feast. Upon check in at Fright Feast I grabbed plenty to eat from the buffet. The food was decent at best, aside from those Garlic mashed potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake which were both biblical. Now here is where I was confused all the way up until sitting down for dinner. I thought Fright Feast was just early entry to a few houses and you get an early start on the crowds. I didn't realize it was essentially unlimited express for 90 mins lol. Words can't describe how awesome that value was. Alight onto the event review.

Been sayin it for years!

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Well, here are some random comments I have after visiting last night:
-There seemed to be a (over?)use of large heads of different sorts that pop out at guests (such as a giant crocodile or... well some of them weren't identifiable lol) in many of the houses, several of which I know did not have them last year. Some of them really don't make sense, though, haha.
-I know a lot of people disliked the Zombie Containment Unit because of the fact that the zombies were almost always unable to "attack" anyone, but I still thought it was a great house, and certainly should be brought back, though hopefully in the future they can figure out a way to avoid having the zombies perpetually stunned by guests.
-Death Water Bayou is still gives the biggest scares (other than The Experiment), with the two scare actors who flew at me in the same room being the only things causing me to actually jump in fear the entire night.
-Deadfall was well-themed, and probably the most un-cheesy house I saw all night (not to say any of them are bad, it's just that some are a little less serious)

 

[Octobers Fade]

Well the creative director of HOS was just let go from SeaWorld/Busch today.
Really have to wonder what this holds for the future of the event going forward, seems they cutting alot to satisfy shareholders.

 

[Nick]

Well the creative director of HOS was just let go from SeaWorld/Busch today.
Really have to wonder what this holds for the future of the event going forward, seems they cutting alot to satisfy shareholders.

Yep, and the other guy who had a lot of creative say in BGT's HOS (and entertainment in general), Alex Crow, was sent out to Williamsburg about a year ago. Who knows if he'll meet the same fate as Swenson, but either way, BGT has lost a lot of creative talent over the past year.