My Fellow Thrillchasers Share Howl O Scream
I have been wanting to go to Howl-O-Scream Scream at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia for a while now. But somehow there never is the right time to go and there is always scheduling conflicts. I understand that this is a great Halloween attraction. As a part of the Thrillchasers group, the Official name of the Busch Gardens Ambassadors, I got to meet some amazing bloggers and because I could not attend this year I asked if it was okay to share their experiences on the blog. They totally agreed so here it goes.
First let me tell you a little bit about the bloggers. Laura blogs over at A Frugal Chick. She shares deals on a bunch of things especially discounts to theme parks so you need to check her blog out.
Oni blogs at OnezumiVerse, she is probably one of the hardest working people I know. She writes a blog, works full-time in the marketing world, as well as organizes two big conventions every year. And if you think that is not busy enough during the months of September and October she is on the road touring and writing about haunted attractions on the east coast. She is a woman after my own heart, she is not afraid to give her opinion no matter what company it is, just as the people at Universal Studios.
So now that I have the introductions out-of-the-way, let me share with you some of what they thought about Howl O” Scream.
This is Laura’s thoughts on one of their mazes.
After that we went over to another new maze, Cornered. It’s 1977 and a picturesque farming community is in an uproar over the ongoing disappearances of its residents. Each time someone goes missing, an intricate corn husk doll is left behind leading many to suspect local corn-farmer Jasper McCobb. The McCobb farm has fallen into disrepair since the death of Jasper’s mother. Could the missing townspeople be somewhere in the maze of maize? Join the search party and find out.
This was my FAVORITE new attraction. One of my biggest complaints about Howl-O-Scream is that every year it becomes less and less personalized. They use less make-up and more masks (for a million logistical reasons) so all the faces on the scary people start to look the same. In this maze they went with the corn theme so some of the masks were very unique looking compared to everything else in the park. When you walk across the floorboards the sound of the chain saws actually makes the floor shake- creating a complete experience.
At the end is a maze of mirrors. This was BY FAR the most disorienting thing I did in the park. They are so wonderfully frustrating! It was a beautiful maze inside and had some really great effects using corn! I LOVED this one.
Want to read the rest of Laura’s review head on over to A Frugal Chick and check it out.
Now Oni’s reviews are a little more in-depth as she brings a team with her to film the experience. Before I share with you some of her reviews, I want to point you to her haunted attractions review page. This page holds links to all the reviews she has done for past attractions.
Unearthed: Scarlett’s Revenge
This house is the “Can’t Miss” attraction of the entire event.
If you are a haunt junkie like us this house won’t be a stretch. This is a theme park, so most theme parks can’t ever approach the fear levels that an independent haunted attraction can. That said, you’ll definitely feel like BGW’s Howl O Scream is taking a game-changing step in the right direction.
We had so much fun in here.
These are the moments that people like me hope to see but rarely do. It’s when an event that you like a lot decides to create something that hits your demographic dead on and succeeds. I have not yet been to a theme park outside of Busch Gardens Tampa who has a haunted house that is this well done. This makes a lot of sense since I know that one of the designers from Tampa now works at BGW and worked on this.
Unearthed: Scarlett’s Revenge is a huge triumph for the park and for haunted house fans. They got it so incredibly right that I am not sure that I have words to describe it. If they keep moving in this direction they will have a world class family event with world class haunted houses that stoke the imagination and creativity of the next generation of haunters.
This year’s Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl O Scream went from being a great event that had something for everyone to a great event that REALLY had something for everyone – including me. I’m extremely excited to see what they do for next year. The returning houses are a lower intensity level, but the new houses are definitely a step in the right direction. Scarlett’s Revenge is the biggest triumph I’ve seen this year on my tour.You can also meet Scarlett at the photo op area, which is another Can’t Miss. The people they have playing her are fabulously saucy. Just the photo op is an event all by itself because of how you get to interact with her. You can even talk to her about her life and she will answer in character.
Oni also gives you a game plan for the park as well to read more of her review go here.
I want to thank Oni and Laura for allowing me to share part of their reviews on the blog today. This is the last weekend for Howl-O-Scream so make sure if you are in Virginia you check it out.
Similar Posts:
- A Curse at BUSCH GARDENS’ HOWL-O-SCREAM
- Thrill Chasing With a Great Group of Bloggers
- Christmas Shines Brightest at Busch Gardens
- Feeling Like Kid Again at Christmas Town
- Top Ten Reasons to Visit #ChristmasTown
