Racheal here, it's October, and that means that it's the best time of year! It's starting to cool off in the Northern part of the United States and it's haunt season. What a combination! Erik and I decided to take a family trip to Virginia, not only to visit my family but to check out Howl-o-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. We spent two days at the park, in an attempt to ride everything and walk through all the mazes and see all the shows.

Erik here, we're going to try and double team this review since there is a lot to talk about, and you don't want to read two really long articles. Also we have loads of pictures, and some vids along the way too, not to mention an exclusive edition of Behind The Thrills featuring an interview with the VP of Entertainment for Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

Episode 53:Boo Gardens Spooktacular!

Behind the Thrills

Until 6pm:
If you have small children, this is the best time to take them to Busch Gardens. There are Halloween shows for the kids in Sesame Street, and there are decorations to look at around the park. There's no dense fog, no scare-actors, and no eerie noises. All the rides are open this year with the exception of Escape from Pompeii and Corkscrew Hill. In place of those attractions are houses. Pompeii has become Revenge of Pompeii, which until 5:30pm is just a walk through with a couple tour guides explaining the history behind the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. It's a pretty cool experience and our 8 year old loved it the second time. Corkscrew Hill becomes the Cavern of Darkness, which is extremely dark. By extremely dark, I mean, so dark in some places an employee was standing in a corner with a flashlight lighting up the path long enough for you to see where you're going without spoiling the scare. Yes, it's dark, and yes, there are scare-actors in this maze! Until 5:30 it's a little more tame than it is at night.

So, if you have a young child who is easily scared, I suggest you take your children during the day. This by all means is a family event and there's stuff for your kids to do at night, but there will be scare-actors on the pathway after 6pm and they may try and scare your child. That does not mean that this event isn't for kids. This is a family friendly event after all.

Erik: I was really surprised how much detail went into the park during the day. The park doesn't close like a lot of other parks, so it's just a straight jump. You get a lot of zones and like Rach said two of the houses were open for daytime walkthroughs so your little ones can get an idea of what it's like. The official word is that you don't want to bring your kids into the park after dark, but I saw a great deal of little kids, and there is a whole lot to do for everyone, but you have to walk those scare zones.

Wolf/Christmastown:

Of course one thing we had to check on was the status of Big Bad Wolf. It's one thing I miss at HOS, riding it at night through the fog and the darkness, so we just had to check on it. There really was no progress on the demolition of it, but the shop selling wolf merchandise was gone...or at least it didnt have wolf merchandise anymore. It was full of shirts from other countries. The queue for Wolf is boarded up, and the old girl is untouched.

Then there's Christmastown. That you can see work on. Lights are starting to go up in certain places, and you can see some decorations in the queue line for Bitten.

After 6pm:
After 6pm, the other four houses open, and Revenge of Pompeii turns scary. Scare-actors will be out on the pathways, fog, eerie noises, and music will begin. Sesame Street is still just as friendly for the kids, with all kids of lit-up halloween decorations! Some rides are still open, however there will be four attractions that close. At 5pm, Roman Rapids and Le Scoot Log Flume close for the night. As I stated earlier, Escape from Pompeii and Corkscrew Hill will not be open either. All the other rides should be open, so while you're not walking through a house, or you're waiting to do a childswap for the ones who are too scared to walk through, the little ones can still ride the rides or watch shows, like Jack is Back!

Houses:
Bitten (Oktoberfest): Once you're half-way through the house, the floor is covered in sand. It's extremely hard to walk on in some places, as the sand is deeper than other places. I'll never forget one of the vampires that put her thumb to her nose and was wiggling her fingers (gosh, I don't remember what this is called.. but usually kids say 'na na na na boo boo' when they do it!) and I started laughing, and she got in my face and said 'who said you could laugh?'. AWESOME. I also had a vampire get so close they could breathe on my neck. It sent chills up my spine. The level of detail in the house was also pretty good. I really liked this one, it was probably one of my favorites!

Overall 5/5

Erik: Same here. It was really well detailed, and just had a lot of actors in it pushing the envelope. The one thing I loved about this house is that it made use of the shadows and corridors without relying too heavy on boo-doors. If you have ever been to a house and someone pops out from behind a door or a wall...thats a boo-door, a staple in the haunts and over used as it's the easiest scare to get. This house relied more on actual physical haunts and costumes then I was expecting. The sand..a bit weird....but the unexpected is always welcomed. There was one cool effect that we were told to look for...did'nt see it....at least I don't think we did. One of the vamps though was dressed so differently than the others that it took me off guard, and distracted me while another group pounced. The only downside to this house I saw was that the costumes weren't consitent with the whole house...it's like they did a dress up day and told you to "dress scary" and everyone got what they could find from dad's closet. Some of the actors had facial hair...others didn't...some had glasses, others didn't...it's not a bad thing...just a small thing I noticed.

Overall a 5 of 5.
Hunted (Oktoberfest): The level of detail in this house is pretty awesome! At one point, I felt like I was walking through a forest. There's a tree that's been tipped over in the very beginning, but I think that's always been there. There's also a guy who hangs out somewhere near the ceiling (I guess, not to sure about this one) and he jumps towards you, but he's attached to a bungee cord. This guy in pretty accurate! He came down in front of me and came less than an inch from my face. If I would have taken another step forward, imagine what could have happened. Can you say.. awesome anticipation? Really liked this one.

Overall 4/5

Erik: This one was a miss for me. The wolves were okay, but plainly visible. It had great detail in some parts, and the scares that I didn't see coming were dead on, such as the bungee...that crap in a house is insane! I've seen it before, but not that close! Love that. The sound effects also seemed a tad off as you couldn't see where they were coming from until you rounded the corner and had a "OH YEAH!" moment. Still a good house, and used the area well.

Overall 3.5 of 5.

Cursed (Festa Italia): Detail here is good as well. Friday night when we walked through this one, there were thunderstorm sounds and water dripping from the ceiling, sort of like rain. I was not expecting this house to become a water ride! When we walked through Saturday, the water seemed to be off. That section of the house wasn't as cool as it was Friday night, but I can only guess that the effect was not on because Friday was still pretty hot in the evening, and Saturday was a lot cooler. A lady carrying a rat approached my soon-to-be step-son and asked if he'd like to pet it. Boy, was he terrified! This house is stobe-intense. Saturday, a scare-actor was pointing me in the right director, and I stood there wondering why he was blocking my way.. And there was probably a wall behind him! Go ahead.. Laugh!

Overall 4.5/5

Erik: Parts of this had alot of detail, such as the thunderstorm effects. But this house snaked inside and out in a lot of places, which tends to....curse....a lot of houses. They just dont tend to transition well. That wasn't entirely the case with Cursed, it had a lot of great scares and the outside parts made use of the land, but it just kind of messed with the contiuation of the house. Also apparently there were a lot of props used from other houses...like a giant book....it made for great hiding places, but tended to distract from the scares as you puzzled "what the hell is that?" But the actors are what made this one. It was all about the people behind the witches...which reminds me..why was the mother of the twin witches confused? She couldn't tell which witch was which! I kill me.

Overall 4 of 5.

Revenge of Pompeii (Italy): This is the Curse of Pompeii regurgitated, however, I think the house is much better than it was in previous years. There's new stuff hanging from the ceiling that you have to walk through, and it seems the plastic flaps have been replaced with fabric - yay! I didn't see any mummies, but I did see tour guides with bloody faces! I really liked this house compared to past years.

Overall 3/5

Erik: I had never seen this house...this after all, being my first BGW HOS. I was impressed with the facade, it was Pompeii after all. But you could tell this house just had been used over and over. I was impressed with the actors in this one. They put a lot into it with almost no room to work in. The animatronics were predictable, and the use of "clothes lines" was over done. I liked how the natural feel of this area lent itself to the house, but from there...eh, I lost a bit of interest.

Overall 3 of 5.

Cavern of Darkness (Ireland): Corkscrew Hill has been turned into a house! How awesome! This one opens at 12pm, with less scare-actors until 5:30. After 5:30, more scare-actors appear in the house. The name is exactly what it is.. It's dark! Although the house was made of walls covered in a grassy mesh-like material, the scare-actors got some pretty good scares! At one point in the house, you encounter a slider! We thought they were specific to Howl-o-Scream in Tampa, but it looks like we were wrong!

Overall 5/5

Erik: The first house my baby girl went in! She was so brave, and it was entirely her choice...but man did she pick the wrong house to go into. It was dark as hell in there! Trolls were hiding everywhere, and I got the crap scared out of me on more than one occasion. However, we were with our friend, and Behind the Thrill listener Reggie....man this house messed him up. The slider comes rolling by him and he just loses it up against the wall. It was so damn funny that the actors lost it..laughing. It was great. There were a lot of dead parts where there was absolutely nothing, and parts that were so dark you couldnt see if there was something there or not. Still solid house

Overall 4.75 of 5.

Catacombs (France): This is the shortest house in the entire park, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good house. There are hallways and many other hiding places where scare-actors can hide, and where you can least expect them to come from. I don't mean to spoil this scare for anyone, but right before the end, there's a scare-actor who just drops his hand in front of your face. Both times I walked through this house, he got me! The queue line is pretty awesome as well, it's as if you're walking through a grave yard. This is my second favorite!

Overall 4.5/5

Erik: Definately one of my favorite houses.The detail of it was great, but the level of the actors! Holy crap these guys worked it! Scare after scare after scare....one guy even jumped out of the house and was scaring people as they came out. Tons of energy that was unexpected. Makes this one my house of the year...for the event.

5 of 5

Scare Zones

I'm not going to go into a long, drawn out explanation of the scare zones. I really liked the scare zones! Friday night, the scare zones only had two or three scare-actors, but the park wasn't very busy. It was probably just what they needed to get the job done. The scare felt a lot less effective though because it wasn't busy. As traffic flow on the pathways wasn't as heavy as Saturday night, you could pretty much anticipate that they were going to come after you! Saturday is a different story. Each scare zone was filled with numerous scare-actors! The pathways were packed, making it almost impossible to move, and the scares were awesome! I really liked how they would walk through the crowds, making it hard to anticipate who they were going to scare as they were harder to see. Compared to Busch Gardens Tampa, Williamsburg did an excellent job with their scare zones. Williamsburg doesn't seem to have as much space on the sides of the pathways as they have flowers planted, and the pathways are much more narrow. They did an awesome job using what they had and turning it into an effective scare.

Erik: I was kind of taken back by the scare zones. Friday night...nothing. Maybe two actors in a zone trying their damnedest to get a scare. Some of it worked, most went unnoticed. Saturday night the park was just packed hard, and so many scare actors were working it. It was a huge difference. I loved what they did with some of the zones, but the others just looked pretty. I'm kind of accustomed to seeing zones marked off and announced, but you just don't find that here...no zone signs, no pomp or circumstance..just plop...here we are. Again, dont get me wrong, they were well done..just under used and under estimated. I wanted more out of the one in New France with the ghosts hanging from the trees. That looked like it had a lot of potential..but we got one roamer and one bungee. Overall the zones were decent, but just could have done better, in my opinion.

Shows:
Monster Stomp Revamped (Ireland): This show runs all day in the Abbeystone Theatre in Ireland. We missed the shows on Friday, and decided to check it out on Saturday. We arrived an hour before the scheduled show time, and people were already lining up! This is an awesome show. I really liked the story leading into the beginning of the show. It seems cheesy, but it fits perfectly. At one point in the show, there are six actors drumming with butcher knives, and one of them was just so into it! Awesome show with an emphasis on awesome! If you're visiting on a Saturday, I suggest you arrive at least an hour before the scheduled show time to get in line, or you may not get a seat. Props to the team at the Abbeystone as they worked their hardest to get people to move in and make room on the edges for other people. It looked like every single seat was filled, but I can't blame anyone in the room because it's a great show.

Erik: I was expecting cheese...and I got it...but instead the fromunda, I got gouda....okay..enough cheesey puns....Seriously loved this show. I put this one right up with Bill and Ted...not as on point or hysterical, but as a favorite...god yes. Great music..though some of it was too dated for the audience, and the performers....wow. Just wow. The witches got a lot of howls from all the horny dads in the audience(myself included) and the the soccer moms went nuts when the muscle bound vamps came grinind on stage. This show had a bit of everything, a villain, great music, good dancing, sex, knives, a weird looking phantom sweeping guy, and a blue man group knock....err...tribute...lets say that. Definately one of my favorite shows and worth the wait.

Frankenrock (Oktoberfest): We headed straight to Frankenrock right after Monsterstop and got a seat. We arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled show time and the Festshaus was just packed! I expected this to be just as good, if not better than Monster Stomp. Another show that runs all day that you should arrive early for to get a seat and even earlier for if you want to get something to eat. I really enjoyed the show, except I felt some of the music was a little outdated for the older crowd (Brittney Spears from her first album, Aqua, Avril Lavgine), however it seemed to cater more towards kids, as that's some music they would probably be in to. With the stage being a round stage, I felt at some points during the performance, the backside of the stage, which is the only place where we could find seats for the six of us, had been forgotten about. I loved how the performers got down and got the kids to dance with them, and even take pictures with the kids. The atmosphere of Oktoberfest is really cool as they're playing tons of music that you normally wouldn't hear in a BEC park, and I think a lot of it had to do with this show.

Erik: What can I say? It was well done, to a degree..but the way they had it setup for the venue...eh. I agree with Rach..felt forgotten about. The kids had a lot of special attention which was great, but the music...Hit me baby one more time? It was meant to be puns for the characters to play off of, but was way too cheesey for my tastes. We had heard the night before an angry soccer type mom declare that Busch had lost it and gone too far by hiring "A green witchy pole dancer" and that this was definately not for kids. I say she was wrong..it was aimed mostly at kids and was fun for them...though dated for the older crowd.

Erik: While Rach took our young man on Apollo I dashed off to take pics. I snuck in and low and behold the holiest of holy grails was playing! Nosferatu is one of the forgotten classics that really started this all. I applaud creative for taking a risk like this and showing the old black and white footage. Most people just strolled by it, but some, and mostly little kids stopped asking what it was and really seemed intrigued. I loved it. I didnt get to sit and watch the whole thing, but this is just meant to be a time killer as you take a break and grab some food or rest.

Dine with Elmo:
We attended Dine with Elmo for dinner on Friday. We were assigned a table number and let into the dinning area. The food selection is pretty wide and caters to both adults and children. They had items such as hotdogs, pizza bites, chicken tenders, noodles with butter sauce, macaroni and cheese, BBQ chicken wings, pork, and much more! Once we were seated and mostly everyone had gotten their food, the show began. The show lasted approximatley 20 minutes, featuring Sesame Street characters Count, Elmo, Grover, Abbey, Zowie, and Big Bird. The show has a cute story line and has a Halloween theme to it. After the show, we were called by table to get our pictures taken with some of the Sesame characters and were brought out to our tables for purchase. While select tables were getting their pictures taken, several of the characters were roaming about taking pictures with kids and families. Don't forget Oscar the Grouch! He was there too, snugged away in a corner near the stage interacting with kids! At one point, I believe he was playing catch with a couple of the kids and they seemed to love it! Cookies and Elmo/Cookie Monster cupcakes were served during this time. This was an hour long experience, and although we were invited to view this show by Busch Gardens, I would pay $20 per person for my family to see it again. It's great especially if you have younger children who are into Sesame Street. We really enjoyed the experience and hope they bring this to Busch Gardens Tampa in 2010 when Sesame Street Safari of Fun opens.

Erik: We were invited by BGW to check this out, and to be honest, completely 100% honest, if it wasn't free I never would have checked it out. I mean the kids are older, they could give a crap about Sesame Street. So we checked it out, expecting blah. The food was aimed for kids, with some grown up eats as well, but mostly for the Sesame Street demographic. Things like pizza pockets, chicken drumsticks, chicken fingers, hot dogs all aimed at little hands. But they did have things for adults such as fajitas, pasta, salad, pasta salad and a pork tenderloin that was to kill for. Then the show started. What a fun little show! It was a blast and in my opinion worth the admission price that you would normally pay. You can have as much food as you want, including drinks, and the level of the actors in the costumes were outstanding. The count actually spun circles! In that big felt head! It was amazing. Then the lights dimmed and out came Big Bird....I went nuts! Apparently, Big Bird was my favorite as a kid...him and Cookie Monster...but When BB came out Rach had to calm me down....quite embarrassing actually. You then get a great photo opp and the characters come out to interact with you. Really kick ass experience and I'm glad we were able to do it.

Here's some Sesame Street Forest of Fun pictures:

We had a lot of fun at Busch Gardens and hope we can visit in the future. This is a very well rounded event. With almost all of the rides open, there is plenty for an entire family to do while they're in the park. The park offers things like child-swaps, which worked perfectly for us, as my soon-to-be step daughter was too scared to walk through any of the houses, and they also have Quick Queue that has houses and rides on it. Great event for adults and kids alike!

Erik: Overall I loved this event. It's not scary though....at least not in the mind that our readers have become accustomed to. It's not gory, it's not intense...it's very creepy and it's a hell of a lot of fun. I could hear a lot of people raving about how they stepped up the event this year, and I'm glad for it. The only thing I would like to see happen is, and this is if they want to do this, get rid of the kids stuff. If you like the audience you get...and with those crowds, who wouldn't? Then stick with the family friendly aspect. Keep the kid stuff open and have fun. But hard-core haunt freaks like me will not find it very scary. I applaud the event and think it's great, and a very good way to get people who are expecting to see a clone of BGT HOS up to check it out. I love how everything is being used, and how the land really lends itself to the atmosphere. This event was explained to me as how other countries would view Halloween and I believe it. Definately a great event, and definately something you should check out.

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