Hollow Scream: A Look at Williamsburg's Dissapointing 2012 Haunt

As I sit down to write this review, I'm still not exactly sure what I saw Saturday night at Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Howl-O-Scream 2012. This being my third year in a row at the event, Saturday felt like a bizarro world compared to the past 2 years. The first two were fun romps through a beautiful park with a multitude of scares and a terrific atmosphere.

This year felt like a hollow shell of an event.

My friends and I reached the park around 4:30 in the afternoon this past Saturday, an hour and a half before the event was scheduled to begin. Since my two companions had yet to ride Verbolten (a review of which can be found here) we decided to head over there and hit that. After waiting a little under an hour in line, we reached the station.

Before going on, I have to give the park a shout-out for giving the queue video inside the travel agency a Halloween overlay. Very well done.

The ride itself is still spectacular. I know I had originally said I still preferred Griffon to Verbolten, but I think I have to reverse that now. The ride is just such a complete package, even though I still think the ride path and building could use some more theming and greenery.

After we got off the coaster, we decided to hit Das Festhaus for a bite to eat before the event kicked into gear. We walked by this year's "Open Casket" bar where the bartenders are dressed up as Vampires. It's a nice touch. When we entered the restaurant, we found that one of this year's new shows "Night Beats" had begun on the central stage, so the place was packed. Luckily, we found a seat and I got a terrific carved turkey sandwich for dinner. The foot at BGW is phenomenal.

Night Beats was a highly entertaining way to spend dinner. I missed most of the story, but from what I gathered it was a vampire/ghost cabaret show, and they sang plenty of great songs. The singers were all talented for the roles, and there was some nice playing around with the audience. Overall, a nice way to kick off the Halloween event.

Unfortunately it was mostly downhill form here.

Exiting, we stopped at Open Casket for a drink, and then wandered towards the front of the park to pick up my camera which I had stashed in a locker for the time being. I was excited to use the DLSR for the first time in a them park. Unfortunately, the conditions of HOS just didnt't lend itself all that well to my desires. The event felt so empty, I just didn't find a lot of interesting shots to take. There was a nice shot of the Loch Ness Monster reflected in water, but I didn't have the time to get a good vantage point on the busy bridge I was on.

While walking, something hit us very quickly. The atmosphere was just not there. The streets had light theming compared to the past two years, and there were basically no actors in the streets. This year, BGW decided to go the "horde" route and have roaming bands of actors going all over the park. The bad part is they only had TWO hordes in the event. If you're familiar with the park, it is huge. There's a lot of ground to cover for two hordes, and it just leaves the park feeling empty. I'm not exactly sure what the rationale was for this change, but it's definitely taken away from the event.

And the streets weren't the only thing that were empty. The houses were too.

The first one we hit was Catacombs, which is a maze that's been around since I've been going to the event. It's themed to Paris's underground mass graves, and was the only house I'd call good from the entire night. Well staffed and the actors were giving their all.

Next, we headed to Deadline, the house that I ranked as the best last year. The story is while digging for a new subway system in Pompeii, the construction released a gas, turning people into zombies. Again, this house started off strong, but fizzled out near the middle. I went through 2 or three rooms straight with no actors, or one actor that just kind of stood there. The final two rooms were almost barren, and the best effect/scare from last year was wasted without an actor.

Then came Fear Fair, the haunt themed to a deadly traveling carnival. This one was strong last year as well, with demented clowns and interesting scares at every turn. This time I went through a few of the tent mini-mazes without seeing a single actor, including areas where there was supposed to be a featured character.

After three mazes, we were feeling pretty down on the event, and left Italy and headed back towards Verbolten and the Oktoberfest area. Here, Bitten had almost a two hour wait, so we headed over to the new Root of All Evil maze, dedicated to the icon of the event, The Lady of the Gardens.

Oh geez...this maze...

Was completely and utterly terrible. It was themed to the Lady taking over the BG landscaping department. You start off by taking a picture, which completely takes you out of the moment. Then, you go through a series of deserted greenhouses and what amounts to a hedge maze. The first outdoor section had potential, with a scareactor in a fountain and the Lady of the Gardens.But the guy in the fountain just kind of waved his hand at us and the Lady of the Gardens was just out in the open, negating any scare. The rest of the actors, the ones that were there, just kind of laughed and waved gardening implements at us.

After this, the event was almost over, and a thunderstorm was on its way, which closed the rides we wanted to do. Instead of getting caught in the rain, we decided to head for the car, ending our night.

Overall, the event just didn't have enough scareactors to be effective. The streets and houses were both almost barren, and the theming in the streets just wasn't up to par compared to previous years. Making the lack of actors worse were the attempted "scares" of the ones there were. They were just not effective at putting you on edge, often times telegraphing their scares. Also, the feeling of deja vu  with repeated houses definitely got to me this year. I think the park needs more than one new house a year to be considered elite.

I'm not sure I'll be returning to the event unless there is a marked change in the way things are done. I hope that happens, as I love the Williamsburg park and love a good haunt. Here's to hoping.

Parkscope Permit Update: Cabana Bay Resort Layout

A document filed with the Orange County Comptroller today has given us our first real look at the layout of Universal's new Cabana Bay Beach Resort .

In the picture, you can see Buildings A, B, and C, which all have had permits applied for. Turkey Lake Road is at the top of the picture, and Adventure Way is at the bottom. In the center we can see what seems to be the pool area depicted in concept art from the announcement.

(c) Universal Orland Resort 2012. All rights reserved.

Here's another view of the overall property. The first three buildings from above are seen here, as well as the lobby building and the two zig-zagging buildings on the bottom. It can be assumed the second pool mentioned in the press release will be between these two.

As always, follow @Parkscope and @CaptMichael87 for updates as they come to light.

Link to Permit: http://or.occompt.com/recorder/eagleweb/viewDoc.jsp?node=DOC1026S9530

UOR Permit Update 9/26/12 More Potter

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Phase 2 is moving right along.  Yesterday, the London Waterfront partially opened and construction walls were pushed back paving the way for Diagon Alley work to move forward.  Today, Universal filed a new permit for Buildings 66 B and 66 C

Building 66 is Gringotts.  Building 66 A is the front left of Gringotts (likely queue.)  Building 66 B is the front right of Gringotts which is either the Gringotts exit giftshop or Borgin and Burkes (if that area is Knockturn Alley.)  Building 66 C are the 2 small buildings nearest to the Fear Factor Service Road which were believed to be restrooms early on.

UPDATE:  Project 7448 which consists of Building 64 (the left half of Diagon Alley), Building 65 (Ollivanders?) and 65 A (the building to the right of the entrance) was finally issued today.  It was first filed in May.

As always, thanks for reading Parkscope, and please follow us on Twitter @Parkscope and @CaptMichael87.  Next week we will be heading to Universal Orlando, so stay tuned!  Also, like us on Facebook.

UOR Permit Update: Springfield Remodel 9/26/12

Today, Universal filed another building permit for the forthcoming Simpsons land known as Project 971.  Per this new permit, buildings 72, 72 A, 72 B, 72 C, and 73 F are being remodeled for this project as well as the areas around them.  New construction will take place as well.  If you are not familiar with this project, the area around the Simpsons attraction is rumored to be become a Simpsons miniland.  A few weeks ago, a partial demolition permit was filed for the complex (Building 72) outside of Simpsons consisting of the Kwik-E-Mart, the International Food and Film Festival, and the restrooms.

If anyone has a map of Universal Studios with buildings numbered, we would be much obliged if you would send us a copy.

As always, thanks for reading Parkscope, and please follow us on Twitter @Parkscope and @CaptMichael87.  Next week we will be heading to Universal Orlando, so stay tuned!  Also, like us on Facebook.

WWoHP London Waterfront: Now Open! (partially)

Today, Universal Orlando opened up the first section of the forthcoming second phase of the wildly successful Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  While the project has yet to  be announced, guests can already walk through a faithful recreation of London's Victoria Embankment spanning from San Francisco to Men In Black.  The new walkway has been opened to help alleviate the heavy crowd flow of Halloween Horror Nights and to allow for work to finally begin on laying out the foundations of Diagon Alley.

Our friends at Amusement Pics have gotten the first photos of the area.  Check them out on their Universal page here: http://www.amusementpics.com/UONN12.htm

Check out the rest of Amusement Pics' update here

The waterfront is not fully complete.  Still to come are ornate lamps, copper lion heads, and a park area.  In the meantime, guests can enjoy a nice new view that has never been available.  Originally, the area was occupied by Amity buildings.  The new area should be a great place to catch Universal's Cinematic Spectacular (#Cinespec), and the Halloween Horror Nights Horror Tributes (#HHNCinespec) in the lagoon.

Next week, myself, Sean, and Nick will be visiting Universal Orlando.  Be on the lookout for us and do not be afraid to say hello!

Penn & Teller HHN Press Event

I'm a huge Penn & Teller fan (if you couldn't tell from previous posts), and this video of them doing a Press Event for HHN 22 is right up my ally.

Be forewarned, there are some bleeped curse words, as Penn is a foul mouthed b@$%@&).

Video courtesy of our friends at Attractions Magazine.

Avatarland Announced One Year Ago Today

It has now been a year since Disney dropped a bomb on the world announcing a partnership with James Cameron which would bring the world of Avatar to Disney's Animal Kingdom and Disney resorts around the world.  No clue was given as to what the land and/or attraction would entail, and no concept art was released.  One year later, the theme park world is still awaiting a scintilla of what is coming.  Some even wonder if it is even coming at all.

©2012 Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.  All Rights Reserved.

James Cameron is a notorious perfectionist much like J.K. Rowling and seems to want the same level of control, quality, and detail that J.K. got from Universal with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  The latest rumors echo what has been said since the announcement, Cameron and Disney are butting heads over the budget.  Theme park attractions do not come cheap these days.   The Wizarding of World of Harry Potter was reportedly built for $265 million, but that is the exception, not the rule.  Cars Land at Disney California Adventure cost considerably more per insiders.  Disney attractions especially seem to cost a lot, but the price tags are usually warranted.  Cars Land looks every bit of what it cost.  There is no doubt that Pandora will cost a pretty penny to be built to Disney and Cameron standards.  So, it is understandable that there have been quibbles over budget.

No one can deny that Disney's Animal Kingdom does not need the investment.  The World of Avatar could potentially put Animal Kingdom on the map and make it a "full day" park.  Disney fans have been mixed on this news since it was announced.  Most seem to be against it, some are excited, and the rest just want to see some investment in Animal Kingdom no matter what it is.  Disney has not helped Avatarland's reception at all.  It is hard for anyone to get excited about something that has had little positive news since it was announced a year ago.  Most everything about the project has been negative (sequel delays, etc.)

Whether right or wrong, in this age of instant news, fans demand something to hang their hat on and look forward to.  Fans need/needed something to convince them that this is the right direction for Animal Kingdom, and thusfar, they have received nothing but a nebulous announcement a year ago.