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Howl-o-Scream Has Risen from the Grave 2021 Halloween arrives earlier each year. Remember when pumpkin-spice, well, everything wasn’t even available (or discussed) before September? Now you can drink pumpkin beer in August. The same is true of Howl-o-Scream at Busch Gardens, which officially started on Friday, September 10. Of course, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights beat them by a week (or was it more?), but this is pretty dang early for a Halloween event. But I’m not complaining. I checked out the first Howl-o-Scream since 2019 last Friday. It’s great that this event, which has always been a big one for the park, is back, with three new mazes; two new TERRORtories (that is, scare zones)--Meat Market and Hexed Hollow; and two party zones with DJs (France and Festa Italia). The park is also using “roaming hordes” of scareactors to make the scare zones more lively. There was lots of chainsaw action that night. I only saw bits and pieces of the new shows: Skeletones (Italy) and Phantoms of the Festhaus (Germany). The former reminded me a bit of the old Starfright Orchestra show--only scaled down (four musicians and two singers). It was a decent way to enjoy a lunch or dinner while listening to some old holiday standards (such as the “Addams Family” theme or “Time Warp”). Phantoms featured a larger cast. The show had something to do with a sing-off to choose the “top ghoul” of the night. I caught a tiny bit of it after having a beer in the Brauhaus. Monster Stomp on Ripper Row has returned, and Jack Is Back in Ireland. But I go there for the mazes. Nevermore (Oktoberfest in the old DarKastle building)--This gothic maze was the best one of the night, with lots Edgar Allan Poe going on (particularly “The Raven” and “Masque of the Red Death”). It reminded me of Masquerage, a maze they ran one season in Festa Italia. Nothing groundbreaking, but a good, solid park haunt. KILLarney Diner (Ireland in the Battle for Eire building)--This was a fun cannibal maze with some good 1950s atmosphere, well-done sets, and a fair amount of gory stuff, but it was a bit short. It has the same problem that other mazes in the building have shared--that long, narrow exit corridor where nothing happens. Witch of the Woods (Germany, behind Verbolten)--This was their “flagship” maze, but I think it was the weakest of the new mazes on Friday night. Yes, it’s in the woods, there are creepy minions, and the Witch herself looks pretty cool, but there was no real “payoff.” Another good name for this one might be the “Island of Misfit Props.” What’s some Greek statuary and a dude in a Spartan helmet doing in here? Circo Sinistro (Festa Italia, by the Roman Rapids)--The creepy clowns and such are back, but their haunt has been changed a bit. They eliminated the “preshow” with the ringmaster and creepy girl on a swing, along with the railroad car. The result is an OK evil-circus maze. It’s really showing its age, though. Dystopia (Italy in the Pompeii building)--This returning maze is about people being turned into automatons by some mutant overlords in the not-too-distant future. This one has been hit-or-miss in the past (I think it depends on how may scare actors they have). All in all, an enjoyable, if somewhat cautious, return for Howl-o-Scream following its hiatus because of the pandemic. Most of the scare actors in the mazes who weren’t wearing full monster masks were sporting face masks--some with appropriately creepy faces painted on them. I wish I could say the same for many of the guests. As for me, I went through the mazes while masked. Here’s a look at Howl-o-Scream’s opening night. Why, hello, you sexy thing. “You better be talking about Pantheon and not my girlfriend, punk.” “Blair Witch Project 3, Subsection A: Sticks of Doom” “How many times have I told you to never play with your head! Do you wish to go blind?” Awww, aren’t you the most adorable wittle . . . . . . PLAGUE RAT? So, according to the poster in Big Ben, there’s been some “Ghastly Murder,” too? Well, isn’t that just great. Where shall we go first? May as well grab some dinner and watch the Skeletones. Hey, Edgar? Where’s your house? So turn left at the melancholy House of Usher? Thanks, pal. The message the purple lights above us bore, It shall be DarKastle . . . nevermore! Hmm--looks like the witches and demons kicked the vampires out of Vampire Point. “Excuse me, are you being helped?” Hey, are you really dating that Reaper guy out front? Well, this is another fine mess I’ve gotten myself into. Looks like they changed the menu at the Smokehouse. “Beware! Don’t order tonight’s special. It keeps coming back on me.” “Hey, don’t knock our BBQ until you try it! Right, Chauncy?” “Right, Edgar. You can beat our prices, but you can’t beat our meat!” “Hey, where ya goin’? Sheesh, make one silly pun . . .” “‘Can’t beat our meat’! How droll! Did you hear that, my dear . . . oh, that’s right. You can’t hear anything.” “I say, you now have permission to shake thy moneymakers.” “Typical guy--waits until I invite him to my place before telling me he’s a werewolf.” I wonder what the specials are here? A hot roast beef sammich sounds good. Ugh! Is this one of those truck stop/faux diner things? Yep--definitely. You can probably buy trucker hats with dirty slogans on them, too. Be sure to look at the wall menus in this scene. Jack is back, and he’s brought disco and ABBA with him! Dance! Dance or die! Pompeii may be a Dystopia, but it has cool lighting. You can party with evil clowns in Festa Italia. “Giant skull swallows park guest. Film at 11.” So, what’s shakin’ at the Festhaus? Uh oh! The guy with the scythe is sort of rapping. Time to head out . . . while I still have a head. I had to survive giant spiders . . . . . . and Ripper Row. “G’night, dearie! Pleasant dreams.” Thanks for reading.

Well I never found out what caused the fight but as an fyi to anyone headed to the park in the near future, latest intel from the ride op that lives in my house; Eagle is closed probably for the rest of the year with work walls all around the old games area, entrance and Superman. This is to facilitate the dismantling of Superman and construction of Catwoman Whip. Several of the games buildings have already been torn down. On the plus side, apparently when it is all done they will go back to using the original entrance of Eagle.

Photo TR: A quick stop on Monday, September 6th So, on my way back from SFoG by way of Carowinds, my route took me right by Kings Dominion, and I figured I owed it to the park to stop in for the first time in 2021. After all, I hadn't been on my #2 steel and #2 hybrid since 2019! I got to the park a little after noon with a 11:00 opening, and the lot was already pretty decently packed. Made my way through the front gate and saw a huge line at the redemption center, so ducked into a store to grab my FL wristband, and then made my way over towards the Safari Village construction to check on the progress of Tiki Twirl (yes, I will continue to call it that. Sue me.). But first, I definitely forgot how much better shaded this park's International Street area is compared to Kings Island's. And Woodstock Express got some new paint. As for Tiki Twirl, has there been any actual construction Progress? No. I see you hiding back there, my #3 at this park. Stay rested. What they have done though is decorate most of the walls blocking off access to that area of the park. Hopped on I305, one train wait for row 14. Still awesome. Grabbed another shot of poor, sad Avalanche, only made possible by the sadder removal of Volcano.... And continued down Candy Apple Grove, hoping dearly to finally get some delicious mac & cheese from what is possibly my second favorite theme park restaurant ever... ...but it was not to be. Oh well indeed. Had to settle for some Auntie Anne's pretzels, and then took a lap around the water park to grab some images of the new for 2021 stuff: First off, the permanent food truck circle (only two were open, the bar and pizza): Next, the kiddie-sized wave pool: And finally, the new splash-play area, which is honestly probably the biggest one of these I've ever seen: Made my way back to Twisted Timbers, and found that yes, they have in fact kept running the stupid double-sided locker system like at Steel Vengeance, which merges the Fast Lane and standby queue before them and does not re-separate them. If all of the queue in the station would be used (it wasn't this day), that means that even FL holders get a 30+ minute wait. Not cool, Cedar Fair, not cool. Its not like I didn't just ride another RMC two days ago with zero procedures for loose articles haha. Due to limited crowds, I did get on the back row with only a one train wait, but I blame that more on the lack of a grouper in the station leading to everyone lining up for the front row and the rows right in the middle. Still, an incredible, awesome ride. Oh, and why does a restaurant called "Grain & Grill International Cuisine" serve exclusively Chinese food? After that, eager to get home, I hit the road for the rest of the drive back to Delaware. And that about wraps up my Labor Day Weekend trip, and actually catches me completely up on pending trip reports from this year. Next up is Cedar Point for my first ever Halloweekends experience, September 17 and 18.

Quite literally every seat on that ride is a guaranteed drowning simulator. It's mental and I love it. That being said, I was lucky enough to be sat directly beneath one of the valves where the water comes pouring in. I basically took a five minute shower but the showerhead was a nonstop bucket of water being dumped on me and those next to me. I guess you can try to avoid those seats? There's really no point, though.

Damn, sorry for enjoying myself

I could not possibly agree more, years ago I tried one at cowfish at CityWalk and it was easily the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten. Doesn't go at all to me either but like you said clearly others think it does lol

Back in the early 90s when I was working on the Cedar Point Blue Streak (when it was a true classic with a single bench seat, miss those coasters so much! Not to mention the fully manual operation), a dad was pulling his kid on the ride. We already saw the kid crying in the queue (inside the front of the once beautiful station) so we were on guard. There were only 3 crew positions on the ride (still managed over 1,200 pph) but we would do our best to intervene when we saw this. The kid was having a real meltdown; the dad plopped down first and was pulling the boy in - in one swoop I grabbed the kid, pushed the dads lap bar down and said "he can wait with me" with a big smile. Off the dad went (we had seconds to load/send a train in those days, if we didn't want a shutdown) and I had the kid step back against the queue fence while I quickly loaded the next train. His tears stopped and he calmed down. I walked the kid down the overlow/chicken exit to meet his dad at the unload. People lining and my 2 co-workers up were happy I got that kid out. Back then you were treated as an authority figure as a ride operator - we were trained that way at Cedar Point. If someone pulled a kid out today - even touch the kid - it could be a huge fuss and perhaps a fight/lawsuit. Times were different and people had more sense. As for my notes on Blue Streak operation - it's too hard to resist as it also required basic common sense - again, things are different now.

lololol that you signed up just to post this.

My mistake. I glanced at the menu and didn't really recognize anything, then when stepped in detected the distinct aroma that Chinese food has, so made a premature assumption.

Might of missed the post I talked about this in, but yes, there are cameras monitoring the ride including the top. (I want to say four in total if I remember right.) The argument then becomes when do you shut it down? There is plenty of squirming going on a regular basis so what's the line here? I would agree at some point you would see they are breaking free but it might be too late. The floor retracts within about five-ish seconds after the show sequence begins. At this point if you break free it's a straight fall. The ops can hit the emergency stop but it won't bring the floor back. That will have to be another button press and time. I can't see a requirement requiring the floor to be called immediately on the e-stop as that could lead to other serious consequences. I'm not sure the ops could of caught her in time, at least one person should have eyes on the cameras at all time. But trying to pick her out and seeing if she is really escaping would be hard to tell. Like I said, people get squirmy all the time. It also might have happened right at the drop in which case it would be impossible for ops to prevent. In this case they would watch in horror. In regards to Soaring Eagle's liability the waiver isn't a 100% clear and they could capitalize on that possibly. The full waiver is online FYI on the site so read up if you'd like. It will almost certainly clear the Caverns. (Read the seat belt especially.) Am I saying this is all alright if the park is found negligent? No, and I would like to think they would help pay but that opens a whole can of legal worms. One other thing that annoys me about some of these articles that are now popping up with this attorney is this: “What is the incentive for them to make sure you as a patron is going to be safe?” he said. “The answer is none. They have no incentive.” What an absolute load of B.S., at least for amusement parks. The incentive is that you don't have a park with a body count. Of course they want to be safe, who would go to a park that reported five deaths in a week? That statement is just a bunch of saltiness.

I didn't see that. I see realists that recognize that protests of less than a substantial amount of people won't result in any sort of change, and people that have been burned by this shitty park in the past, and people that, while respecting Blue Streak for what it is, are also realistic enough to realize that barring someone coming in to save it and transport it elsewhere, it's days are numbered.

Breaking records for the first coaster to open with fully grown grass.

I didn't know they sold turkey legs over there.

"If you're watching a parade, don't follow it. It never changes. If the parade is boring, run in the opposite direction. You will fast-forward the parade." - Mitch Hedberg

Best way to watch a parade is to power walk the opposite way it’s traveling and see the entire thing in 5 minutes.