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^Yep--seriously, how many American Disney fans are going to visit Shanghai Disney?

^That sounds about right. Howl-o-Scream has been going on since 1998 (when it had one house, a couple of shows, and the Transylvania Express train ride).

This might be the weirdest B&M coaster since Daemonen at Tivoli Gardens--the cutest lil' ol' floorless coaster ever!

At least they're not putting comfort collars on Scorpion, right?

I remember liking Transdemonium. It had this bizarre "devil" character at the beginning that looked like a marionette.

I like Fire in the Hole and its Dollywood cousin, but the ride is very old, and I imagine it's difficult and expensive to maintain. I hope they replace with a nice updated version (like Knott's did with their mine train and log ride).

Yep--it's not even a decent preshow. Just a bad video of two actors "phoning it in" for a check.

OK, who's ready to let the good times roll at Busch Gardens? It's Mardi Gras season! Here's some information from the park about this year's event. The Big Easy Meets Big Thrills at Busch Gardens Mardi Gras with NEW Entertainment & NEW Flavors Mardi Gras returns to Busch Gardens Williamsburg on select dates now – Feb. 20 Enjoy the spirit of the season with the NEW Mardi Street Party, an interactive street parade with ribbon dancers, stilt walkers and Big Easy beats Guests are transported to a festive realm of French Quarter fanfare featuring over thirty Cajun culinary delights and spirited entertainment  Busch Gardens debuts a robust and exciting event lineup in 2023 with the return of Busch Gardens Mardi Gras on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays plus Presidents’ Day, now through February 26. Let the good times roll with the ALL-NEW Mardi Street Party, NEW bayou-inspired cuisine, and returning favorites from 2022 including Carnaval Imaginique, a captivating and electrifying cirque show in the Globe Theatre. Colorful entertainment fills Busch Gardens’ villages with an exciting New Orleans-style event for the whole family, featuring three world-class roller coasters, over fifteen rides and thirty mouth-watering Mardi Gras flavors. NEW! Mardi Street Party at Busch Gardens Mardi Gras The France village comes to life in this exciting NEW parade full of dazzling ribbon dancers and stunning stilt walkers. Wave hello to the King of Mardi Gras and collect beads as his jesters pass by. The spirit continues as the popular Carnaval Imaginique returns to the Globe Theatre, featuring thrilling acrobatics and stunning acts of balance and strength. Guests can also experience returning entertainment like the New Orleans Jazz Band in Das Festhaus, the Killarney Village Band in Abbey Stone Theatre and Samba Jamboree, everyone’s favorite wacky jester drummers, in Rhinefeld village. NEW! 30+ Authentic Mardi Gras Flavors Immerse yourself in the Big Easy with NEW culinary offerings straight from Bourbon Street. Indulge in classic New Orleans-style cuisine ranging from Chicken and Andouille Gumbo, Shrimp Étouffée, Banana Fosters Cheesecake, the fan favorite Crawfish Boil, and more. Let the good times roll with spirited cocktails including hurricanes, rum runners and the King Cake shot. New food and beverage offerings include: NEW! - Oyster Po’ Boy NEW! – Specialty Beignets NEW! – Passionfruit Hurricane NEW! – Cajun Bloody Mary The best way to taste your way through Mardi Gras is with a five or ten item sampler. Guests can mix and match entrees, desserts, beer, wine, cocktails and specialty non-alcoholic beverages at designated Mardi Gras kiosks throughout the park for only $40 for five punches, or $60 for ten punches. Sampler lanyards are available to purchase online or in-park.

I remember its big scare before you plunged into the green, disease-ridden water--a hobo mask on a stick!

My understanding was that they were just rebuilding/rehabbing the old trains.

Well, I wouldn't mess with a mandrill.

Apollo's Chariot last Monday Night at Christmas Town--nearly froze my face off.

So, a stand-up shoot-em-up? Interesting. The name is a bit awkward.

Don't forget to ride Peter Pan while you're at it.

Good question. "Preview" days can be a bit bumpy. I imagine the park will be pretty well decorated (Italy was "closed" last week for Christmas Town prep). Shows are supposed to be running according to their website, and I think you can count on attractions being open. But they always have to tweak these events after they start.

I was hoping for new trains, too, as the old ones were pretty uncomfortable (at least to me).

I was at the park yesterday for Member Appreciation Day (they're holding it today, too). Festa Italia was "closed" due to Christmas Town prep, but Pantheon was open; you had to get to the ride via Oktoberfest and walk down a short service road. Pantheon, Apollo's Chariot, InvadR, and Verbolten will be operating during Christmas Town, as well.

Christmas Town starts next weekend! Here's some information from the park about this year's festivities. Over Ten Million Lights Will Shine Bright at the World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park During Busch Gardens® Christmas Town™ Busch Gardens® Christmas Town™ returns on select dates Nov. 11 – Jan. 8 One of North America’s largest light displays transforms the Williamsburg park with over ten million lights NEW! Be immersed in the magic of the season with an all-new holiday dining experience, Santa’s Fireside Feast presented by Coca-Cola® NEW! Holiday scavenger hunt celebrates traditions from around the world NEW! Enjoy over 20 rides and coasters including all-new Pantheon™ Best Deal of the Season! Guests can save up to 60% on tickets during the Christmas Town Flash Sale, starting as low as $27.99 Buy a Membership now to enjoy Christmas Town and receive unlimited visits and unbeatable benefits including free parking, free tickets and more in 2023 The holidays shine brightest at Busch Gardens® Christmas Town™, returning on select dates from November 11 through January 8. The World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park will once again be transformed with over ten million twinkling lights, one of the largest light displays in North America. Enjoy heartwarming holiday shows, and more coasters than ever before with the all-new Pantheon™, the world’s fastest multi-launch coaster. Christmas Town™ classics such as Santa’s Workshop, the Christmas Town Express and ‘Twas that Night ice-skating show cover the park in holiday cheer. Festive treats, holiday shopping and special photo opportunities complete the festive holiday tradition for friends and families. Be immersed in the magic of the season during an all-new dining experience, Santa’s Fireside Feast presented by Coca-Cola®. Families can enjoy a hearty meal and a special Christmas story from the big elf himself during this festive encounter. Santa’s Fireside Feast is offered on select dates in the Killarney area of the park. Guests can reserve their spot at BuschGardens.com. Families are also invited to participate in an all-new holiday scavenger hunt celebrating traditions from around the world including Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Guests can pick up a clue sheet in England to identify holiday symbols throughout the park and redeem a prize once all are found. Visitors of all ages can renew holiday traditions while enjoying fan-favorite shows celebrating the reason for the season. Returning entertainment includes: Up on the Haustop: It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Warm up with modern-day Christmas classics in a festive performance in Das Festhaus. Unto Us: A choral celebration of the greatest story ever told. The first Christmas comes alive in this inspiring show in the open-air Il Teatro di San Marco Theatre. Celtic Fyre®: A Christmas Celebration: Voted USA Today’s #1 Theme Park Entertainment, this iconic performance adds a Christmas touch to the Killarney classic. ‘Twas That Night: The Royal Palace Theatre is transformed into a spectacular ice-skating show that reimagines the classic story of "The Night Before Christmas." Scrooge No More: Join Scrooge live on stage in this musical at the Globe Theatre as he is swept away by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, who teach him the importance of family and friends being together at Christmas. In addition to rides on the all-new Pantheon, thrill-seekers can conquer over 20 rides and attractions during Busch Gardens Christmas Town. Enjoy a nighttime ride on more coasters than ever before as well as fan-favorite thrills like Finnegan’s Flyer™ and Mach Tower. Best Deal of the Season! Christmas Town Flash Sale – Save up to 60% On Tickets Spread holiday cheer with the best deal of the season during the Christmas Town Flash Sale. For a limited time only, guests can save up to 60% on tickets, starting as low as $27.99. Hurry, offer ends 11/13! Give the Gift of Unlimited Visits and Unbeatable Benefits with a Busch Gardens Membership Busch Gardens Membership plans start as low as $13 a month and offer guests unlimited visits to events all year long, including Christmas Town. Plus, Members get unbeatable benefits including FREE parking, FREE guest tickets, in-park discounts and exclusive events and monthly rewards. Busch Gardens Members will be also be among the first to ride DarKoaster in 2023! Membership is organized in easy-to-use tiers and includes one-park and two-park Busch Gardens and Water Country USA® Memberships. Busch Gardens’ sister park, Water Country USA, is a seasonal water park with over 40 state-of-the-art water slides, kids' play areas, lazy rivers and a mega wave pool. With a two-park Membership, visitors can enjoy thrills at the world’s most beautiful theme park and fun in the sun at Virginia’s largest water park, Water Country USA. The flexibility allows guests to choose the Membership, benefits, and parks that are the best fit. For a full overview of Membership benefits, visit: buschgardens.com/williamsburg/annual-pass/.

It looks like SeaWorld has improved Howl-o-Scream this year. When I went last year, I thought they did a great job with the themed bars and that the houses and Terror-tories were "hit or miss." The voodoo zone was the best, while the two best houses were the pirate ship and a creepy waterfront hotel. They were really pushing the Jello-shot syringes.

Just a few thoughts on what a difference a night can make at Howl-o-Scream. I went there last Friday night with my brother, who'd never been to Howl-o-Scream before. The park appears to have been tweaking some of the houses, mostly for the better. Here's how my rankings changed from media night (best to worst): 1. Death Water Bayou--they've added more scare actors and stuff to the show scenes (making a good house even better). 2. Killarney Diner--more actors, more interaction with guests, more going on. 3, Witch of the Woods--this one was much improved over the media-night version. The scare actors were talking more to the guests and just trying harder. It was also our longest wait of the night (next to Pantheon). 4. Inferno--this one seemed understaffed, but they have some good, hellish atmosphere to make up for it. 5. Nevermore: Chapter 2--just kind of "off" that night. Like Inferno, it seemed understaffed, but more "blah." Terror-tories seemed pretty weak on Friday, but sometimes that's a matter of poor timing. For example, we were strolling through the Garden of the Gorgon, and some annoying group kept taking selfies with every monster they met. My brother enjoyed his first Howl-o-Scream, and we were fortunate that we started with the weakest house first (they just got better to him from there). I wonder if I can talk him into checking out Knott's Scary Farm next year.

This reminds me of what they did to Safari Village at Kings Dominion, when they transformed it into Jungle X-pedition and gave it a backstory (the whole area looks much better now).

^Reminds of the introduction of the Tubes' What Do You Want from Live" album: "Tied for number-one group in the world!" I'm not flat-ride fan, but I like Screamin' Swings and have no problem with them popping up at the Busch parks.

It was crazy busy at BGW this weekend, probably thanks to the College of William and Mary's homecoming and the Indigenous Peoples (formerly Columbus Day) holiday.

A new slide is coming to Water Country USA in 2023: Riptide Race! Here's the park's announcement. All-New Riptide Race to Open at Water Country USA in 2023 as Virginia’s First Dueling Pipeline, Members Will be Among the First to Ride WILLIAMSBURG, VA. (September 27, 2022) – Water Country USA, voted one of the country’s top ten water parks by USA Today is splashing into 2023 with Riptide Race, the first dueling pipeline in Virginia. This family-friendly water slide will be the park’s tenth slide when it opens next year, complimenting relaxing areas to unwind, including Hubba Hubba Highway, Rock ‘n’ Roll Island, plus kid-friendly spaces like the all-new Lil’ Surfers Splash Pad, which opened earlier this year at Virginia’s largest water park. Riptide Race is an adrenaline-pumping water slide race that pits teams against each other in a splash to the finish line. Riders challenge friends and family members to see which team feels the rush of victory. Speeding through each turn in a down-to-the-wire finish, this fast-paced, high-speed adventure is one that guests will want to experience again and again. It all starts atop a 54-foot tower, where visitors grab a two-person raft before racing through 520 feet of slide, with low walls to keep an eye on the competition. It’s a dash to the splash when competing in this side-by-side raft run through high-speed tunnels, twists and turns. “The addition of Riptide Race will elevate our guest experience in a unique and unprecedented way”, said Kevin Lembke, Park President of Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA. “With a 42-inch height requirement, Riptide Race was designed with the whole family in mind. We are excited for our guests to enjoy this fast-paced adventure together and look forward to the debut of Riptide Race next year.” Water Country USA will open for the 2023 season on Saturday, May 13. Additional details about Riptide Race, including an opening date will be shared in the coming months. The thrills continue in 2023 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg with the addition of DarKoaster™, North America’s first all-indoor straddle coaster. Traveling on snowmobiles across 2,454 feet of track, daring explorers race through total darkness while changing course to avoid the elements. As the weather strikes, riders encounter four accelerating launches and speed through the storm on this family-friendly dark ride experience. Opening next year, the new attraction is the park’s tenth coaster and an unprecedented, family-friendly addition to Busch Gardens’ thrill ride portfolio.

Howl-o-Scream Creeps Back to Williamsburg Guests coming to Busch Gardens Williamsburg best be ready for witches, cannibals, evil clowns, Jack o’ the Lantern, and even a creepy game-show host at Howl-o-Scream 2022 (HOS). The park held a VIP/Media Night on Friday, September 23, hosted by Mr. Bobby Ocean, the MC of that classic game show Win, Lose, or Die on Station 666. Of course, the show’s been off the air for a while, and all the other folks at the station are dead, but Bobby is making his big comeback greeting guests at the front entrance for HOS. He gets ‘em coming and going. TPR thanks Busch Gardens for inviting us to their big night--and for the nice spread of fiendish food and drink in the Globe Theatre. But what’s new at HOS this year? There are three new “Terror-tories" (that is, scare zones)--Dead A-Head (the vengeful spirits of the beheaded in France), Gorgon Gardens (Medusa and other sirens in Italy), and Scary Tale Road (childhood favorites gone horribly wrong in Germany). Meat Market (New France) and Ripper Row (England) are back, as are the roaming hordes of scary clowns with chain saws and really big hammers. Although DarKastle is now lost as a “special event” space, the park is offering three new mazes this year (two are from last year). Nevermore: Chapter II (NEW, old Drachen Fire station): This is a reimagining of the Nevermore maze that was in DarKastle last year, and I think the new space (which has more of a “decayed House of Usher” feel) works better for it. It’s a walk through the world of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, including “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “Masque of the Red Death.” I’ve always been a big fan of Poe, so this was my favorite. Death Water Bayou (NEW, Festa Italia): This maze uses the same space as last year’s Circo Sinistro. It’s a big improvement, with much better sets and atmosphere, including a New Orleans mortuary, a creepy jazz club, and (of course) a voodoo master’s lair. Nice work reusing the old tents from the circus maze. Inferno (NEW, Escape from Pompeii show building): This maze is a somewhat generic “walk through Hell,” with demons, victims, and the smell of brimstone. But I think it’s a good replacement for the old Dystopia maze and fits in better with Pompeii. KILLarney Diner (Battle for Eire building, Ireland): Who’s ready for lunch? You’re always on the menu at this 1950s diner for cannibals. Who would like a nice plate of Steamed Ears or Flesh Fries? I love the diner and town sets of this maze, but it has the same problem other mazes have had in this building--that long exit where nothing happens. Witch of the Woods (behind Verbolten in Germany): Yes, there are woods and witches here. I thought this maze was a bit weak last year, but on Friday night the witch and her minions were a bit more active. It’s quite a hike to get there, though. You have to walk around the Festhaus and all the way past the old Drachen Fire barn on a service trail. Note that Monster Stomp on Ripper Row should be opening next weekend (September 30), but other shows, such as Jack Is Back (Ireland) and Phantoms of the Festhaus, are running now. Again, thank you to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for inviting Theme Park Review to the VIP Night. Dust off your crucifix and break out the garlic--we’re heading into Howl-o-Scream! Here's the some of spread BGW put out for the VIP Night. The hand on the right was not part of cuisine (at least for the media). Did you ever have the feeling that you were being watched? Not sure why . . . it was just a strange sensation that came over me. I'm pretty sure these cards are cursed. I'm positive now. At Busch Gardens, even the dead can smoke only in certain designated areas. Time to start exploring Howl-o-Scream. Jack is, indeed, back in Ireland. Get down, or Jack will haunt the hell out of you! Who's ready for Jack's after party? "Our special tonight is Roast Leg of YOU!" The sign pretty much says it all. Remember, before entering Inferno, please apply sunscreen. "Somebody wanna hand me a magazine? I'm gonna be on the throne for a while, if you catch my drift." Fire in this skull's mouth hole! Sheesh! Even the trees in Italy are burning. This is the best-dressed snake person I've ever seen. The stone-faced ruler of Gorgon Gardens. I give Busch Gardens credit for how they name their bars. On to Germany and whatever fiendish fate awaits us. Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore . . . one more time!" OK, I'll cut off these chains so you can escape the pendulum. But watch out for the pit as you exit to your left. "Oh, you simply must stay for the party! It'll really start to swing when Red Death arrives." "For the love of God, Montressor, if you don't show up with that Amontillado in five minutes, I'm leaving!" It wouldn't be HOS without some random fog. Once upon a time, before Disney sanitized them, fairy tales were really creepy. Hey, pig, how's that straw house workin' for ya? On Scary Tale Road, the pumpkins eat Peter, the Pumpkin Eater. Should I glaze myself first? This guy in the Meat Market was the most polite monster I ever met. Always happy to give a hand . . . or a foot . . . or a liver. "You're gonna buy a handstamped ring, right? Who wants cake? "Oh, what an adorable little girl! Let granny help you with that guillotine." "Yes, we don't behead just anyone, you know!" Darkness descends, so it's time for a pint. "Aye, Scotland! We're hauntin' the hell outta ye!" Blurry park guests! The most frightening monsters of them all! Ireland isn't the only venue where one can, as they say, "get down." Bozo never had a chain saw. That was his mistake. "Wanna try my whammer? It's really big!" Can you not smell the gumbo . . . of DEATH? I wonder if there's a beignet stand around here? If this was a "Boo Blasters" ride, he'd have milk and cookies. It's quite a haul to Witch of the Woods. First, you have to get past Gorgon Gardens. Then you walk all the way around the Festhaus, past Nevermore, then past the old Drachen Fire barn. Our quest is at an end. God be praised! "Geez! All we did was fall asleep for a few hundred years, and a damn tree grew around us!" "I am an attorney representing the Blair Witch, and she would like to discuss this egregious violation of her trademark 'stick figures.'" That was a fun night, but I'm beat . . . oh, crap--a cop! And Jack the Ripper? Where's that cop when I need him? "Y'all won this round of 'Win, Lose, or Die'! Care to play again?" That's a wrap from Howl-o-Scream 2022 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Thanks for reading.