HHN vs Howl-o-Scream

[Florida420]

I was supposed to go to the TPR meet on the 20th, but I already had plans to do these 2 events the previous week, months ahead of time. Now I am out of $$ and can not go to the meet, but I can give you a little heads up on the fun, while I tell you about my time.

 

I did HHN on Wed, Thurs, and Sun, Thursday was considered a "peak" night (I guess because a lot of schools in FL had a 4 day weekend) so some of US was open, un-themed of course, but it was still cool to see Imhotep at night with all the drunks.

I did Howl-o-Scream on Fri and Sat, which where both "peak" nights

Let me just start out by saying that it was hot as balls all weekend long, not too bad at night, but bad enough. Now I've been to many o' HHN in the past and I don't know if its them or me, but it just didn't do it for me this year. Granted it was better than last year (that's not too hard to do) but not as good as some years ago. Don't get me wrong it was fun and the theme of the whole thing being sort of all one big theme was OK, but out of 7 houses, 2 where pretty good, 1 was really good, 1 completely blew and the others, with an occasional cool spot here or there, where just forgettable. IMO the best HHN at IOA was the first one, Islands of fear. Because they themed the scare zones close to the theme of the island that is already there. You know, cause it's hard to theme Marvel island, toon lagoon and seuss landing and not have it look the same. It's hard to walk around there and not look at it like what it is, if that makes any sense?

I do want to point out that on the event map for HHN it has Ripsaw falls and the unicorn listed with all the other IOA rides (peak and non-peak) but the 3 nights I was there neither of them was running all night, they where during the day, so no idea why not at night. I think that the teacups...sorry... Storm force Accelatron wasn't running either, but I'm not 100 % about that, I just know I never saw it going, but I didn't go back to try to ride it, so I'm not really sure.

I'm not a very good typer so I'm not going to go into much detail, so I will just pretty much rate them.

 

!!WARNING!! possible spoilers, but it wont spoil too much, I'll leave out all the good stuff

 

Demon Cantina ( Marvel Island in "Carnage house") 8/10 its got a nice new AC system and there are some dancin' hotties, one of the better houses, usualy not much of a wait and as a plus there is a nice extra to look at while you are waiting in line

 

The Skool (Jurassic Park) 1/10 I did my ratings out of 10 instead of 5 so I could let you know just how much this house sucks. Unless you have the express pass or it is only a 5 min wait don't bother. really. I waited for this one the longest (about an hour) and it literally took less than 2 minutes to walk through, very upsetting. Almost as upsetting as the year I waited 1 and a half hours for the Fear Factor house (in the same location I might add) at least at FF we had the Lizard Man. So I have come to the conclusion that I will not wait more that 20 Min. for any future houses at this location.

 

Body Collectors ( Jurassic Park, in the Discovery Center) 10/10 By far the best house this year, hell even last year. I wont give anything away for this, except that the movie in the line is very graphic, so if you plan to bring a youngin' or are squeamish, be warned. Also it's no secret that this is the best house, I waited about 45 min. right after the park opened and by the end of the night the wait was 2 hours....that's right 2!! so go there first or express it, but go there, for sure.

 

Terror Mines (Lost Continent, in Poseidon's Fury) 7.8/10 I was excited when I heard about this house being at this attraction, but I thought they would have used more of the caves in the line before the entrance, which they use none. It starts off at the tunnel of water and goes from there. It is still cool with the mine helmet light (FYI has disposable plastic shower cap like protection, to keep out the nasties). But they have Poseidon's Fury closed day and night and I think they could have easily done this in a sound stage and kept it open, to soak up some of the crowd. IMO they didn't realy take advantage of the surroundings enough to justify closing down the attraction for a whole month, plus it's a lot like Cold Blind Terror, with mine helmets.

 

Where Evil Hides (sound stage) 5.7/10 one of the crappier <(is that a word?) it does have the creepy old lady from the commercial, but she just sits and stares, speaking of that, there is also some stairs here and they are a bit pointless if you ask me. There was on cool scare in the house, but I only saw it once out of the 3 nights I was there, I wont give it away, but maybe you will get lucky.

 

Cold Blind Terror (sound stage) 7/10 it was OK not very cold and not very terrifying, but you are definitely blind through 80% of this one (thank god for red exit signs) There is also a surprise in this one that I wont give away, when I saw it I was all like YEAAAAAHHHHHHHYY!! but you got to catch it at the right time. Elissa, you should still like this one, I know you are looking forward to it.

 

Blood Ruins (sound stage) 6.8/10 kinda cool but nothing to write home about, there is a guy in there that does the creepy "throat thing" like the mom in the grudge (2 of the 3 times I was in it) and one of the last rooms has a really cool, big beastie in it, ooooh scary, or he might be in the Cantina I can't remember, I know it's one of those two.

 

It seems like they put a lot more audio scares in the houses, some with people and some without, but they are loud. And you can definitely tell the difference from a peak and non-peak night, in the houses, there are at least another 6 to 12 scare-actors in each house on peak nights (sorry R & E )

FYI if you do the stay and scream from US they will hold you in the bone yard and you can do the 3 sound stage houses before the event starts, also if you are on the "seuss" side of IOA you can too. That's what we did, the "sound stage 3" then Terror mines, Dragons, Body Collectors, then your on your own, by then the park starts to get full. You can hit skool (if you must) and the Cantina later in the night without much of a wait. On all 3 nights we hit all the houses except skool (once was enough) and all the rides more than once with out express pass, but I'm sure as halloween approaches it will get more crowded. As far as the Rat Run (in the bone yard), it was OK, it would have been better if you didn't have to listen to the ramblings of an old HHN mascot who will remain nameless (it rhymes with hack) who sounded a lot like David Lee Roth, at least on Thursday night, and repeated himself about every 5 minutes.

 

Scarezones

 

A bit of the same old thing, chainsaws, fire, swords and shovels??

IMO the best was

Cemetery Mines in JP the baddies where cool looking in a fake kinda way but the mine shafts left plenty of places for them to hide and of course my favorites, the "tree/bush people" with their bird calls (I love 'em)

Terra Guard Run wasn't all that, but in its defense I only saw it when I was leaving and it was late, I never had to go through it, already being in the park

Blood Thunder Alley zzzzzzzzzzzzz chainsaws and snores, every now and then they will let the hot girls dance

Fire Pits pretty much the same thing as is always in the Lost Continent, but sadly no "rock people"

There is also a bit of a scare zone in toon lagoon, although it is un-named and unlisted, it is there, but not very scary.

 

I did not get to see B & T but I imagine it will be fine, I had planned to see it when I came back up for the meet, but now I can't

 

With all that being said on to

 

Howl-o-Scream

This was my first trip to BG since I was 8, not that I rode coasters back then, but the only 2 they had was the scorpion and the python, or as I now call them, the whiplash headache machines. Before I get into the HOS fun I just want to say a little about BG. I got the weekend pass deal, day and night entry for the Thurs-Sun for about $100.00, I only went Fri and Sat, but it was still worth it. Anyway, I just want to say that this park is way too big I got tired just looking at the map and I guess I'm spoiled by IOAs simple circular design, but I don't mind telling you a made a few wrong turns, not really checking my map. Oh yeah and the 2 days I was there I counted only 5 water fountains (FYI I counted 4 of them just at BTTF at US), I know some of you (Wally) will say who goes to BG to drink water? well, I needed it, but didn't get it, so for $2.99 a pop, I got well over my fill of code red (about 12 to 16 bucks a day on just liquids). It was that or $2.50 for a little bottle of water, what am I supposed to do? Aside from that, I had fun

 

Qwazi, my first woody, beat the hell out of me.

I already commented on the 2 vintage coasters, but they where still fun.

Kumba, I must admit, except for the launch, I think I like this one more than the Hulk, there's alot more going on the whole time, not just a big start then a lackluster second half (sorry Hulk).

Montu, I really enjoyed also, the underground stuff was cool. I still think its a tie with my Dragons cuz there are 2 of them but only 1 Montu.

As for the Sheikra, now I don't want to piss any one off but, I think it's a bit overrated. Granted 200 ft was high and the face-first-freefall was a bit scary at first. After that, its the smoothest calmest coaster there (besides the 2 drops) it was quite tame. Well worth a ride, as long as you don't have to wait too long. I waited about 40 min for it both days and about 45-50 min for it that night, almost too long. Don't get me wrong it was fun, but it would be more fun if I waited a little less.

 

On that note I will say that despite them sending the coasters of with a few too many empty seats, the lines for all the coasters moved surprising fast. Also the ride operators are a little cooler than IOA, when we where stuck in Timbuktu between night and day and there was no one waiting they would let us stay on and reride (Cheetah Chase, Phoenix, Scorpion, Sandstorm) if that was IOA they would make you get off, walk all the way around and get back on, when there is no one else there. For the most part, everything there was pretty cool, except all the walking and the "no lids, or straws" thing, for the safety of animals? I guess animals don't have to worry about salt & pepper packs or ketchup or mustard packs oh well, on to the night time activities.

 

!!WARNING!! possible spoilers again

 

I will say that the scarezones at HOS while being alot smaller, where better laid out, but the scare-actors just didn't seem to have the goods. Some of them where good but most where just there, the make-up on most where not HHN quality, but I figured that would be the case. So the scarezones (all of them) get 8/10 but the scare-actors get 6/10

But one thing that was cool was that in certain spots, there would be random scare-actors that where not in the "zones" so they would really get you. Like in the bushes mostly, where there are no "zones" for a while, someone will just come out of nowhere and scare the crap out of you, and then dip back in the jungle. I think that HHN should do that, put random people where you aren't expecting them, that would get me, 'cause then I'm not looking out for them.

 

The houses on the other hand where surprisingly good, they where no Body Collectors, but they where pretty damn close. They where bigger than HHN and the lines moved alot faster. That's one thing I never got about HHN you walk through the houses, walk, so why is everyone just standing there. I don't think that HOS has as many express passes as HHN and that's how the lines move quicker. Also the houses have more room to move around, you don't feel like a rat and there's more places for them to come at you. I was very impressed, out of 6 houses 6 where good, 4 really good and 2 just good. They rate there houses on there map with skulls, 1-5, 5 being the most intense, I'll show there rating and mine.

 

After Hours [skyride Station](5 skulls) 8.8/10 nice and long, some outside, most inside, the only drawback to this house was at the begining when they had not 1 but 2 half naked men dancing around in cages (not that there's anything wrong with that, just not my cup of tea) if it was HHN they would have been half naked women.

 

Deathly Departed [Congo](4 skulls) 8/10 nothing special, just good and spooky

 

Freaked [bird Gardens](4 skulls) 8/10 All outside, clowns, mirrors, freaks and amplified farts, what else could you want?

 

The Hunted [Nairobi](5 skulls) 8.5/10 first house we did, well themed and they planted someone in the house to look like a guest, she was walking through and at the end someone came out and grabbed her and pulled her away. This was really cool and probably would have fooled me if we hadn't been the very first group in the house that night.

 

the 3rd Dementia [Egypt](3 skulls) 7.5/10 A 3-d house, your basic 3-d effects nothing new, definitely the weakest out of the 6, but still fun.

 

The Mortuary [by Gwazi Plaza](5 skulls) 9.7/10 my personal favorite, I only got to do this one once, but it stuck with me, it was that good, spooooky.

 

Between the two I would say that overall atmosphere, HHN was better darker mood music everywhere the only thing really lit up was the little red lights on the Hulks cobra roll, where BG had every coaster lit up with all the white lights on all the towers.

BG scarezones where well lit or dark I should say, but the park itself was brighter than IOA. But BG had 4 DJs spinning and yapping in 4 different areas of the park (if your into that sort of thing) but there scarezone music was a misc. loop of spooky stuff. IOA had their own music different in each place and the Terra Throne show at the port of entry, that's where all the hot chicks on stilts where (mmmmmmmmmm). The Terra Queen on her hog and the occasional sacrifice lots of fire and cool effects and did I mention hot girls on stilts?

Although HOS had 2 shows of their own, but I only saw one of them Fiends, not quite US quality (lip syncing) they had a disco dancing Dracula that looked like Fes, from that 70s show. A break-dancing mummy, who owned, wolfman and Frankenstein wore cheesy masks, but the thing that made up for it and not to mention possibly my favorite part of the whole weekend was.

Hot nurses with pink hair and lots of 'em, I know it sounds strange, but I don't know, they just made me feel all warm and fuzzy , man they where hot.

helllllloooo nurse!!

 

In conclusion despite all the walking and odd layout of BG it was very enjoyable, for it really being my first time at the park, I was able to do all the rides (all the good ones) and all the houses on my 1st day and night. The second day and night was all a bonus, I had a very good time, with the exception of the confusion of the BG staff that led to me walking from one end of the park to the other and back again between day and night events because no one seemed to know what was going on, but I'll save that for some other day. One other thing I noticed, even though I didn't do this, was the RIP tour. Both parks have a version of this with a tour, no waiting in lines for houses, prefered seating at shows, blah, blah. Anyway, the HHN version, that I only saw once, had a guy holding up a glow stick and the group all had little glows sticks around their necks, that was it (unless this was just a big group of other people and the wanted to stay together??) The HOS group had a tour guide with a big staff with a skull on top and they all had cool multi-color flashing crystals on, not little glow sticks. I'm sure HHN tour is more expensive than HOS so you think they would be a little better then glow sticks?? Don't really care just thought I would mention it.

I know it seems like I am bashing HHN,IOA,US, but I'm not, they are still my parks I've got my annual pass and I'm gonna keep it. I just wanted people to know about other events. I didn't even know that BG had HOS untill this year and I was very pleased with it, so I wanted to share my experience with others that might not normally check it out. I will still go to HHN next year, but now I will most likely go to HOS too. Although I will say the chainsaws at HOS are super weak :? good thing there aren't that many of them.

 

HHN vs HOS

 

Houses HOS

Scarezone Layout HOS

Scarezone Size HHN

Scarezone Scare-actors HHN

Park Atmosphere HHN

Gore Factor (in houses) HHN

Fun For your $$ HOS

More Fun then Aggravating HOS

Crowds Tie

Cash You Will Spend (once in parks) Tie

 

As you can see it's a dead heat, so if you have the cash, do both, if you can only do one.... well, it's up to you. I personally had more fun at HOS, but maybe that's 'cause it was something new for me, new coasters, new park, different houses, or maybe it was just the pink headed nurses. It just seemed like more to do, all the way around at HOS, more rides (maybe if IOA had all their rides running for HHN like they where supposed to, it would be closer) better houses, more spread out, DJs (complete with dancing drunk people, mostly drunk girls!!) So do yourself a favor and check it out.

Robb or Elissa if you read this, I think you guys should catch a later flight on Sunday and stay for some HOS, you can do the feast thingy with your own private show of Haunt me Baby....(no nurses in this one) a buffet and you can hit the park a half hour before the poor saps stuck in Timbuktu, do it, do it, you'll thank me later.

Oh well, my finger tips are numb, hope you enjoyed my 1st TR, if not sorry, but I had fun doing it. I wish I had some pics for you and some pics of the nurses for me 8) .

Oh and I just read today about the Sheikra getting stuck, I was there then, but I didn't know that happend, pretty freaky, that's a long way up to get out and load up on that other cart thing. But I am proud to say that I was on the sky ride when it got stuck, it wasn't that creepy, just chillin' above some zebras. But I do think the couple in the car ahead of me was up to no good, if ya know what I mean

On that note, thanks again, see ya, bye bye, have fun.

 

 

P All "Helooooooooooooo Nurse"

[JT3000]

The Skool (Jurassic Park) 1/10 I did my ratings out of 10 instead of 5 so I could let you know just how much this house sucks. Unless you have the express pass or it is only a 5 min wait don't bother. really. I waited for this one the longest (about an hour) and it literally took less than 2 minutes to walk through, very upsetting. Almost as upsetting as the year I waited 1 and a half hours for the Fear Factor house (in the same location I might add) at least at FF we had the Lizard Man. So I have come to the conclusion that I will not wait more that 20 Min. for any future houses at this location.

 

Ouch... you're giving it a 1 just because it's short? All the houses in that location have been short due to the size of the restaurant. I thought Skool was a huge improvement over the previous two (especially FF, one of the worst houses ever), so I'd hate to see how you'd rate them. :shock: It seems like people either love or hate the Skool. There's no inbetween for some reason.

 

Blood Ruins (sound stage) 6.8/10 kinda cool but nothing to write home about, there is a guy in there that does the creepy "throat thing" like the mom in the grudge (2 of the 3 times I was in it) and one of the last rooms has a really cool, big beastie in it, ooooh scary, or he might be in the Cantina I can't remember, I know it's one of those two.

 

I think you're referring to the Satan at the end of Cantina.

 

You should have watched B&T. Best one in years. And some of the girl's in that show put HOS's nurses to shame.

[Florida420]

Ouch... you're giving it a 1 just because it's short? All the houses in that location have been short due to the size of the restaurant. I thought Skool was a huge improvement over the previous two (especially FF, one of the worst houses ever)

 

OK maybe 1 was a bit harsh, but it is definitely under 5, either way it sucked. When you wait for an hour or more, you just expect a little better than that. If it is short because of the size, then maybe they shouldn't have any houses there in the future. I remember at HHN 13 they had 2 houses outside and they where fun, why not do that again? but I agree nothing can blow as hard as the FF house blaahhhhh!!!

 

I think you're referring to the Satan at the end of Cantina.

 

Thanks, I knew it was one of the two, he was cool

 

You should have watched B&T. Best one in years. And some of the girl's in that show put HOS's nurses to shame.

 

I bet, the one time I saw B&T they had Laura Croft, Stripperella and a host of other hotties, that where very easy on the eyes 8) although I was sitting front row and could not hear crap, but hey I was sitting front row to the babes, who needs to hear? I am sad that I missed it

 

P All

[Imhotep]

So far, between HOS and HHN, I thought HHN was marginally better. I would say 5 out of the 7 houses were great. I didnt get to go to all the houses at HOS unfortunately, but the 3 we did (and 2 that I remember) were decent compared to HHN, but the scares were not as good.

 

I mainly enjoyed HOS due to riding the coasters at night. The view from Sheikra, looking at the city all lit up was great!

 

The overall atmosphere at HHN was creepier. I definately look forward to going back to HHN Thurs!

[Slacking]

Just a note about makeup, since you did make a comment about it.

 

I'm under the impression that at HHN, each scareactor has their makeup applied for them by someone else. Not sure if this is true, but thats what I've been told.

 

At HOS, unless you are a sub, you have to apply your own makeup.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed HOS. I honestly think that HHN fans do need to check it out if they have never done so.

 

At HHN, I had a hard time having fun. With the crowds and waits, it was rather stressful, and most of the houses weren't that great. I did enjoy Body Collectors, Demon Cantina, and yes, the Skool the most. It is a short house, but I enjoy the set and have had quite a few scares in that house.

[freestylenut]

I agree with you on the Skool....it was really lame! And definitely the LAMEST in the whole park!

 

IMO, The Terror Mines was the best & most innovative house at HHN. If you or the person in front of you (in MY case, my wife) is wearing the helmet, its an impressive experience.

[Real]

BTW, Kumba doesnt launch. Not sure what ride you were on not to notice the large lift hill

[Imhotep]

^he is saying that Kumba is better than the hulk, except for the launch.

[Florida420]

^thank you Imhotep

 

 

 

Yes, I am well aware that Kumba does not launch

 

 

 

 

P All

[Slacking]

Terror Mines is the best?

 

If all it takes for a great wanted house are hanging ropes and burlap walls with no lightning, I could easily make a great house myself!

[jarmor]

^ well im kinda on the same page as you lol lol. For some reason it didnt have a "mine" feel to me! It felt like freddy was let loose and shredded everything! I hear everyone talk about crowds but it was not crowded when I went and that was a friday night. On some of the pics in my TR you can see there wasnt any huge crowds at all. And I think that was something beyond satan in the demon cantina. That thing made me cover my ears and turn the other way I was soo freaked out lol lol. And I totally Agree how its hard to have anyother theme in those places being that you will have the themeing of the islands conflicting with it...like in marvel.

 

and when I went on that friday night everything was running...ripsaw falls, flying unicorn and even alot of the US attractions were open. Sorry you had a bad experience lol lol.

[Florida420]

And I think that was something beyond satan in the demon cantina. That thing made me cover my ears and turn the other way I was soo freaked out lol lol

I agree, I've seen Satan and that sir was no Satan

 

On one of the nights, thursday, it was considered a peak night and the US stuff was open. But still no RF or FU < lol fu (flying unicorn) on any of the nights, oh well, it's not like I've never ridden them before. It just would have been nice for there to be more things to thin out the crowds a little.

 

 

P All "still had loads of fun"