For a lot of reasons, I had never been able to attend a haunt event. This year, I was determined to make it to my very first. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is just a short hop up the road, so I talked Horror Hating Husband into a quick road trip to find out if Howl-O-Scream would live up to my expectations.

The Plan

For some important background: the main reason I’ve avoided haunts is that I used to suffer frequently from photophobic-triggered migraines that were bad enough to put me in the E.R. and may have at one point caused a T.I.A. Good times. I’ve since made huge strides with medications, physical therapy, diet, exercise, and all that good stuff. So now I’m heathy and ready to get scared to death, just not literally. 

 A lot of local haunts rely heavily on strobe effects for their scares, which makes them a bad fit for me or at least an uncertain enough fit to not want to risk it.  However, after watching some reviews of events in the area (thanks to the channel Tampa Jay) Howl-O-Scream Williamsburg looked like a promising option, with a few houses and plenty of scare zones or as they delightfully call them, “Terror-Tories”, that would be doable for me. I booked our trip and we headed out. 

Rookie mistakes were made

The last time I was at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was a senior class physics trip. Without putting a specific year to it, it predates Y2K. I thought I was prepared by studying the map ahead of time; I was not. 

But before we even get to the park, our trip almost met disaster with the hotel that was clearly not as advertised on the booking site. I’m unclear from what angle they managed to take pictures to hide the actual location of the hotel, or its general run-down state, or the barbed wire security fence surrounding it. After some quick googling we managed to find a new hotel with fewer red flag safety concerns. 

Actual hotel not pictured

Once we got resituated in our new location, we finally headed out to the park. I got a full-day ticket so we could see the park and stay for the event rather than just attend the event, just in case H³  wanted to do any rides and to better get the lay of the land. Spoiler: this did not help. 

First Impressions

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is beautiful. It’s European-themed, with bonus Canada, sorry New France, and is really just pleasant to walk around in, especially when the weather is cool and sunny.  After checking out Scottland, we rode the train to Germany and ate way too much roast chicken and sausage at the Festhaus. For theme park food, it was pretty good.

Afterwards we tried to ride the DarKoaster, but after waiting in a line that claimed to be 45 minutes for almost 30 without making much progress, we realized that neither one of us had much water and that it probably better to stop and fix that. Dehydration = migraines and other things;  hydrate, y’all. 

After getting out of line and chilling in Germany for a bit, we noticed that the wait time had jumped so we never got back in line and instead just wandered around and looking at the Terror-Tory décor in the daytime. Germany has the “Scary Tale Road”: spooky versions of fairy tales. During the day, you can see the detail on Snow White, Little Miss Muffet’s Spider Web, Jack’s beanstalk, and a lot more. 

Ready to be scared

After that it was just about time for Howl-O-Scream to start and I wanted to hit up two houses, “Death Water Bayou” and “Lost Mines”, and then all the Terror-Tories after dark. The event offers 5 houses total; “Clown Town” was also a possibility for me, but “Killarney Diner” and “Monster Manor” were too risky lighting-wise from what we had seen online.  H³ had bought a “No-Boo” necklace so the scare actors wouldn’t interact with him, and he could enjoy just observing the evening.

I was really interested to see if this would work and to be honest, at this point nervous/excited about the whole evening. I wanted to have fun, I wanted him to not hate this, and I really, really wanted one good scare. But I had spoiled myself on the event by watching videos to make sure it would be safe; would the scares still be effective?

“Death Water Bayou” Haunted House Italy 

Yes.  Okay, I’m an easy mark. I wanted to be scared, I was going by myself in between two other groups, and this was my first-ever haunted house. So, with those disclaimers: I loved this experience. It was beautiful, aesthetically. The haunted bayou had so many different rooms, each with its own feel that blended well, and the scare actors were so good. They had a nice mix of humor and fright that had the group I was in laughing and screaming. 

Before I went in the house, H³ and I were talking about how I would react. I don’t scream when frightened or on roller coasters; I had forgotten that when frightened, I laugh. So there’s me, laughing through this haunt while leaping out of my skin at the monsters I didn’t see behind the door or hidden in the decorations.

I found myself wanting to rush though the black vinyl curtains that separated each room to see what was next, while at the same time dreading what was going to come at me from the darkness. My favorite room was the blacklight voodoo doll room. I wish I had taken video, but I was honestly too awestruck. I regret not doing this house more than once, but if I had, would it have been the same?

“Fest-evil” Terror-Tory (Italy)

The scare zone outside Death Water Bayou was Mardi Gras-themed. We only saw this in the daytime, and I’m glad we did so we could really appreciate the detail on the costumes. One of the scare actors in particular had such an amazing makeup job; he was too fast moving to get his picture though. Most of the actors, if they notice you taking pictures, will stop and pose, but he was too busy terrifying people. I respect that.  I was super-impressed with the quality of the actors in this section, and in the park in general. 

After we left Italy to try to find the “Lost Mines” things went…off plan. Which is to say, I got us lost, a lot. I tried so many different routes to get to there and in the process, hit every other Terror-Tory in the park. H³ is a very patient man. 

“Gorgon Gardens” Terror-Tory (Italy)

I’m glad we saw this one while there was still light too. Themed around Medusa and living statues, this was another aesthetically beautiful scare zone. The centerpiece was a large statue of intertwining snakes in the middle of a garden. Robed actors in ornate masks came out at guests from behind bushes, and statues and serpent goddesses roamed around menacingly. The only drawback for this zone was it felt short, and the décor felt sparce. I suspect it’s because the statues were a bit removed from the main walkway so it may have been more of an issue of layout rather than space.

“Stalker Street” Terror-Tory (New France)

This may have been my favorite Terror-Tory of the night. Scarecrows perched on wooden fences would come alive and chase guests. Plague doctor-styled actors in long black trench coats and crow-themed masks lunged at people from the darkness. Ornately carved  jack-o’-lantern lights were strung up overhead. And then there was this guy – embed video of scarecrow. I legit did not know he was real until he moved.

We hung out here for a while watching everything unfold because it was so fun and really felt the most traditionally Halloween. H³liked this one the most too, for that reason. He also had his best encounters with scare actors here. An unseen actor hiding in the shadows whispered “Oh you’re no fun” after seeing H^3’s ”No Boo” status and a living scarecrow gave him a secret happy wave before coming to life and giving me a delightful scare.

I may have gotten the order that we did these confused. Like I said, I got us lost and then I spent way too much time in a spider web-covered tunnel. I don’t even like spiders, but it was so beautiful.

“Scary Tale Road” Terror-Tory (Germany)

I’m glad we saw this one in the day first. There wasn’t a lot of lighting at night, and so much of the amazing detail was lost in the darkness. I thought this was going to be one of my favorites, but I was kind of underwhelmed when we went through. I could tell there was some cool stuff there, it just wasn’t being highlighted well. Miss Muffet was great though. 

“The Bash” Terror-Tory (Old France)

A very scary party celebrating the 25^th anniversary of Howl-o-Scream! About this time, we had figured that the “No Boo” necklace was in fact working well. Too well. I had to separate from H³ if I wanted any scares. But I was having too much fun with him, so we stuck together.  France had some major set pieces: a giant devil head, and an ornate cake with enough skulls to make me happy. Unfortunately, it also had strobe effects in one part of the town, so we didn’t spend a lot of time there. Once we got past that section, I could appreciate the actors better, especially one werewolf who was equally good at scaring and voguing

Failure at the “Lost Mines”

After making our way all around the park and checking a real map, not the app, multiple times, we finally made it to the “Lost Mines” only to discover a tremendously long wait.  Since it was my bad planning and navigating that caused that, I bagged on the other house I could do and spend more time in the Terror-Tories, since H³seemed to be enjoying those.  

Which brought us back to…

“Ripper Road” Terror-Tory (England)

Whitechapel, during the time of Jack the Ripper. This was a fun area with lots of great ambient sound effects and funny scare actors. The Inspector was quite taken with my phone and the newsboy did a great job interacting with guests across all age ranges.  I never saw Jack himself, but the rest of the atmosphere more than made up for it. We hung out here for a while and had a late-night snack while watching the fun around us.

Was it worth it?

After the cost of tickets, hotel(s), food, and gas, was Howl-o-Scream a good choice for my first haunt event?  Yes, especially since I was with someone who wasn’t too keen on being scared. Howl-O-Scream, or at least the parts I experienced, was more focused on the fun side of fear. There was very little gore, the jump scares were all well –timed, and the actors worked hard to keep things age-appropriate when interacting with guests. It truly felt like the goal was to entertain with spooky content, not just to terrify. 

Final Thoughts

Any disappointment I felt with the event, or the park, was largely the result of my own planning and/or navigation mistakes. I had intended to do more than one haunted house, but I didn’t want to pay for a Quick Pass since I couldn’t do all the houses. Next time, I will likely pay for the Quick Pass or plan my route much better.  I’ll also make sure to see all the zones both in the day and at night; there’s a lot of details that hit differently in either lighting situation.

I wish I could have stayed longer and just spent more time enjoying the atmosphere in each of my favorite Terror-Tories, which for me is good indication that I probably left at the right time. After all, I’d rather leave wanting more than stay too long. Hopefully I’ll be able to go back next year, or maybe check out one of the other Howl-O-Screams. Either way, I’m hooked. 

Recommended for fans of PG-13 style frights Despite their advertising, the lack of gore in the general areas and emphasis on aesthetic over disturbing imagery makes this event suitable to for wider range of ages and sensitivity levels.  There were a lot of younger teens there having a blast. 

Not recommended for people adverse to jump scares, and the sound of chainsaws. While wearing the “No Boo” necklace you won’t get directly spooked, but in certain parts of the park the actors coming out of hidden locations is jarring, even if it’s not aimed at you.  Also, if you are looking for extreme scares this may be on the tamer side. 

Howl-O-Scream Williamsburg is running through November 3rd

https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/events/howl-o-scream

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