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Column: Haunting Review Of Howl-O-Scream
Posted Oct 11, 2006 by Suzanne Schmidt
Updated Oct 11, 2006 at 12:55 PM
Usually I am not a person who enjoys being scared.
I never watch scary movies, unless there is a sci-fi or fantasy angle to it, but Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year. I love anything that is not possible in reality, but I usually can’t stand to be scared.
With that in mind, I went to Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens during its Freaky Preview weekend. My brother, Mike, and I both have platinum passes, so we got in for free that night.
Since we didn’t have to pay that night, we bought the coupon books and got to go to the front of the line for every haunted house and the four best roller coasters SheiKra, Kumba, Montu and Gwazi.
In four hours, my brother and I had the chance to experience all the fun without any of the wait. We had so much fun, that I didn’t even mind getting scared every five minutes.
In addition to the six haunted houses, the park also had scare zones set up throughout the park.
There were people dressed as bushes that would jump out at you as you walked by and there were scary monsters that would follow you around.
In every haunted house, I got scared. I was mostly just trying to walk through them without screaming and jumping too much.
My brother doesn’t really get scared, so he just had a blast watching me react to people. Whenever someone from the haunted house wasn’t trying to get me he would make sure I was on edge by grabbing my neck and making me jump.
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I loved walking through the haunted houses and seeing all the blood and gore.
The first house we went to was After Hours. It was a rave that had gone wrong with people attacking other people. Entrails were hanging from the ceiling and in one area people’s heads had been cut off. That house was by far the scariest haunted house I have ever been in. I was actually relieved when we made it to the exit.
I really enjoyed the Deathly Departed house as well. The bride is out for revenge because her wedding day became a massacre. The whole house has the scene set for a very gothic wedding.
Trapped In The Walls was another house that had me freaking out. The house has experienced so much evil, that it lingers. This is not a house for those who are claustrophobic. Throughout the house visitors are walking through the inside of the walls peeking into rooms where devious things are happening.
The other house that I really enjoyed was The Hunted. It was a hunting cabin that had been partially burned to hide the mass murders of a hunter gone mad. It really seemed like it was burning.
There were times when I had to remind myself, this isn’t real, especially when the maniac was coming at me with a chain saw.
The other two houses were scary, but not as intense. The 3rd Dementia required three-dimensional glasses. The walls were jumping out at me as I walked through it.
The Freaked house was the last one my brother and I went into. It was full of clowns in a carnival that had gone terribly wrong. Even though my brother is big and strong, he is scared of clowns.
Amazingly enough, it seemed like all the clowns in the house knew it and stayed away from him. It was interesting to see and a little creepy, but not as scary as the others.
Riding the roller coasters at night was an experience as well. I love to ride roller coasters. The day Sheikra opened I stood in line for hours just to be among the first to get on.
Every roller coaster was better at night.
I had the best time at the Howl-O-Scream and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Halloween.
I have to say whoever did the hiring and put together the design of those haunted houses, did an amazing job. I had no idea it would be so much fun.
For information on dates and times visit http://www.buschgardens.com.
Suzanne Schmidt is a reporter for In The Loop and the Temple Terrace News. E-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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