Howl-O-Scream Tampa

['Canes Fan]

those refillable yards of beer need to be outlawed. I think I bruised my liver.BG did a good job last night. they opened the gates at 7:15 and there seemed to be a better security presence. the crowd was lighter this year, probably due to the preview being 2 nights instead of 1. the longest we waited was about 5 minutes for the hunted. my house ratings:
1. the mortuary
2. after hours
3. deathly departed
4. the hunted
5. freaked
6. 3rd dementia

restless death was our favorite scare zone. maybe we had a bad run through the hunted, but there were no scares in there. the house was well done, but we hardly saw anyone in there. we didn't see any of the shows, but we finally got a double ride on Sheikra at night, which was a walk-on.

BG's putting on a better show each year.

 

[Tony M]

Ranked houses
1.After Hours
2.Hunted
3.Freaked
4.Mortuary
5.3rd Dimentia
6.Deathly Departed

 

[Motherfletcher]

not quite sure they are the ones you'd want...

Think they have any I'd want? What are you doing scaring tour guides?

 

[Slacking]

Think they have any I'd want? What are you doing scaring tour guides?

I actually saw a couple last night, lol. Not sure of their names though.

Scaring them is fun, lol! Plus, I've always done it unintentionally, don't realize they are guides until after they pass me.

 

[Motherfletcher]

I actually saw a couple last night, lol. Not sure of their names though.

Scaring them is fun, lol! Plus, I've always done it unintentionally, don't realize they are guides until after they pass me.

Last year the RIP Tour Guides wore hospital scrubs (comfortable). Do HOS Guides wear anything to distinguish them? The people on the tour had glow stick necklaces so the guide could find them. Anything like that at HOS?
Are you having a good time working there? What kind of make-up do you have to go through? How long does it take to apply?

 

[Slacking]

The tour guides at HOS where an orange staff shirt, but the main thing that distinguishes them is that they carry a large staff with a skull on them and when outside of the house, i believe the skull lights up slightly.

Its lots of fun so far. Of course, I've got to deal with a fair number of jerks who thinks its ok to ruin the experience, but for the most part, I love it.

I have to put on my own makeup, which consists of a white base, black lines all over the face, and some glow in the dark makeup to top it all off. It takes me about 15-30 minutes just to put on the makeup, I'm slow, lol.

 

[noubaguy]

I absolutely LOVED Deathly Departed. The final scene is brilliant got me TWICE. I also love the way that some of the characters walk against/with the crowd. I think I saw you on Friday Slacker. Are you the first actor to the right hiding behind the wall when you go into the "garden"? I also saw one actor walking among the crowd and another coming out of a dark area (the last actor in the scene). Which one were you?

I was taken completly by surprise with the crowds. Last year when I went it was DESERTED which made the experience so special. This year though...it felt like MAGIC KINGDOM on a summer saturday night lol. The Fright Feast was a huge dissapointment. The food was...yucky. It was very disorganized and the lines for the buffet were ridiculous. I waited in line 25 minutes to get to the food. Once I got to the food....it didnt look so nice. The show was pretty good though.

It was 10 p.m. and I still had two houses left and they each had HUUUUUUUUGE lines. I decided to fork over another 25 bucks for the VIP booklet to guarantee I wouldnt be leaving without experiencing all the houses.

Despite the unexpected crowds and the rowdy teeny boppers I must say I enjoyed Howl O Scream more the HHN once again. I can't put my finger on it, but there is just something...something about HOS that really makes me feel excited.

 

[Motherfletcher]

I signed up for the Embalming Tour last night for the 15th. I'm glad I did now, since its a Saturday night. With the exclusive tour ($420) we can write our own agenda and have the tour guide for 8 hours. My thoughts are to hit the houses 1st and fast, then revisit the ones that we liked. With FOTL we should be able to go through all of the houses at least twice. Once the lines build the scares are more and more predictable because you can see them in the line ahead. What houses should we hit first?
Think it would help to get to the Fright Feast early? We will be ushered in through the Niarobi gate which should get us to the Desert Grill ahead of the crowd. I'm looking forward to the show with the dancing nurses. Did you see them?
After the houses and shows we can hit Sheikra over and over and over..
I hope the guide is physically fit because I'm walking 8 miles a day in preparation. Dawdlers will be trampled!

 

[Slacking]

I absolutely LOVED Deathly Departed. The final scene is brilliant got me TWICE. I also love the way that some of the characters walk against/with the crowd. I think I saw you on Friday Slacker. Are you the first actor to the right hiding behind the wall when you go into the "garden"? I also saw one actor walking among the crowd and another coming out of a dark area (the last actor in the scene). Which one were you?

I was taken completly by surprise with the crowds. Last year when I went it was DESERTED which made the experience so special. This year though...it felt like MAGIC KINGDOM on a summer saturday night lol. The Fright Feast was a huge dissapointment. The food was...yucky. It was very disorganized and the lines for the buffet were ridiculous. I waited in line 25 minutes to get to the food. Once I got to the food....it didnt look so nice. The show was pretty good though.

It was 10 p.m. and I still had two houses left and they each had HUUUUUUUUGE lines. I decided to fork over another 25 bucks for the VIP booklet to guarantee I wouldnt be leaving without experiencing all the houses.

Despite the unexpected crowds and the rowdy teeny boppers I must say I enjoyed Howl O Scream more the HHN once again. I can't put my finger on it, but there is just something...something about HOS that really makes me feel excited.

I took a quick peek at Deathly's line this weekend, and was SHOCKED to see it went all the way down the ramp into Timbuktu! It was insane! I think they got bigger crowds than they expected.

Glad to hear you liked Deathly Departed! We're soemtimes overlooked, but I think we've got a great house, and I love working in it. I am indeed the first actor in the room, the one hiding behind the wall. It very well could have been me, but there are two people for each role. My counterpart has short bleached hair, almost a buzzcut. My hair is a bit longer than that, but I wore it pretty wild on Friday. And, I love the roaming bride and groom characters but feel bad they've got a hard job, walking around the halls surrounded by possibly rowdy people.

 

['Canes Fan]

wow, when we went through we did it 2 times in a row with zero wait. I liked the addition of the pews and the altar this year, and the roaming characters were a nice touch. just another visual to distract you...

 

[Slacking]

[QUOTE='Canes Fan]wow, when we went through we did it 2 times in a row with zero wait. I liked the addition of the pews and the altar this year, and the roaming characters were a nice touch. just another visual to distract you...[/QUOTE]

The altar room is my favorite! Of coruse, the garden is a close second, lol.

Motherfletcher, the tour gets you VIP access tot he houses right? So, it doesn't really matter what order you hit them, but you may as well go in a circle (if you leave fright feast, go Hunter, After Hours/3rd Dementia, Mortuary, Freaked, Deathly Departed)

 

[Motherfletcher]

I'm trying to come up with a touring plan and my biggest obstacle is the backpack carrying a dry change of clothes for after the water rides.
BG Tours suggested after we eat to go to Kumba and lose the backpack in a locker which would make DD the obvious choice for the first house.
What is your costume? You wearing glasses?

 

[Slacking]

My first set isn't until 7:30, so if you hit DD from 7-7:30, I won't be in the house.

Hopefully, my costume will be a brown puffy shirt and a brown vest (along with a waist apron thing, lol), but someone else wore my shirt last time (long story.... lol) and was stuck with an ugly grey velcro shirt. And in the house, I usually have my glasses off.

 

[Motherfletcher]

Got any ideas on where to dump the backpack? Are there any lockers between Nairobi gate and Desert Grill? Are the lockers open at the Scorpion? If they are then we will keep the Ubanga-Banga house for last.
It would be way cool if you (a scareactor) could lean over a tell my daughter "Happy Birthday!" She'd freak.
I'd be lost without my glasses.

I'd like to take the chance to thank the Universal board for allowing us this thread. BGT is somewhat of the unwanted, red-headed stepchild without a board. Seaworld's is probably a better fit but ya'll know that we are loyal Universal Resorts fans!
Yesterday my boss told me that I need to attend a workshop in Orlando the end of this month. I played an excellent Br'er Rabbit and begged not to be thrown into the Briar Patch but he wouldn't budge. So I have to go to HHN on my birthday! Wohoo!
Now if I can just talk my wife into letting us go to Cypress Garden's Phobia Saturday to meet Jason from Friday the 13th I'll feel like I won the Triple Crown!

 

[Slacking]

DO NOT GO TO PHOBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Biggest waste of my time. Maybe if you go just to meet Jason, thats ok, but otherwise it was horrible!!

Review: http://www.hhnvault.com/your_terror/articles/100305cyprophobia.html

A link to my review is posted towards the bottom of that review.


Ok, back to Busch, lol.

I don't hasve a day map or a map of this years HOS, but here is what it says on the back of last years HOS map

"Lockers/Storage: Located at the Main Entrance ticket booths, Moroccan Village, Python , Congo River Rapids, Kumba, Tidal Wave, Scorpion, Montu, Stanley Falls, and Gwazi"

Not sure where of of these sets of lockers are located, but according to this, there are lockers near scorpion. But, you could always do DD multiple times, lol.

BTW, it is rather tough without glasses, but I think I look scarier without them. And I don't have to worry about them while in the house.

 

[Motherfletcher]

I took your advice and skipped Phobia. DW had lawn maintenance on my "To do" list anyway. That list is getting scary in its own right.
I'm getting amped up for HOS Saturday night! I plan on using Scorpion's lockers. We wouldn't need lockers at all if we weren't doing the water rides. I think it will be fun, though, standing in Sheikra's wake and getting soaked to the bone which isn't too good for camera, billfold and cell phone.
I signed up this weekend for HHN's RIP Tour. I've been careful this year to avoid the spoilers so it should be fresh!
How was HOS last Saturday night?

 

[Slacking]

MotherFletcher, look like you picked a GREAT night for the tour. It was packed on Saturday!!!!

Did you have a good time at HOS?

Thanks for the bracelet!!!! Glad you could find me, lol.

 

[Motherfletcher]

It was great! We missed you the first time through DD. The guy in your spot was thin as a rail! I'm going to do a trip report after HHN but as a preview I was very impressed with the VIP Tour and Guide, Kate. We went to Lowry Park's ZooBoo and DD12 freaked out at the first house. I mean crying uncontrolably and shaking. When I told her that HOS was going to be the same thing only cranked up a notch she bailed. We hated to leave her alone on her birthday but I could accept loosing $150 but not the $500+ I shelled out for tickets and the exclusive tour. She stayed at Hard Rock and watched movies while DS17 and I did HOS.
You've got to sneak away to check out the Naughty Nurses!

 

[Slacking]

Yeah, its pretty easy to tell my counterpart and I apart, lol!

Probably a smart idea to keep your daughter away from HOS if ZooBoo bothered her.

Looking foward to a more detailed review, but like I said, you picked a good night, DD supposedly got up to a 2 1/2 hour wait.

And while I won't sneak away to go see the nurses (saw them last year) I may have to decostume myself and go see After Hours and The Hunted during my dinner break.

 

[Motherfletcher]

DD had a line back to the Haunted Lighthouse. Sheikra's line was to the tiger's island. It would have been hard to even find the ends of the lines without a guide. I told my son that we would have given up real early if we were by ourselves. We stayed until 2 and our guide was as fresh as when we started. We had alot of fun with her. The first time we went to DD the attendant outside said she couldn't go with us through the house? The second time we walked like father of and the bride through the chapel.
I felt kind of guilty walking right on to Sheikra with the lines as long as they were. The second time a couple of hysterical women stopped our guide to say they were assaulted by another woman that cut in line.
There were 23 embalming tours that night! We were lucky to get a guide that had even done it before.
Your costume/make up was great. I wouldn't have known who you were.