As someone who loved the thrill of haunted houses as a kid, the two-month-long, Halloween-themed Howl-O-Scream event at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was not scary at all to me…except for the roller coasters, as usual. If you generally enjoy haunted houses and theme park shows, you can expect a good time, if not necessarily a scary one. To help you gauge whether the event may be worth a visit, I’ll go over my experience with the lines, food, haunted houses and “terror-tories,” and shows (although of all the shows, I only went to the wolf pup trainer talk).
Lines and Bags
Going on a Friday in September, the lines were short to nonexistent. That in itself made it worth the trip. The park calendar showed it was opening at 3 p.m., but when my husband and I arrived at the front gate at 2:40, they were already letting people in. Consider arriving before 4 p.m. if possible due to the bag policy: no bags are allowed after 4 p.m., except for wristlets and fanny packs less than 8″x5″, or diaper or medical bags up to 12” x 6” x 12”. Since we arrived before that, we were allowed to keep our backpack with us, and no one objected to us bringing it into the haunted houses (one employee asked my husband to wear it on his front).
We only had to wait a few minutes to ride in the front row of the Pantheon in the Italy area. There were only two other people in the roller coaster car. We came straight back and again waited just a few minutes to ride in the back row. The ride is rougher in the back. The other main difference is that for the part of the ride that goes straight up backwards and then falls forward, when riding in the back, you will go up the highest. Getting to experience both vantage points back-to-back with almost no waiting makes it worth coming outside of summer on a weekday.
The Tempesto roller coaster was closed. At Apollo’s Chariot, we again only had to wait a few minutes to ride in the front. This time it didn’t feel scary. I’ve ridden many roller coasters, and the level of fear I feel can be variable and inconsistent.
Finnegan’s Flyer in the Scotland area had no line.
On the way to Griffon in the France area, we stopped to admire the eagles. One of them was close to the fence and in the light, a first for us.
Griffon was initially closed, but had reopened when we came back around 6:15 p.m. We again got in line for the front row and waited no more than 10 minutes. Griffon is hands-down the best and scariest roller coaster in the park. The line for the front row can get excessive because the ride pauses for a few seconds after it dips over the first and tallest peak, an effect most felt by the front row. Other than that moment of dangling over the edge of a 205-foot, 90-degree drop before a 75 mph freefall, the other rows are just as fun as the front.
When we initially couldn’t ride Griffon, we walked back toward Ireland to check out the Wolf Pup Trainer Talk at Wolf Stadium (between Ireland and France) that was starting at 5:15 p.m. It helps to download the Busch Gardens app so that you can see which shows may be of interest, what time they are starting, and where to find them. I also downloaded the map to my phone in case the app wouldn’t load, which often happens when the park is crowded.
We were first in line at 4:55 p.m., so when they let us in at 5:15, we were the first to pick our spot in the front middle. There are no seats but there’s a second row a step up to possibly see over the heads of the first row. It was worth getting there early to have an unobstructed view. See the shows section below for details about the talk.
We left the wolf show when it opened to Q&A at 5:30. The haunted houses were opening at 6 p.m. and we didn’t see a line for the Killarney Diner in Ireland, so we walked across the way to the Fiends show, which was starting at 5:45. We left right before it started because my husband wanted to get in line for the Killarney Diner and didn’t want to bother the people watching the show by leaving a few minutes after it started. When he talked to an usher, they let him know that there was another exit down a hallway that you can take to avoid having the light from the doorway disrupt the performance.
The entrance to the Killarney Diner haunted house leads you to an area where a long line can form. When we got to the actual entrance around 5:45 p.m., there were a dozen or so people in line. Once they opened it at 6 p.m., there was no wait other than walking slowly in the line into the building.
At the Clown Town haunted house, there was no one in line and no one else there, other than the actors. It wasn’t clearly marked that after exiting Clown Town and before reaching the dining hall, you need to loop back around to take a long path to the Werewolves haunted house. An employee was standing at that point, which is the exit to Clown Town on the right side and the entrance to Werewolves on the left. It’s to the right of the Germany dining hall.
There was no line for Werewolves. We skipped the Verbolten roller coaster because there was the longest line we’d seen that day, although it was relatively short. We had gotten spoiled by all the short and nonexistent lines. I suggested that my husband use his quick queue voucher that comes with his annual membership, but he decided not to.
We waited in line for a few minutes for the Death Water Bayou Morte haunted house by the Pantheon, and then there was no line for the Bloodshot haunted house held inside the Escape from Pompeii ride. The Bloodshot entrance was a little confusing because it’s just “Bloodshot” on the map, but the entrance was labeled “Bloodshot Restaurant and Grill.” I initially thought it was for a pop-up food stand.
Food
We stopped at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe near the park entrance before arriving. Eating before entering the park worked well for us because the food on sale inside the park is a bit expensive for what you get, and there are only a couple of plant-based meal options. Using the $10 Busch Bucks bonus from a season pass helps offset the cost of a meal.
If you have food allergies or other dietary restrictions that the park doesn’t accommodate, you can send an email to [email protected] and print out their response to make sure the employees at the gate let you bring in your food. The park can’t guarantee that there will be no cross-contamination because everything is made on the same grills. So nothing is technically vegan or allergen-free.
I sent an email to the address above asking for permission to bring in food. This was the response: “Thank you for contacting us about your concerns. We allow guest with special dietary or allergen needs to bring their own food into the park. We do not allow hard sided coolers inside the parks, but a small soft sided cooler is allowed. You may print out this email if you wish to have documentation of prior approval. I hope this information is helpful and that you have a wonderful time in our parks.”
I bring a printout of that email every time, but no one has ever objected to the snacks in my backpack, and I haven’t had to show anyone the email. I have brought apples, bananas, clementines, granola bars, and bags of nuts. The bag checkers at the entrance only seem to be looking for prohibited items.
This time I only brought granola bars and water, which we had around 6:30 p.m. It helped having a big lunch of Ethiopian food leftovers before we drove down from northern Virginia, and then the smoothies around 2 p.m. Granola bars aren’t enough for dinner, so we stopped at the Marco Polo dining hall around 7:30 p.m., relabeled as Spirit Spellabration for Howl-O-Scream. The best plant-based option in the park is the veggie lo mein. It has a good amount and variety of vegetables, including broccoli, carrots, bok choy, snap peas, red bell peppers, and water chestnuts.
This time, they were out of veggies. Instead, we got side orders: two lo mein noodles, fried rice, and veggies (mostly zucchini, squash, and a couple of mushrooms) to split. It was pretty pitiful, but with the $10 Busch Bucks coupon from my husband’s member rewards, it was $3.50. And it held us over until we left the park.
After leaving, we found a CAVA in Williamsburg on Google Maps that was open until 10:30 p.m. Instead of getting on Route 64 as the quickest way to I-95, we had to take the 199 loop to get to CAVA. It was worth the slightly longer drive home to get a full, hearty meal at a good price.
The other plant-based option we’ve had at Busch Gardens is the veggie burger in England. Squire’s Grill has a Beyond Burger that you can get with lettuce, tomato, and grilled mushrooms. Ask for extra mushrooms if that’s your jam (they doubled my enjoyment of the burger). The meal comes with a side or dessert, plus a non-alcoholic drink. We’ve gotten the fries, fruit cup, and (non-vegan) chocolate chip cookies.
Haunted Houses
There’s a special Howl-O-Scream map on the Event Info tab of the website that marks the locations of the haunted houses and “terror-tories,” which are areas where actors walk around and try to scare you. We started at Killarney Diner. I walked in front of my husband, hoping to encounter jump scares, but they got him a few times instead. There were loud pops and creepy scenes, including a diner filled with fake bugs, and a dark hallway with strings hanging down from the ceiling. It didn’t help that there were people both in front of and behind us; the park doesn’t stagger entrances at any of the haunted houses.
At the Wicked Wonderland terror-tory, some actors pretended like they weren’t paying attention to me, but then jump-scared me, which was fun.
At Clown Town we were the only ones there besides the actors. It was open to the sky and was still light outside. It would probably have been scarier to go after dark. It’s a long course without many actors or jump scares, mostly gory clown pieces and clown-themed items like hanging rubber chickens. There are arrows marking the way. At one point an actor yelled “Wrong way!” when I didn’t notice the arrow, but she was using a creepy voice, so at first I thought it was part of the act. Luckily my husband understood and steered me back on course.
When entering Werewolves, there’s an office setting with actors upset that creatures on the loose had been killing their colleagues. Further into the course, you encounter animatronic werewolves rather than actors doing jump-scares, which to me is a missed opportunity. It was our least favorite of the haunted houses. I saw a dad carrying his elementary-school-aged daughter as she covered her eyes. After exiting, he put her down and she seemed fine.
We walked through the Fest-Evil terror-tory in the Italy area, where my husband walked through a spot of thick fog. A couple of actors seized the opportunity to startle him when he couldn’t see anything. Adjacent to that, Death Water Bayou Morte was our second-favorite haunted house because we appreciated the aesthetics of the voodoo and bayou décor.
Bloodshot was our final haunted house and our favorite of the five. It starts with a small bridge over dense fog and an eerie red glow, followed by an area with fog so dense we couldn’t see anything else. Once again I went first and my husband got the jump-scares. It seems that the first person walking through alerts the actors that people are coming through. There was a bloody restaurant, a hallway full of blood bags, and then a cage with actors inside screaming for us to save them from the vampires, which was a little unpleasant.
Shows
I was initially concerned about the wolves’ welfare at the Wolf Pup Trainer Talk at Wolf Stadium when they were let into the greenery area and anxiously paced to and from the door for a few minutes until the trainer came out. Once the trainer emerged (in a separate area, not with the wolves), they relaxed and started exploring their mini-park serving as a stage for the audience to admire them.
The trainer talked about how Enoki (the white one) and Denali (the gray one) are 5-year-old boys who are accustomed to humans, so they don’t fear us like wolves in the wild, although they are still wild animals. They understand humans as caretakers, not dominators or prey to dominate. She said they are enthusiastic, albeit rough, playmates with each other. Their bites can exert 1,500 pounds of pressure. If you allowed them to come into your home, they would urinate all over to mark it as their territory. Red wolves are native to Virginia and are critically endangered. There are no white or gray wolves in the wild in the state. There was also a Q&A session that we skipped.
As for Howl-O-Scream shows, I was most interested in Monster Stomp on Ripper Row, but it wasn’t starting until the following weekend. It’s described as a “modern rock and rhythm spectacular featuring Jack the Ripper like you’ve never seen him before,” with “electrifying percussion, dynamic dance and sensational singing.”
There’s also Fiends about “Dr. Freakenstein” and his intergalactic teleportation tube; Skeletones In Your Closet that just want to dance in your room all night; and Spirit Spellabration looks like a silly séance with the help of three audience members. The latter was starting when we were finishing dinner. There was loud music and an emcee encouraging people to dance; several little girls got up from their seats to oblige. We don’t enjoy loud music and left as soon as we finished dinner.
Monster Stomp and Fiends are held in theaters where you will need to arrive early and stay in your seat, whereas Skeletones and Spirit Spellabration are held in dining halls where you can stop by for a bit. My husband was ready to go at 8:30 p.m., so we didn’t stay longer to watch any shows. The park was closing at 11 p.m. He was willing to nap in the car while I watched one, but I arrived at the Abbeystone Theater for Fiends after it had already started. There are no handles on the doors and no way in after the show starts, which is good because having people go in and out would be distracting to the audience.
Conclusion
Because my husband bought an annual membership this year that came with guest passes, we had to see what Howl-O-Scream was like. We had fun and some laughs after effective jump-scares, particularly against my husband. But I don’t think haunted houses are for me anymore; I prefer to get good and scared by roller coasters, thriller movies, and ropes courses. We will be coming back in December to check out Christmas Town and get in the holiday spirit.