Boo

So it's just about the end of July and in the world of theme parks that means it is time to to talk Halloween. Fortunately for us, we live in Florida and are able to play host to Busch Garden's Howl-O-Scream and Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights. Both of these events offer their own takes on what defines scary by incorporating scare zones, walk through houses, and an overall theme for the event. Historically, I have enjoyed HHN more so than HOS. I feel that when your trying to scare the masses nothing can really compete with a film company. Especially a film company that owns the rights to such flicks as the "Saw" series, Freddy Krueger, Jason, and Chucky. While the houses do not always reflect the movies (althought this year they will) they are more detail oriented and are always renewed every year, whereas HOS houses/scare zones are in place for three year cycles. Despite, their reycycling of themes HOS will make some changes inside the houses every year to keep guests on their toes. So with this brief history, let us look at what is in store for those enough brave enough to venture to HHN and/or HOS this year.

Universal Studios Orlando Halloween Horror Nights
Ripped From the Silver Screen

This year's theme is that of an abandoned Universal Movie Theater. This movie theater does not have such a clean history as the web updates tell us. Many strange things happened at the theater during its tenure. One such event was a group of high school boys that went missing after sneaking into a film, the only thing that was found was their ripped apart clothes and a wrench. Another guest reported a human finger in their concession stand food and after a film had ended management found toys strewn across a theater. However, these were not ordinary stuffed animals these toys had mutilated and sewn together using parts that did not belong; one guest also reported these toys coming to life and trying to kill him.

In addition to these gruesome stories we can tell that there are three "marquee showings" that will be featured in this year's event. The movies include the Saw series, The Wolfman, and the Chucky films.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
House of Vayne

The theme for HOS is well kind of lame. Granted there haven't been many updates to the site so it's hard to pass judgment yet but the overall concept here is called House of Vayne. Apparently, House of Vayne is some new age, goth, leather heavy clothing line. The site features some models strutting their stuff in these clothes and that's about it. No information or even hints as to what the houses will be like as the theme is typically not related to the ideas of the houses at all, as we saw in last year's Raven Twins.

So it seems that Universal has hit the ground running while Busch Gardens is taking thier time in releasing details. As of right now, I would have to put my money on Halloween Horror Nights being the better experience because of the intricate way the theme is developed into the houses and because creepy dolls like Chucky and JigSaw scare the hell out of me.