By Ashlee Geraghty, Staff Writer
“Are you going to Howl-O-Scream this weekend?” seems to be the question of the halls during the month of October. Howl-O-Scream has become a popular Halloween tradition for many students. For me, it was my first time going in years, so I didn’t know what to expect this time.
Thinking that we wouldn’t want to be there all day, my friends and I left around 1 o’clock and expected to arrive around 3. We were on schedule and arrived to the entrance of the park at around 3; however, due to bumper-to-bumper traffic, we did not arrive to the front of the line until around 6. Restless from being in the car for five hours and eager to get in the park, we approached the front of the line, where we were told the parking was at capacity and to please leave.
At this point we were stumped and did not know what else to do. The employees told us that it would be about another hour until the park started clearing out and they could let more people in, so we made the decision to go to the back of the endless traffic line and wait that hour out in traffic.
Seven o’clock came around and we had finally found a place to park, redeemed our tickets, and were making our way to our first ride. Granted, it is one of Busch Gardens’ busiest times of the year, so long lines were expected.
We decided to ride the Griffon first, and to get there, we had to go through many horrifying characters that come with the fun of Howl-O-Scream. The man that was chasing people with a chainsaw definitely spooked me good. Due to arriving late and lines being longer than usual, we only had the chance to ride Alpengeist and Apollo’s Chariot after this.
All night, my friends talked about how they wanted to go into the new haunted house, Circo Sinistro. Assuming that there would be clowns, and knowing one of my biggest fears is clowns, I was dreading this all night.
The end of the night was approaching and we still hadn’t gone into the haunted house. The lines for the haunted house were lengthy, so I was thinking I was in the clear. However, my friends were determined to go into at least one haunted house, and it just so happened to be Circo Sinistro.
We got to the back of the line and ask how long the wait would be from there. We were told it would be about an hour and a half wait, and that if we went ahead and got in line then we were able to stay after the park closed to go in.
Well, there was no more avoiding it: I was going to have to go in. I had an hour and half to brace myself for what laid ahead of me.
About an hour later, we got to the front of the line. We were greeted by a creepy doll that escorted us into the haunted house. To my surprise, there were little to no clowns, just a lot of dolls and and creepily dressed men. I didn’t think the people and their costumes really matched the theme and concept of the haunted house. When I think of the circus, I automatically associate it with creepy clowns and abnormal people, not dolls.
However, the amount of scare was just enough for me and was definitely not what I was expecting it to be. I would definitely love to go back to Howl-O-Scream and go in more of its haunted houses. Learn more about the event at the Busch Gardens website.
READERS: Do you have a haunting tale of a trip to Howl-O-Scream? Share it in the comments below! Your email address will not display with your post; only your name.
Junior Ashlee Geraghty can be contacted at geraghtyas0916@daretolearn.org.
