[Haunts] Three New Mazes Coming to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for Howl-O-Scream 2015

As we get closer and closer to 2015's Haunt Season, more details are being uncovered from haunted attractions all over the US. This time, though, it seems as if the folks over at BGWFans have come across the plans for something all for this year's Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

It's been a while since the park's had anything new and it's about time they did something about that. I know that myself, as well as +Carrie H.C. have been hoping that they would for the past few years now. It's the one thing that we felt was holding the park back, too much of the same year in and year out. Thankfully, that seems to be exactly what they're doing for the 2015 season. There's a lot of new additions coming to the event, and even though we don't know every detail about them, it's only a matter of time until that happens.

They have been having a ton of fun across all of the parks hosting Howl-O-Scream this year and the company website for AURA is pretty interesting to dig through. Very much a cool, and fun, way to learn about what's going on with the story for sure. But, that's not why we're here.

Nope, we're here to take a peek at the new mazes coming to the park for this year's event. I won't bother going over the returning ones. I've already covered those and the information is also up on the event's website as well. Before going too further, keep in mind that the names and all that are just speculation right now. Nothing has been officially announced, so until then? Let's see what the new stuff coming this year might be!

UPDATE 8/12/15: All three of the mazes have been confirmed. Can find the article on Scarlett's Revenge linked below (or here) and all the latest on Cornered and Lumberhack right here!

click to enlarge

Firstly, it appears that there's a trio of new mazes coming for the 2015 season of Howl-O-Scream. Definitely an upgrade compared to previous years. Yep, that's right, for the first time ever the event will feature a total of 7 mazes. Interesting, that. A couple of them are taking over the spaces once occupied by Root of All Evil and 13: Your Number's Up. Both of which, I'm not sad to see go at all, they really needed to get the boot.

As you can see via the map to left, there's where all of the mazes will be located throughout the park. I don't have the scare zones or shows up on there as we know the scare zones are all coming back. The spread isn't too bad either, but seems like lots going on in the back of the park.


That said, the first and arguably the most interesting, of the newest mazes is what's known as the "Woods Maze" or "Lumberjack" maze. Yeah, definitely a bit of a head scratcher there on the name, but the location for this one definitely lines up with it. It's been years since the park has done anything with the old Drachen Fire area, outside of Bitten, but now it looks like that's going to be changing and in quite a unique way.

via BGWFans.com

As you can see, the image on the right shows just where this all new maze is going to be going. Thanks to the folks at BGWFans, can see what else is floating around where the maze will be going as well.

This one definitely is going to be interesting to see as it's rumored to include not just a walking path through the woods, but elevated walkways too. That would make sense since some areas are likely too uneven or hard to work with while not disturbing the natural setting too greatly. If it's true that this one will follow a "Woodsman" theme, could see werewolves floating about? Interesting idea.

For a little bit of a closer look of what the maze path looks like, here's a larger image showing just that!

via BGWFans.com

Pretty neat that there's a split within the path that you'll have to take. Really should be something that they go all out for as 360 degree scenes like that are always fun. That said, almost wish there was another one somewhere in there, but one could be enough.

The proximity to Bitten gives us an interesting contrast, if something like werewolves were actually to be involved in this. Would be kind of fun to see them play off each other in the future. Though, admittedly, they'd have to really revamp Bitten. That maze needs a serious upgrade after being around for so long.

Anyway, let's move on to the next of the three. Heading over behind the Curse of Dark Kastle, we find something all new coming into play. Known as "Cornered", this is replacing the very much maligned Root of All Evil maze. Personally, very happy that they're doing something new here as recently it was being referred to as the "Lawn and Garden Center". Not a good thing there, not at all.

According to the rumors out there, Cornered will be a corn maze themed kind of deal. No clue what exactly it will feature as far as creatures/monsters or anything, but these mazes can be a lot of fun if done properly. Given the area for this one, could be done fairly easily as well. Just gotta hide those huge buildings around it...

Cornstalkers, while hit or miss depending on which Cedar Fair park you visit, has had a great deal of success in bringing the cornfield feel to the table. Hopefully the Howl-O-Scream team can do just as good, if not better with the theme. And the name? "Corn-ered" haha, fun little pun there guys.

Last, but not least, we have Scarlett's Revenge. This maze, along with "Lumberjack", definitely seems the most intriguing to me. Not sure why, but I think this one has something to do with the tie in to the overall story that's going on this year. I'm a sucker for good story and tie-ins with these things.

The maze will be built in Ireland's Europe in the Air ride building, just as 13: Your Number's Up has been in the past. There's also some rumor that this will be the "headlining" maze for the Unearthed theme as well.

According to the story so far with the "Unearthed" theme. For starters, the home that is being excavated by AURA had a resident named, Scarlett. So, that's a pretty good way to go about this and would make the name fitting in a few ways.

Definitely would be nice to have something tie into the theme of things. Though, I never really fully expect that to happen at Howl-O-Scream events either, as all three parks that host the event have the same theme and all. We'll just have to wait and see.

UPDATE 8/12/15: Looks like we can officially bank on Unearthed: Scarlett's Revenge coming to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, if the announcement from today is any indication.

That about does it for this one. Some very interesting and exciting news that's been uncovered by folks out there. This looks like it could be one of the best years ever for Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Not too surprising, it's also the first year that the show won't be run by Scott Gasparich either. While a polarizing figure, to say the least, I'm happy to have new blood behind the scenes on this one. Should be fun to see what they have in store for us!

Stay tuned here for more indepth coverage and of course, you can follow us on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and even Facebook if you must, for all the latest!