Going Behind the Scenes at Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream
Ready to venture into the Lost Mines
This fall at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, the park is offering attendees the chance to take a step behind the screams and partake in a lights on tour through “Lost Mines: Bloodstone”. While the tour itself is enjoyable enough, once again Busch Gardens has added some additional benefits that make this a must do for haunt enthusiasts.
Basic Information
“Calling all goblins and ghouls! Find out what goes into the scares on this daytime, lights on, Howl-O-Scream tour!” This tour runs at 3:00pm daily throughout Howl-O-Scream and costs $29.99 per person (not including season pass discounts). You must arrive 15 minutes ahead of your scheduled time at the Education and Tours building in the England section of the park. For those who have never been, when entering the park it’s just beyond the main gate overpass on the right. Once you’re checked in, you can enjoy the ambiance of a daytime Ripper Row until your tour starts. The entire tour from start to finish should take around 45 minutes.
Daytime views of Ripper Row
Tour Review
The first, and possibly most important point to begin with is that we were the only people to book the tour last Saturday. This likely had a massive positive impact on our experience, as there were three, count them three ambassadors assigned to guide our party of two through the mines. I was shocked to learn this upon check-in, as it was a very busy Saturday at the park and we’ve never done a tour there before that didn’t command a sizable crowd. I would venture a guess that the low attendance was due to daytime walkthroughs being a free experience in prior years, albeit not a guided one.
Heading into the Mines
That being said, the first perk of this paid version of the tour revealed itself seconds into our experience, as our tour guides introduced themselves and immediately asked “would you like a beer?” We were able to select anything that was offered at Tweedside Gifts in Scotland, and both enjoyed a Loch Ness Monster Ale from local Williamsburg brewery Virginia Beer Company while walking through the Mines.
Loch Ness Monster Ale from Virginia Beer Company
Inside Lost Mines: Bloodstone
Before going any further, I want to offer a blanket spoiler warning for the house itself. Lost Mines: Bloodstone is a sequel to last year’s Lost Mines: The Descent. Last years story involved a group of miners hording a stash of priceless gems, trying to prevent park guests from stealing their treasure. This years story takes things deeper, literally. In their greed to continue expanding their fortune, the miners unintentionally unearthed the powerful Bloodstone. This giant stone not only drove the miners insane with greed, but also slowly infected their bodies and slowly ate away at them. The miners themselves became part of the Bloodstone. Now, you can find remains of miners all over the tunnels with pieces of the Bloodstone forged into their bones and protruding from wounds.
Seeing as we were the only participants on the tour, we were able to take our time and really explore the show scenes. We went in and out of boo holes and saw the passage ways that lead actors from place to place, giving them the opportunity to double scare some guests. Most importantly, I was granted the opportunity to fire off an air compressor that scare actors are able to trigger to blast oncoming guests with a surprising gust to really catch them off guard. The video does not sell it, but the blast is LOUD and the air pressure is forceful. It’s very jarring in person, especially if you aren’t expecting it!
As a final note about the tour itself, and as a nerd for any and all behind the scenes glimpses, it was such a joy to see the gigantic Escape from Pompeii show building lit up above us for the duration of the tour.
A look up into Escape from Pompeii
More views up into Pompeii
As we left the mines and began to make our way back into the park, we received our last perk from the experience: a Quick Queue for Lost Mines: Bloodstone (or any maze of our choosing) later that night.
Final Thoughts
Adding together the free beverage, haunted house Quick Queue, and 30+ minutes of free reign inside of one of the houses, the under $30 price tag seems very worth it to me.
Learning the detailed backstory really enhanced our walk through later that night. Unfortunately, the depth of this backstory isn’t easily seen to the casual passerby. Lost Mines is a solid maze, and I imagine most people come out of it thinking “Cool spooky mine!” We were appreciative to be able to take more away from our experiences than that. With that depth of knowledge in mind, our only wish was that we could have gone through more than one house. By making this a 2-3 hour experience where we get to see everything, I think Busch Gardens may get more people to buy into the upcharge. But for us, it’s a definite recommendation if you plan to visit Howl-O-Scream in Williamsburg this year.
