I spent yesterday at Busch Gardens Williamsburg with some friends, some were new, some were older. It's tough to say whether we were truly there for the rides or for the Howl-O-Scream experience, but I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long run, as we did both and had a great time with it all. The weather was fairly crappy, temps in the mid 40s to low 50s, overcast and toward the evening, constantly drizzling. The effect of this, though, was no lines to speak of. The park wasn't empty, but there weren't enough people to make anything feel crowded or to make wait times longer than ten minutes on any ride or haunted maze or food service.
I would say the haunted mazes were much better this year in terms of theme and execution (except for Revenge of Pompeii, I'm convinced anything in that space is forever going to suck ass). On the other hand, I thought the decorations around the park were pretty lame compared to last year's. Knowing what the range is, I am quite looking forward to next year's experience.