First look: SeaWorld gets scary again with Howl-O-Scream
Another major, multiday theme park event has rolled out in Central Florida. SeaWorld Orlando’s Howl-O-Scream debuted Friday night and, despite a soggy start, presented scares in mythical, comical, agricultural and industrial ways.
It’s the fourth year for SeaWorld’s scare fest, and the park is presenting four new haunted houses plus one “returning favorite,” in addition to a whopping seven scare zones across the property. Most haunts are in locations where day guests usually don’t dwell.
“To put four houses out this year, it’s been very challenging,” said Kyle Smith, manager of creative show operations, before (more) storms and the scares began Friday. “But it’s very cool to come up with new concepts and work with some amazing members of our team to be able to build these haunts.”
It has turned into a continual process.
“What’s fun about it is: What worked, and how can we expand on it?” Smith said.
“But my favorite thing about Howl-O-Scream is that it’s the perfect mix of sexy and horror,” he said.
That’s evident quickly because the first two zones encountered feature a coven of witches followed by a red light district.
Here are a few entries, without being too spoilery, from our saturated Howl-O-Scream notebook.
New looks
The new houses have distinctive visual identities. Ultimate Gamble carries the casino theme down to Elvis. Farm 51 gives us corn and aliens right off the bat (those chicken-fried-looking skeletons linger on the brain the next morning). It’s a loud and crazed atmosphere inside Water’s Edge Wellness Center.
The performers throughout were enthusiastically vocal — using their own voices, not recorded screams — and in-your-face. There were many chills in the scare zones, too, as characters followed guests silently until they were relaxed and vulnerable.
Zoning out
The scare zones are plentiful at Howl-O-Scream, a combination of design and necessity. You should encounter four zones alone between the event’s entrance and the Atlantis Journey Below house, which operates near the shark area.
“The way our park is laid out, it is a lot easier for us to add scare zones. It is a big footprint,” Smith said.
Terrors of the Deep, populated by pirates, featured dense fog. CarnEvil Pier is brighter and more colorful with warped circus acts. It’s located beneath the Pipeline coaster, which runs during Howl-O-Scream and adds an extra layer of screaming.
Recommended: Consult the event map before heading out. The park is more difficult to roam at night, and some sections are roped off, including Sesame Street Land, making the usual routes inaccessible.
Alerts
Random trends and a warning: Big props/puppets for effect, dangling obstacles of varying materials sometimes accompanied by strobe lighting, and flesh-eating, a trend also observed at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights down the way.
Oh, and the final scene of the Ultimate Gamble house requires physical activity in a space that might trigger claustrophobia. A performer near that stretch says something in character like “take a chance or fold” and that’s a clue that there’s a less-harrowing side exit. Don’t be afraid to take that.
Edibles
SeaWorld has gone to lengths to theme its bars and food offerings for Howl-O-Scream. Scattered around the park are items like the vampire burger (with vampire blood jam), zombie tacos and Funhouse Massacre cocktail.
The Roadkill kiosk isn’t something you’d name an everyday restaurant, and it features — OMD — three kinds of hot dogs, a trend we also saw at Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.
Not-so-hidden gems
D3LER1UM666, the sole returning house, retains its twisted mermaid-tail tale, and it’s so very SeaWorldy. Another park attraction has a Howl-O-Scream role inside the new Atlantis house.
“A lot of elements from that house are duplicated from the actual Journey to Atlantis ride here at SeaWorld,” Smith said.
SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream is an after-hours, extra-ticket event held on select nights through Nov. 2. Spooktacular, the park’s less harrowing, kid-friendly daytime event that’s included with regular SeaWorld, is also underway on select days.
For tickets or more information, go to seaworldorlando.com.
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