Busch Gardens compensated my trip to Howl-O-Scream in exchange for my honest opinion.
Recently my family and I have made it a Halloween tradition to go to Busch Garden’s Howl-O-Scream each year. It’s a great thing for the my husband and I to look forward to for a fun spooky date night, or for me and the all the kids to have a a great time. Aside from dressing up in scary costumes and carving pumpkins, this is another thing my kids look forward to each year.
Each year Howl-O-Scream has a different theme, last year their themed was “Unearthed.” There was a whole house based around it, and it was amazing. This year the theme is “Evil Encore”, featuring 5 beloved houses from last year and 2 new ones! I was super excited to hear there were five haunted houses returning from last year. These houses are;
Circus Of Superstition: The Last Laugh
It’ll take more than luck to survive the Circus of Superstition: The Last Laugh
Unearthed
During maintenance at the park, an excavation crew uncovered a centuries-old house deep beneath the ground. Upon entering the house, a vengeful demon seeking revenge is Unearthed.
Zombie Containment Unit 15
Armed with only Z.E.D (Zombie Eradication Device), it’s up to you to hold off an undead mob in this interactive zombie hunting experience.
Death Water Bayou
Deep in the bayou to Voodoo Queen transforms wanderers into her evil minions. This who enter must escape her dark magic before falling victim to her spell.
Zombie Mortuary
Led by their queen, the zombies that infest this small town’s funeral home feed on the fresh flesh and brains of mortuary mourners to satisfy their insatiable hunger.
I was so excited to see some fan favorite houses back, I loved Death Water Bayou and Zombie Mortuary last year, and I was just as scared as I was the first time going through the houses. I took my youngest, and eldest son and my daughter with me this year. It was great to have a fun night with my kids to do some bonding. My youngest son loves horror movies and all things scary and he wanted to experience a good haunted house, so taking him along was nothing less than a great idea.
The 2 new houses included;
The Black Spot
An infamous pirate has you marked for death and he has you right where he wants you.
Motel Hell
Nightmare becomes reality at this deserted motel once you realize why it’s conveniently vacant.
Aside from jumping out of my sandals from every scare and screaming at the top of my lungs, these two new houses looked incredible. The Motel Hell haunted house looked so real, like I was literally walking through an empty, uncanny motel. They really created something amazingly terrifying, there was this point where we walked through this motel room, the TV was all static and you could hear the faint sound of elevator music. I could see my daughter with her arms latched around her brother as they shuffled across the carpet of the room, wide eyed trying their best to catch a scare before it happened. I don’t want to give too much info out about how this house looked so you can experience it in all it’s excellence yourself.
Along with Motel Hell, The Black Spot was another great looking house. You can tell they spent a great amount of time creating the concept and following through with it to get this house. The way the lights were made it feel like I was underwater, the creepy skeleton looking pirates caught us off guard when they popped out.
When we first arrive we rushed through the park to get to the Dragon Fire Grill where the Fiends show was going to be at 6:30pm.
The Howl-O-Scream tradition heats up as Dr. Freakenstein, Igor and the rest of your favorite monsters and misfits announce their bid for the election! See who will will be sworn in as our 2016 Commander and Creep of The United Fiends of America.
We found our seats then took turns going up to get food. Soon, the lights dimmed and the music got louder. The infamous Doctor Freakenstein and Igor appeared on stage bickering and cracking jokes. I don’t quite remember what the show was about last year, but this year it was about a presidential election. Dr. Freakenstein was running, along with Igor, Dracula, Wolf Gang, the Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s Monster. It was a great show, they played popular music as each of them made an entrance, they danced and got the audience to interact with them on stage. The food was tasty and filling, and it was a great start to our long journey to come.
As we made our way to different houses we stopped by little food areas, grabbed us some pretzels, and drinks and headed off for the next house. Making our way through the park we walked into different scare zones, some consisting off werewolves,bus crash victims, zombies and more. There were spots so full of fog all I could see in front of me was the dim red light from my daughter’s devil horn head band.
Before making it to our last couple houses we made another pit stop for some ice cream! Delicious Soft serve in a waffle cone. They also had so many yummy treats in this shop to choose from. After finishing up with the last couple houses we wen to DarkHeart’s Games, and played a few games. My son won a cool little basket ball!
We also stopped by many shops to check out all of the great merchandise the park had to offer this year. They always have such amazing things too see and buy every time. My favorite items are the mugs, cups, and trinket boxes. My daughter likes to get a new t-shirt every year she attends Howl-O-Scream.
At different areas of the park and at some scare zones we took the opportunity to grab some really great photo opps for fun, and some great pictures of our surrounding. Not only was it spooky, but many areas were just beautiful to look at.
Grabbed a picture of this beauty on the way out. I love how the fun does not end until you are actually in your car or 20 feet away from the entrance.
Howl ‘O Scream is such an amazing place to get scared and have lots of fun. The houses are scary, the food is good and we had an awesome time together. I can’t wait to see what Howl-O-Scream holds for us next year!
Looks like you all had a blast. I’m such a scaredy cat so I’ll never go to that kind of place. LOL. But my husband and son would. No doubt about that. 🙂
This was my first time getting my oldest son to go to something like this. He was never into scary. He had a great time.
that place looks great, lots of fun! I’d have to go with a group of people and then be in the middle of them for protection/ safety… I get scured easily! glad you had fun! : )
Loads of fun. You should go next year.
I love haunted houses, mazes, etc. but I don’t know if I’d be able to handle so many at once! It looks fun but creepy for sure!
If you love haunted houses you would love this.
This looks like so much fun. My older kids would have loved it.
Mine always have a great time at these events.
Wow! It looks so wonderful! wish I can go and have fun! 😀
You should go it’s so much fun.
Oh wow! That looks super creepy and fun. It looks like you had an awesome time. I love all the costumes.
Yes we sure did. The kids loved it.
That looks like it was a fun trip for Halloween! I’ve never been there at Halloween time. Thanks for sharing.
Halloween is our favorite time of year. So many fun things to do.
My husband would love to go in a place like this! They’re really scary.
He would love it. So much fun.
This sounds like so much fun. I have only been to Fright Fest at 6 Flags one time. It was so crowded too. I would love to go back one day just for the haunted houses.
You would love this then. Surly something worth checking out.
Wow this looks like such a great time. You are so brave to have taken some of these pics!
It’s not as scary as you would think. It’s more of a scary fun as long as you remember they can’t touch you or hurt you.
This looks like it was so much fun. My family would love to go to Busch Garden’s Howl-O-Scream.
It really is. You should make plans for next year.
These pictures are scary! Looks like you had a really fun time at this event. Great photos, they really show how ,itch fun you had.
Thank you very much. Yes we had a good time.
Going to Busch Garden’s Howl-O-Scream sounds like a great family tradition. I know my sons would love this and I have to admit I like getting scared sometimes. It sounds like a great time with the family especially with the 5 haunted houses and I will have to share this with my family. Thanks for sharing your experience.
It’s a really amazing event and a lot of fun.
The Howl-O-Scream sounds amazing!! I would love to hit this up with my friends!!
It’s definitely the perfect night with friends.
I would love to go to this!! I love everything Haloween and haunted house and things like this are my favorite.
Me too. This is one of our favorite places to go in October.
This would be so much fun!!! I love Halloween and all things scary and spooky! I would love to check this out next year.
You really should. It’s such a great time.
That sounds like so much fun! It’s delightfully spooky. I’d love to experience that with the family.
It’s a lot of fun. All my kids loved it.
WOW, this looks and sounds like it was so much fun. I love all the pictures you took!! I think next year I am going to plan a road trip and go to this.
I agree. My dogs took to it right away.