Howl-O-Scream Tampa Bay has been an ongoing event that started in 1999. It is focuses on the use of original characters and concepts to create haunted houses and “Scare Zones” throughout the park. I recently visited Busch Gardens for Howl-O-Scream and want to share some of my favorite features from the event.
Guests are able to come in as early as 5:00 P.M., when the park is closed to regular visitors and open only to those with tickets for Howl-O-Scream. It was a great time to enjoy some rides at much shorter wait times (even for the newer rides!) I never waited more than 5-10 minutes and managed to hit about 4 rides in an hour.
There are a total of 5 haunted houses, all of which are very well put together, and on that night never had longer than a 25-minute wait. The most memorable and significant to my experience was “D.H Baggum’s Circus of Fear.” The Circus of Fear is a new haunted house added just this year. The theme is (you’ll never guess) a horror show circus. From the moment you walk in your adrenaline is at a high, and it is important to mention how much work went into this house specifically. The special effects, the set up, and the characters were all terrifying. The Scare Actors went off-script in a way that was so funny it felt real. A man on stilts yelled “We match!” while laughing maniacally at me, and I got called a freak repeatedly by another actor. Overall, this house was the most immersive and terrifying.
The “Scare Zones” are areas that are themed and decorated with actors crawling around at every corner. In these areas you might be chased around by chainsaw wielding mad-men or a goblin hiding in bushes with a tambourine, which is much scarier than it sounds. By far the scariest was “The Junkyard.”
The Scare Zone was the most disorienting and had the most jump scares. Cars would honk loudly next to you, actors would appear out of the rubble, and at one point the fog became so thick you couldn’t see more than two feet in front of you. A couple of honorable mentions are “Beyond the Veil,” which was a twisted neon forest full of dark magical creatures and featured some of my favorite costumes I had seen that night. In the “Sin City Zombies” zone, one of the actors came and joined me for a picture, and (using a dismembered hand) gave my cousin the high-five he had been trying for all night.
The music that they played throughout the park was great, with some of the most notable artists being Rob Zombie, Rammstein, and System of a Down. They had live shows in the theater and live music at one of the restaurants.
The night was entertaining and unforgettable, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror or wants a good adrenaline rush. The event runs from September 8th and goes until October 31st, so be sure not to miss it!
