We went last year on Sat 29th Oct and loved it but we did have a few issues that night because they seemed to be filming something with a large group of people (either a promo video for Howl-O-Scream or some influencer thing) and it seemed like every house we were trying to get into they were either already there or on their way there and the staff were holding the lines to let them through first, which was annoying and spoiled one of the houses completely because it caused a huge back up going through and had us stuck awkwardly at a standstill in several of the rooms with the performers not knowing what to do and trying to keep the energy up when everyone was just over it at that point from being stuck for so long.
But overall we really enjoyed the experience. It’s definitely geared more towards adults (think scantily dressed female and male dancers in the Siren bar & entrance, an up-charge drag show that was new for last year, lap dances as part of the Siren show, people going around the park selling shots & one of the new houses last year had vampire strippers and women trying to sell themselves to you on the way through). However, there seemed to be quite a few kids/younger teens there as well. They sell “No Boo” necklaces for people who don’t want to be scared in the scare zones and a lot of the kids were wearing them but they have to be turned off in the houses.
We had the quick queue for the houses as we didn’t know what to expect as we’d never been before and tbh we probably could have gotten away without it as we were done by 11:00pm but ymmv over how busy it might be now that word’s getting out how good it is. Absolutely loved all of the houses and scare zones though. The people hiding in the bushes got us good as we had no idea they were there and all of the actors and performers at Howl-O-Scream have a lot more leeway in what they can do and are allowed to improv with you so that made it so much more fun and a unique experience because some of them were really going for the scares and being able to interact with you as you go through. As a pp said, you’re pulsed through in groups and because we were in the quick queue I always seemed to be at the front of the group and leading everyone through so I was getting a good chunk of the scares and interaction
One thing I didn’t like about how Sea World handles their lines compared to how Universal handles theirs when we did the RIP tour a few nights before is that SW have their VIP tour groups essentially push their way through the quick queue lines to get to the front and made everyone get out of the way for them to come through instead of just walking up to the entrance from side and holding people to let them through. I thought that was really rude on their part and that left a bad taste in my mouth being told to move out of the way to be shoved passed every few minutes.
We actually did a full day at Sea World that day after doing Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party the night before and Halloween Horror Nights earlier in the week (I know! I know! That was dumb and very tiring but it was the only way that we could fit it all in haha) and so we were able to wait in the holding zone down by the Waterfront and get our wristbands and quick queue lanyards early so I would definitely recommend trying to get into Sea World before 5:00pm to do this as it had us ahead of the people waiting to be let in at the main Howl-O-Scream entrance by going over the bridge because they let us over a few minutes early. It also meant that we got to have our backpacks with us too for our essentials because you’re not allowed to bring anything other than a small clear bag into Howl-O-Scream if you’re just coming into the event. Edit - Should add that we’re AP holders and didn’t only have Howl-O-Scream tickets so that’s why we went in earlier in the day.
Can’t really comment on the food as we only got the Bison burger from the stand over near the Nautilus Theatre as we had had a big lunch at Sharks Underwater Grill earlier in the day to fill up but we all enjoyed it. As someone else said, alcohol is definitely free flowing at HOS and there’s people actively trying to sell it to you as you go around. It was a lot of fun though and we really enjoyed it even though we were so exhausted from a hectic week so would definitely recommend it.
