Howl-o-Scream @ SeaWorld 2021

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Dani, one of our guides

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[keishashadow]

View attachment 604039

Hey, I know that couple lol Nice you could meet up

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

The Longshoremen at the Sharks bar were a highlight of the night. They were SO much fun!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[keishashadow]

The Longshoremen at the Sharks bar were a highlight of the night. They were SO much fun!

Is that a private/tour only place?

candy corn drink sounds interesting? Any recommendations?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Just boarded our plane but I will try to answer more this evening and tomorrow. Hopefully @pattyw will also pop in and give her feedback too!

 

[shh]

Is that a private/tour only place?

candy corn drink sounds interesting? Any recommendations?

My eyes went right to the candy corn drink too! I love candy corn...if anyone tries it, can they report back here?

Thanks for the pics - getting psyched!

 

[Metro West]

Well, we did Howl O Scream last night and had a GREAT experience. There was a LOT of confusion before and at the start of the event.....many employees were woefully unprepared for guest questions.....but we expected that on the first night of their first year. We were in the park during the day and did not enter through the HOS entry point, which proved to be a bit of an issue as no one seemed to know how they should get us from the Sharks holding area to the completely opposite side of the park in time for the 7 pm tour start. Our guide actually ended up coming to find us behind Bayside stadium when we couldn't find our way to the Sirens Bar. Once that initial confusion was dealt with, the rest of the night was awesome.

The VIP Terror Tour was EXCELLENT. We had two great guides and both were a ton of fun. The tour provided each of us with 4 drinks (can all be alcoholic if you want, which is a value up to $12.99 plus tax and gratuity per drink), complimentary packaged snacks (cookies, chips, rice Kristie treats, etc) at each bar stop, a light up souvenir glass, and the opportunity to hit the scare button at wild arctic (which normally you have to pay for). The tour took is to the front of the line at all 4 houses, gave us reserved seating at Monster Stomp (that show eas INCREDIBLE!), took us through each of the scare zones more than once, gave us front of the line privileges on Mako, and allowed us a wonderful reserved seating area at each bar. The guides informed us that they were not permitted to accept gratuities, but they absolutely deserved them. Our tour was about 5 hours long and gave us the opportunity to repeat houses as we wanted to, and also gave us access to a bonus room in waters edge inn.

Crowds seemed like so a tour was not likely "needed" but we enjoyed wrapping up our trip with the VIP treatment. I will share some pics as I can. Currently sitting at Outback Steakhouse at the airport waiting for boarding. I will try to get some uploaded as I can. Feel free to ask any questions.

That sounds great...well...except for the first part. Those pictures you shared look great! I hope they bring it back next year!

 

[tony67]

So there are plenty of videos up on youtube from the media night Friday if you are interested.

Looks pretty good overall - much more adultish like HHN used to be - for example they have jello shots in syringes
Seems like they have done a better job incorporating the masks from the videos ive seen on HHN - may be a different experience in person obviously

The dont seem to have the conga line situation like HHN - but not sure if that was just for the "media" folks and the rest of us go through in larger groups

I also found it amusing that they sell a No Boo necklace so the SAs know to leave you alone - only $15 - I suspect we may see Universal do that in the future

 

[keishashadow]

much more adultish like HHN used to be - for example they have jello shots in syringes

know the shots are popular but, I don’t equate jello with adult lol . could be the media folks but, seems to be less kids in evidence than HHN has drawn since Stranger Things Opened the floodgates.

 

[New Mouse]

know the shots are popular but, I don’t equate jello with adult lol . could be the media folks but, seems to be less kids in evidence than HHN has drawn since Stranger Things Opened the floodgates.

Hhn was killed long before stranger things.

 

[ShadeDK]

Passing along another report from a friend that did HHN on Friday and Howl-o-Scream last night. Good event overall - still working out some kinks but it’s opening weekend of their first year. Busy but not crowded.

Pros:
-Houses are well staffed and enthusiastic scare actors - really get into their parts
-Entry is pulsed -no conga line - it slows things down some but most waits were 5-10 minutes
-Scare zones are atmospheric and interesting, rely more on character and creepiness than jump scares - one of them goes on forever and as soon as you think you’re out, nope - you’ve just hit another story segment of the scare zone
-House design is good and makes good use of the space; set pieces and themes are interesting; although there are only 4 houses, there did seem to be some variation in quality among them; mix of jump scares and character/creepiness scares
-lots of “stuff in face”, which HHN has gotten away from in recent years
-night rides on Mako
-More of an adult feel than recent HHNs - but still a lot of families and young kids; lots of security

Cons:
-Linear design of the event and you end up having to walk a lot unless you go in order; some houses have hard to find entry points, and the exits might spit you out in a way that you have a lot of backtracking
-Very few food options - they mentioned the panini stand (2 premade panini choices), a Mac and cheese bowl, pizza/hamburger option at the restaurant near Wild Arctic, and the restaurant by Infinity Falls. Odd since the event is long and there’s a lot of bars and drinking options.
-Not really enough to do for as long as the event lasts - possible to do everything in 2-3 hours
-Jello shots in syringes - they said they had people everywhere trying to sell these - especially while waiting in line.
-Parts of the event felt thrown together, although it’s first year there was a sense they did some of this last minute

One anecdote: their longest wait was about 25 minutes at the first house when the event opened. They went back right before they left and there was nobody - literally they were the only one in the house - an eerie and awesome experience to be the only person in a house like that

Their overalI impression was that it’s a good start and hopefully they continue to improve it and add more. A nice supplement to HHN (but if you only can pick one, spend the extra and hit HHN).

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Looks pretty good overall - much more adultish like HHN used to be - for example they have jello shots in syringes

Some of the dancing in the Siren's Song show is also very much "adultish". DH was shocked that our wholesome SeaWorld incorporated such overtly sexual content.....not shocked "appalled", just shocked SHOCKED. I guess we expected scary, but we weren't expecting sexual scary!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Is that a private/tour only place?

candy corn drink sounds interesting? Any recommendations?

The VIP tours had special reserved seating at each bar that was off limits to non-VIP guests, but all bars are open to all patrons (you just have to sit in the "regular" seating area).

We didn't try the candy corn drink....I am not a bourbon girl (whiskey and I don't get along well ) and DH hates candy corn. I was slightly disappointed in him because I wanted a photo of it!!

We did try the Paranormal Potion, Siren's First Kiss, Tormented Terror and Freaky Fanta. We both liked the Siren's First Kiss the best (that's the one pictured in the souvenir glasses). #2 for me was the Paranormal Potion (the green drink), #2 for DH was Tormented Terror (the coral/pinkish color drink that's not in the souvenir cup). The Freaky Fanta (which has the gummy worms in it, on the left of post 86 .... the drink on the right is just a beer) was really tasty but VERY sweet. I was happy that they had a themed non-alcoholic option though, because 4 full sized alcoholic drinks in less than 5 hours is a lot for me, so it allowed me to use one of my drink entitlements and still maintain my equilibrium LOL.