This article was written by my husband Jay.
This Halloween season, our friend Doug came down to Florida once again to help celebrate my birthday – and we did so with an emphasis on the Halloween season! Attending both Halloween Horror Nights AND Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream in a multi-night extravaganza of horror movies, scare-zones and haunted houses, and of course – food!
We arrived at Busch Gardens earlier in the day to enjoy the roller coasters that the park has to offer, with Chelsea and her Mom who was also visiting. We had planned to ride as many coasters as we could before the sun set and the night-time offerings of the Howl-O-Scream event began to slink out of the shadows. Our first impression of the Saturday night we had chosen to go was that the Saturday day was incredibly busy. It did put raise a concern with us that the evening was going to be jam-packed (and it turned out it was, being a sold-out event! This October has resulted in many sold-out evenings at many of the Halloween-themed theme park events).
Chelsea brought up a very interesting idea to Doug and me that Busch Gardens was offering a Fright Feast special that evening. When we found out what it included, we jumped on the opportunity. For $40 per person, we received an ‘all you care to enjoy’ offering of food, drink, and dessert at the Dragon Fire Pub, including early access to the park, convenient wristband distribution that avoids the front of the park’s lines, a preview of the Fiends show, and Front-Of-The-Line access to the Haunted Houses until 8:30pm. Chelsea and her Mom headed home before Howl-O-Scream began, and Doug and I headed off to enjoy the Fright Feast, after a stop at the ticket services to purchase it.
Our position in the center of the park before the actual event began allowed us to capitalize on that – and ended up enjoying roughly an hour and a half of skipping every house’s line.
The Fright Feast itself was more akin to a character dining experience that other parks offer, just with Scareactors instead – selfies and photo opportunities with a variety of macabre figures presented themselves as the performers interacted with the Fright Feast goers (often in comical ways while people were enjoying their food.) The Fright Feast also included a preview of their Fiends stage show that actually encouraged Doug and myself to attend the show proper later that evening. The characters performing in the show also provided us with tips and tricks to maximize on our experience, from what order to hit the houses to when certain events were taking place throughout the night.
Once we had finished eating and watching the preview, Doug and I were released into the park to begin our madcap adventure of journeying from house to house through the Scare Zones around the park. It cannot be stressed enough just how much we enjoyed the access our Fright Feast wristbands afforded us. We visited each house, our final house of “Front-Of-The-Line” entry occurring at exactly 8:27, three minutes before our special access expired. We meandered quite a bit, and at no point did we feel like we were rushing to try to force all the houses before our 8:30 cut-off time. Of course, after our access expired, we enjoyed the houses we liked best by waiting in the regular queue lines. The wait times increased dramatically as the night went on, and multiple times we commented to one another just how much our night’s enjoyment was improved by having attended the Fright Feast.
But enough about that – you’ll need to make that determination if it’s worth your money for yourself. On slower nights, it probably has less much less impact – but on a crowded weekend evening, I highly recommend it for those on a budget (there are more expensive options, and less restrictive time restraints on access reflected in those prices.)
Following is a short synopsis of each house, and whether we enjoyed them or not. You may want to avoid reading past this point to spare yourself spoilers (or avoid words that may cause anxiety such as gore and dismemberment).
We started out evening heading towards Simon’s Slaughterhouse, but as we passed by Death Water Bayou we realized we could hit it before the regular front-of-the-park guests had access. Even without our wristbands, it would have been a no-wait situation. So, we decided to knock that one out first. It was a wonderfully themed but not terribly frightening house. The entire affair was wandering around a pirate ship, jail, and through the caves of a crew of monstrous pirates that sought to keep the location of their treasure secret. While the scares didn’t deliver as much as the other houses, the set pieces were gorgeous and the Scareactors much more intent on being ‘in character.’
As we had planned to head straight to Simon’s Slaughterhouse, a new house that was indicated on the map as a 17+ age recommended area, we hurried from our piratical haunt to this one next. I’ll admit, it was the draw of being called out specifically as more mature that we wanted to see what was on display. The scare zone that lead to the house itself was themed in a fairly stereotypical butcher/meat processing plant motif with a decidedly 1950’s kooky air with commercials and music. It was an enjoyable house whose theme concentrated on hanging meat and dismemberment, with chainsaws, hooks, and a variety of disfigured workers attempting to frighten us with jump scares and short-burst chasing.
After our special access expired, we removed our wrist bands and attended the regular lines – which for a Saturday night close to Halloween were substantial, to say the least. Roughly an hour per line, with Unearthed and Motel Hell clocking in more at an hour and a half. We decided to attend the Fiends show, and enjoyed the hi-jinks and horror of a very ridiculous yet mature show – I wouldn’t recommend it for kids, as it’s one-part burlesque and two-parts savage mocking of pop-culture and politics. Interestingly enough, there was quite a lot of representation for both men and women with the emphasis on sexual references and dancing. Any show that ends with a Rocky Horror tribute, with the cast performing the Time Warp, is a good time.
Howl-O-Scream is not for the faint of the heart. There’s a reason Chelsea and Duffy were left at home, but this event brings an edge that other Halloween events lack. If you’re looking to have your adrenaline spike and wander a park with no “safe zones”, Howl-O-Scream is the event for you.
Cost: Tickets range from $39.99 to $64.99 depending on the date and night of the week. The Fright Feast was $39.99.
Value: 10/10.
Duration: The event starts at 7:30 pm and ends at 1:00 am, but you can enter the park as early as 5:00 pm. You will need most of the night.
Add Ons: There is a Front of the Line Fear Pass that doesn’t include the food, but is good for the duration of the event that starts at $45.00 per person.
