Nationwide — Howl-O-Scream, United Parks & Resorts’ hard-ticket Halloween brand, returns to all five of its US locations for the 2026 season on September 11. The event runs at SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, SeaWorld San Antonio, and SeaWorld San Diego. Orlando, San Diego, and Tampa close on Halloween night (October 31). Williamsburg and San Antonio run through November 1.
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On July 31 United Parks announced I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, a Sony Pictures licensed haunted house opening September 11 at SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio. It is the chain’s first three-park licensed film house and, per United Parks, the first time the film has been adapted for a major Halloween event. The 2026 season also shifts Busch Gardens Tampa Bay off its historic Labor Day weekend opening. This guide covers what Howl-O-Scream is, how the five parks differ, and each location’s 2026 lineup, hours, and current pricing, verified as of September 16, 2026, with the event now open at all five parks.
What Howl-O-Scream is
Howl-O-Scream is United Parks & Resorts’ Halloween event brand. The event first ran at the Busch Gardens parks in the late 1990s (sources differ on the exact debut year) and has since expanded across the company’s SeaWorld and Busch Gardens portfolio. Each park’s Howl-O-Scream typically operates on select nights from mid-September through Halloween or early November, running haunted houses (walkthrough attractions), scare zones (outdoor roaming-monster areas), stage shows, themed bars, and rides after dark.
Unlike Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, which builds many houses around licensed IP such as Stranger Things or Hellraiser, Howl-O-Scream leans on original in-house intellectual property. The event’s houses, zones, icons, and stage shows are developed by United Parks’ entertainment teams and, over the years, cross-pollinate between properties. A concept that debuts at Busch Gardens Tampa may later appear at Williamsburg or San Diego under a variant name.
Howl-O-Scream is separately marketed from each park’s daytime family-friendly Halloween programming. The Halloween Spooktacular family events at SeaWorld and Sesame Street’s Halloween programming at Busch Gardens all run during daytime park hours in September and October.
The five locations at a glance
| Park | Dates | Nights | Ticket model | Framework |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SeaWorld Orlando | Sept 11 – Oct 31 | 26 | Separately ticketed | 5 houses, 6 zones, 5 bars, 4 shows |
| Busch Gardens Tampa Bay | Sept 11 – Oct 31 | 27 | Separately ticketed | 6 houses, 6 zones, 2 shows |
| Busch Gardens Williamsburg | Sept 11 – Nov 1 | 25 | Included with admission | 5 houses, 6 terror-tories, 4 shows |
| SeaWorld San Antonio | Sept 11 – Nov 1 | Not published | Included with admission | 5 houses, 8 zones, 25th anniversary |
| SeaWorld San Diego | Sept 11 – Oct 31 | 24 | Separately ticketed | 6 houses (all named), 8 zones, 5 vignettes, 6 bars + 5 speakeasies, 2 shows |
Included with admission: Williamsburg and San Antonio’s Howl-O-Scream is bundled with regular park admission, so no separate event ticket is required.
Separately ticketed: Orlando, Tampa, and San Diego require a separate Howl-O-Scream ticket. Annual passes to those parks do not grant event access, though Pass Members receive discount pricing.
When Does Howl-O-Scream Start and End?
Most Howl-O-Scream parks open the haunt at 7 p.m., while Busch Gardens Williamsburg starts at 6 p.m. The three separately ticketed parks, SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, and SeaWorld San Diego, run during the day and hand the park over to the scares after dark, with event entry or early access starting in the late afternoon. Busch Gardens Williamsburg and SeaWorld San Antonio fold the scares into regular park admission on event nights.
Closing time is the piece the parks do not publish, listing only “park close.” These are the actual end times from our visits, with the event running latest on Fridays and Saturdays:
- SeaWorld Orlando: 7 p.m. to midnight every event night
- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay: 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, midnight on Thursdays and Sundays
- SeaWorld San Diego: 7 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, 11 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays
- Busch Gardens Williamsburg: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. most nights, and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays from September 25 through October 24
- SeaWorld San Antonio: 7 p.m. to park close on event nights
SeaWorld Orlando
Dates: 26 select nights, September 11 through October 31, 2026. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., event begins at 7 p.m.
SeaWorld Orlando runs five haunted houses in 2026, four all-new and one returning:
- I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch (all-new), the Sony-licensed house set in the seaside town of Southport.
- Everything Must Stay (all-new), a suburban home where every open house ends with buyers fleeing.
- The Dark Net (all-new), a future city in an energy crisis where cybernetic predators feed on blood.
- The Crawl Space (all-new), a network of tunnels sealed after a containment failure.
- The Rave Yard (returning), an undead rave pulsing through a forgotten cemetery.
Six scare zones fill the streets, four of them all-new:
- Just One More Chapter (all-new), a dark-romance zone built on the BookTok-fueled genre of cursed love stories, which SeaWorld calls an “enchanted garden filled with gothic beauty, cursed romance and creatures that are every bit as dangerous as they are captivating.”
- Dooms District (all-new), where rival doomsday preppers fight over whose apocalypse is real.
- Extermination Order (all-new), an infestation sweep with you on the list.
- Nekrosis (all-new), a seaside town frozen at midnight on January 1, 2000.
- Trailer Park Tragedy and Woodrot Hollow (returning).
The event pours five all-new themed bars (Byte Bar, The Rewind, Resurrection Club, The Black Sheep, and Larva Lounge) and runs four shows: the all-new 1990s boy-band-from-beyond Dead Air, the Hellzapoppin: The Grave Danger Thrill Show circus sideshow, and returning favorites Throttle and Monster Stomp. This year the park also introduces a new icon, Pestilence, who emerges from the shadow of 2025 icon Havoc.
As of September 2026, single-night tickets start at $47.99, the Any Night Ticket is $64.99, and the Unlimited Scream Pass is $124.99 for SeaWorld Orlando or $189.99 for a two-park pass that adds Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Pass Members can buy single nights for $39.99.
Fever also sells a SeaWorld Orlando Any Night Ticket for $52.00, with no booking fees. See Fever’s dates and tickets.
The event also stages the Howl-O-Sprint 5K on Friday, September 18.
For the full Orlando lineup and pricing, see HAN’s Howl-O-Scream Orlando 2026 coverage.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Full guide: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Howl-O-Scream 2026: Full Lineup, Tickets, and Dates.
Dates: 27 select nights, September 11 through October 31, 2026. The event runs 7 p.m. to park close, with park access from 5 p.m. Event nights are September 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26 and October 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.
Tampa moves off its historic Labor Day weekend opening to a September 11 start, matching the rest of the chain, and closes October 31 rather than running into November as it has in past years. All six haunted houses are now named, starting with Anaconda: Fear Has No Escape, a Sony Pictures license opening September 11. The others are Stranglewood Estate: RePossessed, Circus of Fear: Killer Encore, Shadows of Wonderland: Reign of Madness, and returning houses Raven’s Mill and M.A.R.S.
Stranglewood Estate: RePossessed (new storyline). A séance inside the abandoned Stranglewood mansion wakes Madame Stranglewood and the servants who vanished in its walls, opening a door the park says “will never close.”
Circus of Fear: Killer Encore (new storyline). The circus runs under a new ringmaster, Vittorio Belladonna, after the old one vanished. Per Busch Gardens: “Our dear Mr. Baggum? Nowhere to be found. And without him holding the reins, this circus has let loose.”
Raven’s Mill: Lambs to the Slaughter (returning storyline). The mill keeps operating after last year’s killings, with butchers dragging victims inside and one word shouted at each new arrival: “MEAT.”
Busch Gardens has now named its scare zones, with three all-new for 2026:
- Mr. Gleam’s Auto Spa, where a mysterious cleaning solution comes at a ghastly cost.
- Rootbound, where the Grimherd rises from reopened graves to drag victims into the dark.
- The Punchline: Riot, where a night of bad jokes and crazed clowns turns into a full-blown riot.
Three returning scare zones come back with new storylines: Breadcrumbs to Nowhere: Once Upon a Time, The Pestilence: Lazarus Strain, and Ragnar’s Wrath: Call of Odin. The 2026 lineup runs two sinister shows. Fiends! Resurrected is the adult-themed pop-culture show built around Dr. Freakenstein and his assistant Igor. Cirque X-Scream brings all-new acts, and Dark Side of the Gardens carries the event’s overarching story. Busch Gardens describes Fiends this way: “Fiends is back and better than ever! Experience Dr. Freakenstein, Igor, and their group of ghoulish friends like you never have before.”
Ticket prices, verified on Busch Gardens’ site September 30, 2026: single-night tickets start at $48.99, the Any Night Ticket is $76.99 (or $52.99 each in a flash sale that requires buying at least 2), and the Unlimited Scream Pass is $124.99 for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay or $189.99 for a two-park pass that adds SeaWorld Orlando. Fever also sells a Tampa Any Night Ticket for $49.99, with no booking fees. See Fever’s Tampa tickets.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Full guide: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream 2026: Everything Announced So Far.
Dates: 25 select nights, September 11 through November 1, 2026. Event hours 6 p.m. to park close. Included with regular park admission and season passes.
Williamsburg runs five haunted houses for 2026, including Anaconda: Dead on Arrival, a Sony Pictures license, and the all-new Fright at the Museum, an archaeological-dig-gone-wrong house that opens September 25. The event takes over the park with terror-tories, sinister shows, and its coasters running after dark.
The five houses are:
- Anaconda: Dead on Arrival (all-new), the Sony Pictures license.
- Fright at the Museum (all-new), an archaeological dig gone wrong, opening September 25.
- Werewolves: The Wolf’s Revenge (returning), where captured lycans break loose in a containment facility.
- Bloodshot (returning), a dive bar for the undead in the ruins of Pompeii.
- Clown Town (returning), where clowns cast out of Festa Italia decide who escapes.
Two houses from the park’s earlier plans, KILLarney Diner and Death Water Bayou: Morte, are not running in 2026. The Killarney Diner space is being converted for the 2027 ride Return to Corkscrew Hill.
Busch Gardens has named the 2026 terror-tories: the all-new Viper Valley and Witch’s Way, plus returning Disgrotesque, Wicked Wunderland, and Ripper Row. Shows include the all-new Undead Diva alongside returning productions. Source counts differ, with the official park listing six terror-tories and four shows and local coverage citing five terror-tories, so treat those counts as approximate.
Because Williamsburg’s Howl-O-Scream is included with park admission, there is no separate event ticket. The park sells Quick Queue and Front Line Fear skip-the-line upgrades, now live on its site. A new 2026 chaperone policy requires guests 15 and under to be accompanied by an adult, the kids’ areas close at 5 p.m., and parental discretion is advised after 6 p.m.
SeaWorld San Antonio
Dates: Select nights September 11 through November 1, 2026. Included with regular park admission.
Full guide: SeaWorld San Antonio Howl-O-Scream 2026: Houses, Shows, and Dates.
San Antonio is marking its 25th anniversary of Howl-O-Scream in 2026 with five haunted houses: I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, Dead Wreckoning, and Witch of the Woods are all-new, joined by returning houses The Swamp at Blackwater Bayou and Dis-Assembly Line. The park adds eight scare zones and shows including the all-new Shamu Rocks: Moonlight Mayhem plus the returning Monster Stomp. The event runs 7 p.m. to park close and is included with regular park admission, so guests who already hold admission pay nothing extra.
The park also runs Día de los Muertos programming and the daytime family Spooktacular event as part of its broader fall calendar.
SeaWorld San Diego
Dates: 24 select nights, September 11 through October 31, 2026. Guests may enter from 6 p.m., event begins at 7 p.m.
San Diego’s 2026 event has a framework of 6 haunted houses, 8 scare zones, 5 vile vignettes, 2 live shows, 6 themed cocktail bars, and 5 speakeasies. Three scare zones, two vile vignettes, and one live show are all-new and unannounced. All six houses are now named. On July 31 SeaWorld added I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, opening September 11. The largest build of the season is Area 64: MOTHERSHIP, an all-new prequel set 30 years before Area 64: Alien Outbreak, an earlier San Diego house that is not itself in the 2026 lineup. SeaWorld calls it the largest haunted-house show scene the San Diego event has ever created, with an 80-foot-long alien mothership façade. The sixth house is I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, a Sony Pictures licensed house opening September 11, which SeaWorld had teased would “reveal itself from the murky depths of Mission Bay.”
All eight scare zones are now named: Red Moon Revelry, All Hallow’s Harvest, Carnival of Chaos, Deadly Toys, Graveyard, and the all-new Overgrowth, Ripper Row, and Terrors of the Deep. Fanta Fright House is an all-new bar. Ticket prices, verified September 16, 2026: single-night tickets start at $45.99, the Any Night Ticket is $68.99, and the Unlimited Scream Pass is $112.99.
For the full San Diego lineup and pricing, see HAN’s Howl-O-Scream San Diego 2026 coverage.
Cross-park shared concepts
United Parks routinely ports haunted-house and scare-zone concepts across its five Howl-O-Scream properties. Concepts that appear in more than one park include:
- Ripper Row and Monster Stomp. The Jack the Ripper-themed rock and rhythm show Monster Stomp is confirmed for Orlando and San Diego in 2026, and ran at San Antonio and Williamsburg in 2025. The Ripper Row scare zone has appeared at San Antonio and Williamsburg, and San Diego’s Summon the Spirits vignette is set there.
- Deathwater Bayou / Death Water Bayou. A bayou voodoo horror concept appears at both San Diego (Death Water Bayou Awakening) and Williamsburg (Death Water Bayou: Morte), with historical appearances at Tampa.
- Mad doctor and medical horror. Tampa’s Fiends and Dr. Livingsdoom heritage and San Diego’s Nightmare Experiment Sweet DreamzZz draw on the same well.
- Alien and space horror. Tampa’s M.A.R.S. and San Diego’s Area 64 franchise both build sci-fi horror around extraterrestrial threat.
- Circus and clowns. San Diego’s Circus of the Damned, Tampa’s D.H. Baggum’s Circus of Fear, and Williamsburg’s Clown Town all share the format.
Park-exclusive icons include Orlando’s Havoc (introduced 2025 as the “Face of Fear,” replacing the long-running Sirens) and Tampa’s Dr. Freakenstein and the Naughty Nurses lineage.
Corporate context
Howl-O-Scream is a meaningful revenue line for United Parks & Resorts. On the company’s Q3 2025 earnings call in November 2025, CEO Marc Swanson said: “Our Halloween events just concluded last week and we saw meaningful year over year growth from our separately ticketed Howl-O-Scream events including record attendance in Orlando and San Diego for these events.”
The 2026 event runs against a broader company challenge. United Parks’ Q3 2025 total revenue was $511.9 million, down 6.2 percent year over year, and total attendance was 6.8 million, down roughly 3.4 percent. Swanson said on the same call: “We are obviously not happy with the results we delivered in the quarter.” The Halloween business is one of the bright spots the company has explicitly called out for continued investment.
Ticket comparison
No separate ticket required: SeaWorld San Antonio and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Howl-O-Scream is included with regular park admission at both.
Most granular pricing: SeaWorld Orlando splits into several separate ticket products, topping out at a $189.99 two-park Unlimited Scream Pass covering Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Verified tier pricing is in our Orlando coverage.
Largest framework by count: SeaWorld San Diego, at 6 houses and 8 scare zones, against 5 houses at Williamsburg and 5 houses and 6 zones at Orlando.
First parks to run the event: the Busch Gardens parks, in the late 1990s (sources differ on the exact year).
Event details across the parks
- All parks share: September 11, 2026 opening. Mature-audience programming (13+ recommended) at the three separately ticketed parks. Costume policies vary by park.
- Orlando, San Diego + Tampa: Separately ticketed. All close on Halloween night, October 31. Tampa runs 27 select nights, 7 p.m. to park close, with park access from 5 p.m.
- Williamsburg + San Antonio: Included with regular park admission. Run through November 1.
For deeper coverage of individual parks:
- Tampa: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Howl-O-Scream 2026: Full Lineup, Tickets, and Dates
- San Antonio: SeaWorld San Antonio Howl-O-Scream 2026: Houses, Shows, and Dates
- Orlando: Howl-O-Scream Orlando 2026: Everything Announced So Far
- San Diego: Howl-O-Scream San Diego 2026: Everything Announced So Far
- Williamsburg: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Howl-O-Scream 2026: Everything Announced So Far
Last updated: September 17, 2026. Every park’s 2026 lineup, hours, end date, and current ticket pricing were verified against the parks’ live event and attractions pages on September 16-17, 2026. Williamsburg and San Antonio include the event with regular park admission and have no separate event pricing.
