SeaWorld Orlando’s Howl-O-Scream is back for its fourth year with four new haunted houses, three new scare zones, and two new themed bars. After a successful inaugural year in 2021, the event experienced what felt like two years of limited growth with repeated, but slightly tweaked, houses in 2022 and 2023. However, for 2024, SeaWorld has successfully infused fresh scares and excitement into the event. While the Sirens have returned, they no longer take center stage, allowing the new haunted houses and scare zones to shine independently.

Houses at the event this year include:

1. (NEW) Farm 51 – Picture this: You stumble on an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. The air is thick with dread, and the silence is broken only by the eerie rustling of the cornfields. Suddenly, you realize you’re not alone. The chilling whispers of extraterrestrial visitors echo in the darkness. They’ve crash-landed, and they’re not friendly.

2. (RETURNING) D3LER1UM666 – You’re invited inside the headquarters of a unique mercenary group, established by the government to counter the threat posed by the Sirens and other dangerous sea creatures. While these creatures are typically unseen in human-occupied territories, recent attacks on humans at the surface necessitate a swift resolution. We’ve allowed the public to tour the recently expanded facility to gain support and understanding for the cause, but you will not be alone in your journey.

3. (NEW) Ultimate Gamble – Welcome to “The Ultimate Gamble,” where the stakes are life and death, and every step could be your last. This house offers a chilling blend of high-stakes thrills and ghastly terror. Will you beat the odds and escape with your life, or will you become just another ghostly patron trapped in the casino’s eternal game? Face your fears and place your bets at “The Ultimate Gamble,” where the house always wins.

4. (NEW) Water’s Edge Wellness Center – Nestled at the edge of the misty, foreboding Central Lake, the Water’s Edge Wellness Center once promised serenity and rejuvenation. Today, it stands as a chilling reminder of a past shrouded in mystery and dark secrets. Prepare yourself for an unforgettable journey into the macabre, where the line between the living and the dead is blurred, and the horrors of the past come to life. Will you escape unscathed, or will you become another lost soul within the haunted halls of the Water’s Edge Wellness Center?

5. (NEW) Atlantis: Journey Below – As you encounter the sunken city of Atlantis, you’ll find a realm shrouded in mystery and dark legends. Descend into the eerie underwater world where the air grows thick with anticipation and the haunting whispers of sinister sea creatures. Dare to explore “Atlantis: Journey Below” and experience the terror that lies beneath the waves.

Scare zones include Seeds of the Coven (NEW), Cannibal Harbor (NEW), Paradise Palms (NEW), Blood Light District (RETURNING), Toxic Turmoil (RETURNING), Terrors of the Deep (RETURNING), and CarnEvil Pier (RETURNING). In addition, roaming hoards from a chainsaw team to ghillie monsters hid in the bushes and stalked the areas outside the scare zones. It all resulted in the streets feeling more staffed, immersive, and decorated this year. For the sake of the review, we lumped all of the scare zones into a single category.

Finally, Monster Stomp and Siren’s Song have returned for their fourth year and both are in great shape, especially Monster Stomp. Moving forward, we’d like to see SeaWorld maintain Monster Stomp and infuse new numbers into the show while we feel Siren’s Song is…fading, which brings us to a thought for next year.

The tagline for this year’s event is “The Calls Fade”, raising the question: Is this the last we’ll see of the Sirens at Howl-O-Scream Orlando? With the 5th anniversary of the event approaching next year, we’re excited to see the direction SeaWorld might take. There’s so much to explore in aquatic horror, and this year’s event proves that venturing into non-water-themed locations can be just as effective. We highly recommend you make the voyage out to Howl-O-Scream Orlando this year to check out the improvements and renewed energy at the event…just make sure you don’t fall victim to the Siren’s call while you’re there.

We arrived at Howl-O-Scream at 6 pm to be able to take in the entry scare zone, Seeds of the Coven, and the surrounding interactive bar, Sacrificial Spirits, and we were so glad we did. The witches in the coven stalked all the guests waiting for the event to begin at 7 pm, often crawling out through bushes, weaving their way through the crowds, or hovering over guests on platforms. At the bar, we enjoyed a 25-minute cabaret-style show featuring the siren Hydra and her two minions. It was a great way to start the event and showed SeaWorld’s commitment to improving the event for 2024.

As soon as the gates opened, we walked through the Cannibal Harbor, CarnEvil Pier, and Terrors of the Deep scare zones. Each actor interacted with us and stayed within the scare zone theme. We loved the actor hiding in the bushes in Cannibal Harbor, who offered us a human leg. When we returned later in the evening, we told him we wanted to see our friend again. He quickly responded with “I’m not your friend” and laughed us off. Each time we passed through Terrors of the Deep, the actors ran up to us and asked why our rum-based drinks weren’t finished yet. We had incredible interactions in all the scare zones throughout the entire evening and, considering there were seven zones plus roaming hordes, it felt like we were constantly interacting with the cast all night.

In the houses, whether it was testing our luck in Ultimate Gamble or preparing for a lobotomy in Water’s Edge Wellness Center, the actors were just as interactive. In Farm 51, we felt like we stepped straight into some B-movie alien abduction film with a range of town residents who were scary from one moment to hilarious the next. When we found ourselves in someone’s kitchen, the actor turned around, clutched himself, and in a high-pitched voice asked “How’d you all get in my kitchen?!” You could tell the actors were having fun, getting deep into their roles, and theming their interactions with each guest. This gave each house that extra special touch you don’t always get at a theme park haunt.

We found all of the costumes and makeup for the actors in the haunted houses, scare zones, and even interactive bars to be appropriate for the theming and nothing stood out as being out of place. With that being said, some of the costuming is a little more basic than intricate, and that could be a nice area to show improvement and let more of the creative concepts shine at the event. The masks in D3LER1UM666, specifically the ones in the containment room, were a nice switch up from a lot of air-brushed makeup you’ll see on most actors at Howl-O-Scream. In Farm 51, the alien masks were what you’d expect from an alien-looking mask, whereas it would’ve been more impactful to see Howl-O-Scream create their own take on an alien. It’s all still an improvement from 2023, and we did notice some of the airbrushing was more detailed than in years past. We look forward to seeing how the costuming and makeup can grow as Howl-O-Scream enters its 5th anniversary next year.

It was a breeze getting in and out of Howl-O-Scream this year and we were through security in less than 5 minutes. Howl-O-Scream has a strict bag policy separate from regular day park admission, so we recommend checking out the website before attending to double-check whether your bag needs to stay in the car or if you can bring it in. If you have not visited SeaWorld in a while, be warned they completely reconfigured their parking lot which has effectively made the parking a little more confusing and harder to navigate.

Inside the park, house ops moved the attractions at a decent pace and we saw security actively stationed throughout the park all night. The food and beverage locations we visited moved quickly and the SeaWorld ambassadors provided excellent service. All in all, it was a great night at Howl-O-Scream!

Between five haunted houses, seven scare zones, roaming hoards, two shows, and five interactive bars, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a spot in SeaWorld that isn’t overrun with Howl-O-Scream actors or some sort of theming. One actor approached our group and asked “Why are you smiling so much?” It’s an easy answer. We were so caught up in the immersive atmosphere that it was hard not to smile! A great example for 2024: After watching an alien abduction in the finale of Farm 51, we exited into a space-themed bar. This clever tie-in served as a seamless continuation of our experience in the haunted house.

One area where we would like to see Howl-O-Scream improve is with pre-haunt theming/storytelling. While some houses have facades, there is minimal storytelling set up as you’re waiting in line or immediately as you enter the house. Piped-in audio, queue videos, or entry signs could help solve this immediately.

Howl-O-Scream implemented something we’ve always wanted to see at a theme park haunted attraction: One line, for TWO haunted attractions! That’s right – You queue up for Ultimate Gamble and as soon as the house is over, you’re immediately in line for D3LER1UM666! It took about 3 minutes of waiting before we entered D3LER1UM666 and, as soon we got out of D3LER1UM666, we were dumped into the Seeds of the Coven scare zone. It was a triple hitter of immersive scares and the experience flowed perfectly.

It’s clear SeaWorld invested more into Howl-O-Scream this year than they have in years past. Houses like Farm 51 and Atlantis Journey Below utilized animatronics and Water’s Edge Wellness Center created a rain effect in the first room of the house. D3LER1UM666 simulated an elevator ride to the 666th floor of a laboratory and Ultimate Gamble recreated a casino complete with slot machines, table games, a bar, and a wedding chapel. All of the houses installed drop-down items (like IV drips, sea grass, and nighttime stars) themed to the houses that you had to push aside to keep moving. And it’s not haunt season without a vortex tunnel or inflatable squeeze tunnel and both effects are employed in two different houses at the event this year. We were impressed by the step up in special effects this year and hope these effects only become perfected and grow each season.

The houses at Howl-O-Scream tackle a haunted casino, alien abduction, an underground laboratory where Sirens have broken out, the underwater realm of Atlantis, and a wellness center that’s more likely to kill you than heal you. No two houses felt similar in theme and juxtaposed each other nicely.

The standout for the night was Ultimate Gamble, which was built in a massive backstage tent. The scenic and lighting designs felt lush (for a haunted house), the house length felt neverending, and each actor was fully committed to their role. It’s also the first house we noticed that fully integrated scares with sound and/or lighting effects, which only made the scares much stronger. Based on our final score, the following houses are our rankings of the houses from the scariest to least scary:

1. Ultimate Gamble
2. Water’s Edge Wellness Center
3. Farm 51
4. D3LER1UM666
5. Atlantis Journey Below

The haunted houses are a HUGE step forward for Howl-O-Scream this year and brought back a new level of excitement we haven’t felt since their inaugural year in 2021. We sincerely hope this is a sign of great things to come and, if houses can rise to the production level of Ultimate Gamble, Howl-O-Scream Orlando may very well become a must-see attraction in Central Florida each year.

Howl-O-Scream provides an excellent value per dollar. Our tickets cost $33.99 for the night and were valid for any night of the event. When you break down the amount of time in the haunts and scare zones and divide it by the ticket cost, we enjoyed 1.91 minutes of scares per dollar spent. If you factor in the 25-minute Monster Stomp production and some of the rides, that number could jump up to 2.65 minutes of scares per dollar.

If you purchase your ticket early enough, admission to Howl-O-Scream can be cheaper than some of the local haunts in town. Keep in mind parking costs $32 (unless you’re a Passholder) and food and beverage are not cheap inside the park. Most of the pop-up food booths offered themed food for $9.99-$13.99 per sample and most alcoholic beverages ranged from $10.99-$15.99, plus a 5% surcharge.

You can opt to upgrade and add on Front Line Fear passes, which range from $59-$149 depending on the night. Personally, we do not recommend the upgrade. As long as you are at the park by the event opening, you should have no problem getting through all five houses and scare zones.