Howl-O-Scream Orlando

Howl-O-Scream Orlando

            For the first time ever, Sea World Orlando climbs into the ring and attempts a Halloween event. Sea World invites guests to step through the gates and experience a world controlled by the vicious sirens. Using only about half of the available park space, Sea World manages to put together an impressive premiere year.

Houses

Water’s Edge Inn- Step into an inn where the staff has fallen victim to the lure of the sirens. Worn down and decaying rooms and hallways await visitors. The scenery in this house is well designed and helps to pull you into the nightmare world of the inn. The way the house is set up makes it come off as a realistic replica of an inn, ranging from guest areas to staff areas before escaping through the back. The house tells a good story throughout and is helped by well done performances by the actors within. Ranging from those a bit too eager to check you in at the front desk, to the kitchen where the chef is looking to include guests into his next meal. It is a simple but well-designed house, and its location near the entrance to the event makes it a great intro to the overall experience that is awaiting you.

8/10

Beneath the Ice- Join the rescue team investigating what happened to an Arctic base and what has driven the staff mad. Beneath the Ice takes advantage of being housed in the shell of an old attraction, allowing for a higher level of theming than most theme parks will have for haunted houses like this one. The level of detail, combined with exceptional use of low lighting and a constant cacophony of yells, bangs and other noises creates a house that is perfectly chaotic. This chaos is fueled by actors that relish in the environment, using it to its maximum to create scares. Multiple times actors would be coming from every direction, including from above and below, climbing or crawling under various set pieces to get at their victims. If constant loud noises and nonstop low visibility issues for you, I can certainly see this house as being a chore to go through though. If you do enjoy those aspects however, this is the best house at the event.

8.5/10

Dead Vines- Wander into a garden overgrown with the evil from a siren that has decided to claim this land. The concept for this house is a cool sounding one, but something just doesn’t quite work. The set design comes off as a cheaper version of Death Water Bayou from Tampa. Visually, this house is just a bit boring, as every room comes off as a slight variation of one before it. Additionally, the house is set up in a fashion that doesn’t provide actors with the best scare possibilities. This led to timing feeling off for a lot of the scares, as well as boo-holes and other scare locations being obvious, making it hard for this house to get a good rhythm going. Sadly, the most disappointing house of the event.

5/10

Captain’s Revenge- Step onto a cursed pirate ship with a crew that wants nothing more than to have you on the doomed voyage permanently. Easily the best façade of the event, the ship looming over the line provides the best opening tension of the entire event. Once inside, the house is a competently built haunted pirate ship theme. Nothing sticks out as being special or unique, but it is certainly on par with other houses that have used a similar theme. The actors are entertaining in this house, bringing equal parts laughs and screams throughout the halls. Unfortunately, like Dead Vines, there was some timing issues in some rooms that led to scares happening a bit too late, making them ineffective. Overall though, this is a better house because the actors have a ton of energy and the house is designed in a way that tells an interesting story, with the crew filtering though the house until you have a showdown with the captain. Fun house that if sticks around could improve to being great.

6.5/10

Scarezones

            Howl-O-Scream Orlando takes some cues from Tampa in how the scarezones are set up. While there are four major zones throughout the park, there is still the chance of getting scared in areas in between, as creatures wait throughout the park. These random actors come rolling from behind boxes or jumping from behind bushes and do a great job in making you feel like you are never safe in the park. What really sets this apart from Tampa is that the set zones all feel different from one another. Frozen Terror is an extension of Beneath the Ice, featuring doomed zombies that have wandered from the research facility. Deadly Ambush is set in an old campground that has music playing throughout with flashing lights covering all corners, while creatures and campers attack from all directions. Witchcraft Bayou is a dark journey through a swamp where voodoo practitioners are looking for their next sacrifice. Sea of Souls is a walk through the fog-filled site of a shipwreck and the dead pirates are seeking revenge against anyone who dares step into the area. The distinct nature of each of these zones are what makes them interesting and entertaining. Scares in each come with variety as well, with zombies in Frozen Terror focusing more on using loud noises and cover to get scares, while actors in Deadly Ambush use the ability to blend in the get scares, as well as telling genuinely funny jokes to create a fun atmosphere. The major issue with these scare zones is sometimes actors will be too focused on one area, leaving other parts of the zone lighter on crew, which could create even bigger issues on crowded nights. Nonetheless, the scarezones of this event are easily the most fun I’ve had with scarezones so far this year.

7.5/10

Overall

            This is a strong start for the event. Of course this event is going to live in the shadow of Halloween Horror Nights, being just a few exits down I-4 from Universal. However, Sea World could easily build itself as an alternative to the event, providing a party atmosphere with good scares at a budget price in comparison to HHN, especially with the deals offered in the summer. There are some issues to work out that hopefully improve, such as adjusting the lesser houses and working in some staffing issues for the scarezones. However, this event is legitimately a great time and a strong debut year. As this event grows and improves it could provide a great opposition to Universal that could help to better Halloween event options for crowds. HOS Orlando is absolutely worth the visit if in the area and hopefully it becomes a powerhouse in the future.

7/10