How SeaWorld San Diego can grow and improve Howl-O-Scream over the next decade

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SeaWorld San Diego tossed the archetypal punch with the caller Howl-O-Scream successful a bloody conflict royale against Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, Knott’s Scary Farm and Six Flags’ Fright Fest that is definite to ramp up the combat for taxable parkland Halloween haunt supremacy successful Southern California.

The inaugural Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego kicked disconnected connected Friday, Sept. 17 with 3 haunted houses, six scare zones and a unrecorded show. Howl-O-Scream volition tally connected 24 prime nights done Oct. 31 astatine the San Diego marine park.

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Most Halloween taxable parkland lawsuit sum tends to instrumentality the attack of ranking the haunted mazes, scare zones and unrecorded shows — mostly due to the fact that determination is truthful overmuch to screen successful 1 night. That’s not the lawsuit with Howl-O-Scream successful its archetypal twelvemonth astatine SeaWorld San Diego — due to the fact that there’s not a batch determination conscionable yet.

So alternatively of judging the archetypal 24 nights of the inaugural year, I’m going to instrumentality a look astatine what the aboriginal could clasp for the West Coast mentation of Howl-O-Scream, the opportunities and challenges that prevarication up and however SeaWorld tin turn the lawsuit implicit the adjacent years and decades.

Introducing Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego successful 2021 makes cleanable sense. Coming retired of the extended coronavirus closures, large taxable parks successful the United States are wisely stepping backmost to reexamine their operations with an oculus toward improving what’s working, fixing what’s busted and adding what’s missing.

An after-hours, abstracted admittance nighttime haunted lawsuit seems similar a no-brainer for SeaWorld — successful ample portion due to the fact that determination is nary different taxable parkland contention successful the San Diego marketplace that tin vie with a gory and gruesome caller fright fest.

Howl-O-Scream besides appeals to the teen and young big demographic that SeaWorld San Diego appears to beryllium going aft with the summation of a drawstring of caller roller coasters — with more connected the way.

The section haunted lawsuit benchmarks successful Southern California person been agelong established — Halloween Horror Nights astatine Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Scary Farm astatine Knott’s Berry Farm, Fright Fest astatine Six Flags Magic Mountain, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor and Oogie Boogie Bash astatine Disneyland. All but Disneyland instrumentality a gory and scary attack to Halloween that brings retired die-hard haunt aficionados.

That seasoned haunt assemblage won’t beryllium precise impressed with Howl-O-Scream 2021 — but that’s a constricted mode of viewing the archetypal twelvemonth of SeaWorld’s caller haunted event. Curious haunt fans volition travel retired nary substance what and footwear the tires of Howl-O-Scream — successful portion to accidental “I was determination erstwhile it each started.”

SeaWorld knows precisely what benignant of bloody, cut-throat conflict they are getting themselves into — and it’s not for the faint of heart. Sister-park Busch Gardens Tampa has been staging Howl-O-Scream for much than 2 decades — going head-to-severed caput with haunt powerhouse Halloween Horror Nights astatine Universal Orlando. Howl-O-Scream is present hitting Horror Nights from 2 sides successful Florida with SeaWorld Orlando joining the bloody fray this twelvemonth arsenic well.

At SeaWorld San Diego, Howl-O-Scream’s opening nighttime was a coagulated commencement with plentifulness of country for betterment successful the coming weeks, years and decades.

Rather than leap close into the mazes and scare zones, let’s commencement with what was moving good — the fantastic unrecorded amusement and the elevated nutrient and beverage program.

“Vampire Circus” during opening nighttime of Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Vampire Circus” during opening nighttime of Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Vampire Circus” during opening nighttime of Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Vampire Circus” during opening nighttime of Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Vampire Circus” during opening nighttime of Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)

“Vampire Circus” is the champion Halloween amusement I’ve ever seen during a haunted lawsuit astatine a Southern California taxable parkland — amended than thing Horror Nights, Scary Farm and Fright Fest person to offer.

It should travel arsenic nary astonishment that SeaWorld tin propulsion disconnected a cirque-style show — they’ve been doing it for years with their Cirque de le Mer waterfront shows.

“Vampire Circus” combines jaw-dropping classical cirque acts similar a creation trapeze, acrobatic strongman duo, cane handbalancing and the Wheel of Death with conscionable capable horror-themed clown wit successful betwixt to support the assemblage entranced during the 30-minute amusement successful SeaWorld’s Nautilus Theater.

The cirque amusement was truthful bully that it was astir worthy the terms of admittance — which starts astatine $45, tenable compared to haunt events astatine different Southern California taxable parks.

Most reviews of haunted events don’t absorption connected the nutrient and drinks — but SeaWorld’s paper of savory bites, sugary desserts and horrific cocktails outshines your emblematic taxable parkland fare.

The highlights included a Bloody Lucy Slider with oozy reddish food wrong an inch-thick beef patty, Brain Bites with a blood-red filling topped with marinara sauce, to-die-for Nightmare Mac & Cheese with ghastly greenish noodles and Creepy Cannolis bursting with guacamole-green saccharine filling. Food prices scope from $6 to $8.

SeaWorld has acceptable up themed bars selling trade brew and horror-themed cocktails astatine the exit of each haunted maze. The rum-based Bloodshot pina colada dripping with bloody grenadine comes with an eyeball floating connected top. Cocktails tally $13 apiece.

A tiny signifier underneath the unopened Sky Tower volition big unrecorded bands passim Howl-O-Scream — with the Beta7 ska-punk headlining connected opening night. The 1 happening missing? A cocktail barroom to substance the creation level and support the enactment going.

Mixing intoxicant and monsters is ever tricky concern — with the scareactors successful information of getting punched by intoxicated visitors.

Pairing the themed bars with DJ euphony allows SeaWorld to make a creation nine vibe and bargain a leafage from the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor playbook — which turns each evening into a enactment successful bid to compensate for its constricted fig of mazes and scare zones.

Howl-O-Scream faces a akin dilemma starting retired — not capable to bash with lone 3 underdeveloped haunted mazes and six fledgling scare zones. Pitching Howl-O-Scream arsenic a hep Halloween enactment helps fell immoderate of the faults arsenic SeaWorld San Diego gets into the haunt concern — and the high-margin intoxicant income should besides assistance concern aboriginal maturation of the caller event.

The 1 happening SeaWorld volition ever deficiency compared to taxable parks similar Knott’s and Universal are themed spaces wherever monsters tin prowl scare zones. One of my lasting memories of the archetypal Howl-O-Scream astatine SeaWorld San Diego volition ever beryllium however bare and lonely the parkland was aft dark. Only 3 roller coasters were open: Electric Eel, Manta and Journey to Atlantis.

SeaWorld opted to dispersed the scare zones passim the parkland — successful portion to gully visitors to the 3 operating rides and 3 haunted mazes. That meant visitors often had to locomotion past shuttered shops, unopened restaurants and darkened attractions arsenic they traveled passim the darkened park. The scare zones were an effort to stitch unneurotic the acquisition — to varying degrees of success.

Howl-O-Scream’s champion scare portion had a low-key vibe. La Llorona turns the Latin American municipality fable astir a pistillate who drowns her children aft her hubby leaves her for a younger pistillate into an eerie atmospheric scare zone. A La Llorona scareactor successful a achromatic veil wanders nether a monolithic moss-covered histrion with terrific amusement lighting portion black-veiled mothers propulsion bare achromatic babe carriages successful hunt of their mislaid children.

The Sirens was the scariest of the scare zones with undead sailors creeping up down visitors distracted by mermaids charming passersby with alluring voices and come-hither appeals.

Deadly Toys was the astir interactive scare portion with misplaced and unloved toys looking for visitors to instrumentality them location and play with them.

The Hauntings had 2 of the champion scareactors of the evening — a werewolf seemingly trapped successful a existent SeaWorld carnal cage and an ivy-covered stilt-walker that emerges from the trunk of a tree.

First Fright was a mixed container of a scare portion adjacent the beforehand entranceway portion the Graveyard seemed similar a toss-away thought successful request of immoderate work.

Howl-O-Scream’s haunted mazes stay a work-in-progress that should amended with each successive year. It makes consciousness that SeaWorld lone started with 3 mazes — amended to statesman tiny and bash the champion you tin than to overreach and dispersed yourself thin.

Unfortunately, the 3 inaugural Howl-O-Scream mazes are inactive incredibly underdeveloped — peculiarly by the standards haunt fans person travel to expect with Horror Nights, Scary Farm, Fright Fest and Dark Harbor.

The champion of the clump was Nightmare Experiment, which is acceptable wrong a slumber session wherever a government-run aesculapian experimentation has gone horribly wrong. Nightmare Experiment had the champion acceptable dressing and backstory of the 3 mazes and immoderate coagulated shriek scares.

Simon’s Slaughterhouse takes spot wrong a nutrient processing works that has been taken implicit by a butcher and his murderous crew. The well-worn maze conception is filled with each the expected screeching buzzsaws, slashing knives and earlier victims hanging connected nutrient hooks. The highlight: Chainsaw-wielding scareactors that should beryllium fixed free-reign of the maze alternatively than stay stuck successful 1 country each night.

The lowlight was Death Water Bayou that was conscionable a notch oregon 2 supra a location haunt level. There were immoderate bully leap scares, but conscionable arsenic galore missed opportunities. All 3 mazes suffered from the aforesaid occupation — a deficiency of scareactors. A “we’re hiring” Howl-O-Scream motion astatine the beforehand gross admitted arsenic much.

As with immoderate caller event, SeaWorld has a punch database of things to enactment connected with Howl-O-Scream — which should beryllium considered a occurrence and the precocious barroom to transcend successful aboriginal years.

Pulling unneurotic 3 caller mazes successful a debut twelvemonth is simply a monolithic undertaking and it’s not astonishing that the acceptable decor was threadbare successful places. That should amended successful consequent seasons arsenic SeaWorld San Diego builds connected the existing mazes and stockpiles animatronics and theming that tin beryllium reused successful aboriginal mazes.

Fortunately, SeaWorld tin number connected its East Coast sister parks for guidance and expertise. Death Water Bayou should amended by leaps and bounds successful the coming years — with the workhorse haunted location a mainstay astatine Busch Gardens Tampa Bay since 2013. The aforesaid goes for Simon’s Slaughterhouse which appeared successful the Tampa Howl-O-Scream lineup successful 2018 and 2019.

SeaWorld knows hardcore haunters volition justice Howl-O-Scream against the modular bearers successful Los Angeles and Orange counties. But SeaWorld besides knows they person the San Diego marketplace each to themselves wherever they volition vie with autarkic mazes and location haunts — which adjacent the comparatively anemic effort of the inaugural Howl-O-Scream easy tops. SeaWorld is counting connected picking disconnected the section enthusiasts who privation a large-scale haunt but don’t privation to beryllium bothered with the hour-plus roadworthy travel up the 5 Freeway.

The fiscal rewards for SeaWorld San Diego could beryllium tremendous with Universal Orlando officials calling the wildly palmy Halloween Horror Nights the “thirteen month” for the other gross the after-hours tickets provide.

SeaWorld would beryllium astute to instrumentality the agelong presumption and strive to lucifer Fright Fest’s maze quantity and prime wrong 5 years and scope the Scary Farm level wrong a decennary earlier deciding if they person the fortitude and resources to instrumentality connected the king of the elevation successful Horror Nights — arsenic the trio of Howl-O-Screams are present doing successful Florida.

Expect a bloody conflict that should lone payment haunters successful it for the agelong fight. Consider Howl-O-Scream 2021 the archetypal punch thrown successful a neck-slashing, intestines-spilling, bile-spewing brawl for San Diego haunt supremacy.

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