Howl-o-Scream San Diego 2022 (Sea World)

[Wesker69]

Face your fears when Howl-O-Scream reawakens this fall at SeaWorld San Diego. Get ready for ALL-NEW spine-chilling scares on Sept. 16, 2022.

After a successful "inaugural fear", Howl-O-Scream will once again arrive to transform the peaceful SeaWorld San Diego park you once knew into something sinister. When night falls and a carnival of horrifying creatures surrounds you, just try to put on a happy face.

Evade angry haunts as they rampage through scare zones. Seek shelter indoors, only to find you've entered a house of horrors. Quench your thirst for fear with fiendishly delicious cocktails, beer, and spirits. Feel the monstrous electricity of a live show. Dance the night away and deepen the thrills with a nighttime coaster ride.

Above all, try to resist the eyes of evil that threaten to follow you everywhere. Face your fears during SeaWorld San Diego's Howl-O-Scream this fall.



RETURNING FOR 2022....

HOUSES:
- Death Water Bayou
- Nightmare Experiment
- Simon's Slaughterhouse

SCAREZONES:
- The Hauntings
- Graveyard
- La Llorona
- Deadly Toys

Themed Bars:
- Murder She Float
- Simon's Screamatorium
- AmBARlance

RIDES:
- Emperor
- Electric Eel
- Journey to Atlantis
**(Seems odd to exclude Manta & Riptide Rescue)



Missing from last year's line-up:
- 2 shows (Beta7 & Vampire Circus)
- 2 SZs (First Fright & Sirens)

 

[Freak]

So....any word on the new houses?

I'm not terribly surprised Manta won't be open being it's so out-of-the-way from where "everything" is.

 

[Wesker69]

I'm not terribly surprised Manta won't be open being it's so out-of-the-way from where "everything" is.

Except.... there was literally a scarezone right next to it last year (and probably this year).


As for anything "NEW", no. The event starts in literally 23 days and they haven't announced anything.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I'll go when he event has more, I just dont live close enough to drive here for 3 mazes.

 

[Wesker69]

I'll go when he event has more, I just dont live close enough to drive here for 3 mazes.

Um... the event WILL have more. They just haven't announced anything yet. They literally state "more, more & more" coming

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Except.... there was literally a scarezone right next to it last year (and probably this year).
View attachment 17162

As for anything "NEW", no. The event starts in literally 23 days and they haven't announced anything.

I thought I read there will be more houses this year, unless I'm getting this and SWO mixed up.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Can't find an article on it but got an email today that if you donate blood you can get two tickets for this event free

 

[Freak]

So…um….no one’s gonna talk about the two new houses they just announced?

-Area 51
-Circus of the Damned

 

[Wesker69]

So…um….no one’s gonna talk about the two new houses they just announced?

Sorry... I've been busy with work & dying slowly from the recent heatwave. So I haven't been on top of the recent announcements

SeaWorld San Diego released the event map today, so while they did add more for their 2nd year, they also reduced the event footprint


Now onto the "NEW"....
- 3 themed bars
- 2 houses
- 2 scarezones
- 2 "scary themed areas"
- 1 show

HOUSES:

"An evil ringmaster seeking to restore his cursed Circus of the Damned to its former glory is looking for new performers. Avoid his condemned crew and escape the big top before you’re forced to join them!"


"Darkness and decay set the stage after you sneak through the fence and enter Area 64: Alien Outbreak. Evade lethal security, mad scientists, and terrifying extraterrestrials who refuse to be contained."

SCAREZONES:

SEA OF SOULS
Their allure is powerful. Their motives are terrifying. Steer clear…this is one call you don’t want to answer.


CLOWN GAUNTLET
The merciless clowns have been banished by the ringmaster and are looking for victims to start their own maniacal circus. Chainsaws in hand, the clowns audition those they deem worthy, and terrify those who don’t quite make the “cut”.

**** "First Fright" & "The Sirens" were rebranded/replaced by "Sea of Souls" & "Carnival of Chaos" respectively.

scAREAS:

CARNIVAL OF CHAOS (park entrance zone)
If you survive Circus of the Damned, press your luck in the Carnival of Chaos. Beware the disgruntled carnies and sideshow clowns that haunt the midway, and specialty performers who’d kill to make it to the big time.


VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND (back corner of park)
In the Vampire Underground, humans and vampires can peacefully co-exist… or can they? Enjoy a sinfully delicious libation at the Blood Moon Bar and find out whether the night will end in fantasy or a bloody nightmare.

SHOW:

A chilling, suspenseful theatrical spectacle sure to haunt and thrill all who dare to take the ride. Mesmerizing performers and percussionists will lure innocent souls into an intense journey through your wildest nightmares, while struggling with adversities and battles between good and evil!

BARS:
- Toys N' Tonic
- Big Top Drinks
- Blood Moon Bar

After careful observation between the 2021 & 2022 maps, I noticed the "Murder She Floats" Bar has been rebranded as "Howl-O-Scream Bar".

HOWL-O-SCREAM SAN DIEGO 2022:
- 8 scarezones
- 6 themed bars
- 5 houses
- 3 rides
- 1 show

 

[deadbydawn]

I saw some videos covering this event and it looks rough. The cast seems like they are really doing a great job, but it seems like the park itself needs to put a little more effort in.

 

[Wesker69]

it looks rough, but it seems like the park itself needs to put a little more effort in.

It is their 2nd year... and they're not Orlando (which literally has HHN down the street).

Also, go back & look at any big haunt that just debuted, you'd be shocked by the quality. Hell, when HHN started in Orlando, the Monsters had Universal name tags while scaring :look:

 

[deadbydawn]

It is their 2nd year... and they're not Orlando (which literally has HHN down the street).

Also, go back & look at any big haunt that just debuted, you'd be shocked by the quality. Hell, when HHN started in Orlando, the Monsters had Universal name tags while scaring :look:

I know it's only year two, I am just saying that from videos and a few people I know that have already gone to the event that has been the overall consensus. It's going to take a little more than that to get me to make the drive and pay $40-50 to check it out. That being said, I will reiterate and say that their cast seems good!

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

I watched a couple videos from it and read some reviews, and it actually sounds like it's been better received than last year. They added two more houses and condensed the event area and it seems like that's helped make it feel like it's not spread as thinly as last year. I do think SeaWorld should've hired more scare actors though, and it bothers me that most of the houses aren't really enclosed--kinda breaks the illusion when the "buildings" you walk through have short walls and you can clearly see the night sky overhead.

Major props to whoever had the idea of a speakeasy inside a haunted house, that's such an inventive and cool little bonus. Speaking of which, does anyone know how you gain access to it? Lol

*Edit* So I decided to go this past weekend, and these were my thoughts:

• Houses: overall a little disappointing. My favorite was probably Area 64, which had some cool props, a hidden speakeasy (message me if you want to know how to get in btw), and even several references to SeaWorld history, including the name. Other than that, the rest really just felt like they were recycled from past Busch Gardens HOS houses but with less elaborate sets. Death Water Bayou seemed like it had 2 actors in the whole maze, and groups in front of us got lost in Circus of the Damned because there were no actors or employees directing people for multiple consecutive rooms. I did like how mercifully short the lines were throughout the night; I thought 7-11pm was ridiculously short hours for the event, but we never waited more than 15 minutes for the mazes, and we got through everything at a very leisurely pace by 10, including stopping at bars and seeing the shows.
• Bars: I appreciated the effort to try to tie bars in with houses or scare zones and come up with custom drinks and foods. That said, these weren't really "bars" so much as drink stands. The Blood Moon Bar was maybe the only non-speakeasy one that had a themed environment to go with it (albeit a very club-like theme).
• Scare zones: This was maybe the biggest disappointment. Each scare zone had 0-3 actors and 0-1 set pieces. Between how minimal they were and how close they all were to each other, it was often hard to tell whether a given area was supposed to be a scare zone, and if so what the scare zone was supposed to be. The actors were trying their best, but there's only so much that can be done with so few people and so little scenery.
• Entertainment: The Darkness Falls show was possibly the highlight of the event, with a big cast, something of an actual plot, and none of the cringeyness of shows like Fiends. I actually think I liked it a little better than Monster Stomp last year at SWO, which was previously my favorite Halloween show. I was glad there was other entertainment too, though I wouldn't consider any of the short one-person acts a "show" by itself.
• Overall it was kind of a mixed bag, which was a little surprising to me because I've never had anything less than a truly great experience at any HOS I've been to before. This event just didn't quite create the same magic as SWO, BGT, or BGW, which is a shame because it totally could. The park has plenty of space, the actors have their hearts in it, and for the price HOS could be luring people away from other SoCal events. The problems all clearly come down to the park leadership not investing enough resources. Hopefully they'll be able to flesh it out a little more with each subsequent year and eventually SD will finally have a really good haunted event of its own.