Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s ‘Howl-O-Scream’ Opens Tonight With New and Renovated Haunted Houses, Scare Zones and Shows | Events and Movies | Tampa

The annual Howl-O-Scream Fright Festival returns to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay this weekend, bringing back popular haunted houses, spooky areas and chances to ride roller coasters in the dark.

The event kicks off at 7 p.m. select nights starting tonight, Friday, September 9 through October 31 Halloween. On Fridays and Saturdays, the park is open until 1 a.m. On Thursdays and Sundays it is open until midnight.

This year, Howl-O-Scream has five houses, eight spooky areas, and four spooky shows. New attractions include the Stranglewood Estate home, which is overrun by evil spirits and hapless ghosts.

Then there are the spooky new areas – Ravens Mill and Beyond the Veil – where you’ll be hunted by evil scarecrows in a cornfield or have to escape fairies and orcs in a haunted forest.

Then there’s the new show, 50/50: Choose Your Fate, where the spooky host always wins and you always lose.

Returning favorites include:

• Death Water Bayou: Blood Moon – The Endgame A swamp teeming with seriously sinister werewolves
• The Residence: Home for the Holidays A Christmas-themed suburban house of horrors
• the forgotten Vampires. What more do you need?
• witch of the woods A strange and misty forest attracts travelers, but a cursed witch won’t let you go
• breakage This is where they chase you with chainsaws.
• In the dark Wood full of legendary monsters.
• Skeleton Crew Shipwrecked zombie pirates.
• The shortcut A graveyard full of zombies.
• Voodoo Undeniable, but this one connects to the bayou home of werewolves.
• Hidden Fear Zone and Roaming Hordes Trust no dark corners or plants, there are creepy actors wandering all over the park.

Standard one-night Howl-O-Scream tickets start at $44.99. Busch Gardens also offers day and night tickets to experience the theme park and stick around starting at $124.99.

If you can’t get enough scares, the park offers unlimited Howl-O-Scream passes from $124.99 to $139.99 (lowest price excludes Saturdays).

Howl-O-Scream upgrades include backstage and VIP tours, skip-the-line passes, and reserved seating for shows.

If you want a little less scare on your night out at Howl-O-Scream, the park offers a “No Boo” collar that’s supposed to ward off monsters in scare zones. This doesn’t guarantee you won’t be scared at all, and it doesn’t work inside haunted houses.

You can find more information, tickets and upgrades at buschgardens.com.