SeaWorld Orlando's Howl-O-Scream is leaning hard into '90s nostalgia for 2026, with five haunted houses, six scare zones, roaming scare actors, and a lineup of themed bars and food stands spread across the park. The overarching aesthetic — think neon lights, cyborgs, and dial-up dread — runs through nearly every corner of the event.
The headline house is I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, SeaWorld's first-ever IP-based maze, pulling directly from the 1997 slasher film. Guests walk through the seaside town of Southport, North Carolina, dodging a hook-wielding Fisherman out for revenge. The other original houses include The Dark Net, set in a blood-powered futuristic city patrolled by cyborg vampires; The Crawl Space, a claustrophobic underground tunnel maze with mutated creatures lurking in the dark; and Everything Must Stay, a suburban home that hasn't sold in six years for very good — and very bloody — reasons. A fifth house rounds out the lineup. Six scare zones, including Nekrosis, Toxic Turmoil, Carn-EVIL Pier, and Terrors of the Deep, line the park's pathways, and two roaming hordes of scare actors operate without boundaries anywhere in the park.
On the drinks side, four of five bars have been announced. Byte Bar serves glowing neon cocktails and locally sourced craft beers alongside its signature Vampire's Bite shot. The Rewind Bar leans into '90s nostalgia with Gusher-inspired cocktails inside a VHS-stocked lounge. Sacrificial Spirits handles domestic, import, and craft beers near the outdoor scare zones and doubles as a mini performance venue with acrobats and aerialists. Space Gate 3, an overlay at the Waterway Grill, brings back the signature Hex Cocktail — vodka, Midori, pineapple and lemon juices, and apple purée lemonade — in neon green. A fifth surprise bar has yet to be revealed.
The food lineup is equally themed. The Jack the Ripper hut next to Space Gate 3 features the Ripper's Revenge burger, made with a bison patty, vampire blood jam, chèvre, bacon, and arugula, plus cajun cauliflower Fogbound Fang Bites and loaded Sidewinder twisted fries. The Roadkill stand covers hot dogs in three styles, Mercado de los Muertos offers Day of the Dead-inspired street food including a Zombie Taco with Flaming Hot Cheeto dust, and the CarnEVIL stand is dedicated to cheese — mac and cheese, nachos, and extra-cheesy fries. For something sweet, a strawberry jam-filled cinnamon roll is among the highlights, designed to look suitably gory when bitten into.
Planning Your Trip
Undercover Tourist is an authorized seller of SeaWorld Orlando tickets, often at a discount off gate price.
Guests looking to streamline spending can look into SeaWorld's Taste the Terror lanyard, a prepaid punch-card system for food and drinks — though the specific lanyard options for 2026 have not yet been announced. Fans planning to grab SeaWorld Orlando tickets early will want to watch for those details as the event approaches. Full event details were reported by iHorror.
