It is increasingly rare for me to not only go to a Halloween haunt that I’ve never been to before in Southern California, but go to one that impresses me as much as SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream event did. The event kicked off from SeaWorld San Diego and they’ve brought out their biggest IP house ever with I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch. The event has six houses in total and includes scare zones, rides, merch, themed drinks and food, and much more.
You can get tickets for SeaWorld Howl-O-Scream San Diego at their website. The event runs on select nights from September 11th to October 31st. For full transparency, I purchased the standard ticket for Howl-O-Scream, I did not go as a member of the press, so I got the experience that everyone else would get going to the event.
Starting off, they let Howl-O-Scream guests into the park at 6:00 PM, with the event starting at 7:00 PM. This was really the only awkward part of the night because they were still herding normal-hours guests out of the park, so they put all the Howl-O-Scream people in one area that is blocked off from the rest of the park. People were a bit confused about whether they could go out into the park or not (they could not). Having an extra employee or two here to tell people what to do or answer questions would be nice for the future.
With that out of the way, let’s get to the haunted houses.
Starting Off With I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch
I made my way down to I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch first because I was expecting that to be the longest wait of the night. While I only waited about 20 or so minutes for the house, this one didn’t open exactly at 7:00PM, which led to an awkward, line-outside-of-the-line. What do I mean by that? Well, they didn’t have the queue open for the house at 7, so people started lining up outside of the queue, and it created a bit of a backup in the area with Area 64: Mothership. That eventually resolved, and they started letting people in. Howl-O-Scream was timing people going in, so they weren’t just conga-lining as they do at Universal.
As for the haunted house, I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch followed the plot of the first film and brought haunters into the film, complete with the Fisherman popping out of places to scare the hell out of you. This house fell somewhere in the middle of the event’s pecking order for me because the first section was so sparse with scare actors. The Fisherman that do pop out aren’t hidden as well as they could be, so you end up seeing them. Some are well covered, and the scares do surprise though.
As for the set design and layout, this one works a lot better if you do it when it’s fully dark out because the roof isn’t covered. I could say that about most of the houses at Howl-O-Scream besides Circus of the Damned 3. So if you’re going early, keep that in mind as the sun sets. They save a lot of the best scares for the end section, but this one is at least worth the hype it’s getting.
Aliens, The Bayou, And Drinks
Area 64: Mothership was the next up and it was also the other new haunted house for this season. I was not super impressed with the facade for the house but that quickly changed when they let us in. This house had some incredibly inventive scares combined with set design and dressing that really upped the experience. There was a hallway with what looked like pod doors that were actually fabric with scare actors popping out at you. The vibes here were very The X-Files inspired, which added to the overall house experience for me. There’s a big finale section with an alien raising someone up telekinetically and a foggy alien animatronic that caps the whole thing off.
I was incredibly impressed with Area 64: Mothership, and it was near the top of my list at the end of the night.
Deathwater Bayou: Awakening was the next house in this section near the back of the park by Emperor. As for this house, I was slightly disappointed by it. The bayou theming was fitting for the event being at SeaWorld, but this one was incredibly sparse when it came to scares and scare actors. The theming does a lot of heavy lifting, but there were plenty of sections where you’re just walking through, looking at stuff, waiting to be scared, and they don’t happen.
As for the drinks at the event, the themed cocktails are all premade and come from a tap, some were better than others that i tried. The Orange Creamsicle on near I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch was the best of the night with others tasting a bit too sour for my liking.
Slaughterhouses With Chainsaws, Clowns With 3D
Simon’s Slaughterhouse was next up and this was another somewhat mixed house. The queue is outside a big building with red lighting, which makes you think that the house is in there; no, it’s not. Then you go around, and it’s slightly confusing how to get to the actual house. After that, there’s plenty of chainsaws with some Simon Says theming and strobe lights. One of the scare actors even followed us through multiple rooms with a chainsaw, adding to the terror. This house was scary at points but felt the most generic of the bunch. It could have been at any Halloween haunt event and didn’t feel super special.
Circus of the Damned 3D was the longest wait I had all night with a nearly 35 minutes. They gave us 3D glasses that made all the backgrounds inside the house pop. This was a cool effect, but it also meant a lot of distraction from the scare actors going around. This one had some lively folks working that night, with one scare actor chasing a group out of the exit and into the walkway. The 3D effect was cool, but I ended up missing a lot of the scares because I was too into what the 3D clowns popping off the walls looked like. So it’s a bit of a give and take.
The Best Haunted House Of The Night
The final haunted house of the night was Nightmare Experiment: Sweet DreamzZz. This one had no wait and was tucked in a part of the park that maybe guests were missing. Well, if they missed out on it, they really missed out, because this was the best haunted house of the entire event. The scare actors were on THEIR GAME in this one with nurses and doctors coming out of nowhere to scare guests. Out of all of the houses, this had the best scares, the best effects, and the best theming. The wellness center gone to hell idea is one that I haven’t seen at any other Halloween haunt yet. I was really impressed with this one, so much so, that I did it twice, just to see if it was just as good the second time. And yes, it was.
Wrapping it up, each haunted house does have a secret speakeasy bar inside, and they post the password on their social channels before every day of the event. I didn’t get to try any of the cocktails in these bars because I had already had two drinks and didn’t want to die a nautically alcoholic fueled death. They look cool, you just have to look out for someone in a cloak or talk to some of the more cheery scare actors in the houses.
Overall, SeaWorld San Diego Howl-O-Scream 2026 was a pretty damn good Halloween haunt event. For the ticket price, $45, it was an even better bargain than most others in SoCal. There are even roller coasters and rides open during the event for people who like their simulated death in that way.
I will definitely be coming back for next year’s Howl-O-Scream.
For more on Halloween Haunts, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon.
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