This past weekend saw the opening of SeaWorld San Diego’s Howl-O-Scream haunt event for its third Halloween season in Southern California. Below I’ve shared some videos and photos from the event, including all five haunted houses, the hip-hop dance show “Call of the Siren,” and of course the annual “Opening Scare-mony.”
The Opening Scare-mony took place near the front of the park as media and early attendees gathered to enjoy another season of spooks at SeaWorld San Diego.
Watch SeaWorld San Diego Howl-O-Scream 2023 Opening Scare-mony:
Unfortunately there isn’t a big area show included in this year’s event, but there is a short pirate-themed hip-hop dance show entitled “Call of the Siren” which takes place a number of times throughout the evening near the Penguin Encounter building.
"Call of the Siren" FULL SHOW during Howl-O-Scream 2023 at SeaWorld San Diego:
But naturally the main attraction to a Halloween-season haunt event like this is going to be the mazes, or as SeaWorld calls them on both the east and west coasts, haunted houses. This year the five houses are as follows: Simon’s Slaughterhouse, Nightmare Experiment, Circus of the Damned, Death Water Bayou, and Area 64: Alien Outbreak. You can watch my walkthroughs of all of those mazes, in that order, in the video embedded below.
Watch ALL Haunted Houses during Howl-O-Scream 2023 at SeaWorld San Diego:
When I first entered SeaWorld San Diego on Friday evening, I saw signs around the park providing maps and helpful information for Howl-O-Scream guests.
At one of the gift shops near the entrance, Howl-O-Scream and more general SeaWorld Halloween merchandise was available for sale. There were also reminders that during the day, the theme park offers its “SeaWorld Spooktacular” family-friendly Halloween-season event.
After the event got started and once dark had fallen on San Diego, I began to enjoy the park decor in its full splendor. I also noted that– much like the interactive lantern available at Knott’s Scary Farm’s this year– SeaWorld is selling an interactive skull that promises many of the same features.
From there I strolled through some of the Howl-O-Scream scare zones like the Clown Gauntlet, Carnival of Chaos, Deadly Toys, the Graveyard, and Sea of Souls. Here and there around the park there are also some immersive mini-shows taking place with some very interesting character interactions… not to mention bars.
More fun Howl-O-Scream merchandise can be found near the back side of SeaWorld San Diego.
And lastly, as I finished making my way through all the haunted houses and back toward the entrance, I took in some of the sights I had missed the first time around. All in all, I enjoyed this year’s Howl-O-Scream offerings, though I definitely think the event still has room to grow. I also think the lack of a major show hurt the overall volume of content, but hopefully SeaWorld San Diego will rectify that in years to come as Howl-O-Scream continues to evolve at the park.
Howl-O-Scream 2023 takes place on select nights from now through October 31st. For additional information and to purchase advance tickets, be sure to visit SeaWorld San Diego’s official website.
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