Now in its sixth year, Howl-O-Scream has expanded into an experience meant to fill an entire evening rather than simply send visitors through a handful of haunted houses. Guests can move between six elaborate haunts, eight scare zones and five theatrical "Vile Vignettes," while live performances, themed drinks and other nighttime entertainment keep the scares going between attractions.
The biggest additions for 2026 are two entirely new haunted houses, beginning with I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, Howl-O-Scream San Diego's first house inspired by a Sony Pictures horror movie. The attraction throws visitors into the familiar slasher story of four teenagers whose attempt to conceal a deadly accident comes back to haunt them one year later.
The second newcomer, Area 64: MOTHERSHIP, goes in a completely different direction. Set 30 years before the events of the previous Area 64 storyline, the attraction sends guests through a crashed alien mothership and government research laboratories after negotiations with an extraterrestrial species descend into chaos and experiments go horribly wrong.
SeaWorld's entertainment team built MOTHERSHIP from the ground up, including an enormous 80-foot-long, 16-foot-tall alien spacecraft façade. SeaWorld says it is the largest haunted-house show scene by volume ever constructed for Howl-O-Scream San Diego.
Four fan-favorite houses round out the record six-house lineup. Circus of the Damned 3D drops guests into a neon-lit nightmare controlled by a deranged ringmaster, while Simon's Slaughterhouse leads them through a decrepit meat-packing plant filled with the murderous Simon the Butcher and his crew.
Deathwater Bayou: Awakening turns a Mardi Gras celebration into a cursed swamp inhabited by witches and an ancient deity, while Nightmare Experiment: Sweet DreamzZz takes place inside a converted asylum where a pharmaceutical company's experimental sleep aid produces horrific consequences. Together, the returning houses give the event a mix of clowns, gore, supernatural horror and psychological nightmares rather than repeating the same style of scare throughout the night.
But Howl-O-Scream isn't confined to the houses. Eight scare zones spread the action across the park, including three new environments for 2026: Overgrowth, an overrun greenhouse filled with mutated plants; Terrors of the Deep, where monstrous creatures emerge along the waterfront; and Ripper Row, where Jack the Ripper stalks an increasingly paranoid neighborhood.
Returning zones include the vampire-filled Red Moon Revelry, sinister scarecrows of All Hallows Harvest, possessed playthings in Deadly Toys, roaming undead inside The Graveyard, and deranged carnies in Carnival of Chaos. The idea is that there isn't necessarily a break from the experience when visitors emerge from a haunted house, because the pathways themselves become part of the show.
Scattered among those areas are five Vile Vignettes, smaller interactive scenes built around individual characters and stories. New additions include Card Shark, a dockyard smuggler and gambler who challenges guests to a potentially deadly game of wits, and Dolly Delightful: RECALLED, an apparently less-than-pleased toy who has escaped after being pulled from store shelves.
Returning vignettes include Misfortune, Dark Magic and Summon the Spirits, adding fortune telling, twisted magic and paranormal encounters to the night's lineup. The combination of houses, scare zones, characters, performances and drinking destinations is designed to make Howl-O-Scream a full night out rather than an attraction visitors race through in an hour or two.
Howl-O-Scream is intended for a mature audience and requires a separate admission ticket from regular SeaWorld San Diego entry. The event runs on select nights through Halloween, October 31, with tickets and additional information available through SeaWorld San Diego's official Howl-O-Scream page.
Originally published on September 27, 2026.
SeaWorld's entertainment team built MOTHERSHIP from the ground up, including an enormous 80-foot-long, 16-foot-tall alien spacecraft façade. SeaWorld says it is the largest haunted-house show scene by volume ever constructed for Howl-O-Scream San Diego.
Four fan-favorite houses round out the record six-house lineup. Circus of the Damned 3D drops guests into a neon-lit nightmare controlled by a deranged ringmaster, while Simon's Slaughterhouse leads them through a decrepit meat-packing plant filled with the murderous Simon the Butcher and his crew.
Deathwater Bayou: Awakening turns a Mardi Gras celebration into a cursed swamp inhabited by witches and an ancient deity, while Nightmare Experiment: Sweet DreamzZz takes place inside a converted asylum where a pharmaceutical company's experimental sleep aid produces horrific consequences. Together, the returning houses give the event a mix of clowns, gore, supernatural horror and psychological nightmares rather than repeating the same style of scare throughout the night.
But Howl-O-Scream isn't confined to the houses. Eight scare zones spread the action across the park, including three new environments for 2026: Overgrowth, an overrun greenhouse filled with mutated plants; Terrors of the Deep, where monstrous creatures emerge along the waterfront; and Ripper Row, where Jack the Ripper stalks an increasingly paranoid neighborhood.
Returning zones include the vampire-filled Red Moon Revelry, sinister scarecrows of All Hallows Harvest, possessed playthings in Deadly Toys, roaming undead inside The Graveyard, and deranged carnies in Carnival of Chaos. The idea is that there isn't necessarily a break from the experience when visitors emerge from a haunted house, because the pathways themselves become part of the show.
Scattered among those areas are five Vile Vignettes, smaller interactive scenes built around individual characters and stories. New additions include Card Shark, a dockyard smuggler and gambler who challenges guests to a potentially deadly game of wits, and Dolly Delightful: RECALLED, an apparently less-than-pleased toy who has escaped after being pulled from store shelves.
Returning vignettes include Misfortune, Dark Magic and Summon the Spirits, adding fortune telling, twisted magic and paranormal encounters to the night's lineup. The combination of houses, scare zones, characters, performances and drinking destinations is designed to make Howl-O-Scream a full night out rather than an attraction visitors race through in an hour or two.
Howl-O-Scream is intended for a mature audience and requires a separate admission ticket from regular SeaWorld San Diego entry. The event runs on select nights through Halloween, October 31, with tickets and additional information available through SeaWorld San Diego's official Howl-O-Scream page.
Originally published on September 27, 2026.
