Howl-O-Scream Busch Gardens Tampa Review 2025

After going to HHN and having a pretty bad time, HOS Tampa felt like a wonderful palate cleanser. Overall, there were far less crowds and the lines were much more manageable than HHN. Theme? There really isn't one to be seen. The front area has a sort of future tech vibe that I think goes with the new M.A.R.S house, but this theme wasn't consistent throughout the park. For example, a lot of Nine Inch Nails songs throughout the park which isn't very future tech/science fiction. Not complaining really, but the disjointed nature is worth a note. A lot of the advertising I have seen also features the imagery of the Architect which was the icon for last year (the 25 year anniversary) so that's a little odd and probably just laziness on Busch Gardens side.

(This is the picture from the website and yes, it looks foggy on the website as well)

Houses:

I think overall the scares at HOS are better than those at HHN. HOS scare actors have more freedom with their scares where it feels like HHN is limited. HHN also uses a lot more push button sound effects that led to boring, repetitive scares. Obviously HHN has better sets overall, but they have a lot more budget to work with so that comparison is just silly. Also, you might be thinking "Tori, you forgot to add the pictures for some of the houses!" but, dear reader, unfortunately HOS has videos for the houses on their website this year instead of artwork for each house thus no official pictures for the new houses.

M.A.R.S.

From the website:

"Board the wreckage of Elysium 13, a lost space vessel now overrun by nightmarish alien creatures. After a crash landing on Mars, the crew vanished leaving only bloodied walls and broken signals behind. Now, you're sent in to destroy the ship before the infection spreads. Navigate flickering corridors, evade mutated lifeforms, and reach the core before you become part of the darkness that haunts Elysium 13."

This house is tucked in the very back of the park so it's a bit of a hike to get to and you must enter through the Smokehouse, which is sort of confusing if you are coming from Pantopia. Just something to keep in mind.

Overall, I really liked this house! Sci-fi stuff is not really my jam so this house had a lot to live up to. The house is a lot of flashing lights and detailed set design, both of which make for an amazing haunted house! Did the story really come through? No, but it didn't super matter because the house stood on it's own without needing a story to tie it together. It had great scares, including a ton of aliens and people turning into monsters versus just having people scare actors. Overall, I highly rated this house!

Score: 8/10

Raven's Mill: Lambs To The Slaughter

From the website:

"Raven's Mill was once the heartbeat of the region, where farmers worked the land, and the fields fed the town. But when the crops began to fail and the workers vanished, the soil turned cold and something else rose in their place. Scarecrows appeared in greater numbers, stuffed with remnants of those who went missing. No one knows who made the first one, and now they make themselves.

Eyes watch from stitched sockets. The ritual continues without rest. Each new body is a piece of the design. Each step forward brings you closer to becoming part of it. Raven's Mill doesn't need crops anymore... It grows something else."

I have mixed feelings on this one. Last year it was marked as a scare zone and this year it is marked as a house. So what is it? The truth is that it's sorta both. There is a long outdoor element to it with a shorter indoor version. I don't think they added enough to consider this a house by any means, but it's more than a scare zone so I get where they are coming from. For what it is, Raven's Mill is pretty good. The scares were there even if the story is missing. I think it was a wonderful scare zone and an alright house.

Score: 5/10

Stranglewood Estate

From the website:

"Once a hub of lavish parties, Stranglewood Estate now echoes with the whispers of its dark past. Madame Stranglewood, a beloved socialite with a hidden penchant for cruelty, ruled this town with an iron fist. She lured unsuspecting servants into a secret room in the basement, where she ended their lives, trapping their souls in eternal torment."

This one needs to go. I have a soft spot for this house location due to fond memories, namely Insomnia (all iterations) and Deconstruction. It is a permanent show building that isn't used the rest of the year so Busch Gardens can really make beautiful, ornate, detailed houses in this location. And don't get me wrong, Stranglewood is a beautiful house with a very neat facade but it has run its course. According to the HOS wiki, this house has been at the event since 2022. Four years is a long run for a house, especially when there are very few (if any) changes to the layout or decor. This year is no exception. The only real change I noticed was they finally got the rail flying effect to work which, according to the podcast (and my own experience), has never worked. This is a gripe I have with haunt events and I will admit that HOS is particularly bad about this. If you have a returning house, you have to change it up a bit to keep it interesting. Unfortunately, Stranglewood is just as uninteresting this year if you have been through in anytime since 2022.

Score: 3/10

Shadows of Wonderland

From the website:

"Step back into Wonderland, but not as you remember it. This warped dreamscape has come from years of torment under the Queen of Hearts' reign of terror. Once playful characters have become bitter shadows, their anger fueled by Alice's abandonment. Now, you must confront this distorted reality and face a vengeful Queen who wants Alice and you gone."

This house really shows what Busch Gardens can do if given the money and space to build what they want. Very reminiscent of Demented Dimensions from 2017. It is beautiful and scary, both of which is important to make an amazing haunted house. Alice in Wonderland is nothing new for haunt events. The public domain aspect paired with the trippy nature of the story makes it a very appealing theme. HOS adds the gore that is usually missing from Alice in Wonderland haunts. It also makes a story we all know interesting by adding clever mirror effects, well placed screen usage, fantastic costumes, and modern lighting touches that really show off the creative team's strengths. My favorite house of the year.

Score: 10/10

D.H. Baggum's Circus of Fear

From the website:

"Step right up, step right up, to the most horrifying spectacle ever witnessed! D.H. Baggum's collection of grotesque creatures will chill you to the bone. Beware, for the midway is a hunting ground. D.H. stalks the unsuspecting, snatching them away for a sinister purpose."

I would be harsher with this house considering it has the same issues that Stranglewood has with the lack of change despite being present at HOS for several years, but the scare actors really bumped it up a notch. The scares weren't anything different from the previous years as far as I can tell, but the magic was in how the scare actors used the space to really do a wonderful job. Circuses are again a trope of haunt events and this haunt is cool without being overly detailed one way or another, but HOS has done the theme better in the past with Circus of Superstition. I've read a lot of speculation online that the majority of funding for HOS went to SeaWorld this year and, just based on HOS Tampa's lineup of houses, I can see where people think that (Stay tuned for my review of HOS SeaWorld to see my thoughts there!). But I bring up this point to say that if HOS Tampa had more funding then maybe they would have changed this house up a little.

Score: 4/10

Scare zones:

Where scare zones are a huge glaring issue for HHN, this is another area where HOS shines. Overall, the larger spaces with less people make the scare zones at HOS actually scary and rarely do I see people stopping to take pictures with the scare actors, which is a nice way to keep the atmosphere actually spooky! I am harsh in my reviews of the scare zones, but overall they were far better than those at HHN.

The Pestilence

From the website:

"The world moved on. The sickness faded. But in this town, the plague never ended. The Mob Doctors in black coats and masks chose who lived and who disappeared."

This is in the stage area where the Junkyard was last year. It's like how Raven's Mill is, not enough for a house but far more theming than a scare zone. I like what Busch Gardens has done with this area, just putting a bunch of stuff in a maze like path and putting a bunch of scare actors in it. The scarale actors have a lot of freedom with a setting like this so the scares were fantastic! I don't really think the story fits with the zone, but I'm okay with it.

Score: 7/10

Clown Carnage

From the website:

"Beneath the dead lights of a forgotten carnival, past rusted rides and torn banners, the Giggle Guild performs. Faces hidden behind cracked clown masks, they move in bursts; some towering, others crawling; lunging without warning. The air stinks of stale popcorn and rust. They aren’t human anymore. Tricks cut deep. Laughter splits the air like a blade. They don’t want applause. They want fear. Every step drags you deeper into their domain. And once the show starts, there’s no way out."

This is a very small scare zone near the entrance to the Serengeti Flyer, but for what it lacks in size it makes up for in scares! The scare actors in this area are freaky and definitely play into their role of creepy clowns. The set pieces are interesting and eye catching plus add new elements that shake up what you expect in a scare zone. Probably my favorite scare zone of the year!

Score: 8/10

Breadcrumbs to Nowhere

From the website:

"Deep in the heart of Havenwood Forest, hidden beneath gnarled branches and suffocating mist, lies the ruins of a house long thought to be a myth. The lair of the Rotten Crone. Once, it was a candy-covered cottage, bright and inviting. Now, it is a festering trap. The sweets have rotted, crawling with insects, reeking of death. The walls sag under the weight of decay. No one who finds it ever leaves."

This is in the pathway next to Sesame Street. I missed a lot of the scares both times I went through it, which was unfortunate. It looks cool, definitely a step up from other "scare zones" that are just hoards. It had staging and props, so that was neat. Theming and story were a little unclear. I mean I see the holiday theme, but otherwise there was no clear vision.

Score: 4/10

The Murders At Buckshot Ridge

From the website:

"They built the camp too deep. Thought they could tame the forest. Thought fire pits and cabins would hold it back. They were wrong. Now they are part of the forest. The paths twist. The trees shift. Strangers vanish before they reach the firelight. And if you make it close enough, you’ll hear them. Laughter. Saw blades. Something wet hitting the dirt. The forest keeps what it takes. The loggers make sure of it."

It's obvious this was just a repurposed scare zone from years past. Last year it was Tree Lot Massacre, which was actually okay because it had a Christmas theme and expanded across the whole bridge area. This one is bad because it's basically just Christmas trees without the lights and chain saws. Plus it's only in the covered bridge leading to Stanleyville so it bottlenecks like crazy. Waste of the space plus negative points for reusing props in a really bad way.

Score: 2/10

Sawgrass Slaughter: Legend of the Skunk Ape

From the website:

"Venture into the depths of the Everglades, where the stench of decay and a pungent, musky odor fill the air."

This is a reused scare zone that has been here for a few years, but it still has elements that make it feel fresh. The stilt walkers and other scare actors make this zone pretty good plus, despite the reused sets, the length of the zone really makes it a worthwhile scare zone. It is next to Cheetah Hunt on the path leading to Pantopia.

Score: 5/10

Ragnar’s Wrath

From the website:

"The icy winds of Niflheim howl as you approach a charred Viking longhouse, its stench of death a prelude to the horrors within."

Another reused scare zone, but I'm okay with it. The tight space going from Pantopia to Stanleyville is a nice space to have a scare zone. They use to make you walk around to Jungala, which was unnecessary and often led to people forgetting there is a scare zone back there. Although, I could see this space being a bottleneck during busier times of the event. The scare actors were good, often reaching from their sets and making a good effort to get scares!

Score: 6/10

Food and Drinks:

I had a cinnamon pretzel and cream cheese dip at the pretzel place in Pantopia. It was very good, sweet and filling! I sat down to eat it, but you could just as easily have eaten it on the go or in line, which makes it a nice way to grab something to eat while roaming the park. The pretzel place was a bit of a mess though. They added touch screen kiosks where you order, which I'm not super about anyway, but they are in the middle of the store so the foot traffic to get to one of the machines is annoying. The employee calls your number, which is very hard to hear during a busy time.

Avoid the Alice In Wonderland themed bar attached to the Dragon Fire Grill. The fancy drinks might be alluring, but the mixed drinks are weak and the women behind the counter have no idea what the heck is going on. They refused to use the refill cup, which we were told at other bars makes no sense and charged extra for a drink that wasn't a double. At this bar, I had a Grateful Dead and a Merlin's Wizard frozen drink. They up charged my Grateful Dead, which annoyed me because there was not enough alcohol there for it to justify the price. The Merlin's Wizard drink was good, it had cherry popping bubbles in it which was tasty. Overall, the bar was slow and the employees didn't have a clue about what was going on so, like I already said, just avoid this bar.

At the Giraffe bar near the front of the park was a more pleasant experience. Ordered a Long Island and I felt the cost was worth the amount of alcohol, plus they refilled the souvenir cups so it had a bit of a discount. The employees were nice and service was quick so I would advise you utilize this bar if you have a say.