Thursday, September 17, 2026

Here’s the complete lineup for this year’s Howl-O Scream at Busch Gardens

Howl-O-Scream will celebrate 20 years this fall with a variety of new scares for guests. (Courtesy Busch Gardens)
Howl-O-Scream will celebrate 20 years this fall with a variety of new scares for guests. (HNNDaily photo/Courtesy Busch Gardens)

Good news, Howl-O-Scream fans: The wait for the complete lineup for this year’s horror fest is finally over with the reveal of the park’s latest haunted house, the post-apocalyptic Dystopia.

This year’s Howl-O-Scream features seven haunted houses, six “Terror-tories,” five new bars, two party zones and two escape-room experiences, according to Busch Gardens.

When guests enter Dystopia, they will be greeted by a post-apocalyptic world in which a new order has taken control. There they must make a choice: join, or be forgotten.

There also are a host of other new frights for this year’s Howl-O-Scream, including haunting hour in Oktoberfest, where all the spirits and creatures will be released into the night, and the Coaster Creepers, a gang of goblins who will climb aboard the park’s roller coasters.

Howl-O-Scream debuts Sept. 15 and runs on select dates through Oct. 28. Haunts and ghouls come out at 6 p.m. and the event is included with park admission.

Tickets can be purchased at Busch Gardens’ website.

Here is the lineup for this year’s Howl-O-Scream:

Haunted houses

  • Dystopia
  • The Vault XX: Creatures from classic Howl-O-Scream experiences are locked up in one location.
  • Demented Dimensions: The energies of a dimensional vortex have opened portals to realms where unearthly creatures reside.
  • Circo Sinistro: A haunted house not of this world — and not of this time.
  • Cornered: A farming community is in an uproar over the ongoing disappearances of its residents.
  • Frostbite: From a fog-shrouded graveyard to a cavern filled with frigid creatures, this haunted house will give guest chills.
  • Lumberhack: Undead loggers wait for unsuspecting campers to stumble into their den of the damned.

“Terror-tories”

  • Fool’s Court: A new king and his jesters have taken over the Royal Palace.
  • Garden of Souls: The dead will roam free in this scare zone in Italy Gardens.
  • Axe Alley: Viking spirits wander New France, looking to unleash new terrors.
  • Ripper Row: Where will Jack the Ripper strike next in England?
  • Sideshow Square: What was once only in the imagination is now a frightening reality full of haunts and curiosities.
  • Vampire Point: Can guests escape this zone full of blood-suckers with their necks intact?

Shows

  • Fiends: A wacky doctor and his manic nurses create the ultimate creature.
  • Monster Stomp on Ripper Row: A modern rock and rhythm spectacular featuring Jack the Ripper.
  • Night Beats Revamped: The undead sing, dance and party at the gathering of the century.

Bars

  • Chaos Cocktails
  • Last Call XX
  • Jack’s Nightcap
  • Restless Spirits
  • Control Lab at Inoculation Station
John Mangalonzo
John Mangalonzohttps://wydaily.com
John Mangalonzo ([email protected]) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News). Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah. John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.

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