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Get Away

Ready, set, scream yourself silly

Goblins, vampires, and a bathtub full of blood can make nerves of steel quiver, but Howl-O-Scream's brew includes a hearty potion of fun.

By Dalia Wheatt
Published October 5, 2006

[Times photo: Luis Santana]

If it's a night of fright you're after, Busch Gardens' Howl-O-Scream is the place for you. Click for narrated tour slideshow

TAMPA

I'm a screamer. I scream on roller coasters, I scream when there's a bug in the kitchen, I scream when I jog past a dead squirrel. I am afraid of lots of things.

So when I headed to Busch Gardens' Halloween scarefest Howl-O-Scream, with its six haunted houses and spooky tricks throughout the park, I knew my nerves and my vocal cords would be tested.

Where to start?

In Trapped in the Walls, the newest of Howl-O-Scream's haunted houses, a decapitated body lay in bed. A bathtub full of blood. Dead rats stuck to the wall. And to ensure maximum cardiac distress, ghastly characters popped out at every turn - even above our heads - yelling and glaring.

I turned the person with me into a human shield.

What I hadn't expected were the "scare zones," five outdoor walkways throughout the park that are lined with, for instance, flesh-eating zombies and a Grim Reaper character on stilts.

It's virtually impossible to navigate through Busch Gardens without encountering a scare zone. And though most are mildly amusing, it's shocking when a ghoul at Zombie Junction jumps onto a trampoline and, attached to a harness, catapults out of the darkness and onto the pathway.

Note to parents: The warning that Howl-O-Scream is not for young children should be observed. One small girl was crying so hard that a ghoul had to lean down from his stilts and take off his mask to put her at ease.

Other observations:

Most unpleasant surprise: Cast members disguised as bushes. I felt like Dorothy in the scene from The Wizard of Oz in which she tries to pick an apple and the tree slaps her.

Best excuse for coulrophobia fear of clowns: The haunted house Freaked kicks off with a rotating fun house mirror (bring Dramamine), leading to a carnival that features a bloody moon bounce, eyeball-eating rats and a clown brandishing a chain saw.

Best use of campy Halloween characters: In the stage show Fiends, an outdoor musical about an eccentric doctor and naughty nurses, a vampire in an orange leisure suit sings Night Fever. A werewolf in a glittery gold jacket lip-synchs Blue Moon. The plot is hard to follow, but who cares? When a mummy is break-dancing to Stayin' Alive, do you really need a premise?

Most fun in 3-D: The haunted house The Third Dementia was more fun than frightening. Yeah, I screamed a time or two, but only because a giant spider was coming at me and the floor kept moving.

Best reminder that you can enjoy Halloween all year long: The After Hours: Club Muse haunted house could pass for a night in Ybor City. It even ends with police sirens and a walk through the paddy wagon.

Worst side effect of visiting Howl-O-Scream: Driving through St. Petersburg on my way home, I saw two teenage girls on the sidewalk in ball gowns. Half expecting the teens to jump onto my car with shovels, I pumped the brakes.

Then I read the marquee of the Coliseum: Osceola Homecoming.

Howl-O-Scream lasted five hours; my paranoia will stay with me for weeks to come.

Is that a spider on my shirt?

Dalia Wheatt writes for the St. Petersburg Times and tbt*. She can be reached at dwheatt@tampabay.com

*   *   *

Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens continues today through Saturday and Oct. 12-14, 19-22 and 26-29. Hours: 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday and Sunday. No costumes allowed; not recommended for young children. Tickets are $32.95 to $57.95 general admission, $19.95 to $29.95 for pass holders and $57.95 or $79.95 for multivisit passes. 3605 Bougainvillea Ave., Tampa. Toll-free 1-888-800-5447, www.howl-o-scream.com.

* Find more scary photos and a narrated tour by Dalia Wheatt at links.tampabay.com.

[Last modified October 4, 2006, 12:39:16]