The spooky season continues to take over the Orlando area. We visited SeaWorld Orlando to try the best Howl-O-Scream Orlando food.
Howl-O-Scream Orlando 2024 started at SeaWorld Orlando on September 6. This scary-focused event occurs mainly on weekends and select evenings through November 2. Guests should be advised that this event contains intense adult content, such as gore, violence, and blood. Thus, SeaWorld does not recommend bringing younger children.
Howl-O-Scream is an after-hours separately ticketed event, so those with daytime admission must purchase Howl-O-Scream tickets to attend. The event starts at 7:00 p.m. and ends at midnight, except on Friday, September 13, which ends at 11:30 p.m.
We were invited out for media night at Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld Orlando. For full disclosure, we did not pay for any food we will mention in this resource. Still, we received our food from the same dining location that all guests would use. The ambassadors had little way of knowing we were media. We picked up our food using the Howl-O-Scream food and beverage lanyard. Any other guest could do the same. Also, we checked with enough other trusted colleagues. This confirmed our suggestions of the best Howl-O-Scream Orlando food for the 2024 season.
Like most Halloween-themed after-hours events in the Orlando area, Howl-O-Scream sells special food only during the event. Guests will get hungry at some point. We want your food choices to be more enjoyable than just okay theme park food.
Howl-O-Scream Food Menu
Like most spooky season events, Howl-O-Scream Orlando offers plenty of alcoholic beverages to purchase during your evening. You should have no problem finding a beverage with five themed bars and other dining locations. Nevertheless, trying all the alcoholic drinks at an event like this would be irresponsible, to say the least. Still, we know you should expect many sugary beverages, so please enjoy them responsibly.
The food offerings for Howl-O-Scream Orlando can be found at pop-up booths. They are also available at themed bars. Some of the year-round quick service locations offer them too. Guests may also purchase a lanyard for either six items ($70) or eight items ($85). We suggest buying one of these lanyards if you plan to visit more than once. They come with a collectible skull mug and a sample of an alcoholic beverage.
The Howl-O-Scream Orlando at SeaWorld food items, according to the SeaWorld website, are:
- Cheese Flatbread Pizza – Topped with Parmesan Cheese
- Pepperoni Flatbread Pizza – Topped with Parmesan Cheese
- Skull Pretzel With Cheese
- Teriyaki Chicken Hibachi – Served with Fried Rice
- Vegetable Crispy Dumplings – Served with Ponzu Sauce
- Crispy Sushi – Tempura Fried Sushi with Seaweed Salad and Wasabi Cream Sauce
- Vampire Burger – Brioche Bun, Bison Patty, Vampire Blood Jam, Chevre Cheese, Bacon, Arugula
- Battered Cajun Cauliflower Bites – Battered Cauliflower with Chipotle Aioli and Ranch
- Sidewinder Fries – “Loaded Fries” with Bacon Bits, Cheese Sauce, Chives, and Sour Cream
- Zombie Tacos – Mazina Tortilla, Thick-Cut Bacon, Pico de Gallo, Shredded Lettuce, Flaming Hot Cheeto Dust
- Philly Cheese “Stake” – Philly Cheese Steak with Muenster Cheese and Siracha Mayo
- Inside Out Slider – Seasoned Beef Sliders with Arugula, Pesto, Pickled Onions and Jalapeno Cheeto Dust
- The Nacho Dog – Foot Long Hot Dog, Crushed Doritos, Cheese Sauce, Sour Cream, Jalapeno, served with Chips.
- The Bacon Jam Dog – Foot Long Hot Dog, Bacon Onion Jam, Sauerkraut, served with Chips
- The Devil Dog – Red Casing Sausage with Asian Slaw, Red Pepper Sauce
- Monster Munch Mac and Cheese – Creamy, Cheesy Mac & Cheese, topped with Crushed Flaming Hot Cheetos, Jalapeno
- Nightmare Nachos – Nachos, Seasoned Beef, Cheetos Melted Flaming Cheese, Tex-Mex Cheese, Crispy Flaming Hot Cheetos
- Crunchy Cheese Fries – Crispy Fries, Cheetos Melted Flaming Cheese, Crunchy Flaming Cheetos, Jalapeno
- Hatchet Soft Pretzel -Served with Cheese
- Caramel Popcorn
- Cotton Candy
As you can see, some items reflect standard theme park cuisine. If you are only visiting Howl-O-Scream Orlando once or twice, we suggest skipping those types of items. There is one exception mentioned later. We encourage non-traditional food choices at theme parks. This can be risky but often well worth the effort.
So, here is our list of the best Howl-O-Scream Orlando food choices. We narrowed it down to three.
Philly Cheese “Stake”
This simple but tasty play on Vampire lore is an excellent option. It is great for those looking for a quality entrée during Howl-O-Scream Orlando. Some felt this was a bit “bready.” It was a bit messy to eat. However, the flavor and portion size make up for that. Overall, we found the “stake” brought a reasonable flavor. The Muenster cheese and sriracha mayo paired well with the rest of the sandwich without overwhelming it.
Hot Dogs
I know that simply saying “Hot Dogs” as some of the best Howl-O-Scream Orlando Food sounds like a cop-out. Still, let us explain.
The stand that sells hot dogs during the daytime operation had some significant issues getting the food out. These issues occurred during the first few hours on the opening night of Howl-O-Scream. Still, we found the spooky season hot dog creations offered decent flavor.
The base hot dogs tasted above average. However, I would not define them as foot-long hot dogs. This contradicts the menu description. However, the toppings make these hot dogs work. The best one, if you like sauerkraut, was the Bacon Jam Dog. Each hot dog offered enough quality. They are worth your time as you move from one scare zone to another. Nevertheless, if you visit other area theme park food festivals serving hot dogs, you may find a better quality. Yet, for Howl-O-Scream Orlando visitors, these make a worthy option.
Crispy Sushi
Surprisingly, Crispy Sushi made the best Howl-O-Scream Orlando food for our 2024 list. We expected Zombie Tacos and the Teriyaki Chicken Hibachi to be on this list. Last year, those two items topped our list. This year, we were not as impressed.
Towards the end of the opening night of Howl-O-Scream Orlando, we tried the Crispy Sushi entrée. We also tried the Vegetable Crispy Dumplings. We did not expect to like either of these items.
The Crispy Sushi held up well. We enjoyed it. The tempura preparation provided a solid structure and base flavor. The sauce and seaweed salad also presented a good partner for the tempura batter. This “sushi” should not be confused with premium sushi. Still, this makes sense for a scary Halloween event, and it made our best Howl-O-Scream Orlando food for this year.
Prices for Howl-O-Scream Food
Guests should expect to pay about ten dollars per item without the lanyard. The Howl-O-Scream lanyard makes a decent deal for those partaking in alcoholic beverages. It includes one beverage in addition to the six or eight items.
Best Howl-O-Scream Food (To-Go)
On your way out of the event, a stand that serves primarily pizza can be found. If you need a snack to complete your night, the flatbreads serve that purpose very well. We had two of them during the most recent livestream.
Disclaimer About the Best Howl-O-Scream Food
Like all food-based events, the quality of preparation changes over time. Sometimes, weak items improve, and sometimes, great items decrease in quality. We mention this because we have experienced loving food items during the opening week. However, we were disappointed by the same item two weeks later. This can happen. Still, we think the food items mentioned above should hold up nicely.
For more coverage of the Howl-O-Scream Orlando event, please consult our YouTube channel. As always, eat like you mean it!
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