If you have a free weekend in October between now and Halloween, we suggest taking a Saturday and heading down to beautiful Williamsburg, VA for a day at Busch Garden’s Howl-O-Scream. This is a once in a lifetime experience that we are lucky enough to be only 2 and a half hours away from. Howl-O-Scream is a huge festival and attracts people from all over the country.

The popular amusement park transforms into a Halloween mecca with activities for all ages. The signature event features more than a dozen attractions starring vampires, werewolves, witches and skeletons. Guests are immersed in an elaborate Halloween atmosphere including haunted houses and Halloween-themed shows. Howl-O-Scream opens on September 12^th and continues every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until October 31^st (Halloween).

This year’s Howl-O-Scream is taken to the next level of scary. It offers chills and thrills to guests brave enough to enter the park.

WARNING: As soon as the sun goes down at 6PM Busch Gardens becomes a seriously scary place and is not suitable for children.

The park offers 6 haunted houses: 13: Your Number’s Up, Bitten, Catacombs, Cut Throat Cave, Deadline and Root of all Evil. 13: Your Number’s Up is a dark tower that was locked away from the rest of the world, existing only in nightmares but now the seal is broken and the tower is open once again on the 13^th floor. This is one of the scariest! Bitten is just what you think it would be… vampires. Set in the late 1800’s in Eastern Europe, this mansion is full of blood sucking demons. Next up; the Catacombs… this ruined cemetery holds a tunnel that leads to an underground city. Guests venture forth into the dark corridors and get spooked to no end. Cut Throat Cave is a haven for dangerous men who have overtaken a pirate ship and will do just about anything to find the buried treasure. Deep underground lays the Pompeii Metro that is now leaking strange gas… enter Deadline. The last haunted house is the Root of all Evil that is a decrepit greenhouse. We can guarantee you will not be bored.

There are tons of other experiences of Howl-O-Scream you don’t want to miss. The Terror-Tories are just as scary as the haunted houses! Guests can travel through the five frightening worlds, Jack the Ripper in Ripper Row, (a murderer on the loose plucking unsuspecting victims from the city streets) Demon Street, (Paris is burning, can you escape before the city is engulfed in flames) Ports of Skull, (a ship graveyard) Vampire Point and Wendigo Woods.

In addition to all of these activities, there are three shows that are there for your pure entertainment, Fiends, Monster Stomp on Ripper Row and Night Beats. In addition to the shows, there are tons of shopping and dining options as well. And let’s not forget the awesome rides and roller coasters that Busch Gardens offers… all are open during Howl-O-Scream and will make your trip that much more fun!

ShoreBread always makes a point to head down to beautiful Virginia (#OffShore) for a day (and night, if you dare) at Howl-O-Scream.