Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will kick off the Halloween season early, with their scary nighttime event Howl-O-Scream making its debut during this weekend’s “Freaky Preview.” Starting tomorrow night (Friday, September 28), and running on September 29 & 30 as well, the Freaky Preview let’s you take part in all the Howl-O-Scream scares for a discounted price of $29.95 plus tax (tickets normally run $59.95 plus tax).

I won’t kid you and say I’m an expert on the scary attractions Howl-O-Scream has to offer – you wouldn’t catch me dead (or alive and screaming) at this sort of event. Heck, the television commercial and blood-splattered billboards depicting the disfigured (and just plain evil-looking) “DJ” character that is the “mascot” of sorts for this year’s event are enough to give me nightmares. But for those who enjoy being nearly frightened to death I’ve heard there is much debate about whether Busch Gardens or Universal Orlando (with their Halloween Horror Nights) puts on a more terrifyingly wonderful fearfest. Certainly these events strive to out-scare one another and their rivalry pays off in big thrills for the fans.

Howl-O-Scream touts the title of “Florida’s Top-rated Halloween Event” so if you’ve only ever seen what Orlando has to offer it’s probably more than worth your while to make the short trip to Tampa to check out a new fright sight. And even if you’ve gone in previous years, this year’s Howl-O-Scream event is offering up some new attractions, including three new haunted houses (which join three returning favorites) – one that has you running from a horrible death by suffocation (oh goodie!), one that poses an eminent threat of having your blood sucked out by vampires (who wouldn’t love that?) and one that gives you the illusion that you’re frantically attempting to escape radioactive waste (sign me up). There are also two new “scare zones” (in addition to three returning ones) and two new live shows (as well as one old one). Not to mention that the park’s bone-chilling roller coasters are also open for you to ride the night away.

If you can’t make it out there this weekend, the event runs on select nights throughout next month – October 5-6, 11-13, 18-21 and 25-28. Visit DeathJockey.com for more details.

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