[Howl-O-Scream]/2013 Sites Are Live! (sort of) [UPDATEDx2!]

Earlier today, Sea World Parks launched the Howl-O-Scream portal website that brings up a choice for folks to hit either the Williamsburg, Tampa or San Antonio parks for each park's event. That said, it's not exactly 100% up yet as placeholders are being used for a few things on the San Antonio site and the Williamsburg site isn't showing much info other than dates of operation and that they're sticking with their Darkside of the Gardens them from last year.

So, that leaves us with Tampa...and they're definitely showing a little something early for us all. "The 13" is definitely mysterious and I can't figure out just what they're up to. Though, I do have to wonder a bit if there are any tie ins planned with the 13 house from Williamsburg last year. Probably not, due to the play on the fact that it is 2013 on their site...

I'm really curious to see just what the theme down at Tampa will bring to the table and how it will be different from the other parks. We'll be getting the chance to do just that later on in the year when we go on our ISIParks/Kitsuneverse Haunt Tour 2013! Speaking of that, I really do like how each park has a different theme going on with it and it seems that each is focused on a different level of intensity somewhat too. Though, you could probably argue that Williamsburg and Tampa are on the same level and the San Antonio park is being more friendly. I shouldn't really speculate too much there, but the same characters and designs that they're using in Texas were ones they used a while back in Williamsburg and we felt there was a decided lack of intensity that the newer theme there brings to the table.

UPDATE: Tickets for Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa are officially on sale! For a limited time you can snag entry for $47 a person. Or, if you've got 4 people and want to go on a Thursday night, they're only $30 a person, which is a great deal! More info head on over to the HOS Tampa site! 

That said, something else was noticed by myself and +Carrie H.C. (InSanityLurksInside) while we were looking through the Tampa site to see what dates we'd plan to attend later this year...they're only open Thurs-Sat from Sept 27th-Oct 26th. This only gives them 14 nights of operation. Sure, this isn't an independent haunt that needs to go for long periods of time, but cutting out Sunday nights just seems bizarre with such a short run. Was attendance that bad last year on those nights or are they somehow barred from being open then?

I'm not sure, as we didn't make it down for last year's event, but another option is that they can't be open as late as they are on Thurs, Friday or Saturday due to school/work for guests. Thursdays they're open from 7:30pm til 1am and until 2am on Friday/Saturday. Thinking along those lines, it would be hard to stay open until 1-2am on Sundays with people having to work, but the logic falls flat since people work and have school on Friday's too.

It's even weirder when you realize that Busch Gardens Williamsburg is open Friday-Sunday every weekend and running from Sept 13th, giving them a full two extra weekends.

So, what we have is Busch Gardens Tampa running only 14 nights and Williamsburg running for a full 21 days. That's a massive difference. Not only that, but the Williamsburg event is starting on Friday the 13th. You'd think that Tampa would be the one doing that...you know, with the whole theme of "The 13" and all...

UPDATE #2: I've recently received word from Busch Gardens Tampa about this and here's what they had to say:

"After all factors were taken in to account, this is the schedule that the team felt was best to provide the best possible experience for our guests. With 14 terrifying nights of Howl-O-Scream 2013, there’ll be plenty of frights to go around."

So there ya have it, seems as if they're confident enough to run for only 14 nights. While I personally would run longer, I have to admire their confidence on the matter!

Now, I would tell you what Sea World San Antonio's dates and times are but there's just no way to know that since the site isn't exactly fully filled out at the time of writing this. Granted Williamsburg doesn't have times listed either but at least they have more than some place holders and empty fields of text on their site.

I can't really hold them to this too much, there are always first day glitches and things that are left out (granted not usually as bad as the San Antonio site) but something does seem a little wonky here.

Hopefully some of these things can be answered, or at least understood a bit more, as times goes on. As the sites fill themselves out with more info we'll be sure to bring you updates on times, dates, ticket prices and all other manner of horrifying goodness as we get closer to the Haunt Season!