Aquatica Orlando Is Giving Pass Members a Free After Hours Night on September 11, the Same Evening Howl-O-Scream Opens Next Door

Thirteen slides and pools, two hours, and the daytime crowd already cleared out. Aquatica Orlando has an Annual Pass Member Friends and Family Night on the calendar for Friday, September 11, and pass members pay nothing to attend.

The timing is the fun part. September 11 is also opening night for Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld Orlando, which Aquatica's own directions page puts just across the street on International Drive. One side of International Drive gets haunted houses and scare zones. The other gets two hours of slide time after the day guests go home.

What pass members get

Aquatica's event page describes it as "complimentary after-hours admission with exclusive slide time from 5 - 7pm, Pass Member discounts, and endless excitement!"

Check-in opens earlier than the slide window. Per the page, "Check-in starts as early as 3 p.m. in front of Waterstone Grill." Pass members and their guests pick up a wristband there to stay in the park for the after-hours portion.

One caution: the page contradicts itself on that time. The event copy says check-in starts as early as 3 p.m., while the FAQ further down says pass members check in "as early at 4 p.m. in front of Waterstone Grill" and that 3 p.m. is when the $25 guest tickets admit people. The FAQ also warns that "Wristband distribution will end once the park is clear of daytime guests," so leave yourself margin either way.

Bringing people, and what it costs

Each pass member can bring up to four guests at $25 each, bought through the Annual Pass Member portal. Those tickets get guests into the park with the member from 3 p.m. and into the 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. slide window. They are locked to the night you pick: "Guest tickets purchased cannot be transferred to other dates and must be used on date selected at time of purchase." That $25 does not have to stop at one night. Per the FAQ, a guest can upgrade the ticket to an Annual Pass at Guest Relations before leaving the park, and "Paid event guest tickets will have a $25 credit applied toward the purchase of an Annual Pass valid for Aquatica."

Eligibility is narrower than "pass member" suggests. The event is open to active Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Aquatica Orlando pass members, accompanying Preschool Card holders, and guests on the $25 event ticket. The free guest tickets that come with a pass do not work here. Asked directly whether they can be used, Aquatica's own FAQ answers: "No, Pass Member free guest tickets are not eligible to attend this event." The event disclaimer rules out two more products by name: "Event is not valid for Fun Card holders, Friends and Family Pass, or free Pass Member Guest Tickets." Aquatica is selling 2027 Fun Cards right now, and a Fun Card will not get you in.

The slide list

Thirteen slides and pools are open for the after-hours window: Cutback Cove, Ihu's Breakaway Falls, KareKare Curl, Ray Rush, Reef Plunge, Riptide Race, Roa's Rapids, Tassie's Underwater Twist, Taumata Racer, Turi's Kid Cove, Walhalla Wave, Walkabout Waters and Whanau Way. That is thirteen of the fifteen attractions listed on Aquatica's own slides and pools page, and by that page's own labels it works out to nine slides, three pools and one river. Two attractions from Aquatica's regular lineup are missing, Omaka Rocka and the Loggerhead Lane lazy river, and the list names only Cutback Cove even though Aquatica's own attraction page pairs it with Big Surf Shores as a single wave pool entry.

Food and drink

Waterstone Grill runs a buy one get one free meal from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Motu's Beach Bar and Ke-Re's Bar run an extended happy hour over the same window with a buy one get one free frozen or specialty cocktail or mocktail.

Open locations that night are Waterstone Grill, Motu's Beach Bar, Ke-Re's Bar, Kiwi Market and Rita's Italian Ice.

The pin

There is a giveaway, and it is pitched at collectors. September 11 brings the second exclusive collectible in the Friends and Family Night pin series, a Commerson's Dolphin pin, available while supplies last. The page frames it as the last one as well, telling members the pin will "finish your Friends & Family Night pin series." Aquatica's line on it: "Don't miss your chance to complete the set!"

What the page does not say is which pin was first in the series. It does tell members to join on September 11 to receive this one, with "while supplies last" as the only qualifier, so get there early if the pin is the reason you are going.

The other thing happening that night

Howl-O-Scream runs select nights at SeaWorld Orlando from September 11 through October 31, so Aquatica's free member night lands on its first evening. On paper the two do not clash. SeaWorld lists Howl-O-Scream as a separately ticketed event whose gates open at 6:30 p.m. and which starts at 7 p.m., right as Aquatica's slide window ends.

Stacking both in one night is tighter than that sounds. Those gates open half an hour before Aquatica's window is over, and SeaWorld routes Howl-O-Scream guests to "the event entrance located on the southernmost side of the parking lot." No pass covers it either. SeaWorld's ticket fine print is blunt: "Fun Cards and Annual Passes are not valid for entry."

Aquatica's own AquaGlow runs select nights through September 26, separately from this event.

Sources

• Aquatica Orlando, "Save the Date: Annual Pass Member Friends & Family Nights"
• SeaWorld Orlando, "Howl-O-Scream"
• Aquatica Orlando (AquaGlow dates)

Image credits: Aquatica Orlando.