SeaWorld's Dark Romance Scare Zone Has a Creator, a Cathedral Backstory and Eight Masked Performers, and She Says It Drove a Record Month

The scare zone whose TikToks went viral this month, to loudly mixed reactions, started with a text message: "Don't judge me, but I have an idea."

The zone's gothic window stage, with its rose medallions and JOMC monogram, and Ice Breaker's orange track beyond the crowd. Photo by Seth Kubersky, via Attractions Magazine

WIRED published a feature on Just One More Chapter this morning, and it appears to be the first time anyone at SeaWorld has gone on the record about how the thing came to exist. The name attached to it is Jessie Kinsey, the art director at SeaWorld Orlando.

Our earlier coverage was about the reaction. This is about the person whose idea it was.

Where it came from

Kinsey had the idea last year after watching dark romance bestsellers like Lights Out and Haunting Adeline take off on TikTok. She knew a dark romance scare zone was not necessarily "something that you would expect from a traditional horror event," as she told WIRED, but she had a feeling it would land with BookTok readers.

She pitched it anyway. "I remember texting my production manager, saying, 'Don't judge me, but I have an idea,'" she told the magazine.

There is actual lore, and she wrote it

Kinsey writes fiction in her spare time, and the text on the oversized book set piece in the middle of the zone is hers. So is the backstory, which had not turned up in earlier coverage: the zone's story is set in a crumbling gothic cathedral, in a town run by the wealthy Blackthorns.

"These roses grew up around it, and created this beauty out of destruction," she said. "Which I thought was kind of fitting for the themes of these books."

Those roses show up in the build: two of them are set into the gothic window on the zone's stage, visible in the photo above.

Eight performers, and a legal note

The masked figure the videos are all about has a name in fandom terms, the MMC, for male main character. WIRED reports eight scare actors are employed in the zone playing him.

He is deliberately nobody in particular. The character is an amalgam of romantasy tropes, the romance and fantasy hybrid the books sit next to, and, in the article's words, "For both narrative and legal reasons, they're not based on any one specific character." Our inference, not WIRED's: that is a polite way of saying SeaWorld would rather not hear from Sarah J. Maas's publisher.

The MMC in character, filmed on a phone. Photo by Seth Kubersky, via Attractions Magazine

On the criticism, and on the actors

The zone has taken flak on two fronts: the dark romance genre's treatment of psychological manipulation, violence and nonconsensual sex, and the risk of performers being sexually harassed by guests.

Kinsey's answer on the first is that the threat is the point. "It's a love story, but it's not all sunshine. This is someone who is morally gray, who is potentially violent, who is obsessive, and that part of it is threatening. But that also plays into the appeal of it."

On the second she was more measured: "Being a scare actor, it does come with risks regardless of what area of the park you're working in, because not everyone reacts the same way to being startled or surprised when alcohol is involved," she said. "But our actors' safety is first and foremost." Kinsey told WIRED that performers get extensive training in handling harassment, and that security staff and stage managers are on hand to step in when they need to.

The number, with a caveat

Here is the claim that will travel. Kinsey told WIRED that the viral attention produced what the magazine calls "an explosion in ticket sales," and that Howl-O-Scream is having the biggest month of its six year run.

Read that carefully. It is the art director's characterization, relayed by WIRED. It is not a figure and not a financial disclosure from United Parks & Resorts, whose most recent release, on September 22, covered leadership changes. No number is attached. The six year run she refers to is SeaWorld Orlando's own edition, which opened in 2021 and is in its sixth season this fall, rather than Howl-O-Scream across every park that runs it. Worth reporting, not worth treating as an earnings line.

Kinsey herself sounds a little surprised by all of it: "I knew that it was going to get people talking, and I know that the genre isn't for everyone, so it was going to be a bit controversial," she said. "I did not expect the size of the reaction, but it's kind of fun."

If you want to go

The zone's logo art. Image: SeaWorld Orlando

Just One More Chapter is scare zone B on SeaWorld's own Howl-O-Scream map, next to Ice Breaker and the VIP Terror Tour check in. SeaWorld lists it as an all new scare zone and invites guests to "lose yourself in an enchanted garden filled with gothic beauty, cursed romance and creatures that are every bit as dangerous as they are captivating." Howl-O-Scream Orlando runs select nights from September 11 through October 31, 2026. SeaWorld calls it a separately ticketed event, and its own page is blunt that daytime admission is "not included nor required." Gates open at 6:30 p.m., with the event itself starting at 7 p.m.

One small clarification: WIRED calls Woodrot Hollow a haunted forest. SeaWorld's own attractions page files it as a returning scare zone and sets it in a festering swamp.

Sources

• WIRED, EJ Dickson's feature on SeaWorld Orlando's Just One More Chapter scare zone, September 24, 2026
• SeaWorld Orlando, Howl-O-Scream Haunted Attractions at SeaWorld Orlando
• Attractions Magazine, Howl-O-Scream Orlando turns dark romance genre into a scarezone
• News 6 ClickOrlando, Fog and fear arrive for SeaWorld Orlando's first Howl-O-Scream

Image credits: Scare zone photos by Seth Kubersky, via Attractions Magazine. Logo art by SeaWorld Orlando.