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SeaWorld Is Putting Two Howl-O-Scream Monsters in a Meet and Greet This Weekend, Six Days Before the Event Opens and Not Recommended for Under 13s
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SeaWorld Is Putting Two Howl-O-Scream Monsters in a Meet and Greet This Weekend, Six Days Before the Event Opens and Not Recommended for Under 13s

Michael Travels
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Howl-O-Scream does not open at SeaWorld Orlando until September 11. Two of its monsters are turning up six days early anyway, in an indoor Pass Member lounge, in the middle of a Halloween Spooktacular afternoon that has a Sesame Street parade scheduled for the same hour.

A Howl-O-Scream scare actor in character as Pestilence, with prosthetic makeup exposing a skeletal jaw, green and blonde hair, fishnet sleeves and bodice, and open sores on her arms and torso, posed against a cracked rust orange wall with smoke drifting at the edges of the frame
Pestilence, the new icon of Howl-O-Scream 2026. Image: SeaWorld Orlando

Quick facts: The Pass Member Meet & Greet runs Saturday, September 5 and Sunday, September 6, from 2pm to 4pm in the Pass Member Lounge, which SeaWorld locates inside Waterway Grill. The characters are Pestilence and the Fisherman. SeaWorld says it is "not recommended for children under 13 or the faint of heart," and no costumes or face paint are permitted.

SeaWorld billed it on its September Pass Member News page as a "NEW! Exclusive Howl-O-Scream Pass Member Meet & Greet," inviting Pass Members to "come face-to-face with some of the stars of Scream and Sweat, Pestilence and the Fisherman." Scream and Sweat was SeaWorld's media preview on August 20, where it showed off this year's houses and scare zones and unveiled Pestilence.

The scheduling is the interesting part. September 5 is a Halloween Spooktacular day, the family-facing daytime event included with admission. SeaWorld's own published calendar for that day lists 77 items, and inside the 2pm to 4pm window its Halloween lineup alone includes the Sesame Halloween Parade at 2:00, meet and greets with Spookley the Square Pumpkin at 2:15, 2:45, 3:15 and 3:45, Frank & Murray on the hour at 2:00 and 3:00, and Drac on the half hour at 2:30 and 3:30. The monster meet and greet is not on that public calendar. It is a Pass Member exclusive, so it runs on the Pass Member News page instead.

Three guests, a man and two young women, standing close together and looking off camera in heavy green fog lit from behind at Howl-O-Scream
Howl-O-Scream runs on select nights, September 11 through October 31. Image: SeaWorld Orlando

Who the Fisherman is. He is the villain of I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, which WFTV reported "marks the first time SeaWorld Orlando has included a movie-inspired haunted house in its Halloween lineup." SeaWorld describes it as "an all-new haunted house where the Fisherman stalks your every move." Pestilence is Howl-O-Scream's new icon for 2026, a character SeaWorld introduced in an August 19 blog post as someone Havoc left behind, who spreads her infection across the event to make him pay.

Key art on a black background with I Know What You Did Last Summer in dark red type, The Final Catch in white beneath it, and a large steel fishing hook overlapping the title at the right with blood dripping from its point
Key art for I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch. Image: SeaWorld Orlando, film property copyright 2026 CTMG, Inc.

Worth knowing before you go. The advisory is a recommendation, not a rule: SeaWorld says the meet and greet is not recommended for under 13s rather than barring them. The no costumes half of that matches Howl-O-Scream's own ticket policy, which states that no guests in costumes are admitted; the face paint line does not appear in Howl-O-Scream's ticket policy at all. Daytime is looser on costumes but not on face paint. SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular page says "All guests are welcome to dress up in costumes," bars guests 13 and older from costume masks and hoods, and adds that "face painting is not permitted on any guests unless it is done by park artists." And because this is a Pass Member Lounge event, it is not open to regular daytime ticket holders. The lounge is narrower than that as well: SeaWorld says entry is "Valid only for SeaWorld Orlando and Florida Platinum Annual Pass Members," and not valid for Fun Card, Teacher Card, Preschool Pass or Friends & Family Pass.

The hours do overlap, so the gate is access, not timing. SeaWorld puts the Pass Member Lounge inside Waterway Grill, and says each Pass Member has to check in at the concierge desk and scan an active Annual Pass to get in. The daytime Halloween lineup runs on the public calendar instead, which posts a location for each piece of it, including Frank & Murray and Drac at Golden Seahorse Gifts, Spookley near Journey to Atlantis Plaza, Monster Movez in the Journey to Atlantis Plaza and the Sesame Halloween Parade in Sesame Street Land.

Sources

Image credits: all images courtesy of SeaWorld Orlando. The Final Catch key art includes film property copyright 2026 CTMG, Inc.

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