What You Can Do At SeaWorld In October

When we moved to Texas, we were thrilled to find out that SeaWorld was only about ten minutes away from our home. We decided to get season passes so we could go whenever we wanted.

When it gets colder, people might be wondering what there is to do at SeaWorld and I'm here to say that there is plenty!

During the day, there is something called a Halloween Spooktacular. The park is decorated for fall and Halloween and everything looks fantastic.

You'll see pirates walking around. You'll also see skeletons set up.

You'll hear the skeletons talking. They're pretty funny.

There's also a small maze and you'll think because it's small that there is no way you'll get lost.

But no, Natalie and I got lost, and this is Natalie's expression when she realized we were at a dead end. "How did THAT happen in this tiny maze?"

I made reservations for the Pumpkin Patch Picnic:

Kids get to paint pumpkins. There are also people dressed as scarecrows walking around, plus a pumpkin patch princess.

Not surprisingly, Natalie made hers creepy.

The food there was also pretty tasty:

They had a bunch of Coke products set out so really, you can load up on these so you don't have to pay $4 for one in the park.

All and all it was a good time.

We also saw the Pets Ahoy show, which was a lot of fun. We were amazed at the cats in the show--plus the pig. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's fabulous.

There are also fun characters walking around and select places that will pass out candy to kids 9 and under. Just look for the Halloween Spooktacular signs around the park!

So SeaWorld during the day in October is a blast.

But what happens at night?

Well.

At night, the real fun starts. Howl-O-Scream begins at 7. I even got my teenager to emerge from his room for it. He looks irritated, but I promise, he was excited. And that's his costume this year. He says he's done dressing up. Natalie was eager to wear her Halloween costume of course.

You can buy something called a Fear Pass, which is basically like a Fast Pass at Disney World. You get a priority line that's much faster. There are different options you can get, but I went with the one where you could do all the mazes once. I'm glad I got it, because the regular lines were insane. You can buy one in the park or online.

It's recommended that kids 13 and under not go to Howl-O-Scream if they scare easily. My daughter does not scare easily, so I knew she'd be okay. I was worried that people might judge me when they saw her, but ha. I saw kids three and under going through the mazes with their parents!

Around 645 the characters from the maze start to emerge. This happens near the ICU maze. Most of them won't stop because they have mazes to get to, but some will:

Natalie really liked this dude and was all, "Hi! Come here and say hi!" and he did:

There's a section of the park that is Howl-O-Scream only, so if you have a little one who doesn't like that sort of thing, you can avoid it. But my kids loved it. Characters will come at you. Stand behind you when you don't know it. There is smoke. There are lights.

Natalie was all, "This is cool!" And then that guy with the shovel in the background rushed up on us.


Make sure your kids won't be afraid, because they will be swarmed in mazes. These guys were all, "Hey, whatcha doing here little girl?" and Natalie was all, "You guys are being funny!"

And how did Tommy do? Remember, Tommy has autism and can get overwhelmed. But he was fine, because he knew it was all pretend. He said he was "startled" a couple of times, but that he never felt a meltdown coming on. Progress!

There's an area set up where you can take a photo with a vampire. You can pay for a photo or they will let you take one on your own. I just took one on my own. Natalie was the only one who wanted to be in the photo.

"What a fun looking vampire!" she said cheerfully as she sat on the couch.

And then we came across Slenderman, a creepy dude in some YouTube videos. Natalie has always liked him for some bizarre reason. He did stop for photos. The family ahead of us tried to get a photo, but their little girl FLIPPED out when she got next to Slenderman.

"He won't eat you," Natalie assured her, but she didn't care. And that girl beside Slenderman is part of the story. I thought it was a random kid dressed up like Natalie was, but Natalie was all, "Um, no, she stumbled across Slenderman in the forest, duh."

There were other fun characters too. For example, in Werewolf Alley there are people dressed up like werewolves who will try to scare you. Natalie was all, "I wish I had some meat to give you. Sorry. You can't eat me though!"

There was this creepy thing:

We were there for about two hours. Without the Fear Pass it would have been longer.

Despite the look on his face, my teenager had fun. I promise. That's just how he is in a lot of photos these days.


Oh, and we found this cage to play in and Tommy was all, "Let's leave her here. It'll be much quieter at home."

Bottom line? There is lots to do at SeaWorld in October!


Would you prefer to go during the day or at night? Or both?