TAMPA, Fla. — Howl-O-Scream, the popular Halloween event, returned to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay earlier this month with indoor haunted houses, a change from last year when the event was modified to only feature open-air outdoor scare zones.

​This year, the lineup for the after-hours event includes five haunted houses — three of them new — and eight different scare zones scattered throughout the park.

The new haunted houses include The Forgotten, which has a goth-vampire vibe; Cell Block Zombies, which is set in a penitentiary overrun with zombies; and Witch of the Woods, which features a unique layout that has the house experience starting outside — it’s also the longest of the houses at this year’s event.

Other houses for this year are two returning from previous events, including Death Water Bayou-Blood Moon and The Residence, which debut in 2019.

Busch Gardens is recommending visitors wear face masks when going through the haunted houses, but is not requiring them. 

The eight scare zones include Voodoo, Skeleton Crew and In the Shadows — all three are new — as well as zones with themes like deadly toys, rising corpses and a haunted junkyard. Each have their own themed props, sound effects, scare actors and, of course, fog.

Roaming hordes are also back, adding a level of unease, and there’s also an unmarked scare zone visitors may encounter.

Elsewhere, the monster-themed dance party show, “Fiends” is back in an outdoor venue. The show, described as “raunchy” features Dr. Frankenstein and his gang of ghouls. And over at Dragon Fire Grill, visitors can take in another show, The Rolling Bones. The skeleton band plays covers of classic rock anthems.

Howl-O-Scream isn’t just a Busch Gardens offering. The event is now part of the Halloween lineup at Busch Gardens’ sister park SeaWorld Orlando. The park kicked off its inaugural Howl-O-Scream on Sept. 10, with four haunted houses, four scare zones and two live shows.

Both events run select nights through Oct. 31.