The theme-park operator will add two Anaconda-inspired haunted houses to Howl-O-Scream, extending a film property into location-based Halloween entertainment.
Busch Gardens Parks will introduce two haunted houses inspired by Sony Pictures’ Anaconda at Howl-O-Scream events in Tampa Bay and Williamsburg on September 11, 2026. The announcement brings a recognisable film property into the physical setting of a seasonal theme-park event, with Busch Gardens presenting separate attractions for each location. Busch Gardens says the licensing arrangement marks the first time Sony Pictures has integrated the film into a Halloween event.
At Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the attraction will be called Anaconda: Fear Has No Escape, while the Williamsburg version will be titled Anaconda: Dead on Arrival. Both are built around the world of Anaconda, sending guests into the Amazon in search of a missing film crew before shifting the premise towards survival. The release describes the houses as two distinct stories rather than a single attraction replicated across both parks.
The houses will be part of Howl-O-Scream, which Busch Gardens describes as a night-time event featuring haunted houses, immersive scare zones, sinister shows and rides on its coasters. The release also says guests can buy tickets during a limited-time sale, although it does not specify the sale’s price or closing date. Event dates, tickets and promotions are directed through BuschGardens.com.
The announcement illustrates how theme parks can extend entertainment franchises beyond cinema by turning a familiar narrative into a guided, in-person experience. In this case, the property supplies the setting and premise, while the two parks receive different attraction names and story treatments. United Parks & Resorts chief executive Marc Swanson said the addition responds to demand for new and immersive scares, and argued that the new houses and entertainment would strengthen Howl-O-Scream’s position among Halloween events.
For Busch Gardens, the Anaconda houses add a film-based layer to an established seasonal format without replacing the broader Howl-O-Scream programme. Their scheduled September 11 opening gives both parks a shared headline attraction while preserving separate creative identities for Tampa Bay and Williamsburg. The result is a narrowly defined partnership between a theme-park operator and Sony Pictures, centred on translating a screen-based survival story into live Halloween entertainment.
