Oogie Boogie Bash is Disneyland’s Halloween party, held in Disney’s California Adventure, to celebrate the spookiest season with some Disney magic. This was my first after-hours event in a decade, so I wanted to recap the experience for all of you.
As I said, Oogie Boogie Bash is the west coast Disney Park’s Halloween party which is held in the secondary park Disney’s California Adventure. It runs from 6 pm to 11 pm on varying nights through September and October. There are a bunch of different activities to do, including riding attractions, getting treats through the trick-or-treat trails, meeting exclusive characters, and special entertainment opportunities like a parade and villains-themed walkthrough.
I attended with my best friend and we managed to do a little bit of everything. There were two things I specifically wanted to accomplish which were: seeing Oogie Boogie and walking through Villains Grove. Oogie Boogie’s appearance is in a trick-or-treat trail, which makes sense but is also a bit annoying if you want a proper photo with him because the only way to do so currently is to stop in the line, which cast members obviously don’t want you to do. Also if you’re unlucky, like we were a little bit, Oogie Boogie will leave his stage for a moment before returning so you may not get a photo with him at all if the timing is poor. It is a short moment, but since they want the line to continuously move you could lose a clear photo chance.
Villains Grove is one of my favorite parts of the party, although I do think they could have done more. The start was really interesting and when they clearly had a villain to focus on it was at its best, but portions of transition, in particular the very end, were lackluster. The end had no good conclusion and was a rather large chunk of essentially nothing but mysterious music and fairy lights. It was definitely enough space for one more villain vignette in my opinion.
Getting candy is nice, with the treat trails having numerous spots along their path to get more stuff. Candy isn’t the only thing you are given either, with other snacks and cookies added plus non-edible treats like buttons. The best part of the trails is, of course, the villains in them, and these ones were easier to stop and get photos in for the most part. We never went through ones with long lines excluding Oogie Boogie, which wasn’t too bad. The one for Dr. Facilier looked quite long as well, but you could see him easily without getting in line since he was on the pier. We didn’t go through every trail, so we didn’t see every villain possible, but there are many to see. The only downside of these trails was the fact that, despite the vast variety of candy and other snacks, all I got was a ton of Snickers and barely anything else. Since cast members give you the candy, there is nothing you can do about it.
Besides seeing villains, there are also unique characters that come out like the popular Kingdom Hearts versions of Mickey and Donald. The one that had me stop in my tracks was warrior Mulan, or we could say Ping but I prefer Mulan. Mulan being my favorite meant I immediately got in line despite not being the biggest fan of meeting characters because I am awkward. But when Mulan is one of the rarest, adding in an even rarer version being in her warrior outfit, I had to otherwise I’d regret it. So out of everything we did, this was my highlight for sure.
One tip I would highly recommend to those who wish to attend is to not add this event on top of already visiting the park during the day. That is what we ended up doing, as well as a full day in Disneyland the day before, so we were sore and exhausted with a couple of hours left of the party still when we chose to leave. I don’t think we missed out on anything personally, but we did not watch the parade or go through every trail. So if you want to prioritize doing as much as you can at the party, I suggest you spend the day not at the parks and come when admission opens for party guests. If you want to experience the park outside of the party, do that another day. Your feet will thank you.
Overall, I enjoyed Oogie Boogie Bash but would have enjoyed it more if I prioritized the event as its own separate day rather than combining it. And I’m not sure if I’d attend again honestly. I’d consider other after-hours events, but unless they add something major to the Halloween party I don’t personally see a need for me to attend again. If you really love Disney, especially villains, and Halloween, I do recommend you try to go at least once.
What Disney villain would you want to meet? Tell me with a comment below!
That looks like fun! I went to Disneyland last year during October and I’m glad I went during that time.