Disneyland Halloween 2025 Guide: Dates, Rides, Decorations, and All Details

The Disneyland Halloween celebration is one of the most fun times of year to visit Disneyland, with special attraction overlays, delicious autumn food, special entertainment, and more. The entire Disneyland Resort is decorated for Halloween, including the Main Street Pumpkin Festival featuring the giant Mickey pumpkin, as well as Cars Land and Buena Vista Street decked out in their spooky glory! During this time of year, Disney California Adventure joins in on the fun with the popular Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween parties taking place at the park after hours.

In the article below, I will break down all of the Disneyland Halloween festivities you can't miss throughout the Disneyland Resort and provide advice on how to maximize your time during the Halloween season! At Mickey Visit, we visit the parks during all of the special celebrations throughout the year to share everything new and bring you the most up-to-date guidance. We have completely overhauled this article ahead of the 2025 Disneyland Halloween season to bring you all of the key happenings and tips for visiting during this time of year. 

READ MORE – 20 Secret Disneyland Quiet Spots Many Regulars Don’t Even Know

When is Disneyland Halloween 2025?

The 2025 Disneyland Halloween celebration runs from August 22, 2025 through October 31, 2025 at the Disneyland Resort.

The Coco-themed Plaza de la Familia and Día de los Muertos returns from August 22, 2025 to November 2, 2025. The area will provide festive entertainment, foods, and decor throughout the season.

Disneyland's special Halloween event, the separately ticketed Oogie Boogie Bash, will take place on event nights from August 17, 2025 through October 31, 2025 at Disney California Adventure. Read our Oogie Boogie Bash guide and review for all the information you need to know. See Oogie Boogie Bash 2025 specific dates and tickets info here.

When to Visit Disneyland Halloween 2025 For Lowest Crowds

Halloween at Disneyland now easily rivals the Christmas season in popularity at Disneyland. The month of October will see consistently larger crowds, including guests visiting from out of town and locals coming out to see the Halloween experiences at the park. In recent years, Disneyland has extended the Halloween celebration at Disneyland, giving a pretty generous window of time to visit that includes some of the best times of year to visit Disneyland for lower crowds. We break down projected crowd levels for every day of the year in our Mickey Visit Disneyland crowd calendar. 

If you're looking to avoid Halloween crowds at Disneyland, my best tip is to visit Disneyland in late August or September instead of October. However, if you can only visit during the busy month of October, you can still enjoy a great trip if you come in with a strategy. See our best tips for how to navigate Disneyland when it's crowded, and make sure you're following our Disneyland Halloween strategy, including tips on using Lightning Lane Multi Pass with high crowd levels!

2025 Disneyland Halloween Overview

The Halloween celebration at Disneyland includes special entertainment, seasonal foods, and attraction overlays. We will provide an overview of the 2025 Disneyland Halloween highlights that have been announced below.

There are a few new Halloween additions and changes this year, including new character outfits for Mickey and Minnie, a new Disney Pixar Coco collection, and more. One important thing to note is that select Disneyland 70th anniversary entertainment experiences and offerings will continue to run during the Halloween celebration, while others will pause. You can see the 70th anniversary experiences that will still be available during the Halloween celebration here. 

These are the resort-wide Halloween offerings:

• Special decor
• Halloween merchandise
• limited-time Halloween foods

These are the key Halloween offerings in Disneyland Park:

• Haunted Mansion Holiday
• Halloween Screams fireworks show
• Characters in Halloween outfits
• Main Street Pumpkin Festival

These are the key Halloween offerings in Disney California Adventure Park:

• Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark
• Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween
• Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree
• Mickey's Trick and Treat show
• Costumed “Cars” characters in Cars Land
• The separately-ticketed Oogie Boogie Bash party includes the Frightfully Fun Parade, Villains Grove scenescape, rare characters, and trick-or-treating

Highlights beyond the theme parks at resort hotels and Downtown Disney

• Halloween character dining meals – Goofy's Kitchen Celebrates Halloween!, Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Breakfast/Brunch Buffet, and Clarabelle’s Enchanted Halloween Dinner
• Pluto's Pumpkin Pursuit

We will go into detail about all of these Halloween highlights below and share links to our coverage and tips for each of them. 

Save Money on Disneyland Halloween

The popularity of the Halloween season at Disneyland has only increased. Each year, more and more people schedule vacations during this time period. This has taken this time period, which was once an off-season, and created another time period with incredibly high room rates.

But, I am here to help…

I set up an exclusive deal with one of Disneyland's longest travel partners to provide my readers with the lowest priced Disneyland tickets anywhere on the web. Also, I pushed them to give me special prices on Disneyland packages for the September and October Halloween months. Check out the special Disneyland packages and ticket prices for more information on how to save during your Disneyland Halloween vacation.

For more information on all of these savings provided, you need to join our FREE Disney deals email. I send out information on limited-time deals and vacation planning. You need to get these emails. Join now>

Disneyland Halloween Ride Overlays 

There are four ride overlays offered during the Halloween celebration at Disneyland. One is located at Disneyland Park, and three are located at Disney California Adventure.

Disneyland has Haunted Mansion Holiday, and Disney California Adventure has the Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark overlay and two smaller Cars Land overlays: Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween and Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree.

Haunted Mansion Holiday 

The Haunted Mansion becomes the Haunted Mansion Holiday for the Halloween and Disneyland Christmas seasons. This special holiday edition features the story of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and characters from the film, including Jack Skellington, Zero the Ghost Dog, and Sally. The attraction is fun regardless of whether you know the story of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” or not. Explained simply, the story goes something like this: the king of Halloween takes over the celebration of Christmas, and we get to witness what happens when “two holidays collide.” Every year, the mansion also includes a giant Haunted Mansion gingerbread house, which changes themes every year!

The one disappointment with the overlay is that the Haunted Mansion Holiday runs from late August through the first week of January, the classic Haunted Mansion attraction is only available for about six months out of the year, which is bemoaned by some Disney fans. When the Haunted Mansion Holiday rolls into town, the lines balloon to have multi-hour waits, so prioritize heading to this ride first thing in the morning or using Lightning Lane Multi Pass to grab a return time for this ride.

Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark

Guardians of the Galaxy-Mission: Breakout! becomes Guardians of the Galaxy-Monsters After Dark, starting at 3 PM every day. This special Halloween overlay is a scarier version of the ride that does not include the popular song soundtrack of the regular version. Monsters After Dark picks up where the main Mission: Breakout! story leaves off. The attraction centers around your gantry lift serving as bait to distract the monsters—which have inconveniently been released from their cages—from eating Baby Groot.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations for this ride will run out, so I recommend grabbing a return time for this ride as soon as you're able to, as we saw the standby line for this attraction reach over two hours often during our trip. 

Cars Land Halloween Ride Overlays

Cars Land is one of the most fun areas of Disney California Adventure when it's decked out in spooky decor during Halloween. Two of its rides, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, get special Halloween decor and music during this time of year. 

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree transforms into Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree, keeping the same general spirit of the ride but with a Halloween flair and plenty of spooky-themed jokes.

Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters changes into Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween, featuring Halloween-inspired tunes to cruise around to. This ride tends to have longer waits than Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, so I recommend riding this either earlier in the morning or later in the day.

Disneyland Halloween Fireworks 2025

The Disneyland Halloween Screams fireworks return to kick off the Halloween season at Disneyland! MagicBand+ will also connect to the Halloween Screams fireworks show with ominous illuminations and shivering vibrations. Halloween Screams is a can't-miss experience, which kicks off with Zero, Jack Skellington's dog from The Nightmare Before Christmas, flying over Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The show features spooky music and projections highlighting Disney villains, the Haunted Mansion, and more. This is easily in my top three favorite Disneyland fireworks shows. 

Disneyland will only present the Halloween Screams show with fireworks on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. All other nights of the week, this show will be projections only. This has created a much larger demand for fireworks, especially since the fireworks are being shown in such limited capacity for this popular Halloween-themed show. If you want a castle view for this fireworks show, you need to be prepared to line up at least two hours before it starts, if not earlier! You can read more about our best fireworks tips in our Disneyland fireworks viewing guide. If you're interested in the Happiest Haunts Guided Tour, this experience includes access to a reserved viewing area for the Halloween Screams show! We discuss this experience in more detail further into the article. 

Plaza de la Familia at Disney California Adventure

At Disney California Adventure, you'll find the Plaza de la Familia in Paradise Gardens Park, which celebrates the spirit of Día de Los Muertos. During Plaza de la Familia, you'll find live entertainment, craft making, food, and merchandise. You can see the 2025 Plaza de la Familia foods and two special sippers for the celebration. 

Guests can enjoy “The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco!” several times a day, featuring song, dance, the figure of Miguel, and representations of the spirit guides Dante and Pepita. There is also a place in the Plaza de la Familia to write down the name and honor any loved ones you have lost. See our full guide to Plaza de la Familia here for everything you need to know. 

Disneyland Halloween Foods 

The Disney culinary team outdoes itself every year as they come up with Halloween-themed seasonal offerings throughout the resort. Many of these treats are available via Disneyland mobile ordering at quick-service locations across the parks. 

One of my favorite treats at any time of the year is the Mickey Beignets you'll find in New Orleans Square. During the Halloween season, there are special flavors, including …you guessed it…pumpkin! As my younger sister says, these will really make you go “ben-YAY.”

There are so many treats that it is hard to provide up-to-date information on these important additions to the Disneyland Halloween celebration. Make sure to read all about Halloween-themed treats in our guide to the 2025 Disneyland Halloween foods, with a free PDF printable of all of the foods and where to find them. 

Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party

Oogie Boogie Bash replaced the previous Mickey Halloween Party and takes place in California Adventure as a separately-ticketed party event featuring Halloween entertainment, an interactive dance party, stage shows with Mickey, and trick-or-treat trails featuring rare Disney villains. You can see all the Oogie Boogie Bash characters listed here. Read all about the entertainment offerings and review of the party in our guide to Disney California Adventure Oogie Boogie Bash 2025.

This is an important point for all guests visiting during September and October: If you don't have a park hopper ticket, then you will be forced to leave California Adventure early in the evening and have nowhere to go but back to your hotel or home. If you have a 1 Park Per Day ticket, be sure to make your reservation for Disneyland Park on Oogie Boogie Bash party nights. 

Read our guide to Oogie Boogie's Bash tickets here to find out information on dates and prices! 

Disneyland Halloween Characters

During the Halloween celebration at Disneyland, you can meet characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas and see Mickey and friends in special Halloween costumes.

Over by the Haunted Mansion Holiday, Jack Skellington and Sally are often out for a special holiday meet and greet in New Orleans Square. This line will be one of the longest character meet and greets since they only come out for the holiday seasons! I would recommend just hopping in this line whenever you see it at its shortest. We noticed it was usually the shortest around lunch time when everyone was off eating, and this provided a good chance to get a good picture. Disney will usually have a PhotoPass photographer stationed here for this meet and greet.

Mickey and friends will also be wearing their Halloween outfits during the celebration! You can find them rotating appearances on Main Street, U.S.A. You can find specific information on characters each day in the official Disneyland app. Grab some popcorn, a churro, or another snack, and spend some time hanging out in this area to catch them all.

Beyond these characters, you never know which Halloween-specific characters you will see wandering the parks. In the past, popular Disney villains like Maleficent, Captain Hook, Cruella de Ville, and more have been spotted wandering the parks.

There will also be a Halloween character cavalcade that will travel along the parade route between Main Street U.S.A. and the other end of the park near “its a small world.” We noticed many guests treating this cavalcade with the same level of excitement as a parade, but we were easily able to catch it in passing without needing to line up in advance. I wouldn't say saving a spot is necessary; just hang out around the parade route to catch it, as it's rather short.

Over at Disney California Adventure, you will find favorite characters like the Fab Five wearing their Halloween costumes, doing meet and greets on Buena Vista Street. Make sure you're using the Disneyland app to track down your favorites.

Disneyland Resort Hotels & Downtown Disney Halloween Offerings 

During Halloween at Disneyland, you'll find some special offerings in the Disneyland Resort hotels and Downtown Disney. The main activity incorporating Downtown Disney is Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit, which invites you on a quest to find hand-painted pumpkins hidden throughout Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney, each inspired by a different Disney character. After you complete your map (you don't have to, though; you can just redeem your prize either way), return your map and redeem it for one of the mini pumpkin pails. Pluto's Pumpkin Pursuit takes place from August 29 through October 31, 2025. 

Make sure to look up to see the pumpkins! They're located by their storefronts on the map, but to make them out of reach, they're all in high places. Your map will also show you the corresponding pumpkin colors, and then you match them with the store. You can see details on where you can purchase maps and redeem your prizes in our separate article here. 

You may also find some special seasonal entertainment in Downtown Disney. In the past, the SCAREolers, an a cappella group said to be six of the 999 Happy Haunts, have performed. This ghostly club sings Halloween songs from “I Put a Spell on You” to tributes to favorite Disney Villains.

At the Disneyland Resort hotels, a very fun highlight of recent years has been the seasonal character dining offered at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel and Storytellers Cafe at Disney's Grand Californian!

At Goofy's Kitchen, you can enjoy “Goofy's Kitchen Celebrates Halloween,” featuring Halloween-inspired foods, themed decor and music, and characters in Halloween outfits. You can see details about what's included in the meal and our review of the experience.

At Storytellers Cafe, you can enjoy the autumn-inspired Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Breakfast/Brunch Buffet or the new Clarabelle’s Enchanted Halloween Dinner, which both feature special decor and characters in seasonal outfits. 

In the past, at the Disneyland Resort hotels, we have seen a professional pumpkin carver etch works of art on pumpkins during the last week of October. Overnight guests staying at any of the Disneyland property hotels are also invited to enjoy complimentary trick-or-treating. Guests will check in at the Front Desk for their treat map and wristband to go trick-or-treating across the three Disneyland Resort Hotels on select days and times during the Halloween celebration. Visit the Front Desk for the latest hotel activities guide for details on Halloween activities.

Disneyland Halloween Tips

The Disneyland Halloween celebration is one of our favorite times of year to visit, and we've compiled some tips based on our experience to help you make the most of your trip. Here are our best tips for visiting during the Halloween celebration at Disneyland and handling the crowds! 

• Keep in mind that on nights when Oogie Boogie Bash is taking place at California Adventure, crowd levels will increase in the evening at Disneyland, as all those who don't have a ticket for the party will have to clear out by 6 PM. You will see an increase in crowds in Disneyland and in Downtown Disney. Plan on making dining reservations for dinner ahead of time to avoid long waits!
• Oogie Boogie Bash is a must-do event if you are visiting during Halloween. It sells out every year, so make sure you plan on getting tickets! While I always recommend focusing on the characters and entertainment that make after-hours events special, this is also a good time to hit one or two rides with limited wait times. 
• Use our morning strategy for Disneyland and our morning strategy for California Adventure, which includes plans for small kids and big kids/adults. Arriving at the parks with a set plan is a must for visiting Disneyland anytime the parks are busy!
• If you're not morning people or if you can handle an early morning plus staying late…I recommend staying until the park closes! During the peak Halloween season, Disneyland will stay open until 12 AM. Even on the most crowded days, the parks will begin to empty out by 10:30 PM, and you will be able to walk right onto rides that may have had high wait times throughout the day. We were able to walk on to Haunted Mansion Holiday at 11:30 PM during our last two nights, while during the afternoon, the standby wait time for this ride hovered around 120 minutes throughout the day. You can see our Disneyland evening strategy here. 
• Familiarize yourself with how mobile ordering works and plan on mobile ordering your snacks early in the day! This is especially a must for the Mint Julep Bar, which easily had the longest lines all day and ran out of mobile order return times the quickest. I mobile ordered my beignets at 8 AM when we entered the park for later in the day, around 2 PM. I was happy I did, because when we came to get my mobile order, the line for standby for the Mint Julep Bar was nearly all the way back to the Haunted Mansion entrance.
• Wait times can sometimes be inflated, especially at the end of the day. We rode Guardians with a posted wait time of 90 minutes, and were able to get on in 50 minutes, which is a 40-minute difference. End-of-day wait times are notoriously inflated, and we saw many rides post wait times of 20 minutes when they were in fact walk-ons. Even Haunted Mansion Holiday posted a wait time of 30 minutes at 11:30 PM on our last night, and we waited barely 10 minutes.
• Take some time to decompress from the crowds, whether you take a break back at your hotel, enjoy a sit-down meal, or take a ride on the Main Street vehicles. Just take some time to get some personal space and relax! See our favorite secret spots at Disneyland to take a break. 
• The Mickey pumpkin at the beginning of Main Street U.S.A. will always have a long line for photos, no matter what time of day. Just plan on waiting in line for your photo at the time of day that works best for you! We saved this wait for the evening when the pumpkin would be lit up and after we had dinner, so that way the wait wouldn't be too unbearable! We did stay past closing after 12 AM some nights, and there was a much shorter line to get a picture with the pumpkin, but you won't have PhotoPass photographers available for that!
• Looking for characters? Hang out around Main Street by the pumpkin and watch the cast member entrance/exit to the left of the Main Street Opera House. This is where the characters will make their entrance. Grab some popcorn and spend some time there. Just be ready to hop in line when they make an appearance! We saw Mickey, Goofy, and Donald out throughout the day in their Halloween costumes in this area.

Disneyland Halloween Happiest Haunts Tour

During Halloween Time at Disneyland, there is a special guided “Disney's Happiest Haunts” tour. This tour focuses on the specific Halloween attractions and stories of certain Halloween elements in the park, as well as some perks like a special photo op and reserved viewing for the fireworks show. 

This year's “Disney’s Happiest Haunts: The Villains’ Trail Guided Tour” includes the following:

• A 2-hour walking tour across Disneyland Park and into Disney California Adventure Park
• A history of Halloween and Halloween tales specific to Disney experiences
• Lightning Lane entry to Haunted Mansion Holiday
• Access to a reserved viewing area for Halloween Screams, a nighttime spectacular
• Photo op with the animatronic Witch from Snow White
• Collectible keepsake— Disney’s Happiest Haunts: The Villains’ Trail Guided Tour Pin

This is a change from years past, when the photo op was with the Hitchhiking Ghost animatronics from the Haunted Mansion. 

This tour, not to be confused with the Disneyland VIP tour guides, provides a fun way to see all of the Halloween offerings and a fun interactive story that kids will really enjoy. See our review of the Happiest Haunts Tour at Disneyland here! 

The price of this tour is $130 in addition to purchasing theme park admission but Disney Visa Cardmember discounts are available. This tour is popular because of the reserved viewing for Halloween Screams. If you want to secure this tour for a date with fireworks (Friday-Sunday), then you should book when the 60-day window opens. 

Disneyland Halloween Decorations & Photo Ops

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During the Halloween celebration, you'll find seasonal decor across the resort, from the giant Mickey pumpkin on Main Street to the spooky Cars Land decor and the autumn-inspired decorative touches in Downtown Disney. Here are some of the Halloween decorative highlights across the resort!

Upon first entering Disneyland Park, huge Disney character pumpkins adorn the ticket booths and greet you as you step into Disneyland Park, and the large Mickey Mouse floral arrangement in front of the train station is done in a darker Halloween theme. Then, once you arrive on Main Street U.S.A., you'll see pumpkins and orange bunting adorning every building. There are hundreds of pumpkins on display during the Main Street Pumpkin Festival, and no two pumpkins are the same. 

In Town Square, you'll find a huge Mickey Mouse pumpkin that is perfect for photos. There are long lines for a photo at the beginning and end of the day when mass numbers of people are coming and going. Take your picture with the Mickey Mouse pumpkin head sometime in the late morning or afternoon. A perfect time is when you are crossing between parks using your Disneyland Park Hopper ticket (discounted here)

In Frontierland, the decorations feel much more unique and provide a very special charm and three-dimensional level of detail I expect in anything Disneyland does. When you first enter the land, next door to the Golden Horseshoe, you will find The Halloween Tree, dedicated to Ray Bradbury and his book with the same title. Ray Bradbury has an important place in Disney history because of his work at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, his friendship with Walt Disney, and his insightful observations on Disneyland.

Ray Bradbury's writings on Disneyland are extremely prolific, and a quote from his work even serves as the foreword to my book on Disneyland Secrets.

Further into Frontierland near one of my favorite Disneyland Restaurants, Rancho Del Zocalo, are beautiful decorations honoring Día de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

In Disney California Adventure, you'll find the most Halloween decor on Buena Vista Street and Cars Land. Buena Vista Street and the entrance have Halloween decor inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oogie Boogie's oversized silhouette beckons guests into the park. 

The Headless Horseman sits at the top of Buena Vista Street, serving as an ominous beacon and fantastic photo location.

Carthay Circle will feature a variety of projections throughout the night, plus a display of bats flying out of the top tower of the theater-inspired restaurant.

Cars Land is easily the most detailed, with its Halloween decor stretching to every inch of the land. Cars Land celebrates “Haul-O-Ween” with awesome overlays and decorations everywhere. You can see photos from Cars Land at Halloween here.

Save some time to view the land during the night too, as the lights really bring the Halloween spirit alive in Cars Land! Pay attention to the details, as there are moving decorations and sounds coming from many hidden corners!

From “Fillmore’s Jack-Oil Lanterns” and “Flo’s Spider-Car” to “Witchy Miss Lizzie’s shop,” each and every location will transform Radiator Springs into Radiator Screams.

Downtown Disney is also filled with autumn-inspired decor! You will notice that Disney's Horticulture and Resort Enhancement teams have been busy bringing in more than 5,000 plants across 14 planters in rich autumnal colors of russet red and harvest orange. You can also find plenty of Halloween merchandise and Halloween treats in the shops and restaurants. 

The lobby of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa features the annual Halloween confectionery masterpiece! Last year, it depicted the Evil Witch from Snow White. The confectionery was still in progress when we saw it (pictured below).

Take the time to grab some snacks from the holiday cart in the lobby, located right next to the gingerbread creation. This is my absolute favorite spot to grab gingerbread cookies, which they serve at Halloween and Christmas!

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