7 Things You NEED to Know If You’re Visiting Disneyland For Halloween Season in August, September, or October

The 2024 Halloween celebration at Disneyland is fast approaching, and soon the resort will be decked out in Halloween decor for spooky season!

Halloween at Disneyland is starting even earlier than usual this year in late August, giving visitors plenty of time to enjoy the plentiful offerings across the resort. From the fun decor of Main Street U.S.A. and Cars Land to ride overlays like Haunted Mansion Holiday and themed treats, there is so much to do and see during this fan-favorite celebration. You can see everything you need to know about the Halloween offerings at Disneyland in our full guide!

As every year at Disneyland has its own unique circumstances, we will take you through the top 7 things you need to know if you're planning on visiting this Halloween during August, September, or October. We'll take into account things like the construction in New Orleans Square and Critter Country, the Haunted Mansion reopening, crowds, the seasonal character dining offerings, and more. Keep reading for everything you need to know!

1. Visit As Early On In the Halloween Celebration As You Can

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The Halloween celebration is starting earlier than usual this year on August 23, and as always, we recommend visiting as early on in the season as you are able. The crowd levels at Disneyland in October can be extremely high between the popularity of the Halloween celebration and many kids being out of school on fall break. If you can, we recommend avoiding this month and visiting earlier on in the season in late August or September. Crowds will typically be lower in early September and gradually pick up as the month goes on. You can see all of this illustrated in our Disneyland crowd calendar with projected crowd levels for each date.

If you can only visit during the most crowded month of the Halloween season, keep in mind all of our tips for beating the Disneyland crowds. You can still have a great trip even when the parks are more crowded! You'll want to be at the parks for rope drop to take advantage of the shorter waits in the mornings using our Disneyland morning strategy or Disney California Adventure morning strategy, maximize your use of Genie+booking Lightning Lanes during the first part of the day, and stay late to enjoy much shorter lines in the evening after the fireworks.

2. Haunted Mansion Is Reopening With a Virtual Queue

One of the biggest differences of this year's Halloween celebration compared to years past is that Haunted Mansion will be reopening after having been closed since January. The Haunted Mansion closed for a grounds expansion that will add an expanded outdoor queue, a retail shop next to the attraction's exit, and accessibility improvements including an elevator exit from the attraction for guests with disabilities. Construction has been in progress for several months, and Disneyland confirmed that the Haunted Mansion will be reopening ahead of the start of the 2024 Halloween season as Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Haunted Mansion Holiday will be available via virtual queue only when it reopens as work on the reimagined queue continues. Haunted Mansion Holiday is a popular ride during the Halloween celebration, and demand for the ride will be extremely high after it has been closed for most of the year. For this Halloween season, you'll want to make sure you're familiar with how the virtual queue works so that you're not caught off guard.

Through the Disneyland app, you'll have the opportunity to join the virtual queue and get a return time to experience the ride. You can enroll your entire group in the virtual queue at the same time—just make sure your account is linked to their tickets beforehand. You should be ready on the app a few minutes before the daily distribution times for the virtual queue, then tap “Virtual Queues” on the home screen and follow the steps to enroll your group. If you are successful, you'll be notified of your return window via the app when you can experience the ride. See everything you need to know about the Haunted Mansion virtual queue, including distribution times and details on how to access the virtual queue.

3. Consider the Happiest Haunts Tour for Reserved Fireworks Viewing

“Halloween Screams” is Disneyland Park's nighttime spectacular that is offered during the Halloween season. This fun show features Jack Skellington, Zero flying over the castle, and projections of spooky sights and villains set to a medley of Halloween-inspired tunes. “Halloween Screams” has fireworks on Friday-Sunday nights during the Halloween season and has only projections for the rest of the week. You normally have to wait at least 2 hours to secure the coveted fireworks viewing in front of the castle, but if you're interested in the Happiest Haunts Tour, you can get reserved viewing for the show with the experience.

Disneyland confirmed that Disney's Happiest Haunts Guided Tours will be returning this Halloween season for a limited time. This 2-hour private tour includes a fun photo op with the Hitchhiking Ghosts of the Haunted Mansion and reserved viewing for “Halloween Screams.” This can be a good option to consider if you want the perk of reserved viewing and are interested in learning about the Halloween tales of Disneyland. The viewing area for the fireworks is nearly dead center in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, so you'll get a great view of the show and the projections.

You can see our full review of the Happiest Haunts Tour for everything you need to know and details on the fireworks viewing area! You will be able to book the tour through the Disneyland website starting August 8, 2024.

4. Be Ready to Book Halloween Themed Character Dining When It Opens

Last year, Disneyland introduced Goofy's Kitchen Halloween, a limited-time seasonal Halloween theme for Goofy's Kitchen. The Character Dining experience, which will be returning this year, includes decor, characters in fun Halloween outfits, and special Halloween-inspired foods. Disneyland has not yet announced the dates and details for Goofy's Kitchen Halloween in 2024 but it was offered last year from September 21 to October 31. Disneyland also shared that Storytellers Cafe will be offering a new breakfast and brunch experience this year with seasonal decor and characters in Halloween outfits.

For both of these Character Dining experiences, make sure you're ready to book them when reservations first open up. Spots will go quickly because this will be very popular as a themed Character Dining experience. We will be updating our article and review of Goofy's Kitchen Halloween and our article on the new Storytellers Cafe Halloween experience when more information is released on the offering.

5. Don't Let Yourself Get Caught Off Guard On Oogie Boogie Bash Nights

If you are visiting during the Halloween season, make sure you don't get caught off guard when Disney California Adventure closes early on Oogie Boogie Bash nights. Oogie Boogie Bash parties will take place at the park throughout the Halloween season on select dates from August 25 through October 31, 2024. Guests who do not have a party ticket will need to leave the park at 6 pm. This can be problematic if you are not aware of the early closure and don't have a park hopper ticket.

For these days, we recommend getting a park hopper so that you can go over to Disneyland Park after the closure or get a 1 Park ticket for Disneyland Park that day. See our Disneyland Park 1-Day itinerary for all of the rides and experiences you won't want to miss! Before your trip, you can look at all of the Disneyland early closures for the dates that Oogie Boogie Bash closes the park early so you can plan accordingly.

If you do have a ticket for an Oogie Boogie Bash party, see our full guide to Oogie Boogie Bash for tips and everything you need to know! See all 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash dates here.

6. Mobile Order Foods Early in the Day

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Every year, Disneyland releases a Halloween food guide with a bunch of adorable treats inspired by the season. While some of these are special offerings at sit-down restaurants, many of these seasonal foods are available at quick-service locations across the parks where mobile ordering is offered. Especially during more crowded seasons at Disneyland, mobile ordering can be a huge time-saver to prevent you from having to stand in long ordering lines. You can conveniently order from anywhere, select a pickup window to get your food, and pay, all through the Disneyland app.

When the 2024 Halloween food guide is released, look at the offerings ahead of time to see what looks most appealing. Make sure to consider what you want to mobile order early on when you arrive in the morning. Especially when the parks are crowded, arrival windows get pushed further and further into the day, and you don't want to be stuck without food at the time you want to eat. The safest bet is to place your mobile order in the morning if you know what you want, and you can always change or cancel it if something comes up without penalty.

7. Construction/Closures at Disneyland This Halloween Season

There is a lot of construction currently happening in the New Orleans Square/Critter Country section of Disneyland Park. Tiana's Bayou Adventure is still under construction, and the Critter Country area is closed for refurbishment as it prepares for the addition of the new ride and two new Princess and the Frog shops.

The timeline for the completion of the Haunted Mansion grounds expansion is still unclear, but it sounds like the queue work will not be finished by the time the attraction reopens with a virtual queue at the start of the Halloween season. There is also the possibility that Tiana's Bayou Adventure could open during the Halloween season as we discuss in our prediction of when Tiana's Bayou Adventure will open at Disneyland. The opening date for the ride could be announced at this year's D23 Expo or even earlier.

You can see details on the Haunted Mansion closure and Critter Country closure in our full guides along with a list of the Disneyland rides that are currently closed or under refurbishment. We can likely expect that some of this construction will be completed during the Halloween season, but the status of these projects will greatly impact crowd levels and the flow of foot traffic in this area of the park.

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