9 Reasons Why You May Want to Skip Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party

Oogie Boogie Bash is an extremely popular after-hours event at Disney California Adventure that takes place during the Halloween season at Disneyland on select nights from August through October. There is very high demand for this event, and it sells out every year.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons why you should attend this event—all detailed in our Disneyland Oogie Boogie Bash guide—that you’ll want to consider. From rare villain character appearances to the abundance of candy at the Treat Trails, there are a lot of things to love about Oogie Boogie Bash! However, it may not be the right event for everyone for some valid reasons, which we’ll discuss more. Here are the reasons why some may not want to go to Oogie Boogie Bash…

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There Are Fantastic Halloween Offerings Already Included With Regular Admission

Halloween at Disneyland is one of the most popular times of year to visit the parks, and for very good reason! Disneyland really goes all out with the spooky decor, themed treats, ride overlays, and more special offerings. From the amazing Halloween Screams fireworks show (my personal favorite!) to the spooky Cars Land decor at Disney California Adventure, there is so much to enjoy that is already included with regular admission. Truthfully, these offerings are so extensive that visiting with a regular ticket during Halloween already feels like you’re attending a special event at the parks.

That being said, a huge draw of Oogie Boogie Bash, as with all after-hours parties, is the opportunity to meet rare characters. So if this is a priority for you, know that it is not something that you’ll be able to enjoy with regular admission (although the Halloween costumes that Mickey and friends wear are pretty fun and add something special to these character interactions)!

The Event Runs Late Into the Evening

The Oogie Boogie Bash parties take place from 6 pm to 11 pm. Granted, Oogie Boogie Bash doesn’t run as late as the Disneyland After Dark parties do over at Disneyland Park, but the event may be later than some families wish to stay up. Especially if you choose to spend your day rope dropping the parks that day with regular admission (which is an Oogie Boogie Bash mistake we would definitely recommend avoiding), you may find yourself pretty burned out by the time the event begins. This is a consideration for younger kids, especially, as they may be exhausted by the time the party kicks off and unable to truly enjoy all of the offerings.

On top of that, the only event nights are Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, so none of the event nights back up to a weekend. While this may not be a big deal for those already on a multi-day vacation, if you’re just planning on going just for the event itself, you’ll have to consider the downside of getting up early for work, school, or travel the following day. For those who are not Disneyland night owls, the late hours may be enough of a deterrent to skip this event.

It May Be Less Interesting to Adults

While the Disneyland After Dark parties feel very intentionally geared towards an adult audience, Oogie Boogie Bash, on the other hand, is more targeted towards kids. While this is not a problem for families visiting, it is something to consider if you’re visiting with an adults-only group.

A major emphasis of the event is the Treat Trails, where you’ll be accumulating huge quantities of candy—a concept that may not be as appealing to adults as it is to kids. The Ooogie Boogie Bash rare characters featured at each Treat Trail stop are fun to interact with—you’ll see favorites like Oogie Boogie, Ernesto de la Cruz, Sid, and more—but you can go through these fairly quickly and still have lots of time at the event left to spare. If the concept of the Treat Trails is not exciting to you, then this may not be the best event for you.

While the Disneyland After Dark events have a similar focus on rare characters, they lean more heavily into entertainment, special foods, and photo ops. The atmosphere is also generally more party-like, usually with several dance parties or other interactive entertainment offerings that will appeal more to an adult audience.

Tickets Are Expensive

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that Oogie Boogie Bash tickets are pricey, enough so to deter some guests from wanting to attend the party. As we mentioned before, there are already so many great daytime Halloween offerings available that some guests may understandably find it difficult to justify the extra price for this after-hours event. Prices range from $134 to $189 per person for the event from 3 pm – 11 pm (not including regular admission to the park before that time frame). Pricing gets more expensive closer to Halloween, as October in particular is typically one of the most crowded times of year at Disneyland (see our Disneyland crowd calendar for predicted crowd levels).

That being said, the ticket is a pretty good value for 8 hours of park time, and this price also reflects the value of the event-exclusive offerings you can only find at these parties. Even so, the high price tag might not be worth it to some with the quantity of Halloween offerings already included with regular admission.

Lack of Entertainment and Organized Event Offerings

As we mentioned before, if you’re not interested in the Treat Trails, there’s not an overwhelming amount of other entertainment to enjoy, and there are some disappointing aspects to the major organized offerings of the events.

The main entertainment offering is the Frightfully Fun Parade, which features a variety of villains as well as characters from spooky films and attractions like the Haunted Mansion and the Nightmare Before Christmas. This is a visually bold parade with an earworm song, but it overall feels a bit underwhelming and short compared to some of Disneyland’s other parades, and there are some noticeably less interesting gaps between the main floats.

Additionally, there is a lot of time you’ll spend waiting during this parade, as there is a large gap between the Headless Horseman intro and the actual parade. This gap is important, as it’s for the safety of the horse and rider, but it does, unfortunately, really kill the momentum of the parade. The parade does take up a big chunk of the party time, and the payoff is not worth it for some.

While Villains Grove is billed as a highlight of the party, some guests aren’t super impressed by this offering. This is an event-exclusive overlay of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail that is a scenescape inspired by favorite Disney villains with projections and sound effects. While this is a cool offering, many are expecting that there will be actual characters and feel that the experience is not worth the long wait. This can be especially disappointing for younger kids who are likely expecting to see characters like they do in the Treat Trails. Additionally, when demand is high for the attraction, the experience of walking through feels quite rushed.

It’s Hard to Get Much Done During the Mix-In Hours

While Oogie Boogie Bash lets you into the parks for mix-in hours starting at 3 PM, this period from 3-6 PM is not the most ideal time to experience the parks. During this part of the day, ride wait times tend to be at their peak, and unfortunately, you don’t have any Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations to fall back on to skip the lines. You can expect crowds to be high in general during this time as Oogie Boogie Bash guests flood into the park. You’ll really feel them in particular if you’re attending a party night in October, which is one of the busiest times of year at Disneyland.

While crowds will become more manageable once the party starts, it can understandably still be pretty frustrating to enter the park at its busiest and find enough things to do to make the most of these few hours. While these mix-in hours are better than nothing, you definitely won’t get the same quality of park touring that you would get rope dropping Disney California Adventure in the morning.

We always recommend eating dinner during this mix-in time before the event, as you’ll want to spend the time at the party exploring the event-exclusive offerings. For the rest of this time, you can consider hopping on some attractions with Single Rider, but this may not be an accessible option for families with kids under 7. It can also be smart to spend some of this mix-in time lining up early for the most popular character experiences, which takes us to our next point…

Lines Are Still Long for Some Characters

Another downside is that some of the lines can be quite long for certain character experiences. Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters are especially popular, and you can end up waiting hours for this popular meet-and-greet! Even if you strategize to get in line for this experience during the first parade when crowds are thinned out, you should still be prepared to wait 30 minutes or so.

The lines for popular characters can be a big downside for many, as they move slower than the Treat Trails and can easily take up a huge chunk of your night. As for the Treat Trails, even though these lines move a bit faster, the downside is that you are pretty rushed through these!

As we mentioned earlier, lines can be quite long for Villain’s Grove throughout the night, and waiting for this experience is a significant time commitment. The best way to minimize your waiting is to prioritize this experience during the first parade, but it’s a bit of an either/or between this and the Sanderson Sisters. If you choose to prioritize Villain’s Grove during this time but still want to see the Sanderson Sisters, you may want to line up for the Sanderson Sisters during the mix-in hours (up to 90 minutes before the party officially begins).

In general, the need to strategize at all to fit in the most highly-demanded experiences at the event can be enough of a deterrent for some to choose to skip the event.

It’s Not the Biggest Foodie Event

Disneyland has really leaned into expanding its special food offerings for events and celebrations with some fun themed offerings! You can expect to see lots of cute Disneyland Halloween foods available in general throughout the parks during the celebration, but there are only a handful of event-exclusive foods available during Oogie Boogie Bash. The Disneyland After Dark events are definitely more food-oriented, as each event comes with a full lineup of event-exclusive foods.

This is likely due to the fact that, as we mentioned before, Oogie Boogie Bash is more targeted at kids than adults. Still, looking at Season of the Force over at Disneyland Park as a comparison, there is still a reasonable number of special foods and novelties available for that celebration, and dozens of Star Wars Night-exclusive offerings on top of those. This may not be the biggest deal-breaker in the world, but even so, some may be a little disappointed by the lack of emphasis on food during this event.

Getting Tickets Can Be Difficult

If you want to secure the most desirable dates, you need to be ready to act quickly when they go on sale. In the past, Sunday and Thursday tickets were often the most popular option to sell out quickly followed by the pre-sale dates for Magic Key holders. Tickets have seen a high demand in the last three years with all party dates eventually selling out. If you have your heart set on a desirable party date or have your trip dates already locked in, you should be ready to purchase right when they go on sale.

Thankfully, the ticket process last year was not as bad as it was the previous year. In 2023, the demand for tickets actually crashed the Disney servers, and people were trying to sell tickets on eBay and Craigslist for extremely high prices (some were even listed for $1,999.99). I was purchasing tickets that year, and the process was extremely stressful. For those who heard about that process and are thinking of skipping the event altogether, know that the ticket sale process has already dramatically improved, so this is not as big of a reason to skip the event altogether as it was in the past.

There are some understandable reasons why Oogie Boogie Bash may not be for everyone, but even if you don’t end up going, there are still so many great offerings you can enjoy during the Halloween celebration! See our list of the best Disneyland Halloween experiences you shouldn’t miss.

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