Halloween is a very popular time to visit Disneyland! There is so much to do and see during the celebration, from spooky decorations to themed Halloween treats and special ride overlays.
Below, we will share what we believe to be the top things you can't miss during your Disneyland Halloween trip. Make sure to carve out some time for these must-see highlights if you are visiting during the celebration! Also, be sure to see our full guide to Halloween at Disneyland for an overview of the celebration and everything you need to know.
We experienced the first day of Halloween at the Disneyland Resort during the most recent celebration. In 2025, the Halloween celebration at the resort spans from late August to the end of October, giving plenty of time to enjoy the variety of special offerings.
Some of the information from the previous celebration has been kept here to give you a sense of what will likely be offered in 2025!
Planning a Disneyland Vacation?
Get exclusive access to prices on hotel & tickets just for Mickey Visit subscribers. Don't miss our travel hacks newsletter!
1. Halloween Decorations in Cars Land
Disneyland decorates Cars Land in an incredible fashion for Halloween. The decorations are oozing from everywhere in this special celebration they call “Haul-O-Ween.” The setup is something that could only be created in a world inhabited by cars.
Both Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters receive Halloween overlays as well to become “Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree” and “Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween.” They both receive special Disneyland Halloween soundtracks and decorations for the celebration!
Cars Land Halloween Decorations After Dark
Make sure that you walk through the land after dark so that you can see all of the fantastic decorations with their lighting effects. The spooky Halloween touches in the land combined with the land's dazzling neon lights make for quite a sight!
2. Special Halloween Food
READ MORE – Disney Bans Guests From Theme Parks. No Exceptions Were Made For These Celebrities That Broke the Rules!
Each year, Disneyland releases a food guide with an assortment of Halloween-inspired treats. Many of these items are elaborately themed and almost just as fun to look at as they are to eat! Make sure to try some of these limited-time foods. Many are offered at quick-service locations, so you can use mobile ordering to choose a pickup window and conveniently skip the long ordering lines.
During the most recent celebration, highlights included items like the Boo-gogi Toasted Sandwich with Corn Cheese Soup from Jolly Holiday, the Pumpkin King Cold Brew from Royal Street Veranda, and the Monstropolis Float from Tropical Hideaway.
3. Photos With Characters in Cars Land
The character meet and greets are stellar for Cars Land during the Halloween season. Each car is wearing its own Halloween costume and looks fantastic.
4. Buena Vista Street Halloween Decorations at Night
You don't want to miss the Halloween decorations they added in Buena Vista Street. They are especially worth seeing after dark. There are beautiful purple lights in all of the trees and the Headless Horseman statue is covered in a blanket of eerie fog.
5. Photos of Disney Characters on Both Main Street USA and Buena Vista Street
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Chip, Dale, and Pluto all regularly make rounds on both Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure and Main Street USA in Disneyland. The Halloween costume for each character is different in each park. The characters on Buena Vista Street have a more homemade 20s style costume and the characters on Main Street USA are wearing more classic Halloween costumes.
During the most recent celebration, Mickey and Minnie's costumes featured colorful patchwork patterns and skeleton-inspired designs. Be sure to get a picture with the characters in their fun costumes, or catch the Mickey and Friends Halloween Cavalcade that takes place in Disneyland Park in the afternoon.
6. Photo With Giant Pumpkin on Main Street USA
The Disneyland Giant Pumpkin is truly the icon of the Disneyland Halloween season. The lines are sometimes long for photos at the beginning and end of the day when the majority of the people are coming into and leaving the park. If you are on Main Street anytime in the middle of the day, grab your photo with this Halloween icon as the lines are typically shorter.
7. Count The Pumpkins on Main Street
There are hundreds of pumpkins on Main Street USA with unique designs spread throughout stuck into each little crack and crevice. There are no two pumpkins that are the same. They call this section of Disneyland Halloween decorations the Main Street Pumpkin Festival.
8. Guardians of the Galaxy- Monsters After Dark Halloween Overlay
Disney has transformed the Guardians of the Galaxy-Mission: Breakout! attraction into a special Halloween experience that features a new storyline that picks up at the end of the storyline from the regular Guardians attraction. Baby Groot is missing inside the tower and Rocket needs your help to distract the monsters that are roaming free from attacking him. The attraction features a monster from the Thor: Ragnarok movie. This is a totally fun thrilling drop ride!
9. Haunted Mansion Holiday Themed to Nightmare Before Christmas
For both the Halloween and Disneyland Christmas season (see our Disneyland Christmas guide here) Disney transforms the Haunted Mansion in the Haunted Mansion Holiday with characters from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas film. They add decorations throughout the entire mansion and change the storyline. You'll spot Jack, Sally, Oogie Boogie, and more as the mansion comes alive with festive new additions in a display of what happens when “two holidays collide.”
10. Don't Miss the Gingerbread House Inside the Haunted Mansion Holiday
Every year the Disneyland Culinary team creates a custom gingerbread house to serve as the centerpiece for the ballroom of the Haunted Mansion. These gingerbread houses are gargantuan and highly detailed with fantastic designs and moving elements.
The gingerbread house is a 5-foot-tall, 6-foot-wide display. More than 240 hours were spent creating this display, which is made of 60 Pounds of Gingerbread, 50 Pounds of Powdered Sugar, 10 Pounds of Egg Whites, 30 Pounds of Rolled Fondant, 5 Pounds of Crystal Sugar, and 10 Pounds of Chocolate, and contains 2 Hidden Mickeys.
Make sure to keep your eyes peeled when you are riding the Haunted Mansion Holiday so that you don't miss this awesome addition.
11. Disneyland Halloween Has Ray Bradbury's Halloween Tree
There is an oak tree in Frontierland that is decorated during Disneyland Halloween to be themed to Ray Bradbury's 1972 Halloween Tree novel. Bradbury was a longtime personal friend of Walt Disney's and contributor to the theme parks–most notably for the creation of Epcot in Walt Disney World. I actually quoted him in the introduction to my best selling Disneyland Secrets book. The tree was dedicated in Bradbury on Halloween night in 2007, the 35th anniversary of the release of the book.
On the night of the dedication Bradbury shared: “I belong here in Disneyland, ever since I came here 50 years ago. I’m glad I’m going to be a permanent part of the spirit of Halloween at Disneyland.” Be sure to check out this cool piece of Disneyland history.
12. Coco in Plaza de La Familia
Jumping back to Disney California Adventure, Plaza de la Familia is another can't-miss offering celebrating the everlasting bonds of family and the spirit of Día de Los Muertos. During the celebration, you can enjoy entertainment, take photos with the figure of Miguel, try special food offerings, make arts and crafts at Paradise Gardens, and add a remembrance note on the Memory Wall honoring lost loved ones. See everything you need to know about the Plaza de la Familia celebration here.
Visitors can enjoy “The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco!”, featuring musical highlights from Coco, with song, dance, the figure of Miguel, and the spirit guides Dante and Pepita. The show will be performed several times a day.
13. Oogie Boogie Bash
Oogie Boogie Bash is a separate ticketed event that takes place on select nights September-October at Disney's California Adventure! This Halloween party includes special Halloween entertainment, interactions with famous Disney Villians, exclusive souvenirs, treats, and more!
Read all about Oogie Boogie Bash in our guide to plan your party night! You can see the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash dates and tickets info here.
14. Mickey's Trick and Treat Show
The interactive Mickey's Trick and Treat show at the Disney Theater in Disney California Adventure is a family-friendly offering that invites younger guests to dance and sing along with Mickey and Minnie. During the most recent Halloween celebration, it was available for the first time ever as a daily offering during the Halloween celebration. The show features Disney characters and a host dressed as a mad scientist, and it includes two original Halloween songs, projections, special effects, bubbles, and more fun.
This show is super cute! Throughout, the characters are comically trying to come up with ways to make the telling of a spooky Halloween story less scary. Kids have lots of fun as they can come up and dance along with the songs!
15. Halloween Screams Fireworks
At Disneyland Park, you can enjoy the Halloween Screams fireworks show, featuring spooky sights like ghosts, Disney villains, and even Zero from The Nightmare Before Christmas flying over the castle, set to a medley of Halloween-inspired songs.
This is one of Disneyland's best fireworks shows with super fun music and truly spectacular visuals! This show will have fireworks on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and on the other days of the week, it is projections only.
16. Happiest Haunts Guided Tour
While this is not a Disneyland Halloween experience included with regular park admission, if you are interested in reserved viewing for the fireworks, you can look into the Happiest Haunts Guided Tour. This 2-hour walking tour of Disneyland Park includes access to a reserved viewing area for the fireworks, Lightning Lane entry to a select attraction, a fun photo op with the Hitchhiking Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion, and collectible keepsakes. See our review of the Happiest Haunts Tour here.
17. Disneyland Halloween Novelties
In addition to all of the limited-time foods offered during the Halloween celebration, there is also a variety of novelties that you can collect. This includes some adorably themed popcorn buckets, sippers, glow cubes, tumblers, straw clips, and bottle toppers. These are really fun items to collect! See the Mickey Jack-O-Lantern Sipper from the most recent Disneyland Halloween celebration above.
18. Downtown Disney Decor
In addition to festivities at the parks, you'll also find some elaborate seasonal decor throughout Downtown Disney. You'll spot fun Halloween-inspired character displays like the ones seen above, as well as more than 5,000 plants across 14 planters in rich autumnal colors of russet red and harvest orange brought in by the Horticulture and Resort Enhancement teams. At night, the trees of the district are washed with stunning hues of red and purple and illuminated with twinkling lights.
READ MORE – You Have to See This Boozy Dole Whip On the Secret Menu at One of Disneyland’s Best Restaurants
Did you know that you can enjoy this favorite Disneyland dessert in the form of a cocktail? This drink is a dream come true, and it's a secret menu item from one of our favorite Disneyland restaurants. See details about this boozy Dole Whip drink and where you can find it!
READ MORE – 10 Rookie Mistakes to Avoid When Booking Hotels for Disneyland
We've seen first-time visitors make some completely avoidable mistakes when booking hotels for Disneyland that can end up costing them. See the 10 rookie mistakes to avoid when booking hotels for Disneyland so that you don't end up making any of these!
Planning a Disney Vacation? Get Exclusive Discounts + Free Bonuses
In addition to exclusive discounts for Mickey Visit subscribers, get our free planning printable and guide to make your life SO much easier.
