Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney California Adventure is a new Halloween offering at Disneyland Resort. This separate ticketed party takes place on select nights in September and October. Read on to see what we thought of Oogie Boogie Bash!
Oogie Boogie BasH Returning 2023
Oogie Boogie Bash will return in 2023. Unfortunately, since we haven’t been to the event since 2019 we don’t feel comfortable offering commentary leading up to the event. Here’s the Disney page for the event, and we definitely trust Disney Tourist Blog for any commentary on the event.
Oogie Boogie Bash Basics
Well, the first thing to know about Oogie Boogie Bash is that the remaining dates for 2019 are sold out. So if you’re here trying to decide whether or not to go, that decision has been made for you.
Oggie Boogie Bash occurs on select nights in September and October 2019. These dates are September 17, 19, 22, 24, 26 and 29 and October 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29, and 21.
The party costs between $100 and $145 per person, depending on your chosen date and whether or not you are a Disneyland annual passholder. The party occurs from 6PM to 11PM, and the tickets allow entry to the park as early as 2PM.
Costumes are allowed and encouraged, but you should always check the official costume guidelines to be sure you remain compliant.
Oogie Boogie Bash Map and Times Guide
Here’s are some looks at the map and times guide (click to expand):
What’s Included at Oogie Boogie Bash
We’ll discuss each of these elements in more detail below, but we wanted to start by giving you a quick idea of what’s included.
Trick or Treating. There are numerous trick or treating trails throughout the park. Guests are given a complimentary candy bag, and cast members at each trail hand out candy and some healthier snacks.
Immersive Trails. Five of the trails are “immersive,” which really means they have a specific character performing in the middle of the trail.
Villains Grove. Villains Grove is an overlay of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. It is not a trick or treat trail, nor does it have any characters. It is a “haunting boo-tiful” trail filled with “special effects” themed to Disney villains.
Character Greetings. There are several character greetings around the park. Many of these are either characters or outfits that are exclusive to the party.
Frightfully Fun Parade. A special Halloween parade occurs once each night.
Villainous. Twice each night, the party has a nighttime show in the style of World of Color, but with a Halloween storyline.
Mickey’s Trick & Treat. Mickey has a small stage show inside the Disney Theater in Hollywood Land several times each night.
DescenDANCE. The Backlot stage hosts a Descendants-themed dance party several times each night.
Ride Overlays. These are accessible to non-party guests, but Guardians of the Galaxy—Mission: BREAKOUT!, Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree all receive Halloween-themed overlays (the first is the only notable one).
Merchandise, Food, and Drink. There is event-exclusive merchandise. We didn’t photograph any of it, but here’s a look at some of the items on Disney Parks Blog. There doesn’t seem to be any exclusive party food, but the park has tons of Halloween food (the menu is in our recent trip report).
Trick or Treating & Immersive Trails at Oogie Boogie Bash
Trick or treating at Oogie Boogie Bash is different from trick or treating at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in Florida. There are usually about five to ten Cast Member handout spots along each trail, with each giving you a few pieces of candy.
For families looking for a genuine trick or treating experience, this is probably better than Not-So-Scary’s single-station stops with a handful of candy. It does slow things down a bit, though, because now you’re stopping every 30 feet for another handout.
The only trails you really need to visit are the “Immersive” Trails. These five trails each host a character—Oogie Boogie, Dr. Facilier, Maleficent, The Evil Queen, and the Mad Hatter—who dialogues with guests as they walk by.
You can’t formally greet the characters, but they’re great at posing for pictures from their stages. To get a picture “with” them, you’d just have to get as close to the stage as possible.
These trails were a highlight of the party, but you can get through them pretty quickly. It might help if they had multiple characters on a trail, even just on one stage to interact with each other.
We tackled these trails pretty quickly, and we particularly found ourselves able to fly through them (save a few moments to watch the characters) near parade time and later in the evening.
Characters
There are eleven character greetings throughout the party, some of which have more than one character. Their locations are indicated on the map, which also indicates generally whom to expect (e.g. “Disney Villains” or “Friends from MARVEL”).
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything indicating what specific characters might be at these stops at a given time, although Anna & Elsa and Mickey & Minnie are always guaranteed. We didn’t wait for any characters, so we can’t comment on those, but Mickey & Minnie definitely had a wait of more than 15 minutes most of the evening, while we saw a few others that were walk-ups later in the night.
Mickey’s Trick & Treat
We walked right into the first showing of Mickey’s Trick & Treat a few minutes before it began. It’s a fun little show indoors, inside the Disney Theater, with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald telling a spooky story. There’s also a dance party element for the little ones.
While they tease a great “treat” at the end, all we got was candy (shocking, I know). We think the first show is a good use of your time. If you went to the 7:55PM show you might catch the Headless Horseman and you should catch the entirety of the parade.
Here’s a video from Laughing Place:
Descendance
We actually only watched about 30 seconds of this. We know nothing about the Descendants. There’s plenty of time to fit it into your visit, though it is pretty long (about 20 minutes). If you did the 7:15PM show you could probably grab a bite and/or do the two nearby Immersive Trails before the parade got there.
Here’s a video from The Entertainment Connection:
Villains Grove
Villains Grove is seemingly a highlight of the party, as it does have a lengthy queue for most of the night. We waited about 15 minutes right after the first showing of Villainous. The trail took us about 15 minutes to walk.
Let’s get the “bad” out of the way. There are no actual villains in Villains Grove. I did no preparation for this party and didn’t read the description, so I naturally assumed “Villains Grove” would prominently feature villains. It doesn’t…well, not really…
The design of the trail is so that different segments use effects (like projections) to capture the spirit of different villains. So here’s how Disney describes the Queen of Hearts segment:
Encounter a garden of twisted roses and flowers that paint themselves crimson before your very eyes—fantastical visions from Wonderland in Queen of Hearts’ Garden.
Altogether, the grove does have some very beautiful parts. A few parts are more of a swing and a miss. It’s definitely worth a 15 minute wait and 15 minute visit during the party.
Like many things, it’s important to go in with the proper expectations. You could either know exactly which segment is which villain (there’s a map at the front, and that earlier link explains each segment), or maybe try and guess as you go along.
in any case, be sure to pay attention to the detail, the projections, the lighting, because “that’s it.” If you know what you’re getting and appreciate it, this is good use of time.
Frightfully Fun Parade
The parade only occurs once a night, so it’s sort of the key anchor to planning your evening. The parade starts between Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park and ends at Guardians of the Galaxy.
You’ll find significant more seating near the end, but the beginning puts you in a better position if you’re pairing this with the 9PM viewing of Villainous, and the beginning/middle (near The Little Mermaid) puts you in the best spot to speed over to Villains Grove.
The parade begins with the Headless Horseman riding by a few minutes beforehand. The actual parade is about ten minutes long.
This isn’t as good as Boo To You—and the music is nowhere near as catchy—but it’s still a cool parade with some unique elements. There’s positively no reason you should miss it.
Villainous!
Villainous! is a nighttime show in the style of World of Color—lots of water projections and fire. The plot revolves around a young girl who is trying to settle on a Halloween costume. Oogie Boogie takes her on a series of villainous encounters for inspiration.
Ironically, this show is at its best when it’s at its least Villainous. The ending is a fun, zany piece with lots of bright colors, and it definitely left us on the right now. As for the rest…
Maybe it’s because it’s the nth Disney Halloween show I’ve watched this year, but I just find it hard to get jazzed by the same villainous tunes and quotes again and again. And while the water projection technology maybe has some remaining novelty, it pales in comparison to the amazing mapping technology you’ll see on Cinderella Castle in Florida.
As a showcase for the villains, though, the show does great. It’s maybe a bit unnecessarily thick on plot—something I also faulted the new Not So Spooky Spectacular for—but you’ll get some of the key songs and lines from the villains. And again, that finale is great.
Conclusions
“Is it worth it?” That’s the question everyone always wants answered and that always comes down to “it depends.”
I’ll start with some straight talk. Unless changes were made, I would not attend this party annually for fun (sometimes I do things for the site that I wouldn’t do for fun). I’d probably voluntarily go once every two or three years.
For starters, this is a really expensive party. It’s generally more expensive than Not-So-Scary (in Florida)…and it isn’t as good.
There are some things Oogie Boogie Bash definitely does better than Not-So-Scary. Trick or treating, for example, is a much better experience at Oogie Boogie Bash. Villains Grove is also a cool, unique experience.
But then things get complicated. The theming in Cars Land (and the rest of the park, really) and Guardians of the Galaxy overlay are probably my two favorite elements of the party, but those are also available to guests without party tickets (outside party hours, to be clear).
To my mind, you need to nail the core elements of the party—the parade and nighttime show—to really justify the high price, and I don’t think Oogie Boogie Bash does that. But one more thing…
The straightforward case for Oogie Boogie Bash is that you’re still getting up to nine hours in the park at prices typically less than a one-day ticket. So if you don’t already have park admission, and you were substituting Oogie Boogie Bash for a traditional day at the park it’s a good value.
We didn’t do any rides during the party, but the waits tend to be short enough that you could do the major rides and still fit in the parade and Villanous! show. Disneyland FASTPASS is also available until 6PM, so your 2PM entry is probably good for at least one FASTPASS.
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