2024 Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party Guide
Oogie Boogie Bash is a Disney Halloween Party in California Adventure (DCA) theme park at Disneyland Resort. This guide offers everything you need to know about the event: potential 2024 dates, time-saving tips & tricks, character locations, parade info, and whether it’s worth doing. (Updated June 25, 2024.)
In terms of basic background, Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party is a limited-capacity, separately ticketed event that adds family-friendly fun to DCA and is typically held in September and October. This Halloween Party offers an opportunity to enjoy the park’s attractions, unique entertainment, villainous treat trails, the Frightfully Fun Parade, and more.
Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party has been officially announced as returning for 2024, and event dates have now been released–as have the dates when ticket sales will start! It has become incredibly popular with Disneyland fans. Last year, there was a multi-hour virtual queue to purchase tickets, and the event sold out completely on the very first day of sales. If you want to be notified ASAP when tickets for the 2024 Halloween party are released, subscribe to our FREE email newsletter for updates. For now, here are party dates and what else we’re expecting for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash…
Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party will start in August for the first time in the Halloween party’s history. This year, the event will begin on August 25 (versus September 5 last year) and run through October 31, 2024. The limited-capacity, separately ticketed event will be held on 27 nights from late August through October, adding family-friendly fun for guests of all ages the opportunity during Halloween Time.
Here’s a full list of dates for each night of the Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party in August 2024:
- August 25, 2024
- August 27, 2024
- August 29, 2024
Dates for each night of the Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party in September 2024:
- September 3, 2024
- September 10, 2024
- September 12, 2024
- September 15, 2024
- September 17, 2024
- September 19, 2024
- September 22, 2024
- September 24, 2024
- September 26, 2024
- September 29, 2024
Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party – October 2024 dates:
- October 1, 2024
- October 3, 2024
- October 6, 2024
- October 8, 2024
- October 10, 2024
- October 13, 2024
- October 15, 2024
- October 17, 2024
- October 20, 2024
- October 22, 2024
- October 24, 2024
- October 27, 2024
- October 29, 2024
- October 31, 2024
As for when tickets will go on sale, Disneyland also just revealed this. Here are the official details from Disney…
The waiting room to purchase tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash will now open at approximately 8:45 a.m. PT, and sales will begin no earlier than 9 a.m. PT on Disneyland.com beginning on the below dates:
Inspire Magic Key holders (limited amount of tickets available for pre-sale) | June 25, 2024All Magic Key holders (limited amount of tickets available for pre-sale) | June 26, 2024- All guests | June 27, 2024
If you’re wondering where or how to purchase tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash, use this link: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/admission/events/
As you may know, Oogie Boogie Bash tickets often sell out quickly, so save these dates and times! If you’re waiting in the online queue to purchase tickets, you can be digitally notified when it’s your time to enter the ticket store. Once in the queue, choose the “notify me” option and enter your email address. You’ll receive an email letting you know it’s your turn to enter the ticket store by following the online instructions.
June 26, 2024 Update: Well, the Oogie Boogie Bash presales are now underway and on both of these days, we’ve been shut out of our preferred date to attend the event. And that’s despite starting out with a countdown clock that was 58 minutes one day and 47 minutes the next. (Meaning we were not “more than an hour” on our first attempt.)
Here’s hoping the third time is the charm, and that we didn’t make a massive miscalculation by not simply settling for our fallback dates!
On a positive note, the presales have been smooth sailing aside from the sold out dates. And that part is understandable, as Disney is only selling a limited number of tickets. There haven’t been any technical difficulties that we’ve seen and the email notification system works well–the only issue is high demand!
So here’s also hoping for more of the same tomorrow, with another glitch-free day, but without so many dates selling out so quickly. Good luck, everyone!
Tickets often sell out quickly is an understatement! Not only do they go fast, but you can also expect difficulties buying Oogie Boogie Bash tickets when they do go on sale. Not to scare you, but last year there was a multi-hour virtual queue during Magic Key presales, with all tickets during that exclusive window selling out before everyone in line had a chance to buy. The following week during the general public sales false start, there was also a multi-hour virtual queue–very few people were able to complete transactions before the queue closed due to technical difficulties.
Two weeks later, there was once again a virtual queue for the second attempt at general public sales. Every single night of Oogie Boogie Bash sold out on that day, and before everyone had a chance to buy. We know someone who was in all three of those virtual queues, wasting 12+ hours in the process, who was shut out of tickets completely. That’s massively bad luck, but it did happen!
We are expecting this year to go smoother because how could it not?! (Famous last words.) Nevertheless, there will be multi-hour virtual queues, of this much we are certain. Just hopefully not the technical difficulties…and maybe a tad less demand? Or at least a bit more supply thanks to 2 extra nights!
Regardless, if you’re wondering why so many Disneyland fans are anxiously awaiting the release of Oogie Boogie Bash tickets, that’s it. Because missing the announcement and start of sales could very well mean not even having the chance to buy tickets this year. They usually sell out quickly!
Last year, the price range for Oogie Boogie Bash tickets was $134 to $189, which was an increase by $5 to $10 per night over the previous year. As a general matter, tickets got more expensive closer to Halloween, with the cheapest dates at the beginning of September and the event getting progressively pricier the deeper dates got into October. It wasn’t a straight line, though; weeknights were higher than weekends. Expect more or less the same thing for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash.
When it comes to all things Disneyland, price increases are a fact of life. Given the record-setting pace that all dates of last year’s Oogie Boogie Bash sold out, we honestly wouldn’t be surprised with a range of $149 to $199. Even then, every single date will probably sell out.
Here are confirmed ticket prices for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash:
This is flat-out shocking. Even though the event was undeniably expensive last year, there was also a lot of unsatisfied demand. Don’t tell them we said this, but Disneyland could’ve probably bumped the range up to $174-$249 would probably still sell out most (if not all) dates. The appetite for Halloween among Disneyland fans and locals is insatiable, and a lot of ex-Annual Passholders use Oogie Boogie Bash as a way to get their “Disney fix.”
Given that, it’s wild that Disneyland chose to keep prices unchanged. It almost seems too good to be true…or like prices haven’t been updated yet? Then again, the company does seems reluctant to (continue) raising prices too high and too fast. The reputational hit from the Chapek years has done lasting damage that they’re still working to undo. So perhaps that explains this? Regardless, we’re not complaining…although we do worry that lower prices means demand–and competition–for tickets will be pretty fierce.
Here’s everything else you need to know about the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party…
In terms of what was new or different for last year’s Oogie Boogie Bash, the two big things are Treat Trails featuring Yokai from Big Hero Six and Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The latter is incredibly popular, and for good reason–the character is fantastic and Disneyland fans have a tremendous amount of nostalgia for the cult classic movie. Yokai is a different story, but it’s still worth seeing him, especially if you’ve yet to visit the new San Fransokyo Square.
When it comes to everything else, not much has changed. There are some different rare characters that appear in Carthay Circle, and Lotso has a dedicated meet & greet in Pixar Pier, but that’s really about it. For character strategy, see Villains Treat Trail Tips & Character Meet & Greet Spots at Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party. If you’re big on meet & greets, doing them in the “right” order (as discussed in that) can help save you a ton of time.
Highlights of Oogie Boogie Bash include immersive treat trails, Mickey’s Trick and Treat show, the Frightfully Fun Parade, Villains Grove at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, and more. All lands remain opening during the Halloween Party, including Avengers Campus.
High profile meet & greets include Clarabelle, Daisy, and Minnie as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus; Bruno from Encanto; King Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck from Kingdom Hearts; Lotso from Toy Story 3; and Hercules.
Below are the need to know locations throughout DCA during Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party…
Here’s the Oogie Boogie Bash Treat Trail villain lineup and locations:
- Agatha Harkness from WandaVision – Avengers Campus
- Cruella from Cruella (live action) – Hollywood Land
- Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas – Hollywood Land Inside Animation Building
- Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Grizzly Peak Near Soarin’
- Ernesto de la Cruz from Coco – Avengers Campus Between Hyperion Theater and Mission Breakout
- Mother Gothel from Tangled – Grizzly Peak Bypass
- Sid from Toy Story – Pixar Pier
- Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone – Between Buena Vista Street and Avengers Campus
- Yokai from Big Hero 6 – San Fransokyo Square
Here’s the Oogie Boogie Bash character meet & greet lineup and locations (in order of popularity):
- Daisy, Clarabelle & Minnie Mouse as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus – Hollywood Land
- Bruno from Encanto – Grizzly Peak
- King Mickey, Goofy, and Donald Duck from Kingdom Hearts – Paradise Gardens Park
- Rare Characters – Carthay Circle
- Marvel Super Heroes – Avengers Campus
- Pixar Pals – Pixar Pier
- Radiator Springs Residents – Cars Land
With those details out of the way, we’ll offer Halloween party strategy, a review, photos, and answer “is Oogie Boogie Bash worth the money?” Before we get to all of that, let’s start with an event overview…
For starters, purchasing admission to this special event allows you to enjoy Disney California Adventure for up to 3 hours before Oogie Boogie Bash — A Disney Halloween Party begins. The party itself runs for 5 hours, with special Halloween-themed entertainment, attractions, character greetings, and more.
Parking can be purchased upon arrival, or in advance. We recommend budgeting about 90 minutes for the time it’ll take to get parked, over to DCA, and through the turnstiles. There are lines for literally everything, from the parking garages to park trams to getting wristbands for the event. All of this waiting adds up and takes time–arrive early to ensure that doesn’t cut into the event time.
If you’re unable to attend Oogie Boogie Bash or are simply wondering how this special event compares with standard Disneyland and DCA park admission during the fall months, consult our Ultimate Guide to Halloween Time at Disneyland.
The good news is that there’s a ton of Halloween fun in both parks that is included with regular admission. In fact, if it comes down to visiting Disneyland during the day or doing Oogie Boogie Bash, we’d probably recommend the former. That way you’ll experience Haunted Mansion Holiday, Halloween Screams Fireworks, decorations, and characters throughout the park. In an ideal world, we’d recommend doing both Disneyland and Oogie Boogie Bash during the Halloween Time season.
Before we move on to the entertainment overview and recommendations, it’s worth mentioning that we have a step-by-step 1-Night Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party Plan. This covers our ideal efficient plan of attack–and it’s field tested, meaning that we did this ourselves when attending Oogie Boogie Bash most recently!
Oogie Boogie Bash Entertainment Info & Tips
Let’s start with the flagship entertainment during Oogie Boogie Bash: the Frightfully Fun Parade. This debuted during Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland, and we really enjoy it. Frightfully Fun Parade is similar to Boo to You Parade at Walt Disney World, albeit it shorter and a tad darker.
Despite the shorter duration, Frightfully Fun Parade is very strong, and it does a ton with an economy of parade units and floats. What’s featured here is really good and has direct ties to Halloween. There are also some notable differences in the characters featured.
Frightfully Fun Parade begins with the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow carrying his flickering jack-o-lantern. He heralds the arrival of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse who lead the cavalcade of characters.
After that, the highlight of the parade appears: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, who brings greetings from Halloweentown, as characters from “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” appear. Following that, Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize and bring Disney’s iconic Haunted Mansion attraction to life.
From there, Dr. Facilier uses his mystical powers to summon the Shadow Men from the bayou to loom large over his strange and twisted Voodoo parlor in one of the parade’s spookier units. Finally, the mischievous Disney Villains appear out of the darkness, with a dungeon-like lair and a wicked gathering of villainy including Hades, Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella, and more.
We recommend watching Frightfully Fun Parade from either in front of the Little Mermaid ride or directly across from that. This is the least-crowded section of the parade route and also the best-lit.
The advantage of watching from in front of Little Mermaid is leaving immediately after the parade passes and heading for Grizzly Peak, where you can either meet Bruno from Encanto with minimal wait, or head to Villains Grove (also with minimal wait).
The advantage of watching from the other side of that walkway is leaving immediately after the parade passes to line up for the Kingdom Hearts meet & greet. In both cases, you’ll beat the post-parade rush of people heading to these same destinations. Other spots along the parade route aren’t as convenient for moving along to your next destination.
While the parade is the flagship entertainment offerings for Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party, there are a few other noteworthy additions. First, the Mickey’s Trick and Treat show.
This interactive stage production in Hollywood Land is aimed at small children. It offers them the chance to join Mickey Mouse and friends as they throw a Halloween party with dancing, not-so-frightening scary-tales, and candy.
Another interesting addition is Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which becomes Villains Grove. This is a wondrous and ethereal world of Disney villains, completely transformed with lighting, projections, sounds, and special effects, creating a haunting, dreamlike (or does that make it nightmare-like?) environment.
Villains Grove is one aspect of Oogie Boogie Bash that Disney is really hyping, and it’s basically Disney’s twist on a standard Halloween walk-through maze you might find at other theme parks in Southern California. The primary difference here is that the environments are accomplished entirely via ‘flip of a switch’ technology that creates a dramatic day/night difference at Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
Treat Trails are one of the highlights of Oogie Boogie Bash. Each trail lures Guests deeper into the immersive worlds of the mischievous villains that everyone loves to hate. Along the way, you can trick-or-treat through a trail of candy (hence the name), including M&M’S, SKITTLES, SNICKERS, and other Halloween favorites.
Treat Trails offer oversized cauldrons full of candy, healthy snacks, and more. We are not particularly keen on candy, so we grabbed the apple sauce, carrots, cranberries, and other options each time we passed through the trails. If we wanted candy, we could absolutely clean up, as each trail offers multiple distribution points.
For us, the highlight is the villains. These characters interact with the crowd, with the talented performers heckling guests or putting on a show for the crowd. In our opinion, these are better than meet & greets, and offer a chance for fun and meaningful interactions rather than quickly posing with characters almost as if they’re background props for photos.
Oh, and the lines are much shorter and faster-moving than meet & greets. Seeing Oogie Boogie (the man of the evening!) takes about ~10 minutes via the Treat Trail, but would easily command an hour-plus wait time as a meet & greet.
There are also character meet & greets with Disney characters, including villains. Expect to encounter some rare characters and seldom-seen costumes for fan favorites; in case you missed it, the list for last year is above.
A lot of people don’t seem to understand how these special event ticket parties work, so to be crystal clear: a regular park ticket will not grant you admission to Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party.
You must purchase the special event tickets to stay in Disney California Adventure once Oogie Boogie Bash begins. Yes, this means potentially buying two tickets for the same day if you want to stay from park opening until closing.
On the other hand, a party ticket alone does grant you admission to Disney California Adventure a few hours before the event officially begins. It’s also cheaper than a 1-day park ticket for several dates.
This is a big reason why the Halloween Party is so popular with locals in Los Angeles and Orange County–it’s a less expensive way to see the Halloween offerings with lower crowds and at a cheaper price. Even though it’s not the whole day, it’s a good value if you’re a local who doesn’t want a full day at DCA.
The downside to this all is that the event is in DCA instead of Disneyland, and early entry is only in DCA. This means you cannot experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with just an Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party ticket, or any of the other Disneyland classics, including Haunted Mansion Holiday or Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy.
This is a big loss, and one that causes some locals to balk at party tickets. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves–more on this in the “Is Oogie Boogie Bash Worth It?” section below…
One of the cool components of Disney’s Halloween Party for many guests is the opportunity to dress in costume. There are limits to the costumes you can wear, but it’s basically common sense stuff like ‘no weapons or sharp objects’ and nothing offensive. If you need further guidance, I’d recommend reading Disneyland’s costume rules.
You also should keep in mind that unlike Florida, Southern California can get cool at night this time of year. We’ve worn heavier costumes to Disney’s Halloween Party–the kind that would be unbearable in Florida–and were perfectly comfortable thanks to evening breezes. We have a Tips for Disney Parks Halloween Costumes post that covers some ideas for what to wear…and what not to wear.
If you’re reading this after the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party is sold out online, note that it is sometimes possible to score last-minute or same-day tickets even when the party is sold out online by calling Disneyland at (714) 781-4636. Your luck may vary with this method, but it doesn’t hurt to try. (If you need regular park tickets, check out our Guide to Buying Discount Disneyland Tickets to save money.)
Guest Services at the three official Disneyland hotels occasionally have same-day tickets for guests staying at those resorts. Keep in mind that both of these strategies are very hit or miss, so don’t bank on either working. In the past, we’ve had good luck and bad luck with both methods. Once, I bought a last-minute ticket on Craigslist, which I would never recommend to anyone else. Fortunately, I didn’t get scammed, but your mileage may vary with that.
Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party Strategy
One thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do everything there is during Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party. We’re talking just the special entertainment and character greetings, let alone the regular Halloween attraction overlays like Guardians of the Galaxy — Monsters After Dark or Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-ween or Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree.
This is especially true if you plan on doing multiple meet and greets, as characters can consume several hours of your party time. If you don’t plan on meeting any characters–or plan on doing the less popular ones–you’ll have far more flexibility.
Now, a few notes about that strategy for Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party…
Frightfully Fun Parade is now performed twice nightly during Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party. As with all parades at DCA, viewing areas are significantly busier at the front of the park in Carthay Circle and Hollywood Land.
Viewing from near where the parade steps off is ideal for seeing it. This also gives you the opportunity to bounce to your next stop while most guests at Oogie Boogie Bash are still waiting for Frightfully Fun Parade to get to them. The lighting is also better here than near Carthay Circle Theater, making this our easy recommendation.
Meet and greet wait times are fairly consistent throughout the party, with less popular characters seeing shorter lines at the end of the night. Rare characters will have consistently long lines throughout, which is why we’d recommend arriving early for Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters from the movie Hocus Pocus.
You will want to line up for this no later than 5:30 pm–probably earlier if you’re attending one of the Halloween parties in late September or October. We explain everything you need to know about beating the crowds in How to Meet the Sanderson Sisters at Oogie Boogie Bash.
Attractions will have short waits throughout the party. Once regular day guests cycle through, you can expect peak wait times to be around 30 minutes, and that’s for popular rides like Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark and Radiator Springs Racers.
Here are the attractions open at DCA during Oogie Boogie Bash:
- Guardians of the Galaxy — Monsters After Dark
- WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Monster’s Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue
- Radiator Springs Racers
- Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween
- Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree
- Incredicoaster
- Toy Story Midway Mania!
- Jessie’s Critter Carousel
- Pixar Pal-A-Round
- Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
- Silly Symphony Swings
- Jumpin’ Jellyfish
- Goofy’s Sky School
- Golden Zephyr
- The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Grizzly River Run
- Soarin’ Around the World
Now, if you’re still wondering whether you should you do the party, we’ll try to help you answer that question…
Is Oogie Boogie Bash Worth It?
Value is all a matter of perspective. If you have financial means and won’t feel the sting of the ticket cost, or just really love Halloween and want to splurge on Oogie Boogie Bash, go for it. If the party is not a splurge for you, it’s unlikely that you’ll regret it.
We’ve done Oogie Boogie Bash every single year since it started, and have had a blast every single time. We really liked Disneyland’s other Halloween Parties before this and have never regretted attending, but we think Disneyland Resort takes it to the next level with Oogie Boogie Bash. Each year there are new characters, treat trails, and other entertainment–the team never phones it in, despite the Halloween parties all selling out with ease.
In terms of Oogie Boogie Bash itself, there’s plenty of entertainment, atmospheric enhancements to Disney California Adventure, characters, and a few minor entertainment offerings. You’re probably looking at around 3-4 hours of Halloween-centric offerings that are unique to this event.
Additionally, there are the core attraction offerings of Disney California Adventure that you can experience before Oogie Boogie Bash begins. If you want to break it down, we’d assign the following values to each component of the event: $25 for the Treat Trails and character meet & greets, $25 for Frightfully Fun Parade, $25 for ambiance, and another $25-50 (depending upon the night you attend) for early access to DCA. That’s assuming you can do around 6-8 attractions in those 3 hours–or about $5-8 per ride.
As a total sucker for Halloween, I can justify at least some of those costs. You might ascribe different values to each component of the event, or elect not to break the cost down on a ‘per unit’ basis.
There’s also trick or treating, which a lot of people really seem to value as it presents a safe and “Disney” environment for their kids to trick or treat. It’s tough to dispute this from a fun perspective; the interactive treat trails with characters like Oogie Boogie are way more fun than the normal ones.
Seeing these characters has value to us, whereas Halloween candy itself doesn’t have a particularly high value. A bag of candy from the CVS on Harbor Boulevard is ~$5 and you can bring it to the park if you wanted. Nevertheless, the overall experience of these is fun, and you’ll get value out of them one way or another.
There are a lot of other scenarios where the Halloween Party might be appealing. I already mentioned the locals from Los Angeles and Orange County. Oogie Boogie makes complete sense for this demographic, especially those who love Halloween. It’s a great way to experience a mix of special and regular offerings in DCA without buying a 1-day ticket.
Beyond that, tourists who only have a single day to spend at Disneyland Resort get a lot accomplished during the 8 hours that the Oogie Boogie Bash ticket provides access to Disney California Adventure. You won’t be able to do everything, but those 8 hours are going to have lower than normal crowds, allowing you to accomplish more attractions (if that’s your priority) than you could do in a normal full day in the parks. Plus, this is cheaper than a 1-day ticket.
Again, the downside in both of the above scenarios is that Oogie Boogie Bash only grants access to the second gate. Not being able to experience iconic attractions in Disneyland, or step foot in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, is a tremendous downside. We love DCA, but if we only had ~8 hours to spend at Disneyland Resort one day per year, we’d want to spend literally every single hour of that time in Disneyland, not DCA.
If you’re visiting Disneyland and Disney California Adventure for multiple days, you might be able to justify Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party from the perspective of one less day on a multi-day ticket, doing something else in the morning (Downtown Disney or the beach, perhaps) and then heading to DCA for the event. In this scenario, you’re paying a premium for the party ticket, but it’s almost like it’s discounted.
In an ideal world, we’d recommend getting a 3-day Park Hopper ticket and spending at least 4 days at Disneyland Resort, with the morning of Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party spent doing the Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast at Disneyland Hotel followed by lunch in Downtown Disney (or heading down to Laguna Beach for the entire morning). After that, head into DCA that afternoon and using only your Oogie Boogie Bash party ticket that day. It’s a good way to stretch your vacation dollars and make the cost of the event a little more palatable.
With all of that said, we have to admit that all of the above is a look at whether Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party is worth it on paper. A big draw is the atmosphere and different vibe Disney California Adventure takes on. There’s special background music, unique lighting & effects, and other guests dressed in costumes give the Halloween Party a palpable energy. This is a true X factor.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you’ll likewise be able to find a way to justify the cost of Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party. With every single event date costing over $125, the price is certainly steep. Moreover, there are a lot of Halloween offerings at Disneyland Resort that are included in the standard price of admission. If you already have APs or regular park tickets, there’s less of a “need” to do this.
For us, special events like Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party are a fun splurge. While we found the first two Oogie Boogie Bashes that we’ve attended to be imperfect, they are still “worth it” to us. Even if we would have a hard time breaking down the cost to justify it, the bottom line for us is that the parties are just plain fun, and we really love doing them. Your mileage may vary, but that makes the Halloween Party at Disneyland Resort worth the high cost to us. We hope it continues to improve in its fifth year–the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party should benefit both from experience and normal operations!
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you attended Oogie Boogie Bash? Do you disagree with my assessment of the Halloween Party? Already planning ahead for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party? Favorite characters you hope are featured at the event? Already have your costume made for it? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
As of 10:50 a.m. Pacific, the virtual queue is GONE. Even in the ~30 minutes before this, it was almost instant-entry. Wow. What a change from last year.
It’s my understanding that Disney invested in tech upgrades in order to process ticket sales more quickly and smoothly, which seems fairly evident when contrasting last year’s nightmare with this year’s fairly flawless process.
Also undeniable, given that the virtual queue is gone and tickets are still available for most dates (limited for many, according to Disneyland), is that demand is lower. It’ll be interesting to see whether every date sells out today!
The infrastructure updates were a welcome improvement! things almost felt like they went too smoothly today.
As far as demand, could they have just increased capacity for the events? seemed like a few dates were oscillating between sold out and available.
I am working away from home and didn’t remember that today was the day until about 10am (ish) pacific time. But using my MacBook Pro the wait was less than 10 minutes in the queue and I was able to score tickets. However while the first party date (Aug25) showed available, I just kept getting the spinning action. So I tried another tab (with no queue at all) and this time it showed that date sold out. I bought tickets for the 27th, as I am flexible, but after I bought those tickets, the first date showed available again. However I was never able to score tickets to that first party, even when it kept showing up as available. I would go both nights if I could, but at least I’m going once! Never been to Oogie Boogie, so looking forward to it. Yay!
I will add my experience for next year.
I had 3 devices going Macbook using Chrome, iPad on Chrome, and iPhone on Safari.
The queue was suppose to open at 10:45am my time but I was not able to join until 10:46 on my Macbook.
It took an extra 5 minutes before I could join the queue on my iPad and iPhone.
As I waited for 11am to roll around I watched the refresh timestamp and noted that my iPad would refresh 5-10 seconds faster than my Macbook and 15-20 faster than my iPhone.
Once 11am hit to buy tickets these were the wait times I had:
MacBook-8 Minutes
ipad-41 Minutes
iphone-48 Minutes
I completed my purchase on my Macbook and was done by 11:12am.
I checked around 12:30 my time and there looked to be tickets still available for some dates.
Not sure it helps now that ticket sales are underway – but here’s how my browser party shook out today:
1. Safari (phone) – 17 minutes – this is where I was successful
T.2. Edge (laptop) – 19 minutes
T.2. DuckDuckGo (phone) – 20 minutes
4. Chrome (laptop) – 28 minutes
5. Firefox (laptop) – more than an hour
Wishing everyone luck on their first choice date!!
I think it’s interesting to have for future references.
In our household, Chrome was the best-performing browser (multiple times under 30 minutes) and Safari was the worst (nothing under an hour).
The important takeaway probably isn’t that one browser is better or worse, but rather, that it’s smart to use multiple different browsers to increase your odds.
To add to the data points, I had one chrome browser i joined as soon as the queue opened started at 47 minutes, just got tickets. An incognito chrome tab i opened ~10 minutes later but still before 11PT still shows more than an hour.
But I got tickets!!!!!!! I’m going to Disneyland!!!!!!
this is slightly off topic, but what happened to the family and friends list?? I was trying to add a friend to my list before attempting to get OBB tickets to make sure I was ready but I can’t find it anywhere! I finally found the list on the WDW site and added her there, but couldn’t find the Disneyland version to make sure it was the same! I’d assume they need it for Genie+/LLMP linking at the very least. what’s going on there?
Yes. I bought 3 tickets yesterday, the 25th, using a gift card.You can also use PayPal pay in 4 option.
Can a pass Holder buy tickets for non pass holders?
Availability with the additional dates will be more than offset with the 3 day ticket deal running through the end of September now open to ALL, not just Ca residents. This will make the pool of guests wanting to attend much larger. If you’ve been in the parks lately Disney did not need to offer this seasonal ticket deal. It’s been very crowded.
While I can’t speak to this particular round since we haven’t visited as much during the current ticket deal, the previous deals in 2024 were the cause of crowds. Once those ended, crowds also dropped. So I assume the same is happening to at least some extent this summer, which is why it’s been more crowded. (Also, if it were crowded without the deal, DLR would have no incentive to offer it.)
As for the 3-day ticket deal worsening demand for OBB…I’m not sure. Maybe, maybe not. I understand your reasoning–that more people are going to take trips because of the ticket deal, and therefore there’s a bigger pool for OBB. And that makes some degree of sense.
Counterpoints:
-People induced to visit by the ticket deal are bargain hunters, and OBB is not a bargain. Some will splurge on this, justifying it since they already saved on regular tickets; most probably won’t.
-A lot of DLR fans are ex-APs who do OBB as a substitute for a regular day in the park during Halloween. With the ticket deal running simultaneously, some of them may opt for that *instead*
I think all of these points (yours and mine) are valid, it just becomes a breakdown of which side “weighs” more. I truly don’t know, but I’d be surprised if the ticket deal results in even more demand. I still think OBB will sell out almost immediately, so it’s an entirely academic discussion!
Can you pay for OBB tickets with a Disney Gift Card?
Do you think one would be more likely to get an Oogie Boogie Bash ticket for a Thursday or a Sunday? Or does it even matter? Making my first trip out to DL in September.
The first date to go is always Halloween
Sundays, particularly in October, go faster than Thursdays.