AntSol Travel

Oogie Boogie Bash is the Halloween party at Disneyland Resort’s Disney California Adventure Park, named after the antagonist of the Nightmare Before Christmas movie. It acts as a family-friendly party in comparison to Universal Studios, Six Flags, and Knotts Berry Farm where it is all about scaring your pants off & is not family friendly. Guests are allowed to wear full costumes, go on trick-or-treat trails with Disney villain interactions, exclusive character meet & greets, Halloween overlays for attractions, little to no wait-to-ride attractions, exclusive villains parade, and one of the most hyped attractions, Villains Grove, a walkthrough attraction with lights, sounds, lasers, and projections to emanate the villains.

The parties are always popular with the tickets usually selling out in just days like 2021, or even hours like this year, so if you are going with someone as I did with my family, we had to coordinate to buy the tickets for the specific date and get time off from work as needed if you are making a trip out of it, or suffer with five hours of sleep if you are a local like us with work or school the next day.

The parties start the first full week of September to Halloween, running three times every week on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, which are work & school nights, making it hard for locals to go back the next day but the DCA is not blocked out on other days. To prevent the noise bleed of fireworks, Disneyland has a projection show instead on party nights. The exception for those days of the week is October 29th, the Saturday before Halloween, and Halloween on a Monday. Admission price increases as time goes by from $139 on weekdays in September & $144 on Sunday, $169 in October, $189 on the 29th & 31st. Hopefully, the increased ticket prices mean more candy, right?

For entry, Oogie Boogie Bash guests can enter California Adventure starting at 3 p.m., while regular park guests get kicked out at 6 pm. Most party activities start at 6:30 to 7 p.m.

My mom, dad, sister, and I arrived at the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure at 6 p.m., along with many of the locals who went to a Tuesday party after school & work, who all packed the parking garage. We went through security & took the tram in, and then got to the esplanade by 6:30 pm.

It was September 26th, and the high was 85 degrees, so it was warm and you would still be sweating with a heavy costume on, but it cooled down to 70 degrees. Speaking of costume, all party guests of all ages are invited to wear a costume, which ranges from a shirt that has a printed design of the character clothing to Disneybounding that the clothing style resembles a character, to full-on cosplay that would see guests wear at comic con, or like my family & me, did not wear a costume at all. I was wearing my hiking gear of a navy sun shirt, khaki shorts, and trail running shoes, so a hiker I guess.

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At the tram stop for the Disneyland parks, the many guests attending the party got off the tram and went straight to California Adventure’s turnstiles, scanned the event ticket, got a map, a trick-or-treat bag, & a wristband to indicate you are a party guest along with the PhotoPass number since photo downloads are included. From here, there are many options to go to, depending on or objective, for us it was candy, so the treat trail was our main objective.

First, we saw that there wasn’t a line for Soarin’ Around the World, so we were able to go on without a queue outside, about a 15-minute wait. Since there are only set amounts of tickets allocated for Oogie Boogie Bash, wait time are typically much lower than the attendance for a normal operating day, and there is little to no wait for all attractions. Before getting in the queue, a cast member was checking wristbands and asked me to show my wristband since it was covered by my shirt sleeve. Wait time was about 15 minutes, not bad at all. After Soarin’, we went to the trick-or-treat trail next door.

The trick-or-treat trails have Cast Members at four to five stations per trail, grab two to three pieces of Mars candy, chips, or bagged fruit & vegetables, and place them in guests’ bags. Then in the middle is a villain from one of the Disney movies, this trail had Judge Doom, from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the judge with a vendetta to put toons of Toontown in their place, and demonstrated by putting a toon shoe in a vat of benzene to kill it. They usually have candid lines to say, such as the judge with his demonstration and probable responses about a character in the movie, such as him wanting to get Roger Rabbit.

On the next trail was Mother Gothel, who locked Rapunzel in the tower in the movie Tangled, due to Rapunzel’s long blond magical hair. If you are dressed as one of the characters, especially the protagonist, be prepared for a full-blown conversation as one of the guests in front of me was dressed as Rapunzel and conversate with Mother Gothel, and why Gothel was never there, as she was “getting paint for Rapunzel’s paintings.”

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Last year, we went through the Villains Grove, a walkthrough attraction with lights, sounds, lasers, and projections to emanate the villains. We did not go again this year since we already saw it, but I will recount it here. The line is usually long during the first half of the party, so we decided to get in line at 7 pm, however, we all had to wait until it was completely dark at about 8 pm, then the lights, effects, and sound turned on and let guests in. It was pretty cool as guests walked through the Redwood Challenge Trails filled with ominous music, creepy projections, fog machines, and laser lights towards the end. However, you would not really appreciate it if you didn’t know what each scene represents beforehand, so I’ll tell you now.

According to Disneyland’s website, the trail goes as follows: first was Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame with the height of the trees, Gregorian chants, and smell of incense resembling the church where Frollo worked. The second was Maleficent’s residence with a projection of thorns, ravens, and vines on the backdrop of the waterfall of her evil lair. The third was Cheshire Cat & Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, with the appearing & disappearing cat, the projection of Queen of Hearts surrounded by rose-shaped lights. The fourth was Scar’s hyena troops from The Lion King, with projections of hyena spots & them marching. Fifth was Dr. Facilier from The Princess & the Frog, with projections and spells that apparently let us to the darkest corner of the grove. After that were ominous moans with lights hanging from the trees imitating rainfall & lighting from the Wicked Queen from Snow White. Next, laser lights bouncing around the environment resemble the Whips from Brave, which help lead us away from the villains and then walk into the light back to reality. 

We all expressed intrigue & disappointment, as it was cool but left a lot to be desired as there weren’t any characters there, only projections. The line for it is always long, so we decided to wait while we were in the front of the line, which we needed to wait until it is fully dark at 8 pm. No one in my family knew directly if the references were before going on the trail to fully appreciate the experience. There were only two direct movie references of characters, Alice in Wonderland & Lion King as it actually showed which character it was, not symbolic with the other characters. We had to wait until it was completely dark, as we could have used that time for other activities.

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Back to now, after Mother Gothel, we went to new refurbished San Fransokyo Square, formerly the Pacific Wharf. To get to the Square had to wait to cross the “Frightfully Fun Parade.” (I forgot to take pictures.) The parade features villains from all over the Disney movies, from the Evil Queen in Snow White (1938) to Mother Gothel in Tangled (2010). Some of the villains like Dr. Filliactors in The Princess & the Frog (2009) have their own segment of the parade, while the rest of them are on the last float. You can also buy seated dessert packages that get you seats and desserts while watching the parade. After the last float, we were able to cross the walkway to Lucky Fortune Cookery to get dinner.

San Fransokyo Square is themed to the movie Big Hero 6, where boy genius Hiro, his robot companion Baymax, and his engineering classmates use their skills to save the city as the superhero group, Big Hero 6! The area has been refurbished to resemble the movie. In the movie, it where after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, the Japanese immigrants had a huge influence on the architecture, giving a more Japantown-style atmosphere. In the first movie, Big Hero 6, a Kabuki masked man, nicknamed Yokai, named after Japanese spirits, got hold of Hiro’s engineering project of a swarm of microbots, with a plot to get Alistair Krei, an entrepreneur who was at the engineering fair where Hiro’s project was stolen. Yokai was the next treat trail after dinner, standing in front of Krei’s company’s banner, showing he had taken over Keri Tech Industries.

After my family & I finished eating, we got in line to see the masked Yokai up close in the trick-or-treat trail. His candid lines were mostly about taking over Keri Tech & how Baymax can be reprogrammed to be a killing machine to take over the world with him, otherwise, he will stare at the guests. 

After that, there was a trick-or-treat trail at the Radiator Springs Racers viewpoint area of Carburetor Canyon, however, without villains due to the small space of the area & lack of villains in the Cars movie. Then we checked the wait time for Radiator Springs Racers, which was an hour, so we decided to pass. Then we got pictures of two of the Cars characters in their Halloween costumes, Cruz Ramirez as a pirate, and Red the fire engine as a clown.

Next, was Avengers Campus with Agatha Harkness from Marvel’s Wondavison, as it was her messing with things the whole time in the mini-series on Disney+. Loki & Captain America wer doing meet & greets. The lines for both Spider-Man Web Slingers & Guardians of the Galaxy were over 30 minutes, so we decided to pass since we wanted to hit all of the treats trails. We can go on the attractions any other day since we are Anaheim locals.

During the Halloween season, at night, they have a timed programming for Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout to switch over to Monsters After Dark. This version takes guests after the events of the regular Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout storyline, in which guests visiting the Collector’s collection help Rocket Raccoon of the Guardians of the Galaxy, to break the rest of the crew from the Collector, which guests accomplish. However, what happens afterward in Monsters After Dark, the rest of the Collector’s monsters are on the loose and baby Groot is left behind, Rocket along with the guests helps rescue Groot by distracting the loose monsters on the gantry lift. In the end, everyone escapes, however, the drop sequence is more intense and unpredictable. Making guests who don’t like free fall sensations, all the worse, as some of the family & friends that we bring along are mortified by the ride.

At the Hyperion Theater queue area, it was the trail for Ernesto De La Cruz, the singer in the afterlife who stole the song he was singing “Remember Me”, from the movie Coco. Ernesto stole the song as his own from Miguel’s great-great-grandfather. I could overhear guests swooning over Ernesto & the song.

At the Hollywood Backlot Stage, Cruella De Ville from the 2021 movie, Cruella, was showcasing her latest fashion line. However, when we got there, she immediately needed a break & went backstage, so we moved on. At last I got pictures of here from last year.

Across the street, inside the Disney Animation Building, was the home of Oogie Boogie himself. One of the line sets was “Who are you dressed as?” My dad happened to be right in front when Oogie Boogie said it, which was his regular clothes of shorts & t-shirt. Oogie Boogie quickly replied “How revolting, I love it!” it is a default line set he says.

Then going down to Buena Vista Street and behind Carthay Circle was Madam Mim, from Sword in the Stone, she was the evil witch who tried to kill Arthur, but wizard Merlin, who was helping Arthur, came in time to rescue him. Madam Mim is Merlin’s nemesis, so Mim & Merlin settle by doing a duel, which Merlin wins by turning himself into a germ and getting her sick, showing Arthur that knowledge is power! After that there was one treat trail at Pixar Pier, so we headed over.

Under the Silly Symphony Swings was a Magic keyholder-only trail. A cast member scanned our Magic Key annual pass, and then we got a Halloween-themed over-the-shoulder bottle holder/candy bag, a full-sized Snickers Almond bar, and a photo op. However, we skipped the photo op as the line was long. Then we made our way to the Pixar Pier trail.

The Pixar Pier trail featured Sid, the deranged toy surgeon who lives next to Andy in the first Toy Story movie. Sid has the most unhinged (mentally unbalanced) interactions of any character I have seen as his canned lines included his surgeon procedures on his toys, “I know what I am but who are you, that’s right a looser”, gawking guests not saying anything as the guest is a scary cat, and even mocking guests who dress as him as a copycat. The scary part is that he can be a real-life villain as a bully in your neighborhood. He claims to be 11, when the person portraying him is at least 21 years one. After that, it was 9:50 p.m., so we needed to head out since it was a work night for all of us.

My family and I decided to avoid the character meet and greet as those always have a huge line and depending on the character, just as long wait time for waiting for the Villians Grove. They included Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabell as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus 2. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are in their costumes from the Kingdom Hearts video game. As well as Bruno from Encanto even does a meet and greet, but we don’t talk about him.

It was a fun experience, I wish they did not have the parties on work & school nights since it hard to wake up for the next day stacked with work & going to Disney. Overall we have fun like we have every year getting candy from treat trails with the villain interactions, short or no line for most attractions, and a fun Halloween atmosphere that won’t scare kids half to death. Thank you for reading! Consider checkouting my September update blog to see what is new in the parks such as Tiana Palace, details about San Fransokyo Square and more!