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 Knott’s 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 some of the attractions, little to no wait-to-ride on most attractions, exclusive villains parade, and one of the most hyped attractions, Villains Grove, a walk through attraction with lights, sounds, lasers, and projections to emanate the villains.
- Artificial Intelligence Disclaimer
- Ticketing & Party Dates
- Going to the Oogie Boogie Bash
- At the Bash!
- Trick or Treat Trails
- Villains Grove
- Around Grizzly Peak
- Frightfully Fun Parade
- Pixar Pier
- Paradise Park
- San Fransokyo Square
- Cars Land
- Avengers Campus
- Madam Mim
- Hollywood Backlot
- Heading Home via Downtown Disney
- Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence Disclaimer
At AntSol Travel, we believe that AI can be used as a tool for improving things here & there on articles, but should not be used as solely to produce the creative process. I am using WordPress Jetpack AI plug in to improve a few things in the article like improving the title, wording suggestions, feedback about the article, and art for fun. For pictures, we have these interesting AI renders when given the title of the article as a prompt.
Ticketing & Party Dates
The parties are always popular with the tickets usually selling out in just days like 2021, in hours like 2022 & 2023. Still, this year of 2024, the hype died down and it took two weeks to sell out all the party tickets according to the OC Register. If you were planning 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. We chose Thursday, September 12, 2024 and I requested the day off, which thankfully I did since we did not get back to the apartment until midnight. Yet, my dad & sister had to wake up as normal for work the next day.
The parties start the first full last full week of August 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 California Adventure is not blocked out on other days. To prevent the noise bleed of fireworks & less overall attendance during the off season on weekdays, Disneyland has a projection show instead on weekdays.
Going to the Oogie Boogie Bash
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 Thursday party after school & work, and who all packed the parking garage. But, we were stuck in a parking Twilight Zone as the fifth floor was already packed and had circle the garage several times, and eventually found a spot a few loops later. We went through security & took the tram in, and then got to the esplanade by 6:30 pm.
It was September 12, and the high was 76 degrees, so it was warm and you would still be sweating with a heavy costume on. It later cooled down to 68 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, wear 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 and just wear regular clothes. I happened to wear my hiking gear of a navy vest, khaki shorts, and trail running shoes, so a Grizzly Peak hiker I guess.
At the Bash!
At the tram stop for the Disneyland parks, the many of 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 show 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 our goal. For us it was candy, so the treat trail was our main goal, but first an attraction.
First, we saw that there wasn’t too much of a line for Soarin’ Around the World, so we managed 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 times are typically much lower than the attendance for a normal operating day, and there is little to no wait for all attractions. Wait time was about 15 minutes, not bad at all. After Soarin’, we went to the trick-or-treat trail next door.
Trick or Treat Trails
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 treat trail next to Soarin’ had 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 when he introduced last year. Still, if you saw the last one from last year as shown above, it was a bit intimidating.
This year, he was sitting down and intimidating the shoe over the benzene, due to kids getting upset and their parents too. He usually had candid lines to say, like the judge with his demonstration and probable responses about a character in the movie, like him wanting to get Roger Rabbit.
Villains Grove
In 2022, we went through the Villains Grove, a walk through 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, although, 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. Nonetheless, you would not really appreciate it if you didn’t know what each scene shows 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, changing directional signs leading you to the projection of Queen of Hearts surrounded by rose-shaped lights. The fourth was Scar prepares his 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 led 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 was 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 have used that time for other activities.
During the day, I walked along the trail and there were visible elements, like the candelabras, lighting & projections, the Queen of Hearts rose garden with color changing white roses, and the tarps covering the changing signage leading to the rose garden.
Around Grizzly Peak
At Grizzly River Run, there was no wait for the attraction as it was only 70°F with the sun setting. There was purple lighting around the lift hill giving an eerie impression. In the past years, the Grizzly Pass Trail hosted Mother Gothel from Tangled, but, she was replaced by Dr. Doofenshmirtz for the villain on the treat trail at the Disney Jr. Theater.
Frightfully Fun Parade
Next, we crossed over the parade corridor to get to the attraction at Pixar Pier as everyone was waiting to see the Frightfully Fun Parade. The parade is an Oogie Boogie Bash exclusive parade featuring Ichabod Crane & the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, Jack Skellington of the Nightmare Before Christmas, Mickey & Minnie, ghostly ballroom dancers, gravediggers, hitchhiking ghosts, Chestchere Cat, and various villains as well. We always skip it as it is prime time to go on attractions and the trick or treat trails while everyone is distracted by the parade.
Pixar Pier
While we were at Pixar Pier, there was only a fifteen minute wait for both Incredicoster and Toy Story Mania.
Then we went to our second treat trail at the Pixar Pier bandstand, featuring Sid from Toy Story, a 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 at 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 old.
Paradise Park
After that, we went to the Silly Symphony Swings for a Magic Key Holder treat trail. After we scanned our passes, we got more candy, a cool Hades themed patch, and a photo opportunity with a backdrop with Hades. But, the line was really long for the photo, so we decided to pass.
Continuing along, we went to Paradise Park treat trail at the area that would normally be used for World of Color, but is under refurbishment. We got candy but no villains. Still, there were plenty of photo opportunities that we did not do, for example Mickey in his Kingdom Hearts video game costume, and a photo in front of the cauldron from the Hocus-Pocus series. After that, it was time to get dinner from San Fransokyo Square, based on the Big Hero 6 series.
San Fransokyo Square
At San Fransokyo Square we quickly grabbed dinner. Went to the Karl Strauss Brewery, where I got two sausage buns, one fried & one steamed, which I ate before I took the picture. I washed it down with a Karl Strauss Oktoberfest beer!
The square had a treat trail, featuring Yokai, the villain of the Big Hero 6 movie. In the movie, 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.
Cars Land
At Radiator Springs, is it decorated well for Halloween season with car parts. Even the cars are dressed up as well, Cruz Ramirez from Cars 3 is dressed up as a pirate. There is a trick or treat trail in Cars Land but no villain. There are two attractions that is changed up for the season, Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree with Mater singing his version of Halloween tunes. Along with Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween where Luigi’s cousins dance to Halloween tunes from Europe.
Avengers Campus
At Avengers Campus, Agatha Harkness of Wondavison series got her own Marvel series, Agatha All Along on Disney+.
There wasn’t any wait for Guardians of the Galaxy Monsters After Dark, a nighttime Halloween season overlay where you need to rescue Baby Groot with Rocket Raccoon after the events of the regular Mission Breakout. But, our progress was hampered by only one of three elevator shafts operating. Right were waiting for the next elevator, the other two shafts just opened… oh well.
Madam Mim
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!
Hollywood Backlot
Dr. Doofenshmirtz of Phineas and Ferb Franchise makes his Oogie Boogie Bash debut with the trail inside Disney Jr. Theater. There you get to see the doctor test out his latest “-inator” invention, like what we got to see was “Snowinator” as it “snowed” with soap in the theater.
Oogie Boogie, the main antagonist of the Nightmare Before Christmas movie. He makes his appearance at the Animation Building.
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 overheard guests swooning over Ernesto & the song.
Hades of the Hercules franchise takes over the Hollywood Backlot Stage for Cruella Deville, who was there for a couple of years.
Heading Home via Downtown Disney
At 11 pm, with our fill of thrills & bags filled with candy, my family & I head out. But, the line for the trams back to the garage was packed. So we walked the half mile from downtown Disney to the garages in thirteen minutes. It was much faster than waiting in line and hoping to get on the trams. It was an extra half mile walk.
Around Downtown Disney, it is decorated for the Halloween season with lighting and sculptures with the ghosts from the Mickey & friends cartoons. In the Grand Californian Hotel lobby, they have a dessert cart with treats for sale, including pumpkin cookies. Both of these pictures were from another evening that we went to dine out at Downtown Disney.
Back at the apartment, we had a huge haul of candy, Goldfish cookies & crackers, really dry carrots, and more between the four of us!
Conclusion
In conclusion, Oogie Boogie Bash is a fun & family friendly Halloween party event than the scary events at other theme parks, with the Disney villains, trick or treat trails, shorter attraction lines, and more. Make sure to keep an eye when tickets go on sale and coordinate with people you want to attend with. At the park, you what your group think wants to value to their time more between the treat trails, photo ops, attractions, the parade, and more to make most of your time.
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