We attended the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney California Adventure. This Halloween party features rare character greetings, special entertainment, spooky walk-throughs & treat trails, lower wait times for popular rides, and more. Our recap shares party photos, what we accomplished, and thoughts on whether it’s worth the money.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, check out our Ultimate Guide to Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party. If you’re planning on attending the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash (OBB) and have never done it, that’s a good starting point. If you have already done OBB since 2021, it’s about 90% the same. There are major differences with Oogie Boogie Bash as compared to 2019, but unfortunately, they’re almost all downgrades.
We had hoped that Disneyland would expand and improve Oogie Boogie Bash in subsequent years after it launched, especially given the local fanbase, but that really hasn’t been the case. We covered this all at length in Why You Should Skip the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash Disney Halloween Party, which makes the case against attending the event. Although that’s mostly aimed at locals and repeat visitors, some of the points apply to first-timers, too.
As always, it’s worth point out that you can have a lot of fun for “free” during Halloween Time at Disneyland. Unlike Walt Disney World, the base experience during Halloween is fantastic in the California parks. Attraction overlays, great menu updates, and decorations galore! See our Ultimate Guide to Halloween 2025 at Disneyland for everything you need to know.
If I had to decide between a ticket to Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party or one of the $104 days at Disneyland during the spook season, I would–without a doubt–choose the latter. You get longer hours, a ton of included offerings, lower prices, and the more iconic park.
I’m not trying to start this out as a downer; Oogie Boogie Bash is a lot of fun as a special event. It’s just that the hype for this hard ticket Halloween party has gotten a bit out of control, fueled by the FOMO of tickets selling out so fast. And the base experience during Halloween Time at Disneyland is phenomenal, which shouldn’t be overlooked. (This is doubly true if you’re a Walt Disney World regular who has never done Halloween at Disneyland.)
As has happened with Disneyland Resort’s Halloween Party for the last decade, the entire season of Oogie Boogie Bash is already sold out. It’s starting to sell out a bit slower than the last few years, but that’s probably just as much due to increased supply. Oogie Boogie Bash used to start in mid-September, and now it begins almost a full month earlier than it did in 2019.
In addition to that, the month-long closure of Radiator Springs Racers likely put a damper on ticket sales for the first month-plus of the event this year, especially among fans who are going primarily for rides. Regardless, there has never been a single Oogie Boogie Bash date that did not sell out, and that’s true again in 2025. But it appears we’re closer to ~2019 normal in terms of ticket sales.
From a practical perspective, this review/recap thus isn’t particularly useful at this point unless you’re already looking forward to the 2026 Oogie Boogie Bash or have tickets in hand and want quick tips for this year. Accordingly, we’re sharing this report with those ‘angles’ in mind.
We started our afternoon at Disneyland Resort by parking at the Toy Story Lot in mid-afternoon. Traffic was bad, so we arrived later than we’d hoped, and lines for the buses were long, so we walked to the Esplanade as opposed to taking the shuttle.
There we were greeted by a long line for the security checkpoint. A bit beyond the scope of this post, but that happens with increased frequency this time of year, and is more than a little frustrating–especially as compared to the process at Walt Disney World. Security at Disneyland is incredibly inconsistent and inefficient, making a terrible first impression and creating congestion outside the checkpoint (which I would think poses its own risk). It’s beyond time for Disneyland to drag its security screening out of the 1990s, but I digress.
Oogie Boogie Bash attendees can enter Disney California Adventure beginning at 3 pm. Normally, we’d aim to be inside at 2 pm or so, avoiding the crush of the crowds at the turnstiles. Our daughter, Megatron, loves doing Mickey’s Trick & Treat Dance Party; that used to be part of Oogie Boogie Bash, but is now included with regular admission. It’s our #1 attraction at DCA during the Halloween season!
If you can, we’d recommend getting to DCA early and checking in between Avengers Campus and Cars Land. It was pretty chaotic at the front of the park and took us a while to get through the turnstiles and obtain our wristbands.
Once inside DCA, it was more or less smooth sailing after that. Literally no complaints whatsoever about the rest of the night from an operational or logistical perspective.
We started by heading to San Fransokyo for dinner and bread pudding. We still had time during mix-in, and always opt to eat dinner during this window. I would’ve preferred Award Wieners, but I was outvoted.
Normally, we would’ve used the last ~30 minutes of this time to line up for our first character meet & greet. “Technical difficulties” prevented this, and instead, a detour to the Baby Care Center was in order. Otherwise, we would’ve started with the Sanderson Sisters.
Following this, we made a quick pass by Pixar Pier for the lone new Villains Treat Trail of the night: Syndrome.
Here’s Disneyland’s description of the addition: “Syndrome shares his tactful plans and snarky quips as you scoop up treats being passed out by a friendly Disneyland cast member.”
Whether you’re his number one fan or an ultimate hero looking to foil his wicked plans, you can spot Syndrome at his own dedicated Oogie Boogie Bash treat trail near the Pixar Pier Band Shell. Stop by for a super time filled with sights and sweets, but be careful of potentially nefarious activity from this fierce villain.”
Here are some photos I took of Syndrome during our two passes of the Villains Treat Trail:
Syndrome replaces Sid from Toy Story in the same location. This came as somewhat of a surprise to us, as Sid has gotten increasingly popular over the years, despite being one of the OG OBB villains from 2019.
Sid was excellent; Syndrome is more of a mixed bag. The performer here does a great job of heckling the audience and posing for selfies as people pass, but there’s just something about this that’s lacking as compared to Sid. I don’t know–maybe that’s just me, as a much bigger fan of Toy Story than the Incredibles.
As the one new thing, Syndrome is most popular villain at the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash, with long lines throughout the evening. Going during the parade or towards the end of the night will definitely be the best bet. We would not recommend going at the very beginning of Oogie Boogie Bash.
To this point, the wait was ~15 minutes with the line all the way back to Paradise Garden Grill at the beginning of OBB. During the second parade, there was no line whatsoever and sometimes gaps with no one going through his queue.
After our first pass by Syndrome, we knocked out several character encounters through Cars Land and Buena Vista Street all in quick succession.
No one had more than a 5 minute wait, and getting this done while the sun was still out proved wise, as the lighting in our night photos from the character encounters rendered a few unusable.
My only regret here was not doubling back to meet Cheshire Cat. We did get Hans from Frozen, who our daughter–a big Frozen fan–had zero interest in meeting. Although she likes princesses, she’s afraid of male face characters; here’s hoping she keeps this up through high school!
Approximately 30 minutes in advance, we grabbed spots for Frightfully Fun Parade in Carthay Circle.
There likely would’ve been open viewing areas if we wandered back to Paradise Garden where the parade steps off, but I wanted photos with a DCA icon in the background.
The best choice would’ve been directly in front of the Little Mermaid dark ride facing whatever they’re calling the Fun Wheel these days. Unfortunately, large swaths of the parade route are now deserved for the dessert party/dining package, and there’s no way on earth we’re buying that.
Here are some new photos from the Frightfully Fun Parade:
The lighting along the entertainment corridor is far better. All of the images here are seriously color-corrected, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re choosing a spot. Another alternative would be deeper into Hollywood Land for more even lighting.
With that said, even the iPhone is pretty capable at getting the white balance right and handling low light (it’s better with video than photos–make sure you turn off long exposure mode for the latter, since the parade is moving).
Frightfully Fun Parade is a must-see, but we’d caution against “over-investing” in a viewing spot for it. This isn’t as good as Mickey’s Boo to You Parade at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and it’s about half the length. Frightfully Fun definitely has its moments and we really enjoy it, but staking out a spot shouldn’t come at the expense of the Villains Treat Trails or anything else.
For the Sanderson Sisters, we sort of “cheated” on our quest to accomplishing everything by taking a divide and conquer approach.
While I waited for Frightfully Fun, Sarah and Megatron went to go meet Daisy, Clarabelle & Minnie Mouse as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. Our thought process here was that if we waited too long, Megatron would be asleep in her stroller and the photo wouldn’t be worthwhile.
As it turned out, the photo wasn’t worthwhile, even with her awake. Only one of the Sanderson Sisters plus brutal lighting plus some questionable camera settings. Ah well, blame it on Disney switching to the Pepsi of PhotoPass photography!
Immediately after Frightfully Fun Parade, we booked it to the meet & greet location for the Kingdom Hearts characters.
This was definitely the right play, since the entrance to this is along the parade route and blocked by that during Frightfully Fun. Had we been a bit faster, we could’ve been among the first guests in line and waited ~5 minutes.
As it stands, we waited roughly 15 minutes. It also worked out perfectly since Megatron is a big fan of Mickey & Friends, and got to see multiple characters coming and going.
The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful.
We continued over to Grizzly Peak to meet characters from Hercules. By the time it was our turn, Pain and Panic were up. We were originally a little worried that Megatron might be scared of these little gremlin-like fellas, but she found them funny and was very drawn to them.
Out of all the villains, only Hans was intimidating. Guess he’s the dark horse as the most devious and evil of the bunch.
From that, it was time to knock out the Villains Treat Trails.
Nothing really had much of a wait at this point; just however long it took to walk through the line and collect candy.
Megatron was awake for the start of these, so we front-loaded with characters that struck us as less devious and she skipped a couple. (I don’t think she would’ve comprehended what Judge Doom was up to, but she didn’t go through his trail or Hades since they’re both male face characters with foreboding lighting and effects. Probably would’ve been fine with both, but not worth the “risk” before bedtime.)
Here are more Villains Treat Trail photos:
It’s hard to choose a favorite among these, as they all were fantastic. Although Frightfully Fun Parade is the singular piece of entertainment, the Villains Treat Trails are collectively what defines Oogie Boogie Bash and makes it a truly special event.
Ernesto de la Cruz from Coco (the music makes this second to none) and Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (incredibly set design and character) definitely top my personal list. The performer of Maleficent is also pitch-perfect in the role; I’m glad to see her return. Hades is also a fan-favorite.
I could take or leave Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Yokai; hopefully they’re replaced in 2026. And honestly, I wouldn’t miss Oogie Boogie, either; but it’s his event so I doubt he’s going anywhere.
We don’t do rides during Oogie Boogie Bash, so I guess technically we didn’t do everything.
But when I say “everything,” what I really mean is entertainment and offerings that are unique to the Halloween party. We did all of that, and fairly easily despite some slowdowns. When it’s been just us as a couple in the past, we knocked out everything at OBB with even greater speed. This is a pretty easy event, unlike MNSSHP.
With that said, if we did want to do rides, we could’ve had a field day. Monsters After Dark looked like a walk-on, as did Web Slingers and everything in Cars Land (minus the closed Radiator Springs Racers). This 20 minute posted wait was the longest I saw, and it was the tower’s lobby was empty, so that was clearly inflated.
We ended the night by heading to Grizzly Peak to revisit the “Villains Grove” makeover of Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
For this overlay, Redwood Creek is transformed with lighting, projections, sounds, and various special effects to create an evocative, haunted dreamscape.
It’s sort of like the Enchanted Forest in Frozen II, but mildly creepy rather than majestic. Like walking through a haunted forest, but not the inhabitants have no sinister intentions or ill-will.
It’s difficult to get good photos of the effects in Villains Grove, but you’re mostly immersed in them.
It’s moody and fun, I guess, but this is another thing I could take or leave at this point. If they announced this was going away next year, I’d be perfectly fine with that–especially since Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is one of our favorite places in the park, and Villains Grove necessitates an annual closure late each summer to install infrastructure.
I was surprised that there was no line to enter Villains Grove. It’s usually long at the earlier Oogie Boogie Bash nights since sunset is later so there’s less time to run the experience. Maybe other guests share my “take it or leave it?” attitude. Or perhaps we just got lucky with timing.
Across from this is the Grizzly River Run gift shop, where you can easily purchase event merchandise. Here are photos of that:
Is the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash worth the money?
It almost feels silly to continue addressing this question, given that Disneyland Resort’s Halloween Parties have sold out every single night for as long as I can remember–at least the last 10 years, dating back to when the event was Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland. Perhaps even longer than that.
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 event is not a splurge for you, it’s unlikely that you’ll regret it.
I have to admit that every year before the event, I grouse about the lack of changes and how it’s gotten stale. And it’s true–not much is different between the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash and the first one that was held post-reopening. To the extent that there are changes they are, without exception downgrades.
However, I come at that while wearing my “Blogger Hat,” for lack of a better term. When I’m actually at the event with Megatron and Sarah, we always have an absolute blast. Sure, I wish there were more changes and new things to experience, but Oogie Boogie Bash is something we pay to do annually for personal enjoyment, not just “for the sake of research.” (And in fact, I didn’t write a report about it last year, and almost skipped doing one this year until we got a few reader requests.)
The parade, interactive treat trails, meet & greets, and atmosphere are all top notch. Disneyland puts a lot of effort into making the event offer sufficient things to do and value for money, and the entertainment team does a great job with that.
Operationally, Oogie Boogie Bash is also generally a great event.
To the extent there was friction, it was all with daily operations–parking, shuttles, security, and mix-in entry. Once OBB actually started, it was smooth sailing. My only real complaint is that too much of the parade route for Frightfully Fun is reserved for dessert parties and dining packages, but guests could “solve” that by simply not purchasing those. There’s continued demand, so they exist.
One thing we really appreciate about Oogie Boogie Bash is that nothing consumes an inordinate amount of our time. At other Halloween parties, there’s always a rare character meet and greet or two with multi-hour wait times. These are usually a non-starter for us, since a couple of hours is almost half the event.
Having a lot of characters and making the Villains Treat Trail encounters really helps with crowd flow, and allows you to accomplish a lot without devoting a huge chunk of time to any one thing. Our longest “wait” was camping out for the parade and meeting the Sanderson Sisters, and even those were not that bad.
Overall, we once again had a truly spooktacular evening at the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party. We spent $278 for this, and walked away feeling fully satisfied despite the high price. Maybe in two years it’ll be a different story when we need to purchase a trio of tickets (just under the wire with Megatron’s birthday not being until later in spook season), but for now, it’s a must-do each year.
With that said, there’s definitely room for improvement. For the money, it’d be nice if the event had a real stage show or another centerpiece entertainment offering beyond Frightfully Fun Parade. World of Color – Villainous wasn’t our favorite incarnation of that lagoon show, but it was something and would help fill that void. That would also bring it more on par with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, which is the gold standard for Disney spook season events.
The totality of everything makes Oogie Boogie Bash a winner for us, and something we’ll definitely do again next year. We’re already looking forward to what Disneyland does with Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party in 2026, and are hopeful they have a greater incentive to improve the event since tickets sold slower this year!
If you’re heading to Disneyland for Halloween Time, we have tons of posts to help you plan, including our Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets, a look at Disneyland Area Hotel Reviews & Rankings, our Unique Packing List for Disney Trips, an index of our Disneyland Resort Restaurant Reviews, and a number of other things in our comprehensive Disneyland Trip Planning Guide!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve attended the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash — A Disney Halloween Party, do you disagree with my assessment? Do you have tickets for the special event this year? What are you most excited about seeing or doing? If you’re a Walt Disney World fan, is there anything here you hope makes its way to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? Any questions about strategy, tips, or anything else? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts on these questions, or anything else, in the comments!