Last night marked the first official Oogie Boogie Bash of the 2019 Halloween season at Disney California Adventure. Guests with tickets (remember, this is a special ticketed event) were treated to numerous shows, up to 11 treat trails, and numerous photo opportunities with rarely seen characters. We are going to share our review along with some tips for those of you who will be attending the Bash at a later date.
Live Entertainment
Disney really set out to make sure that guests had plenty of options for live entertainment this year. They offer two viewings of the World of Color show titled “Villainous!”, the Frightfully Fun Parade (which also has the Headless Horseman feature before it starts), the DescenDANCE party in Hollywood Land, Mickey’s Trick & Treat show in the Disney Junior Theater, and I would argue that the Villains Grove area is a show unto itself. Below are videos of everything except the DescenDANCE party (we couldn’t fit it into the 5 hour window).
Tips for Live Entertainment
Villains Grove was definitely one of the highlights for us, but the line when it opens at 7:20 was insane. We heard from someone else that they were told it was a two-hour wait. Here is the order we watched the shows (note – we were able to experience everything except the DescenDANCE show which did actually see a little of as we were walking by). The first show we watched was the Frightfully Fun Parade. We sat near the Golden Zephyr which ended up being a great location because that is the side of the park that the parade starts in. After the parade ended we walked over to Villains Grove which had a much shorter line (at approximately 8:25 p.m.). That experience took about 12 minutes to walk through (the video is only a bit over 8 minutes long because I stopped recording when we got to spots where we were stopped from moving forward). From there we walked over to Hollywood Land and watched Mickey’s Trick and Treat show with our kids (the 9:25 p.m. showing). Lastly, we watched the World of Color show Villainous at 10:45 p.m. Our strategy wasn’t planned out ahead of time, but in hindsight it wasn’t a bad plan. One thing I might change would be going to one of the early Micky’s Trick and Treat shows before the parade happened, because our kids were pretty tired by the time the 9:25 p.m. show started.
Treat Trails
There are a total of 10 Treat Trails which any guest with a ticket can walk through. Each trail has about 5 candy stations where a Cast Member puts a few treats in your bag. An 11th Treat Trail is exclusively for Annual Passholders. Below is our Instagram post about the Annual Passholders magnet which they give you at that Treat Trail which is near Goofy’s Sky School.
Tips for Treat Trails
The lines were longest during the first two hours of the event. Each of the 3 trails we went through during this time period took between 15-20 minutes each. After we left Villains Grove we went through 6 different Trails and it took about 5-10 minutes per Trail. Our two favorite Treat Trails were in Hollywood Land. The first was in the Animation Academy. In there you will be treated to Oogie Boogie. The second is the Hyperion Theater Trail. That trail has the Mad Hatter as a character experience. Both trails didn’t have long lines after 8:30 p.m. and had fun character experiences. Above all, remember that there are lots of things to experience, so don’t get too bogged down in the Treat Trail lines!
Character Photo Opportunities and Tips
Character picture opportunities abound. The lines were rather long for each one though! We recommend you pick one that is a non-negotiable “must have” picture experience. You can, of course, do many more than just one, but be aware that the lines are long and can quickly cut into your precious 5 hour time window. They have lots of villains out for photo opportunities, but they also had rarely seen character photo opportunities like Pinocchio and the Blue Fairy together. They also had Kingdom Hearts mashups with Donald and Goofy (not sure if there were others).
Exclusive Merch
Before the Bash
Your ticket lets you enjoy Disney California Adventure Park for up to 4 hours before Oogie Boogie Bash begins – typically you can enter at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays. If you are an annual passholder and enter the park before your time slot you can still check in (without leaving the park) at the Blue Sky Cellar. The Blue Sky Cellar is located near Wine Country Trattoria, across from the entrance to Cars Land. Your Oogie Boogie Bash ticket automatically gives you MaxPass access for the time period before the Bash begins. You can use that to your advantage to get on a ride or rides that you might not normally be able to ride – also remember that having MaxPass means you get PhotoPass included. Radiator Springs Racers wasn’t available when we were there, but we ended up riding it later during the Bash because the line was pretty short. Going on rides before the Bash allows you to focus on more of the exclusives during the Bash like Villains Grove or the Treat Trails.
Final Thoughts
Overall, our experience was excellent. Disney definitely upped their game in terms of the live entertainment options. The character meet and greet options and shows were all high quality. Villains Grove was not what I was expecting, but I say that in a good way. It was one of the highlights of the night for us. We were disappointed that there were very few healthy treat options on the Treat Trails. In past years we have come with lots of Freeze Dried Apples, Pirates Booty, and Fruits/Veggies. This year we didn’t get much of those. It was almost exclusively candy. While we do love candy, we equally loved the healthy options from past years which were pretty sparse this year. We also left with less candy than in previous years. Another thought is that the price point is higher than ever this year. The event is sold out for the season, so the price increase must not have been a big deterrent for park goers. Overall, while really expensive for a 5-hour experience (we paid $100 per ticket, and the tickets go up in price as you get closer to Halloween) it was a great night. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it again next year if there is another price increase, but for this year we were able to squeeze it in. Lastly, it felt a bit more cramped at times than past years which we are assuming is due to the smaller acreage in DCA (especially with the Avengers Campus area blocked off). If you attend a later Oogie Boogie Bash party we hope this information was of use to you!