My Suggestions and Tips for Attending Oogie Boogie Bash
Recently Disney announced the dates for probably one of my favorite events to attend at Disney. That is the Oogie Boogie Bash. I went to it for the first time last year and had a blast! Tickets are about to go on sale for this year’s party, and I thought I would share my suggestions and tips for attending Oogie Boogie Bash.
What is Oogie Boogie Bash?
Ooogie Boogie Bash is a Halloween Party in Disney’s California Adventure on select nights during Sept and October. This is a separate-ticketed event with limited capacity.
This event focuses on the villains with meet and greets and some being part of the immersive candy trails. There are other character meets and greets (that are not part of the candy trails) available during the party. My hubby and I saw Emile from Ratatouille at Pixar Pier! Other event offerings included frightful entertainment and photo ops. More detailed information can be found here.
Suggestions and Tips for Attending Oogie Boogie Bash
These suggestions and tips are based on my experience attending the Oogie Boogie Bash in 2022.
Don’t Wait to Buy Tickets
If you are entertaining the idea of attending the Oogie Boogie Bash, make sure you buy your tickets as soon as possible. This event tends to sell out. Last year, tickets sold out 4 days after they went on sale for the general public. I think this was one of the fastest times this event sold out. I was glad I purchased them the first day they were available and got the day we wanted to attend.
For Oogie Boogie Bash 2023, tickets go on sale for Magic Key Holders (select amount of pre-sale tickets) on June 27th, no earlier than 9:00 AM PT. June 29th is when the tickets go on sale for the general public. UPDATE- Oogie Boogie Bash tickets will resume sales on July 11th, 2023 no earlier than 9 AM PST. UPDATE- As of late July 11th, Oogie Boogie Bash tickets are sold out!
Take Advantage of the Early Entry
With the Oogie Boogie Bash tickets, you can enter the park at 3 PM even though the event does not start till 6 PM and last til 11 PM. My husband and I arrived at the gates at 2:00 PM. This allowed us to be first in line. We were glad we showed up early. The lines for the Oogie Boogie Bash entry got long and backed up. For my hubby and I, getting there early also allowed us to get the maximum time in the park and allowed us to get some of the things done that we knew weren’t available during the party (which is a tip later on in the post).
Make Sure To Get the Event Band Once You Enter the Park
When you enter Disney California Adventure for the party, make sure you get the event band. They have the cast members standing right near the entry with the bands. This band helps identify you from those who are not attending the party. Those who do not have tickets/the event to the party will be asked to leave the park at 6 PM. You will need to wear the band the whole night.
Dress Up
It is a Halloween party, and one of the best things about Halloween and parties is dressing up. You can wear costumes at Oogie Boogie Bash. This event is one of the few times when adults are allowed to wear costumes( with some exceptions.) Click here to read about the dress code for Special Events at Disneyland Parks.
You can always dress up in some more comfortable options. For example, you can look at doing a Disneybound or a t-shirt costume. I tend to do a more comfortable look when I am at the parks.
My costume for Oogie Boogie Bash was a t-shirt option. I dressed up as an Alien from Toy Story. The t-shirt and headband I purchased all from Amazon and are available on my Amazon Storefront- click here.
Looking for some costume ideas? Click here to see what costumes are available on Amazon.
If I were attending the event this year, I would wear one of my Sanderson Sister Disneybound Ideas that I created using pieces I found on Amazon.
During the Event, Do the Rides First
The event starts at 6 PM. Typically, this is when people go to the treat trails along with the character meets and greets. The lines for them were long at the start time. This allows for most of the rides to have low wait times. My husband took advantage of this and rode the rides before we did anything else at the party. Our main priority for the party was to ride the rides since it was our first time in Disney California Adventure.
They are not going to run out of candy. They keep their candy stocked up for the events. By the time we made it to the treat trails, they were a walk-up. We did the candy trails with about 2 hours left into the party.
There are some lines, like the meet and greet line for Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle (who dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus), stayed pretty long.
I found that another great time to ride the rides is during the parade times which also might be a good time to do some of the trails or meet and greets.
Ride the Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark
One of the highlights of Oogie Boogie Bash is the ride- Guardians of the Galaxy Mission BREAKOUT turns into a Halloween theme – Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark. This ride overlay is only available during the Ooogie Boogie Party.
Make Some Time to Do The Immersive Treat Trails
One of the best things about the Oogie Boogie Bash is the immersive treat trails. These candy trails allow you to meet some Disney villains along with getting some sweet treats. Please note not all character meet and greets are part of treat trails, and some candy/treat trails did not have any character encounters.
Some of last year’s villains that were part of the treats trails included- Dr. Facilicer, Maleficent, Madam Mim, Mother Gothel, Agatha Harkness, Ernesto de la Cruz, Cruella, and Sid. Bruno was also part of one trail.
This year’s, according to Disney Parks’ social media accounts, will include Lotso making an appearance along with the return of Bruno and Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle (dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus).
We only did a few but had a wonderful time with the ones we got to do! Both my hubby’s and my favorite trail was the one with Sid from Toy Story.
Bring an Extra Bag for Candy/Treats
You do receive a small bag for your candy, but it does not hold all the candy/treats you will receive from the treat trails. My hubby and I used our Disney reusable shopping bags for our extra bag to hold our candy.
My hubby and I only did a few candy trials, and our bags and the extra bag we brought were almost filled up. I can’t imagine if we did all of them!
Make Sure to Spend Some Time Exploring Cars Land
A lot of the Halloween Decor is in Cars Land/Radiator Springs. If you know Disney, they do not miss the details! I was impressed with how they decorated Cars Land for the holiday! It reminded me of how some towns decorate for the festivities.
Most of the Cars characters, like my favorite Tow Mater, were dressed up for the occasion. I love how the Cozy Cones were decorated too! There were Scary Cones! I wish I had taken more time in this area to take in all of the Halloween decor.
Use the Disneyland App
The Disneyland App was a big help for our time in the park. It showed where the locations of the immersive trails, mobile ordering for some places, and (my favorite) the Wait Times for the rides! The app is free to download.
Do not worry! Paper maps are available if paper maps are more your style to show the locations of the party events.
Know What Things That Won’t Be Open During the Party
Since the party is a limited capacity event some things may not be open during the party or have early closing hours from regular nights.
In planning last year, I knew I wanted to do the La Luna Star Catcher Game (part of the Games of Pixar Pier.) I noticed it was closed during the party when I checked the hours. This was one of the things I had on my list to do before the party started.
The app was a big help in seeing what times things were closing /what was opening during the event. I checked the app on the party nights since we were attending the party later in October.
My hubby and I had a frighteningly good time attending Ooogie Boogie Bash, and so glad I can share my suggestions and tips for attending Oogie Boogie Bash. In my opinion, it is the best way to do Disney California Adventure if you have never been to the park before with the low wait times and the experience of meeting some rare characters. So if you can, whether you have been to Disney California Adventure before or not, I recommend attending Oogie Boogie Bash. It is probably one of the best special events I ever attended at Disney Parks!
