Halloween Time Superthread 2019: "Oogie Boogie Bash" Party to Be Held in DCA ONLY! and Other Halloween Time Information

[Love Tink]

I agree, it is for adults, teens and perhaps a few tweens. The big thing is you can purchase alcohol drinks in variety of places in the park. That adds up $$$$ quickly for the Disney coffers. I really can't think of many things for the very young.

Riding rides, meeting characters, trick-or-treating, and watching a parade...yep, nothing for kids.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Does anyone know what the music is that plays in DCA at the Headless Horseman statue? I think I found somewhere that at least part of it is the opening theme Introduction from Edward Scissorhands but I'm trying to find the other parts. Thank you for any help!

I was standing next to someone who was naming all the songs -- I didn't catch all the titles, but they were all by Danny Elfman. I think if you sample all his film music, you'll find what you're looking for.

 

[midnight star]

I wanted to report back on our experience at Tuesday's party, in the hope I may be able help anyone who is going in the coming weeks (as so many helped me).

Firstly, I loved the party. I had never been to a special event at Disneyland and I am so glad we took the chance on this one. I don't like to get too "compare happy" about WDW vs. DLR, as I appreciate both. But, boy, was this better than the WDW Halloween parties I have attended. Crowds felt totally manageable and we were able to do everything we wanted without killing ourselves. I agree with some previous posters that this party had less "atmosphere" than one might expect, but that wasn't a big deal for us.

So we focused on characters, treat trails, and the parade. We also rode several rides and did the Villains Grove walk-through. Thoughts:

Check In
We bypassed the winding line at the front gate and went to Blue Sky Cellar, thanks to the tips here. We went in around 4:45 and were in and out in about three minutes.

Treat Trails
Wow! These were so much more fun than we were used to at WDW. The trails are long and have stop after stop where they were practically throwing candy and snacks at us. We got SO MUCH candy it was ridiculous. We tried nine of the ten trails. I enjoyed the villain trails - some were more fun than others, but in all cases I liked that it was a little something different. I interacted with Maleficent and with Oogie Boogie and both made me laugh. The Mad Hatter had a big crowd and was also very entertaining. (His treat trail also had so many, many stops!) I did/redid all five villain treat trails from 10:00-10:45 and walked right through all of them. Earlier in the night there had been longer lines, especially for Oogie Boogie.

Villains Grove
I went there last, around 10:45. It was practically empty and I could go at my own pace. I'll admit that my pace was pretty quick because, although I'm glad I checked it out, it didn't really make much of an impact on me. A couple of sections were fun but in general I thought "Okay, cool" and then immediately forgot about it.

Parade
I had no trouble finding a great spot in Hollywood Land literally as the parade rounded the corner. But that was just me (my son is anti parade). If you had more people you wouldn't want to push it that late - although 15 or 20 minutes before would probably work. Parade was short and sweet, which I liked, and had all the Halloween highlights I wanted.

Rides
Logically, and as others have said, ride lines got shorter through out the night. But they were never really that long. We walked on Incredicoaster twice, Toy Story was about 15-20 minutes, walked on the fun wheel, and walked on Guardians at 7:45. We also walked on Goofy twice during WoC and then stayed for three rounds of the swings without getting off. Emotional Whirlwind closes during WoC. So we timed it and walked right in when it reopened. (I wanted to try it but it loads so slowllllly that it always had a a bit of a line before that.) We didn't ride anything in Cars Land.

Characters
Okay, so the characters were my main reason for attending. Before the party I had been through all stages of emotions, from excitement at all the characters to stress about how patchy the attendance of the characters seems to be. To my great joy we had all but one of the characters we wanted show up! I thought I would list the specific from our night about times/crowds. Of course, all of that could change for any other party...but I know I was starved for specifics and maybe some of it will stay consistent.

Villains
We got in line around 5:30 for the villains and were about fourth or fifth. The animal villains came out at 6:00. Initially it was only Prince John and the Big Bad Wolf, but as we met the wolf, the Sheriff of Nottingham came out. (I jumped up and down, which pleased my 13-year-old so to no end, as you can imagine.) We immediately got back in line and it timed out great - we were again about fourth in line when the human villains came out at 6:30. Frollo was missing and replaced by the Evil Queen...but we had met Frollo over at Disneyland earlier in the day, in a spot of luck. From what I saw during the night, as we passed by, the line seemed consistently about 30 minutes long.

Pixar
Next we went to meet Carl but we arrived just as his set ended. Starting off, Woody and Bo met on the hours and Carl and Russell met at 6:30 and then just Carl on the subsequent half hours. HOWEVER, that changed later. This meet shuts down for WoC and after WoC it was Woody and Bo at 9:30/10:30 and Carl at 10:00.

We also met toy soldiers roaming down by Toy Story. That was cool because a group of three were meeting/posing and I had never seen more than two together before.

Kim/Ron
Kim Possible was not at the party. Luckily, I knew this was typical and I expected it. Ron was silly and lots of fun and had nobody at his meet. I do not know when he takes breaks but we met him at about 7:20.

Loki
I had wondered if Loki would be hard to find but he was not. He was roaming near the Hyperion and GotG and we saw him several times. We met him at 7:30 and saw him again several times later. In fact, as I made my villain treat trail rounds at about 10:30, I noticed him standing back by the Hollywood Lounge, in the dark, just standing there alone, looking supremely and appropriately bored. He was great.

Star-Lord/Gamora
Star-Lord was meeting on the hour and Gamora on the half hour. We left the area after riding GotG so I don't know if that changed up later.

Blue Fairy/Pinocchio
When we came by before the parade, the Blue Fairy was meeting on the hour and Snow White/Dopey on the half hour. They stopped their meet during the parade. Just after the parade, at 8:45, the Blue Fairy and Pinocchio came back out. I had sat on the fountain right near where I knew they would be (having seen them earlier) and was second in line.

Afternoon Friends
Chip and Dale met on the hour and Don Karnage on the half hour (no Baloo at our party). They took a break during the parade and then switched: Chip and Dale at 8:30, Don Karnage at 9:00, etc.

Mickey and Minnie
They had the longest line consistently from what I saw. However, I walked by on my way out of the party after doing Villains Grove, at like 10:55. Their line was at least half an hour long and I saw no signs that it had been cut off.

Sorry this was so long but I hope it might be helpful for some of the other character nuts out there.

yay! I'm glad you found most of the characters you wanted to see

 

[midnight star]

I agree, it is for adults, teens and perhaps a few tweens. The big thing is you can purchase alcohol drinks in variety of places in the park. That adds up $$$$ quickly for the Disney coffers. I really can't think of many things for the very young.

There's plenty to do for kids at the party. They had the desendance (sp?) party. That movie is popular with kids now. Characters, trick or treating, rides, parade, and WOC. The parties being on school nights may have impacted the amount of people with kids that attended, but there were for sure things for kids. I will say, the theme of villains is a little older, but when I saw kids, they looked liked they were having fun.

 

[azdisneylover]

I didn't say there wan't anything for the very young, I said there wasn't many things for them. Meaning, it seems to me, it is geared at tweens, teens and adults.

 

[auteur55]

I was at the party on Tuesday. Wish I could say I felt the same as our other Tuesday partier did. I felt the party was extremely disappointing. My two biggest fears with the party moving was the lack of atmosphere and the lack of popular rides to keep the wait times down. Most of the ride times were 25 minutes or more for the popular rides. Waited about 30 for toy story. Radiator springs was 45 minutes every time we were close to it. We did walk on Guardians twice but it was during the parade and was nearly impossible to get back there. For those going to the party for low wait times you’ll still be waiting in lines.

Treat trails were fun and we liked the addition of the characters but they were hardly immersive. Oogie trail was the only one immersive the others were just a character on a decorated platform that was talking while you walked by. And they made the lines excruciatingly long. They did move somewhat quickly but the maleficient one was wrapped around for ages. Long, full wait just for a few seconds of seeing her on a platform. I get the lines were probably lower the final hour but we needed something to do the first three hours and my kid was pretty bored by 10:00.

My main complaint was the atmosphere was badly lacking. We went to the DL party last three years and it was incredible. Every time you turned a corner I felt you were greeted with Halloween surprises and the atmosphere filled every section of the park. CA just didn’t have the same feeling at all. Walking around the pier I had to keep telling myself I was at a Halloween event. It also felt more crowded to me then the DL party. I think Disney sold too many tickets.

So big disappointment for us. I did like the Villians Grove was a fun, unique addition and I think the party needs more of these exclusive experiences. Unfortunately they could have easily taken everything out of the grove and just placed these atmosphere enhancing lighting and special effects all throughout the park. I would walk through Grizzly Peak trail and wonder why they couldn’t just have the trail be that long pathway from Red Creek past Soarin. Then I guess you wouldn’t have something new to advertise that you stand in line for 30 minutes to see. I was expecting the cool atmosphere that was in Villains grove to be all over the park like it was at DL.

Won’t go again unless it returns to DL.

 

[Kimann]

I wanted to post my thoughts on the Thursday 10/17 party. We are longtime WDW people and we loved the DCA party! First, thank you to everyone that posted tips on this board prior to our visit, we used them all.

We spent all day in DCA with a regular ticket and took a break, so when we entered at 5:15 the lines to the gates were maybe 10 people deep. I really think reviews have so much to do with expectations so being WDW folk, let me say when I hear LONG line, I think 45 minutes so we were pleasantly surprised all night. This might not be the case with normal DL people.

We are 3 adults, we started back by Studio 17, of course I knew where all the interactive treat trails were thanks to this board! Loki was mingling out there and he looked GOOD! We did Facilier, Oogie, and Mad Hatter with virtually no wait right at 6pm. We love the fact that there are multiple treat stops on each trail. The villains were all very interactive! We then walked over to the other side and did Malificent and Evil Queen (the line to Villians Grove was so long at this point) but no wait for the treat trails. On the way we stopped and did the Tailspin photo op, we were the 3rd party on line! We literally couldn’t believe it. We walked by the Mickey line and there were probably 20 parties waiting, same with villains, but again this is relative. We thought those were still pretty short lines given who you were waiting for. Oh and we had never seen BBW, or King John at WDW so we were so excited to see them even if we didn’t want a photo.

We then did one of the Carsland trails which was maybe a 10 minute wait and the longest we had all night. By now it was 7:45 so following advice from this board we found a spot across from Carthay to watch the parade. We lucked out and got one of the last spots on the curb, but we easily could have sat right behind someone and been fine. The parade ran late, we thought it was good, but short and so much space between the floats? We did love the headless horseman and how he walks out here!

Following advice, we headed over to Villains Trail right after the parade passed us, but we stopped for Rescue Rangers photo because there were only 3 people in line and how could we not. When we got to Villains we had a very short line but it was constantly moving so maybe 3-4 minutes. We really liked the trail although this old lady felt like it was a hidden workout!

We then walked out to the pier and although we didn’t want to see Villanous (we chose to do the WOC dessert party the night before and opt out due to comments on this thread) we stopped by Little Mermaid and watched several minutes of it and could see it perfectly. We then walked over to the Pacific Pier and other Carsland trails and went through with no wait. Also, we walked by Kingdom Hearts several times and the line always seemed to hover right around 12-15 people which I found unbelievable given what I had read. We thought about waiting, but decided against it. My son made the comment that the line for Mac and Cheese cones was longer and I think it was (we didn’t wait in that one either!)

We wanted to do Guardians so we walked back over there and did it with really no wait. Crowded but no lines. It was cute! At that point it was 9:45 and we had pretty much covered everything we wanted to do! We walked back over and got our Mac and cheese, no line at that point. Then we wondered over to Paradise Pier, played ring toss with the custodial staff, and found another treat trail to meander through.

We were all pretty tired so we headed toward the front of the park around 10:15. We got to see the Blue Fairy (another first) and her line looked to be maybe 10-12 parties. Hit the treat trail on the way out and were out the gates at 10:30.

As I said, we are WDW folk and I think it’s all about expectations. We had an absolutely wonderful time and did everything we wanted. And I know we could have fit a couple more photo ops in if we wanted to. If you have never been to the WDW parties, we found this one to be so much more pleasant. So much more space and not at all overcrowded. And although it sounds like we were trying to maximize candy, we really don’t, we just like the trails. That said without trying I ended up with like 5 pounds of treats!!! Just want to send a big THANK YOU to all you West Coast pros for all your advice!

 

[MitchellDisney]

I wanted to post my thoughts on the Thursday 10/17 party. We are longtime WDW people and we loved the DCA party! First, thank you to everyone that posted tips on this board prior to our visit, we used them all.

We spent all day in DCA with a regular ticket and took a break, so when we entered at 5:15 the lines to the gates were maybe 10 people deep. I really think reviews have so much to do with expectations so being WDW folk, let me say when I hear LONG line, I think 45 minutes so we were pleasantly surprised all night. This might not be the case with normal DL people.

We are 3 adults, we started back by Studio 17, of course I knew where all the interactive treat trails were thanks to this board! Loki was mingling out there and he looked GOOD! We did Facilier, Oogie, and Mad Hatter with virtually no wait right at 6pm. We love the fact that there are multiple treat stops on each trail. The villains were all very interactive! We had time to stop and order food, then we walked over to the other side and did Malificent and Evil Queen (the line to Villians Grove was so long at this point) but no wait for the treat trails. On the way we stopped and did the Tailspin photo op, we were the 3rd party on line! We literally couldn’t believe it. We walked by the Mickey line and there were probably 20 parties waiting, same with villains, but again this is relative. We thought those were still pretty short lines given who you were waiting for. Oh and we had never seen BBW, or King John at WDW so we were so excited to see them even if we didn’t want a photo.

We then did one of the Carsland trails which was maybe a 10 minute wait and the longest we had all night. By now it was 7:45 so following advice from this board we found a spot across from Carthay to watch the parade. We lucked out and got one of the last spots on the curb, but we easily could have sat right behind someone and been fine. The parade ran late, we thought it was good, but short and so much space between the floats? We did love the headless horseman and how he walks out here!

Following advice, we headed over to Villains Trail right after the parade passed us, but we stopped for Rescue Rangers photo because there were only 3 people in line and how could we not. When we got to Villains we had a very short line but it was constantly moving so maybe 3-4 minutes. We really liked the trail although this old lady felt like it was a hidden workout!

We then walked out to the pier and although we didn’t want to see Villanous (we chose to do the WOC dessert party the night before and opt out due to comments on this thread) we stopped by Little Mermaid and watched several minutes of it and could see it perfectly. We then walked over to the Pacific Pier and other Carsland trails and went through with no wait. Also, we walked by Kingdom Hearts several times and the line always seemed to hover right around 12-15 people which I found unbelievable given what I had read. We thought about waiting, but decided against it. My son made the comment that the line for Mac and Cheese cones was longer and I think it was (we didn’t wait in that one either!)

We wanted to do Guardians so we walked back over there and did it with really no wait. Crowded but no lines. It was cute! At that point it was 9:45 and we had pretty much covered everything we wanted to do! We walked back over and got our Mac and cheese, no line at that point. Then we wondered over to Paradise Pier, played ring toss with the custodial staff, and found another treat trail to meander through.

We were all pretty tired so we headed toward the front of the park around 10:15. We got to see the Blue Fairy (another first) and her line looked to be maybe 10-12 parties. Hit the treat trail on the way out and were out the gates at 10:30.

As I said, we are WDW folk and I think it’s all about expectations. We had an absolutely wonderful time and did everything we wanted. And I know we could have fit a couple more photo ops in if we wanted to. If you have never been to the WDW parties, we found this one to be so much more pleasant. So much more space and not at all overcrowded. And although it sounds like we were trying to maximize candy, we really don’t, we just like the trails. That said without trying I ended up with like 5 pounds of treats!!! Just want to send a big THANK YOU to all you West Coast pros for all your advice!View attachment 445845

Glad you had a nice time, the chipmunk photo looks adorable!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I wanted to post my thoughts on the Thursday 10/17 party. We are longtime WDW people and we loved the DCA party! First, thank you to everyone that posted tips on this board prior to our visit, we used them all...

Great photo! So glad that your research here paid off and that you all had a great time at the party! I think you are right about expectations playing a big part in how much fun you have at any Disney event. Bringing a positive attitude is a sure way to make any time at Disney much more fun! Enjoy your candy!

 

[midnight star]

How were crowds at the party last night? There were 2 parades right?

 

[gpjacobs]

I agree, it is for adults, teens and perhaps a few tweens. The big thing is you can purchase alcohol drinks in variety of places in the park. That adds up $$$$ quickly for the Disney coffers. I really can't think of many things for the very young.

Thank you!

 

[Twinkling]

Went to the party last night and it was amazing!! We seriously packed in so much and got to do just an everything I wanted to do. We're driving home today, so I'll try to do a more in depth review once I'm home and recuperated, but this thread definitely helped me plan SO much!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Went to the party last night and it was amazing!! We seriously packed in so much and got to do just an everything I wanted to do. We're driving home today, so I'll try to do a more in depth review once I'm home and recuperated, but this thread definitely helped me plan SO much!

So glad to hear this! Hope you got lots of photos of your magical night! Great to hear that your research here paid off!

 

[dieumeye]

How were crowds at the party last night? There were 2 parades right?

Seemed kind of crowded at times, especially at first, but wasn’t consistently crowded everywhere. By that I mean we’d breeze through a treat trail, but then the next one would have a long long slow line, and then no one would be at the one after that. Line for Villain’s Grove looked long and we were quoted 30 minutes, but it only took 15 minutes to get in.

I will say I experienced a few instances where the CMs seemed overwhelmed with the number of people they were try to wrangle.

By 9, it definitely felt like crowd had thinned out.

There were two parades and two WOCs.

 

[smitty0705]

I’m going to the party tonight and have a couple questions. Thank you to everyone who has put together this super informative thread, these are my two remaining things I haven’t been able to figure out:

(1) Which shop(s) carry the party exclusive pin?

(2) I know there aren’t Fastpasses available at the party but how do you get photos like you would through MaxPass? Is there a party photo deal?

Thank you!

 

[Love Tink]

I’m going to the party tonight and have a couple questions. Thank you to everyone who has put together this super informative thread, these are my two remaining things I haven’t been able to figure out:

(1) Which shop(s) carry the party exclusive pin?

(2) I know there aren’t Fastpasses available at the party but how do you get photos like you would through MaxPass? Is there a party photo deal?

Thank you!

Every party ticket includes the photos. The photographers give out the little plastic PhotoPass cards. It’s a nice perk!

Just to mention: we learned that the PhotoPass benefit starts at party entrance time (2:00 or 3:00) regardless of whether you have used your party ticket by that time. We met Maleficent at DL at about 3:05 and those photos are available to us. If I had known, we would have gotten more photos at DL before we headed over.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I’m going to the party tonight and have a couple questions. Thank you to everyone who has put together this super informative thread, these are my two remaining things I haven’t been able to figure out:

(1) Which shop(s) carry the party exclusive pin?...

The party pins are available at different shops. They are usually held at the registers, behind the counters. Sometimes they are on display in the cases by the registers -- just ask if you don't see them. They have been sold at Elias & Co., Julius Katz, Off the Page, Rushin' River Outfitters, etc. The merchandise can be moved around, so if you don't see what you want, ask CMs.

 

[tzeitel]

Every party ticket includes the photos. The photographers give out the little plastic PhotoPass cards. It’s a nice perk!

Just to mention: we learned that the PhotoPass benefit starts at party entrance time (2:00 or 3:00) regardless of whether you have used your party ticket by that time. We met Maleficent at DL at about 3:05 and those photos are available to us. If I had known, we would have gotten more photos at DL before we headed over.

Yes! Last year we did the Halloween party and the moment we were able to go in I started to track down PP photographers We went to DCA (party at DL) and went to town in Carsland - they had several Halloween spots as well as their usual ones. We also got some really good ones with the Headless Horseman sculpture. Once the party started we did not have to worry about all the photo ops. We also made sure to do the rides with photos.

 

[Chronic Daydreamer]

A few questions before the party of thursday
1. I noticed on sunday quiet a few people obiously going to the party visiting Disneyland in costume, is this common? Have other people notice it on the weekdays? Thinking of popping over for some characters since i have a pass
2. I heard at disneyland villains dance party the villains are different on party days, can anyone confirm this or if they're the same every night?
3. Any creative suggestions on what to do with unwanted candy as i'll be overseas for halloween?

 

[figment_jii]

I think it's a little less common now that the party ticket is not a hopper, but it's still pretty common because a lot of folks have APs that give them access to both parties.

A couple of ideas:

• You could opt not to get candy even if you check out the immersive treat trails...although that means missing out on the fun of collecting candy.
• You could ask for the non-candy treat whenever possible. It's usually apple slices or carrots, graham crackers, pretzels, etc.
• If you have a workplace that has enough people, take the candy there (or give it to someone you know who has a big enough workplace). I would just do this before Halloween because afterwards, lots of people are trying to use up left over candy that way.
• You could give the candy to a neighbor or someone else you know that will be home on Halloween.