Unpopular Opinion - I didn't like Oogie Boogie Bash

[larjani]

I agree with OP. We were at OBB on 09/17. We had to do it once, but I wouldn't do it again. Villians Grove is overrated too.

 

[Pluto468]

You know what would be cool? If they allowed party guests to do those party meet and greets during the 3-6pm mix-in time. But then I guess it would be hard/confusing to keep the regular guests away.

That's a really good idea. It wouldn't be too hard if you need to show a bracelet to get into the line, some kind of indoor meet and greet like Anna and Elsa.

 

[DontSpamMe]

We did ours September 17 and I agree there seemed to be more people than the previous years.

I did notice toward the end of the party things really open up. We were able to do villains Grove, Sid, Yokai, the non-character treat trail in Carsland, Agatha, Guardians After Dark, Ernesto, Cruella, Oogie Boogie and Judge Doom the last hour and a half.

Incredicoaster and Goofy's sky school were down most of the night so we focused on treat trails. When rides go down at DCA it makes things so much more difficult.

 

[wendlle]

Thanks. So is there a noticeable difference in crowds at 6 pm? Is it kind of like rope dropping in that you should get in line for the most popular attractions/characters ASAP? I'm wondering if 3-6 pm might be a good time to do the non OBB characters meets.

honestly it was the same, there could have possibly been more people at mix-in but once they left I never noticed. It was packed regardless.

I suggest you take a look at all the available activities/entertainment, decide what is a “must” for you and have a loose plan. Definitely choose something to do first and be there right before 6pm. They weren’t really letting us line up before 6 but people were loosely gathered. My son choose a treat trail (Ernesto de La Cruz) and it was great, only about a 5 minute wait. There seemed to be a ton more people lining up for Oogie Boogie and Cruella deVille.

We did a lot of character treat trails during the second parade (Oogie Boogie, Cruella, Ernesto again, the Big Hero Six guy) and they were all walk on at that time.

Ride wait times dropped considerably by 7pm. We got lucky and rode RSR standby at 7pm and it was 10 minutes but by the time we exited it was 60 minutes. Later during the second parade it was 25 minutes.

We watched the first parade by the Little Mermaid and as soon as it ended we stood up and walked to Villain’s Grove and it was a walk on.

Yes we had a plan, but what we planned for wasn't the huge lines, you just can't prep for that.
We did the trails during the 2nd parade too and got quite a few done, we never saw Ernesto he was on his break each time we went by.
Which is another gripe of mine. I know they all need breaks, that's a given, but for the $ spent on the event they need to have more than 1 person being the character so when one needs a break there is an immediate replacement. There was nothing worse than waiting 20mins in the line for Ernesto only to get to the end and have him on a break and not be able to see him. We waited for ages and then just had to move on or we would get nothing done.
In the end the kids had fun, It wasn't that I hated it, I just won't return.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I really wonder if some of the nights are sold heavier than others. I mean we NEVER waited 20 minutes in a line for a treat trail. The longest we waited was for Sid and that was 10 minutes. Everything else was 0-5 minutes. Only one time we went to wait for the Big Hero Six guy and the line was very long so we decided to step out. When we came back later it was a walk-on, no wait at all.

To be fair we didn’t attempt to wait in any character meet lines so maybe that is where the difference lies. I knew those would all be very long (which is why we chose to just skip them entirely).

 

[skellinton]

honestly it was the same, there could have possibly been more people at mix-in but once they left I never noticed. It was packed regardless.

Yes we had a plan, but what we planned for wasn't the huge lines, you just can't prep for that.
We did the trails during the 2nd parade too and got quite a few done, we never saw Ernesto he was on his break each time we went by.
Which is another gripe of mine. I know they all need breaks, that's a given, but for the $ spent on the event they need to have more than 1 person being the character so when one needs a break there is an immediate replacement. There was nothing worse than waiting 20mins in the line for Ernesto only to get to the end and have him on a break and not be able to see him. We waited for ages and then just had to move on or we would get nothing done.
In the end the kids had fun, It wasn't that I hated it, I just won't return.

What bugged me about the characters taking breaks is that you were still hustled on out of their area even if you never saw them. We went through Madame Mim's line 3 x before we saw her. She didn't have any real wait, there was no reason they couldn't have let us just stand there or close her line when she wasn't there.

 

[Aspencreek]

Just watched a video by youtuber PCDev who does a ton of Disney content (mostly at WDW I believe.) He did OBB for the first time about 2 weeks ago and had the same reaction as the OP. Basically his experience was very underwhelming with 20-30 minute waits for all the characters and trails, super long wait for Villains Grove so he skipped it, long wait for the parade and shows, not enough unique foods, etc. He said he would not recommend going for how much effort it took to get tickets (like 11 total hours in queue online partly due to site crash), and then the cost for how little time you got. I guess it was good we went last year because the waits for us weren't that bad at all so maybe they are much worse this year.

 

[Lisa24jks]

I really wonder if some of the nights are sold heavier than others. I mean we NEVER waited 20 minutes in a line for a treat trail. The longest we waited was for Sid and that was 10 minutes. Everything else was 0-5 minutes. Only one time we went to wait for the Big Hero Six guy and the line was very long so we decided to step out. When we came back later it was a walk-on, no wait at all.

To be fair we didn’t attempt to wait in any character meet lines so maybe that is where the difference lies. I knew those would all be very long (which is why we chose to just skip them entirely).

Ditto this. I went 9/17 and the longest line I waited in was probably Yokai, and even it went pretty fast. (I also didn't do character meets and only rode one ride during the party times, so I was able to do every treat trail, the parade and Villain's Grove without any issue.) And I absolutely lucked out that none of the characters were on break when I went through their trails. So it absolutely seems like a "your mileage may vary" issue this year.

I still absolutely think the party should go longer though. Just one extra hour would definitely help.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

This seems to match with USH Halloween event as well, these events are being over sold

I know it "ruins" the Magic but no idea why the Meet and Greets that get 2+ hours every year they don't have two set's of character meeting so the lines can move quicker.

 

[SammyStamper]

I’m with OP…this was my first and last OBB. We went on Thursday, Sept 28th. We entered DCA around 2 pm and it was a zoo that never died down. I didn’t notice a huge difference at 6 pm. We did every treat trail but bailed out of Sids like after 20 mins…we were not even 1/4 way thru it. Didn’t even try the character lines as they were massive. Stood in line for over 15 mins for one photo with a fun prop.

We planned to watch the second parade but got stuck due to the first one starting so we gave up and watched that one. My Disney motto is…best laid plans will go to crap at Disney.

Villians Grove line was long but moved right along. It was underwhelming to me.

Just as we got up to the front line for Cruella…she left. I was not going to try and get back there again.

We have three huge bags of candy which I will be handing out to our ToT kids! My son is 11 and loved the event.

The money and angst to get those tickets isn’t worth it.

 

[chezcurrie]

I do wish we had at least one more hour. There’s simply not enough time.

This. We were there the same night and while I thought it was blissfully uncrowded we wanted one more hour. We also skipped all character meets and focused on the treat trails, villians grove and parade. Max ride wait time was 30 min for guardians start to finish. All others were 10 min or less.

I wonder OP if the earlier parties are actually more crowded due to “content creators” booking those dates to be “the first”. I am sorry you didn’t have a great experience. I felt the same way after shelling out in Canadian dollars for the Christmas party (and dessert party) at WDW in 2018. It still stings.

 

[Disney0010]

We went last year and it was a one and done for us. Just didn’t like it and felt it was a waste of time.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We are going to Oogie Boogie in 1 1/2weeks. Reading this is an eye-opener. My plan was zero rides, because we will do those other days. (we are from NJ, first time trying this event). I also do not really care about candy, maybe get a small amount but honestly, I can buy candy if I want it. I will be with my adult son, special needs adult, uses a WC. I guess I will pick a few trails to do, see a few characters, and watch the parade, and just lower my expectations!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

We are going to Oogie Boogie in 1 1/2weeks. Reading this is an eye-opener. My plan was zero rides, because we will do those other days. (we are from NJ, first time trying this event). I also do not really care about candy, maybe get a small amount but honestly, I can buy candy if I want it. I will be with my adult son, special needs adult, uses a WC. I guess I will pick a few trails to do, see a few characters, and watch the parade, and just lower my expectations!

I didn’t care about candy either but the characters on the treat trails were my very favorite part of the night! The actors, costumes, music, effects and sets are phenomenal. You don’t have to take any candy if you don’t want to, but don’t miss the characters!

 

[Sophie’smom]

We are going to Oogie Boogie in 1 1/2weeks. Reading this is an eye-opener. My plan was zero rides, because we will do those other days. (we are from NJ, first time trying this event). I also do not really care about candy, maybe get a small amount but honestly, I can buy candy if I want it. I will be with my adult son, special needs adult, uses a WC. I guess I will pick a few trails to do, see a few characters, and watch the parade, and just lower my expectations!

Hi we are from NJ and just went for the Sept 5 party. Our special needs son(31) loved the OBB. He never wanted to trick or treat when he was little but he loves it now. Quite a few of the villains were very nice to him . Special nite for us. We had a character meet with Thor that was great too. We loved the Halloween decorations and once it’s dark some treat trails are even better (Mother Gothels trail was good at night). Only ride we did was RSR wait was long, wheelchair riders line super long, we lost time there. Hope you have a great night. We knew crowds could be heavy in some areas and had snacks to get our energy back.

 

[StormyCA]

'Back in the day' I used to go to the Telephone Pioneer's private party and the tickets were reasonable and the lines were pretty short. I mean, that was the whole point of a private party!

You'd think that TPTB would realize that people don't want to pay megabucks for 5 hours to stand in the same long lines that they could pay less money on a 'regular day' for 16 hours. Wait....I guess that should say maybe if people didn't pay megabucks etc etc. Disney charges what it does to make money. And as I've said elsewhere "If they charge it, people will still come".

 

[Lisa24jks]

'Back in the day' I used to go to the Telephone Pioneer's private party and the tickets were reasonable and the lines were pretty short. I mean, that was the whole point of a private party!

You'd think that TPTB would realize that people don't want to pay megabucks for 5 hours to stand in the same long lines that they could pay less money on a 'regular day' for 16 hours. Wait....I guess that should say maybe if people didn't pay megabucks etc etc. Disney charges what it does to make money. And as I've said elsewhere "If they charge it, people will still come".

While I do think OBB is expensive, and that's coming from someone who did enjoy themselves at it this year, people aren't paying for the same thing they can do during a regular day. Yes, some people do ride rides, but people are mostly there for the exclusive characters and the parade, etc.. Things you can not at all get during a regular day. (If someone is doing it JUST for the rides, then I suggest they just get Genie+ as that's cheaper than an OBB ticket.) People are paying for the exclusives, and whether it's worth the money or not, well, that's certainly debatable depending on where you stand.

OBB obviously is in demand, especially since it broke the Disneyland website more than once this year. Now, if demand goes down, maybe things we'll change. (And maybe after this year's ticketing debacle it will, but I doubt it.) For every person who didn't like OBB and will never go again, there's someone else who will happily go every year. (Personally, I had a great time, but it is not necessarily a yearly event for me.)

I've been an invited guest at a couple private parties in the past and those are great! (Sadly, I lost my connection to get that invite every year, but it was fun while it lasted.) But they are definitely more about packing in as many rides as you can after hours. Very different from OBB or the other After Dark events.

 

[Karin1984]

After seeing the pictures and videos of rare villains like Ernesto de la Cruz, Madam Mim, Sid etc. I would love to go to OBB next year. (Hopefully they will repeat it next year)

Coming from Europe this is going to be a longer and probably an expensive trip. I understand that many things went wrong with the booking system, causing a lot of stress. How quickly did dates in early October sell out?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

After seeing the pictures and videos of rare villains like Ernesto de la Cruz, Madam Mim, Sid etc. I would love to go to OBB next year. (Hopefully they will repeat it next year)

Coming from Europe this is going to be a longer and probably an expensive trip. I understand that many things went wrong with the booking system, causing a lot of stress. How quickly did dates in early October sell out?

There were two sales. A pre-sale for Magic Key holders and a regular sale. The regular sale shut down in about 5-10 minutes due to bots or something buying up tickets. So they tried again at a later date (was is a week later? 10 days? I can't remember) and the every date sold out in about 8 hours.

 

[chezcurrie]

Echoing other posters that if you are focusing on rides for OBB, you are (IMO) missing the point of the party. Where I think some people get caught is they don’t have a DCA day and use OBB to do both (my sis was a bit like this when we went on 9/24 - we did Soarin, guardians, monsters inc and Webslingers because she only had a 1-day DL ticket for this trip.)

Interestingly enough, she was not interested in the treat trails as she thought they would be like at MNSSHP at WDW where there are no characters. The treat trails are where it is at!!! As soon as we did Cruella she was like: I want to do them allllllll!!!! LOL It was not about the candy, that is just a nice bonus. Ernesto I could watch all evening - we actually went back twice and stood in the non-treat trail area they have so we could just enjoy his performance.

I’m looking forward to going back at the end of October with my boys, but absolutely will be managing expectations that this is not about the rides. I’m having each of us pick our #1 treat trail and we will focus on those, Villians grove and the parade.