The Oogie Boogie Bash is a yearly Halloween event at Disney California Adventure Park from Aug. 25 to Oct. 31. The after-hour event goes from 6 p.m. through 11 p.m. and features various festivities including trick-or-treating, a parade and exclusive character meet-and-greets. Although the event offers visitors a child-friendly Halloween event, ticket prices range from $134 to $189 regardless of age group and some have questioned if the festivities justify the price, while others have defended the event’s value.
Senior Luna Rivas believes the event is worth the cost due to the family-friendly environment and the abundance of candy guests receive. Although Rivas has not been able to attend, this event remains on her bucket list.
“Disneyland provides a family-friendly ambulance, and is mainly focused on providing safety for families, and just makes it feel fun and safe without being too scary for children,” said Rivas.
One perk of this event is admission to the park three hours prior to the event, allowing guests to enjoy rides and attractions. Crowds are more manageable and wait times tend to be shorter since it’s a separately ticketed event to regular park hours.
Junior Brianna Valenzuela is a three-year magic key pass member, which allows her to enjoy benefits like park entry, discounts on merchandise, and food. She has been to other events such as Star Wars Night and hopes to add the Oogie Boogie Bash to that list as it offers more interactive experiences and different characters than those at the regular park.
“I’ve been wanting to go so bad, but it always sells out, so that basically should show that it’s good,” said Valenzuela.
The Oogie Boogie Bash is known for its exclusive character interactions such as Oogie Boogie from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Hades from “Hercules” and Ernesto de la Cruz from “Coco.” Guests can only experience these character interactions during this event.
“That’s the main thing, characters because a lot of people like seeing characters,” said Valenzuela.
Another main attraction is the treat trails, which are stations placed around the park where guests can collect candy like trick-or-treating and meet different characters.
Along with the treat trails, there is also the Frightfully Fun Parade that showcases Halloween floats featuring classic Disney villains like Maleficent from “Sleeping Beauty,” the Evil Queen from “Snow White” and the Queen of Hearts from “Alice and Wonderland”.
The unique experiences make the event worth the expense for Disney fans who enjoy Halloween without the terror aspect. Guests still looking for a Disney experience can visit Disneyland Park during regular hours.
