Villains deal with trails and meet & greets are fashionable issues to do at Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Social gathering. Sadly, lengthy strains for characters & sweet can eat hours of the occasion at Disney California Journey. This information covers the place to seek out every spot, common wait occasions, time-saving priorities & technique, and when to do the whole lot. (Up to date August 26, 2024.)
The very first thing that you must know is that it’s essential to plan forward. That’s all the time the case with Disneyland, nevertheless it’s significantly essential for villains deal with trails and character meet & greets at Oogie Boogie Bash. If you happen to merely arrive to DCA at 6 pm when the Halloween celebration formally begins, seize a celebration map, and head to a meet & greet or deal with path, you’re going to be at a definite drawback.
Partly, it is because Oogie Boogie Bash really begins earlier than 6 pm, with many strains forming in the course of the ‘mix-in’ time that Disney California Journey continues to be open to day friends. It’s additionally as a result of the official celebration map doesn’t even listing which characters and villains seem the place. That’s really excellent news in the event you’re studying this earlier than about 5:30 pm on the day you’re attending Oogie Boogie Bash, because it provides you a strategic benefit.
Earlier than we get going, the very first thing that you must know is that there’s a motive we’re drawing a distinction between villains deal with trails and character meet & greets. Because the title suggests, villains deal with trails are walk-throughs the place you may accumulate sweet. These characteristic encounter with villains as their spotlight, and don’t contain posed pictures or autographs. (If you happen to’re fortunate and there isn’t a lot of a line, you may have the ability to get the character to pose for a fast selfie…however that’s uncommon and never assured.)
Whereas villains deal with trails are distinctive to Oogie Boogie Bash, character meet & greets are the kind of factor you’ll encounter throughout Disneyland Resort on a traditional day. Gradual-moving strains the place you may meet characters, get autographs, pose for pictures, high-fives, and all that. Including to the confusion, some meet & greets characteristic villains. Some even have PhotoPass photographers to take your pictures, whereas others don’t.
Background out of the best way, let’s begin with some fast phrases of warning, which is that it’s tough for the typical attendee of Oogie Boogie Bash to do the whole lot. You gained’t have the ability to meet each single character, do the entire villains deal with trails, see the parade, stage present, experience sights, and many others.
The silver lining is that with a little bit of technique, you may come fairly near doing the entire Oogie Boogie Bash-exclusive leisure and choices throughout a single Halloween celebration. To that time, for the whole lot that you must find out about this occasion–past characters–see our Final Information to the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Social gathering!)
It doesn’t matter what you propose on doing first, begin by arriving early nicely earlier than the 6 pm begin time of Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Social gathering. Visitors can enter DCA as early as 3 pm, which is 3 hours early. This isn’t some “secret” or a “hidden hack.” Disney advertises this, and occasion attendees line as much as enter Disney California Journey by about 2:30 pm.
Fortunately, you don’t have to line up practically that early for any of the character meet & greets or villains deal with trails. Significantly, getting in line for something earlier than 5 pm is main overkill and a whole waste of your time. You do have to be inside DCA nicely earlier than 6 pm, however use that point to get your occasion wristband, park map & trick-or-treat bag. Following that, have an early dinner and do sights for a few hours.
At round 5:30 pm, head to your first ‘focal point’ throughout Oogie Boogie Bash. Our robust suggestion can be prioritizing a high-demand character meet & greet and NOT a villains deal with path (or the rest, for that matter). In opposition to that backdrop, let’s focus on the Oogie Boogie Bash character meet & greet lineup and places…
Kingdom Hearts (King Mickey & Associates) – Situated within the World of Colour viewing space (Paradise Gardens Park), this meet & greet incorporates a rotating forged of characters from the Kingdom Hearts online game collection. We’ve performed this meet & greet each single 12 months of Oogie Boogie Bash, and we’ve observed it get progressively much less fashionable every year. Presumably, that’s as a result of it’s a distinct segment online game and the diehards have gotten their “repair” in earlier years.
Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless one of many prime 3 or 4 meet & greets at Oogie Boogie Bash, with wait occasions recurrently exceeding 20 minutes. It additionally doesn’t assist that the characters don’t meet throughout Frightfully Enjoyable Parade, since they’re additionally in that. Right here, you’ll meet some mixture of King Mickey Mouse, Goofy, or Donald Duck. Some years, we’ve met two of these characters collectively; different occasions, it’s been one or the opposite.
It is a sensible choice to your first character meet & greet of Oogie Boogie Bash. If you happen to get in line at 5:30 pm or so, you have to be performed shortly after Oogie Boogie Bash begins. Alternatively, leap in line proper because the second Frightfully Enjoyable Parade ends.
Bruno from Encanto – If you happen to depart the Kingdom Hearts meet & greet and stroll in the direction of Grizzly Peak, you’ll see this character as you stroll proper in the direction of him–no want to speak about him! (Okay, we’re really gonna speak about Bruno, too…)
Bruno from Encanto was a extremely fashionable meet & greet when he was added to the Halloween celebration just a few years in the past. Discover that’s previous tense. We had been completely shocked to see Bruno with out a lot of a wait (perhaps quarter-hour, max?) on the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash. My wager is that’s as a result of the brand new character scent has worn off, and the primary occasion of the season all the time has a bunch of bloggers and repeat friends. So my guess is that Bruno’s strains will get longer over the course of the Oogie Boogie Bash season.
Regardless, time to fulfill Bruno will likely be proper after the Kingdom Hearts characters in the event you do these first. Alternatively, you must have the ability to make it to Bruno throughout or after the second Frightfully Enjoyable Parade. (Catching him after the Kingdom Hearts characters on the very finish of the evening is feasible, nevertheless it’s taking part in with hearth.)
Sanderson Sisters (Hollywood Land) – Far and away the preferred character meet & greet of Oogie Boogie Bash options Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow dressed up because the Sanderson Sisters from the film Hocus Pocus.
That is the obvious first choose for a personality meet & greet. You’ll want to line up for this no later than 5:30 pm–most likely earlier in the event you’re attending one of many Halloween events in late September or October. We clarify the whole lot that you must find out about beating the crowds in The best way to Meet the Sanderson Sisters at Oogie Boogie Bash.
Throughout final 12 months’s Oogie Boogie Bash, we examined a distinct strategy. Though doing this at first is objectively the neatest transfer, we had been completely depressing final 12 months ready within the scorching solar. So this 12 months, we determined to leap in line in the direction of the tail finish of the primary Frightfully Enjoyable Parade.
Most attendees are watching Frightfully Enjoyable Parade, and in addition that the parade route “blocks” entry to this space. Because of this, we jumped in line when it was at its shortest level in the course of the celebration, and our wait time ended up being lower than 45 minutes. Much better than the reported 3+ hour waits we heard about in October!
An alternative choice can be an analogous technique, however lining up in the course of the second parade–simply bear in mind that the road might be reduce early. We favored this strategy a lot that we repeated it for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash to comparable success.
Uncommon Villains (Carthay Circle) – This is usually a tough one on account of its location on the very entrance of the park–catching individuals because the arrive late or depart early. The characters listed here are virtually all uncommon, with examples together with Ache & Panic, Captain Hook, Sheriff of Nottingham, Hans, the Hag, and others I’m most likely forgetting. It is a actually eclectic spot, with characters altering not simply yearly, however all through the course of the occasion throughout a single 12 months.
The group of those strains leaves rather a lot to be desired and also you by no means know who’s going to seem at what time–making it tough/imprudent to line up earlier than a personality arrives. These meet & greets additionally shut upfront of Frightfully Enjoyable Parade, as they’re primarily in viewing areas.
Most of those strains aren’t too dangerous, however some (like Ache & Panic) are approach worse than the miscellaneous meet & greets under. We waited ~20 minutes for Ache & Panic on the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash, after which obtained “caught” with Hans from Frozen on the final minute. (On the plus facet, the road emptied out in entrance of us as soon as it turned clear that Ache & Panic had been leaving…so our wait was a lot shorter than it may’ve been!)
Misc. Meet & Greets (All through DCA) – Along with the particular ones we’ve highlighted above, there are a variety of character meet & greets round Disney California Journey:
- Marvel Tremendous Heroes in Avengers Campus
- Pixar Friends in Pixar Pier
- Radiator Springs Residents in Vehicles Land
These could be performed just about each time, with strains being shortest in the direction of the top of the night. With that stated, it’s a must to do one thing in the course of the first half of the celebration, and average precedence meet & greets are a fairly good choice.
The one strains we discovered to be even reasonably lengthy are Wade & Ember from Elemental and Lotso from Toy Story 3, and that’s as a result of these are nonetheless comparatively new and uncommon additions to Oogie Boogie Bash. It’s additionally the case that Pixar Pier is mostly fairly busy throughout Oogie Boogie Bash.
With character meet & greets out of the best way, let’s flip to the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash Villains Deal with Path lineup and places…
Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Disney Theater in Hollywood Land) – The primary new addition for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash makes me really feel previous. For many who likewise are unfamiliar with this villain, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is from Disney’s animated collection Phineas and Ferb. This all-new deal with path is contained in the Disney Theater, which was beforehand house to Mickey’s Trick and Deal with Present throughout OOB (for 2024, it’s introduced throughout daytime hours at DCA).
In keeping with the web, Dr. Doofenshmirtz or “Doof”is a 47 12 months previous evil scientist from the nation of Drusselstein. The top of Doofenshmirtz Evil Included, he tends to not be evil within the conventional sense, however quite overly dramatic, eccentric and customarily clueless. His lair is an workplace constructing.
Doofenshmirtz makes an attempt to wreak usually “evil” havoc and is devoted to his goal. Nearly all of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s plans are thwarted by his nemesis Perry the Platypus. Doof is so accustomed to this that he often feels empty or upset on the few events the place Perry doesn’t stand in his approach.
It’s typical of two new characters becoming a member of the Villains Treats Trails, changing older or much less fashionable ones, every year. Since this location was used for a stage present final 12 months, Dr. Doofenshmirtz just isn’t a direct substitute. As an alternative, he’s been added whereas Mom Gothel has been faraway from the quiet bypass behind Grizzly River Run. The villain from Tangled was tucked away right into a secluded, and there was seldom a lot of a line consequently.
Against this, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is in a high traffic space on the entrance of the park that’s proper subsequent door to Oogie Boogie, making it simple to knock out the titular villain and Dr. Doofenshmirtz with out a lot of a stroll. This new location alone will spike the villain’s recognition dramatically–and that may’ve been true in the event that they retained Mom Gothel.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz can be very in-demand, which is in step with something new. At first of the celebration, we noticed that Dr. Doofenshmirtz had the only longest line in all the park. We ended up visiting Dr. Doofenshmirtz three separate occasions–proper earlier than the primary parade, proper after the primary parade, and shortly earlier than the occasion ended.
His shortest strains, unsurprisingly, had been earlier than the parade and on the finish of the night. The wait was for much longer instantly after the parade, as crowds from the parade route poured into the Disney Theater to see Dr. Doofenshmirtz earlier than many headed house.
Hades (Hollywood Backlot Stage) – The opposite new for the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash Villains Deal with Path is Hades from Hercules. He replaces Cruella (from the dwell motion remake) in the identical normal space as Ernesto de la Cruz and the Sanderson Sisters meet & greet.
Unsurprisingly, Hades has an extremely lengthy line at first of the evening. To make issues worse, it may be slower-moving as a result of Hercules has an extremely passionate fanbase, and this cult following of followers decelerate (or cease) to work together with Hades. Throughout a number of pass-throughs that we made, Hades needed to inform friends to maneuver alongside as a result of they weren’t listening to Forged Members.
The road for Hades is manageable shortly earlier than, throughout or instantly after the parade–or on the finish of the evening.
Decide Doom (Soarin’ Overflow in Grizzly Peak Airfield) – The marquee addition to the Villains Deal with Path lineup for final 12 months was Decide Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Disneyland Resort first teased with a video exhibiting an A1 Solvents barrel of turpentine with inexperienced goo inside with shoelaces hanging out. That kickstarted the hype, which ran all the best way to the beginning of the primary Halloween celebration.
We need to begin by giving an enormous kudos to Disney for even making this occur. It’s actually exceptional that any characters from Who Framed Roger Rabbit are showing at Oogie Boogie Bash–the film has been topic to a bitter rights dispute for many years, which has resulted in a number of stalled sequels. Even Hollywood energy gamers haven’t been capable of make it occur, and Roger Rabbit has slowly light from the parks.
Simply sharing that so everybody studying this appreciates the good lengths to which Disneyland went simply to deliver this Decide Doom deal with path to fruition. I don’t have any inside data, however I’m guessing it has taken literal years to make this a actuality. The excellent news is that Disney Reside Leisure and everybody else concerned didn’t squander the chance. Decide Doom is without doubt one of the prime 2 characters at Oogie Boogie Bash, and is an absolute must-see.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the character, Decide Doom is portrayed by Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? His ‘weapon’ of selection is the Dip, an notorious chemical he created to kill cartoons. That is related for a few causes. First, the actor’s portrayal of Decide Doom is completely spot on. He seems, sounds, and behaves like Decide Doom. If I didn’t know any higher, I’d suppose it had been a youthful Christopher Lloyd up there.
For 2024, Decide Doom not has the Dip on stage with him that he used final 12 months about each 5-10 minutes to kill a cartoon shoe. Whereas we actually loved seeing this final 12 months, it’s comprehensible that Disneyland opted to dial this down and not let a villain homicide terrified footwear each couple of minutes dwell on stage.
Now that the ‘new shoe scent’ has worn off Decide Doom, he’s not practically as fashionable in his second 12 months. We did the Decide Doom Deal with Path just a few occasions in the course of the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash we attended. There was by no means a lot of a line once we did it. Not simply that, however solely small crowds had gathered to look at Decide Doom’s efficiency, which was allowed by crowd management Forged Members (off to the left facet) as a result of it wasn’t busy.
Consequently, we had been capable of watch Decide Doom for over 5 minutes on every event. He was nothing wanting unbelievable, going by means of each scripted strains and improvised dialogue with friends in attendance. Throughout one go to, he noticed friends dressed as Jessica and Roger Rabbit, hassling them and persevering with to riff primarily based on what they stated. It was superior–a spotlight of the occasion. Level being, we extremely advocate heading to Decide Doom later within the night and spending a while to look at his efficiency. Disney hit this one out of the park!
Yokai (San Fransokyo Sq.) – We remorse to report that the opposite addition for final 12 months’s Oogie Boogie Bash just isn’t practically pretty much as good. Yokai, the villain from Massive Hero 6, meets within the just lately reimagined San Fransokyo Sq., in the identical spot because the Baymax meet & greet (in the course of the day).
Yokai’s dialogue is pre-recorded, and his spiel looks like it’s 5 minutes lengthy, tops. Possibly it’s longer, I’m probably not positive, however the subjects rapidly grow to be repetitive, redundant, and (actually) grating. I like Massive Hero 6, however this simply misses the mark, particularly when contrasted with the far superior Decide Doom (or virtually any of the opposite deal with trails, for that matter).
This by no means had a lot of a line besides on the very starting of the pary. If it does for no matter motive, you may simply watch Yokai’s complete spiel whereas sitting at tables in San Fransokyo Sq.. I heard the whole lot he needed to say…after which some…whereas ready for somebody to make use of the restroom. Sadly, I hope he’s not introduced again for the 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash.
Ernesto de la Cruz (Hyperion Theatre) – We talked about above that Decide Doom is without doubt one of the prime 2 deal with trails. That is the opposite one which’s subsequent stage. (I’d most likely rank Ernesto de la Cruz #1, however they’re completely totally different to the purpose of being incomparable.)
Ernesto de la Cruz from Coco debuted at the very least 12 months’s Oogie Boogie Bash, and he completely stole the present. This 12 months, he’s been moved to the out of doors queue of the Hyperion Theatre, which was a fully good transfer from a crowd stream perspective (it makes us really feel a bit of higher about dropping Rogers: The Musical).
Mercifully, a devoted viewing space for Ernesto de la Cruz has been added behind the deal with path, permitting friends to stay round and watch his musical performances. He extremely advocate doing precisely that. I actually don’t know which I get pleasure from extra, seeing Decide Doom kill a ‘toon on stage, or Ernesto de la Cruz kill it singing “Keep in mind Me.” Why not each?!
With this new viewing space, you may just about see Ernesto de la Cruz each time, however choice is watching Frightfully Enjoyable Parade from in entrance of the Hyperion Theatre, after which doing this Deal with Path after the parade passes. (Alternatively, do it after assembly the Sanderson Sisters.)
Agatha Harkness (Historic Sanctum in Avengers Campus) – Now that WandaVision is previous information, the Agatha Harkness deal with path just isn’t practically as fashionable because it as soon as was. Nonetheless, you may encounter a line right here in the direction of the start of the occasion.
That’s very true in 2024, because the villain has a brand new costume impressed by Agatha All Alongside. I’d think about this Villains Deal with Path will get extra fashionable as soon as the brand new collection really debuts on September 18, 2024. For now, she simply kinda seems like a random woman on a platform who’s dressed properly. I’m positive it’ll make extra sense as soon as the brand new collection debuts? Within the meantime, there wasn’t a ton of visitor curiosity in Agatha.
By hour two of the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash, the wait right here was by no means greater than 5 minutes lengthy. We additionally suppose this deal with path seems higher with the Historic Sanctum lanterns illuminated, however in the event you’re making an attempt to take telephone pictures or movies, chances are you’ll beg to vary and favor it throughout daytime.
Madam Mim (Bountiful Valley Hideaway Close to Vehicles Land) – Madam Mim is the villain of Disney’s 1963 animated characteristic movie, The Sword within the Stone. Mad Madam Mim is a depraved, previous witch who relishes within the distress of others. She believes herself to be the best wizard of all time, however her magic is rivaled by her nemesis, Merlin.
This synopsis dropped at you courtesy of Google, which I nonetheless have to go looking each time I write about Madam Mim as a result of I consistently overlook whether or not she’s from the Sword within the Stone or the Black Cauldron. (Sorry, I’ll give up my Disney fan card now.) Madam Mim is unbelievable, and I actually admire Disneyland doing such a deep reduce character. With that stated, as a result of she’s so obscure, the road by no means tends to be too dangerous.
Oogie Boogie (Inside Animation Constructing in Hollywood Land) – The titular villain of Disney California Journey’s Halloween celebration, it ought to be no shock that Oogie Boogie has one of the vital fashionable deal with trails. That’s very true early on within the night, when his line can spill outdoors the constructing.
On the plus facet, the character himself being hidden from view does result in barely shorter strains, and Oogie Boogie is “previous information” amongst annual attendees by this level. Editorializing a bit, I’d additionally add that the entire face character villains are higher than the fur character ones in these eventualities, because the latter can’t improvise or work together with friends in any significant approach. Nonetheless, you shouldn’t miss Oogie Boogie if it’s your first time–in any case, it’s his occasion! Simply go within the second half of the evening.
Sid (Pixar Pal-Round in Pixar Pier) – It amazes me how this grownup Sid actor someway seems like the child from the animated Toy Story films. It’s actually spectacular. Much more spectacular is how the actor hits the fitting notes with the mannerisms of Sid, and heckles friends in line.
I can’t clarify why, however Sid stays essentially the most constantly fashionable deal with path at Oogie Boogie Bash–even in 2024, years after he debuted. The primary time we noticed Sid, the wait was simply 20 minutes, which is de facto lengthy by deal with path requirements. Even on the very finish of the occasion, Sid nonetheless had a line. This one appears to get progressively busier with every passing 12 months.
Finally, hopefully this helps you propose your technique for character meet & greets and villains deal with trails on the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash. One last factor to notice is that we (clearly) don’t attend each single Halloween celebration. That will rapidly get ridiculously costly! Nonetheless, we’ve been doing this yearly since again within the day when it was Mickey’s Halloween Social gathering at Disneyland, and have performed each single Oogie Boogie Bash because the inaugural occasion.
From that, we’ve discovered a ton…together with that there’s nonetheless quite a lot of inconsistency and variability. Whereas issues ought to usually be constant over the course of the occasion, what we expertise in early September might be barely totally different than what you encounter in late October. Simply one thing of which you have to be conscious as you propose the characters you need to meet–and the whole lot else you’ll do throughout OBB. With that in thoughts, if you would like a complete itinerary for the occasion, see our 1-Night time Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Social gathering Plan!
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Ideas for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Find out about on-site and off-site lodges in our Anaheim Lodge Evaluations & Rankings. For the place to eat, take a look at our Disneyland Restaurant Evaluations. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, take a look at What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, take a look at our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seaside, and plenty of different SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever attended the 2024 Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Social gathering? Which character meet & greets and villains deal with trails are your prime priorities? Did you meet the Sanderson Sisters or Kingdom Hearts Disney Friends…or had been these strains too lengthy for you? What about Bruno, Lotso, or different uncommon characters with extra average strains? Do you disagree with any of our recommendation? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
