Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween 2023 Super Thread

Anyone know how long of waits to expect for the treat trails and villians grove? Like 20 minutes or an hour, way longer? Just trying to see how much we can get done in 1 night.

Do they post estimated waits for the characters? I'd like to see a few characters if they have shorter waits, waiting an hour+ is not going to happen for just a character though.
 
I will be taking my 6 year old with autism, could anyone tell me what my best strategy should be to see most of the stuff & avoid waiting in an hour long line? What should I do in what order etc?
 
Can guests staying at Grand use their entrance for OBB? Or does everyone have to go through the main entrance? You talked about a MK table. Is that for MK guests only?

I haven't been to the Halloween parties in years, not since it was on the other side at Disneyland. I'm excited to be returning.
Yes! You actually don't have to be staying at the GCH to use that entrance for the party. We stayed at the GCH last year and used it, which was super convenient. I've heard that they cut off that exit back into the hotel before the end of the party, but we had no issue with going back through there at the end. It might be dependent on the night and which CMs are assigned to that area.
 
I will be taking my 6 year old with autism, could anyone tell me what my best strategy should be to see most of the stuff & avoid waiting in an hour long line? What should I do in what order etc?
None of the lines should be more than an hour, unless you are doing special character meets. The treat trail lines can look deceptively long, but move quickly. The one that seemed to take forever to get through was Cruella's treat trail line over at the Hollywood Backlot near Monster's Inc. It moved slowly because at the very end, the line/exit wasn't well marked. There was a line leading closer to the stage where Cruella was that people could stop and take photos (people also may have thought it was another treat stop, it was difficult to see in the crowd gathered there). People would just follow the person in front of them and it created a huge bottleneck, but there was a separate exit right next to it if you didn't care about stopping. Technically, the CMs are supposed to keep people moving and not stopping unless for a quick two second photo, but for whatever reason that line was not as organized at the end.

The same thing happens for Oogie Boogie's treat trail line in the Animation Academy, but the CMs in there are very good about moving people along so there isn't a bottleneck.
 
None of the lines should be more than an hour, unless you are doing special character meets. The treat trail lines can look deceptively long, but move quickly. The one that seemed to take forever to get through was Cruella's treat trail line over at the Hollywood Backlot near Monster's Inc. It moved slowly because at the very end, the line/exit wasn't well marked. There was a line leading closer to the stage where Cruella was that people could stop and take photos (people also may have thought it was another treat stop, it was difficult to see in the crowd gathered there). People would just follow the person in front of them and it created a huge bottleneck, but there was a separate exit right next to it if you didn't care about stopping. Technically, the CMs are supposed to keep people moving and not stopping unless for a quick two second photo, but for whatever reason that line was not as organized at the end.

The same thing happens for Oogie Boogie's treat trail line in the Animation Academy, but the CMs in there are very good about moving people along so there isn't a bottleneck.
What do you think is a good time to go to villains grove? I know it’s better to see it at night. Also which parade time would be better? My son doesn’t care too much about seeing characters but I kinda do since I’m the huge Disney nut in the family lol. I can always take the little one to the meet & greets and hubs can take him on a ride if need be.
 
Anyone know how long of waits to expect for the treat trails and villians grove? Like 20 minutes or an hour, way longer? Just trying to see how much we can get done in 1 night.

Do they post estimated waits for the characters? I'd like to see a few characters if they have shorter waits, waiting an hour+ is not going to happen for just a character though.
Treat Trail, I would say 15-20 minutes maximum. Once you hit the first treat trail, it's basically nonstop walking to the next with no stopping.

Villain's Grove is maybe a 30ish minute wait before getting in. Maybe 45 minutes at the very most during the peak times of the party, but I don't think it's even been that much. Again - the line can look deceptively long. They only allow a certain amount of people in at a time so people don't feel rushed through and for safety. Even with that, the line moves pretty quickly until you are able to get in.
 
What do you think is a good time to go to villains grove? I know it’s better to see it at night. Also which parade time would be better? My son doesn’t care too much about seeing characters but I kinda do since I’m the huge Disney nut in the family lol. I can always take the little one to the meet & greets and hubs can take him on a ride if need be.
Personally, we leave it until the end of the night. Way shorter of a line and less people. But - if you have a child that won't make it until the end of the night before getting tired, maybe try during one of the parade times for a shorter line. The line may back up to the plane prop near Soarin', but it still moves pretty quickly.

They will have three characters in the DCA "hub" area that have pretty short lines. The Sanderson Sister's, Bruno, and Kingdom Hearts photo op had insane long lines last time from what I remember. From other's reports last year, they would only allow 1 (maybe a max of 2) photos per group and were pretty strict about it just because of how many people were in line. There were some people who got in line right at 3pm for characters so they could be at the front of the line. If you're ok with skipping the longer character meets, you'll still see some in the hub (they changed out the characters I believe to a different set) and many in the parade. The second parade will be less wait, but either is good because the parade route is so long. It's pretty easy to get a good spot.
 
None of the lines should be more than an hour, unless you are doing special character meets. The treat trail lines can look deceptively long, but move quickly. The one that seemed to take forever to get through was Cruella's treat trail line over at the Hollywood Backlot near Monster's Inc. It moved slowly because at the very end, the line/exit wasn't well marked. There was a line leading closer to the stage where Cruella was that people could stop and take photos (people also may have thought it was another treat stop, it was difficult to see in the crowd gathered there). People would just follow the person in front of them and it created a huge bottleneck, but there was a separate exit right next to it if you didn't care about stopping. Technically, the CMs are supposed to keep people moving and not stopping unless for a quick two second photo, but for whatever reason that line was not as organized at the end.

The same thing happens for Oogie Boogie's treat trail line in the Animation Academy, but the CMs in there are very good about moving people along so there isn't a bottleneck.
Would you suggest doing Oogie Boogie first thing?
 
I read somewhere on here that the line for Villain’s Grove was long right after the 1st parade. I am not sure of our strategy yet, but I plan to avoid that time for going through Villain’s Grove.

I believe my daughter is planning on getting DAS. We don’t have park tickets the day of our OBB so we plan on arriving at 3 o’clock or soon after. Our flight gets into LGB at 1:00pm so it will be a tight transition. Throw in any delays and I am stressing. All that said, I believe the only priority for the mix in time is to get something to eat and ride Monster’s After Dark or whatever it is called.

We are staying at CCI and using Lansky so the flight is the only variable that I am worried about.
 
Would you suggest doing Oogie Boogie first thing?
We tend to start with that one, I'm not really sure why lol Probably just out of habit. That line is pretty long at the beginning of the party if you don't jump in before 6pm, but it will usually calm down by the halfway/end point. It might be a good one to start the night off with, because then you are close to the Hollywood Backlot one, one over in Avenger's Campus, etc.
 
Where is the Magic Key table located at in case this is still where wristbands can be obtained?

When we went in 2019 the line at the entrance to get wristbands was nuts so we went to Blue Sky Cellar and got them there with no wait even though we hadn’t been in the park that day. In 2021 the line at the entrance was manageable so I didn’t bother going anywhere else…
 
They give you a starter bag with your wristband when you first enter, but it is empty. We always bring a bigger bag because you will fill up that small bag in only a couple treat trails. They give out a lot of candy, which is always fun.
Thanks! We’ve only been to the party at Disney World so wasn’t sure how similar the events were in terms of candy.
 
Do any of the characters at OOB sign autographs? I'm assuming the ones on the treat trails don't. What about the other special characters that you line up for?
 
Do any of the characters at OOB sign autographs? I'm assuming the ones on the treat trails don't. What about the other special characters that you line up for?

The treat trails ones don't, correct.

The "Sanderson Sisters" did not either, I mean would only have been the standard anyway. ;)

I got Bruno fine which surprised me. Got Hercules, Megara and Merlin too. I saw Mulan/Ping signing, Hook and Smee and a couple of the ones on Avengers Campus. Scarlet Witch still does not sign.
 
I read somewhere on here that the line for Villain’s Grove was long right after the 1st parade. I am not sure of our strategy yet, but I plan to avoid that time for going through Villain’s Grove.

I believe my daughter is planning on getting DAS. We don’t have park tickets the day of our OBB so we plan on arriving at 3 o’clock or soon after. Our flight gets into LGB at 1:00pm so it will be a tight transition. Throw in any delays and I am stressing. All that said, I believe the only priority for the mix in time is to get something to eat and ride Monster’s After Dark or whatever it is called.

We are staying at CCI and using Lansky so the flight is the only variable that I am worried about.

Last year DAS did not work during the party, not sure if this has changed.

The worst line when I went towards the end of the season was the Sanderson Sisters by far. Bruno was almost a walk up, only 2 or 3 groups in line. I guess the "blogger hype" had died down at that point, friends who went earlier said the line was insane. Even Kingdom Hearts was okayish, but it helped I had met Goofy and Donald and only needed Mickey, we got lucky on our first try. The characters switch out often, so it's a bit of a gamble who you will see.

They were really strict with photos for the Sandersons, absolutely relaxed with Bruno and doing the "only one combination per group" with Kingdom Hearts at that point. Which about goes along with the length of the lines.

The Hub was a bit weird, but I think there were some call outs on each night I went. Merlin wasn't there first night when instead Megara suddenly joined Hercules for the late sets. Second night Hercules was missing and more often than not no characters were out at all.
 

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