OK, here is my report from last night's OBB (Sunday, 9/24). I attended with my son, age 8. Neither of us had ever been to OBB or any hard-ticket Disney event for that matter.
First, I want to thank everyone who has reported their experiences and offered their tips. I used several of those tips and I really feel it made our night!
Unlike some previous guests, I did not feel like the party was overly crowded. Was it that I had set my expectations low or maybe we just got super lucky and avoided the crowd flow by zigging when everyone zagged? Or maybe it was less crowded last night than some other nights? I think the tips I learned in this thread, plus my own knowledge of park patterns and having the flexibility to walk away from something if the line seemed too long really helped us!
Overall impression of this event was 10/10! It was basically a perfect night!
Anyway, our main priorities for OBB were treat trails, the parade (especially the Headless Horseman), Villain's Grove and rides. We did everything we wanted to with the exception of not hitting many rides. In fact, we only did one ride (Radiator Springs Racers), but we did it three times with almost no wait. At 7pm the line was 10 minutes long! Why, I have no idea, but we were right there and hopped in line and yes, it was 10 minutes. By the time we excited the line it was 60 minutes. At the end of the night, around 10:30, the line 25 minutes and we did single rider twice in a row, nearly a walk on for us and we had the bonus of riding together both times (pixie dust due to the party?). All of this was at my son's wishes and it was great for us as we love RSR but rarely ride it due to the long lines and not wanting to pay for it.
At 2pm, we arrived and as we had a regular park reservation we entered DCA and secured a locker for our stuff. The lines for OBB was already forming. After getting the locker, we hopped to DL for two hours to meet up with my brother, SIL and niece. Since we were dressed as Star Wars, my main priority was to take a photo in front of the Millennium Falcon. You can't imagine my delight when we were pixie dusted by a photopass photographer with what amounted to a private photo session! When R2D2 came over I nearly cried. It was amazing.
After spending time with our family (who were not able to get tickets to OBB sadly), we went over to Naples for an early dinner at 4:30pm. We saw the OBB lines stretching nearly to the monorail track at this time, yikes. Naples was fast and delicious! Around 5pm, we went inside the GCH and got some of the yummy Halloween gingerbread for later. Then we entered DCA from inside the GCH around 5:15pm with no lines. Checked in for OBB right there with no wait and we were ready to go!
Having never been to a hard-ticket Disney event, it was very interesting to watch how they cleared the park of non-party guests. It took longer than I expected. At 6:30 we were on Buena Vista street visiting my locker and I was surprised at the river of people exiting the park 30 minutes past the start of the party. But eventually they were all gone and the party crowd felt like a good amount of people to me. Never had to wait for bathrooms or really much of anything honestly. Outside of the parade and some of the popular treat trails earlier in the evening, it felt like nice crowd levels to me.
We did almost all of the treat trails except Madam Mim (tried at the end but just missed it by a few minutes). The villains in the treat trails are absolute magic. Disney just hit it out of the park with the casting of these villains, particularly Sid, Judge Doom and Ernesto de la Cruz. The others were also amazing, Oogie Boogie, Cruella, Mother Gothel ... these actors are just phenomenal, especially the improv they do with the guests.
I am not sure if it was luck but we almost never had to wait in a line for a character treat trail. The longest was Sid, which was 10 minutes, but you can hear him the whole time and see him a lot of the time and he's just hilarious. (PSA you can see DL's fireworks from over there, so we watched while in line. Who knew?)
We waited maybe 5 minutes for Ernesto de la Cruz (we lined up a few minutes before the party started and it went fast). Later we walked on for him as we were trying to get to RSR as that is how they route you from Hollywoodland during the parade. Bonus to see him at night and during the day. During our first encounter, which was the first thing we did for the party we got to hear him see “Remember Me” and it was pure Disney magic! Welcome to the party!
We waited maybe 5 minutes for Judge Doom. Amazing actor. Didn't see him dip a toon. His area is very creative and spooky. No wait for Mother Gothel. Her stage is so pretty.
Since we watched the first parade, we didn't watch the second parade. While everyone was camped out waiting for the second parade we did Oogie Boogie and it was a total walk on, no wait. Cruella de Ville was also a walk on, no wait at this time. When we exited Oogie Boogie we got to see the Headless Horseman a second time (such a treat for me, I just LOVE him and the horse, it's brilliant). We walked on to Yokai during the second half of the evening (his line was longer earlier so we waited). My son loved him and wanted to go twice.
My son's priority was to do a ton of trick or treating so that is what we did. But honestly the bonus is the amazing characters on many of the treat trails. Even if you're not interested in candy, do not miss these! They are like mini shows and were a highlight of the evening for both of us.
We loved the parade! The Headless Horseman is something I have been dying to see since I first saw video of him during this parade. I know he sometimes doesn't come out so I was thrilled that he came out for both parades. We watched the first parade by Little Mermaid just in case there were issues with the second parade. We planned to stake out a spot at 7:15 as per advice but we were running late. Arrived at 7:30 and got second row which was fine. Lots of people remained seated which was nice so even people in the third and fourth rows had good views. I especially loved the Nightmare Before Christmas and the Haunted Mansion parade elements. When the creepy guys on stilts came by I was acting scared and one came over and stood right above me for a bit giving me the stare ... super fun and got some laughs.
As soon as the parade passed, we stood and walked over to Villian's Grove (another suggestion here) and it was perfect! We walked right in, no wait. I loved Villain's Grove. The effects are so creative and visually stunning!
My one and only complaint for the evening was mobile ordering situation. I used it twice, once for a drink from Pym's and once for food from Flo's. Both times it took 10-15 minutes to get my food after clicking "I'm here." Meanwhile, there were hardly any people in line and I could have ordered and had my food/drinks faster by walking up. I don't know what was going on but it's annoying to stand there wasting time while the clock keeps ticking.
Which brings me to my final observations. The party goes by SO FAST. I can't believe how fast it was over. Near the end we were racing around to do a few more final things before it ended. We exited the park around 11:15pm. They were handing out full-size M&Ms on Buena Vista street as we walked out. The wait for the tram wasn't too bad, maybe 5 minutes. Exiting the parking structure was smooth. We got home in record time! Walked into our house at 12:20.
Such a long day for us, especially my 8-year-old. He has been asking to go to Oogie Boogie since he became aware of it in 2019 and I always told him when he was old enough we would do it. I've been wanting to go all that time too, so this was just such a magical, perfect time for us. We will never forget it!
