Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween 2023 Super Thread

[chezcurrie]

I know this post is winding down as we get closer to the end of October, but wanted to add a few experiences we had on Thursday, October 12.

Crowds were about what I expected, thanks to this thread. Lots of people, but lines moved fast. Didn't really ride many rides, but times seemed very short on the app.

We were waaay more tired at the end of the night than a normal park night. I believe this is because we sat so little. Either standing/walking in treat trails or walking to the next treat trail. We didn't want to "waste time" resting.

I LOVED Villains Grove! It was unlike anything else I've experienced at Disney. I wish we would have had the stamina to do it again at the end of the night, as it was pretty crowded. The crowds made it hard to get the full effect of the projections on the ground. The music and sound effects add so much.

We never got to see Ernesto de la Cruz. He was MIA every time we tried to see him. He was singing when we joined the line around 6:30, but gone by the time got near the front. And was never back the next three times we swung by. Can anyone who was there on the 12th confirm if they got to see him? I'm curious if he ever came back.

I got a survey about the party. It asked what I would like to see for future years with a lot of options. A Nightmare Before Christmas stage show was listed. How cool would that be?!

I got that survey as well and while I am not a huge Nightmare Before Christmas movie fan (much to my youngest shagrin in as he is obsessed) I would LOVE a stage show! Haunted Mansion Holiday is just so well done I can only imagine how good that would be!!!

Having been to MNSSHP I do not want to see the Sanderson sisters show brought out west. There’s just something about face characters trying to impersonate such well known actors that just doesn’t do it for me.

Also noticed World Of Color was listed - yes being back the villians version!!!

 

[EEva]

Any section in regards to how much of an S show this year was for their ticket sales?

No, there were no questions about purchasing tickets. It all focused on the party itself. But one did ask if it felt crowded, with a rating scale.
Many focused on entertainment, characters, food/beverage and merchandise.

 

[Venoma]

Do you bring your own bag for treats?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Do you bring your own bag for treats?

We did! The bag they give you is tiny. I don’t know why they bother with that bag honestly!

 

[Cluelyss]

I know there are only a handful of parties left, but wanted to post how our night went in case it was helpful for anyone yet to go (we attended the October 15th party). As WDW’s MNSSHP vets, we loved OBB and found crowds and wait times very manageable! The interactions in the treat trails were phenomenal and we saw so many great costumes! We’ll definitely be back….though it can’t be every year!

Left Disneyland hotel 2:40
Lined up at GC entrance 2:55
Entered DCA 3:10
Took pictures by Carsland sign
Dinner at Wine CountryTrattoria 3:35
Lined up for Sanderson Sisters M&G 4:45 (about 20 groups in front of us?)
Met sisters at 6:15
Cruella treat trail (in 6:20, out 6:35)
Ernesto treat trail (in 6:36, out 6:47) - had planned to watch him sing for a bit, but unfortunately he took a break just as we got to the end of the line
Oogie Boogie treat trail (in 6:49, out 6:56)
Agatha treat trail (in 7:01, out 7:10)
Loki M&G (lined up 7:11, met at 7:17)
Monsters After Dark (7:20, posted 15 minute wait time, on at 7:50)
Bathroom break
Judge Doom treat trail (in 8:05, out 8:10) - got to see him dip!
Mother Gothel treat trail (in 8:11, out 8:16)
Bruno M&G (lined up 8:17, met at 8:28)
Attempted Villains Grove at 8:30, line too long so bailed for Pixar Pier
Sid treat trail (in 8:40, out 8:49)
Kids rode Incredicoaster while hubby and I held all the treat bags (8:50, posted 10 minute wait, done 9:10)
Yokai treat trail (in 9:17, out 9:22)
Grabbed curb spot for parade in front of Little Mermaid 9:25 (probably could have showed up later, but we were in the area, so just sat down)
Frightfully Fun Parade (Headless Horseman passed at 10:05, parade arrived 10:15, done 10:27)
Headed back to Villains Grove (in 10:30, out 10:45)
We definitely could have done another ride or treat trail after Villains Grove, but we were all pretty tired by then so just headed out. Tried to grab a spirit jersey but everywhere I checked at the end of the night was out of Mediums. Lesson learned, buy early!

Here are a few pictures from the night.

 

[Kender]

From what I'm seeing on social media, the Minnie Winnie sipper was restocked but only for the parties according to reports. They reappeared 10/17.

So if anyone wanted one, missed out, and is still going to a party, keep an eye out.

Sad I missed them since my party was a couple weeks ago, but oh well. I have a feeling they'll bring them back next year

 

[Sarahelizabeth]

I know there are only a handful of parties left, but wanted to post how our night went in case it was helpful for anyone yet to go (we attended the October 15th party). As WDW’s MNSSHP vets, we loved OBB and found crowds and wait times very manageable! The interactions in the treat trails were phenomenal and we saw so many great costumes! We’ll definitely be back….though it can’t be every year!

Left Disneyland hotel 2:40
Lined up at GC entrance 2:55
Entered DCA 3:10
Took pictures by Carsland sign
Dinner at Wine CountryTrattoria 3:35
Lined up for Sanderson Sisters M&G 4:45 (about 20 groups in front of us?)
Met sisters at 6:15
Cruella treat trail (in 6:20, out 6:35)
Ernesto treat trail (in 6:36, out 6:47) - had planned to watch him sing for a bit, but unfortunately he took a break just as we got to the end of the line
Oogie Boogie treat trail (in 6:49, out 6:56)
Agatha treat trail (in 7:01, out 7:10)
Loki M&G (lined up 7:11, met at 7:17)
Monsters After Dark (7:20, posted 15 minute wait time, on at 7:50)
Bathroom break
Judge Doom treat trail (in 8:05, out 8:10) - got to see him dip!
Mother Gothel treat trail (in 8:11, out 8:16)
Bruno M&G (lined up 8:17, met at 8:28)
Attempted Villains Grove at 8:30, line too long so bailed for Pixar Pier
Sid treat trail (in 8:40, out 8:49)
Kids rode Incredicoaster while hubby and I held all the treat bags (8:50, posted 10 minute wait, done 9:10)
Yokai treat trail (in 9:17, out 9:22)
Grabbed curb spot for parade in front of Little Mermaid 9:25 (probably could have showed up later, but we were in the area, so just sat down)
Frightfully Fun Parade (Headless Horseman passed at 10:05, parade arrived 10:15, done 10:27)
Headed back to Villains Grove (in 10:30, out 10:45)
We definitely could have done another ride or treat trail after Villains Grove, but we were all pretty tired by then so just headed out. Tried to grab a spirit jersey but everywhere I checked at the end of the night was out of Mediums. Lesson learned, buy early!

Here are a few pictures from the night.

Thanks for posting! We go Tuesday so am still loving seeing the reports!

 

[woodys_girl]

So we went to the party on October 19 and I have to say I thought it was really crowded. I've never been before but I felt like it was a constant crush of people. That said, I liked it and enjoyed the things we did. If I were to do it again, I'd play my cards a little differently, but I didn't really know what we would enjoy and what strategies would work until we tried once so my hindsight is 20/20.
I thought the treat trails were really cool and a great way to see characters without a long wait. But if you don't know or aren't interested in a character you could skip those trails because you'll probably get more than enough candy.
Unless you just really love parades and need a front row view, I wouldn't line up super early. The parade was good, but short so I kind of regretted waiting so long for a good view of it when I could have walked up and had a pretty okay view of it.
If you have young kids the Disney junior show was cute.
I liked villains Grove but couldn't love it because it was packed with people. It was one of my kid's favorite things though so still worth it.
If you are going to one of the remaining parties feel free to ask questions.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I know there are only a handful of parties left, but wanted to post how our night went in case it was helpful for anyone yet to go (we attended the October 15th party). As WDW’s MNSSHP vets, we loved OBB and found crowds and wait times very manageable! The interactions in the treat trails were phenomenal and we saw so many great costumes! We’ll definitely be back….though it can’t be every year!

Left Disneyland hotel 2:40
Lined up at GC entrance 2:55
Entered DCA 3:10
Took pictures by Carsland sign
Dinner at Wine CountryTrattoria 3:35
Lined up for Sanderson Sisters M&G 4:45 (about 20 groups in front of us?)
Met sisters at 6:15
Cruella treat trail (in 6:20, out 6:35)
Ernesto treat trail (in 6:36, out 6:47) - had planned to watch him sing for a bit, but unfortunately he took a break just as we got to the end of the line
Oogie Boogie treat trail (in 6:49, out 6:56)
Agatha treat trail (in 7:01, out 7:10)
Loki M&G (lined up 7:11, met at 7:17)
Monsters After Dark (7:20, posted 15 minute wait time, on at 7:50)
Bathroom break
Judge Doom treat trail (in 8:05, out 8:10) - got to see him dip!
Mother Gothel treat trail (in 8:11, out 8:16)
Bruno M&G (lined up 8:17, met at 8:28)
Attempted Villains Grove at 8:30, line too long so bailed for Pixar Pier
Sid treat trail (in 8:40, out 8:49)
Kids rode Incredicoaster while hubby and I held all the treat bags (8:50, posted 10 minute wait, done 9:10)
Yokai treat trail (in 9:17, out 9:22)
Grabbed curb spot for parade in front of Little Mermaid 9:25 (probably could have showed up later, but we were in the area, so just sat down)
Frightfully Fun Parade (Headless Horseman passed at 10:05, parade arrived 10:15, done 10:27)
Headed back to Villains Grove (in 10:30, out 10:45)
We definitely could have done another ride or treat trail after Villains Grove, but we were all pretty tired by then so just headed out. Tried to grab a spirit jersey but everywhere I checked at the end of the night was out of Mediums. Lesson learned, buy early!

Here are a few pictures from the night.

Thanks for posting! We are doing one of the last parties (29th) and are still trying to figure out the best plan of action. Our must dos are Ernesto, Headless Horseman, Sanderson Sisters, Sid, Judge Doom and Villains grove. Your timeline was super helpful!

 

[woodys_girl]

Thanks for posting! We are doing one of the last parties (29th) and are still trying to figure out the best plan of action. Our must dos are Ernesto, Headless Horseman, Sanderson Sisters, Sid, Judge Doom and Villains grove. Your timeline was super helpful!

The Headless Horseman was very cool. I had read that he proceeds the parade by 15 minutes, but it was like 5 minutes for us so I don't know if it's consistent.
I thought the treat trails all moved quickly and were set up so that you could see/ hear the character for more than just the time you are right in front.

 

[merfsko]

Hi all! Just got back from Disneyland- we attended the Tuesday October 17th Party, and wanted to add my notes to the thread for those of you going next week (or next year, I definitely read through last year's thread when I first started planning!)

Overall Impressions:
I (32F) and my Mom (59F) LOVED the party. We are the kind of people who really enjoy the vibes and a good atmosphere, and this event delivered for us. We hit every treat trail (which gave us 6 lbs of candy/fruit- I weighed our bags with the luggage scale), watched the parade, did Villain's Grove, met three characters (although not the high-demand Sanderson Sisters or Kingdom Hearts), and got some great photopass pictures. It didn't feel overly crowded to us. We did not do any rides during the party, but that was by choice. I would have loved for the party to go to midnight, but am still happy with everything we were able to do.

Timeline:
I didn't time our wait times, but I do have time stamps from photos. I know that we didn't wait longer than 5 minutes in any treat trail line or Villain's Grove, and only 10 minutes max for Hans and Bruno.

• 3:15 + Mix In- Arrived at DCA. There were only a few parties in front of us to enter the park. During the Mix-In time, we went to see the decorations in Carsland, rode Mater's and Luigi's, did PhilharMagic, visited the Plaza de Familia, did a walk around of the park (it was my first time back since 2016, so wanted to get a better lay of the land); and stopped for a Ghiradelli sundae because why not?
• 5:55, we got in line for Ernesto, since he was my priority. The line started moving (and he started singing) exactly at 6:00. By 6:05, we could've been done with his line, but we chose to hang out in the viewing area for about 15 minutes. Ernesto is AMAZING, we could've stayed and listen to him talk and sing all night (and we did, indeed go back). He seems to sing about every 15 minutes, but his patter in between was gold too.
• 6:23- Agatha's Treat Trail
• 6:30- Headed back to Carthay Circle because I wanted to meet Prince Hans- he came out around 6:40, and I met him at 6:45.
• 6:54- Mother Gothel. We then walked to Pixar Pier and listened to Sid for a few minutes, but his line was quite long, so we decided to grab dinner (Corn Dog Castle because we fancy ) and wait for the parade.
• 7:15- Sat down for a front-row parade spot in front of Little Mermaid. We appreciated having the time to sit, eat dinner and people-watch (seeing all the costumes is half the fun, tbh). We loved the Headless Horseman and the parade.
• 8:20- Walked right into Villain's Grove immediately after the parade with no wait. (Thanks to this thread for the tip of where to watch the parade to get this done- the line had already built up by the time we came out). I can see why it's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.
• 8:40- We stopped to get some Photopass Pics with the Headless Horseman Statue. The photographer was AMAZING, and these may be some of my favourite recent pictures of my Mom and I together.
• 8:47- Cruella
• 8:51- Oogie Boogie
• 9:01- Madam Mim
• Spent 15 minutes getting some photo pass pictures in Carsland, enjoying the decor at night, and did the Cars Treat Trail
• 9:25- Yokai
• 9:39- Met Carl Fredrickson- there were only two people in line, so we walked right up.
• 9:45- Sid (who is fantastic; this is another character you could just stay in the area and listen to for a bit)
• I think we did the Pier Treat Trail here, but no pictures to confirm
• 10:10- Met Bruno while the second parade was starting
• 10:15- Judge Doom's trail.
• No time stamps, but for the last bit, we headed back to Ernesto. We watched him more, and then the parade hitthe area. We watched the first few floats again, then crossed over to do Agatha's trail again. We debated doing Web Slingers, which was at 10 minutes, but decided to just enjoy the party atmosphere. We walked back through Ernesto's viewing area, then slowly made our way to the last treat trail and out of the park.

Thank-You to everyone in this thread for all your reports, and tips, and excitement. We had such a wonderful time, and learning from y'all definitely helped!

 

[bookbabe626]

I’m going to post this here and in the MNSSHP thread, to add to the reviews and comparisons for next year’s partygoers.

DH and I attended the October 3rd OBB and the October 10th MNSSHP. Two 50+ adults, no kids. No costumes, just Halloween tees since we were travelling carryons only. We’ve attended both parties before, OBB in 2022 and MNSSHP pretty much yearly since the beginning.

Overall, for us, MNSSHP gets the win. I don’t think we’ll bother with OBB again. I‘ll break it down by activity so people can see my rationale since priorities vary.

Atmosphere: Both coasts do a good job with decorations, although we wish OBB was at DL rather than DCA.

Crowds: no appreciable difference other than the fact that MK has more crowd-eaters than DCA. Crowds were heaviest in Avengers Campus and Tomorrowland, probably due to the newer/better rides in those areas

Food: MHSSHP has way better regular food options, especially for sitdown dining during the mix-in time. DCA sitdown dining sucks, IMO, and even the fast food options are limited. Party-exclusive treats were better at OBB, MNSSHP has some really odd choices, although the corn milkshake was much better than expected.

Characters: OBB blows MNSSHP out of the water. If you’re in it for the characters, head to the west coast. More characters, and way better interactions. (Note, DH and I like to see characters from a distance, but we aren’t character M&G people, so this wasn’t important to us personally.)

Parade: Boo to You at MNSSHP is the best parade out there, IMO. I’ll watch it twice in a night. And the headless horseman actually trots down the parade route at MNSSHP, whereas he ambled along at a slow walk for OBB. Frightfully Fun is okay, and they’ve got some well-designed floats, but it’s very short and underwhelming compared to Boo.

Nighttime show: meh, they both suck, we aren’t projections fans. Come on, Disney, shell out for a full-priced fireworks show please, at least for party nights.

Stage shows: the Sanderson Sisters show at MNSSHP is awesome, although I wish they’d update it at some point. OBB doesn’t have anything to compare. Both coasts have some decent dance parties for the little ones.

Villains Grove at OBB: cool, I guess, and MNSSHP doesn’t have anything like it, but really it’s lights and fog effects and some ambient music. Worth seeing once, but IMO not worth waiting in a line for

Rides: MK has more rides in general than DCA, so that does spread the lines out a bit better, waits were great for us at both parties for the things we wanted to ride

Treats: OBB totally sucks for treats in our opinion, especially if you are a non-costumed adult with no kids. I actually had a few CMs put half their handful of treats back into the bin when they saw we didn’t have kids with us. Most CMs at OBB gave out one item, maybe two, and three quarters of the stations had goldfish, carrots or apples instead of chocolate. And a lot of stations were empty when we hit them, you could go through to see the character but half the CMs along the trail didn’t have anything to hand out (waiting for a restock). At MNSSHP, we did fewer trails and got way more treats. CMs were giving full scoops to everyone, even adults, and sometimes joking and being friendly got you a second scoop, especially towards the end of the night.

I really want to love OBB, I really do, but doing the two parties almost back to back really helped solidify that I’m a MNSSHP girl, especially when you add the ease of buying tickets for it into the decision-making process. OBB is okay, and if you are all about the characters it’s a better choice, but if you don’t care about the characters then don’t get caught up in the OBB ticket sales chaos. It’s not worth the aggravation.

Note: if you are local to one park or the other, and NOT planning a Halloween-focussed vacation to one coast or the other, go to whichever party is more convenient and that you can get tickets to. They’re both good value, at least as far as Disney pricing goes. I just wouldn’t make a special trip to the west coast for OBB, I’d head to WDW and do MNSSHP instead if you are looking to plan a Halloween vacation.

 

[Mrjoshua]

Thank you to everyone for the thorough and honest reviews. We are going for the first time next week, so this thread has helped immensely.

Can anyone fill me in on how the Carthay Characters (villains) work? I assume the characters rotate? How often do characters switch? Is it possible to line up for a particular one?

 

[AmishGuy91]

Thank you to everyone for the thorough and honest reviews. We are going for the first time next week, so this thread has helped immensely.

Can anyone fill me in on how the Carthay Characters (villains) work? I assume the characters rotate? How often do characters switch? Is it possible to line up for a particular one?

For our party (10/8), they didn’t come out til 6:30pm but I believe other nights they have come out at 6pm. Hans come out first then rotated every 30 mins with Hag. Captain Hook and Queen of Hearts were rotating in the spot over. That’s all I ever saw (no Robin Hood villains that night).

 

[merfsko]

Thank you to everyone for the thorough and honest reviews. We are going for the first time next week, so this thread has helped immensely.

Can anyone fill me in on how the Carthay Characters (villains) work? I assume the characters rotate? How often do characters switch? Is it possible to line up for a particular one?

For our party (10/8), they didn’t come out til 6:30pm but I believe other nights they have come out at 6pm. Hans come out first then rotated every 30 mins with Hag. Captain Hook and Queen of Hearts were rotating in the spot over. That’s all I ever saw (no Robin Hood villains that night).

On our night (10/17), they also came out at 630. Hans/Hag were rotating (with Hans out first at 6:30), and Sheriff of Nottingham/Prince John on the other side (at least, that's who I saw when I walked by).

The lines never seemed too wild when I saw them- I'd say they were about the same length as the daytime lines for any Carthay Circle/Town Square characters. I wasn't around for rotations, so hoping someone else can fill you in on!

 

[Disneyhanna]

I’m going to post this here and in the MNSSHP thread, to add to the reviews and comparisons for next year’s partygoers.

DH and I attended the October 3rd OBB and the October 10th MNSSHP. Two 50+ adults, no kids. No costumes, just Halloween tees since we were travelling carryons only. We’ve attended both parties before, OBB in 2022 and MNSSHP pretty much yearly since the beginning.

Overall, for us, MNSSHP gets the win. I don’t think we’ll bother with OBB again. I‘ll break it down by activity so people can see my rationale since priorities vary.

Atmosphere: Both coasts do a good job with decorations, although we wish OBB was at DL rather than DCA.

Crowds: no appreciable difference other than the fact that MK has more crowd-eaters than DCA. Crowds were heaviest in Avengers Campus and Tomorrowland, probably due to the newer/better rides in those areas

Food: MHSSHP has way better regular food options, especially for sitdown dining during the mix-in time. DCA sitdown dining sucks, IMO, and even the fast food options are limited. Party-exclusive treats were better at OBB, MNSSHP has some really odd choices, although the corn milkshake was much better than expected.

Characters: OBB blows MNSSHP out of the water. If you’re in it for the characters, head to the west coast. More characters, and way better interactions. (Note, DH and I like to see characters from a distance, but we aren’t character M&G people, so this wasn’t important to us personally.)

Parade: Boo to You at MNSSHP is the best parade out there, IMO. I’ll watch it twice in a night. And the headless horseman actually trots down the parade route at MNSSHP, whereas he ambled along at a slow walk for OBB. Frightfully Fun is okay, and they’ve got some well-designed floats, but it’s very short and underwhelming compared to Boo.

Nighttime show: meh, they both suck, we aren’t projections fans. Come on, Disney, shell out for a full-priced fireworks show please, at least for party nights.

Stage shows: the Sanderson Sisters show at MNSSHP is awesome, although I wish they’d update it at some point. OBB doesn’t have anything to compare. Both coasts have some decent dance parties for the little ones.

Villains Grove at OBB: cool, I guess, and MNSSHP doesn’t have anything like it, but really it’s lights and fog effects and some ambient music. Worth seeing once, but IMO not worth waiting in a line for

Rides: MK has more rides in general than DCA, so that does spread the lines out a bit better, waits were great for us at both parties for the things we wanted to ride

Treats: OBB totally sucks for treats in our opinion, especially if you are a non-costumed adult with no kids. I actually had a few CMs put half their handful of treats back into the bin when they saw we didn’t have kids with us. Most CMs at OBB gave out one item, maybe two, and three quarters of the stations had goldfish, carrots or apples instead of chocolate. And a lot of stations were empty when we hit them, you could go through to see the character but half the CMs along the trail didn’t have anything to hand out (waiting for a restock). At MNSSHP, we did fewer trails and got way more treats. CMs were giving full scoops to everyone, even adults, and sometimes joking and being friendly got you a second scoop, especially towards the end of the night.

I really want to love OBB, I really do, but doing the two parties almost back to back really helped solidify that I’m a MNSSHP girl, especially when you add the ease of buying tickets for it into the decision-making process. OBB is okay, and if you are all about the characters it’s a better choice, but if you don’t care about the characters then don’t get caught up in the OBB ticket sales chaos. It’s not worth the aggravation.

Note: if you are local to one park or the other, and NOT planning a Halloween-focussed vacation to one coast or the other, go to whichever party is more convenient and that you can get tickets to. They’re both good value, at least as far as Disney pricing goes. I just wouldn’t make a special trip to the west coast for OBB, I’d head to WDW and do MNSSHP instead if you are looking to plan a Halloween vacation.

I appreciate the honest review and comparison! I 100% agree on the treats front at OBB. The CMs were sooo stingy (I'm sure they were told to be, so that's on management). Averaged 1-2 pieces per CM and while we ended the night with more than enough candy, we spent a majority of our time doing treat trails and waiting in those lines so we really did have to work for it. They ran out of candy a lot on our night too, there was always a CM waiting for a refill on every trail and at the end of the night instead of being more generous, some CMs ran out of candy and clearly weren't getting a refill. Oogie Boogie's trail was even completely out of candy in the last 5 minutes of the party (and maybe even before that) which isn't acceptable imo, I would have done something else instead of waiting in that line at the end of the party had I known!

 

[Kender]

I’m going to post this here and in the MNSSHP thread, to add to the reviews and comparisons for next year’s partygoers.

DH and I attended the October 3rd OBB and the October 10th MNSSHP. Two 50+ adults, no kids. No costumes, just Halloween tees since we were travelling carryons only. We’ve attended both parties before, OBB in 2022 and MNSSHP pretty much yearly since the beginning.

Overall, for us, MNSSHP gets the win. I don’t think we’ll bother with OBB again. I‘ll break it down by activity so people can see my rationale since priorities vary.

Atmosphere: Both coasts do a good job with decorations, although we wish OBB was at DL rather than DCA.

Crowds: no appreciable difference other than the fact that MK has more crowd-eaters than DCA. Crowds were heaviest in Avengers Campus and Tomorrowland, probably due to the newer/better rides in those areas

Food: MHSSHP has way better regular food options, especially for sitdown dining during the mix-in time. DCA sitdown dining sucks, IMO, and even the fast food options are limited. Party-exclusive treats were better at OBB, MNSSHP has some really odd choices, although the corn milkshake was much better than expected.

Characters: OBB blows MNSSHP out of the water. If you’re in it for the characters, head to the west coast. More characters, and way better interactions. (Note, DH and I like to see characters from a distance, but we aren’t character M&G people, so this wasn’t important to us personally.)

Parade: Boo to You at MNSSHP is the best parade out there, IMO. I’ll watch it twice in a night. And the headless horseman actually trots down the parade route at MNSSHP, whereas he ambled along at a slow walk for OBB. Frightfully Fun is okay, and they’ve got some well-designed floats, but it’s very short and underwhelming compared to Boo.

Nighttime show: meh, they both suck, we aren’t projections fans. Come on, Disney, shell out for a full-priced fireworks show please, at least for party nights.

Stage shows: the Sanderson Sisters show at MNSSHP is awesome, although I wish they’d update it at some point. OBB doesn’t have anything to compare. Both coasts have some decent dance parties for the little ones.

Villains Grove at OBB: cool, I guess, and MNSSHP doesn’t have anything like it, but really it’s lights and fog effects and some ambient music. Worth seeing once, but IMO not worth waiting in a line for

Rides: MK has more rides in general than DCA, so that does spread the lines out a bit better, waits were great for us at both parties for the things we wanted to ride

Treats: OBB totally sucks for treats in our opinion, especially if you are a non-costumed adult with no kids. I actually had a few CMs put half their handful of treats back into the bin when they saw we didn’t have kids with us. Most CMs at OBB gave out one item, maybe two, and three quarters of the stations had goldfish, carrots or apples instead of chocolate. And a lot of stations were empty when we hit them, you could go through to see the character but half the CMs along the trail didn’t have anything to hand out (waiting for a restock). At MNSSHP, we did fewer trails and got way more treats. CMs were giving full scoops to everyone, even adults, and sometimes joking and being friendly got you a second scoop, especially towards the end of the night.

I really want to love OBB, I really do, but doing the two parties almost back to back really helped solidify that I’m a MNSSHP girl, especially when you add the ease of buying tickets for it into the decision-making process. OBB is okay, and if you are all about the characters it’s a better choice, but if you don’t care about the characters then don’t get caught up in the OBB ticket sales chaos. It’s not worth the aggravation.

Note: if you are local to one park or the other, and NOT planning a Halloween-focussed vacation to one coast or the other, go to whichever party is more convenient and that you can get tickets to. They’re both good value, at least as far as Disney pricing goes. I just wouldn’t make a special trip to the west coast for OBB, I’d head to WDW and do MNSSHP instead if you are looking to plan a Halloween vacation.

It's interesting to me how experiences can be vastly different at the same party (I went the exact same night as you). Maybe I just had good timing? None of the trails ever ran out of candy on me. I did see the bins ready for refills, though. And I got a ton of candy just doing a few trails (no kids with me). I also got about 7 I think full sized fudge brownie M&Ms at exit.

I complained in the survey about the lack of healthy treats this year . I only got 3 carrots and one apple. I really missed the grapes this year. They were so good and sweet last year. Very welcome on the warm party nights.

Rides are definitely not a focus for many attending OBB. They're looking for the unique characters. I'm sure many were still hoping Zombie Captain America would make a surprise appearance.

You might have liked it better when it was MHP and at DL. While I miss it being over there, I do like that the fireworks show is no longer a party exclusive. But it does mean it's only a projection show on weekdays. Fireworks only on weekends.

 

[merfsko]

I complained in the survey about the lack of healthy treats this year . I only got 3 carrots and one apple. I really missed the grapes this year. They were so good and sweet last year. Very welcome on the warm party nights.

OK, I completely understand this-- having read reports from this year I was preemptively disappointed that it was just apples and carrots with no grapes... but on our party night, we got a whole bunch of carrots, apples, AND grapes. They were perfect for snacking on throughout the night!

 

[Kender]

OK, I completely understand this-- having read reports from this year I was preemptively disappointed that it was just apples and carrots with no grapes... but on our party night, we got a whole bunch of carrots, apples, AND grapes. They were perfect for snacking on throughout the night!

Oh that's awesome! The grapes are honestly a highlight for me so glad they were there for you. Both hydrating and sweet. Reminds me of when I was a kid trick or treating one really hot Halloween and a neighbor was giving out chilled Capri Suns. Yeah, I have my own at home, but way more fun to get them trick or treating.

The minimal I got wasn't even good. The carrots weren't sweet (but were a good texture) and the apples were mushy and not much flavor

Oh well. I sent in my constructive feedback that I missed the grapes and I still had a lot of fun .

 

[Mrjoshua]

Rides are definitely not a focus for many attending OBB. They're looking for the unique characters. I'm sure many were still hoping Zombie Captain America would make a surprise appearance.

I'm extremely bummed that Zombie Cap is gone this year. He sounded like a perfect addition to the party. I realize that things get freshened up, but am disappointed that a special character was replaced with regular ol' non-party characters.