Disney Boo Bash After Hours Review
Every year when the fall season comes around, Disney World goes all out to celebrate spooky season! Typically they host Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, but due to to the global pandemic, things have had to change a little bit and they are trying out a new offering.
Disney’s Boo Bash After Hours is a mix between the Halloween party and an After Hours Event. The first party was on August 10th and will continue on various evenings through the month of October.
Tickets range from $129-199 depending on how close to Halloween your party is.
We were lucky enough to attend this event and had a ton of fun and I want to tell you a little bit about our experience so that you can have a better idea if this will be a good option for you and your family.
How does it work?
If you already have a park ticket and park pass reservation, you can of course be in the park all day. But don’t worry! You do not need a park ticket in addition to your After Hours ticket. You will be able to arrive in the park at 7:00pm and enjoy a few extra hours in the park before fireworks and festivities begin.
When you check in you will receive a wristband so that the cast members know you are there for the event as well as your trick or treat bag. Don’t forget to grab a Boo Bash Times Guide so that you can locate all of the Trick or Treat Locations, special Character Sightings, Parade Routes and Times, and more. If you are already in the park from normal day admission, you will find cast members to check you into the event in Adventureland in front of Pirates of the Caribbean and in Tomorrowland.
Something to note is that since there is an overlap of day guests and party guests, so crowds do get pretty congested during those few hours. This is a great time to get some dinner before grabbing a spot for fireworks as there are limited options once After Hours begin.
The fireworks are not the Halloween theme that we have seen in the past, but instead they are the normal show “Happily Ever After” and beginning October 1st, it will be the new show “Enchanted”. Definitely be sure to grab a spot early so that you can get the best view!
Perks of the Party
Another fun thing is that you can actually dress up in a costume during the party! Be sure to follow the rules and guidelines set forth by Disney, but don’t be afraid to get creative and have some fun coming up with your costumes! We’ve seen people dress up as wilderness explorers from Up!, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider from Tangled, and even Cruella from the new movie!
Included in the price of your Boo Bash ticket is unlimited Ice Cream novelties, Popcorn, Sodas, and of course Trick or Treating! You will find various Trick or Treat locations throughout the park in places such as Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, and Philharmonic. You can find all the Trick or Treat Locations in the Boo Bash Times Guide. This is really fun for the kiddos and there will even be some interactive features in some of the Trick or Treat spots if you need to relax for a few moments.
You will also find some of your favorite characters throughout the park dressed in their Halloween gear! We were able to spot Pooh and his friends in their costumes and it was super adorable! We also saw Chip and Dale in Frontierland. All meet and greets are still socially distanced, but this is honestly better in my opinion. You don’t have to wait in a line for hours to see them and you can still grab some fun selfies and they do still interact with you! Don’t skip out on these if you can!
Some of the extra special characters you may find are Carlotta in front of Haunted Mansion and the Cadaver Dans on the bridge in Frontierland. These characters are incredibly interactive and you for sure won’t want to miss! Carlotta will interact directly with you and is super hilarious! She asked us our names and was entertained by how we said it. She said we would be perfect in a vaudville act and everyone got quite a kick out of it!
The Cadaver Dans are the Halloween version of the Dapper Dans and they sing some great songs and tell some pretty hilariously corny jokes. It’s a great time for the whole family and their ‘show’ is super short, so it’s perfect to squeeze in between calvacades or a few rides.
This brings me to the next offering that we really enjoyed: Calvacades!
There are 4 different Calvacades featuring Villians, Maleficent, Mickey and Friends, and of course everyone’s favorite Jack and Sally! We really loved that they chose to do this instead of the full parade. The crowds were alot less since they were more sporadic and you didn’t have to wait in a spot for a super long time. They also made it much easier to maneuver around since they were pretty short. (aka, you wouldn’t get stuck in one spot of the park because you had to wait for the parade to go by.
Since the normal day parade has not returned yet, it’s really amazing to get to see the Maleficent parade float in all her fire blowing glory! They even play the original Not So Scary Parade songs that you know and love!
You will find a variety of Halloween themed specialty treats for purchase around the park. Although there are not as many as in past years, there are still some fun options you can try! We didn’t do any ourselves (we just liked getting the ‘free’ popcorn and ice cream) but we’ve heard great things about the offerings available!
Don’t forget to take advantage of some of the extra special ‘Magic Shots’ included with Photopass! These are sometimes super corny, but they for sure make for some fun memories! You can take these with any of the photopass photographers located throughout the park, just be sure to ask for those magic shots!
As if you didn’t have enough to do during this After Hours event, you of course can enjoy the rides with low wait times! I’ve always felt that the Halloween Parties in the past are really crowded and the lines wouldn’t be too bad, but they weren’t super short either. This event is quite a bit more limited. Not as much as a normal After Hours, but definitely less than a Halloween Party. Lines for most rides were practically walk ons! Especially later in the evening!
Our Overall Thoughts
We really enjoyed the event! We were able to experience most of the things that they had to offer and enjoy the parks for a few extra hours! (Which was great since we had such a short trip and not a ton of time in Magic Kingdom.)
We did wish that the party was maybe one more hour since watching the calvacades and characters did take up quite a bit of time. You definitely won’t be able to do it all, but my best tip is to decide ahead of time what your priorities are so that you can make sure you hit those things first. Then if you have time for more it will be a bonus and you won’t be as disappointed that you didn’t get it all done.
This is a pretty pricey event, I won’t lie. However, it may be a great option if you don’t have a park ticket for that day or if you are on a really short trip and want to squeeze a few more park hours in. Definitely take advantage of the party offerings like the ‘free’ treats and character interactions so that you are getting your moneys worth.
Would I recommend this party? Absolutely! We always have a great time at ticketed events, but we totally understand that they aren’t always in everyone’s budget and that is totally ok. If this isn’t in the budget for you, try to take advantage of the daytime fall offerings such as the fall decorations and specialty treats located throughout the park!
