The number one question I got while sharing our night at Walt Disney World’s Boo Bash After Hours Event was, “is it worth the ticket price?” I’m going to break it all down for you and let you know what we wish we knew before we went so you can decide for yourself if it’s worth the ticket price.
Before we start with what I wish I had known before the event, let’s start with what we DID know.
How Much is it and What’s Included in the Price?
- Pricing- Ticket Prices range from $169-220 depending on the night.
- Availability- At this time, tickets are sold out for each available date online. However, tickets are available for purchase most nights at Guest Services outside of Magic Kingdom.
*Costumes are allowed for all guests participating in the Boo Bash After Hours event. Walt Disney World’s Costume Guidelines for more details.
What to know when you get there:
- Wristbands- If you plan on spending time in the park before the event (prior to 7:00pm), get your wristbands in the park at 7:00pm at Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor or Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland. Guests arriving at or after 7pm, your wristbands will be provided after you scan in at the entrance. Wristbands/event tickets are required for everyone in your party. Cast Members were so sweet and gave a wristband to our little guys under 3.
What’s Included:
- Dance Party
- Tomorrowland DJ Dance Party- 9:30pm-12:30am
- Character Cavalcades (*FIND OUT WHAT WE WISH WE KNEW ABOUT CAVALCADES BELOW!)
- Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade- 9:55pm, 11:25pm
- Disney Villains Halloween Cavalcade- 10:30pm, 11:45pm
- Maleficent’s Fiery Prowl- 10:50pm, 12:05am
- Jack’s Nightmare Cavalcade- 10:40pm, 11:55pm Jack Skellington, Sally & Oogie Boogie
Watch my stories from Boo Bash HERE!
- Character Sightings- Throughout the park you may see a handful of characters. While they were easy to find on the event map (signified as black bats), they were more difficult to spot in person in some places.
- Pooh & His Pals Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet- Crystal Palace
- Chip & Dale- Frontierland Balcony
- Cadaver Dans- (9:40pm, 10:20pm, 11:05pm, 12:10am) Frontierland Balcony
- Madame Carlotta- Haunted Mansion (You may need to stand in a separate queue line to see her or grab a picture.)
- Goofy- Pirate’s of the Caribbean
- Gideon & Honest John from Pinocchio- Pinocchio Village Haus
- Trick or Treating (*Walk through each line as many times as you’d like!)
- Enchanted Tiki Room
- Pinocchio Village Haus
- Arielle’s Grotto
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow
- Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe
- Pecos Bill’s
- Splash Mountain
- Early Access – While you do need an additional park ticket or pass if you plan on visiting any of the parks earlier in the day, guests who only have a special even ticket for Boo Bash will be allowed to enter the park prior to the event at 7pm. *There will be a separate line for those entering the park for Boo Bash. Scanners on the side for Boo Bash attendees will only be able to recognize Boo Boo tickets. (We wanted to make sure using a Boo Bash ticket on our Magic Bands would not effect our other 4 day park hopper tickets.)
- Limited Access- Online tickets to the event are limited each night of the event. However, tickets are available for purchase most nights at Guest Services outside of Magic Kingdom. If you don’t see signs that say “Sorry folks! We’re sold out tonight!” chances are they still have tickets available. We did purchase an additional ticket at Guest Services outside of Magic Kingdom the night of our visit on 9/31/2021.
- Complimentary Treats, Snacks, & Drinks- Available complimentary and as much as you care to enjoy with your event ticket starting at 9:30PM. Lines do tend to get long for snacks and drinks. I recommend getting one or two bottles of water for each member in your party so you don’t have to stop again later during the event!
- Mickey Bars
- Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Strawberry Fruit Bars
- Water bottles & Sodas
- Popcorn
- Speciality Magic Shots throughout the Park- Specialty photo opps are available throughout the park via Disney PhotoPass. A PhotoPass purchase or subscription is required separately with your event ticket price to download the images.
What I Wish I Knew Before Boo Bash
We’ve attended many Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Parties in the past. I knew this was a different event in it’s name but, until we actually entered the event, I didn’t realize quite how different it was from the previous Halloween party. To answer my most asked question, “is it actually worth it?” I think one’s perspective on this is really based on what you’re looking for upon purchasing your ticket.
We went into the night with the hope and intention of knocking everything off of our long list during the short three hours of the event. However, in hind sight, I’m not sure how a family of 6 with four kids under ten could possibly do all of the trick or treating spots, character sightings, snack lines, cavalcades, and ride multiple rides without proper advanced planning. The one thing I said halfway through our visits was, “I wish I had pre-planned.”
15 Must Know Tips for Boo Bash 2021
- Make a plan- My biggest piece of advice is to pre-plan before you go. Sit down with your kids/group and talk about what everyone’s MUST DO/MUST SEE thing is from the event. Anything beyond those top choices is a bonus. Three hours goes quick and Cast Members are very strict about the 9:30pm start time and 12:30am end time. There are no exceptions, not even for a free bottle of water two minutes before their clock starts! To get the most of your visit, I recommend making sure you’re being strategic with each hour you have in the park.
- Review the Map- You want to do this before you go to make the most of your time in the park. Don’t waste time constantly looking at the map during the event. Instead, get familiar with the character spots, trick or treat locations, snack carts, and magic shots beforehand so you know what your night will look like.
- Highlight your favorites & make a designated time for them- When in your planning stage, make sure to highlight everyone’s top picks and try to set a designated time for each. This will give you a realistic idea as to how you’ll spend your short 3 hours and roughly outline where to be at specific times. Even though you can get in the park at 7:00pm, the event does not officially kick off until 9:30, leaving you with three hours for the actual event experiences. The time does go by FAST, even when you have four tired kids in tow! I’d designate about 10/15 minutes per ride for lower tier rides and about 20 minutes for those rides that are heavily in demand (Mine Train, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan, etc.) Although we had anticipated just walking onto every single ride without wait, we did wait 25 minutes for Peter Pan at 11:45pm and Mine Train for 20 minutes at 12:05. Since the rides are available once you’re allowed in at 7:00pm I would immediately start riding to save your time later in the evening for the event experiences!
- Get in early or get in after the crowd- Boo Bash guests are allowed into the park as early as 7:00pm. Annual Passholders or guests with additional park access can get in earlier during the day with a park reservation or park hopper. Guest can enter as late as they’d like up until 12:30am with a Boo Bash ticket. Keep in mind that Happily Ever After (and the new Enchantment) fireworks show begins at 8:45pm, leaving day guests a short 25 minutes after the show ends to ALL exit the park before Boo Bash begins. Because of this timeline, guests are herded shoulder to shoulder through the exit/entrance of the park. Which is overwhelming for those entering the park right as the event starts. We didn’t see Main Street fully cleared of the additional day guests until about 10:15pm so, keep that in mind when you’re deciding when to enter the park! My best advice here is to arrive as close to 7pm as possible.
- Don’t save your shopping until after the event- If you’re set on doing your Halloween shopping during the event, don’t wait until closing time. Unlike past events and normal day hours, The Emporium does not stay open past the event’s closing time. Doors to The Emporium and snack carts were closed & locked at 12:30am SHARP.
- Watch the Cavalcades on Main Street- This was one of the number one things I wish I had known before we went. Because of how we were guided into either the back left or back right side of the park after the fireworks, we happened to be in Adventureland walking toward Frontierland when the cavalcades started. Since almost all of the other guests for the event were shifted to these areas of the park as well, everyone seemed to be in this exact same place at once, which made cavalcade viewing spots tight and hard for the kids to see without squeezing between adults. I would have absolutely designated time to sit on Main Street in front of the castle to see all of the Cavalcades back to back instead of sitting in a crowded area fighting to see them in Frontierland.
- Stay for each Cavalcade at once- Cavalcades are scheduled to run back to back besides the first run of Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade. I highly recommend using this as your go-to Cavalcade viewing timeline:
- Be on Main Street right in-front of the castle (or slightly to the right in-front of the castle) by 11:15pm
- 11:25pm Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade
- 11:45pm Disney Villain’s Cavalcade
- 11:55pm Jack’s Nightmare
- 12:05am Maleficent’s Fiery Prowl
- *After this, if you have Allergy-Friendly Tokens to exchange, do so at the center in Liberty Square before they close at 12:30 or make sure to be inside The Emporium to do your final shopping before 12:30 when the doors lock!
- Get snacks and extra drinks for the entire family at once to save time later- The snack lines do tend to get long and keep a line. I recommend stocking up on waters and drinks when you do your first stop for snacks! This will save you time in the long run from stopping again and waiting in line to get hydrated.
- Trick or Treat through empty stations over and over again- You don’t have to trick or treat at each spot to fill your bag! Trick or treat as many times as you’d like through the same lines if you see you can pass through quickly!
- Lines for trick or treating in Tomorrowland and Frontierland for some reason always seemed to have the longest lines when we visited. We walked right in with no wait at Pete’s Silly Sideshow in Storybook Circus and Arielle’s Grotto in Fantasyland! These areas of the park consistently seemed to have the least amount of people.
- Visit the Allergy-Friendly Center in Liberty Square before 12:30- We made the mistake of assuming like previous years that the Allergy-Friendly Center was at Guest Services inside the park and would be open past the party time for thirty minutes after closing. This wasn’t the case and for my mistake, our boys came home not with treats and snack but, blue tokens that they can only exchange at a later date if we have Boo Bash tickets for another night. We headed toward Guest Services in the park at 12:15 and by the time we realized we were in the wrong spot to exchange our tokens, the Allergy-Friendly Center in Liberty Square would have been closed to any more guests.
- Shop for Halloween Merch during regular hours or at Disney Springs- Different from the previous Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, there is no special event merchandise sold during Boo Bash. Instead, you can shop for your Walt Disney World Halloween merchandise at any time during your visit inside Magic Kingdom, at some resorts, or at World of Disney at Disney Springs. I would save my time shopping during the event and instead, use it for other experiences only available during the event hours.
- Get a Jack Skellington Balloon before the event starts- Ahh, those beautiful Jack Skellington balloons that are only available for a limited time. Cast Members selling balloons are not out for the entire duration of the event some nights. Heavy rain, storms, low crowds, running out, can often lead to balloon sales stopping early. If one of these coveted balloons is on your must have list, get one on your way into the park!
- Pre-plan your Specialty Treats- Take a look back at the event map earlier in this post to see the specialty treats available. If they’re on your list, make sure you know where to find them before hitting up the park! My best piece of advice here is to get them between 11:30-12:30 when the lines seemed to empty out!
- Steer Clear of Main Street until 10:00pm- For the same reason I’d get in early or after the crowd and why I’d wait for the later cavalcade times, I would stay far away from Main Street until around 10pm. We didn’t see Main Street fully cleared out of day guests until 10:00pm, almost thirty minutes after the event officially kicked off.
- Wear light weight costumes or regular clothes- Even though the sun is down and you’ve hopefully had a little rain to cool the air before the event (we didn’t!), it is still very hot in the evenings here in Florida. While we did see other guests decked out from head to toe with layered costumes, we were glad to have gone pretty minimal. Even with the boys in lightweight DIY costumes from home and myself in a dress, we were still sweating and uncomfortable in the heat! If you’re bringing kids along, I strongly advise against heavy weight, fleece costumes for this event! Save those for special indoor character dining!
If I were to go again, this is what my itinerary for the event would look like:
- 7:00pm-8:45pm Rides & a bathroom break (right now there are low waits in the park anyway so, you should be able to ride several rides in the first hour and a half while you’re in the park!) We did The Little Mermaid’s Journey Under the Sea, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Mad Tea Party during this time before a costume change and quick bathroom break!
- 8:45pm-9:30pm Happily Ever After (or Enchantment starting Oct. 1)
- 9:30pm-11:15pm Trick or Treating, Character Sightings, Magic Shots
- 11:15pm Be on Main Street right in-front of the castle (or slightly to the right in-front of the castle)
- 11:25pm Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade
- 11:45pm Disney Villain’s Cavalcade
- 11:55pm Jack’s Nightmare
- 12:05am Maleficent’s Fiery Prowl
- 12:15 options before park closing: If you have Allergy-Friendly Tokens to exchange from Trick or Treating, do so at the center in Liberty Square before they close at 12:30 or make sure to be inside The Emporium to do your final shopping before 12:30 when the doors lock or ride 1 or 2 final rides.
Screenshot the itinerary below!
Watch videos from our Boo Bash experience HERE!
