Guide to Disney After Hours Boo Bash Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom: Dates, Prices & Info
Disney After Hours Boo Bash is the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom in August, September & October. This info guide covers Walt Disney World’s new fall event, with dates, hours, ticket prices & discounts, entertainment. Plus, comparisons to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Villains After Hours.
Whether Disney After Hours Boo Bash returns for 2022 remains to be seen. At this point, it’s possible that Walt Disney World will restore the full Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party–along with its higher attendance cap and earlier start time–or keep Boo Bash for 2022. If Disney opts to do the latter, it’s highly likely that Boo to You Parade and Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular will be added to the lineup. Here’s more speculation about MNSSHP v. Boo Bash for Halloween 2022 at Walt Disney World.
If Disney After Hours Boo Bash is held in 2022, it’ll be a limited-capacity separately ticketed event at Magic Kingdom. This means the main benefit of Disney After Hours Boo Bash is significantly lower crowds and wait times at popular attractions than a normal day in the park. Walt Disney World hasn’t announced the attendance limit, but it’s a small fraction of normal attendance.
In addition to lower wait times, there will be some entertainment. Halloween-themed cavalcades will pop up throughout the night featuring Mickey Mouse and friends, Disney Villains, Nightmare Before Christmas characters, and a fire-breathing Maleficent dragon. There will also be character greetings, atmospheric enhancements, decor, and special entertainment.
We’ve attended the Halloween event last year, and share thoughts and more photos in our Review & Photo Report of Disney After Hours Boo Bash!
In terms of other basics, Disney After Hours Boo Bash tickets will grant event ticket holders admission to Magic Kingdom as early as 7 pm, giving you time to enjoy some of your favorite Magic Kingdom Park rides before the event begins. These dated event tickets do not require an additional day theme park ticket or Disney Park Pass theme park reservation.
For those already inside Magic Kingdom, wristband distribution will be available at Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland and Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland starting at 7 pm. For guests arriving after 7 pm, wristbands will be available at the main entrance of Magic Kingdom.
Select snacks like ice cream novelties and popcorn, along with select sodas and other beverages, are included in the cost of the event. In addition to those, A variety of specialty food and drinks will be available for purchase, including an Apple Ginger Dale frozen drink and a Foolish Mortal Funnel Cake.
Disney PhotoPass will also be available to take your magical and spooky shots throughout the night. Your photos will be adorned with Halloween special effects and you can also take special Magic Shots, which add characters to your Disney PhotoPass photos after they’ve been taken. PhotoPass is not included in the cost of the event.
All guests can dress in costume for Disney After Hours Boo Bash, and you can get your fill of Halloween candy while trick-or-treating around the park. Costume masks are not permitted for adults; they can only be worn by children under 14. Please note that Walt Disney World’s face mask rules apply during Disney After Hours Boo Bash.
Now let’s turn to the other specifics of the Disney After Hours Boo Bash Halloween Party!
Disney After Hours Boo Bash Dates, Tickets & Pricing
Tickets for Disney After Hours Boo Bash are now on sale for all guests and can be purchased online or by calling 407-939-4240. Note that almost every date is now sold out online. However, there are same-day sales of tickets at Magic Kingdom. This is due to cancellations, which are currently on the rise. (It’s our expectation that day-of tickets will be available on a walk-up basis for most–if not all–Boo Bash nights.)
Tickets start at $129 to $139, plus tax for August and September party nights and $159 to $169, plus tax for October nights. Attending on Halloween night will set you back a cool $199 plus tax! Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members can take advantage of a $10 discount for Boo Bash in August and September.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash Map
If you want to get an idea of where everything is in Magic Kingdom during Disney After Hours Boo Bash, check out the map above. This shows the locations of snack carts and trick or treating, where you can pick up free refreshments and candy.
It also shows character greeting locations, merchandise spots, paid food & beverage, attractions, and entertainment. Those last two things will be covered in greater detail below.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash Attractions
Once Magic Kingdom closes to day guests, Disney After Hours Boo Bash attendees will enjoy less time waiting in line for more than 20 of Magic Kingdom’s most popular attractions including the following:
- Astro Orbiter
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Country Bear Jamboree
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Haunted Mansion
- “it’s a small world”
- Jungle Cruise
- Mad Tea Party
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- Goofy’s Barnstormer
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid
Disney After Hours Boo Bash Entertainment
Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade (9:55 pm, 11:25 pm): Delight as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto and pals dress in hauntingly boo-tiful Halloween costumes and parade through the park in this musical procession.
Disney Villain Halloween Cavalcade (10:30 pm, 11:45 pm): Behold a legion of villains unleashed to revel in this sinister season. Look out for fiends like Dr. Facilier, Queen of Hearts, and Jafar as they celebrate just how wonderful it is to be wicked.
Jack’s Nightmare Cavalcade (10:40 pm, 11:55 pm): Prepare for a procession worthy of the Pumpkin King! Jack Skellington–along with Sally and Oogie Boogie from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas–take to the streets to share thrilling, chilling tricks and treats!
Maleficent’s Fiery Prowl (10:50 pm, 12:05 am): Maleficent will make an appearance in the form of a fire-breathing dragon!
Cadaver Dans in Frontierland (9:40 pm, 10:20 pm, 11:05 pm, 12:10 am): The Cadaver Dans perform haunting melodies from beyond the grave.
Tomorrowland DJ Dance Party (9:30 pm to 12:30 am): Dance the night away at the Rockettower Plaza Stage.
Note: these times apply to the 9:30 pm to 12:30 am Disney After Hours Boo Bash nights. We’ll update with the schedule for the 9 pm to midnight parties once those start.
On the atmospheric entertainment front, you can stop and listen to Miss Carlotta, who will be appearing throughout the night outside Haunted Mansion to greet guests.
Additionally, favorite character friends will appear throughout Magic Kingdom, including Goofy and Chip ‘n’ Dale in their Halloween costumes. Other surprise characters will pop up across the park, too.
Boo Bash v. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
In terms of our commentary, the biggest point of contention is Disney After Hours Boo Bash v. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. While both are technically “Halloween events” and Boo Bash is the indirect replacement for MNSSHP, they are fundamentally different in nature.
Many Walt Disney World fans are understandably upset by the significantly higher price points for Boo Bash and less entertainment as compared with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. That makes sense given that this is the indirect replacement for that. However, this is a Disney After Hours event (hence the name), so its price structure unsurprisingly follows that.
As compared to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, a lot of entertainment is “missing” from Disney After Hours Boo Bash. The characters and cavalcades at Boo Bash are fine diversions, but they’re nowhere on par with Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, Mickey’s Boo to You parade, or the many meet & greets at MNSSHP.
There are also no fireworks during Disney After Hours Boo Bash, but those who purchase tickets can arrive early and watch the pre-party fireworks at Magic Kingdom, which are available to all guests.
Prices are also significantly higher for Disney After Hours Boo Bash than Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. In the last year MNSSHP was held, its prices started at $74 per person and most dates were under $100. Halloween week and night were outliers, with prices up to $149.
Some nights, Disney After Hours Boo Bash are nearly double the cost of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets. Others are “only” a $20 to $30 premium. However, as compared to last year’s Villains After Hours, which was strikingly similar to Disney After Hours Boo Bash, ticket prices are about the same. The biggest difference is a significantly smaller discount for Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members.
I’m not going to do contortions to defend Walt Disney World’s pricing for Disney After Hours Boo Bash. It’s astronomical. That’s true even when compared to Villains After Hours, but doubly so if you’re using the last year Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party was held as your benchmark.
I can barely comprehend dropping a few hundred dollars for the two of us to do this–let alone the price for a family with small children who may not last the whole night. It would be difficult to justify unless money were no object.
However, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is the wrong comparison. This is a fundamentally different event. Again, as we discussed at length in the above announcement post, the heart of the After Hours events is low crowds and short lines at attractions, with the entertainment being the icing on the cake.
By contrast, the heart of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is the entertainment, and short lines for rides are the icing. In recent years, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party has been anything but a “low crowds” event. (The last year both were held, the attendance cap was significantly lower for After Hours than Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party–probably less than half…which might explain why it’s almost double the price.)
Ultimately, it’s difficult to assess whether Disney After Hours Boo Bash is worth the money. In large part, that depends upon your personal expectations. Are you considering it because you’ve enjoyed the entertainment at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in the past, and are expecting something on par with that? If so, Boo Bash almost certainly will not be worth it for you.
Are you considering Disney After Hours Boo Bash because you want a low crowds opportunity to enjoy Magic Kingdom with a Halloween twist? Then this event might be for you. Even then, this is a lot of money to spend. It’s also occurring over the course of two months–August and September–that typically have low crowds during normal operating hours. Between that historic precedent and a potential lull in the lead-up to Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary (see our updated Best & Worst Months to Visit Walt Disney World in 2022-2023), Disney After Hours Boo Bash may not be a tremendous ‘value-add’ for its first couple months for those wanting to avoid crowds. October is another story entirely, though.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts on these ticket prices? Will your family be buying or sitting this Halloween event out? Are you excited for Disney After Hours Boo Bash? Do you agree or disagree with our perspective on this? Are you disappointed that Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party won’t be happening, or is Boo Bash a superior (or at least sufficient) alternative for you? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
@Olivia. You might take a shot at a DVC rental. If you go to dvcrentalstore.com you can enter various dates for the number in your party, and it will let you know what they have available. It’s generally a lot cheaper than booking directly through Disney, and I’ve had decent luck with their availability in the past. Of course, you can also look into staying offsite; depending on your schedule, maybe just stay 3 nights off site after your current trip so you can do the 10/5 event? Good luck!
@Oliva the reason for no Boo Bash dates the week of September 27th is due to the ramp up for the 50th Anniversary on October 1st, they may have extra magic hours during that time. Or other events.
I need help. I am in a jam and confused. I saw Tom’s notice about the dates available for the Boo Bash. There is no schedule listed when we are book to be at Disney. We are arriving on Sunday,Sept. 26 and leaving on Sunday, Oct. 3rd. We have reserved the Animal Kingdom -Kidani Village. Every other week from Aug. – Oct. has scheduled availability but nothing is listed for our week. I chose this week because I couldn’t get lodging in October and we have a party of 6 people. Can anyone tell me if the dates Tom listed is correct. I’m hoping it was left our as a mistake. If I can’t reserve the Boo Bash while we are there, I would like to know if other resorts for 6 people are good/recommended for young kids (boy & girls)and availability. If I could get lodging at a kid-friendly resort in October, I would be willing change resorts if I had to do so. . I was hoping to reserved the Boo Bash on June 8 when first available. Your help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Price for specific dates is now visible Tom in case you want to update this post. Also they’ve specified which days are 9:30 starts and which are 9pm.
Thanks for the heads up! I’m working on another new post about Boo Bash, so I’ll just roll it into that.
@Lorryn, it’s difficult to say for sure what’s best.
MK may end up being less busy on June 3 now than it has shorter regular hours. But because AH Boo Bash doesn’t start until 9:30, you should be able to have a full park day and crowds will probably thin out earlier in the afternoon.
If you have Park Hopper tickets, you can simply move to another park that closes later and go to MK for evening hours on a different night.
If you only have regular (not Park Hopper) tickets and only one day to spend in MK, I would recommend switching to another day so you have the opportunity to enjoy MK at night, it’s really beautiful lit up and the outdoor rides are fun at night.
If you can, you might also want to avoid Sep 2/Sep 4 as many people making reservations for regular tickets will most often try to go to MK on those days.
On regular park tickets, I would plan a MK day with an early-ish start, then a middle of the day break/rest when the park is most crowded, then return later in the afternoon/evening to avoid the worst of the crowds.
I wouldn’t cancel any dinner reservations until I knew for sure I wouldn’t be using them AND that I had a reservation as good to replace it, especially since getting reservations is harder now. As long as you cancel the evening before your reservation, you won’t be charged.
Good Luck!
If you have tickets to Magic Kingdom reserved for September 3 and are NOT planning on doing the Boo Bash (cost is astronomical) would you consider changing your reservation day? Do you foresee hours being lowered because of this event so we would get more for our money another day? Finally, would you still recommend a dinner reservation at the end of regular park hours?
We will not pay out of control pricing. Just because they lost all the revenue. Seems like they are trying to catch up There is a lot of better alternatives than paying $200 for candy
Disney is only catering to the ones who have lots of money. I feel sorry for those people who are raising a family. Crushing their budgets
Hello! We have only attend a Disney Halloween Party in Disneyland, which if I remember correctly let us in around 4pm and the official party did not start till around 7pm. Will the Boo Bash tickets in Disney World allow early entrance into the park before the after hours Boo Bash starts? Thank you for the help!
to Carole holly
@Carole holly
Same here, went Oct 2019 to MNSSHP and it was uber crowded, lines an hour for pirates at one point. The plus side is we got in at 3:30 and left past midnight which was great in terms of being in the park
I went to the 2019 MNSSHP and it was miserable. Extremely crowded. Long lines for everything. I swore I’d never go to one again. The after hours event sounds more enjoyable due to fewer people. Even though it’s more expensive, the “cheaper” party was a bust for me.
@ AB – Exactly! Perfectly said!!!!!
Brittany: You probably won’t get to do anything special because of your rental since you aren’t the member who owns the points. It would take the member making the reservation and booking to get any discounts or early booking. You just happen to be someone who has purchased a reservation from a member. You don’t get any member perks or benefits. You’d need a DVC member ID to get the discount and early booking.
Last Halloween sucked for us all. Thankfully we were in MK on Halloween night wearing costumes and it was cool to see most others DOING the same. For some reason thinking costumes with masks was a cool idea as my fiancé was a dr and I was Billie eilish. They both have masks lol and made it less depressing at least for my mind. Should have just done Disney ones but 2020 was a saddened vibe lol. I will gladly pay this money for 2 of us as we want to do Disney costumes again and Halloween will be more fun with little to no covid rules by then is my guess. I do feel sorry for people with 4 kids or even 1 because 1,000 just for a couple hours is nuts. But everyone has a price tag and budget if one at all when it comes to Orlando in general. Will be interesting to see if they lower prices of any nights that just aren’t selling much as others. I get why they have in August for people to choose but if I can choose I like my ghosts and pumpkins on 10/1 haha not in August when I’m
Trying to get a tan holding a pina colada….
@Tom I found here on DISBoards https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-after-hours-magic-kingdom-faq-discussion-thread.3713652/#post-59898156 that they did in fact start HEA at the same time as the After Hour event taking place quite a few times. I do only see AH times of 8-11 with HEA happening at 8pm, but clearly the precedent has already been set for Disney to start the nighttime show at the same time an After Hour event starts. It’s just up to the guest if they want to use around 30 minutes of their 3 hours watching the show and then trying to get away from the hub.
I’m renting DVC points for a stay during the event period. I wonder if I will get to book early too? I did not receive any emails though.
I’m all for it if the crowd capacity is at the same level as the other after party events. I will gladly pay more to not stand in line for hours. I guess we will have to wait and see if they oversell the way they did with MNSSHP.
I had tickets for the 2020 MNSSHP for our family of 5 for Halloween night. I thought the price then was kinda high, but I felt it would be worth so my kids could trick or treat in the magic kingdom. I cannot justify spending $1,000 for the 5 of us to go to this event. Instead, we’ll either go trick or treating in a local neighborhood (maybe Celebration?) or just do the Halloween activities at our resort (Wilderness Lodge).
The big issue is last year when there was not a separate nighttime party, everyone during the week got to see all the cavalcades noted and the entertainment and characters noted. Now those will only be available to those who spend the money to go to the after-hours event.
As far as pricing goes for this event, I doubt Disney will change anything anytime soon, not when almost every special event sells out. Price becomes a factor in crowd control. There are many who would pay more for these events if it meant having to deal with fewer crowds. The event itself doesn’t affect anyone’s experience if they can’t go, the regular daytime visits are still available.
While it’s true that MNSSHP and MVMCP sell out many/most nights, the same has not been true of After Hours. And that’s even with a significantly lower attendance cap.
The safe bet here is that many October dates will sell out (it’s going to be a bonkers month, so I suspect there will be many impulse purchases of these tickets as people want to buy their way out of crowds), but probably not most of the August or September dates (after the first night) unless the cap is set really low.
To Tom:
While it’s true what you said about folks enjoying the event having no bearing on others who do not attend, I think there is some validity in their frustration.
If people readily pay for this event, regardless of the astronomical price, it will give Disney the green light to continue with the astronomical price increases. Disney is going to keep raising prices, but perhaps not to the extent it otherwise would if customers decide against going.
Disney is on its way, in a hurry, in pricing out the middle class. This is just another example of that. Yet, if people show up in droves anyway, it will just facilitate Disney’s willingness to raise the prices even higher, even faster.
I totally get that frustration–I share a lot of it. Where I think a few commenters have gone too far is with an antagonistic attitude towards anyone who is planning on buying tickets or attending the event. I am all for readers offering a level-headed explanation as to why this is an objectively poor value, saying that they’ll vote with their wallets, etc.
Beyond that, I’m also more concerned with decisions/cuts/price increases or anything else that negatively impacts the guest experience across the board. This is a niche product offering aimed at a subset of guests. Sure, it could have broader implications, but it’s hardly unprecedented. I wouldn’t get too worked up over this for the same reason I wouldn’t get too worked up when VIP tours increase in price.
For what it’s worth, Walt Disney World has tried many upcharges like this and abandoned them because the prices were prohibitive. In fact, After Hours was *almost* one such offering. During its first year, sales were so weak for these tickets that they literally gave them away at hotel front desks for a while. The event has since sold better, but it’s far from as lucrative as MNSSHP or MVMCP.