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.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
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!
Considering the speed at which these dates are selling out…. Is it possible that they are limiting capacity to even lower than regular After Hours events?
That’s how it used to be. The website says 7pm this year. The park “closes” to regular day guests before that time. Not sure if it was 5 pm or 6 pm. I can’t get the website to load right now.
Called today (6/14/21) and Oct 5, 2021 is also sold out, before it was even offered to the public tomorrow.
I called all day June 8th and got busy signal, gave up after about 80 times. Called again around 6pm eastern time , got through, waited for an hour but got our tickets for Halloween night. And from what I’ve been reading, it’ sold out within a couple days.
I called 85 times (not an exaggeration) on June 9 before I didn’t get a busy signal anymore and then I waited on hold for 2 hours. Got our tickets though for sept 10.
We of course will be going September 28th through October 1st and no Halloween party. I’m so bummed, but I get they are prepping for the anniversary. We’ve been to the Christmas party, but never the Halloween.
For shades of green guests you actually have to buy boo bash tickets directly through disney for the 10/29 and 10/31 dates. Shades of green is not selling tickets for those dates.
What are your thoughts on whether the Halloween events will happen in California? We are going in October and don’t want to make reservations at California Adventure on a day it is happening.
So if I want one of the newly announced dates and am a resort guest I can’t purchase in advance? Must wait until June 15th to book?
Why do you think they added the extra dates if this won’t be a popular event? It was a complete no-go for me since it’s all during the week, but I’m actually considering it now that they added Sunday over a holiday weekend, which makes staying late and heading back home on Monday more feasible.
@Lcoppe the price for Boo Bash is no different than the other after hours event Disney Villians
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/villains-after-hours-magic-kingdom-review/
Am I the only one that thinks this is a rip off
Just booked my BooBash tickets for opening night, 8/10! See you there!!
Hi Tom, this is my first time commenting on your post, but I have been reading them for years. So I’m excited to be here. My daughter and I have a trip planned in October were not staying on property which we usually do, but since it’s just the two of us we decided to just do a Florida vacation. Will only be there for 4 days so I was thinking about splurging and surprising my daughter with tickets for the boo bash do you think tickets will still be available on the 15th when
the general public can purchase? Thank you for your input I enjoy your articles very much.
We are going to Disney World in October for EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival. We built in a day to relax before our flight home. We have never attended an after hours event, so we decided to splurge and go to Boo Bash. I started calling yesterday at 5:00 am Mountain Time, and dialed several times throughout the day. After 22 attempts I finally got through to make the reservation. The Disney Cast Member was extremely helpful. She asked if I had any trouble getting through, and she apologized for their being crazy busy all day. We made our reservations, and I was able to link my confirmation number into my Disney Experience. We can hardly wait!
Our agent (poor thing!) sat on the phone for 7 hours for us, but we got two for Halloween night! I’ve gone to some of the After Hours events at Disneyland as well as whatever incarnation Oogie Boogie Bash was in 2014 and liked them equally. I’m just excited to dress up *on* Halloween *at* MK, everything else just ads to it â¤
We got our boo to you tix at 11am today only after 4 hours on the phone
I’ve taken my family to several Mickeys Not so Scary Halloween nights, and the Boo Bash doesn’t sound enticing. We loved the 4pm entry, limited capacity lines, and more reasonable pricing. The new prices are tough for families with kids who can’t take advantage of the later hours. After all, Halloween is fir the younger crowd, right?
While I was ordering my Boo Bash tickets last night (made it under the 9pm cut off by 15 minutes!) the cast member assisting me said that we would be able to enter MK at 4pm with our tickets. Anyone else hear this?
We have military park hopper passes so, technically we could get in after 2pm. Just curious if this is true or just a slip up from an, most likely, exhausted cast member.
My lovely wife called at 10am CST today June 9th and after 56 minutes we have our tickets.