New Disney After Hours Boo Bash Halloween Party Coming to Magic Kingdom!
Disney After Hours Boo Bash is a new Halloween party coming to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World beginning in August 2021. In this post, we’ll take a sneak peak at the entertainment lineup, dates for the hard ticket event, and offer commentary, including how this compares to both Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Villains After Hours, the two past parties on which Boo Bash is based.
This announcement of Disney After Hours Boo Bash comes as part of the Disney Parks “Halfway to Halloween” wicked celebration today and May 8, 2021 that’ll feature special announcements, a few “shriek peeks,” recipes for dreadfully delicious dishes from the parks, a “mummy approved” Disney+ playlist, not-so-spooky tips, frightfully favorite Halloween wallpapers, and much more.
Before we dig into the details, let’s start with the basics. Disney After Hours Boo Bash will be held on select nights from August 10, 2021 through October 31, 2021. The event will be held instead of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (more on this undoubtedly “controversial” decision in our commentary below), and will feature exclusive entertainment, food & beverage, merchandise, and more.
Get in the spooky spirit at Disney After Hours Boo Bash with Halloween-themed cavalcades. Indulge your sweet tooth at candy stops throughout the park. See some of your favorite and fiendish friends as the characters lurk about, including Dr. Facilier, Captain Barbosa, Goofy, and Chip ‘n’ Dale. Stop and listen to the Cadaver Dans during their special comeback (from the dead) performance. Enjoy themed offerings, from sweet treats to savory delights.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash will take place on select nights at Magic Kingdom from August 10, 2021 through October 31, 2021 from 9 pm until midnight (some nights will be 9:30 pm to 12:30 am). Tickets for Boo Bash will go on sale in June 2021, so continue to check for updates. Disney After Hours Boo Bash tickets will grant admission to Magic Kingdom park as early as 7 pm without the need for a day park ticket or Disney Park Pass reservation, plus the 3 exclusive hours of the event.
Here are some highlights of Disney After Hours Boo Bash:
- Halloween-themed cavalcades
- Candy stops, with plenty of sweet surprises
- Character sightings throughout the park
- Special performances by the Cadaver Dans
- Low wait times at over 20 attractions, including Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain & Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Themed food and beverages available for purchase
- Special décor, lighting, music and more!
Guests young, old and immortal can dress in costume for the occasion and get their fill of Halloween candy. As an important reminder, costume masks are not permitted for adults; they can only be worn by children younger than 14. In addition, all guests are required to wear approved face masks during the event.
While Disney After Hours Boo Bash is a direct replacement for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, expect it to be much more like Villains After Hours than Walt Disney World’s flagship spook season event. That’s why it’s bearing the “After Hours” name rather than something like “Touch of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.” (Not that any naming convention should begin with Touch of…)
Since the announcement is relatively light on details, we’re going to spend the next few paragraphs offering some details about After Hours and its villainous incarnation, as that should be valuable context. For those who are unfamiliar with Disney After Hours, it’s a limited capacity event promising low wait times at over 20 attractions and experiences in Magic Kingdom. The event is also offered at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, or rather, it was until Walt Disney World’s closure. None of these events have been back since reopening…until now.
Walt Disney World started the After Hours hard ticket events a few years ago and they’ve grown in popularity since. The event lasts for 3 hours after park closing, and also includes another 3 hours of early admission with regular day guests. In the past, this has allowed event guests to arrive early and enjoy the Happily Ever After fireworks, do dinner, and knock out a few attractions even prior to the park closing and the exclusive event beginning.
Also in the past, Disney After Hours has offered unlimited refreshments, soda, and ice cream (no word yet if Disney After Hours Boo Bash will offer the same). The Villains After Hours incarnation of the event that was occurring when the parks closed also offered a light assortment of special entertainment unique to the event, including a stage show and cavalcade, which featured rare villains and the Maleficent float from Festival of Fantasy rolling down the parade route at night.
The marketing for Villains After Hours hyped up the entertainment, which was fair since it definitely had a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party meets After Hours vibe. However, as we pointed out in our Disney Villains After Hours Review, the emphasis should be on the short wait times and low crowds. (That review is worth reading if you’re on the fence about Disney After Hours Boo Bash as we’d anticipate significant overlap between the two.)
You can get a ton done during this event—more than during a full day in Magic Kingdom pre-closure. In fact, we think so highly of the After Hours events so much that they made our Best Value Splurges at Walt Disney World List. In particular, Villains After Hours was the best of the bunch. It’s more like paid Extra Magic Hours than it is the Halloween and Christmas parties, albeit with significantly lower crowds than EMH, MNSSHP, or MVMCP.
With that said, the entertainment is a nice value-add, but it was not main the reason to purchase Villains After Hours party tickets. The show and cavalcade in Villains After Hours were good diversions, but they’re nowhere on par with Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular or Mickey’s Boo to You parade. Expect that to hold true with Disney After Hours Boo Bash.
In short, 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.
Even though there’s still a ton we don’t know about Disney After Hours Boo Bash, expect that trend to continue with this hard ticket event. Again, there’s a reason it’s following the After Hours naming convention and is not a form of Mickey’s parties.
This is going to be a disappointment to some Walt Disney World fans. Honestly, we are two of them.
We love the Halloween parade, Hocus Pocus stage show, and fireworks. These are normally once per year treats that we savor, and we missed them last year. After Hours is an objectively solid event, but as people with regular access to attractions, it just does not resonate the same way. Obviously, that’s a personal thing–an “us problem.”
However, if you’re an Annual Passholder, local, regular visitor, or taking a longer vacation, it might also be a “you problem.” The After Hours events have always been tougher sells for those demographics. That’s because they’re aimed primarily at tourists whose time is limited and arguably more valuable than their money. For infrequent or once-in-a-lifetime visitors to Walt Disney World, the After Hours events are excellent. Boo Bash should continue that trend.
After getting over my initial (personal) disappointment, I totally understand Walt Disney World’s decision to pivot to the After Hours event for Halloween 2021. For one thing, none of the flagship elements of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party have returned to the parks. Fireworks, parades, meet & greets, and stage shows are all still on temporary hiatus.
While it’s entirely possible that half of those things will be able to return by Fall 2021, that’s not yet a sure thing. And it may not be for a couple more months. These events are normally planned far in advance, with work being done now for parties beginning in August, which simply would not be possible this year.
That opens the door to something like Disney After Hours Boo Bash, which uses an event template that is tailor-made for the current environment since low crowds are its key, and everything about the After Hours events has been “naturally” physically distanced in the past. It’s fundamentally different than MNSSHP, but it’s a great offering in its own right.
With that said, Walt Disney World could’ve started preparing for the 2021 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party making some safe assumptions about what would be possible. That’s exactly what Universal Orlando did months ago in announcing Halloween Horror Nights. At this point, it’s looking like all of those gambles are going to pay off.
Even if Disney had to nix certain elements of the full event, a scaled back or modified event could’ve worked. For instance, I have a hard time believing character meet & greets will be back this calendar year, but runDisney-style selfie stations with rare characters would’ve been a great–and more efficient–compromise. Nevertheless, I’m optimistic that some of these elements will find their way into Disney After Hours Boo Bash, and be announced as there’s more clarity about what’s safe to include.
The real “problem” as I see it is the World’s Most Magical Celebration. As you’re undoubtedly aware, Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration kicks off on October 1, and much of that will be centered around Magic Kingdom. Even if this were a totally normal year, running an After Hours event in October might make more sense than Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
Closing Walt Disney World’s flagship park early 3-4 nights per week right at the start of its big bash would be a logistical nightmare. We’ve seen this scenario play out for the last several years, and it was really bad two Octobers ago. In fact, our October Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World (among several other posts) explains why you should do your daytime Magic Kingdom visit on a party night even though you’ll have significantly fewer hours in the park.
In highly technical terms, the Halloween party really screws with crowds at Magic Kingdom. That would be even truer if fireworks and/or other nighttime entertainment were essentially put behind a paywall for half of the week right as they returned and fans descended upon Walt Disney World for 50th Anniversary trips they’ve been planning for literal years. (Note: this is not to say that fireworks will be back at Magic Kingdom by October 1–just that the After Hours approach would allow for them, as it did previously, whereas MNSSHP only has pay-to-play fireworks on event nights.)
The only other alternative would’ve been moving Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party to another park (Disney’s Hollywood Studios likely would’ve been the best candidate). That’s exactly what Disneyland did two years ago when introducing Oogie Boogie Bash. That move was motivated by the debut year of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and the expectation that Mickey’s Halloween Party would be too much of a burden on Disneyland crowd dynamics. (That’s also the reason Disneyland has never had a hard ticket Christmas party–it is not due to lack of demand!)
Ultimately, while I’m a bit personally disappointed that Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party won’t happen this year, I also understand the rationale for the decision. I also know I’d second-guess Walt Disney World’s decision-makers if they opted to hold the Halloween Party and it ended up being a shell of its normal self or created nightmare crowd conditions–two entirely plausible scenarios on some alternative timeline.
Villains After Hours is/was a legitimately great event–the best way to experience Magic Kingdom and its attractions–with a solid amount of entertainment and moody atmosphere as icing on the cake. Given that, I’m cautiously optimistic about Disney After Hours Boo Bash. If Walt Disney World’s entertainment and events teams can cherry-pick the best ideas that are viable in the “current environment” from After Hours and MNSSHP and combine them in Disney After Hours Boo Bash, it could be an exceptional event. It ultimately will come down to budget, execution, and ambition levels. Perhaps Boo Bash is not the event we were hoping for by Fall 2021, but it could be a great one given the ongoing circumstances and necessity of planning several months in advance.
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Your Thoughts
Are you excited for Disney After Hours Boo Bash? Will you be attending the event? 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!
With no trip planned during this offering, I don’t have to give much thought to the value proposition here. I will say, this post made me whistful for the Boo to You parade, which is one of my favorite MK experiences, eeking out a 1st place spot, ahead of Spectromagic, on my internally tracked “parades that made me feel the happiest” list.
We are coming in October and had planned to attend MNSSHP, but are fine with Boo Bash. We have not attend any special Halloween events ever. Question- Can Jack Skelton be seen during BOO BASH?
Honestly, we went to a Mickeys Halloween party in September 2017. Had a Blast.
We were hoping some type of event would b happening during our trip.
If we can get Tickets, we r definitely gonna try.
Already have Costumes.
Thank you for your work! It’s been very helpful! I know it might be hard to answer this but do you think Disneyland will offer oogie boogie bash again or something similar? We preferred the original Mickey trick or treat party at Disneyland and hope they bring that back instead but we will take whatever we can get at this point! Have you attended either of these and preferred one over the other? I’m just worried they won’t be able to offer any Halloween special events this year. Any thought or predictions you have on this would be greatly appreciated!
I think Oogie Boogie Bash has a good chance of still happening…but I also thought Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party had a good chance of happening until this announcement. The circumstances at Disneyland Resort are different (no anniversary, no APs) and that party is fundamentally different than MNSSHP.
We really enjoyed Oogie Boogie Bash: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/oogie-boogie-bash-halloween-party-info-tips/
I will say that two years ago we came down and did a week in Orlando that wasn’t a Disney Trip. To get our disney fix, we bought Afters Hours at MK tickets (not the villains, just the plain ones). My family was like this is the best thing we have ever done at disney. We literally went on every ride as many times as we wanted. Get off, get back on. We started on big Thunder without even getting off for 3 rides. The snacks were plain but still fun. There was no sun beating down on us. Coming over from Seaworld we had an amazing time as our one MK day that year. And it felt like a whole day. It’s harder to justify the price when you have 5 day park hoppers, though. Anyway, I absolutely will do this in October when I’m there despite my tickets already being purchased. And for those who didn’t get MK reservations it’ll be great. The one thing that happened to us that night is around 11pm we got stuck on Splash, and it was BAD. They couldn’t get us out of our boat. My kids were completely traumatized. Being stuck in there for an hour during an event that essentially cost us $180/hr was really maddening. We did go to guest services and they took care of us. After that we still rode a couple more things. Anyway I’m surprised they’re having anything! Now if only they will bring back a paid After hours or Magic morning event for Hollywood studios!! That’s the crowd limited bash we all need right now!
Of course you’re correct, that most Disney fans couldn’t care less about the motives.
But ultimately, fans are disappointed by the slow return, by the lack of fireworks, parades, lack of Fastpass, etc.
I feel Disney is trying to assuage fan restlessness by pretending this is about Covid… implying, “we would love to give our fans their favorite experiences, but we are so concerned about Covid safety, so we have no choice…”
When in reality it is, “let’s see how much money we can make without increasing spending on unnecessary things like fireworks… let’s eke this out as long as possible….. our fans aren’t rebelling yet!”
Kimberly I was wondering this too! We went to WDW for the first time last year and have reservations to go back this fall just because our kiddos really wanted to go to MNSSHP. We definitely will try this event but wasn’t sure how quickly they would sell out or what kind of capacity limits they will have. Especially considering “select resorts” (I would guess the deluxe ones) will get pre-sale tickets.
Got it – thank you!
This makes me hopeful there will be some sort of Christmas event when we are scheduled to be there in November!!!
As you pointed out, WDW could anticipate more normalcy by August/September and plan accordingly. Instead, they are intentionally staying behind. I suspect they have ulterior motives beyond Covid safety.
If NYC can already say that Broadway shows will be open at 100% capacity in September — A far greater public health risk than most anything at WDW — Then it is shocking that WDW is still saying:
– You should fully expect masks to still be in effect (they could just say that guests will have to follow any safety protocols in effect, but instead they chose to explicitly warn guests to expect masks)
– You still shouldn’t expect fireworks (outdoor fireworks are certainly less risky than a Broadway show)
– You still shouldn’t expect parades (again, far less risky than a Broadway show)
– You still shouldn’t expect castle stage shows (once again, far less risky than a Broadway show)
– You still shouldn’t expect character meets (ok, this one I can understand. This will likely be among the last things to return).
At this point, is it really about Covid? Or is it about WDW simply trying to eke out as much profit as possible, while keeping spending as restricted as possible? (and implying Covid is the excuse)
I generally agree with most of your takes that Disney is moving at a slow and conservative pace as compared to pretty much everywhere else. Where you start to lose me is with the ulterior motives.
Only very online fans care about reasons–everyone else is concerned with results. By its nature, After Hours is an event that’ll be primarily marketed at more casual and infrequent visitors. They aren’t going to care about the “why” behind Disney’s decisions–just the substance of the offerings. That will also be the case with the overall park experience, especially as it diverges more and more from other entertainment offerings as those get back to normal.
I definitely am with you on the lemonade out of lemons Tom. I agree that there just isn’t enough time for them to plan on the normal entertainment and then have to scale back. Better to promise a little and hopefully deliver more.
We love MNSHHP like you two. We have attended so many great events. I’m happy to see the start of something. Now hoping for the DVC Moonlight Magic!
Have to be honest….I’m not thrilled about this. I used to go the the Halloween party a lot and was always taken by how fun and cute everything was. What a great party for kids before I had kids! Then when I had my daughter, I brought her 2019. With all the multi night passes being sold, it was an overcrowded mess. My daughter still loved it but less so for me in the giant crowds. This year, it is starting later. 7 pm entry 9pm start as opposed to 4pm entry and 7pm start. Makes it a lot more unfriendly for kids to enjoy. Feels to me like it is becoming less of a Magic Kingdom family fun party and that feels really disappointing. It he adults have always had 9-12am more or less, when families with little ones head back, but seems a bit less welcoming now. Hope this is a Covid, anniversary party year fluke and not a trend.
Yeah, that later start time is definitely going to make this a harder sell with families. Although on the plus side, if this doesn’t sell as well, that means it’s much more likely MNSSHP returns next year! 🙂
We did HS after Dark a few years ago during spring break. We loved it! Worth the cost. Toy Story land was open, walked onto all rides except slinky dog, that was 5 to 10 minute wait at times. Rode it multiple times. Too bad Galaxy’s Edge was not open, but you could see it from a hill on Slinky dog. Wish they would continue Disney after dark. It would definitely be a money maker.
What are your expectations for Christmas? Similar to this or closer to regular MVMCP?
I can see why Disney is going in this direction. I’m rushing ahead but I can’t help but wonder what this will mean for MVMCP? Tom, love to hear your thoughts on that one.
Do you know anything about the Christmas after party?
We went to MNSSHP once. Once. It was, in our opinion, the biggest disappointment and waste of money. We left early because it was so bad. The wait lines for rides wasn’t any shorter, but you didn’t have the advantage of FastPass. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train still had an hour wait time, for example. The park wasn’t any less crowded after they weeded out the nonparty goers at 7pm. Most blogs said to trick or treat after the parade for shorter lines. We found that most of the trick or treat stations were closed after the parade. All in all, it was just a big, expensive mess. Hopefully this new event actually will have smaller wait times, but I’ll wait to see comments on the event before booking next year’s trip during that period.
Would you reccomend this over a full MK day in October? Would it be worth the price ? I’d assume MK will be very busy in early October, so maybe this will allow for short wait times during a usually busy time?
Hi Tom, we’re a bit disappointed but glad they’re at least offering the Boo Bash. I know all the details haven’t been released yet, but do you know if we can wear costumes to the Boo Bash?
Yes, costumes are allowed–I’ve added those details to the body of the post, under the bullet points near the top.
Do you expect any Boo Bash dates in the anniversary week to sell out quickly? We were planning to take advantage of being in Orlando for that and do MNSSHP, if it happened, and HHN that week, but it seems like with massive crowds for 10/1 (plus Ratatouille opening), and with after hours events at least historically being less crowded than the parties, it’ll be pretty difficult to get tickets for that week.