It may only be August, but August means Halloween at Magic Kingdom. While last year we experienced a very lite version of Halloween at Walt Disney World due to the phased reopening and numerous COVID-19 limitations at the resort, Disney has opted to debut a new event in 2021 called Disney After Hours Boo Bash. In this article, we’ll cover our Disney Boo Bash review, including photos, data, and our thoughts on the Halloween event.
BlogMickey.com paid 100% out of pocket for our tickets and all associated costs to review Disney After Hours Boo Bash at Magic Kingdom.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash Review
- Dates, Times, and Pricing
- Arrival Times, Checking In, Disney Park Pass Requirements
- Why Boo Bash Instead of Not-So-Scary?
- Halloween Cavalcades
- Fireworks
- Special Character Sightings
- Trick or Treating
- Specialty Food and Complimentary Treats
- Boo Bash Review – Wait Times and Crowds
- Boo Bash Review – Overall Thoughts
Dates, Times, and Pricing
Disney After Hours Boo Bash takes place across 28 days in August, September, and October. Prices range from $129 to $199 for adults and children. Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members can take advantage of a $10 discount on event dates in August and September.
The majority of the dates sold out prior to the first event on August 10th, perhaps signaling a high demand for a Halloween event this year after last year’s cancellation of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash takes place from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM on the following dates:
- Tuesday, August 10, 2021 ($139, SOLD OUT)
- Tuesday, August 17, 2021 ($129, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, August 20, 2021 ($139, SOLD OUT)
- Tuesday, August 24, 2021 ($129, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, August 27, 2021 ($139)
- Tuesday, August 31, 2021 ($129)
- Friday, September 3, 2021 ($139)
- Sunday, September 5, 2021 ($129)
Disney After Hours Boo Bash takes place from 9:00 PM to midnight on the following dates:
- Tuesday, September 7, 2021 ($129)
- Friday, September 10, 2021 ($139)
- Sunday, September 12, 2021 ($129)
- Tuesday, September 14, 2021 ($129, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, September 17, 2021 ($139, SOLD OUT)
- Sunday, September 19, 2021 ($129)
- Tuesday, September 21, 2021 ($129, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, September 24, 2021 ($139, SOLD OUT)
- Tuesday, October 5, 2021 ($159, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, October 8, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Sunday, October 10, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Tuesday, October 12, 2021 ($159, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, October 15, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Sunday, October 17, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Tuesday, October 19, 2021 ($159, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, October 22, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Sunday, October 24, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Tuesday, October 26, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Friday, October 29, 2021 ($169, SOLD OUT)
- Sunday, October 31, 2021 ($199, SOLD OUT)
Purchase tickets: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/magic-kingdom/disney-after-hours-boo-bash/
Let’s talk about pricing a bit. The event dates are obviously much more expensive than Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. How much more expensive? An average of more than $40! That said, Disney After Hours Boo Bash is roughly right in line with the pricing we saw for the 2020 Villains After Hours event.
There is plenty to be said about the event, and pricing certainly will prevent quite a few families from attending, but it is in line with previous “After Hours” events, and the proof is in the sales. Whether we like it or not, the event was clearly priced correctly for the demand that has materialized.
We’ll talk a bit more about value later in the review.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash Guidemap
Arrival Times, Checking In, Disney Park Pass Requirements
Guests with a Disney After Hours Boo Bash ticket can enter Magic Kingdom as early as 7pm on the date of their event. Your Disney After Hours Boo Bash ticket is all you need to get into Magic Kingdom – you will not need an additional day theme park ticket and you will NOT be required to make a Disney Park Pass reservation when using an event ticket to enter the park. If you enter Magic Kingdom after 7pm, look for the dedicated Special Event entrances – utilizing the right or left ends of the main entrance.
If you want to visit Magic Kingdom earlier than 7pm, you will need to have a valid theme park ticket and Disney Park Pass reservation.
Parking is not included in your Disney After Hours Boo Bash ticket.
For guests who are already inside Magic Kingdom park before the event begins, wristband distribution will begin around 7pm at the following locations:
- Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland
- Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland
Why Boo Bash Instead of Not-So-Scary?
Disney After Hours Boo Bash was announced on May 7, 2021. To understand the event, we should understand the environment in which the event was announced. When Boo Bash was announced, Disney World was still a week away from modifying any face mask mandates. It wasn’t until May 14th that Disney announced that face masks would no longer be required in outdoor locations. It wouldn’t be until more than a month later that Disney World would make face masks optional for fully vaccinated guests.
So, it was clear that things were unclear, but that they were changing. With that as the background context, Disney After Hours Boo Bash was announced. The event was clearly not going to live up to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but Disney would at least try to put something together.
Now, three months after the event was announced, we find ourselves with a bit of a confusing hybrid event that reminds us of more of the context of the world in which it was announced, and not really a reflection of what Disney World is doing today.
What is the reality of Walt Disney World today? Yes, masks have returned indoors and there is a very real discussion to be had about the state of COVID-19 in Florida and highly transmissible variants of the virus, but Disney World is sending mixed signals that present themselves in perhaps no more glaring of a light than at an event like Boo Bash.
For all intents and purposes, Disney is back to “full capacity”. What does this mean? Disney has raised their capacity to a high enough percentage that it is no longer difficult to make a Disney Park Pass reservation. Yes, we’re entering a traditionally slower part of the year as far as crowds are concerned, but with no social distancing rules in place, it’s quite common to experience crowd congestion like you would have before COVID-19 changed Disney Parks operations.
So, while you have scenes like the one below less than an hour before Disney Boo Bash begins, guests are still presented with COVID-era entertainment options like cavalcades. Then again, Disney has not brought back fully fledged parades at their domestic theme parks, so perhaps cavalcades are the future of parade-like entertainment at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
I think it’s clear that Disney is aware that Boo Bash is a watered down event. We have to look no further than the next special event, Disney Very Merriest After Hours, to see the differences in offerings, and probably perceived value. For Disney Very Merriest After Hours, guests will be able to experience Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show, holiday-themed attraction overlays, Cinderella Castle projections, and snowfall on Main Street USA – all offerings that don’t have an equivalent during Boo Bash.
While Disney specifically cancelled Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in 2020, they never even announced the event in 2021. This year, Disney has the ability to point to COVID-19 protocols as to why they didn’t offer a full Not-So-Scary Halloween Party this year.
That said, will Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party ever return? It’s unclear.
Disney choose not to offer Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in 2021, but Very Merriest After Hours isn’t that much different of an event. Yes, Disney has not announced a stage show for Very Merriest After Hours, but there will be fireworks and attractions overlays that will likely make the event feel more complete.
It’s possible that Disney is looking towards the themed After Hours events as the seasonal events that will be presented going forward. The events will likely sell out quicker and be limited to much lower crowds than a typical holiday upcharge event. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in 2022.
We’ll continue our thoughts in the wrap up at the end of the review.
Halloween Cavalcades
Four Halloween cavalcades are presented during Disney After Hours Boo Bash. Three of the four cavalcades were presented during normal operating hours in 2020, but if you want to see them this year, you’ll have to reach for your wallet.
Just like cavalcades during the day, these are essentially short parades that don’t require much effort to see. Unlike Mickey’s Boo to You Parade, which requires a bit of waiting around to secure a good spot along the parade route, we never had any difficulty catching a cavalcade during Boo Bash.
Of course, chances are that you aren’t putting a premium on entertainment if you’re attending Disney After Hours Boo Bash. While we always appreciate the performers, it’s clear that Disney executives made a decision to offer less than what you would normally get for Halloween during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade (9:55pm, 11:25pm): Delight as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto and pals—dressed in hauntingly boo-tiful Halloween costumes—parade through the park in this musical procession.
It’s worth noting that the first version of this parade does not go down Main Street USA, instead making a u-turn in the hub in front of Cinderella Castle as Cast Members continue to sweep guests out of the park.
Disney Villain Halloween Cavalcade (10:30pm, 11:45pm): Behold a legion of villains unleashed to revel in this sinister season. Look out for fiends like Dr. Facilier, the Queen of Hearts and Jafar as they celebrate just how wonderful it is to be wicked.
Here’s a video of the cavalcade from its daytime debut in 2020, followed by some photos from Disney After hours Boo Bash. Some notable differences were the removal of Gaston and Maleficent from the Boo Bash version of the cavalcade.
Jack’s Nightmare Cavalcade (10:40pm, 11:55pm): 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!
Here’s a look at the daytime version of the parade from 2020, followed by photos from Boo Bash.
Maleficent’s Fiery Prowl (10:50pm, 12:05pm): Maleficent will take the form of a fire-breathing dragon! (Well, at least she was supposed to. Maleficent had technical malfunctions that turned a fiery prowl into a fire-less limp down Main Street USA for both performances last night).
While the float is still impressive and takes a good photo, we had to include some older photos and video of what it should look like if it was working properly.
Fireworks
There are no special Disney Boo Bash fireworks. Instead, the event officially kicks off 30 minutes after Magic Kingdom closes. That said, you can still watch Magic Kingdom fireworks with your Disney Boo Bash event ticket! As we noted earlier, Disney After Hours Boo Bash attendees can enter Magic Kingdom starting at 7pm. This means that event guests will be able to catch Happily Ever After (or Disney Enchantment after October 1) with the rest of the Magic Kingdom day guests.
Whether or not you want to watch fireworks will depend on your goals for the event. If you want to try and ride as many attractions as possible, it might be to your benefit to get in attraction lines starting at 7pm when you enter the park. Yes, the lines will be longer when you first arrive, but they will start to die down as the nightly fireworks start approaches.
If you want to try and catch a last viewing of Happily Ever After before it “glows away” forever, or even catch one of the first guests to see Disney Enchantment, you might find yourself spending the first couple of hours on Main Street USA after you enter Magic Kingdom.
Special Character Sightings
Various special character sightings take place throughout the night, including:
- Pirate Goofy (Near Pirates of the Caribbean)
- Pirate Chip and Vampire Dale (Near Country Bear Jamboree)
- Miss Carlotta, Miss Renatta and Broome the Butler at the Haunted Mansion
- Foulfellow and Gideon (At Pinocchio’s Village Haus)
Cadaver Dans (9:40pm, 10:20pm, 11:05pm, 12:10pm)
Just like during the day, you won’t be able to “meet” with the characters due to ongoing COVID-19 safety protocols. Instead, you’ll be able to take a physically distanced selfie or snap a quick photo.
Our favorite character sighting remains Miss Carlotta, Miss Renatta and Broome the Butler at the Haunted Mansion. This character interaction is basically the same as what you’d experience at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party – including wonderful stories and some guest participation.
Trick or Treating
Not quite Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and not quite Disney After Hours, Boo Bash is a hybrid event of sorts. To that point, Boo Bash incorporates the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Trick or Treating Treat Trails.
Treat Trail Locations
- Ariel’s Grotto
- Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe
- Pecos Bill
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow
- Splash Mountain
- Tiki Room
Here’s a look at some of the locations and the candy you can expect to collect. There are no COVID-19 safety protocols as Cast Members scoop handfuls of candy out of a bin and into your bag like Not-So-Scary’s of yore.
Specialty Food and Complimentary Treats
There are six specialty food items for Disney After Hours Boo Bash:
- Auntie Gravity’s Galactic Goodies
- Prince John Sucker – Tart green apple lemonade slush topped with whipped cream and a ring pop (Available 8/10-10/31)
- Golden Oak Outpost
- Mocha Chocolate Chip – Frozen mocha topped with whipped cream, chocolate chips, and a sugar acorn (Available 8/10-10/31)
- Main Street Outdoor Vending Carts
- Maleficent Churro – Churro covered in chocolate cookie crumble drizzled with purple icing topped with green and purple sugar (Available 8/10-10/31)
- Storybook Treats
- Five Dozen Egg Slush – Frozen custard with brown sugar topped with whipped cream garnished with a cinnamon stick (Available 8/10-10/31)
- Sleepy Hollow
- Foolish Mortal Funnel Cake – Funnel cake topped with chocolate cookie crumbles, purple vanilla ice cream, caramel drizzle, and M&M’s milk chocolate Ghoul’s Mix (Available 8/10-10/31)
- Golden Oak Outpost
- Apple Ginger Dale – Frozen apple cider mixed with ginger ale topped with whipped cream and chopped TWIX cookies bars (Available 8/10-10/31)
Beyond those items available for purchase, other snack items are complimentary during the event such as Mickey Ice Cream Bars, popcorn, and soda/water.
Boo Bash Review – Wait Times and Crowds
While we felt that entertainment fell short at Disney After Hours Boo Bash, the wait times and crowds on opening night were wonderful. The real value in an event like Disney After Hours Boo Bash undoubtedly rests in the low wait times that you will experience throughout the event.
Disney Cast Members began “sweeping” non-event guests out of Magic Kingdom pretty much right at the start of the event. The “sweeping” process involves lines of Cast Members moving methodically throughout the park and herding guests without a wristband towards the exit. Of course, Disney smartly ends Happily Ever After about 20 minutes before the start of Disney After Hours Boo Bash, which means that guests are naturally ready to leave Magic Kingdom anyway.
Once an area is cleared, the walkways suddenly open up and it becomes obvious that Disney delivered on the promise of lowered crowds and short waits.
Let’s dive into the posted wait times, as reported by thrill-data.com.
First, here’s a look at the full day of wait times at Magic Kingdom on August 10, 2021.
We’ll take a look at two graphs with a shorter timeframe as well. Because Boo Bash attendees can get into Magic Kingdom beginning at 7pm, here’s the graph from 7pm to midnight. Technically, the August 10th Boo Bash ended at 12:30am, but going through midnight will give us a cleaner graph.
As you can see, wait times are starting to die down from 7pm to 9pm. This is a rather common occurrence as guest priorities shift from attractions to fireworks. The only strategy that we’d suggest is focusing on attractions that aren’t open during Boo Bash such as Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor or Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. Other than that, we’d suggest waiting for Boo Bash to start before hitting some of the headliners.
Once the event kicks off, you can see that wait times start to fall of considerably, with average waits throughout the event starting at about 15 minutes and dropping down to less than 10 minutes as the event progresses (top row). With the exception of an anomaly at Astro Orbiter, the usual suspects have “elevated” wait times such as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain, and Peter Pan’s Flight.
If your intention is to use Boo Bash as a means of getting on attractions with short waits, while snacking on some Mickey Bars and popcorn between attractions, it remains a wonderful event to attend.
Of course, there are more than a few Disney fans who believe that Disney artificially suppressed crowds on the first event because it is traditionally the single event that attracts the most bloggers and vloggers. There is probably some merit to that statement, as Disney was selling some last minute tickets an hour or so before the event started, leading some to believe that Disney “sold out” the event to a lower capacity than later events. We’ll keep an eye on wait times throughout later events, but we expect to see similar wait times as opening night.
Boo Bash Review – Overall Thoughts
At the end of this article, we have to ask ourselves: who is Disney Boo Bash for and is it worth the price?
Because a review is an opinion piece, I should identify where my bias plays into this Disney Boo Bash review. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is our favorite event of the year. Back in 2019, we had purchased the Party Pass. We attended multiple times per week to enjoy outstanding entertainment such as the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, Mickey’s Boo to You Parade, and (more recently) Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular fireworks show.
It’s in the context of cut entertainment that we say that we won’t be attending another Boo Bash event. Of course, the majority of the dates are sold out, so it doesn’t matter what stance we take.
That said, there are some clear opportunities to win and really enjoy Disney After Hours Boo Bash.
Acting like a “cheap” VIP experience for those focused on riding as many attractions as they can, low wait times and the prospect of grabbing a Mickey Ice Cream Bar or popcorn whenever you’d like is hard to pass up. If you’re a fan of the Not-So-Scary event like us, you’ll likely find disappointment. If, however, your goals include taking advantage of low waits and you don’t mind a bit of Halloween to go along with it, Disney After Hours Boo Bash should fit the bill.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!