How to celebrate Halloween at Disney Parks (2023)
At Halloween time, you can experience Disney Parks like you never have before. Disney’s Halloween parties and activities will thrill Halloween lovers, Disney fans, and anyone who wants to get into the “spirit” of the Halloween season!
Disney Halloween Celebrations in 2023
Disney’s Halloween celebrations vary from year to year, but in 2023 you can attend Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World in Florida and the Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney California Adventure Park in California.
These two parties are special ticketed events that are held during the second half of the day. While the park is open in the morning and afternoon for regular ticket-holding park guests, partygoers can enter the park in the mid-afternoon and stay for the rest of the night, partaking in all the party activities.
But even if you’re not attending one of these parties, there is still lots of Halloween fun to be found in and around the Disney Parks. Regular parkgoers can enjoy special Halloween versions of certain attractions, visit their favorite characters dressed up in Halloween attire, and indulge in Halloween treats.
And don’t forget the decor! As you walk around the park you’ll enjoy festive and spooky decorations, music, and atmosphere. The Disney is in the details!
Here’s a look at how the Disney Parks are celebrating Halloween in 2023.
Halloween 2023 at Disneyland Resort
On the west coast of the US, you’ll find Halloween fun at Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, and Downtown Disney District. Read on to see what you’ll find at each location.
Disneyland Park Halloween 2023
As you enter Disneyland, you can enjoy the Main Street Pumpkin Festival. Walk along Main Street, U.S.A. and check out the hundreds of hand-carved pumpkins.
While walking around the park you may encounter your favorite Disney characters in their Halloween attire. Keep an eye out for special appearances by Jack Skellington and Sally.
And speaking of that spooky couple, make sure to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday, which has a special Nightmare Before Christmas overlay during the Halloween and Christmas seasons.
In nearby Frontierland, you can see Dia de Los Muertos displays, celebrating the Day of the Dead.
After dark, head to the castle for Halloween Screams, a show with sights and sounds featuring Disney villains, Halloween songs, and fireworks (on select nights).
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Disney California Adventure Park Halloween 2023
The Oogie Boogie Bash is being held at California Adventure in September and October. This is a special ticketed event and the best way you can celebrate Halloween, Disney-style, on the west coast. With your party ticket, you can enter the park at 3pm — the party kicks off at 6pm and ends at 11pm.
Partygoers are allowed and encouraged to wear costumes to the event, but be sure to follow Disney’s guidelines.
At the party, don’t miss the Frightfully Fun Parade and live show Mickey’s Trick and Treat. You can also meet some of your favorite bad guys in the Villains Grove (in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail). You’ll get unlimited PhotoPass downloads of digital photos taken during the party, so don’t miss the unique photo ops!
Note: Oogie Boogie Bash tickets are sold out for 2023. If you want to attend the Oogie Boogie Bash, make sure to look for tickets to go on sale during the summer.
If you’re heading to California Adventure with a regular park ticket, there’s still lots of Halloween fun to be had! The best Halloween-themed area of the park is definitely Cars Land, which is transformed into Radiator Screams.
The Halloween decorations are fantastic, and you can meet Lightning McQueen and Mater in their Halloween costumes. Plus, two of the three Cars Land rides have Halloween overlays! You can ride Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree and Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween.
In the morning, you can ride Guardians of Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT, and then later in the afternoon ride it again to experience Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark, a Halloween-themed adventure.
Don’t miss some Coco-themed fun at Plaza de la Familia. You can catch performances of A Musical Celebration of Coco, meet Miguel, leave messages at the Arbol de la Vida, make paper masks, and enjoy Mariachi concerts.
Downtown Disney District Halloween 2023
You don’t need a park ticket to visit Downtown Disney, and there you can play Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit! Purchase a game board and stickers for $9.99, search for decorative pumpkins throughout Downtown Disney, and place stickers on your board when you find them. Show your board at a redemption location for a prize.
Look (or listen!) for the SCAREolers, a ghostly a cappella group, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings as they perform favorite Halloween songs.
You’ll also find lots of Halloween merchandise in Downtown Disney: apparel, accessories, souvenirs, and specialty snacks!
Halloween 2023 at Walt Disney World Resort
East coasters can head to Walt Disney World Resort for the Halloween celebrations. You’ll find Halloween and fall decor, merchandise, and food in all of the parks and Disney Springs, but most of the Halloween fun happens at Magic Kingdom Park.
Magic Kingdom Park Halloween 2023
Magic Kingdom hosts Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on select nights from August through October. Partygoers can enter the park at 4pm, and the party happens from 7pm-12am.
There’s lots to do and see, and you’ll probably want to make a plan so you hit all the highlights.
Definitely plan to catch the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular — a live stage show featuring the Sanderson Sisters and many other Disney characters.
Another must-do is Mickey’s Boo-to-You Halloween Parade. The second parade is usually less crowded, but it’s such a well-done production that it’s worth catching twice.
You’ll find Treat Trails all over the park where you can trick-or-treat and collect lots of candy. You can bring your own treat bag if you want, but you’ll also get a free one at the party!
And be sure to visit your favorite Disney characters for photo ops — there are some rare appearances at the holiday parties, so check the party guide to see where to find them all!
Experience special Halloween versions of Mad Tea Party, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, and Space Mountain. Lines for rides are usually much shorter during the party because there is so much else to do, so if you’re a thrill-seeker make sure to catch a few favorites!
You can also work off some of that candy at the Disney Junior Jam dance party, listen to the spooky music stylings of the Cadaver Dans Barbershop Quartet, and capture unique PhotoPass opportunities throughout the park.
Wrap up your night with Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular fireworks show at Cinderella’s castle. There’s no better way to end a fantastic day at Disney!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Halloween 2023
At Hollywood Studios, you can attend Minnie’s Halloween Dine at Hollywood & Vine. Character appearances at this seasonal dining party have varied, but you’re sure to see Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and a few of their closest friends like Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto, all dressed up in their Halloween costumes.
EPCOT Halloween 2023
EPCOT doesn’t host any special Halloween events, but you can attend the International Food and Wine Festival in the fall.
If you’re planning a trip to Orlando during the Halloween season, you might consider pairing a night at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party with a full day at EPCOT, enjoying delicious food and drinks at the festival.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park Halloween 2023
Animal Kingdom is one of our favorite Disney parks. Flight of Passage is easily in my top 5 theme park rides, plus some of the best food at Walt Disney Resort can be found at Animal Kingdom.
That being said, Animal Kingdom doesn’t change much for the Halloween season, so you may want to spend more time at the other parks at this time of year.
Disney Springs Halloween 2023
Disney Springs is the place to be for shopping, dining, and outdoor entertainment. You don’t need a park ticket to visit, and parking is free!
During the Halloween season at Disney Springs, you’ll find food with fall flavors, seasonal apparel and home decor, and all the Disney Halloween-themed merchandise your heart desires.
Grab some Halloween treats at Disney’s Candy Cauldron and Goofy’s Candy Company, or take some spooky, fun photos with the Halloween-themed photo backdrops at Disney PhotoPass Studio.
Is Halloween a good time to visit Disney World and Disneyland?
Yes, we think so!
Our family attended Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in 2018 when it was held at Disneyland, and we had a lot of fun, even though the weather did not cooperate on the night of our party! The rain meant that the parade, shows, and a lot of character appearances were cancelled, but we still hit the Treat Trails and got lots of candy and went on the indoor rides.
My sister and brother-in-law went as a gender-swapped Belle and Gaston, which got lots of attention throughout the night.
Melody went as Tinkerbell, which made for an absolutely adorable, special character meeting!
Carter was Poe Dameron, so of course we had to go chat with Kylo Ren. He couldn’t convince Carter to switch to the dark side, though.
The Halloween parties feature exclusive entertainment, character meet-and-greets, and trick-or-treating, plus the rides are open and have much shorter lines than usual, because there is so much else to do!
One thing that’s great about the Disney Halloween parties is that you can get into the park a few hours before the party officially begins. You’ll be sharing the park with the regular ticket holders from the day, but you can make it to a couple of rides or sit down and enjoy a meal before the party begins — at which time the regular ticket holders are ushered out of the park. You’ll get a special wristband when you arrive at the park entrance that shows you have a ticket to the party.
You’ll want to look at all the party plans ahead of time so you can prioritize, because it’ll be tricky to catch absolutely everything. So you’ll have to ask yourself if you want to focus on riding rides and enjoying those short lines, getting as many treats as possible on all the Treat Trails, meeting characters who aren’t normally seen in the park, or catching the parade and shows. You’ll probably want to plan for a combination of all of the above.
Disney Halloween 2023 FAQs
At Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is held on select nights from August 11 through November 1, 2023.
At Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland Resort, Oogie Boogie Bash is held on select nights in September and October 2023.
Disney parks usually begin displaying Halloween and fall decorations in mid-August.
Tickets for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party run from $109-$199, depending on the date you choose. With the exception of the first party, the prices go up the closer you get to Halloween.
Tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash run from $134-$189.
Yes! As the title states, this party is lots of fun and not so scary. If your young ones are very sensitive, you might choose to skip the live entertainment and focus on the Treat Trails and friendly character encounters. But you won’t find any jump scares or overly creepy experiences at Disney!
You’ll almost always battle crowds when you visit any of the Disney Parks, but the holiday parties can be less crowded. The regular parkgoers have to leave before the party begins, and there is so much to do throughout the park that people are pretty spread out. If you love the rides, you can enjoy some of the shortest lines during the parties!
You’ll experience the biggest crowds the closer you get to October 31. September is usually a quieter month at the Parks, so you’ll see smaller crowds if you attend one of the Halloween parties in September.
Magic Kingdom Park in Florida and Disney California Adventure Park in California are the two parks that host the Halloween parties and have the most Halloween activities going on, so those are the ones we recommend visiting at Halloween time!
You’ll get lighter crowds in August and September, but you might feel a little more in the spirit in October. I suggest choosing one of the earliest October parties for the best combination!
