Credit: DisneyDisney has officially delayed the start date of Halloween at one of its theme park resorts.
The holidays may have earned the reputation for being “the most wonderful time of the year,” but every theme park fan knows that Halloween is when the magic really comes to life.
Related: Report – Haunted Mansion Secretly Being Changed To Avoid Offending Disney Park Guests
Disney’s theme parks are no exception. For years, its parks worldwide have gone all out for spooky season. Being the largest of Disney’s resorts, it should come as no surprise that Walt Disney World Resort has the biggest celebration. On select nights from mid-August through early November, its OG park, Magic Kingdom Park, hosts Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
The family-friendly ticket event sees the park adorned with pumpkins and packed with Halloween fun, such as Mickey’s Boo-to-You Halloween Parade, Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular Show, and Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular fireworks display above Cinderella Castle. Guests can also enjoy trick-or-treating throughout the park, meet-and-greets with rare Disney characters—some of whom come dressed in their Halloween best—and attractions with much shorter wait times.
On the West Coast, Disneyland Resort hosts its own ticketed Halloween event. Oogie Boogie Bash – named for the iconic villain from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – is an after-hours party held at Disney California Adventure Park, for which it can be incredibly tough to secure tickets (this year’s dates sold out in 11 days, while 2023 saw the Disneyland website go into a fully-fledged meltdown over ticket demand).
If you do manage to secure an Oogie Boogie Bash ticket, the event offers the Frightfully Fun Parade and the Villains Grove, a walk-through experience that brings a wide array of Disney villains (some of which are actually legitimately terrifying) to life. Also, like Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, it also provides one of the few opportunities to visit a Disney theme park in a costume (something that’s banned for most of the year).
Related: Mickey Mouse Officially Removed From Disney World
In the past, Disneyland Paris has also offered its own hard-ticketed Halloween party. However, in 2023, the park decided to axe the event to “offer an enhanced guest experience … including extended opening hours and special moments, rather than standalone ticketed events.” Meanwhile, Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort, and Hong Kong Disneyland also do not offer separately ticketed events.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t get into the Halloween spirit. Each Disney park also incorporates Halloween decorations, merchandise, food offerings, and entertainment. This year, however, one park has pushed back its celebrations.
As a part of Disney Park Blog’s Halfway to Halloween announcement this year, Disney announced that Halloween would kick off at Hong Kong Disneyland on September 12. Now, as per @hk_emporium, this start date has been slightly pushed back to September 13. Fortunately, the event is still running for the same amount of time. The celebrations are currently set to wrap up on October 31, with Christmas set to begin in early November.
While Hong Kong Disneyland is yet to reveal all the specifics of its Halloween event for 2024, it has confirmed that it will bring back House of De Vil-lains, the “Let’s Get Wicked” show, and its unique Nightmare Before Dinner experience.
The park previously confirmed plans to temporarily close its Festival of the Lion King show to make way for its Halloween experiences – specifically, for “Let’s Get Wicked,” which sees classic villains such as Ursula, Dr. Facilier, Maleficent, Mother Gothel, and Gaston take to the stage.
What are your Disney Parks Halloween plans for 2024?