If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw that I recently attended California Adventure’s new version of the Halloween party: Oogie Boogie Bash!
Oogie Boogie is throwing quite the party, with special entertainment, event-exclusive merchandise, trick-or-treating, and all the Halloween food & drinks you can possibly eat in one night. Cars Land, Grizzly Peak, and Buena Vista Street in particular pull out all the stops with decor.
This year, my friends and I dressed up as some of Disney’s unsung heroes, the non-princesses of the 90s!
Esmeralda did a little dancing in Paradise Gardens Park. (I don’t know if this was just our party, but the “official” dance party was totally dead. Literally no one on the dance floor. Big bummer.)
And of course, Meg had to spend some time reflecting by a fountain. Nope, she still won’t say she’s in love.
I donned Jane’s yellow dress, bringing along a little monkey for the ride.
In between rides and trick-or-treating, Oogie Boogie Bash also includes special entertainment. World of Color‘s special Halloween show features all of your favorite villains, on a mission to showcase the power of evil.
The parade is also special for Halloween. The Headless Horseman leads the way, followed by all kinds of spooky floats. My favorite is the Haunted Mansion float, but I also loved the Shadow Man’s (pictured below).
Last but not least, I wanted to take a moment to talk about dressing up for the party. I’ve received a lot of DMs from people who like the idea of dressing up, but either chickened out or don’t know what to dress up as. So two things here:
- If you’re nervous to wear a costume, I totally get it. It does feel super weird to walk around Harbor Boulevard or Downtown Disney as a grownup in a costume. But people at the party are super supportive and encouraging, especially cast members. After a while, you won’t feel self-conscious at all. In fact, dressing up is my favorite part of the party! It’s really fun to play pretend for a night.
- There are obviously plenty of choices of characters to dress up as, and you don’t even have to stick to Disney if you don’t want to. My advice is to think through characters you really like, and just look at side-by-side pictures of their outfits. Some are super easy to put together, often with cheap shirts, skirts, corsets, etc. you can find on Amazon. And if you like sewing or are up for a challenge, I’d always advise you to go for less popular characters. I can’t tell you how many cast members stopped me to say I was the only Jane they’d seen all year. It’s extra special when you can be unique!
