Three Disneyland After Dark Events Confirmed for 2025

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Recently, Disney updated the ‘After Dark’ page of their website and quietly confirmed the return of three after dark themes returning in 2025. They are Sweetheart’s Nite, Star Wars Nite and Pride Nite. All three ran multiple dates in 2024, however, there’s one notable absence from the list - Disney Channel Nite.

While not outright confirmed by Disney, it does appear as though Disney Channel Nite failed to make the cut for 2025. It’s no surprise, really. The event only ran for two dates in 2024 and both took an abnormally long time to sell out. While my wife and I had a great time during our experience at the event, it’s no surprise Disney decided against a repeat, as that’s usually an indication of a lack of interest on the guest’s part.

Looping back to the three that did make the cut, the only confirmation was that they were returning. There wasn’t any information as to dates, price, and activities released. However, there is plenty of historical data to look back on to summarize. But first…

What are After Dark Events?

If you’ve never heard of Disneyland After Dark events, they’re after-hours, hard-ticketed events held during the first half of the year at Disneyland. By ‘hard-ticketed’, I mean they’re not included with your regular park ticket and you’ll need to purchase an event-specific ticket in order to attend.

On event nights, Disneyland park will close early to regular park guests, usually at 9pm. Guests with an event ticket are allowed entry into the park three hours prior to start time and are given a wristband. If a guest doesn’t have one, they’ll be asked to leave once the park closes.

Aside from Oogie Boogie Bash, which isn’t generally considered part of the after dark line up, the events run for four hours, from 9pm to 1am. During the party, guests are treated to special photo opportunities, rare character appearances, dance parties, parades, specialty food and drink options, event merchandise, and more.

Now, let’s take a look at Disneyland’s 2025 after dark line up and what they entail.

Sweethearts Nite

First, we’ll discuss Sweethearts Nite, as this will be the first after dark event held in 2025. Sweethearts Nite takes place on select nights in late January and February, with the final event usually taking place on or shortly after Valentine’s Day.

In 2024, tickets for Sweethearts Nite started at $139 and topped out at $169, with dates closer to and on Valentine’s Day commanding the higher end of the pricing spectrum. During the event, the main attraction were rare character appearances and meet and greets, including Indiana Jones and Marion.

Sweethearts Nite has been a mainstay since Disney started running after dark events in 2019 and has gotten more and more popular every year. Tickets sell out quickly and typically go on sale in November. I expect expanded dates this year, still throughout the months of January and February, though.

Star Wars Nite

Star Wars Nite has been another popular addition to the after dark line up over the years. Year after year, it’s usually the event with the most dates and they often coincide with “Season of the Force”, a separate event that takes place during the day in Tomorrowland and Galaxy’s Edge.

In 2024, Disney ran multiple event nights, more than prior years, throughout the months of April and May. Like Sweethearts Nite, tickets topped out at $169, however, started much higher at $159. And unlike prior years, it look an exceptionally long time to sell out.

You could argue that was because prices were higher and there were more dates, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Those aspects certainly played a part, but I feel it had more to do with the lack of any substantial changes made to the event and guests (locals, namely) grew tired of it.

The event did eventually sell out, making its return in 2025 an all-but-certain reality, which has now proven to be accurate. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney ran fewer nights next year. Look for tickets to Star Wars Nite to go on sale in February 2025.

Pride Nite

Returning for its third year, Pride Nite has been quite successful for Disney, offering the LGBTQ+ community and their allies their own night of celebration. Historically speaking, there aren’t many dates offered for this event, with only two in 2023 and 2024, respectively. However, based on its past success, I expect that to change in 2025.

At past events, Pride Nite featured rare character appearances, photo opportunities, specialty menu items, a pride parade (cavalcade style) down Main Street U.S.A, a Ohana dance party featuring Lilo and Stitch, line dancing at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, and more.

June is pride month, and Disney will likely continue to hold Pride Nites in that month. Following the usual two month in advance sales pattern, expect tickets for Pride Nite 2025 to go on sale in April.

Will There Be a Fourth After Dark Event?

The presumed exclusion of Disney Channel Nite leaves an open slot for a fourth after dark event, which begs the question as to what it’ll be, assuming Disney even wants to do one. It seems as though Disney is desperately trying to create an event that appeals to nostalgic millennials, with Throwback Nite in 2023 and Disney Channel Nite in 2024, and just haven’t been able to nail it down, so-to-speak.

With March being the spiritual halfway point to Disneyland’s Halloween season, they could take another crack at a Villains Nite, like they did in 2022, to piggyback on the ever growing success of Oogie Boogie Bash. Disney likes to make a big deal out of the “Halfway to Halloween” celebration, so running Villains Nite events during that period could be a great way to drum up additional hype.

While I don’t necessarily believe this to be the case, as millennials have been cash-cows for Disney in recent years, there’s the argument that Disney could be moving away from nostalgia-related events and towards something recent. What that would be, exactly, remains a mystery.

As stated above, though, I don’t think that’s the case. Nostalgia is big business across multiple industries. But none, in my opinion, know how to capitalize and deliver on it better than Disney. They just need to iron out the theme and its marketing, and tickets will undoubtedly sell fast.

Of course, considering 2025 is Disneyland’s 70th anniversary, which will undoubtedly be a year-long celebration at the park, it’s possible Disney is simply applying the nostalgia elements (and budget) to that rather than holding a singular event, and then launch another Disney Channel or Throwback-style event in 2026.

Either way, we won’t know for sure what Disney is doing until they themselves make the announcement. However, I don’t see a reason why they wouldn’t announce the return of Disney Channel Nite with the other three if they had any intention of holding it.

That being said, I do believe the three announced after dark events are all we’re getting, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I would rather Disney increase the amount of nostalgic-related elements of an after dark event to the park’s daily offerings during the 70th anniversary, than to have to pay additional money to see it.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, learn more about Disneyland’s 2025 ticket deal to save hundreds on kids tickets. Additionally, read about my experience at one of Disneyland’s good neighbor hotels. Also, see my ten best tips for purchasing Disneyland tickets. Lastly, for great deals on Disneyland vacation packages and tickets, get a quote from the folks at Get Away Today, the most knowledgeable and experienced Disney vacation planners.

Disneyland Magic Key: Pricing, Details, Benefits and More

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Originally launched in late 2021, just months after Disneyland reopened to guests from the 2020 covid-19 closure, Magic Keys program are Disneyland’s exclusive annual pass program. It differs from its predecessor, know then as simply Annual Passes, or AP, not only in name, but in price-point, benefits (or lack thereof) and availability.

Prior to 2020, one could purchase an annual pass through Disneyland’s website or at the ticket booths at any point as there were no limitations placed on inventory. With the Magic Key (MK) program, however, you can only purchase one when Disney releases them for sale. Disney says this is done to limit the amount of MK holders, since locals tend to make up the majority of daily park attendance and often cause crowds to swell, causing a major “inconvenience” to out-of-area visitors.

Consequently, this lack of constant availability has caused a huge amount of pent-up demand for magic keys, often resulting in hours-long virtual queues for eager key holder hopefuls. I say “hopefuls” because there have been sales when by the time some have gotten through the virtual queue, the key they wanted, or all keys in general, were sold out.

The last magic key sale occurred in March 2024 and, surprisingly, lasted through June when all sales were finally paused. Recently, Disney announced magic keys would once again go on sale on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at no sooner than 9am. In this post, I’ll discuss the recent price increase, the four individual tiers, the benefits of each, and more. Let’s get into it.

Disneyland Magic Key Tiers, Price and Benefits (2024/2025)

Much like the original iteration of the program, there are four tiers of magic keys to choose from. Each has its own price, benefits and amount of blockout dates. Thanks to a class-action lawsuit in 2022, all Disneyland magic keys now come with blockout dates.

As far as benefits are concerned, all four have the same general benefits, though with varying levels. For example, you get a better discount on dining and merchandise with one key over another, but all keys do offer a discount.

Additionally, only the top tier key, the Inspire, includes parking without further charge. The remaining three keys offer discounts on parking, and only at certain parking lots, depending on the key you choose. Let’s take a look at the tiers and what they offer:

Inspire Key Price: $1749 (or $121.67 per month)

This is the Rolls-Royce of the Disneyland Magic Key program. If you visit the parks a lot and want the best benefits available with the lowest amount of blockout dates, this is the pass for you. Currently, the only blockout dates with this pass are the two weeks around Christmas and New Years. Every other day is fair game, provided there is reservation availability. Inspire Key benefits include:

• Reservation-based entry on the majority of dates throughout the year

• Hold up to 6 park reservations at a time

• 25% off of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass

• Unlimited PhotoPass photo digital downloads

• Up to 20% off merchandise

• Up to 15% off dining

• Free standard parking at Mickey & Friends, Pixar Pals, and Toy Story

• Park hopping included (after 11am)

Based on tier 0 days, which are days when Disneyland charges the least amount of money for an adult, one-day park hopper ticket, the break even point for this tier is eleven visits. If you’re a local, you visit the parks more than most, typically park your own vehicle, and often indulge in Disneyland’s restaurants and gift shops, this key is a bargain despite the high price-point.

Believe Key Price: $1374 (or $88.34 per month)

If the price of the Inspire Key gives you sticker shock, you can save by going with the Dream Key, though you’ll go down a peg or two with the benefits a bit and will have to deal with additional blockout dates. Despite the blockout dates, you’ll still have access to the majority of the year as it’s mostly during the two weeks around Christmas and New Years, spring break week, and a few random weekends.

• Reservation-based entry on most dates throughout the year

• Hold up to 6 park reservations at a time

• 25% off Lightning Lane Multi-Pass

• Unlimited PhotoPass photo digital downloads

• Up to 10% off merchandise

• Up to 10% off dining

• 50% off standard parking at Mickey & Friends, Pixar Pals, and Toy Story

• Park hopping included (after 11am)

The Believe Key’s break even point is nine visits, again, based on the price of a tier 0 adult, one day ticket with park hopper option included. This is another great option for locals who visit often, but perhaps best for those who typically take an Uber to parks, as you’ll be charged half the rate for parking. Though, with Uber’s pricing increasing in recent years, it may be more cost-effective to just pay the half rate to park yourself.

Enchant Key Price: $974 (or $55 per month)

If you’re not a SoCal resident, this is the lowest you can go and is the most affordable option. Its price may be great, but you’ll receive less benefits and have significantly more blockout dates. Blockout dates for this key include nearly all holidays and the days surrounding them, spring break week, most weekends, and the entirety of summer.

• Reservation-based entry on select dates throughout the year

• Hold up to 4 park reservations at a time

• 25% off Lightning Lane Multi-Pass

• Up to 10% off merchandise

• Up to 10% off dining

• 25% off standard parking at the Toy Story lot ONLY

• Park hopping included

This pass comes with a break even point of just six visits, making it an ideal key for those who live close enough to Disneyland to visit often, but not close enough to be considered a local who visits weekly, or even monthly. If there are weeks or months between your visits, the limit of four reservations at a time wouldn’t hinder you much as you’d go through them rather quickly and typically, reservations are much easier to come by these days.

Imagine Key Price: $599 (or $24.84 per month)

This key is only available to SoCal residents living in zip codes 90000 - 93599. Due to it being the lowest priced key for the four, it also comes with the least amount of benefits and the greatest amount of blockout dates.

• Reservation-based entry on select days throughout the year

• Hold up to 2 park reservations at a time

• 25% off Lightning Lane Multi-Pass

• Up to 10% off merchandise

• Up to 10% off dining

• 25% off standard parking at Toy Story ONLY

• Park hopping included

This key pays for itself in just four visits, but comes with a tremendous amount of blockout dates and you’re limited to just two reservations at a time. Really take the time to research the blockout calendar below and find out if it’s worth upgrading to the Enchant Key instead. It may have a great entry price, but it’s limited in just about everything else.

To see the full blockout date calendar for all four Magic Keys, go here.

As you can see, along with the increase in price, there are quite a few benefits attached to these keys than there were in prior years. At one point during its run as the AP program, Disney offered the option to upgrade your pass by paying a separate annual charge for MaxPass (the digital version of FastPass and what is now Lighting Lane).

Instead of offering the same for Lightning Lane, Disney opted to offer the benefit of a per-purchase discount on the service for all Magic Keys. While it’s certainly better than nothing, this is clearly an attempt by Disney to increase daily sales of Lightning Lane and to no overwhelm the attractions any more than they already are.

One added benefit I particularly like is the inclusion of unlimited PhotoPass digital downlaods (be sure to check out our article on this service) for Inspire and Believe Key holders. In my opinion, this one benefit alone increases the value of magic keys.

Magic Key Reservations & No-Show Policy

As you can see above, each Magic Key includes a certain amount of reservations you’re permitted to hold at any given time. The Enchant Key, for example, permits four reservations to be held at a time and the Inspire and Believe Keys include up to six.

These reservations are available on a rolling period. Meaning, if you’re an Enchant Key holder and you’ve used all four of your reservations for an upcoming trip, you won’t be able to make another reservation until you’ve either checked into the park or canceled one.

Speaking of canceling, if you’re sure you’re not going to be able to make it on the day of your reservation, be sure to follow the no-show policy or you’ll be suspended from making additional reservations for 30-days.

Here’s what you need to know about the Magic Key no-show policy:

• Any key holder who no-shows on three reservations in a 90-day window will be suspended from making additional reservations for 30-days

• This suspension will continue even if the current key is upgraded or renewed during the suspension

• A cancellation must take place by 11:59pm the day before the reserved date

• As long as you’re scanned into the park prior to closing on the reserved date, it will not count as a no-show

In short, do everything you can to avoid racking up no-shows. If you’re suspended and you’re on the payment plan, you’ll still be charged for that month and Disney will not extend you another month on your term.

Park Hopping Privileges

Another added benefit to Magic Keys is being able to park hop without any added cost. The way you park hop is the same as a regular park ticket holder:

• From opening to 10:59am, you must start your day at the park in which you made a reservation for

• After 11am, you will then be able to hop over to the other park

• If you arrive on property after 11am, you will be able to enter either park no matter which one you made a reservation for

Let’s say you wanted to make a reservation for Disneyland Park but the only available reservations for that day are at Disney California Adventure (DCA). You can use the above rule to “hack” your way in, so-to-speak. You’ll go ahead with making the reservation for DCA, arrive on property at or shortly after 11am, and simply head over to Disneyland Park. Or simply begin your day at DCA and hop over to Disneyland after 11am.

Disneyland Magic Key Important Reminders

• At this time, Magic Keys are renewals only. New sales of Magic Keys are suspended more than they’re not, as Disney only releases them for sale once they’ve reached a certain threshold of non-renewals or when they predict a slump in attendance. The next round of Magic Key sales in November 6, 2024.

• Park admission isn’t guaranteed. This isn’t the days of old anymore. For the foreseeable future, you’re at the mercy of the reservation system. Thankfully, it has become MUCH easier to snag reservations, even at the last minute.

• Payment plans are still a thing and are still for Californian residents only. If you live outside the state, you will not be able to finance a Magic Key through Disney’s payment plan. If you do reside in the state, you’re still able to make payments.

• Blockout dates are now in included in EVERY key. Even the highest tiered key now includes blockout dates.

• Imagine Keys are for SoCal residents only. Unless you’re account is registered with a Southern Californian zip code, the Imagine Key won’t even be presented to you as an option. They Enchant Key will be the lowest you could go.

• Special events are NOT included. You cannot use your Magic Key to get into events such as Oogie Boogie Bash, Disney Merriest Nights and Disneyland After Dark. Nor will you receive discounts on those tickets. You will, however, often get a jump on purchasing those tickets ahead of the general public.

Lightning Lane Premiere Pass: Disneyland’s New $400 Skip-the-Line Service

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Recently, Disney confirmed that a long-rumored addition to the Lightning Lane line up of services, Lightning Lane Premiere Pass, would be coming to the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. While this service is being offered at both coasts, this post will focus on Disneyland’s version.

If you don’t know what Lightning Lane is, it’s the latest iteration of Disney’s beloved FastPass service and until recently was known as “Genie Plus”. The name “Lightning Lane” was a byname for the physical queues at the individual attractions, while the service itself was called Genie Plus. This often confused guests, so the service went through a much-needed refresh in order to simplify it.

Prior to Genie Plus (and the covid-related closures) we had the paper FastPass tickets, which were free, in addition to the digital, app-based version of the program, MaxPass, which used to cost $15-$20 per person, per day. When Disneyland reopened in 2021, then Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, rolled out the loathed Genie Plus (which was nearly identical to MaxPass) and discontinued the free paper version of FastPass.

Then, as already stated, Genie Plus was done away with. Now, we have Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP), which is the standard service with multiple attractions included, and Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP), which grants you one-time access to two premium attractions, Star Wars - Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers, at a separate cost per attraction.

One caveat to this service is you can only use it on each attraction one time. Additionally, you can hold only one LLMP selection at a time and cannot select another until you’ve used your current LLMP selection or until two hours have passed, whichever comes first. For example, if it’s 11:00am and you select Space Mountain with a return time of 2:05pm, you cannot make another selection until 1:00pm or until you’ve redeemed it at 2:05pm.

A few months ago, eagle-eyed fans noticed a small update in the Disneyland app which seemed to indicate that another tier was coming to the Lightning Lane line up and recently, that rumor proved to be true with the announcement of Lightning Lane Premiere Pass. Suffice it to say, Disney fans are up in arms over it. Particularly because of its price.

Lightning Lane Premiere Pass Details and Cost

Lightning Lane Premiere Pass (LLPP), debuting at Disneyland on October 23, will cost upwards of $400 per ticket, per day. Though during the initial roll-out, the service will cost a flat $400 for the remainder of 2024 and starting January 2025, will vary between $300 - $400, dependent on demand. That means that at its highest price, LLPP will cost park-goers a staggering 12.5 times more than the standard LLMP service.

While similar in nature, there are a few differences between LLPP and LLMP, such as:

• You can use it whenever you want (you’re not restricted to the two-hour rule)

• You won’t need to constantly look at your phone

• It’ll be sold in limited quantities daily

• Access includes the premium attractions not included with LLMP

Despite the high cost, you can still only use it at each attraction one time. The stand out difference is you’re not held to a quantity or time restriction. In theory, you could go from one attraction to the next in quick succession without worrying about return times.

LLPP will be available to guests to purchase up to two days prior to your visit through the Disneyland app or website. There will be limited quantities available, especially during the roll out. If this is something you’ll be interested in, be sure you’ve already purchased your ticket and have a reservation tied to it.

Unlike LLMP, you won’t be able to purchase LLPP at the time you purchase your ticket unless your ticket/reservation is within the two day timeframe and there’s available inventory. Day-of purchasing is also possible, again, provided there’s inventory available.

Another similarity of LLPP to LLMP is it’s good for Lightning Lane eligible attractions at both Disney California Adventure and Disneyland proper. However, it does not give you park hopping privileges. You will need to add the park hopper option to your tickets to access both parks, which will set you back another $65 - $75 per. Let’s take a look at a worst case scenario price for a one-day visit:

• Adult One Day Ticket on a Saturday in December: $206

• Park Hopper option: $75

• Lightning Lane Premiere Pass: $400

• Total = $681

That’s a tough pill to swallow, especially considering that’s just one adult. Families would get a small break, especially if you take advantage of the kids’ ticket deal for 2025. However, even for kids, the park hopper option and LLPP pricing doesn’t change. Your only break will be with the tickets.

Considering the average family size of those vacationing at Disneyland is four, that family would be looking at thousands for a one day visit. Tack on another two or three days and that number rises substantially. Though, I don’t feel purchasing LLPP would be necessary (or cost effective, for that matter) for a multi-day visit, but we’ll discuss that in further detail below.

There has been much criticism and flat-out angry comments on social media about this new offering from Disney. Most of those comments declaring how Disney is pricing families out and catering only to the rich. While I can sympathize, I don’t see that as the case here. Honestly, I think Disney is playing the long-game with this decision, and it has nothing to do with pricing families out.

Why Disney Lightning Lane Premiere Pass

Turning to commentary, I feel it’s important to discuss what I believe LLPP’s intended purpose is. Disney is the originator of this system, a system most theme parks today utilize in one form or another. For years, guests of Disney parks enjoyed this perk free of charge, while others charged for it.

Corporations aren’t too keen on leaving money on the table, which is why it came to no surprise to me when Disneyland first introduced MaxPass, the paid, digital version of FastPass. Since the free paper version was still being offered at the time, most didn’t mind the paid upgrade.

Like many, I knew this was just the beginning, as I predicted (mostly to myself) that Disney would eventually move to rid itself of the “free” version of FastPass and monetize it completely. They just needed an excuse, and that excuse would come in the form of a 13-month closure brought on by a global pandemic.

Disney would reopen from this closure in May 2021, but with no physical character interactions, no park hopping, reservation and face mask requirements, and most germane to this post, no FastPass or MaxPass. That’s right, only traditional stand-by queues were offered and that, coupled with low attendance, made attraction hopping a breeze.

Despite not being offered at the time, FastPass distribution kiosks and signage remained, leaving Disney fans hopeful for its (presumed) return. That return would never come, however, as then-new Disney CEO, Bob Capek, announced the impending debut of Genie Plus and the accompanying Lightning Lanes, which became the total replacement for FastPass and MaxPass.

As it pertained to FastPass, the covid-closure was a bit of a blessing for Disney. They didn’t need to spend time phasing it out and they purposely made it unavailable to guests when they reopened, which I believe was mostly a way to manufacture demand for a product guests would pay for, much like what they do with Magic Key sales.

So what does all of this have to do with Lightning Lane Premiere Pass? In my opinion, it’s the beginning of another phase-out, but this time with the intention of phasing out the low price-point of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass.

If you’ve been to the parks at all in the last few years, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the often slow-moving traditional stand-by queues. Sure, pent-up demand has played a role, but so has LLMP, which is priced insanely low compared to other theme parks offering a similar service.

Disneyland is an expensive place to visit, with many taking on debt and/or saving for years in order to treat their families to a magical vacation. For many, Disneyland is a once every few years, or once-in-a-lifetime trip. If they’re already willing to spend hundreds, or even thousands, just to walk through the gate, then they’re certainly willing to spend another $32 per person for a service that’ll help them maximize the limited time they have.

For a lot of folks visiting Disneyland, coming up with that amount, even for a family of five, isn’t much of an issue. At minimum, they’ll find a way, and this has led to Lightning Lane queues becoming over-saturated and causing the traditional stand-by queues to get longer than they need to be. It’s gotten so bad that on some days when you use LLMP, it’s almost like paying extra just to wait in another line.

How to do you fix that? The obvious answer would be to charge more and while I believe many would still pay it, you would eventually hit the mark where casual guests and Magic Key holders, who make up a large chunk of the daily attendance, would balk and not pay it.

So with less people purchasing LLMP, that would certainly solve the over-saturation issue, however, it would create a new problem - a decline in profits. The Disney bean counters would never allow it, so what does Disney do? Simple, you charge less people more money and target the right guest. Enter, Lightning Lane Premiere Pass.

At $300 - $400, LLPP is a premium product. It does virtually the same thing, only it allows for more freedom throughout your day since you wouldn’t need to concern yourself with return times, cool down periods, or being on your phone all day. These perks allow for greater flexibility and may allow you to hit every major attraction in one day.

That’s a massive selling point for those short on time. You see, it isn’t necessarily the “rich” that Disney’s targeting here, it’s those who are short on time. The ones that only have a day, maybe two to spend in the parks and are looking to maximize their time. Sure, that price-point does put LLPP out of reach for many, but there are just as many who would make it work despite their financial situation.

Back to my statement above about Disney charging more for LLMP and guests balking at it - I believe that would be the case if there wasn’t a competing, higher-priced service to make the now higher priced LLMP seem like a value by comparison. That’s what I believe the ultimate goal of LLPP is.

It’s isn’t so Disney can eliminate LLMP altogether, but raise the price, perhaps to around the $100 mark, so they can increase profits, while selling the service to less people and thus reducing the amount of congestion in the Lightning Lanes. Those who paid for LLMP and LLPP would get on the attraction quickly, as promised, and guests in the stand-by queue wouldn’t be faced with longer than necessary wait times.

Is LLPP a service I would purchase? As a Magic Key holder, probably not. I go often enough to where I have no need to ride every attraction in one trip. If I don’t get to ride a specific attraction, I’ll just prioritize it on the next visit. However, not everyone has that luxury as it may be their one and only visit. It’s those who LLPP would be most beneficial for.

As such, I wouldn’t expect Magic Key holders to receive any kind of discount on LLPP. There’s a possibility that Disney Vacation Club (DVC) owners could receive a discount, as there’s been a recent push by Disney to provide them with more in-park perks, but that’s just speculation on my part.

So, no, Disney isn’t pricing anyone out by offering this service. Lightning Lane Premiere Pass’s existence isn’t going to affect your park experience much (or at all). You’ll still pay the same as anyone else to get in and you’ll still have access to the same attractions via stand-by or LLMP/LLSP. This is simply another way for Disney to increase profits from those willing to pay it and (what I believe) to ultimately solve the current dilemma created by the Lightning Lane program.

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My Honest Review of Hotel Indigo: A Hotel Near Disneyland

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

My wife and I recently stayed at Hotel Indigo for our Halloween season visit to the Disneyland Resort. I’ve known about this property for a while, but never pulled the trigger on booking it until this trip and I want to share my experience with you.

I’ve stayed in many of the hotels surrounding Disneyland, including a couple of the Disney owned properties, and can say that Hotel Indigo was one of the better experiences I’ve had. The point of this post isn’t to convince you to book here, nor has this property given me any kind of incentive to write this.

The point is to simply provide you with the facts of my stay, images and descriptions of the room, amenities, etc, to help you decide if Hotel Indigo Anaheim is the right hotel for your upcoming Disneyland vacation. If you do decide to book here, you can support this blog by booking through Get Away Today, a reputable agency I’ve partnered with, as they’re simply the best Disney vacation planners out there (psst - use code INKED10 to save $10).

Hotel Indigo Location, Parking, Rates and Proximity to Disneyland

Hotel Indigo Anaheim is located on Katella Avenue in the Anaheim Resort District, in between the Harbor BLVD and South Clementine Street intersections, but closer to the former. One of its biggest selling points is its proximity to both Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center, making it ideal for park goers and business travelers alike.

It’s closest to the Anaheim GardenWalk, but also within walking distance to Disneyland. Dependent on your pace and timing at the two intersections you’ll need to cross, Hotel Indigo is a 10-15 minute walk to security check at the esplanade. To the convention center, you’re looking at a meager 5 - 10 minute walk.

Much like the interior, the hotel’s exterior gives a hip and trendy vibe, whilst avoiding being too trendy as to scare away families. The palm tree-lined Katella Avenue gives you the feeling of being in a true resort environment, while city employees work diligently to keep the area clean and safe.

I walked around the area extensively, both during the day and at night, not once did anybody bother me (even with lugging around a beast of a camera) and I never felt uneasy. I’m not suggesting that you let your guard down, I’m just saying it felt like a safe area, with the traffic being the only potential hazard.

Down the street, closer to the Harbor intersection and on the other side of neighboring Wyndham, is a fantastic pizza joint that seemingly never closes. You can buy a decently sized slice at a reasonable $4 bucks, making it a comparatively cheap meal outside of the Disney bubble.

Parking is hassle free at Hotel Indigo Anaheim, with complimentary parking in their on-site garage on the basement level. I love that they offer guests free parking, as that perk is becoming increasingly rare for hotels within walking distance to Disneyland.

As far as nightly rates are concerned, I paid $187 per night, which was the IHG rewards member rate. If I wasn’t a member, the rate would’ve been around $197. While not a great discount, it’s certainly better than nothing. Since the holidays are the busiest time of year at Disneyland, you can expect to pay similar rates. Looking at November and December, I’m seeing rates around $180 to $190 for the same room.

For some baffling reason, their rates tend to be even higher during Disneyland’s off-season (if there’s even such a thing anymore). Rates from January through late April hover between $230 and $250, with rates for select dates in March breaking the $300 mark. Clearly, this isn’t a value hotel but considering the free parking, free Wifi, and no resort fees, those rates are a tad easier to swallow.

Hotel Indigo Anaheim Amenities and Lobby Area

Hotel Indigo is considered a Disney “Good Neighbor” hotel. Meaning they’ve passed certain criteria to be included as a hotel you could book as part of your Disneyland vacation package. Additionally, it’s listed with the highly reputable Get Away Today travel agency as well.

The lobby is fairly small, but they make good use out of the space. To the right of the front desk is a small seating area for guests to use, as well as their on-site restaurant, Chambers Bar & Bistro, located to the left (which we’ll discuss further into this post).

To the left of Chambers is a small area where various drink and snack items can be purchased. Additionally, on the counter next to that is a microwave for guests to use. There are no microwaves in the rooms, so this is a nice and welcomed perk, though I would’ve preferred an in-room.

Above Chambers Bistro on the second floor (only accessible with room key) is a small, chic lounge. When I say small, I mean it. It’s only big enough for about a half a dozen people or so. On the plus side, there doesn’t appear to be much competition for it, as I only saw one other guest using it throughout my four day stay.

The pool left much to be desired, to be honest. It screamed afterthought to me, as it appears there was minimal effort put into it. That isn’t exactly surprising to me, as that’s par-for-the-course with most hotels by Disneyland, with very few of them going the extra mile. It’s distinctively utilitarian, it serves its purpose, but I was hoping for more from this property.

There are a handful of lounging chairs scattered around the edges of the pool, with a lounge-style couch on the south end and another lounge-style couch under a canopy on the north end. Near the canopy is the hot tub where maybe four or five adults could fit in, comfortably.

As far as work spaces go, there was one at the end of hallway behind the front desk, but I didn’t use it as there wasn’t much in the way of privacy. I did utilize the outdoor space in between the pool and bistro, which had a plethora of seating options and provided a bit more privacy.

The fitness center is a small space, with a couple of treadmills, one elliptical, one bike, and a handful of weights making up the available equipment. There’s a nice view of the pool through the floor to ceiling window, but all of the cardio equipment is facing a wall with no TVs. Next to the fitness center is the laundry room that’s available for guest use.

Hotel Indigo Anaheim King Room

Now we’re getting to the ‘meat-and-potatoes’ part of the review - the room. Since it was just the two of us (and our dog), I booked the standard King room. The room was a cushy 310-square feet with one bed, hard-wood flooring (possibly faux), a chair, TV, Keurig coffee maker, mini refrigerator, walk-in shower, vessel-style sink, hair dryer, small work space, area rug, and premium toiletries by Zenology.

Our room was impeccably clean, well appointed, and had an amazingly comfortable mattress and pillows. Storage space was decent, as we had a closet near the bathroom to hang our clothing and stash away our luggage. Also, there was a safe inside the closet, which I appreciated. There was additional storage in the ottoman and drawers in the TV stand.

The mini refrigerator was roomy enough for us. We brought protein drinks, a few PRIMES, a couple energy drinks, and drinkable yogurts and still had more room to play with had we needed it. This was for just two people, though. For a family of four or five, you may have to get creative with the space.

There’s also a fully stocked Keurig set up, complete with a variety of coffees and teas, just above the mini-fridge. I can’t tell you if the provided coffee’s good or bad, as I’m always weary of using in-room coffee machines, even in the nicest hotels. You just never know what the previous occupants may have done with it.

The bathroom, at least in the king room, is the part of the room that makes Hotel Indigo stand out from most, as many hotels in the area tend to phone it in as it pertains to bathrooms. I feel Hotel Indigo did a great job, especially considering the space constraints.

The vessel-style sink is a nice touch, as is the in-mirror lighting. The big winner is the walk-in shower, as walk-ins are my preference. Though I do acknowledge that it may be a deal breaker for families who prefer a bathtub. Fret not, there are dozens of other hotels within walking distance to Disneyland that offer bathtubs.

Jumping back into the sleeping area, the bed comes with pillows of varying firmness. On the opening side of the pillow sheet there is wording indicting which is which. That was a nice touch as at other hotels in Anaheim, I’ve had to deal with what I call “flat” pillows that offer me no support.

Excitingly, the mattress was the real winner. It allowed me to sink into it just enough, while having the right amount of firmness without me feeling like I was sleeping on the floor. It made for a great sleeping experience after schlepping myself through the parks all day.

Honestly, my only gripe with the room was the severe lack of USB ports. For a modern hotel, especially one close to a convention center, the room should be crawling with them. The only ports was the one on the Apple Home device and one on the desk lamp. That was it.

Hotel Indigo Anaheim Chambers Bistro

The hotel’s on-site restaurant, Chambers Bistro, is located in the lobby, to the left of the check-in desk. It’s open for breakfast and dinner, with varying hours depending on the day. They’re closed mid-day, as most guests are in the parks during that time. You can see the current hours listed in the photo above.

The restaurant has a strange, blue-hue in the dining area. This lighting is on whether it’s breakfast or dinner. I could understand the blue lighting during dinner, as it’s night time and it helps to set the mood. During breakfast is another thing entirely, as it should be a brighter color, such as yellow or orange. It just comes across as strange to me, but I digress.

We ate here for breakfast on our final day before hitting the road. I went with the Hearty Breakfast platter ($17). It came with two eggs, hash browns, a choice of meat (I went with bacon) and two pieces of toast. It was decent. Wasn’t great. but wasn’t bad either. My friend tried their chorizo burrito a few days prior and said it was tasty, but there was no way I was going to eat chorizo before heading out on a road trip.

You can opt to eat in the dining room, take your meal to go, or order room service. The food is decent and the service from the staff was great (as was the case with the rest of the hotel). There aren’t many affordable options for breakfast in the parks, so Chambers makes a great option to carb-up before rope-dropping Space Mountain.

Is Hotel Indigo Anaheim Pet Friendly?

This is where our stay somewhat fell apart for my wife and I, because the answer to that question is subjective. Is Hotel Indigo Anaheim pet friendly? Yes, in the sense that they do allow your pets to stay with you (with restrictions, of course), but no in the sense that there’s absolutely no designated area for them to do their business.

After we checked in and got our stuff situated, my wife took our dog to go do her thing and when she asked an employee where that area was, she was told (I’m paraphrasing) that there wasn’t a designated area and that people just take them around the “neighborhood”.

As stated at the beginning of this post, Hotel Indigo is located on the super busy Katella Avenue. That road is always experiencing heavy vehicle and foot traffic, day and night. If your dog has severe anxiety like ours does, it can make for a challenging and frustrating experience trying to get them to do their thing in that environment.

We made it work, and we still had a good stay, but if you’re going to call yourself a pet friendly hotel, having a designated space for dogs to go do their business is one of the bare essentials. Hotel Indigo was legitimately the first “pet friendly” hotel I’ve stayed in to not have this. Even Motel 6 Maingate had one! For this reason, I can’t recommend this hotel for those traveling with their pets.

Aside from that, and a couple other annoyances I discussed above, we had a great, overall experience at Hotel Indigo. I would never bring my dog here again but if we were traveling without her, I wouldn’t hesitate to book it. If you found this post helpful and are interested in this hotel (or any other hotel by Disneyland), visit Get Away Today for great deals on Disneyland vacation packages. Doing so helps this website stay afloat.

The Ultimate Oogie Boogie Bash Character Guide

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Oogie Boogie Bash is the premier Halloween event at the Disneyland resort. While many have fond memories of Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween party over at Disneyland Park, Disney decided to move the party across the esplanade to Disney California Adventure, and give it a fresh makeover with a new theme.

While there are numerous things to do at Oogie Boogie Bash, one of the main attractions of the event are the numerous, rarely seen characters that pop up. Some are face actors portraying iconic villains in treat trails while others are fully costumed, equally rarely seen characters conducting traditional meet and greets.

It can be difficult to navigate them all and figure out where they are, which ones to hit up first, what to expect in regard to wait times, and the like. In this guide, I intend to help you with those challenges. I have been to the bash numerous times and have developed a sound strategy that allows to see most, if not all, of the characters that I will share with you below.

Let’s get into it.

Oogie Boogie Bash Dates

First, you need to know the event dates. In 2024, Oogie Boogie Bash runs on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursday evenings throughout late August, September, and October. This is the first year where the Halloween season begins in August at the Disneyland Resort.

If you’re seeing this post for the first time and its past early August and you haven’t purchased tickets yet, I’m sorry to report that tickets to every Oogie Boogie Bash in 2024 have sold out. It took much longer this year for the event to be a complete sell out, as in previous years it happened in a matter of days.

Don’t allow desperation to kick in and purchase tickets from third party sellers, or through sites like StubHub or Craigslist. Disney does not allow for tickets to be resold and if it’s discovered that you obtained tickets this way (and they’ll likely know), they will deny you entry and no, they won’t care if you were duped or how much you spent.

Trust me, Oogie Boogie isn’t going anywhere. It’ll return next year. Just hold off until then and purchase your tickets directly through Disney. If you did obtain your tickets and this is your first bash, be sure to read my 12 tips to maximizing your time at the event.

Oogie Boogie Bash Traditional Meet and Greets

I’m beginning with the traditional meet and greets because far and away the most popular one at the bash are Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, and Clarabelle cosplaying as the Sanderson sisters (Hocus Pocus). They meet with guests at the far side of the Hollywood Backlot.

If you’re going to want a photo with them, heed my advice and line up prior to the start of the event. The bash begins at 6pm, but your ticket allows you into the park at 3pm. Grab an early dinner, review the event map, and then head to the backlot.

I recommend lining up at least 45-minutes prior to start time. My wife and I did just that and only waited 20-25 minutes to get the photo above. Just a minute before the event started, as new guests were entering the queue, I heard a cast member advise them that from the end of the line, it’ll be a 1.5-2 hour wait. So if you must have a photo with them, make them your first stop and line up early.

There are several other meet and greets happening around the edges of the Buena Vista Street Fountain. Pain and Panic, the sidekicks to Hercules antagonist, Hades, are making their Oogie Boogie Bash debuts and have proven to be popular. During my visit, I saw them rotating out with Prince Hans (Frozen).

On the other side of the fountain during my event was Captain Hook and his sidekick, Smee, rotating out with each other. It would’ve been cool to be able to photograph them together, but I digress. These meet and greets begin at 6pm and continue until roughly 10:30pm (a half hour before the event ends).

These were only characters at the fountain that I saw during my visit but at past events, I have also seen the following characters:

• Blue Fairy (Pinocchio)

• Mulan (Dressed as Ping)

• Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dam)

• Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood)

• Governor Ratcliffe (Pocahontas)

• The Old Hag (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Further into the park, you’ll find additional meet and greets. Bruno of Encanto fame is in his usual spot near the Grizzly River Run Water Wheel. He’s been there since 2022 but now that he’s a character you can see during regular park hours, I suggest skipping him (unless you’re a big Bruno fan).

Down the Embarcadero and past the Little Mermaid attraction in the waterfront area is where you can meet Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy in their Kingdom Hearts outfits. We decided to skip this as we’re not video game people and have little knowledge of it. The outfits did look pretty cool, though.

If you’re into Kingdom Hearts and want a photo with them, do note that their queue does get long, but it starts to taper off a bit later in the night. You’ll likely have to settle for one or the other, as they tend to rotate with each other, leaving only one character at a time posing for photos.

Along Pixar Pier are several meet and greets. One of the biggest draws in the area is Lotso (Toy Story 3). I managed to get lucky and walk by right as Lotso was coming out, so my wife and I ended up being one of the firsts in line. I have heard his queue isn’t as large as it used to be, but regardless, cast members do a great job keeping the lines moving. You can find him in front of the Toy Story Midway Mania attraction.

*Note: In case you’re wondering, yes, he does smell like strawberries when you hug him

Just across from Lotso’s meet and greet is where you can meet some not-so-rare Pixar characters. Joy and Sadness (Inside Out) often stop by, as well as the newly minted Anger character (I missed him, unfortunately). Additionally, Ember and Wade (Elemental) are making their bash debuts in this area. We got to meet them during Pixar Fest this year.

Moving onto Cars Land, multiple characters from the popular franchise make appearances throughout the night donning their Halloween costumes. Mater is dressed as a vampire, Red (fire engine) is dressed as a clown, and Lightning McQueen as a pirate.

I know for sure that Mater and McQueen appear in their costumes during regular park hours, but I believe Red only appears in his costume during the event. Mater and McQueen are usually near the Cozy Cones, while Red is typically parked in the pathway between Cars Land and Avengers Campus.

In Avengers Campus, numerous characters appear throughout the night. After we left the Agatha Harkness treat trail (we’ll get to that momentarily) we randomly ran into Spiderman just walking around. I’ve also seen Shuri as the new Black Panther, the zombie variant of Captain America, and more.

That about sums it up for traditional character meet and greets. The specific characters you can see are always subject to change. So the ones that I’m discussing in this post may or may not be there during your event. Though it’s likely you’ll see at least most of them.

Oogie Boogie Bash Villains Treat Trails

Now we’re going to discuss the villains treat trails at Oogie Boogie Bash. The treat trails differ from traditional meet and greets in the sense that the character is elevated above the crowd and aside from Oogie Boogie, they’re all face actors portraying iconic Disney villains rarely seen in the parks.

The characters will interact with you, and will even briefly stop to pose for photos or video but aside from a quick selfie, you won’t be able to take a photo with them as you could with the characters listed above. Cast members keep these lines moving quickly so despite how long some are, they go quickly.

Below, I’m going to list the villain treat trails in the order in which I recommend you hitting them up in. This is also assuming you’re going to follow the above-mentioned advice and get your picture with the Sandersons first thing.

The treat trails have candy stations positioned at multiple points throughout the queue to keep the lines moving. Additionally, you are allowed to take photos and video of the characters but if you linger for too long, a cast member will likely start to shoe you along. Remember to keep in mind that these characters stay active until the end of the night (11pm).

In the Hollywoodland/Backlot area, there are five popular character meet and greets and/or villain treat trails. When it comes to the later, there are four total, two of which are brand new additions to the event; Hades (Hercules) and Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb). The others are the event namesake himself - Oogie Boogie (Nightmare Before Christmas) and returning fan favorite, Ernesto de la Cruz (Coco).

Assuming you’ve already knocked out the Sandersons, there’s a good chance it hasn’t gotten dark enough yet. I recommend skipping Hades and Ernesto for now, as their lighting packages are amazing and unless it’s dark, you won’t get the full experience. Instead, begin with Oogie Boogie and Dr. Doofenshmirtz, since they’re both indoors and unaffected by ambient light.

Oogie Boogie is located in the Art of Animation building and Dr. Doofenshmirtz (or just…Doof) is positioned in the Disney Theatre. The queues for both get rather long, but don’t be scared of even the longest of lines as they go rather quickly. During my visit, the queue for Doof stretched and snaked outside the theatre and all along the street but despite that, our wait was only 15 minutes.

Next, head over to the Grizzly Peak Area to see Judge Doom (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). Bringing Judge Doom to life was a home run by both Disney and the actor portraying him. His stage is brilliantly decorated and like Ernesto and Hades, his lighting package is great.

This is one that I wish we had waited just a little bit longer to see, as it was still light out and the effects didn’t come across as well as they should’ve. I still recommend making Doom your third stop though, but stop at the Buena Vista Street Fountain and spend some time with those characters while you wait for it to get darker, and then go see Judge Doom. You can find him on the side of the Soarin’ Over the World building.

From here, your next stop is going to be Sid (Toy Story) at the far end of the park in Pixar Pier. Sid is another character who’s queue often gets long but again, it’ll go by quickly. It can be a bit chaotic here, and trying to find the back of the line can be difficult. Simply look for the sign pictured below.

Sid is an Oogie Boogie Bash original. Disney keeps bringing him back year after year because of how well he interacts with the audience. There’s a reason why he sees some of the longest lines during the event. Sid is definitely a can’t miss villain. You can see him in front of the Pixar Pier Band Shell, across from the Pixar Fun Wheel.

From here, you’re going to make your way through Pixar Pier and into San Fransokyo to see the next villain - Yokai (Big Hero 6). He’s positioned in the back corner of the land, where Baymax and Hiro conduct their meet and greets during the day. His queue is usually quite short, so you should be able to breeze through it.

After Yokai, make your way through Cars Land and from there, into Avengers Campus for the next villain. Cars Land does have a treat trail, but there’s only candy stations, no villain. You can find it along the pathway leading to San Fransokyo, across from Flo’s V8 Cafe’s outside seating area.

Once you’re in Avengers Campus, head left after entering the land and into the Ancient Sanctum, where Dr. Strange usually does his meet and greets. There, you will see Agatha Harkness, who’s the star of her own Disney Plus series, “Agatha All Along”. Much like Yokai, her line never backs up that much.

Honestly, it’s amazing to me that Agatha returned again. This is her third straight year and when I think about all of the amazing villains Marvel has in its arsenal, it’s criminal that we haven’t gotten a new featured villain. Not that I have anything against her, I would just rather see Disney pull the trigger on bringing Thanos or Doc Ock to life.

After Hagatha, you’ll work your way out of the main entrance of Avengers Campus to the Performance Corridor to the next villain, Mad Madam Mim (Sword in the Stone). The actress playing Madam Mim has done a fantastic job portraying this beloved villain. You’ll find her in the little enclave behind Carthy Circle.

After Madam Mim, head back to the Hollywood Backlot. By now, it should be plenty dark to see Hades and Ernesto in all their glory. First, you’ll stop to see Hades, who’s located on the backlot stage. Take your time with this one so you have a chance to see his lighting package go from blue to red (as his mood changes).

This was one of my favorites this year and I’m so glad we waited for it to get dark. He interacts with the crowd in a similar manner to how Sid does, often roasting guests who talk about Hercules, or mention Hades’ loathed sidekicks, Pain and Panic.

This is actually Hades’ second time being a featured villain at the bash, but 2024’s iteration has been given a higher production budget from 2019’s version. His queue remained fairly consistent throughout the night but since he’s outside, you’ll have sight of him through your entire wait.

Once you’ve bagged Hades, it’s now time to make your way to Ernesto de la Cruz whom, in my opinion, is the premier villain to see during Oogie Boogie Bash. The actor(s) portraying him do a phenomenal job at bringing him to life. They actually sing a spooky rendition of “Remember Me” and play the guitar. If you’re only going to visit just one villain during the event, make it Ernesto.

I’m going to sound like a broken record here but like a few of the above mentioned villains, Ernesto often attracts large crowds and thus, has long queues. Unlike the others, his tends to go a bit slower because as stated, he’s consistently been the most popular villain since his debut in 2022 and folks tend to linger around his stage.

One thing you can do is wait until the final parade showing. During this time, the lines tend to be much smaller than they usually are. Speaking of the parade, if you happen to come across it while trying to leave Avengers Campus to see Madam Mim, do the opposite of what we discussed above.

After Hagatha, go see Ernesto. You’ll still happen upon the parade going in that direction but over there, cast members will eventually let people cross between parade floats. Then from there, go see Hades and conclude with Madam Mim.

Planning a trip to Disneyland during Oogie Boogie Bash? If so, read my Disneyland Halloween Guide to see all that’s going on throughout the resort. Also, check out my Ultimate Oogie Boogie Bash Guide to see all of what the event offers. If it’s your first time, see my 12 tips to maximize your time at OBB. Lastly, for great deals on Disneyland vacation packages and excellent service, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

Pixar Fest Character Locations Guide

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Pixar Fest is in full swing at the Disneyland Resort and one of the main offerings are the many characters you can potentially interact with. Some of these are the usual suspects you’d regularly see in the parks, while others are making their first ever appearance!

Aside from the food, rare character meet and greets is our favorite part of special events, festivals, and After Dark events Disney puts on throughout the year. Seeing the characters you know and love brought to life and interact with them is priceless and one of the hallmarks of a Disney vacation.

Disney is advertising more than twenty new and familiar characters during Pixar Fest, but keep in mind that you’re not guaranteed to see all of them. Many factors such as staffing, unforeseen circumstances, and the recent unionization of Disneyland performers can impact the amount of characters out at a particular time.

With so many characters to see during Pixar Fest, you may be wondering what characters you can meet at Pixar Fest and their locations. During our visit, we painstakingly sought out as many of them as we could to bring this information to you. We didn’t get pictures of all of them, but we did find out where they are. Do keep in mind that this list isn’t absolute and you should always refer to the Disneyland app day-of for current character information.

Pixar Fest Characters at Disney California Adventure

While the entire resort is on the festivities, much of the event’s offerings are being held at Disney California Adventure. These include many food and drink offerings, Club Pixar, the Better Together Parade, and more. The characters, however, seemed to have been split fairly evenly.

In the backlot area of Hollywood Land, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl conduct meet and greets in front of a “We Are Incredible” backdrop in their retro suits. While these two are typically seen on a day-to-day basis, namely near the Incredicoaster attraction, you rarely see them in these outfits.

During our visit, we only saw them together one time. Aside from that one time, it was either one or the other. This is going to be an ongoing comment throughout this post as Disney seemed to be suffering from staffing issues while we were there.

One of the bigger character draws during Pixar Fest are Mei and Ming Lee from Turning Red. Prior to Pixar Fest, these two have only made one appearance in the parks and that was during Lunar New Year earlier in the year. Their debut saw hours-long queues.

During Pixar Fest, their meet and greet is set up in front of the waterwheel in Grizzly River Run, just up the way from the Little Mermaid attraction. These two will always do meet and greets together, so just know that when their thirty-minute interval is up, you’ll either need to wait for them to come back or return at a later time.

Disney could potentially have another pair of actors lined up to swap out with them so if that’s the case, you’ll only need to wait a few minutes. If they don’t, it’ll be at about thirty minutes before they’ll come back out. Cast members will keep the queue updated and will usually cut off the queue so folks don’t end up waiting for nothing. It can happen, though. So be prepared for that possibility.

In Pixar Pier, you’ll see many of the usual suspects. These include Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who take photos in front of the Toy Story Mania attraction. Further down the pier and across from the Pixar Pals Fun Wheel in the band shell, there’s a mixed bag of characters that appear. These include:

• Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc.

• Joy and Sadness from Inside Out

• Anger from Inside Out (Beginning June 14)

• Bo Peep and Jessie from Toy Story

They’re completely random and depend entirely on staffing. On one of the mornings during our visit we were hoping to catch Mike and Sulley together but unfortunately, Sulley was the only character to appear. I asked a cast member if there was any chance for Mike to show and was told that, “Unfortunately, Mike is stuck in traffic in Monstropolis”. You have to admire her commitment to the “bubble”.

Another great way to see characters at DCA is during the Better Together Pixar parade that runs twice daily at DCA. You won’t be able to take pictures with any of them, but the parade is a practical smorgasbord of Pixar characters. Some you’ve seen in the parks before and others you’ve never seen.

A few examples include Joe Gardner from Soul, Carl from Up, Miguel from Coco, Mei Lee in Red Panda form from Turning Red, Luca, Alberto and Giulia from Luca and more. As stated above, the parade runs twice daily and because it hasn’t exactly been the most stellar of Disney’s parade, snagging a prime viewing spot is a fairly easy endeavor. For more information on that, including my recommendations to viewing areas, read my Pixar Fest 2024 Ultimate Guide.

To recap, Pixar Fest characters and locations in DCA are:

• Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl in the Hollywood Land Backlot

• Edna and Frozone near the Incredicoaster attraction

• Lightning McQueen, Mater, and more from Cars near the Cozy Cones in Cars Land

• Mike, Sulley, Bo Peep, Jessie, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Lotso, Joy, and Sadness throughout Pixar Pier

• Mei and Ming Lee near the Grizzly Peak waterwheel

• Dug (talking version) in the Grizzly Peak area near Redwood Creek Challenge

• *NEW - Beginning June 14, you can now meet Anger (from Inside Out) by the Pixar Pier Band Shell

Additionally, characters you’ll see during the parade include:

• Red Panda from Turning Red

• Carl, Dug, Russell, and Kevin from Up

• Joe Gardner from Soul

• Joy and Sadness from Inside Out

• Luca, Alberto, and Giulia from Luca

• Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl from The Incredibles

• Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie from Toy Story

• Miguel and Dante from Coco

• Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc

Pixar Fest Characters in Downtown Disney and Resort Hotels

While not exclusively for Pixar Fest, Disney is touting the ability to meet beloved character Bing Bong from the movie, Inside Out, at the Pixar Place Hotel. Bing Bong usually meets guests of the hotel in the pool area but if you’re lucky (like I was) you can sometimes catch him in the lobby of the hotel.

Another character you’ll likely encounter at the hotel is Joe Gardner from Soul. You can often find him playing on the piano in the lobby area across from the registration desk. I’m not sure if he’ll pose for photos with you, but at the very least you can say you watched Joe Gardner play live jazz.

While not live characters, Downtown Disney features two cars cosplaying as Woody and Buzz Lightyear up against a Pixar Fest mural on the former ESPN building. This photo-opp is available to all guests, regardless if you hold a park ticket or not.

As far as characters outside of the parks go, that’s about it. While things could always change in that regard, there are only two months remaining for Pixar Fest at the time of this post’s publishing, so I’m doubtful. Besides, other than the parks and hotel, there are no other locations where a Pixar character meet and greet would make sense.

Pixar Fest Characters at Disneyland Park

DCA may be considered the “Pixar Park”, but Disneyland proper is also getting in on the action. However, the majority of all Pixar Fest characters meet with guests in the same area, and that area is the Fantasyland Theatre across from the it’s a small world attraction.

The meet and greets occur between the hours of 11:30am and 5:30pm daily during the Pixar Pals Playtime Party. It consists of a high-energy stage show featuring many Pixar characters, about a half dozen Pixar-themed photo-opps, and several meet and greets with rare characters.

The first two you’ll likely encounter are Russell and Dug from the movie Up. During our visit, they were greeting guests near the entrance of the theatre, just prior to the official start time of the party. Note that this isn’t the talking version of Dug that you would meet at DCA.

Their official meet and greet area is to the left of the stage, up against the Up-themed backdrop. Again, I’m sure there was a staffing shortage during my visit, as none of the characters were ever out at the same time. It seemed as though the same two or three cast members were pulling double-duty and acting as multiple characters each.

In the upper area of Fantasyland Theatre, just behind the stands, are two additional meet and greets. Both of which are brand new to the parks. They are Ember and Wade from Elemental, and Luca and Alberto from Luca. Unfortunately, Alberto never came out during our time there. We did, however, get some quality time with Luca.

Both Ember and Wade made their appearances together while we were there, but I’ve recently read that both have been making sporadic solo appearances. Again, the recent cast member unionization and/or staffing shortages are the likely culprits. If you have your heart set on a photo with them together, you may have to camp out for the opportunity.

Additional newcomers, Barley (left) and Ian (right) Lightfoot from Onward, are also available for meet and greets in front of Barley’s mighty steed, Guinevere, located to the right of the theatre stage. For us, these two and Ember and Wade were the main highlights.

Much like Russel and Dug, the Lightfoot’s meet and greet area is in the lower level of the theatre, mixed in with all the Pixar-themed backdrops. Don’t get scared away if there’s a performance of the Playtime Party stage show happening, as the brothers will still make their scheduled appearances.

Another character that has been popping up around the theatre lately is Merida from Brave. Based on the photos I’ve seen, she’s been hanging around in the upper area of the theatre, near Troubadore Tavern.

Finally, the Pixar Pals Playtime Party stage show features numerous Pixar characters in a high energy song and dance performance. The show occurs in thirty-minute intervals between 11:30am and 5:30pm. At the conclusion of each performance, a few of the characters actually leave the stage to dance with guests.

The characters appear in phases, starting with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, and Bo Peep. Joy and Sadness then join the party, before concluding with appearances by Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, and Edna (subject to change, as always).

Joy and Sadness spent the most time dancing with guests. I have to admit, the highlight of the day was watching Sadness dance as unhappily as she could to Taylor Swift’s mega-hit, Shake it Off. The second was snagging the above-displayed rare photo of four of the main characters from The Incredibles.

Outside of Fantasyland Theatre, there isn’t much going on in the way of Pixar meet and greets aside from Miguel, from Coco, who often greets guests in his charro (a suit often donned by mariachi performers) in Frontierland near the Day-of-the-Dead display. To see Miguel in his regular clothes, you’ll need to watch the Better Together parade at DCA.

It’s baffling that they didn’t set up a temporary meet and greet for Coco-related characters near Paradise Garden Grill in DCA, considering that this particular restaurant’s entire menu is being billed as “Coco-inspired” during Pixar Fest, but I digress.

To recap, Pixar characters and locations in Disneyland Park are:

• Barley and Ian Lightfoot, Ember, Wade, Luca, Alberto, Russell, Dug and Merida at Fantasyland Thestre

• Joy, Sadness, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bo Peep, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, and Edna during the Pixar Pals Playtime stage show

• Miguel in Frontierland

• Buzz Lightyear makes occasional appearances in Tomorrowland as well

Attractions Featuring Pixar Characters

Costumed and face characters aren’t the only way to get your Pixar character fix as there are many attractions throughout both parks featuring several Pixar IP’s. Currently, none of these attractions are listed on the refurbishment calendar and since Pixar Fest is still going on, the chances of it staying that way are good.

The vast majority of Pixar-themed attractions are in California Adventure. They feature a whopping ten rides versus Disneyland park’s two. So if your goal is to remain in the Pixar bubble as much as possible, DCA is likely where you’ll want to spend most of your time.

So which rides can you see Pixar characters on at Disneyland? They are:

• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (DL)

• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (DL)

• Incredicoaster (DCA)

• Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind (DCA)

• Jessie’s Critter Carousel (DCA)

• Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters (DCA)

• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree (DCA)

• Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Resue! (DCA)

• Pixar Pal-A-Round (DCA)

• Radiator Springs Racers (DCA)

• Toy Story Midway Mania (DCA)

• Turtle Talk with Crush (DCA)

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, and especially if during Pixar Fest, read my Pixar Fest Ultimate Guide to help navigate all of the offerings. Additionally, see many of the Pixar Fest food and drink offerings by reading The 24 Pixar Fest Foodie Offerings We Tried to see pictures, prices, and more. Furthermore, photos from our tour of the new Pixar Place Hotel. Finally, for great deals on Disneyland, Disney World, and Disney Cruise Line vacation packages, visit my partners at Get Away Today.

Pixar Fest 2024 Ultimate Guide

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

With Pixar Fest 2024 in full swing at the Disneyland Resort until August 4, you may be wondering what’s being offered and what there is to do. We’ve recently visited the resort to experience Pixar Fest for ourselves and man, we honestly don’t remember the last time we’ve had so much fun at the park.

There’s so much to see, experience and eat that it could seem daunting to even attempt to experience everything (pro tip - it is). If you have a few days at the parks, you shouldn’t have any issues seeing most of it. If you only have one day, however, you may need to pick and choose.

If you don’t already know, the Disneyland Resort has hosted only one other Pixar Fest back in 2018. It wasn’t all that popular at the time, largely due to Disney seemingly phoning it in, and didn’t return in 2019. From 2020 until now, the parks have been working to recover from the effects of the pandemic. That now seems to be the case, as Disney decided to bring it back for 2024 and this time around, inject of whole lot of effort into making it successful.

If you’re thinking of visiting the parks during Pixar Fest, or you’ve already booked dates, this information-packed guide will help you navigate all of the offerings so you can prioritize which elements of Pixar Fest you’d like to experience. Let’s get into it.

Pixar Fest Decorations

The entire resort is adorned in Pixar Fest decorations. In the esplanade (the open space between Disneyland and DCA) there are numerous banners on the posts and a giant Pixar Fest display showcasing dozens of Pixar’s most popular characters and the infamous Luxo ball in the center.

It’s an impressive display during the day, particularly when the sun is hitting the panes near the top. In the evenings, though, it’s a bit of a dud as there’s nothing to illuminate it. That’s a huge (and surprising) miss on Disney’s end. It would’ve been an attraction all its own had it lit up at night.

Additionally, there are several smaller versions of this display scattered throughout Downtown Disney, as well as more banners. The main attraction are the two cars in Woody and Buzz Lightyear cosplay displayed against the former ESPN Zone building.

The parks are no different as both Main Street U.S.A in Disneyland and Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Land are also adorned in Pixar Fest banners. Additionally, the parks each feature their own large display, similar to the ones in the planters in Downtown Disney, but much larger in scale.

While these don’t light up either, there are spotlights installed at their bases to give them some illumination. In Disney California Adventure, the display is located in the hub area, in between the Carthay Circle building and the Elias & Co gift shop. It interacts with MagicBands, if you have one.

The display in Disneyland is located in Town Square near the flagpole, where the Christmas Tree and Mickey Head Pumpkin are displayed during their respective holidays. Unlike the display in DCA, this one does not interact with MagicBands. It is a popular PhotoPass spot, though.

Better Together Pixar Parade

The Better Together Pixar parade is one of the main features of Pixar Fest and runs twice daily at Disney California Adventure. It isn’t entirely new, as many of the floats and characters appeared in the former Pixar Play Parade during Pixar Fest 2018.

This year, however, the parade has a new name, theme song, and features a few new floats/characters, including those from Turning Red, Luca and Soul. While it’s possible this could change, the floats and characters you can expect to see in this parade (in order), are:

• Luxo Lamp

• Turning Red featuring the giant panda

• Up featuring Carl and Dug

• Soul featuring Joe Gardner

• Inside Out featuring Joy and Sadness

• Luca featuring Luca, Alberto and Giulia

• The Incredibles (not on a float) featuring Mr. and Mrs. Incredible

• Toy Truck featuring Woody

• Pixar Grand Finale featuring Miguel (Coco), Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, Sully, and Mike (Monsters Inc.)

You can see the difference in quality between the floats from the Pixar Fest of 2018 and new ones made for the 2024 version. The Luca float, in my opinion, was the best of the bunch. However, it felt like a wasted opportunity to hold two day time parades and not reserve one for nighttime, as many of the floats (the Soul float in particular) would’ve looked amazing lit up at night, but I digress.

Better Together Parade Route

The Better Together parade runs the same route as every other parade at DCA. Since there’s two per day (once at 4pm and again at 6:30pm) the first parade begins from behind Hollywood Land (adjacent to Mission Breakout), down the main street of Hollywood Land, through Buena Vista Street, down the Performance Corridor and then through Paradise Gardens Park, before concluding just before Pixar Pier.

The second showing will be the exact opposite, starting in Paradise Gardens Park and concluding at the end of Hollywood Land near Mission Breakout. Generally, many (myself included) feel the second showing of any parade or show at Disney is best as there’s often less competition for the most coveted viewing spots.

Better Together Parade Viewing Spots

There are several viewings areas for Better Together (or any parade that happens to be showing at DCA). One of the most popular of which is in Paradise Gardens Park in the stretch between the Little Mermaid attraction and Corn Dog Castle.

Another popular spot is along the street of Hollywood Land. This is especially true for the second showing, as there’s typically a lot of shade in this area. My personal favorite (and it’s from here where I took the photos you see in this section) is the island where the water fountain is, directly across from Carthay Circle and facing the entrance to the Performance Corridor.

This was where I stood for the 6:30pm showing and I had a great, mostly unobstructed view of the characters and floats. In addition to that, it was well shaded. Though by this time the sun was already working its way down, so I imagine that would be especially advantageous during the 4pm showing.

Keep in mind that if you choose a spot at the opposite end of where the parade begins, you won’t actually see any floats until 15-20 minutes after the official start time. For example, if your spot is in Hollywood Land for the second showing, which begins at 6:30pm, don’t expect to see any floats until closer to 6:45 or 6:50, possibly later if there any delays.

Better Together Parade Dining Packages

Unlike for other parades, such as the Frightfully Fun parade during Oogie Boogie Bash, there’s only one dining package offered for Better Together and it’s more of a dessert party than anything else. However, it does come with a reserved seat along the parade route in the Performance Corridor.

The cost is $69 per person (2 and under are free, but they must sit on your lap). At one hour to forty-five minutes prior to your selected parade time, you’ll check in at Sonoma Terrace, where your reserved seating is. The earlier you arrive, the better as seats are first come, first serve. If you snag a table at the front, you’ll have an unobstructed view of the parade. Though you’ll have the sun beating down on your as there are no umbrellas for these tables.

The tables behind the front row still have a great view and depending how you look at it, may be better than the front row, as they’re slightly elevated and come with umbrellas. If having others in front of you doesn’t bother you, these may be preferable.

You’ll receive a variety of Pixar-themed foods and desserts, along with two mocktails and unlimited water, tea, coffee and soda. Once the parade begins, though, they will no longer bring any beverages to your table. So be sure to get your monies worth before the parade start time. To book this package, go here.

Pixar Pals Playtime Party and Club Pixar

Club Pixar Hours and Offerings

Club Pixar is in the backlot area of Hollywood Land in Disney California Adventure. During the day, there are several Pixar-themed backdrops you can take photos with, in addition to a Mr. and Mrs. Incredible meet and greet in their blue retro super hero suits. This is also where the Hanger Management food marketplace is located.

Once it starts to cool down, Club Pixar comes further to life with neon lights themed to Pixar characters, live performances, dance lessons, photo-ops, games, and more. Additionally, there’s an area themed after a drive-in where you can watch Pixar shorts while relaxing in a classic car. Seating is limited and competitive here.

Another element to Club Pixar are the games guests can play. One such game is a giant chess board (with accompanying pieces) themed after the Pixar short, Geri’s Game. These games, in addition to the live performances, are only accessible to guests between 4:30pm and 8:30pm.

Many were hoping that Club Pixar would be a call-back to the nighttime events, Mad T Party and ElecTRONica, Disney used to put-on in the backlot area. There was live music by local DJ’s, themed cocktails served in a pop-up style bar, lighting effects and more. These events were immensely popular with teenagers and adults.

Alas, that has proven to not be the case, as Club Pixar is more on the family-friendly side of things. It isn’t a bad thing, as the offerings in this area are unique and fun in their own right, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much of a missed opportunity I feel it is to not feature a Pixar version of the Mad T Party during Pixar Fest.

Pixar Pals Playtime Party Hours and Offerings

The Pixar Pals Playtime Party takes place at Disneyland Park in the Fantasyland Theatre across from the It’s a Small World attraction. A sign out front states the hours are between 11:30am and 5:30pm but when we were there, a few of the characters began coming out for meet and greets right at 11am when the cast members dropped the rope.

There’s a lot going on in this relatively small space. The main feature is a high-energy stage show starring many of Pixar’s most beloved characters, such as Woody, Bo Peep, Jessie the Cowgirl, Sadness, Joy, Edna, Frozone, The Incredibles and more. At the conclusion of the show, many of these characters leave the stage and dance with the crowd. If you’ve never seen Sadness dancing to “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift, you’re in for an entertaining treat.

Another feature of Pixar Pals Playtime Party are the incredible (no pun intended) amount of character meet and greets going on. The day-to-day ones include Dug and Russel from Up, Ember and Wade from Elemental, Luca and Alberto from Luca, and Barley and Ian Lightfoot from Onward. Lately, Merida from Brave has also been making sporadic appearances.

Down on the dance floor, there are several themed backdrops for guests to take pictures with, including the Piston Cup from Cars and Boo’s door from Monsters Inc. This is where there seemed to be a lack of forethought, as there where several things all happening in one cramped area. For instance, during the stage show, both Joy and Sadness were dancing in the crowd while Barley and Ian Lightfoot came out for a meet and greet, all while guests were taking photos with the backdrops.

Also here is one of the main food locations during Pixar Fest. Troubadore Tavern, which is located at the entrance to the Fantasyland Theatre, has received a Pixar makeover, offering several themed dishes, drinks and snacks with a Pixar flare. These include:

• Roundup BBQ Potato

• Una Papa Loca Potato

• Firetown Mac and Cheese Bites

• Mixed Emotions Popcorn

• Joyful Tenders and Mac (kids)

• Lotso Berry Lemonade

• “Adventure is Out There” Cold Brew (pictured above)

We tried nearly every Pixar Fest item at Troubadore Tavern and for the most part, all of them were tasty. We didn’t get around to trying every food item during our Pixar Fest visit (there were over 80, after all), but we did try 24 that you may want to learn more about.

Pixar Character Meet and Greets

Disney rolled out all the stops when it comes to character meet and greets for Pixar Fest, as there are well over twenty beloved Pixar characters out interacting and taking photos with guests. While some are the usual characters you would normally see in the parks, there are several new additions. Including:

• Ember and Wade from Elemental

• Barley and Ian Lightfoot from Onward

• Luca, Alberto, and Guila from Luca

• Mei and Ming Lee from Turning Red

• Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc.

• Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story

• and many, many more

For us, the rare character meet and greets are our favorite aspect of these special events. It’s why we attend Oogie Boogie Bash every year and it’s why we’ll likely continue to attend Pixar Fest. Some have standard queues, while others, including Mei and Ming Lee, had huge queues. Checking the app (or with a Cast Member) about when they’ll be making their appearances and being there early is key if you want a photo with your favorites.

READ: Pixar Fest Character Locations Guide

Pixar-Themed Food and Drink Items

As we briefly discussed above, Disney has rolled out over 80 new food and drink items for this year’s Pixar Fest. Many restaurants and snack carts in both parks are participating, as well as several eateries in the Downtown Disney District.

Exclusive to Disney California Adventure are the six Pixar-themed marketplaces. You may recognize these marketplaces as they’re the same ones used during the California Food and Wine Festival, Festival of Holidays and Lunar New Year. Their names and locations are:

• The Spark, inspired by Soul

• 4*Town Favorites, inspired by Turning Red

• Gusteau’s To-Go, inspired by Ratatouille

• Portorosso Pasta, inspired by Luca

• Hanger Management, inspired by Inside Out

• Elemental Table, inspired by Elemental

The Hanger Management marketplace is located in the Club Pixar (Backlot) area of Hollywood Land while the remaining five are placed along the Performance Corridor between the main entrance to Avengers Campus and the Little Mermaid show building.

We tried several offerings at these booths and found them to be hit and miss. The Jumbo Panda Bao was the clear winner for us, especially with the accompanying chili-garlic sauce. Another favorite was the Kol Nut Whoopie Cookie Pie from Elemental Table.

The mac and cheese from Hanger Management, however, we loathed. It was an obvious move on Disney’s part to provide a safe option for picky eaters, but it was too safe of an option. The mac itself was cold and overcooked and to make matters worse, the Cheeto puffs were stale.

Outside of the marketplaces, there were several excellent Pixar Fest offerings. For starters, the “Shake 2319” sold at Schmoozies in DCA was one of the best shakes I’ve ever tasted. Also, while basic in nature, the Pixar Fest cake, sold at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland Park, was perfectly moist and had just the right frosting to cake ratio.

If you’re looking for actual food, the Bruno sandwich sold at Jolly Holiday Bakery and the Una Papas Loca Potato sold at Troubadore Tavern are both solid options. I wish I could recommend the Coco-inspired menu at Paradise Garden Grill in DCA, but it mostly fell flat for us (the sole exception being the Tres Leches Parfait).

In total, we tried 24 Pixar Fest food and drink items during our visit. If you’d like, you can read through that post to see what we do and do not recommend. No matter your palette, there’s something for everyone at Pixar Fest.

Search for Hidden Pizza Planet Trucks

I’m sure you’ve heard of hidden mickey heads, but have you ever heard of hidden Pizza Planet trucks? I’m doubtful, because it’s new for this year’s Pixar Fest. Scattered throughout the resort are creatively themed and decorated Pizza Planet trucks that do an excellent job blending in with their surroundings.

There’s no official guide book, checklist, or anything like that, but there are fifty of them for you to find. To my knowledge, they’re only in the two parks. The truck photographed above is in one of the window displays of the Emporium on Main Street. I’ve seen others in the DCA Starbucks, Mission Breakout and in Adventureland.

It’s too bad Disney didn’t offer something similar to what they do for Easter and sell people an official checklist that offers clues to help you locate all fifty trucks. If you’re successful, you’d turn it in and receive a pin or something similar. Honestly, if you want to keep the kids busy and distracted, just have them search for these trucks. They could spend an entire day on this.

Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular

Much like the Better Together parade at DCA, the Together Forever Pixar Nighttime Spectacular at Disneyland is a rehash of the 2018 version, with several familiar moments from Toy Story, Inside Out, Coco and The Incredibles retained, and new scenes added from Turning Red, Luca, Soul, Onward and Elemental.

As far as where to view the show from, the same rules that apply to other fireworks shows at Disneyland, also apply here. The cream-of-the-crop spot is dead-center in front of the castle. For that view, you’ll need to arrive several hours prior to showtime and loiter until cast members put the ropes up.

Our personal favorite is in between and near the end of the Main Street buildings. My reasoning is twofold, in that you still get a great view of the projections and fireworks in and around the castle, but you also get to see the projection on the Main Street buildings as well, which adds to the experience in my humble opinion.

If you watched the 9:00pm showing of Fantasmic, specifically from one of the reserved viewing areas, you can stay put and watch the fireworks from there. The music will be piped in and you’ll (somewhat) see the projections on the water walls on the Rivers of America. In my opinion, it isn’t a great spot but if you’re already there, it beats having to fight your way through the crowds to the Main Street.

The show happens nightly at 9:30pm but due to local noise ordnances, the fireworks aspect of the show occurs only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. During the week the show will be featured with projections only. Either way, you’re in for a great show.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to stay privy to ride closures with my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar. Furthermore, don’t get caught off guard by non-availability at your favorite restaurant by reading my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide and 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Dining. Also, learn about the recent changes to Disney’s DAS program here. Finally, for great savings on tickets and vacation packages to Disneyland, Disney World, and Disney Cruise Line, visit my partners at Get Away Today.

Oogie Boogie Bash 2024: Ticket Prices, Dates and What to Expect

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

While we already knew that Oogie Boogie Bash would be making a return in 2024, Disney recently released additional information about this year’s event during the Halfway to Halloween celebration.

If you don’t know what Oogie Boogie Bash is, it’s an annual after-hours, separate ticketed event held at Disney California Adventure on select nights throughout the Halloween season. It’s different than normal theme park Halloween events, as it’s more about the spirit of Halloween rather than the scares.

It started back in 2019 as the successor to Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party as a way to beef up the crowds at DCA. The gamble worked, as many would argue that Oogie Boogie Bash has surpassed its predecessor in nearly every way.

In this post, we’re going to discuss several topics pertaining to Oogie Boogie, such as 2024 event dates, ticket prices, when tickets go on sale and some frequently asked questions about the event. Let’s get into it.

Oogie Boogie Bash 2024 Dates and Ticket Prices

This year, Disney’s Halloween season at the resort kicks off on August 23. In prior years, Halloween didn’t begin at Disneyland until the first or second week of September. Consequently, as I previously predicted, Oogie Boogie Bash will expand with event dates in August.

There are a total of 27 event nights this year, which is surprising as that’s only two more than last year. Considering the immense popularity of the event (evident by it’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it ticket sales), I have to believe that Disney could’ve held thirty or more parties.

Additionally, there’s no word on if they’ll be a D23-specific night like there was in 2022. I doubt this is something they would intentionally hold back so since they haven’t announced it, it’s safe to assume it isn’t happening. I’ll be sure to update if that changes.

In 2024, Oogie Boogie Bash dates are:

August

• Sunday, Aug. 25

• Tuesday, Aug. 27

• Thursday, Aug. 29

September

• Tuesday, Sept. 3

• Tuesday, Sept. 10

• Thursday, Sept. 12

• Sunday, Sept. 15

• Tuesday, Sept. 17

• Thursday, Sept. 19

• Sunday, Sept. 22

• Tuesday, Sept. 24

• Thursday, Sept. 26

• Sunday, Sept. 29

October

• Tuesday, Oct. 1

• Thursday, Oct. 3

• Sunday, Oct. 6

• Tuesday, Oct. 8

• Thursday, Oct. 10

• Sunday, Oct. 13

• Tuesday, Oct. 15

• Thursday, Oct. 17

• Sunday, Oct. 20

• Tuesday, Oct. 22

• Thursday, Oct. 24

• Sunday, Oct. 27

• Tuesday, Oct. 29

• Thursday, Oct. 31

Disney hasn’t released date-specific pricing just yet, but did announce a price range of $134 - $189, which is the exact price range as last year. This is interesting as it marks the first time since the party’s inception that there wasn’t a price increase.

That was another prediction of mine, that Disney would forego a price increase in favor of expanding the number of nights since they’re now starting in August. That’s another reason why I’m baffled that they didn’t add more nights to the calendar.

I’ll be sure to update this post once date-specific pricing is released but generally, you can expect the price to be higher on Friday and Saturday event nights and even higher as Halloween approaches. The Halloween night event almost always sells out first and is always at the highest price point.

Furthermore, I’m predicting that three events in August will be at or near the low end of the price range. My reasoning for this belief is two-fold. For one, this is the inaugural year for Disneyland’s early start to Halloween and two, that final week or so in August is almost always slow (crowd-wise). Setting the price at the lower end of the spectrum for those dates would certainly entice more guests to visit.

When Do Oogie Boogie Bash 2024 Tickets Go On Sale?

Unfortunately, Disney made no mention as to when Oogie Boogie Bash tickets would go on sale, other than stating they would do so, “in the coming weeks”. In 2023, tickets went on sale in late June, but that was when the halfway mark to the Halloween season was closer to June. Since it’s now in early May, I would predict sales dates in late May.

As has been the case with After Dark events this year, definitely expect to see Magic Key holders to get first crack at tickets with exclusive sales dates. Disney could even hold an Inspire Key-only sales date, much like they did with the Star Wars Nite event.

As stated above, there’s not yet been any mention of a D23 night. If they do decide to add one, you would need to be a member of D23 in order to purchase tickets. If you’re not a D23 member but you know someone who is, you’ll be able to attend the party with them provided they’ve purchased the tickets.

Be wary of uninformed opinions of how quickly Oogie Boogie Bash tickets will or will not sell out. Many will point to how long it took for tickets to the bloated amount of Star Wars Nites to sell out. Honestly, they’re not entirely wrong, but Star Wars Nites are not Oogie Boogie nights. Not by a long shot. While many of the offerings during Oogie Boogie events remain the same year after year, Disney changes them up just enough to remain appealing.

Typically, one or two new villains are added to line-up of treat trails, which prove to be immensely popular with event-goers. Admittedly, the parade could use a refresh, but that’s a conversation for another post. Villains Grove is a major attraction and the chance to see even more rare characters entices more and more guests to attend.

To sum it up, don’t slack on tickets or count on them not selling out quickly. They likely will. So if you’re intent on attending Oogie Boogie Bash this year, be ready to go on the first available sales date you can participate in.

Same-Day Admission to DCA with Oogie Boogie Bash Tickets

Many ask what time do Oogie Boogie Bash events start and if they could get into the park early with those tickets. The event officially begins at 6pm and goes until 11pm but with your ticket, you can actually get into DCA earlier than that.

Guests with tickets to Oogie Boogie Bash can enter Disney California Adventure as early as 3pm. That’s three additional hours of park time. Many use this time to research the park guide, get in an early dinner, or camp out at the most popular event offerings to be the first in line.

If you do arrive early, you can check in and receive your event wristband and treat bag near the main entrance to Avengers Campus. If you arrive closer to the event start time, though, you’ll receive them the gate in which you entered.

Additionally, there’s no need to worry about reservations as your ticket is your reservation (remember those simple days?). Aside from that, if you want to spend time in the park prior to 3pm, you’ll need a regular park ticket or Magic Key, in addition to a reservation.

What to Expect at Oogie Boogie Bash

If you’ve never attended Oogie Boogie Bash before, you should know that it isn’t scary like Knott’s Scary Farm or Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. The mood at Oogie Boogie is generally lite, and more about the spirit and celebration of Halloween than the scares. If you have littles, they shouldn’t have any issues as far as being scared is concerned.

We don’t yet know what the exact offerings will be during Oogie Boogie Bash 2024, as Disney doesn’t release that information until the event gets closer. As stated above, the main offerings generally remain the same every year, with just a few changes or additions. That said, I can fill you in on what will likely be offered with a decently high degree of certainty.

Villains Grove

You can definitely expect to see Villains Grove return to the event. Each year, Redwood Creek Challenge is transformed into a ethereal world of Disney villains. If you’ve never experienced it, it’s a walk-through attraction featuring several scenes with projection, lighting, and shadow effects, in addition to musical elements, themed after many of Disney’s most beloved villains, such as Scar and the Queen of Hearts.

It’s the attraction that consistently has the longest queue during the event and many would argue that it’s worth the price of admission all its own, so be sure not to miss it. While it can always change, scenes from past events included:

• Frollo’s Sanctuary

• Maleficient

• Queen of Hearts’ Garden.

• Scar’s Elephant Graveyard

• Dr. Facilier’s Friends on the Other Side

• The Queen’s Lightning Forest

• Home of the Wisps

Treat Trails Featuring Disney Villains

Another villain offering during Oogie Boogie Bash are the treat trails that feature several, rarely-seen Disney villains. These treat trails are not your typical character meet and greets, as cast members entice guests to keep moving through the queue with handfuls of candy.

The villains will interact with guests and periodically stop to pose for photos, but you won’t be able to take a selfie or group picture with them. This keeps the line flowing, ensuring short wait times. At last year’s event, we didn’t wait longer than ten minutes to see each one. A few examples of villains from past parties include:

• Ernesto de la Cruz (Coco)

• Judge Doom (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)

• Sid (Toy Story)

• Cruella (live-action version)

• Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

• Mother Gothel (Tangled)

• Oogie Boogie (Nightmare Before Christmas)

Frightfully Fun Parade

The Frightfully Fun parade is exclusive to the event and runs twice nightly at 7:50pm and 10:05pm, respectively. The first showing begins in Paradise Gardens, runs up through the Performance Corridor, then down Hollywood Land, before concluding near Mission Breakout. The second showing runs in the opposite order.

It’s a relatively short parade and it isn’t the greatest thing Disney has ever produced, but it’s fun and fine for what it is. The Headless Horseman kicks off the parade, followed by multiple villains and Halloween-themed floats, including those from Nightmare Before Christmas and the Haunted Mansion. Mickey and Minnie Mouse also make an appearance, of course.

You can add to the experience by purchasing a dining package with reserved viewing at Wine Country Trattoria or a dessert party with exclusive seating along the parade route in front of Sonoma Terrace, along the Performance Corridor. The viewing area of the latter option is in front of Grizzly Peak, just across from the main entrance to Avengers Campus.

Halloween-Themed Food and Drinks

While the Halloween season in general brings about several specially-themed Halloween treats throughout both parks, Disney will also reserve a handful that are exclusive to Oogie Boogie Bash attendees.

These special offerings include everything from tasty desserts and full-blown entrees to bagged candy and cocktails. As stated above, Wine Country Trattoria offers a special three-course meal as part of a dining package for the parade and several other locations, including Studio Catering Cart and Schmoozies, get in on the action as well.

These are the main offerings during Oogie Boogie Bash, but there are plenty of others as well. In addition to the Villain Treat Trails, you’ll also experience several traditional character meet and greets, unlimited trick or treating, ride attractions with low to no wait times and more.

Speaking honestly, I love the existing offerings, but I wish Disney would offer just a bit more. Personally, I would love to see a special dining experience with ultra-rare characters. Imagine enjoying a three or four course meal at Carthay Circle while the Seven Dwarfs make their way around the room. Or the villains of Pixar greeting you while dining at Lamplight Lounge. The possibilities are truly endless.

Oogie Boogie Bash Frequent Questions

How quickly do Oogie Boogie Bash tickets sell out?

In prior years, tickets sold out either the same day or by the next day. In other words, they go super quick. Be sure to be on-the-ball once Disney announces the on-sale date.

Are the attractions open during Oogie Boogie Bash?

As long as they’re not down for refurbishment, yes, most or all attractions are open during the event. Often with little to no wait times.

Does DAS work during Oogie Boogie Bash?

Yes and no. The only attraction that offers DAS during Oogie Boogie Bash is Villains Grove. Since there aren’t as many people in the park during the event, the rides have little to no wait times, making DAS mostly unnecessary. To read about the recent changes to DAS, go here.

Does Genie Plus work during Oogie Boogie Bash?

No. If you’ve purchased Genie Plus during normal park hours, it will no longer work once the event begins. Additionally, you cannot purchase it during the event.

Is the park crowded during Oogie Boogie Bash?

Busy is a relative term and highly depends on you perceive it. From my perspective, the crowd levels are nowhere near like they are during the day. That said, the queues at the most popular offerings, such as Villains Grove and certain character experiences, can experience long wait times.

Are costumes allowed at Oogie Boogie Bash?

Yes! Both children and adults alike can dress in a Halloween costume for the event. There are a few rules, however. They are:

• Guests who dress like Disney characters cannot pose for pictures or sign autographs

• Costumes cannot have sharp or pointed objects or material

• No part of the costume can drag on the ground

• Costumes that surround or cover the entire body may not be allowed

• Costumes must not be violent, objectionable, or offensive

• They may not contain objects that could be construed as weapons

Which entrance can I use?

All three entrances into DCA can used to access the gate. All guests can utilize the main gate and the Grand Californian entrance, and guests who’re registered at the Pixar Place Hotel may use their exclusive entrance as well.

Is there a World of Color showing during Oogie Boogie Bash?

While there was a villains-themed World of Color shown during the first Oogie Boogie Bash, it has not made a return since. This could always change in 2024, though.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to consult my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar for information on current and upcoming ride closures. If you only have one day to spend, read Disneyland in One Day: 8 Tips to Maximize Your Time. Additionally, see my 2024 Disneyland Halloween Guide. Finally, for great prices on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages to just about anywhere, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

An Overview of the Six Pixar-Themed Marketplaces at Pixar Fest

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

When Disney released details of what to expect during Pixar Fest in 2024, one of the offerings mentioned were several Pixar-themed marketplaces in the Hollywood Backlot area. If you’ve ever attended a Food and Wine Festival or Lunar New Year, you’d know exactly what those “marketplaces” are.

If you don’t know, they’re essentially themed food booths with certain elements having to do with whichever festival is taking place. For example, during Food and Wine, one of the marketplaces was called “Garlic Kissed” and featured food items related to - you guessed it - garlic.

They’ve proven to be insanely popular, so it only made sense for Disney to theme after some of Pixar’s most beloved films and use them to elevate the offerings during Pixar Fest.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the names of these marketplaces, which film they’re themed after, and images and descriptions of what each one is going to offer. Unfortunately, I can confirm that there will not be a Sip and Savor Pass for sale during this event.

1) “The Spark” - Inspired by Soul

Inspired by Pixar’s hit film Soul, “The Spark” will offer several brand new food and cocktail offerings, in addition to an exhaustive amount of beers and seltzers. The booth’s sole entree offering is the Supper Club Chicken & Potato Waffles with peach cobbler sauce and cinnamon-herb crumble. For dessert is the Half Note Jazz Cake which, by the website’s own admission, is essentially a basic red velvet cake.

The Great Beyond, one of two crafted cocktails at this booth, is made with gin, maraschino liquor, violet & blue curacoa syrups, lemon juice and pear nectar. The second cocktail, SPARK-ler, seems like it’ll be on the sweeter side with a concoction of varying syrups including mango, pineapple and cotton candy.

2) 4Town Fav*4*ites - Inspired by “Turning Red”

The Turning Red marketplace is the one I’m most looking forward to, as all of the offerings look stellar! First, the Red Panda Bao is a jumbo bao stuffed with vegetables, pork and a chili-garlic sauce. The word “jumbo” in the description indicates a single bao per purchase, though a sizable one.

You can follow this up with the Panda Apocalypse, a pan-baked, chocolate-layered brownie and New York-style cheesecake topped with orange and red cream cheese frosting. Finally, wash it all down with the Nobody Like U Cooler, a non-alcoholic beverage made with Joffrey’s Raspberry Rose Tea, white cranberry, lime & orange juices and cherry syrup, garnished with an orange wedge gummy.

3) Gusteau’s To-Go inspired by “Ratatouille”

It would’ve been criminal for Disney to feature Pixar-themed marketplaces at Pixar Fest and not include the most food-relatable IP in their portfolio. After all, Ratatouille’s entire premise was centered around a rat who loved to cook.

Gusteau’s To-Go’s criminally small menu consists of the Ratatouille Pizzetta topped with mozzarella, eggplant, squash, zucchini, a drizzle of tomato sauce, and a wedge of French camembert. The only other food offering is a macaron themed after Chef Gusteau, with creme brulee mousse and a caramel center.

The two alcoholic offerings, the Le Critique Cognac Sidecar and Little French Daiquiri, make up the only drinks on the menu, with no non-alcoholic options.

4) Portorosso Pasta inspired by “Luca”

Representing Italy, the Luca booth features only one food offering, but may be the most interesting of the bunch that has the potential to “steal the show”. It’s the Portorosso Pesto Pasta, Portorosso being the fictional Italian town where the movie is based. The dish is ribbon pasta tossed in a basil pesto with potatoes and green beans mixed in.

The non-alcoholic Sea Monster Lemonade consists of white grape juice, lemonade and peach syrup garnished with blue citrus mango jellies. Rounding out the drink offerings, the adults-only Silenzio Limoncello! has a Limoncello base with amaretto & Aperol liquors, blood orange syrup, lemonade and house-made oregano tea and garnished with micro daises.

5) Hanger Management inspired by “Inside Out” 

The Hanger Management marketplace offers a simple menu consisting of two variations of a basic macaroni and cheese dish. One of which is traditional yellow mac topped with a handful of Cheeto puffs and the other being the “angry” version topped with hot Cheetos. In all honesty, this is quite disappointing and uninspiring as it looks to be nothing more than boxed mac and cheese.

The cocktail appears to be a variation of a Maker’s Mule. It’ll have a bourbon base with watermelon liquor, candied orange & watermelon syrups, and orange & lime juices topped with ginger beer and garnished with watermelon candies.

I feel Disney dropped the ball here (the food, specifically). The food offerings are about as basic as it gets without any real creativity added whatsoever. Considering all of the mood elements featured in Inside Out, this marketplace could’ve been the stand-out with multiple incredibly creative dishes.

6) Elemental Table inspired by “Elemental”

If you’re looking for plant-based options, the Elemental marketplace is for you. Food offerings include a BBQ-spiced IMPOSSIBLE chicken dish with hot mustard sauce, pickles and charred onions, followed by the Kol Nut Whoopie Cookie Pie baked with cocoa powder and filled with cream cheese frosting and topped with crushed cinnamon candies.

The drink offerings, both of which are tequila-based, are visually stunning and will undoubtedly be popular. First is the H2O-rita made with tequila, blue curaçao syrup, lychee nectar, yuja purée and lime juice garnished with a rock candy stick. Lastly, the Exothermic Margarita consists of tequila, ancho chile liqueur, passion fruit nectar, lime & grapefruit juices and agave nectar garnished with a rock candy stick.

While there are some disappointments on the menus of the marketplaces (Hanger Management, specifically), overall, I’m looking forward to sampling the majority of them.

Of the all the cocktail offerings, the two at the Elemental marketplace are sure to be the clear stand-outs as they’re the most Insta-worthy of the bunch. As it pertains to food, I’m most looking forward to the jumbo bao at the Turning Red marketplace and the pesto pasta dish at Luca’s.

I’m going to reiterate my stance on what I believe is an epic let-down at the Hanger Management marketplace. I wish Disney would have gone the BBQ route here, offering a creative version of the classic pulled-pork sandwich with several emotions represented in different variations, or something similar.

Despite this, I’m predicting Pixar Fest will be a massive success. More and more, guests are clamoring for more “non-standard” Disney. Usually, that comes in the form of an After Dark event where in order to partake, you’d have to pay for another ticket.

Special events like Pixar Fest and Season of the Force, however, are available to all guests who hold a regular ticket or Magic Key, making it accessible for everyone to enjoy. With Pixar Fest looking like an un-official “foodie festival”, I hope to see it become a part of DCA’s annual line up of festivals. Time will tell.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to stay on top of ride closures by reading (and saving) my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar. To see all the activities taking place at Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024: 10 Things to Know. Additionally, to see the newly transformed Pixar Place Hotel, read my Tour of the Pixar Place Hotel post. Lastly, for deals on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, see my friends at Get Away Today.

An Overview of Disability Access Service (DAS) Changes at Disneyland

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Recently, Disney announced changes to their Disability Access Service (DAS) that will apply to both the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. This post will focus on what these changes mean for visitors to Disneyland so if you’re planning a trip to WDW, you read more about their details here.

DAS at Disneyland began a number of years ago with the intent of providing guests with certain disabilities who cannot wait in traditional queues a more comfortable experience at the parks. This service enabled those guests and their group to skip the stand-by queues in a manner much like how Genie+ works.

Unfortunately, DAS has been wrought with abuse over the years, enabling many who really shouldn’t be using the service to cheat the system by skipping lines. This has led to many issues, the worst of which being an over-inflation of wait times in stand-by queues and Lightning Lane queues alike.

The changes go into effect at Disneyland on June 18th and were made with the intention of both making the service easier to use for those who require it and to better prevent abuse and/or misuse. In this post, I’ll discuss the details of DAS, such as who can use it, how to sign up for it, policy changes and more.

What is Disability Access Service (DAS)?

As stated above, DAS is a service offered at Disneyland that provides guests with certain disabilities who are unable to wait in traditional stand-by queues quick access to select attractions in both parks. For the most part, those disabilities include autism and other development related disorders.

Instead of waiting in stand-by queues, guests utilizing DAS and their party arrive to their selected attraction during the designated return window, similar to how Genie+ works. Upon arriving, DAS guests will use either the Lightning Lane or exit to access to the attraction, bypassing the stand-by queue.

The total wait for each attraction is comparable to the posted time for stand-by but instead of waiting there, DAS guests spend that time elsewhere that’s more comfortable, or at another attraction or show that has a tolerable wait.

If you’ve ever used Genie Plus (or its predecessor, MaxPass), this process will be familiar to you. Like Genie Plus, you may select only one attraction at a time and can only make another selection once you’ve used your current allotment or a certain amount of time has passed. Unlike Genie Plus, you can select the same attraction more than once.

So what can you do while waiting for your return time? You can spend that time exploring the park, enjoying other attractions with shorter wait times (Adventureland Treehouse for example), meet your favorite characters or take this time to enjoy a meal or snack.

When approved, your DAS eligibility is good for every day on your Disneyland ticket or up to 120-days, whichever is shorter.

Who Can and Cannot Use DAS at Disneyland?

Once the recent changes have been implemented, only guests with “hidden” disabilities such as autism or similar developmental or mobility disorders that make it difficult to impossible to wait in traditional queues will be eligible for DAS.

Another feature of the program is the ability to take strollers (if the DAS eligible guest requires it) all the way to the loading area of the attraction. Most guests must leave strollers in the designated area outside of the attraction but DAS guests are given exceptions. In order to take advantage of this, be sure to ask for a stroller tag when you sign up.

If the guest’s disability requires the use of a wheelchair or scooter, that guest will not need DAS unless there are additional elements to the disability that might require it. Otherwise, those guests should refer to the cast member at each attraction about what to do.

At most attractions in Disneyland park, this typically means accessing the attraction through the exit as stand-by queues in the older attractions aren’t ADA friendly. The modern attractions in the park, in addition to those at California Adventure, do have ADA compliant queues.

If your mobility issue prevents you from standing for long periods of time but doesn’t require the use of a wheelchair or scooter, you may be asked to bring or rent one as the solution as you may not be eligible for DAS as it’s mostly for guests with “invisible” disabilities.

Furthermore, at Disneyland, you do not need to provide proof of disability as Disney take guests at their word. However, the more details you can provide to the cast member, the more they’re able to help you. It’s best to be perfectly honest as if it’s proven a guest has lied about the disability, they’ll face a lifetime ban from both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

How to Sign Up For DAS at Disneyland

There are two ways to sign up for DAS. You either speak with a cast member on arrival at the park or online via DAS Advance up to 30-days prior to the first day of your visit. Keep in mind that starting June 18, you will no longer be able to sign up inside the park, as that service will be moved outside in the esplanade.

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, but no matter which option you go with, the guest requiring DAS will need to be physically present. If that guest is a minor, the parent will be able to speak for them, but they’ll still need to be present as they’ll have their photo taken. Additionally, you’ll need to ensure that you have all of your tickets purchased by then.

How to Sign Up For DAS Advance

The advantages to DAS Advance are; it’ll be done in an environment the guest is comfortable with (they’re home) and as an added bonus, the cast member will assist you with making your first two attraction selections for each day of your visit. You can register to begin that process at this link.

As mentioned above, you may begin the process through DAS Advance up to thirty days, but no less than two days prior to the day of your first visit. The downfall to DAS Advance is the wait for a cast member can be long, especially in the afternoon and evening. Logging in first thing in the morning is key to avoiding a lengthy wait.

DAS Advance key info:

• Hours of availability are 9am - 8pm

• It is currently only available in the English language

Before beginning your video chat, be sure to:

• Log into your Disney account

• Review and accept the terms & conditions

• Ensure park tickets are linked together in the account

• Make sure the guest requiring DAS is physically present

Once you’ve connected with a cast member, you’ll discuss with them your needs. If approved, you’ll be able to select two DAS return times for select attractions for each day of your visit. Some of these attractions include Matterhorn Bobsleds, Big Thunder Mountain, Incredicoaster and Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission BREAKOUT.

How to Sign Up For DAS in Person

If you choose to wait until you arrive (and you’re arriving prior to June 18), make your way to guest services inside either park to inquire. At Disneyland Park guest services is at City Hall and in DCA, you’ll find it just past Oswald’s to the left, just inside the gate.

The only real advantage to this is it’s typically faster than doing it in video chat, but that could be offset if there are many others in line. People go to guest services for several reasons, not just to sign up for DAS, and there are usually only a small handful of cast members available to assist.

This could get worse starting June 18 as guests of both parks will need to go to a single location in the esplanade. A particular location hasn’t yet been announced, but it’ll likely be one or two of the unused ticket booths. For this reason, I highly recommend signing up through video chat.

How to Use DAS at the Parks

Using DAS in the parks is easy and similar in nature to Genie Plus, as you’ll book your attraction return times within the Disneyland app. You can also ask cast members stationed throughout the park to do it, but it’s much quicker through the app. To make your first selections (aside from the ones you made in the video chat) you must be scanned into the park.

One you’re in the park, open the Disneyland app and sign into your account. Scroll to the “More” option at the bottom of the main tab. Then, tap the DAS button to see available attraction selections. Note that only guests who have been approved for DAS will be able to view this.

When you arrive to the attraction for your return time, simply hold your phone or MagicBand up to the Mickey-shaped scanner to access the attraction. Keep in mind that the person who was approved for DAS must scan theirs first, followed by the rest of the group.

If you have a park hopper ticket, you will not be able make DAS selections for the other park until you have been scanned into it. For example, if you’re currently in DCA, you won’t be able to make a DAS selection for an attraction in Disneyland until you’re actually in Disneyland.

Which Rides and Attractions Work With DAS?

At Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, guests with DAS can access all attractions. Including the ones without Lightning Lanes. This is especially advantageous for DAS guests as those with Genie Plus can only access select attractions.

For example, none of the Fantasyland attractions, aside from Matterhorn Bobsleds, are included with Genie Plus. Since these attractions don’t have Lightning Lanes, you’ll likely access the ride through the exit where a cast member will scan you in. If you’re unsure, just check with a cast member.

Additionally, the attractions with Individual Lightning Lanes are also included in DAS and do not require a separate purchase. These attractions include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland and Radiator Springs Racers at DCA.

If an attraction you have a return time for were to break down, you will be issued a “Multiple Experiences Pass”. Normally, this pass would only work on attractions that are on Genie Plus but with DAS, you’ll be able to use it on any attraction.

Does DAS Work During Special Events?

Generally, no, DAS does not apply to special events such as After Dark Nites and Oogie Boogie Bash. Reason being is because during these events, there are far less people in the parks than a normal day and the majority of event attendees are there for the special event’s offerings, not the rides.

As a result, the lines for attractions during these events are mostly on the short side, at most. When we attended Disney Channel Nite in March, most of the attractions were walk-ons, with Space Mountain having the worst line of the night at just twenty minutes.

The sole exception to this is the Villains Grove attraction during the annual Ooogie Boogie Bash at DCA. Though there are ways to avoid it, the queue for Villains Grove is often long, so cast members are stationed near the entrance to assist DAS approved guests.

How Many Guests Can Be in a DAS Group?

With the old policy, the general consensus was six to a group (five family members for every one DAS guest). However, it wasn’t exactly a hard and fast rule as cast members didn’t want to break groups up so essentially, your group could be as big as you wanted it to be.

As of June 18, 2024, you’ll be permitted four to a group (three family members for every one DAS guest). From what I’m hearing, this is going to be enforced much more than it used to be, but you can discuss that with the cast member during the sign up process.

While there are no guarantees, if the fifth person in your group is a child or an elderly parent, you stand a good chance of gaining an exception. Remember, Disney’s goal here is to reduce abuse of the system, so don’t count on everyone being approved if you have a large group.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to read my review of the new Pixar Place Hotel. Additionally, read up on the multiple aspects of dining with my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide. Furthermore, learn how to save money at Disneyland by reading 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Food and Drink. Finally, to save money on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

Visiting Disneyland in September 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Is Disneyland Crowded in September?

Historically speaking, September has always been the best time of year to visit the Disneyland Resort (well, part of it anyway). The best time, of the best time, to visit Disneyland is between the end of August and mid-September.

That timeframe is loaded with days on the low end of the crowds spectrum. Typically by Labor Day, many schools in Southern California are back in session and parents are back in the office. Since Disneyland is largely a local’s park, it sees a temporary dip in attendance in that period.

One caveat to this that could end up making a liar out of me is the fact that for the first time at Disneyland, Halloween season begins in late August. In prior years, it began in mid-September and caused a spike in crowd levels that would continue to snowball until after well Christmas.

Another wildcard this year is the upcoming Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction. The current opening timeline is being billed at, “late 2024”. However, there’s been significant progress on the attraction in the last couple months, making the possibility of a September opening a decent one.

I doubt Disney wants to open this attraction in the colder months, as wait times for water-based attractions are typically low, for obvious reasons. Disney needs Tiana’s to be a smash hit, so opening it when the temperatures are still fairly hot would be preferable as demand would surely be high.

Looking at the single-day tickets calendar, weekdays during the first two weeks are priced at the low end of the spectrum at $104. Some view this as an indicator that it’ll be a slow day, but it could potentially be a situation where you might want to utilize the, “zig while they zag”, strategy.

The reason I say that is because value-seekers will likely see that price as an opportunity to go doing those low-demand days which in turn could cause crowds to swell. Weekends surge to the $160 mark and weekdays in the latter half of the month aren’t far behind that.

Keep in mind that since locals are back in school and work, the bulk of the crowds you are going to see will be in the mid-afternoon and evening hours. If you commit to rope dropping the parks and being back at your hotel by 1:00 or 2:00pm, your opinion on how crowded it is will largely differ from someone who didn’t arrive until 5:00pm.

Something else to consider is the annual Oogie Boogie Bash party at Disney California Adventure. On Oogie Boogie nights, DCA closes early to regular ticket holders, often causing a huge migration across the esplanade to Disneyland park, causing an even bigger swell.

With Halloween beginning in August this year, this is yet another wildcard that could have an adverse effect on crowds during a traditionally slow time. As it pertains to evenings, anyway.

That said, as the month progresses and Halloween gets into more people’s minds, the crowd levels will steadily rise. Due to this, I’ll stick with my usually recommendation and say go ahead and book dates between the last week of August and mid-September.

You’re going to get all the benefits of visiting during the Halloween season with far less crowds than any other time. Do be weary of weekdays, though. As I discussed above, that $104 price tag could make weekends more favorable if you can swing the extra cost.

Anaheim Weather in September

Anaheim generally has pleasant weather in September. The humidity remains low despite day-time temperatures often exceeding 80 degrees for the majority of the month. It’s more of a dry heat, though, and generally isn’t too bad.

Night-time lows dip into the mid-sixties for the first half of September. As the month progresses towards October, it’ll get down to the low sixties while rarely going below that. Many assume that because it’s Southern California it’s always warm. That isn’t the case, so be sure to pack a hoodie.

Precipitation is nearly non-existent as September is one of the driest months in Orange County, so I definitely wouldn’t bother with packing an umbrella or rain jacket.

Overall, aside from a few unusually high temperature days, September is great month, weather-wise, to visit Disneyland.

Disneyland Resort Hotel Rates

Disney has years worth of historical crowd pattern data to go off and they’re known for maximizing profits whenever and wherever they can. One of their most profitable sectors in which to do that is nightly rates at their branded hotels.

The Disneyland Resort currently has three; the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, The Disneyland Hotel and Pixar Place Hotel. They each vary in rates and amenities, but all offer an opportunity to stay within the Disney bubble. Disney considers resort hotel guests to be the most valuable.

Hotel rates are a good indicator of expected crowd patterns for any specific period because as stated above, Disney will maximize their profits however they can. So if they’re expecting a busy week, their hotels will command high nightly rates.

The following are averages of the three resort hotels listed above. Keep in mind that if you decide to book, your average may be lower or higher than what I’m listing below. Disney prices their hotels dynamically, similar to how airlines price tickets, so they’re easily affected by demand, major area events, etc.

Grand Californian Hotel & Spa Rates: The ‘Grand’ is always priced the highest as it’s Disneyland’s luxury, high end resort. For a standard view room, the average rate in September is $761.24. For a club level room with the same view, the rate spikes to $1,351.31.

The Disneyland Hotel Rates: This is Disneyland’s original hotel (though there isn’t much of the actual original hotel remaining) and is considered their mid-range offering. For a standard view room, September’s average rate is $588.90 and for a club level room of the same view, you’re looking at $987.45. For a deluxe studio in the Discovery (Villas) Tower, it’s $680.99 per night.

Pixar Place Hotel Rates: Pixar Place is Disneyland’s newest(ish) hotel offering, recently completing it’s years long transformation from its previous Paradise Pier Hotel brand. For a standard view room, you’re looking at a nightly rate of $481.25 and $692.25 for club level.

Disney is definitely trying to entice people to stay on-property as the rates for September are indeed lower than they were in July or August. You may think that’s obvious since those are summer months but in recent years the holiday season has rivaled summer as the resort’s busiest time of year.

After breaking up the averages between the first and second half of September, the average rates are higher in the latter half than they are in the first. That’s a huge indicator to me that, despite the early kick-off of Halloween at the resort, Disney is still expecting lower crowds in that first half.

Disneyland Rides Closed in September

Disney typically doesn’t release attraction refurbishment information until 45-days ahead of time. At the time of this post’s publishing, that’s a ways off. While I don’t have anything concrete to offer at this time, I do have some suspicions as to what’ll be open or closed.

Firstly, as discussed above, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure could, in theory, be open by September. I have my doubts, personally, but it’s definitely possible given the recent progress. If I had to bet the farm, I would say September is a pipe dream at the moment.

On the flip side, I am fully expecting Haunted Mansion to reopen in time for the kick-off to the Halloween season as Haunted Mansion Holiday. It would be an “egg-to-the-face” moment for Disney if their biggest holiday attraction isn’t open in time, so I believe they’ll make it happen.

If you haven’t heard, Disney is walling off Critter Country in May in order to convert two of the land’s gift shops into themes after two supporting characters from Princess and the Frog, among other smaller projects. While I don’t know how long this closure will be for, I would be shocked if it was still closed come September.

All that said, Disney would have completed the major refurbishments by this point, as they cannot afford to lose more capacity during their incredibly busy holiday season. Still, I would anticipate a few quick closures here and there, but nothing big.

Still, there’s always the chance that both Tiana’s and Haunted Mansion experience construction delays and thus, remain closed. If this happens, capacity throughout the rest of the park will suffer as a result. I’ll keep my eyes on these and update this post as credible information becomes available.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’ll be visiting during Halloween, be sure to read 2024 Disneyland Halloween Guide to read about what to expect, tips and more. For tips and advice on tickets, read 10 Best Disneyland Tickets: Park Tickets. To learn about the changes made to Advance Dining Reservations, read Improvements Made to Advance Dining Reservations at Disneyland. Finally, for great deals on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

Improvements Made to Advance Dining Reservations at Disneyland

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Anyone who’s ever tried making an advance dining reservation (ADR) for a Disneyland restaurant knows how frustrating that process can be. Depending on the restaurant, the competition for a table could be fierce.

Making matters worse, using the website or app to find an available ADR was often annoying.. If there wasn’t anything available and you wanted to search for another day, you were forced to back out of the current page and begin your search all over again.

Recently, Disney announced a few changes to the ADR search process that have since been implemented. Among those changes is the ability to search for an available ADR over a period of up to ten days all at once!

Additionally, tabs are now displayed above the ADR results, indicating which meal period is being displayed. For example, if you don’t see a desired result for dinner, you can now just select the “lunch” tab for instant results, again, without having to completely start over.

This update is now available on both the Disneyland website and app (both iOs and Android). Below, I’ll discuss these changes in greater detail and what you can expect moving forward.

Issues with Advance Dining Reservations at Disneyland

Disneyland die-hards are well aware of the potential complexities of making an ADR. If you’re new to Disneyland and/or ADRs (and if you’re reading this I’m assuming you are), then you’re likely unaware of the common hiccups and loopholes involved.

For example, a seasoned planner would know not to take the unavailability of ADRs at face value. Often, one would simply need to continuously hit refresh between meal period and time searches and an available ADR would magically appear.

Additionally, with the cancellation policy instituting a per person fee if not followed, if you checked again in the days leading up to your desired date (or even day-of) you would, at times, find last minute availability.

Before these recent changes, there have always been a few rules pertaining to advance dining reservations guests had to follow. They are:

• You may make an ADR up to 60-days in advance

• You must provide a credit card to guarantee your ADR

• You must cancel within the stated window to avoid a penalty

These are still true today and apply to all guests, regardless of whether you’re a resort hotel guest or simply visiting for the day. The problem, however, was that the playing field was not level for all, as casual guests often find themselves at a disadvantage due to not being aware of reservations.

If you weren’t a seasoned pro and didn’t look for ADRs first thing in the morning 60-days out, you would often find yourself out in the cold. Even worse, most casual guests aren’t even aware that you can make reservations that far out (or even at all). So they’ve arrived disadvantaged.

These new features won’t solve these issues entirely, as I feel Disney needs to do a better job at advertising the reservation policies to guests and said guests need to do their own legwork to secure them, but they certainly help to smooth out a previously bumpy process.

The New 10-Day Search Feature for Dining Reservations

As mentioned above, when searching for a Disneyland ADR, you would select your desired date, party size and meal period. You would then be presented with a list of restaurants with availability within the parameters of the information you have entered.

Assuming you weren’t satisfied with the results and wanted to search for another day of your visit, you would need to back out and begin the process all over again. Meaning, you would need to re-enter all of your information, not just a new date.

With the recent change, you can now search up to ten days at once, making the process much easier. You have two options in which to do this:

1. Select “Check all Availability” on the Disneyland website or “Check Dining Availability” in the app. Then select your party size, desired date, and meal period. You’ll then presented with a list of restaurants. Under each restaurant, you’ll see “Check Availability for Multiple Days”. Select that to search a range of up to ten days if you don’t see any initial times.

2. On the Disneyland website, go to the “Things to Do” tab and select “All Dining”. You’ll be taken to a list of all restaurants. Those that accept ADRs will have “Check Availability for Multiple Days” underneath them. Select that to conduct a range search right from the beginning.

For some reason, Disney IT decided to implement the ten-day search differently between device and method. In the first example above, you cannot conduct a range search from the start when using the app. For some reason, you’re forced to search a singular date before being presented with the ability to select a range of dates.

This presents a potential issue because by having to initially search for one day, you’ll only be presented with restaurants that have availability for that specific date. Other restaurants may have availability on days at either end of the selected date but because you’re presented with limited options, you won’t have a full list to work with.

For example, say you want to dine at Lamplight Lounge for dinner and you’re utilizing the app to conduct your search. You search for May 12 for a party of four, but since there’s no ADRs available, Lamplight wouldn’t be included in the list and consequently, you’re never given the opportunity to search for that particular restaurant.

To circumvent this, I recommend using a computer (or the browser on your phone) to access the actual website. This way you can select the “All Dining” option to see a list of ALL restaurants that accept reservations and conduct a date range search right from the beginning.

Additionally, there will be four tabs at the top of the search results for different meal periods. They’re presented in time ranges, but essentially are for breakfast, lunch, dinner and an “all” option. If you don’t see availability for dinner, you can now easily hit the “Dinner” tab for instant results, rather than having to start over.

As you can see in the image above, the search results will be presented in descending order from top to bottom according to date and for the reservation times, from left to right beginning with the earliest.

The amount of available reservations will vary depending on which restaurant you are trying for, as some are more in demand than others. You’ll seldom see wide open availability for the harder-to-get eateries. Some of these include:

• Lamplight Lounge

• Blue Bayou

• Napa Rose

• Carthay Circle

The less popular restaurants typically have many options for dining times, often in just a few days notice or even day-of. In the search results for these restaurants, you’ll often see availability in 15-minute increments, rather than a spatter of random times. Some of these restaurants include:

• Wine Country Trattoria

• GCH Craftsman Bar & Grill

• Great Maple Modern American Eatery

• Cafe Orleans

Ultimately, I’m happy with the changes Disney has made to the ADR process. There’s definitely some fine-tuning that needs to occur, along with additional changes for the quirks and annoyances that remain. Overall, it’s made the process less time consuming and more efficient for the guest, which should always be the goal.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Park Tickets for tips on saving money on tickets and how to avoid getting scammed. If you’re visiting in May or June, be sure to read Disney Closing Critter Country Indefinitely in May. For information on Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024: 10 Things to Know. Finally, to save money on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, visit our friends at Get Away Today.

Star Wars: Season of the Force 2024 Foodie Guide

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

On the morning of March 25, Disney finally announced the foodie guide for this year’s Star Wars: Season of the Force event taking place at Disneyland Park and, partially, at Downtown Disney.

The event begins in the spring and runs through early summer and celebrates all things Star Wars. Throughout the event, there will be a new way to watch the fireworks from within Galaxy’s Edge, exclusive merchandise, limited-time experiences and themed food offerings.

Season of the Force begins on April 5 and will culminate on June 2, running (partially) concurrently with Pixar Fest, which is mostly taking place across the esplanade at Disney California Adventure.

So what are the food and drink offerings going to be this year? Where will they be sold? I answer these questions and more in the post below. Let’s get into it.

Tomorrowland Star wars offerings

As mentioned above, the majority of the Star Wars festivities will be taking place at Disneyland park, mostly within two of the park’s lands, Galaxy’s Edge and Tomorrowland.

You won’t find any Season of the Force offerings at Disney California Adventure as there isn’t anything Star Wars related in that park and DCA will be busy hosting the majority of Pixar Fest activities.

In Tomorrowland, the only restaurant that will be offering Star Wars-themed foods is Galactic Grill, as Alien Pizza Planet will be preoccupied with celebrating, you guessed it, Pixar Fest.

The above are reference photos provided by Disney, showcasing the foods and drinks you’ll be able to order at Galactic Grill. They are, in order from top left to bottom right:

• Bantha Burger: An angus beef and vegetable patty, marinated pork belly, American cheese, Asian-inspired slaw and “sambal” sweet mayo on a toasted brioche bun (new offering)

• Chorizo Loaded Fries: Waffle fries, pork chorizo, chile de arbol cheese sauce and black beans, topped with avocado-tomatillo sauce, green onions and Oaxaca cheese

• Wookiee Parfait: Chocolate sponge cake, chocolate pudding and caramel mousse on a chocolate-coffee crust with chocolate pearls

• Watermelon Slush with Death Star glow cube (new offering)

• Granny Smith Apple Slush with Millennium Falcon glow cube

For me, the two stands outs from this line up at the chorizo fries and Wookiee parfait. In prior years during Halloween, Disney sold a favorite of ours, the “Darth by Chocolate” parfait at Galactic Grill. It’ll be interesting to see how the Wookiee version of the parfait will hold up against it.

Also offered in Tomorrowland are two, sure-to-be insanely in-demand popcorn buckets themed after Jabba the Hut and a “Salvaged Stormtrooper Helmet”.

The Jabba the Hut bucket will be sold at two locations - Galactic Grill and the popcorn cart near Star Trader. The Stormtrooper helmet will also be sold in those locations, in addition to several locations within Galaxy’s Edge.

The press release stats that these will be available “beginning April 5”, which is the start of the seasonal event, but doesn’t mention an end date. Indicating they could possibly (and probably) sell completely out before the end of the event.

Disney’s themed popcorn buckets have surged in popularity over the last few years, often commanding huge queues upon their release and selling out quickly. I predict these two will be no different and will, given their themes, likely eclipse past buckets.

The aforementioned popcorn buckets won’t be the only food-related accessories you’ll be able to purchase at Galactic Grill. Others, in order of top left to bottom right in the photo above, include:

• Darth Vader Stainless Steel Tumbler

• Grogu Sipper

• Millennium Falcon Popcorn Bucket

• Death Star Glow cube

Both the stainless steel tumbler and sipper will include a fountain beverage at time of purchase, but they will not entitle you to free refills.

In addition to Galactic Grill, you’ll also be able to purchase the Darth Vader tumbler at GCH Craftsman Grill at the Grand Californian Hotel. Additionally, the Gorgu sipper will also be sold at the Tomorrowland fruit cart.

Not pictured is the Darth Vader premium mug, also sold at Galactic Grill. It’ll include the option of a fountain beverage or bottle of DASANI water at time of purchase. ALL of these accessories are limited to two per person.

Star wars galaxy’s edge offerings

The fun doesn’t stop at Tomorrowland as Galaxy’s Edge is also getting in on the fun. Here is where the new fireworks experience named "Fire of the Rising Moons” will take place. Note this isn’t a separate fireworks show, but a new way in which to view it.

From within Galaxy’s Edge, you’ll be viewing the same fireworks show as everyone else but instead of hearing the show’s usual music, you’ll hear Star Wars-related music. It’s essentially like you’re watching fireworks in actual Batuu, furthering the immersive nature of the land. Personally, I’m excited for this.

Let’s get back on track with the food offerings at Galaxy’s Edge. While all food-related locations in the land will be offering something, the vast majority are concentrated between Docking Bay 7, the sole quick-service location in the land, and Oga’s Cantina, which you’ll need a reservation or join the walk-up list to get into.

There will be two new entree offerings at Docking Bay 7. One is a returning favorite and the other is a brand new option. They are:

• Fried Chicken Baos: Two crispy chicken boas with spicy katsu sauce and creamy slaw (new offering)

• Dewback Chili Noodles: Spiced fettuccine noodles with gingered ground pork, broccolini stems and red cabbage shred

They couldn’t have come up with two dishes more perfect for Kisha and I. Kisha is a huge fan of baos and those spicy noodles are calling my name. We can’t wait for them to hit the menu.

Unfortunately, they won’t be selling a specialty cold brew, outside of the usual Black Caf. I’m a sucker for cold brews and while I love me a Black Caf, I would’ve liked to have seen another option added to the event line up.

At Oga’s Cantina, five brand new galactic-themed drinks will make their way to the menu. Four of the five contain alcohol while the fifth is the sole kid-friendly option. They are:

• Oga’s Obsession: Minute Maid lemonade, wild strawberry flavor, yogurt-filled boba, garnished with strawberry and grape candle pebbles (Nerds)

• Fiery Mustafarian: El Mayor Añejo Tequila, Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur, peach purée, peach syrup and lime juice served with a dropper of spicy lava syrup

• Silver Sea Martini: Hendrick’s Gin, Minute Maid Lemonade, ginger syrup, honey and mint syrup with a shimmery butterfly pea flower tea topping

• Chandrilan Chalice: Hendrick’s Gin, Minute Maid Lemonade, ginger syrup, honey, and mint syrup topped with a shimmery butterfly pea flower tea served in a souvenir wine glass

• Chandrilan Orb Glass: El Mayor Añejo Tequila, Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur, peach purée, peach syrup and lime juice served with a dropper of spicy lava syrup in a souvenir wine glass

Normally, I don’t get excited over the food and drink accessories sold at Disneyland. This one, however, might be the one that breaks me. In addition to the drinks above, Oga’s also selling a beer flight served on a souvenir board with four Rancor teeth.

I have no idea how much it’s going to cost, as Disney neglected to list that detail in their press release. My guess is a minimum of $50, as this will surely be a high-demand souvenir. I’d make a reservation early in the day to ensure you can get one.

Rounding out the options in Galaxy’s Edge is the Pasaana Punch at Ronto Roasters (pictured in the top photo), the Celto Slush at Kat Saka’s Kettle and the Toydaria Swirl at Milk Stand.

Ronto Roasters is known for their delicious Ronto Wraps, but also for their specialty beverages like the famed Tatooine Sunset (a personal favorite of mine). I’m curious to see how this new beverage compares.

Resort Hotels & Downtown Disney offerings

The seasonal offerings continue throughout the resort, namely at the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa and select locations in the Downtown Disney District.

At the snack cart near the lobby of the Grand Californian, there will be several Star Wars-themed treats for sale, similar to the ones sold during the holidays and other events. One such example, as pictured above, is a Grogu shaped macaron.

Additionally, the lobby will feature a massive, showpiece cake in the shape of the Millennium Falcon arriving in Black Spire Outpost. Designed by Disney’s in-house culinary team, this cake will surely impress. It’ll only be available to view from April 5 - May 31.

Furthermore, two of the hotel’s restaurants, GCH Craftsman Grill and Hearthstone Lounge, will serve a “Bitter Martini” made with Hendrick’s Gin, Campari liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup and green grapes. I’m not much of a gin person, but I’ll likely give this one a shot.

In Downtown Disney, there were only two eateries listed as participants in Season of the Force. They are Salt & Straw and Splitzville Luxury Lanes.

At Salt & Straw, they’re serving up an interesting, frozen concoction called, “Maraschino Cherry with Tye-Dye Marshmallow Fluff”, made with pink and blue marshmallow “milky way” fluff with purple, dark cherry ice cream.

If you’re a fan of sushi, you’ll want to head over to Splitzville. On the menu will be the “Cosmic Roll”. It’ll feature nori wrapped around sushi rice with tempura-fried kanikama crab, avocado, jalapeños and crispy garlic topped with eel sauce and sesame seeds.

When it comes to libations, only one drink is making its way to their menu. It’s called the “Order 2018”, made with gin, Italian liqueur and fresh-squeezed citrus (pictured on the right of the photo collage).

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’ll be visiting for Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024 at Disneyland: 10 Things to Know. For information about the different aspects of dining, read my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide. Furthermore, for information and tips, read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Food and Drinks. Finally, for great deals on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, as well as expert travel assistance, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

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Disney Closing Critter Country Indefinitely in May (+ My Thoughts)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Disneyland is currently in the process of reimagining the former Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and as part of that reimagining, it’s been recently announced that Critter Country, the land in which the attraction is located, will temporarily close to guests on May 1 for an indefinite amount of time.

The purpose of the closure is to transform two of the land’s current gift shops, The Briar Patch and the left half of Pooh’s Corner, into shops themed after two popular supporting characters from the Princess and the Frog movie, Louis the Gator and Raymond the Firefly.

This closure signifies to me that construction on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is moving along nicely (though still behind), and this new project puts us one step closer to an opening date. Don’t get too excited, though, as we’re still months out, with a presumed opening timeline around Thanksgiving or later.

This is in stark contrast to Walt Disney World’s version, who closed their Splash Mountain months earlier than Disneyland did, and while there’s still no hard opening date, its timeline has been recently updated from “late 2024” to “summer 2024”. Lucky them, right?

I haven’t heard anything credible regarding the opening date of Disneyland’s version but as stated above, I’m sure there’s a push from Disney to have it ready by Thanksgiving time. It could get pushed into January, but Disney likely wants to avoid the “go woke, go broke” crowd by opening it before winter, when water-based attractions typically see low wait times and give a false perception that they’re not popular.

Disney wants needs this to be a smashing success. So opening the attraction during the busy holiday season would be ideal, as demand for it would surely be off the charts. Anyway, let’s back to Critter Country.

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Which Critter Country Gift Shops Are Getting reimagined?

As mentioned above, Disney is closing Critter Country in order to transform the land’s two gift shops into themes more aligned with Tiana. First, The Briar Patch, the sole-remaining remnant of Splash Mountain’s Song of the South theme, will be reimagined into Ray’s Berets (named after Raymond the Firefly, who served as a guiding light, of sorts, for Tiana in frog form).

The gift shop will sell similar merchandise as it does currently, with selections including headware, apparel, accessories, toys and more, with Raymond and his firefly kin in the coziest cabin in Critter Country. Don’t expect a lot of Tiana or bayou-like merchandise, as Disney will likely stick with the generic stuff at this location.

With the exterior lighting package that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is expected to receive, and this gift shop being themed after a firefly, I expect the lighting package for Ray’s Berets, as seen in the concept art above, to be a nice complement to the neighboring attraction and a sight to see all its own, particularly at night.

At the other end of Critter Country, near the exit of the former Splash Mountain, is where Louis’ Critter Club (currently Pooh’s Corner) will be. Before you freak out, it’s important to note that only about a third of Pooh’s Corner will be consumed by Louis’, as part of the current shop and the entirety of the treats portion will remain as is.

Louis’ Critter Club will be themed after Louis, the trumpet-playing Alligator who befriended Tiana and Prince Neveen in the movie. The character was named Louis as a way to honor legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong, who was born and raised in New Orleans.

Disney has stated that the gift shop will offer merchandise such as apparel, accessories, home decor and more, featuring Tiana and her critter friends. This is the shop I predict will have mostly Tiana-themed merch, with some generic park-wide stuff sprinkled in.

As you’ll see in the concept art above, there will be a lot of new design elements added to this shop. There are band posters plastered on the walls of the gift shop, in addition to the “break room” porch on the roof. If you zoom in, you’ll see instruments and other musical props.

Considering Louis played a trumpet and dreamed of being accepted by humans as a legitimate jazz musician (he did so at the end of the movie), I would expect to hear zydeco music emanating from the porch or gift shop in general. If you don’t know, zydeco music was created in rural Southwest Louisiana and is a blend of blues and rhythm & blues. Pull up your preferred music streaming app for examples.

In addition to the gift shops, Disney has stated that they’ll, “continue to invest in the improvements of the pathways and other areas to provide a better guest experience”. This could mean numerous things, but I honestly don’t anticipate huge changes as I doubt this project will be a long one.

How critter country closing will affect crowds

With construction projects mandating the closure of two of Disneyland‘s biggest people-eater attractions, Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion, capacity in the park has taken a hit in recent months. When high capacity attractions close, it sends a ripple effect throughout the park, causing otherwise lower wait times at other attractions and walkways to swell.

So the addition of Critter Country to the closure list is definitely going to affect crowds. If you’re visiting Disneyland in May, or potentially even June or July, prepare for crowds to feel more dense than they usually do. Of course, how dense they’ll get entirely depends upon how much of Critter Country will be closed to guests.

I seriously question whether Disney will close the entirety of Critter Country, as that’ll only make the current capacity issue much worse than it needs to be. If they do completely close it, I don’t expect it to begin until just after Hungry Bear Restaurant in order to keep the pathway to Galaxy’s Edge open in order to maintain guest flow.

In regards to Hungry Bear itself, I presume Disney will keep it open as it’s a high capacity quick-service restaurant and they definitely do not want to lose that. Additionally, Disney will likely use this time for a quick refurbishment of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, keyword being “quick” because, again…capacity.

I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about capacity at this point, but it has everything to do with this project and thus, this post. Capacity determines how many tickets Disney can sell in a particular day. Decreased capacity means less available tickets, which equates to less money for Disney.

My belief is this project won’t be a long one and Critter Country will presumably reopen prior to the peak tourist season in July, if not, definitely before the beginning of the Halloween season in late August. That’s also when I’m predicting the Haunted Mansion, with its Nightmare Before Christmas overlay intact, will also reopen.

Regardless of how much of the land closes, it’ll definitely have an effect on crowds. Not necessarily more people, as all this construction will keep some away, but because of the decreased capacity, the remaining walkways around the park will become dense. I doubt it’ll reach the levels of Main Street U.S.A after a fireworks showing, but it’ll be noticeable.

‘The Bayou’ - a missed opportunity?

I’m going to turn to commentary now and discuss some blue-sky ideas of my own. I’m sure I’m going to get pushback in the comments over this, but I feel like Disney maintaining the “critter” theme of the area is a missed opportunity.

Before we get too deep into this, realize that this isn’t meant to be perceived as hate or disdain for Critter Country or Winnie the Pooh, as I’m a fan of both. The original animated movie was a favorite of mine as a kid and the older I get, the more I appreciate the serene environment of Critter Country, with its obvious ties to Hundred Acre Wood.

My position has more to do with immersive, continuous theming than anything else. Walt Disney himself stated that he never wanted Disneyland to become a museum, but rather, continue to evolve and improve. Sometimes, that means replacing beloved attractions, lands and elements.

So what is my idea? From the start, when Disney first made the announcement of Tiana’s takeover of Splash, I hoped and prayed that Disney would do away with the Critter Country theme, Winnie the Pooh included, and simply rename the land, “The Bayou”, a mini-land acting as a natural extension of New Orleans Square.

Keep an open mind and think about it for a minute. Tiana’s gift shop, Eudora’s Chic Boutique, and restaurant, Tiana’s Palace, are both located in New Orleans Square proper, which in this scenario would act as New Orleans, the city. Tourists visiting Tiana‘s locations in the “city”, would then have to make their way to “The Bayou” in order to experience her tourist attraction, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, much like they do in actual New Orleans with bayou boat tours.

Over in “The Bayou”, the two aforementioned gift shops would receive the same re-theming they are getting now, with Hungry Bear becoming “Louis’ Gator Shack”, or something to that effect. Structurally, Hungry Bear wouldn’t need to change at all. Simply swapping out signage, a refreshed menu and music elements would be all that’s needed.

Now let’s address the yellow bear in the room and discuss what they would do with the Winnie the Pooh attraction and meet n’ greet. Personally, I would’ve loved to have seen the attraction reimagined into one themed after Raymond the Firefly, or even Mamma Odie. The ride vehicles could easily become fireflies in their current form and neither the track or layout would need to change. All that would be needed are new ride elements, lighting and props.

The neighboring meet and greet, where Winnie the Pooh and friends currently meet guests, would feature characters from the movie, such as Louis, Prince Naveen, Dr. Facilier, Tiana herself and perhaps even Mama Odie. Speaking of Mama Odie, she could takeover Pooh’s Corner. The storyline being she uses her magical powers to concoct delicious bayou treats for guests.

You can tell that I’ve thought a lot about this. As much as I would love to see these ideas become reality, I fully understand and acknowledge Disney’s desire to keep Winnie the Pooh featured in Disneyland, as that little, yellow bear is a merch-moving monster.

However, I have a potential solution. Over at Walt Disney World, their version of the Winnie the Pooh attraction is located in Fantasyland. At Disneyland, there isn’t much space in their Fantasyland, but they could remove the seldom-used Fantasyland Theatre and transform that area into a mini-land themed to the Hundred Acre Wood.

Considering pooh-bear can move merch like none other and is consistently one of Disney’s most popular IP’s, I think giving Winnie his own, dedicated land is more than justified. Plus, Disney would be doing what, exactly? Increasing capacity! It’s a win-win in my eyes.

Still, depriving Pooh fans of their favorite bear, even for the short-term, is a gamble Disney probably isn’t willing to make. I get it, I understand it, but I stand firm on my opinion that the current Critter Country should be transformed into “The Bayou”. Perhaps it will be in the future, but I’m not holding my breath.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’re considering visiting in May, when Critter Country closes, read A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in May. For tips and advice regarding dining, read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Dining. Additionally, be sure to keep up with ride closures and future projects by reading my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar Guide. Lastly, check out my friends at Get Away Today for deals on Disneyland tickets, vacation packages, hotels and more.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Are you planning to visit Disneyland in May or even into the summer months? What is your opinion of the Critter Country makeover? Are you excited for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? What do you think of my ideas about removing Critter Country and retheming it into The Bayou? Anything to add? Sound off in the comments below.

Pixar Fest 2024 at Disneyland: 10 Things to Know

Beginning April 26 and continuing throughout the summer months, the Disneyland Resort will be hosting Pixar Fest, a fan-favorite event that’s returning to the resort for the first time since 2018.

The event celebrates all things Pixar, as beloved stories and characters from the endeared Pixar Animation Studios come to life in a way that only Disney can offer.

Throughout the event, many all new features will be offered, in addition to returning favorites with new enhancements. If you’re a fan of Pixar and you’ve been thinking of booking a trip to Disney, here’s your sign.

So what is Disney planning to offer guests during Pixar Fest? Below, I’ll discuss and present ten special offerings you can expect to experience.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind about Pixar Fest 2024:

• The event runs daily from April 26 - August 4, 2024

• Unlike After Dark Events, Pixar Fest does NOT require a separate ticket

• The event primarily takes place in DCA, but Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney and Pixar Place Hotel will also be partaking

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1) Pixar Themed Food & Marketplaces

While Disney has yet to share specific details about food and drinks (aside from a returning favorite we’ll discuss below), rest assured there will be no shortage of Pixar themed treats, dishes, cold brews and cocktails.

The returning favorite I mentioned above is the Pixar Cake pictured above, which will be available to order at Plaza Inn in the hub adjacent to the main entrance of Tomorrowland.

In 2024, the Troubadour Tavern’s menu will get a makeover, offering many Pixar-inspired foods and beverages. Additionally, Paradise Garden Grill at DCA will again offer Coco-inspired dishes.

Beginning May 10, a marketplace with several food booths (similar to the one’s used during Food and Wine) will be set-up near the Hollywood Backlot in DCA and will offer foods inspired by several characters from movies such as Luca, Ratatouille, Soul and Inside Out.

It’s a bit of a head scratcher as to why Disney decided to hold off on this until mid-May, instead of making it available in time for the advertised April start date. Though, with Food and Wine ending on April 22 and Pixar Fest beginning four days later, it could just be a timing, as Disney will need those extra couple weeks to convert the booths to their new Pixar themes.

2) Pixar Pals Playtime Party at Fantasyland Theatre

Based on the description on the Disney Parks Blog, this appears to be a family-friendly dance party with a variety of Pixar characters appearing on the stage and photo opportunities scattered throughout the viewing area, though it’s hard to tell if the characters on stage will be cut-outs or not.

They do specify it as taking place, “throughout the day”. While that doesn’t necessarily guarantee it won’t take place during night hours, the fact that it’s mainly geared towards children does suggest it.

The concept art also suggests that it’ll be more of an interactive experience, rather than a stage show. The stands are empty and all of the action is taking place in the space between the stage and stands, which at Disneyland is typically a no-go area during performances.

It’s a shame Disney isn’t pulling the trigger on a stage show, as I feel one would’ve rounded out the offerings quite nicely and Disneyland is sorely in need of more live performances, but I digress. It should be great for the kids (or the young at heart) or at minimum, a great way to get out of the sun for a bit.

3) Photo Opportunities with Pixar Characters

No special event would be complete without special and/or rare character appearances, and Pixar Fest is no exception. You’ll likely encounter all the usuals, with characters from The Incredibles, Inside Out and Toy Story making their standard appearances throughout Pixar Pier. Some of Pixar’s furrier characters, such as Dug from Up, will likely appear in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area.

In Disneyland Park, you can expect Buzz Lightyear to appear in Tomorrowland and Miguel from Coco in his usual spot in Frontierland, near the Big Thunder Mountain attraction. We’ll be attending Pixar Fest in early May, so I’ll loop back to provide more character location details at that point.

We can also presume that Bing Bong (Inside Out) and Joe Gardner (Soul) will continue to make their seemingly random appearances in the lobby of Pixar Place Hotel (for how long is the question). Additionally, Ember and Wade (Elemental) will make their debuts in the park, no word on where yet, though.

4) Pizza Planet Truck Popcorn Bucket

Themed popcorn buckets have become quite the sensation at the resort in the last few years, with each new release being more sought after than the last. It isn’t unheard of to see massive queues snaking around Town Square and other areas of the park during the first few days of each new release.

For Pixar Fest, Disney will present a popcorn bucket molded into the shape of the Pizza Planet truck from the Toy Story franchise (or every Pixar movie ever created if you’ve been paying attention). There isn’t a doubt in my mind that it’ll be in high demand.

If you’re going to want to purchase this, I would make it a point to arrive early and make it your first stop of the day, especially if it’s within the first week of release. Unfortunately, resellers converge onto the parks during new releases so they can buy as many as they can and then sell on Ebay (and other sites) for grossly inflated prices. They’re usually the cause for the huge queues and quick sell-outs.

5) Pixar Decor Throughout the Resort

The Disneyland Resort is no stranger to decorating its parks to “plus” them during a special event or occasion. During Pixar Fest, there will be no shortage of brightly-colored displays and photo-worthy sculptures.

Between the parks in the esplanade, there will be a 25-foot tall sculpture of the iconic Pixar Ball. Additionally, there will be Pixar-themed installation in DCA that your MagicBand+ will be able to interact with. These were the only two mentioned in the press release, but there will likely be many more.

6) The New, “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration” Parade at DCA

Disney California Adventure will host the centerpiece of Pixar Fest, “Better Together”, a new parade dedicated to the celebration of all things Pixar. It’ll be stacked with vibrant and colorful floats, and more than two dozen Pixar characters.

A few examples include:

• Red Panda Mei and her friends dancing to their favorite boy band; 4*Town

• Joe Gardner and 22 from Soul

• Luca, Alberto and Giulia from “Luca” spending time on the water’s edge in Portorosso

Additionally, the grand finale will include appearances from multiple legacy Pixar characters together, such as Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Mike, Sulley, Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear.

This a great news as it’s been many years since we’ve seen a proper day parade at DCA and since their parade route is longer and, historically speaking, draws lighter crowds, an ideal spot to watch the parade from generally isn’t hard to come by.

I’m not claiming you’ll be able to show up with minutes to spare and snag a great spot (though it isn’t unheard of), but you definitely won’t have to camp out hours ahead of time like you do for Magic Happens at Disneyland.

As far as vantage points go, I recommend a spot at the beginning or end. Where the parade begins will depend on if they’re running one or two parades daily but historically, parades at DCA begin near Paradise Garden Grill and end in Hollywood Land, adjacent to Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout. If there are two showings, the second showing will begin where the first showing ended.

If you choose a spot at the end of the route, keep in mind that the parade route at DCA is long and takes the performers roughly 20 minutes or so to get from one end to the other. It’s advantageous to be at the end, though, because by the time the parade route passes you, the crowds at the beginning and middle of the route would have largely dissipated.

If you’re looking to photograph the parade, I highly suggest the vantage point in the concept art above, or any spot in that space where you can place Pixar Pal Around and Incredicoaster as the backdrop. The downside to this area, is people tend to camp out here more-so than others, so you’ll need to arrive early to attain an ideal spot.

7) Club Pixar at the Hollywood Backlot

During the day-time hours, the Hollywood Backlot will feature multiple Pixar-themed backdrops for photo opportunities, games and even character encounters. At night, however, the area transforms into Club Pixar.

This is sure to be the counter to the family-friendly Playtime Party at Disneyland Park, with features such as a DJ dance party, live performances, themed food and specially crafted beverages (cocktails), this is an obvious attractant to teenagers and “Disney Adults”.

To those who remember, this is an obvious call-back to the past when the Hollywood Backlot hosted other nighttime dance parties like elecTRONica and Mad T Party, which celebrated the films Tron and the live-action Alice in Wonderland, respectively. Despite being hugely popular events, Disney hasn’t held one of these in the last decade, so it’ll surely be a welcomed addition.

8) Special Pixar Merch Throughout the Resort

Popcorn buckets aren’t the only pieces of merchandise that’ll drop for Pixar Fest. In fact, TONS of special and limited edition Pixar-themed and inspired merchandise will make their way into the gift shops in time for the event.

There hasn’t been much of any details released, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the usual suspects appear on shelves, such as Mickey ears and caps, spirit jerseys, LoungeFly bags, pins and more.

Additionally, you’ll also find plenty of collectable medallions themed to your favorite Pixar characters (for a limited time). A few examples of these characters include those from “Toy Story”, “A Bug’s Life”, “Elemental” and more.

9) Downtown Disney District

The festivities don’t end at the parks and resort hotels, Downtown Disney is also getting in on the action with vibrant decorations, photo opportunities, special merchandise collections and of course, Pixar-inspired menu items at select restaurants.

10) ‘Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular’ at Disneyland

‘Together Forever’ is a returning favorite from prior Pixar Fest events. It features fireworks (on weekends), colorful lasers, music and projections from the original productions and new additions, such as moments from “Luca”, “Onward”, “Elemental” and more.

As is the case with most firework/projection shows, there will be multiple viewing locations to choose from. The three most poplar include in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, between the Main Street U.S.A shops and in front of the “it’s a small world” facade (all of which will feature projections). Additionally, your MagicBand+ will react with lights and vibrations.

If you decide to go with the classic front-and-center view, note that it’s a risky choice, in that Disneyland’s fireworks are often canceled (though you’ll still get the projection portion of the show) and you’ll need to camp out at least an hour prior. However, the upsides are obvious, in that you’ll have a largely unobstructed view of the projections on the castle and the fly-overs that take place (likely to be the house from Up or Buzz Lightyear this year).

Further back between the buildings of Main Street is another popular option. Here, you can generally snag a great spot without having to camp out and you’ll be surrounded by the projections on the walls of the shops. You’ll still have a decent view of the castle, though it’ll be distant and you’ll likely have to contend with those who’re taller or have kids on their shoulders blocking your view.

You’ll often see recommendations for the area around the “it’s a small world” facade and the Rivers of America, but they’re typically a no-go for me. They’re definitely fairly stress-free spots, as there are rarely large crowds in these areas, but both pail in comparison to the castle and Main Street, in my humbled opinion.

A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in August 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

August is an interesting month to visit the Disneyland Resort. Crowd patterns are difficult to nail down, refurbishments are up in the air and of course, the wildcard for August 2024, Halloween season kicks off for the first time ever!

On the other end of the spectrum, the weather, while warm (it is August, after all) is still fairly comfortable, single day ticket prices start to come down in price, and for Imagine and Enchant Key holders, the summer blockout period begins to lift.

So is August a good month to visit Disneyland? How crowded will the parks be? Which attractions will be closed for refurbishment? I discuss all of these topics and more in this post. Let’s get into it!

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Check out these products I recommend for a trip to Disneyland in August…

• Element Equipment 50L Travel Duffel w/ Shoulder Straps

• Moleskin Blister Protection

• Owala Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle

• Sun Bum SPF 30 Sunscreen Spray

• Mickey and Minnie Mouse Ears (way more affordable than the ones at the park)

Anaheim Weather in August

As stated above, the weather in Anaheim in August gets on the warmer side, but it maintains a more comfortable level of warmth due to the low humidity. In fact, August is one of the months with the lowest humidity, with the chances of mugginess being 10% or less each day.

The average highs and lows are 86 and 66 degrees. Some days get into the low 90’s but rarely, if ever, exceed 94 degrees. A common rebuttal from locals to visitors complaining about the heat is, “it’s more of a dry heat, though”. Honestly, it’s hard to argue that logic once you’ve been there.

If you’re not a fan of rainy days then you’ll definitely love August as it’s one of the driest months in Anaheim. The chance for rain throughout the entire month remains at 2% with a comparatively low chance of thunder and lightening, leading to regular periods of clear, blue skies.

August also brings about longer than usual periods of daylight, though the amount you get decreases as the month progresses. The average for the month is 13.4 hours of daylight but by the time the end of the month arrives, that amount would have decreased by 55 minutes.

All that said, days are consistently warm but nights benefit from that cool coastal air and rarely exceeds 70 degrees. Despite it being summer, it would be wise to pack a light hoodie or sweater with your warm weather clothing (check out this great 50L travel duffel bag).

Is Disneyland Crowded in August?

In terms of crowds, August is chaotic. Crowd patters jump from one extreme to another throughout the month, making it difficult to pin down.

The crowds in the first half of the month will likely be as dense as they were in July, but that will start tapering off as we progress into the middle of the month as Orange County and Los Angeles school summer breaks come to a close.

However, the offset will be minimal as at around the same time, the blockout periods for the Imagine and Enchant Keys will begin to lift. This is when what I call the late afternoon “Locals Swell” returns.

Meaning, the first half of the day will likely receive the usual amount of crowds but as locals start getting out of school and work for the day, they converge onto the parks in the late afternoon or early evening, causing a swell in crowd levels.

To make matters worse, these key holders, I believe, make up the majority of local Magic Key holders, and they’ve been completely blocked out of the park since mid June. That’s a lot of pent-up demand, so be sure to compare your dates to those of the Magic Key calendar.

Another wildcard for this month is the fact that the Halloween season officially kicks off in the second half of August for the first time ever. This will definitely bring in the locals, as they’re the main demographic Disney targets for the special food and merchandise offerings.

As we’ll discuss in more detail below, the weekdays in the second half of the month are priced at their lowest - $104. Disney prices low demand days at these price points to entice more people to visit, and that’s exactly what I think will happen.

Many bargain hunters likely committed to a self-imposed lockout of the parks throughout the summer due to high prices but now that they’re coming down again, those same bargain hunters could hit the parks on those lower demand days en masse.

Finally, another aspect to consider is the Oogie Boogie effect. By that, I mean Oogie Boogie Bash, Disney California Adventure’s nighttime Halloween party.

With Halloween starting in August, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oogie Boogie nights added to the August calendar. Since DCA closes early to regular park guests on those nights, this often causes a swarm of people to migrate over to Disneyland Park.

So in addition to locals causing a swell in the evenings, you’ll also have guests park hopping from DCA to contend with.

All that said, I would still recommend booking the weekday dates of 8/19 - 8/22 or 8/26 - 8/29 as your best chance of lower crowds. Magic Key holders may (somewhat) have free rein again, but locals are back in school and the peak tourist season has come to a close.

Single Day Ticket Prices + Magic Key Blockouts

For those who’re unaware, Disney prices their single day tickets on a dynamic pricing structure. Meaning, the price you’ll pay for a specific day is driven by predicated demand based off of Disney’s historic data.

For example, generally, weekend dates are always going to be priced higher than weekday dates as they tend to be busier. This allows Disney to maximize profits on busy days, while padding the parks with more guests on slower days by pricing them lower.

In August, the price range for adult single day, one park tickets is $104 - $194. All days priced at $104 are weekdays in the second half of the month, they are 8/19 - 8/22 and 8/26 - 8/29.

There are only two days priced at the $194 mark, they are 8/3 and 8/10. Both of these are Saturdays. All Fridays and Sundays in the month vary between $169 and $184, with weekdays in the first half of August varying between $134 - $169.

The child single day, one park ticket is priced between $98 - $183 and follows the same general high and low pattern as the adult prices above.

Keep in mind that while the $104 price may sound enticing (and it is), but that low price doesn’t always equate to a slower day, crowd wise. Disney prices these days lower to entice more people to visit. If a large group of bargain hunters buy tickets for one of those days, it’ll be a busier than normal day.

To avoid that, it’s sometimes worth it to go on a day where the price is closer to the middle range. High demand days are typically always busy while lower demand days could see an influx from the lower price. It’s possible to get around that by going on a day where crowds will be closer to neutral.

If you’re a Magic Key holder, or you’re hoping to be one by August, you’ll need to be mindful of the blockout calendar. In August, the blockout periods for Imagine and Enchant Keys that have been in effect since mid-June begin to lift.

Inspire Key holders, of course, need not be concerned about blockouts as you have none in August. Believe Key holders, the only day in the month you can’t visit the parks is 8/3 (a Saturday).

Enchant Key holders will get first crack at the parks since your summer blockout period lifts on 8/5. You will still be blocked 8/1 - 8/4 and then again on 8/10, 8/17, 8/24 and 8/31, all of which are Saturdays.

Imagine Key holders, you’ll be blocked for the first eleven days of the month. Your first eligible day to enter the parks will be 8/12. After that, you’re blocked on 8/16 - 8/18, 8/24 - 8/25 and 8/31. All of these are weekends and/or Fridays.

Hotel Rates for August

Which hotel you’re going to stay at for your Disneyland vacation is a big decision. There are many hotels surrounding the parks, including three Disney owned properties, all of which vary in quality, rates and amenities.

The three Disney owned hotels - The Grand Californian, The Disneyland Hotel & Villas and Pixar Place, are undoubtedly going to be most expensive hotel options.

Outside of that, there are dozens of what are called Good Neighbor hotels that surround the resort, namely on South Harbor blvd and Katella ave. South Harbor runs parallel to the resort on its east side (the main entrance), while Katella runs south along the backside of DCA.

The following rates are average nightly rates in August for these hotels. Remember, these are averages and they’ll vary based on too many variables to keep proper track of. These are just examples of what you can expect to pay in August:

• The Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, Disney’s most expensive property in California, has an average nightly rate of $779.45 for a standard view and $1,368 for club level of the same view.

• The Disneyland Hotel & Villas, the original Disney hotel, fares a little bit better with an average rate of $576.52 for a studio in the Villas Tower, $589.09 for a standard view room and $896.28 for a club level room of the same view.

• Disney’s newest addition to the line up, Pixar Place, is the most budget friendly of the three with an average rate of $457.66 for a standard view and $705.14 for club level.

The Good Neighbor hotels are a bit harder to track, as there are many of them and I have to rely on third party websites to obtain an acceptable average.

If you’re looking for the most budget friendly options and you’re not all that concerned with amenities, there are four hotels within walking or shuttle distance that average under $125 per night, they are Motel 6 Maingate, Anaheim Astoria, Kings Inn Anaheim and Solara Inn and Suites.

If you’re wanting better amenities but you’re not looking to re-finance your house to do it, there are several properties under $250 a night that offer such, they are the Howard Johnson Hotel and Water Playground, Tropicana Hotel and Suites, Grand Legacy at the Park and The Anaheim Hotel. All of these are within close proximity of the resort’s east entrance.

That said, the majority of which that sit between the I-5 overpass and the Katella intersection run between $200 and $300 per night, with some reaching as high as $360. Of course, there are higher end hotels located nearby such as the Westin and Courtyard Marriott that often reach the $500 mark.

Halloween Season at Disneyland

For the first time ever, Halloween season at the Disneyland Resort officially begins on Friday, August 23. This is in direct response to the overwhelming popularity of the holidays at the park.

There hasn’t been any details released by Disney about what to expect this year, as those are typically announced in June. However, we have plenty of historical data to go off of that’ll give us a general idea.

For starters, Disney’s nighttime Halloween party, Oogie Boogie Bash, will certainly return in 2024. With the addition of August in the timeline, I expect expanded dates and potentially more offerings during the hard ticket event.

Halloween decor is also a given. In Disneyland Park, Main Street U.S.A and parts of Frontierland are generally the only two lands that receive decor. Additionally, we’ll also have the return of Haunted Masnion Holiday with a newly expanded queue and exit.

At DCA, the decor runs throughout much of the park, including and especially at Cars Land, which transforms into Radiator SCREAMS. If you’ve never seen Cars Land during Halloween time, it’s an attraction all its own and will have you exploring every nook and cranny of the land.

There are Halloween overlays at select attractions in DCA as well, including Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Mission Breakout. Additionally, there are sure to be dozens of special food, treat and drink offerings, along with limited edition merchandise.

I’ll be sure to update this post when more information becomes available. For now, be sure to give my 2024 Halloween at Disneyland guide.

Disneyland Attraction Refurbishments in August

The Haunted Mansion, which is currently closed while it undergoes an expansion of its grounds, queue area and exit, will likely be down for the first few weeks of August, but I expect it to reopen in time for the Halloween season kickoff on August 23.

Another closure that’ll be a sure thing is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. While Walt Disney World’s version has received a summer 2024 opening, ours is taking longer due Disney closing it months later and workers running into issues. I don’t expect ours to open anytime before November.

Beyond that, nothing is certain as Disney doesn’t release refurbishment information sooner than 45 days out. A persistent closure that occurs often during the hot summer months is the Monorail, though.

Unfortunately, the Monorail wasn’t built with air conditioning in mind so when it gets too warm, usually around the mid-day mark, Disney temporarily closes the Monorail for guest safety. Once it cools back down, they’ll reopen it.

As August approaches and Disney releases more information, I will update this post. Be sure to read and save my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar, as I relentlessly keep it up to date with ride closure and future project information.

Disneyland Halloween 2024 Guide

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Visiting Disneyland during normal times of year can feel daunting enough. Throw in the Halloween element and things go to a different level entirely. Second only to the Christmas season, Halloween at the Disneyland Resort has grown in popularity year over year and is showing no signs of slowing down.

We have been to Disneyland during the Halloween season multiple times and can profess to how awesome the entire experience is. From Oogie Boogie Bash at DCA to the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland proper, we’re here for it all.

If you’ve never been to Disneyland during Halloween, this guide is for you. In it, we cover what to expect, dates, special events and more. Let’s get into it.

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When Is Halloween Begin At Disneyland?

Halloween season at the Disneyland Resort isn’t just a one day celebration on the holiday itself. Rather, Disneyland celebrates Halloween throughout multiple months.

In years’ past, Disneyland would kick off its Halloween season in early September, usually just after Labor Day. In 2024, however, you’ll have even more time to enjoy the spooky season, as it’ll now begin on August 23, 2024 (Friday).

This expansion of dates is a testament to the growing popularity and demand for more Halloween at the resort. In what was once considered a slow time of year at the parks, it has morphed into the busiest, rivaling even July.

While Disney hasn’t announced it yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oogie Boogie Bash dates also be expanded, as it’s a way for Disney increase profits without the bad press of high price increases.

Is Halloween At Disneyland Crowded?

The Halloween season USED to be a fairly slow time at the Disneyland Resort. It was because of that why that timeframe was our go-to for a relatively crowd-free experience but as stated above, that’s no longer the case.

The Halloween season, largely due to the annual Oogie Boogie Bash event, has experienced massive growth and an increase in popularity over the last few years. This began prior to the covid closure, but has exploded since.

This is why much of the event has migrated over to Disney California Adventure. Disneyland Park typically sees heavier crowds than DCA, Halloween or not, so the shift was one of many tactics taken to boost sagging attendance there.

Generally, the closer to Halloween it gets, the more dense the crowds. If your goal is to enjoy the Halloween season without heavy crowds, I would aim for dates in the first ten days of September, or potentially even weekday dates in the latter half of August.

That period, namely the first ten days of September, has managed to maintain its status as one of the least busiest times of year at the resort. It’s towards the end of the month and into October when crowd levels begin to rise exponentially.

The Oogie Boogie Bash Variable

An important element to the Halloween season that will have an overall effect on crowd patterns at the resort is the mega-popular annual event, “Oogie Boogie Bash”, at Disney California Adventure.

In 2024, the event will likely be held on nights throughout the months of August, September and October, typically with one to three days between each. On nights with a scheduled event, DCA will close early to regular park guests at 6pm.

On days when there’s a scheduled event, the majority of the crowds are across the esplanade at Disneyland, with DCA seeing minimal crowds.

The reason for this is simple. Since DCA closes early on bash nights (6pm), most visitors don’t want to waste a full-day ticket on a partial day at the park. There are no discounts for these days.

Generally, visitors that are in DCA on a bash-night are either locals, Magic Key holders (or both) or have the park hopper option on their ticket. When DCA closes, they just hop over.

The opposite, however, is true for non-bash nights. California Adventure will see higher crowd levels since those guests have a full day available to them.

If you purchased the park hopper option (or are a Magic Key holder) and you’re NOT attending the bash, I recommend beginning your day at DCA to take advantage of the lower crowds.

Around 3pm, when they start letting bash ticket holders in, is when you should consider heading over to Disneyland Park (or back to your hotel for a break).

If you DON’T have the park hopper option, I recommend spending your day at Disneyland to take advantage of the full day. The hours you’d be losing at DCA far outweigh the lower crowd levels.

Normally, I don’t purchase the park hopper option for myself and usually advise against it. One of the exceptions to both of those is during the Halloween season, when your dates coincide with Oogie Boogie Bash events.

Oogie Boogie Bash 2024

A big reason for Disney’s success during Halloween is the annual event, Oogie Boogie Bash. It’s held semi-nightly at DCA throughout the entirety of the season, concluding with the final bash on October 31st.

The bash is five hours long (6pm-11pm) and features multiple exclusive attractions, such as villain treat trails, ‘Villains Grove’, rare character appearances, ‘Fightfully Fun Parade’ and more.

In 2023, tickets to the event sold out in record time. I would expect much of the same for 2024 so if you’re planning to attend, keep your finger on he pulse (be sure to follow our Facebook page as that is where i’ll announce when tickets go on sale)

If you’re expecting a scary Halloween party, this isn’t it. It’s more about the overall vibe and celebration of Halloween rather than the scares. If scares are your thing, drive north to Universal or Knott’s.

Oogie Boogie Bash is appropriate for all ages so if you have littles, this won’t exclude them. Far from it, actually. What kid wouldn’t relish the opportunity to trick or treat with their favorite characters?

I wrote a comprehensive guide detailing our experience at Oogie Boogie Bash 2022. If you’re considering attending (or just mildly curious), be sure to give it a read at the link below.

READ: Oogie Boogie Bash 2024: Ticket Prices, Dates, and What to Expect

Attraction Overlays

Each season, select attractions throughout both parks receive Halloween themed overlays to help celebrate the festivities and make it an even more unique experience for visitors.

These include:

• Haunted Mansion

• Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission BREAKOUT!

• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

• Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters

We’ll start with the Halloween flagship attraction; Haunted Mansion. Each year, Disney converts it into, “Haunted Mansion Holiday”, where characters from the beloved film, “Nightmare Before Christmas”, take over.

This has proven to be mega popular over the years and the queue often reflects that. It isn’t uncommon to see seventy to eighty minute wait times and Genie+ return windows being hours out.

If this is something you’d be interested in, I suggest either rope dropping it, making it your first Genie+ selection or try to hitting it just before park closing (if you’d want to avoid the long wait, that is).

At DCA, one of their biggest draws is Mission Breakout’s conversion to, “Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark”. The ride itself is generally the same, but the plot differs from the original.

The plot for ‘Monsters’ takes place after the events of Mission Breakout, when the Guardians successfully escape the Collector's grasp. Groot, however gets left behind and now you’re tasked with sacrificing your safety - or assisting Rocket by distracting the monsters while he saves Groot.

The monsters version of ride is fun. It has its moments and features just as many drops as Mission Breakout, but to me it isn’t as exciting as the original. In this version, you’re without the classic rock songs and instead, are forced to listen to a what I assume to be a generic death metal song that just sounds like noise.

The classic rock songs are a huge part of why I and so many others love that ride so much. I appreciate the original storyline and effort they put into it but for my money, I’ll take Mission Breakout over ‘monsters’ any day.

Halloween Decor & Character Outfits

Throughout the season, both parks at the Disneyland Resort are adorned in orange and black Halloween decor and many characters are dressed in their favorite (not-so) spooky costumes.

The majority of the characters you’ll see adorned in Halloween garb are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and Chip n’ Dale. They’ll likely be in their usual spots within Town Square and Buena Vista Street, respectively.

Disneyland Park

The majority of the resort’s decorations will be at Disneyland Park. To set the tone of things to come, above the turnstiles at the entrance are each of the Fab Five represented in pumpkin form.

Once inside the park, you’ll also take notice of the Main Street Train Station adorned in decor and below that, a Halloween version of Floral Mickey usually makes an appearance.

Past the tunnels and into Town Square, each building and lighting fixture is lined with pumpkins, bows, orange and black garland and floral.

In the center of Town Square is the massive and ever popular Mickey pumpkin head photo-op.

*Tip: Most people want their picture taken here at night when everything is lit up. The line will be HUGE, but it goes by fairly quickly. So don’t let it scare you off.

If you’re leaving before nightfall and still want your photo in front of the pumpkin, do it mid-day when the coastal haze has given way to blue skies.

If your aim is to get your photo at night and with as little people around as possible, save it for closing. Main Street stays open one hour past official closing time and this includes the pumpkin!

A lot of people would have headed back to their hotels by this point so your chances of a people-free photo with the pumpkin are decent. Any other time of day/night…forget about it.

As you move past Main Street, Halloween decor begins to wane. With the exception of Frontierland, you won’t much (if any) decor in the themed lands; including and especially Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Frontierland has perhaps the coolest of all the Halloween decor in the park; The Halloween Tree. You can’t miss it. It’s literally the only tree in the land with decoration and lights.

The tree is a tribute to Ray Bradbury and his 1972 novel of the same name. He was a huge proponent of Disney theme parks, including and especially EPCOT Center in Florida.

Also in Frontierland, near the Rancho del Zocalo restaurant, are decorations celebrating Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead). The vibrant colors give life to an otherwise underutilized part of the park.

As stated above, don’t expect decor (or even a mention of Halloween) in Galaxy’s Edge. This is to preserve the commitment to theming as Disney wants you to feel like you’ve actually in the Star Wars universe.

Disney California Adventure

DCA takes a heavy ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ vibe as it pertains to its decor on Buena Vista Street (for obvious reasons). You’ll find a silhouette of Oogie Boogie himself above the entrance on both sides.

Like its big brother park across the esplanade, DCA’s decor come to life in a big way at night. Green and purple lighting effects amplify the Halloween spirit and gives everything an enjoyably spooky vibe.

Just down the way from Buena Vista Street, though, is where you’ll find the undisputed champion of Halloween decor - Cars Land.

Cars Land goes above and beyond from simple Halloween decor. In fact, you could argue that Radiator Springs goes through a full-blown overlay and gets transformed into a literal Halloween-town.

Between the spider-car in front of Flo’s V8 Cafe, the green/purple lighting effects on the Cadillac Range mountains of Radiator Springs Racers, the Cozy Cone Motel going through a ghostly transformation and more, the town (temporarily) becomes, ‘Radiator Screams’.

The sheer level of detail found throughout the land is incredible. No proverbial stone is left unturned as literally every building, character and attraction is smothered in the Haul-O-ween spirit. One could easily spend an entire evening looking around.

Disneyland Halloween Treats

No one appeals to foodies quite like Disney. Seasonal foods, deserts and treats are offered throughout the year and Halloween is no exception. In fact, a lot of people (us included) can only get their favorites during this time of year.

Both parks, resort hotels and most establishments in Downtown Disney offer a variety of seasonal items, such as entrees, alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, deserts, hand-held treats and more.

If you’re into pumpkin flavored, well….anything, then Disneyland is where you’ll want to be. The parks heavily cater to pumpkin lovers. If you’re not into pumpkin, don’t fret. There will be plenty of options for you as well.

Don’t stress over trying to eat everything. There’s simply too many options. Disney markets these seasonal offerings to locals as they’re able to go to the parks simply to try a new desert. The average visitor doesn’t have that luxury, unfortunately.

READ ALSO: “Disneyland Dining Guide: Mobile Order, Mobile Walk-Up, Reservations and More”

Details Released for Disneyland’s 2024 Star Wars Nite Event

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

A few months ago, Disneyland officials announced the park’s 2024 After Dark lineup and to the surprise of absolutely no one, Star Wars Nite would once again headline the series.

Second only to Oogie Boogie Bash (maybe), the Star Wars brand has been anchoring Disney’s After Dark events since 2018 and has been growing in popularity ever since.

In 2024, there will be twice as many Star Wars Nites as there were in 2023! A total of eight, to be exact, spread out over the months of April and May.

Recently, Disney finally announced the specifics about the event, including a few changes that you may or may not be thrilled about.

In the post below, I’ll discuss what you can expect from Star Wars Nite in 2024, ticket prices, dates, on sale dates, Magic Key pre sales and more!

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2024 Star Wars Nite Dates and Ticket Prices

In 2024, Disneyland will be hosting eight Star Wars Nite events on April 16, 18, 23, 25, 30 and May 2, 7, and 9. This is twice as many as they held in 2023, proving the Star Wars brand is just as strong as it’s ever been.

As predicted, the ticket prices for Star Wars Nite jumped a bit this year, but not by much. In 2024, prices for tickets range between $159 and $169. Specific date pricing is as follows:

• April 16: $159

• April 18: $169

• April 23: $159

• April 25: $169

• April 30: $159

• May 2: $169

• May 7: $159

• May 9: $169

As per usual, there are no Magic Key discounts (or any at all, for that matter), and there is no distinction between adults and kids as both pay the same rate.

There reason why Disney doesn’t offer a lower rate for kids for After Dark tickets is because the main draw at these events are the special offerings, instead of the usual, everyday attractions.

Many of the attractions have height requirements that some kids don’t meet and thus, won’t be able to experience the attraction. So on a normal park ticket, they’re priced less to compensate.

The offerings during After Dark events, which usually consists of rare character meet and greets, dance parties, photo opps and the like, do not require a height requirement. So both adults and kids can experience them the same. Hence, why they’re priced accordingly.

One of the benefits of your ticket is being able to access Disneyland three hours prior to the event’s start time. With Star Wars Nite kicking off at 9pm, that means you can get in starting at 6pm.

2024 Star Wars Nite Offerings

Unless a specific attraction is closed for refurbishment or a closure of some other kind, most Disneyland Park attractions will be open during the event.

This is great because compared to a normal park day, the crowds at After Dark events are generally lighter. Additionally, most attendees are focusing on the special offerings.

This usually means you’ll experience minimum wait times. I’m not saying they’ll all be walk-ons, though. The Star Wars themed attractions, such as Rise of the Resistance, will likely still have a decent wait. Though not as high as it normally is.

Conversely, Star Tours and Smuggler’s Run will likely experience decent wait times, but nothing like they do during normal park hours.

Low wait times aside, the real draw here are the numerous Star Wars themed offerings. In 2024, some of these include special character opportunities, themed photo opportunities, Star Wars themed food and more.

Some of these include:

• An encounter with Captain Phasma and her elite unit of Stormtroopers in Tomorrowland

• The ‘Resistance Show of Unity’ in front of the Millennium Falcon in Galaxy’s Edge

• Numerous Star Wars themed treats available for purchase, including a Street-Style Elote Burger at Hungry Bear and Pork Belly Sisig-inspired Loaded Fries at Red Rose Taverne

• A Galactic Dance Party with a DJ on Main Street U.S.A

• Rare character meet and greets scattered throughout the park

• A special cavalcade led by Mickey and Minnie Mouse down Main Street U.S.A with guests wearing Star Wars costumes

• and much more

If you’ll be wearing a Star Wars-themed costume to the event, taking part in the cavalcade down Main Street is sure to be one of the biggest highlights of the event.

You’ll begin near the train station and be led up Main Street U.S.A by none other than Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The cavalcade will culminate at Sleeping Beaty Castle, where a group photo of the participants will be taken.

Many of the treat options can be mobile ordered, but I implore you to do so ahead of time. Remember, you’re permitted entry into the park three hours prior to the event’s start time.

I recommend booking your pick up windows during this time, if possible, as these treats have been known to sell out fast. It is not yet known if Magic Key holder discounts will apply.

When Do 2024 Star Wars Nite Tickets Go On Sale?

Star Wars Nite tickets are sold exclusively on the Disneyland website (NOT the app), and there are multiple sale dates to be aware of this year. Magic Key holders, you need to pay attention.

For the first time, Inspire Key (the highest key tier) holders, will get first crack at Star Wars Nite tickets prior to everyone else - on February 20, to be exact. Reminder - unless you have an activated Inspire Key, you will NOT be able to purchase tickets on this date.

By activated, I mean you’ve either already used your key to access one of the parks or you’ve used your parking entitlement. If you recently purchased an Inspire Key on January 10 and HAVEN’T yet used it, then it is NOT activated.

For Believe, Enchant and Imagine Key holders, you’ll have your exclusive purchase days on February 21 AND February 22. Note that Inspire Key holders will NOT be able to purchase tickets on these two dates.

Finally, the general public sale will be held on February 23. If you’re not a Magic Key holder, don’t fret. Disney holds a certain amount of tickets aside for each sale date. Exactly how many is unknown, but there will still be tickets available for each sales date on February 23.

No matter the sale date you’re eligible for, tickets go on sale no sooner than 9am through the Disneyland website and you’ll be placed in a virtual queue. New for this year will be the “Notify Me” option while in the virtual queue.

With this feature, you can opt to provide Disney with an email address to notify you when it’s your turn to purchase tickets. This way, you’re not staring at the computer screen for hours on end. When you receive notification, you’ll have ten minutes to make your selections.

Why Disney went with an email option and not a text message one is a bit of a head scratcher to me, but I digress. As someone who can testify to how stressful the virtual queue can be, this is certainly better than nothing.

Much like Oogie Boogie Bash and Sweetheart’s Nite, this event will sell out quickly. Just because sales begin no sooner than 9am, doesn’t mean there isn’t anything you can do to give yourself an advantage.

Disney doesn’t announce this, and it doesn’t happen every time, but you’re often able to enter a “virtual waiting room” starting at 8:45am. Doing this could mean the difference between getting to purchase your tickets in under an hour or having to wait multiple hours.

Additionally, instead of going directly to the Disneyland website at 8:45am, go to Google and search “2024 Star Wars Nite tickets”. Click the first Disneyland website link in the search results and that’ll take you directly to the virtual queue.

Refreshing the Disneyland website sometimes doesn’t work and there are occasional delays that could derail your chances. It nearly happened to me during the Magic Key sale in January. That five minutes I missed while constantly hitting refresh caused to wait over six hours to purchase my keys.

READ NEXT: “Disneyland in One Day: 8 Tips to Maximize Your Time”

A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in July 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Visiting Disneyland in July is only for the bravest of souls. Of all the summer months, July tends to be the busiest, as blocked out Magic Key holders make way for the peak tourist season swell.

In most cases, school aged children are out for summer break, making it a prime opportunity for their parents to cash in their PTO. Combine that with the thousands of Inspire Key holders still able to access the parks, and you have a recipe for dense crowds.

So how crowded is Disneyland in July, exactly? Are there any special events? How much are hotels going to cost? I discuss all these topics and whole lot more below. Let’s get into it.

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Anaheim Weather in July

For starters, it’s hot. July is Anaheim’s hottest month of the year but with its low humidity (around 57%), it doesn’t feel too bad. Nights can still be on the cooler side, so bringing a light hoodie wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The average lows and highs are in the mid 60’s and the low 80’s, respectively. There will be a few miserably hot days where the heat rises into the 90s but overall, it’s a comfortable level of warmth. You’ll also get an average of 14.2 hours of daylight.

If you’re not a fan of rainy days, you’re in luck. July is one of the months with the least amount of rain in Anaheim. According to AccuWeather, there’s only a 5% chance of rain on any given day and in Southern California, there are very little summer thunder storms as well.

Wind is rarely an issue either. The average wind speed hovers around 7.7 mph (in other words, barely noticeable). All in all, aside from a few overly hot days, July isn’t a bad month, weather wise.

Be sure to pack for warm weather but as stated above, you’ll definitely want to bring along a light hoodie and maybe joggers for the cooler evenings.

Is Disneyland Crowded in July?

In a word, yes. As stated above, July is the peak tourist travel season at the Disneyland Resort. However, there’s generally no significant difference between weekday and weekend crowds, so you’ll have more options as to which dates to book.

All of the special ticket promotions Disney was running earlier in the year will have long expired by this point, so expect to pay sticker price on multi-day and the high end of the spectrum for single-day tickets.

The fact that all Magic Keys sold out in record time on January 10th could indicate higher than usual crowds. In fact, both the Inspire and Believe Keys, which are the only two that are not entirely blocked for the month, were the first to sell out. That doesn’t necessarily equate to higher crowds, though.

I say that because locals are the biggest drivers of crowds at Disneyland, and more of them are opting for the lower two Magic Key options. While it’s believed there are more holders of those versus the higher two, the lower two are blocked out entirely in July. Some will surely purchase single day tickets to get their fix but they’re the exception, not the rule.

In fact, due to the Imagine and Enchant Keys being blocked out entirely and the Believe Key being blocked on select dates, I expect July 4-6, 13, 20 and 27 to potentially be the “slowest” days of the month. Of course, the word slow at Disneyland is a relative term, and all depends on perspective. It’s going to be packed, just potentially not as much so as the rest of the month.

Aside from Independence Day, Disneyland’s Birthday and the continuation of Pixar Fest, there are no special events or After Dark events scheduled for July. The rush to see the offerings of Pixar Fest would have likely died down by now.

Due to the heavy crowds in July, you’ll need to be on the ball when it comes to dining reservations. Meaning, exactly 60-days before each day of your visit, you’ll need to be signed into your account on the Disneyland website or app. They usually start releasing reservations at around 6am or so.

If your goal is to visit the parks with the least amount of people around as possible, I recommend skipping a visit in July and consider booking for late August or early September, if at all possible.

Disneyland Single-Day Ticket Prices and Magic Key Blockouts

Disneyland prices its single-day tickets on a dynamic structure, meaning the price you pay is driven by demand. For example, the price you’ll pay for a Saturday will almost always be priced higher than a ticket purchased for a Tuesday.

Due to July being the peak of the tourist travel season, just about everyday that month is going to be at the higher end of the spectrum, with few exceptions. The current price range for single-day, adult tickets is $154 - $194. This is for one park, by the way.

Currently, there are only three days at the $154 price, they are July 9, 18 and 22 (a Tuesday, Thursday and a Monday). Interestingly, July 4, Independence Day, is priced at only $169. I know only is a subjective term but considering it’s a national holiday, that price is almost a bargain.

Conversely, all Saturdays in the month and one Friday (7/5) are priced at the high end at $194. Sundays are priced just below that in the $180 range. Weekdays have an average price of $169 and as stated above, the differences in crowd levels aren’t that great. So save yourself some money and go on a weekday.

Single-day child tickets are priced between $146 - $183 and follow the same general pattern as the adult tickets. This is why it’s always a good idea to commit to, at minimum, a two day visit. Yes, technically, you’ll pay more on a two day ticket, but you’ll have more time and thus, more value for your money, as multi-day tickets aren’t subject to dynamic pricing.

Magic Key holders, much like regular ticket holders, are subject to the reservation system and thus, have blockout days where they are unable to access the parks. The Imagine and Enchant Keys, the lower two tiers, are blocked out entirely in July.

Believe Key holders only have a handful of blockout dates. They are July 4, 5, 6, 13, 20 and 27. The Inspire Key, Disney’s top tier, isn’t blocked out at all in July.

July Hotel Rates at Disneyland

A hot button topic when planning a trip to Disneyland is which hotel you’re going to stay at. Unlike its Florida counterpart, whom has dozens of on-site hotels, Disneyland only has three. However, there are a plethora of what are called, “Good Neighbor” hotels. Many of which are within walking distance of the parks.

The three resort hotels are:

• Grand Californian Hotel and Spa

• The Disneyland Hotel and Villas

• Pixar Place Hotel

All three range in amenities, offerings and price but for many, the cost of these hotels is prohibitive. In July, the average nightly rate at the Grand Californian is $874.26 for a standard room with a view of the gardens. For club level of the same classification, you’re looking at a $1,521.74 per night average.

You’ll fare a little better at the Disneyland Hotel with an average nightly rate of $634.76 for a studio in the Villas Tower, $640.60 for a standard room in the other three towers and $948.90 for club level. Pixar Place, Disney’s newest hotel offering, is the most affordable at $503.50 for standard and $718.75 for club.

As you can see, the rates at the resort hotels aren’t for the faint of heart. As stated above, there are literally dozens of more affordable options surrounding the resort. Many of which offer similar or superior amenities to those found at the Grand Californian for more than half the cost.

Obtaining a nightly average for these hotels proved to be a bit more complicated but overall, the Good Neighbor hotels I researched ranged between $70 - $339 per night, with the majority of those that are within walking distance having a nightly average of $180 - $230. As you can see, the savings can be substantial.

Many of the South Harbor hotels between the I-5 overpass and Katella intersection are at $208 or higher, with Motel 6 Maingate, The Clarion and Anaheim Astoria having the lowest averages of $115 or lower per night. I’ve personally stayed at the Motel 6 Maingate and Clarion, neither of which I’ve ever had an issue with. If you’re just looking for a place to sleep, they’re great options.

Despite many of these hotels being within walking distance, many of them offer shuttle service to the parks via the Anaheim Rapid Transit (ART). The cost for that service is $6 - $25 for adults and $2.50 - $5.50 for kids (ages 3-9). You can purchase passes for ART here or in the lobby of your hotel.

Disneyland Ride Closures in July

The Disneyland Resort puts its attractions on a regular closure schedule for ongoing maintenance, extensive repairs, new safety features or including new scenes or technology. These are known as, “refurbishments”. Regardless of the reason, no one likes showing up to the park, all to discover that their favorite attraction is closed.

To help deter this disappointment, Disney releases refurbishment information roughly 45-days in advance. Though, last minute additions or date changes do occur from time to time.

At the time of this post’s publishing, refurb information for July hasn’t been released. However, I can say for certain that the Haunted Mansion attraction will be closed. Disney is currently reimagining the mansion’s grounds, queue space and exit, as well as constructing an ADA elevator.

Another attraction that’s sure to be down is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Officials at Walt Disney World recently announced a summer 2024 opening for their version of the ride but sadly, we’re going to be waiting a bit longer on the west coast. Our version is currently slated for a late 2024 opening.

This section will be updated as more information about refurbishments become available. In the meantime, I suggest reading and saving my official 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Guide. In addition to ride closures, I also discuss ongoing and future projects at the resort.

Dates in 2024 to Avoid Visiting Disneyland On

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Previously, I wrote a post about the most affordable dates to visit Disneyland in 2024 (you can give that one a read here). After publishing it, I started getting questions about which dates people should avoid most.

While some may think there’s no such thing as a bad day at Disneyland, the truth is, crowd levels can get so out of control that even queues at the churro carts get deep, not to mention attractions such as Space Mountain and Radiator Springs Racers.

Shortly before covid, crowd patterns began to shift with the opening of Star Wars - Galaxy’s Edge. Prior to that, predicting crowd levels was relatively easy. Ever since the opening of Galaxy’s Edge and the covid closure, predicting crowd patterns has become quite the craft-shoot.

That said, I cannot guarantee a particular day will be slower or busier than the next. However, despite the change in guest behavior, there are still dates that I can say with a decently high degree of certainty will surely be busy. If your goal is to avoid overly crowded days, pay attention to the list below.

January 1st, 2024 (New Years Day)

This one’s obvious. New Year’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year at the Disneyland Resort. It hasn’t happened since reservations became a thing but in the past, they’ve had to close the gates its gotten so busy.

To some, kicking off their year at Disneyland seems like a great idea and if it’s worth it to you then hey, do you. However, if you’re looking to avoid soul crushing crowds, definitely skip this day and plan for the last three weeks of January instead.

January 11 - 14, 2024 (Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend)

After a five year hiatus, the Disney Half Marathon is returning to the Disneyland Resort. With it, an influx of joggers (who also happen to be Disney fans) show up and give attendance a nice boost.

While the event takes place in the early morning hours, many of the participants end up making a day out of it and head to the parks after the event (and hopefully a shower). So unless you’re planning to participate in the event, I would recommend avoiding these dates.

Mid-March - First Week of April (Spring Break)

This one is right up there with the New Year’s crowds, only instead of just one day, the parks are slammed for about a three to four week period.

Some school districts let their students out for two weeks while others keep it to just one. With Easter falling on March 31 in 2024, that means the latter half of March and the first week of April are spring break crowd danger zones.

For more details on visiting in the months of March and April and how to avoid the spring break crowds, check out the posts below:

• A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in March

• A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in April

Grad Nite Dates in May & June

If you don’t know what Grad Nites are, they’re essentially a souped-up field trip for high school seniors. It’s a congratulatory event for their years of hard work and a way for them to blow off some steam.

Avoiding these dates doesn’t necessarily mean avoiding the resort all together, as Grad Nite events take place at Disney California Adventure. However, attendees are also afforded day access to Disneyland, so keep that in mind.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been to the park during a grad nite event and while the walkways were definitely dense, wait times at the attractions weren’t much worse than usual. Just something to consider. To see specific Grad Nite dates, read the posts below:

• A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in May

• A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in June

November 28 & 29, 2024 (Thanksgiving & Black Friday)

Thanksgiving and Black Friday are notorious for heavy crowds at Disneyland. In addition to the holiday itself, the proceeding few weeks are the last chance for all Magic Key holders to get in their Disney fix before the key-wide blockout period commences.

Usually, the days leading up to Thanksgiving aren’t all that bad, so if you must go during that week, I recommend doing so between November 25 - 27. The crowds on the weekdays after Black Friday are also typically better as well.

December 24 & 25 (Christmas Eve & Christmas Day)

New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving - while crowded in their own right - are nothing compared to the epic crowds that converge onto the parks on Christmas Eve and day.

All Magic Key holders are still blocked on these days, but we’re still in the midst of winter school breaks and parents using the last of their PTO before losing it.

In addition, for those of you who’re wanting to do Disneyland in one day, you’ll also pay inflated ticket, Genie+ and Lightning Lane prices.

December 31, 2024 (New Years’ Eve)

Much like the people who want to start their new year off right - at Disneyland, many of those same people flock to the parks to mark the transition from the old year to new one.

Due to this, New Year’s Eve is a tremendously busy day. Each year, Disney rings in the new year with an epic fireworks show at the stroke of midnight. Believe me, it’s a crowd pleaser, but you’ll pay the price by having to stand in shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.

Multiple 3-Day Weekends Throughout the Year

Any time you have a holiday falling on a Friday or Monday, it creates a three day weekend. If that holiday is a federal one, the school districts and workforce typically get an extra day off, and that almost always translates to a busy day at the resort.

In 2024, there are multiple three day weekend dates to be weary of. They are:

• January 15 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

• February 19 (President’s Day)

• May 27 (Memorial Day)

• September 2 (Labor Day)*

• October 14 (Indigenous Peoples Day)

• November 11 (Veteran’s Day)

*PRO TIP: The one exception is Labor Day. Of all holiday weekends, that one generally sees the lowest crowds as locals have returned to school and work from their summer vacations.