Technically, the Universal Halloween Horror Nights go through November 2nd -- running for the entire weekend -- whereas the final Oogie Boogie Bash of the year was last night.
That might have been a good reason to switch the review order, giving people a chance to still get in, but I assure you that the bash was sold out last week too. I still think I can give some tips for you if you want to go next year, because I suspect a lot of it will be the same.
When the Halloween parties were new, I remember hearing people talk about just walking onto rides. I don't think that is still as true.
The parties sell out quickly now, and there are going to be a lot of people around. How much they want to go on rides and whether they want to go on the same ones is questionable, but for riding lots of rides, going at lower volume times is probably a better answer, though also hard to do.
In addition there are decorations all over that are pretty great, and a few changed rides, but you can get those during regular park hours.
Unique to the bash is the Villains Grove.
It is set up on the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
There are no villains, though; they are on the Treat Trails.
One thing I really appreciated about the Grove was that there were cast members guiding the way. In the dark and with some stair options, one could easily trip or get lost and that part went pretty well.
One complaint I have: since when is the Cheshire Cat a villain? He may not be particularly helpful, and that's pretty feline, but it's not villainous.
With Maleficent's movies, I don't really think of her as a villain so much anymore, but I get why she's in there.
Speaking of Maleficent, we went through her treat trail.
There were twelve altogether, and we only did one. Trick-or-treating is a fun childhood memory, so it is a cool idea, but you are in a long line.
For getting tons of candy, you can. We averaged eleven pieces each, so if the three of us had done all twelve trails, that would have been a lot and there don't seem to be any limits for repeating.
I do not seem to have gotten any good photos of the parade, including of the Headless Horseman.
There was a kind of long pause between the horseman and the parade. I know some of that was for the cleanup crew, but still, it was longer than I expected. I believe that is because the horse moves faster than the parade, which will be most noticeable at the end of the route.
Our agenda -- in the interest of getting out kind of early (maybe not the best plan) -- was doing the Villains Grove first, going through the Maleficent Treat Trail because it was right there, then heading toward Buena Vista Street to catch the parade's end by the entrance, allowing us to get out quickly.
The problem is that lots of other people had the same idea, so it was very crowded there and hard to see.
Also there were many people coming in as we were leaving. I suspect part of that is a lot of people with small children watching the first parade at 7:45 and then leaving, but there is another parade at 10, probably with fewer people, including fewer young ones.
The bash starts at 6. To get the most out of it, what probably would have been smarter would have been doing a few treat trails before catching the parade at it's starting point in Paradise Gardens Park, then catching more Treat Trails on the way back to the exit. There were a cluster in Hollywoodland, but the others were more spread out.
There had been one point of confusion with the Treat Trails. The map gives the start time for the first trail on Buena Vista Street as 9 PM. That is probably due to the parade or other character obligations. It does make sense to save that one for last.
And, that may not be exactly the same next year, but thinking about what is important to you and being strategic is usually a good idea; the map can be very helpful for that.
One thing I had not expected was the amount of photo opportunities. This is not something we took advantage of, but we saw many photo lines, one couple who looked like they were getting engagement photos taken, and two people who must have known that Pain and Panic were going to be there.
There were some characters you don't normally see. I am just glad Clarabelle is more in the mix now.
Something else I enjoyed was seeing the various costumes, many Disney-themed. I was wearing a Mickey Mouse vampire shirt.
On our way out we saw a woman dressed as the Haunted Mansion bride. It was a great costume, but so much work, especially with the makeup. Some people love that.
Not everyone is going to love the party or various elements. If you are not sure how you would feel about it, I hope this helps.
COVID: There is a lot outdoors, but this is also a lot of people. If you are going to be in a lot of lines, masking is not a bad idea. I mostly only put it on for rides, but we did try to distance, which is part of our nature.
Accessibility: This mostly seemed good. There are parts of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail that would not work for mobility devices, but they were not part of the Villains Grove setup. Visibility can be limited.
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