The Effect of Oogie Boogie Bash on Crowds

Halloween time is one of the most profitable seasons for theme parks. The demand keeps growing, and more destinations are adding events. Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash at California Adventure is a separate ticketed event that allows exclusive access to the park on select nights leading up to Halloween. To accommodate the party, the park closes to regular day guests at 6:00, and that has an impact at the Crowds at Oogie Boogie Bash.

Impact on Waits

What impact can this have on the lines for rides? There’s a lot that goes into a decision about which park to visit, and what time to be there. Here are some ways that guests behavior changes because of Oogie Boogie Bash.

• Some people choose to go to California Adventure because they’re going to the party
• Some people choose to go to Disneyland instead to avoid the extra crowd
• Some people choose to go to Disneyland instead because they prefer to have their theme park hours later
• Some people choose to go to California Adventure earlier in the day than they normally would, and in turn leave earlier

Here are a couple of graphs that show the wait times on WEB Slingers and Radiator Springs Racers. The red lines are September 13th, the day of an Oogie Boogie Bash. The gold lines are September 14th, which had no special event.

The wait times for Spider-Man WEB Slingers at California Adventure. September 13th was an Oogie Boogie Bash, September 14th was not. The graph shows how the crowds are different for Oogie Boogie Bash.

The wait times for Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure. September 13th was an Oogie Boogie Bash, September 14th was not. The graph shows how the crowds are different for Oogie Boogie Bash.

For the afternoons, the 14th averages a 10 minute longer line for each ride. So the crowds at California Adventure were actually lower than on the day of the Oogie Boogie Bash. We show graphs like these every day, so you can compare these to the current wait times, too.

Impacts on Crowds

The crowd ratings were different for these two days, too. The 13th was a 5, and the 14th was a 7. The difference in wait times wasn’t limited to WEB Slingers and Radiator Springs Racers. It was consistent throughout the park.

Oogie Boogie Bash is a draw for a high paying audience, but it also drives many day guests away. Many guests will choose to visit California Adventure on a different day, likely because of the shortened hours. That makes for lighter crowds on the days of the party. And for guests with Park Hopper tickets, you can always finish out the evening at Disneyland, so the overall time at the resort isn’t cut short. It’s cool to see that there are lower crowds at Oogie Boogie Bash.

Impact at Disneyland

The impact at Disneyland isn’t as clear cut. Here’s two examples: For Indiana Jones, the line is shorter for most of the day of the Oogie Boogie Bash, but gets longer at about 6:30. That’s right about the time that last of the guests who had to leave California Adventure would be inside Disneyland looking for something to do. From that point to the end of the night, its line is an average of 7 minutes longer on the night of Oogie Boogie Bash. On the night of the 14th, the queue levels out at about 9:30 as well. That’s the time that of the Halloween Screams show. There is no similar leveling off on that night of the 13th. That make sense becasue the bulk of the Halloween crowd is at Oogie Boogie Bash on the night of the 13th, but the party goers would want to see the show on the 14th.

The wait times for the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. September 13th was an Oogie Boogie Bash, September 14th was not. The graph shows how the crowds are different on the day of an Oogie Boogie Bash.

Rise of the Resistance looks largely the same, with the exception that it closes earlier than the rest of the park.

The wait times for Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland. September 13th was an Oogie Boogie Bash, September 14th was not. The graph shows how the crowds are different on the day of an Oogie Boogie Bash.

Overall, Disneyland’s crowd rating the 13th was a 5.8, and the 14th was a 6.2. Both round to 6, so there’s no difference shown on the crowd calendar, but the day of Oogie Boogie Bash was a little bit slower. It’s interesting to note, too, that the crowds are lower in the morning and afternoon, but go up for the evening. So the morning at Disneyland is definitely less busy on the day of the Bash.