Had my first experience at Oogie Boogie Bash last week, and it's not one I'm likely to repeat.
Now, to be fair, I knew exactly what the event was going in and that it might not be for me. But there was a part of me that just had to confirm it for myself, and hey, for the first time ever, tickets were easily secured, so why not check it out?
Now, credit where credit's due, some of the villains in the treat trails were excellent. Maleficent and Hades were both spot on, and Agatha & Ernesto de la Cruz were both spot on but also willing to more playfully improv in a way that not all of the other actors seemed willing or able to do. There was plenty of candy that was easy to secure and some other options besides candy as well for some variety. None of the treat trails were difficult to access or too slow. The park never felt overcrowded during the actual event.
That said, not all of the treat trail villains hit. Syndrome was just off enough to feel like a misfire. Yokai was completely unmemorable, a nothing character. And Judge Doom is a cool idea in concept and in the initial promo social media reel, but he's too deadly serious in real life to be much fun to watch or interact with.
I would have appreciated more clarity about the meet and greet characters, and who was meeting where. I'm not much for M&G's, but I was up for participating if I could make it work. It was a bit frustrating that clearly Disney knows where characters are meeting and many of the other people visiting do too, but heaven forbid it was noted on the OBB map. I couldn't find any of the characters I had wanted to meet based on what I read, and so basically stuck to the treat trails.
I had heard that ride lines were typically short during the event, but (perhaps because it poured rain before 1 PM that day) the waits were not THAT much better than a typical DCA day. RSR probably didn't even open during the regular day as a result and was just as bad as normal during the event. The only ride I did was Monsters After Dark, which took about 20 minutes.
I understand that a theme park is a theme park, but it was nonetheless disappointing to watch the Headless Horseman slowly and gracefully trot down the parade route, a solid ten minutes ahead of the parade itself. The parade was fine, but seemed a little short.
Villains Grove is a minor sideshow attraction marketed as something of an event signature, and it's just not equipped to deliver that. Projections can only do so much.
I totally get why some families with young children (and/or people really into characters) would enjoy the event, but for me it was lacking. If I'm going to get in a line for a Halloween-specific thing, I'd much prefer said line to be for a show or a haunted house than for candy.
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I'll also say the experience really was quite remarkable in 2021; the villains line up was much better, wait times were lower, and Villains Grove was still relatively new (and Disney had been hinting adding characters/actors to it in their polls at the time). It's just gotten so much worse over the years (this year's cast of featured villains is among the worst, through no fault of the actors) and the price bumps didn't help.
