Will Disney After Hours Boo Bash Be Worth the Cost?

As you probably know, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is not taking place for the second year in a row. Instead, for 2021 we are being offered Disney After Hours Boo Bash. It will feature Halloween-themed Character Cavalcades, Trick or Treating, fewer guests, extra MagicShots, and free snacks. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. The problem is that it is also not cheap. This has many people asking, will Disney After Hours Boo Bash be worth the cost? There is no right or wrong answer to this question.

With Disney After Hours, you can enter the park two hours before it closes. When the event actually starts, there is a very small number of people in the park. Entire areas feel empty! Also included are popcorn, ice cream novelties, and bottled soda or water. It is amazing how much you can do in an almost empty park.

I love the Disney After Hours Events. I’ve been to them at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom. I’ve also attended the Disney Villains After Hours event a couple of times. Those were all before Walt Disney World shut down due to Coronavirus. Disney After Hours Boo Bash is the first After Hours event since the parks reopened. These events are great, because a limited number of tickets are sold, so you can walk right on many of the rides. When we attended the one at Disney’s Hollywood Studios we rode Slinky Dog Dash three times in ten minutes! It was wonderful.

Part of the problem right now is that Disney doesn’t release numbers. We know that the number of tickets is limited, we just don’t know what that number is. There is a big difference if you’re visiting the Magic Kingdom with 3,000 guests or 10,000 guests. That seemed to be an issue with Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party the last couple of years. To me, it felt like the number of tickets sold had increased, and that made it feel crowded the last time that I went.

The cost of Disney After Hours Boo Bash is something to consider. I’ll admit that my jaw dropped when I saw how much it is! Depending on the day, it will cost $129-$199, before tax. Annual Passholders and DVC members save $10, but that’s still expensive for three hours. Then again, the Disney After Hours events that I’ve been to have been quality time. In past events, I’ve been able to do as much in three hours as I could normally do in a whole day in a crowded park.

Here are my two cents, whether you want them or not. If you’re on vacation when Boo Bash is taking place and you want some Halloween fun, go ahead and buy tickets, especially if money isn’t an issue. If that isn’t your case and you’re able to go to the Magic Kingdom often, you might want to save your money. I’m trying to decide if it will be worth $120 for me to go mostly to see Maleficent and get some candy that I don’t need. I know me, I’ll probably talk myself into it. We don’t know what Halloween will look like next year at Walt Disney World, this could be my only chance to experience Disney After Hours Boo Bash.