Our very disappointing OBB night

[Angel141925]

I’m going to start of by saying we did not have a good experience at Sundays bash. Not all was bad so let’s start off with the good. Treat trails what few we went through were amazing. We did get a lot of candy. I think we ended up only doing 4 if I remember correctly. Cast members were amazing. We entered through Grand Californian (we were not hotel guests and they never even asked). It was super easy. Mobile order worked much better then the previous day but I also ordered everything at 9am that morning from our hotel. Pumpkin spice horchata cold brew was absolutely AMAZING!!! We spent mix in time eating and letting my son nap in his stroller. Woke him up around 445 for him to eat and get into his costume. Tried to have photos taken by the waterfall but the photo pass isn’t valid until 6pm. Disappointment number one. Thankfully the cast member just used my phone to take some. So we just stayed positive and moved on.



Ok now the bad. Let me start this off by saying I went into this knowing we wouldn’t complete everything. Character treat trails a couple rides the Mickey show and the parade and possibly villians grove was our list. Didn’t seem impossible. We walked to the Hollywood area to the theater around 5:15 to catch the 6 Mickey show. Hubby asked the cast members what time the doors would open and was told they didn’t know. This was the second instance of being told they didn’t know approx time of something (first time was a character meet and greet the day before not OBB related) and it drives me crazy. I get why they do it but it still annoys me. I just want an estimated time that all. We hung out in that area until about 550 when we heard some else ask and they were told the 6 pm show would not be happening. First time our time was wasted. Shook it off no big deal not the end of the world. Went down to oogie boogie treat trail line went fast no problem. Did madam mim no problem then Cruella again no problem. Went to guardians next. Wait time said 13 min was more like 35 min. Again no big deal we knew towards the beginning on the party it would be a little busier. Got off guardians headed to carsland before the first parade started. Mater was walk on. Headed down to RSR and this is where our night started to turn. Wait time said 35 min. I know most of the time the wait is usually a little less then posted wait time but not always. We decided to go for it 35 min seemed pretty doable. Ride broke down once for maybe 15 min. We stayed in line because they weren’t evacuating off the ride or anything so figured it wouldn’t be too long. Plus a bunch of people left the line great. They get it going again another 15 min go by and it goes down again. We’re literally on the last switchbacks and I can see cars still going through they’re just empty. We’ve committed this far let’s just wait it out. It was down maybe 10 min at most. Finally get on. Line took a little over an hour. So this point we’re annoyed but still I expected it so still nothing crazy. Still staying positive. Park still seemed super busy. Not day time busy but busier than I expected. After that we went to the maleficent treat trail again amazing. She was probably the highlight of my night. We also heard people saying incredicoaster kept going down. We never made it anywhere even close to Pixar pier.



Now onto where everything fell apart. After maleficent we decided to get seats for the parade and grab a snack. It was about 930 at this point. We really wanted to try the alcohol ice cream floats they had for seasonal. They were one of the treats we were most looking forward too and had been talking about them for weeks. It wouldn’t let me mobile order them even at 9 am so I went over there and it was closed disappointment once again but still trying to stay positive. Ended up getting churros which was fine. The parade was probably the thing my 3 year old was looking most forward to. He loves nightmare before Christmas and was so excited to see the characters in the parade. Saw the headless horseman and he was getting excited and then the announcement it was canceled. It broke his heart and he had a complete meltdown. It broke my heart more to see him so sad. Thank goodness we got to meet Jack the day before otherwise it would have been even worse. I know this sounds a bit over dramatic but there were so many disappointments leading up to this that it just really tipped it over and he’s 3 he doesn’t understand. These tickets were obviously not cheap and it really didn’t feel like we got our moneys worth at all. We wasted yet almost another hour for absolutely nothing. After that he got to pick whatever he wanted to do to try and make him feel better and he wanted to ride Spider-Man so we did that and it was about a 15 min wait. We ended the night at soaring since I didn’t think he’d really care for villians grove and with the way the night was going I was afraid it would be closed to. Got to soaring got to the long hallway and they announced it was 11:03 and they would no longer be boarding or taking seat assignments or something like that. Whatever it was it made it sound like the ride shut down and we weren’t getting on. I was ready to go right to guest services at that point. But it ended up not being the case and they loaded everyone. They need to change their announcement lol.



Overall we just didn’t have that great of a night. I tried being positive and understanding but it was just too much. We ended up doing 4 treat trails and 4 rides the whole party. Had the parade happened I don’t think I’d be quite as upset. I kind of want to email and complain but I don’t feel like it’ll do any good and I’ll just get the generic we’re sorry we didn’t meet your expectations email. Idk that we’ll do it again next year. If we do we’ll go earlier in the season. I’d also do things very differently. My son did love what he got to do though and wants to go back. Part of me thinks I just had my expectations too high. Idk. Thankfully we have another trip planned soon so hopefully that one goes smoother.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Wait, they started the parade and then just canceled it? What?! Omg, I would have been so disappointed! And they canceled another show as well earlier that day? (Sorry I’ve not been so I’m not sure about the entertainment offered.)

I’m so sorry you had a bad time, it sounds so, so disappointing! I would absolutely be emailing my very detailed experience of all that happened. That’s a lot of money to shell out to have such a disappointing experience.

 

[BecAus]

So sorry about your experience. I would have been so upset about it and it really seems that you tried to make the best of it.
I know things happen (apparently there was a problem with one of the floats which is why the parade didn't run) but at the price point you are paying for the OBB tickets you expect a lot more than what you got!
Lovely photos of you and your family. I would definitely email about your experience.

 

[Angel141925]

Wait, they started the parade and then just canceled it? What?! Omg, I would have been so disappointed! And they canceled another show as well earlier that day? (Sorry I’ve not been so I’m not sure about the entertainment offered.)

I’m so sorry you had a bad time, it sounds so, so disappointing! I would absolutely be emailing my very detailed experience of all that happened. That’s a lot of money to shell out to have such a disappointing experience.

So the headless horseman starts the parade like 5 min before then the actual parade starts. So headless horseman came out about 10 min pass and the announce over the speaker that due to unforeseen circumstances that parade has been canceled. And then they offer a Mickey trick or treat show. It’s like the dance party offered during the day. It had 3 times available. We were going to hit the first one to let it finish getting dark and it was canceled. No idea if any of them took place. My guess is no.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

So the headless horseman starts the parade like 5 min before then the actual parade starts. So headless horseman came out about 10 min pass and the announce over the speaker that due to unforeseen circumstances that parade has been canceled. And then they offer a Mickey trick or treat show. It’s like the dance party offered during the day. It had 3 times available. We were going to hit the first one to let it finish getting dark and it was canceled. No idea if any of them took place. My guess is no.

Ugh, that is just so disappointing! For the Mickey show the worst part is you are wasting your party time waiting for something that is not even going to happen. They should know this and communicate it! That part is truly unacceptable. I’m so sorry.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Every October I can never figure out why Disneyland promotes the heck out of Halloween by having big pricey events such as Oogie Boogie Bash and the Mickey's Not-So Scary Halloween Party and then when people go to Disneyland to attend these Halloween events they discover that's it's not all what it promises to be. What I think might've happened that caused the parade's cancellation in my eyes was that there were either glitches or some actors called in sick and they couldn't find any understudies to fill in for the actors and what Disneyland should've done when that happened was to give all the visitors a character meet and greet and autograph session with a photo or give guests a free coupon to use for a free meal as an apology to guests who couldn't see the scheduled parade on that day. As for the Mickey meet and greet it's possible that the actor playing Mickey also might've called in sick or took the day off and they couldn't have another actor to play Mickey so Disneyland cancelled it. What I can recommend you do is call Disneyland directly and tell them about the disappointment you experienced during your visit and after you tell them about what you experienced during your trip ask if you can get your money back and see what they can do for you or you can write Disneyland a complaint email with the same story and include every detail of your visit. As for your son I feel really bad that your son had wanted to see the parade as the highlight of your trip but it was cancelled and not being able to see Mickey Mouse as well. But try to cheer him up and make him very happy and maybe you can request an autographed Halloween photo from Mickey Mouse when you talk to Disneyland guest relations for your son and they will most likely be able to do it
Hope this advice helps Angel and have a great night
Dodger

 

[starlite_]

You should totally email them to complain. The wasted your time 2 times with events that did not happen... and with such a limited time frame as the OBB any time wasted is a lot of time wasted. And honestly, to me, the parade would be the main reason to pay for the party so to have that cancelled would really ruin a trip for me, nevermind having it done so abruptly.

I'm really sorry your night went so badly, but also really glad your son had a good time regardless. He looks soo cute.

 

[sophy1996]

We were at that party also. It felt super crowded during the mix-in period, but later it felt much more manageable. We had a good time, but it was our second party this year so we had already seen and done a lot.

We ate at Lamplight during the mix-in period and ended up starting at Malificent. Unfortunately she wasn’t out right when the party started so we had to circle back later to see her. Next Mother Gothal, then Dr. Facilier. We walked around a bit and did some pictures, then got in line for Villains Grove just after it opened. That was great, and I think because it was so early VG didn’t feel as crowded as last party.

Then over to Agatha. Black widow was out for pictures and Ms. Marvel out wandering in AC. We ran into the parade route at the end of AC and were funneled onto the sidewalk, which led right to Oogie Boogie. Then we crossed the street and did Cruella (who was really interactive with us) and Madame Mim ( who also was really interactive).

We caught the headless horseman and then the beginning of the parade while in Hollywood land. We saw the parade twice last party, so after the first few floats, this is when we went to try to catch Malificent. Then we decided to grab a snack at Flo’s. We did more pictures in Cars Land and the treat trail, then around to Pixar Pier. We rode TSMM with about a 15-minute wait, saw Sid, and got the Magic Key photo.

By this point, we had done practically everything we wanted to do. We decided to walk up to see Ernesto de la Cruz and admire the projections on Carthay Circle. We used the parade route to get there, and it makes me sad thinking of the disappointment all those folks lined up felt just a little later.

After Ernesto and projections, we decided to call it a night. We had more candy than we expected, and we weren’t interested in doing anything else (no interest in standing in long lines for character photos). So we left around 10, before hearing the parade announcement.

I’m sorry your party was disappointing. I was wondering if it was my imagination (or because it was our second party this year), but it felt a little flat compared to the first party. We still enjoyed, but said that next year we would do only one party.

 

[Aurora0427]

I am so very sorry for your experience….. with what Disney is charging, they need to make sure these events go off without a hiccup, and if there are hiccups, they need to have a backup plan in place as a substitute. Send that email!

 

[Kuilima]

You should have gone straight to guest relations and demanded a refund. I'm serious. That's false advertising. No matter what pathetic excuses they come up with....broken float, actors quit, whatever..... it's unacceptable. Seriously. Just unacceptable.

 

[Angel141925]

Ok I’ll send the email. I know things can be out of their control and try to be understanding but I think I was understanding enough. I’ve heard the parade didn’t happen because one of the floats wasn’t working. At that point though take the character off the floats and the dancers and have them walk the parade route without floats. I know that’s not possible for all the characters. At that point I’d be ok waiting 10 min or so for that to happen. Or even take a few min and try to take the float that wasn’t working out which I know can be super difficult but at least try something don’t t just cancel the whole thing.

 

[Astylla]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and in no way am I trying to diminish your experience or concerns just my observations.

I see polarizing opinions on OBB more than any other party. I will say that having a game plan about priorities is a MUST. Which it sounds like you did and had specific things to make sure to do. Often certain food locations will not be open so I always advise to mobile order ANYTHING you want literally first thing in the morning since you can change the window later. This also will alert to how long spots are open.

I will say with all honesty..I will never suggest rides to those attending these parties UNLESS you did everything else you wanted to first. Since everything is available during the regular hours and yes while waits may be lower on average , for me it's not worth getting stuck.
RSR a few months back had serious electrical issues and I hate to be "that" person and sounding like I'm making excuses but even in my job at a jail we have supply issues for non urgent things going on 6 to 8 months, paired with multiple workforce challenges now , could easily be a snowball effect. Still

On that note from experience and helping others plan , I always recommend trying to do the parade first in case of inclement weather or unforseen circumstances which can and do happen. It is very disappointing and I'm sorry your family wasn't able to enjoy the full experience and like others I agree with emailing Disneyland guest services. I have MULTIPLE times and always gotten a response and offered a call back as well. With that said however please understand that all these decisions do not come from the cast members working the "floor" , but above them.

Being in customer service facing jobs for over 20 years , that is literally the worst feeling because we know there will be backlash and frustration , and ultimately probably end the night with being blamed how terrible things are. Again , this is not a guilt trip to say "Oh you should be happy you were just there" , not at all. I just see so often via multiple platforms to
"demand a refund" for false advertising. It is actually listed in the terms and conditions that I'd wager 99.99999% of us never read when we click that "agree" button. However it does state like any fireworks package , cancellations can happen without notice. It sucks for everyone involved so follow up with specific details what went wrong is valuable feedback.

I'm glad you still had some positive experiences and do write that email

 

[DLgal]

I'd definitely send a strongly worded email. So much of what you experienced comes down to poor communication and bad information. That's not acceptable for an upcharge party. Your time was wasted more than once and time is money at these parties.

I also recommend against riding any rides during these parties. You can do those on any regular park day. Stick with party specific offerings because the time goes by so quickly. .

 

[evilmommie]

Your pics are absolutely adorable! Bummed that you didn't have the experience you all had envisioned when planning your trip. If you can share your feedback on here, you should be sharing it with the people who can change things. They need to hear it. More people need to be sending feedback to DLR.

 

[twodogs]

I respectfully disagree with folks saying “don’t ride rides during OBB”. OBB is a hard ticket event that should be what you want it to be (and what it is advertised to be). I was there with my family the same night as OP was attending, so I fully understand the disappointment. But saying she should have focused on different experiences is incorrect, IMO. A hard ticket event specifically advertises rides will have less demand, parades will occur, special characters will be out, treat trails will occur. A person may buy their ticket to this event with any of these as their priority. And when Disney fails to deliver on their advertised items for the event, they should compensate the guest in some way. Yes, technical glitches happen, people call in sick, etc, but Disney SELLS these events with certain expectations. Yes the fine print says that they don’t promise basically ANYTHING. But we all know that we accept fine print on airline tickets, concert tickets, etc all of the time, but we surely generally expect that we will get what we paid for. In this case, it can happen that Disney can’t deliver the full, promised, advertised, experience. But if they can’t, on such a large scale, then they should compensate the affected guest in some way.

We were lucky that we attended the first parade. We wanted to ride RSR since it went down during our ILL$ before the party, but the ride was down. Treat and VC lines were long but moved along, so we were ok there. I don’t think I need any compensation from the same night‘s party as OP because we got to do most of what we intended. OP had a much worse experience, through no fault of her own (to me it is ok that she expected to ride RSR with a shorter than normal wait during the party since that is literally one of the benefits that they advertise for parties). I agree 1000% that you should email Disney and ask for some compensation. I know that OP would have rather not have had any compensation and just had the party she was hoping for, for her child….

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I respectfully disagree with folks saying “don’t ride rides during OBB”. OBB is a hard ticket event that should be what you want it to be (and what it is advertised to be). I was there with my family the same night as OP was attending, so I fully understand the disappointment. But saying she should have focused on different experiences is incorrect, IMO. A hard ticket event specifically advertises rides will have less demand, parades will occur, special characters will be out, treat trails will occur. A person may buy their ticket to this event with any of these as their priority. And when Disney fails to deliver on their advertised items for the event, they should compensate the guest in some way. Yes, technical glitches happen, people call in sick, etc, but Disney SELLS these events with certain expectations. Yes the fine print says that they don’t promise basically ANYTHING. But we all know that we accept fine print on airline tickets, concert tickets, etc all of the time, but we surely generally expect that we will get what we paid for. In this case, it can happen that Disney can’t deliver the full, promised, advertised, experience. But if they can’t, on such a large scale, then they should compensate the affected guest in some way.

We were lucky that we attended the first parade. We wanted to ride RSR since it went down during our ILL$ before the party, but the ride was down. Treat and VC lines were long but moved along, so we were ok there. I don’t think I need any compensation from the same night‘s party as OP because we got to do most of what we intended. OP had a much worse experience, through no fault of her own (to me it is ok that she expected to ride RSR with a shorter than normal wait during the party since that is literally one of the benefits that they advertise for parties). I agree 1000% that you should email Disney and ask for some compensation. I know that OP would have rather not have had any compensation and just had the party she was hoping for, for her child….

I’m really glad you said this! I have been thinking I might take my son to OBB next year since he’s finally old enough to stay up that late and have a great time. He has no interest in meeting characters or taking photos. His priority will be rides, treat trails and parade. I thought one of the perks of the parties was short waits for rides (hence why they don’t offer Genie+ or $ILL during the parties). I would be disappointed if the party was so crowded that wait times were like they are during normal park hours.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think Disneyland needs to work on for next year's Oogie Boogie Bash is improving it more. Such as informing guests of cancellations of shows and parades for those days when Oogie Boogie Bash is on and if a show or parade gets cancelled Disneyland should post signs that would read this message "TO OUR GUESTS, DUE TO WEATHER OR UNEXPECTED CHANGE TODAY'S SHOW/PARADE WILL BE NOT BE SEEN AND HAS BEEN CANCELLED. WE WILL BE OFFERING A CHARACTER MEET AND GREET IN PLACE OF TODAY'S SHOW/PARADE BUT THOSE WHO HAVE OOGIE BOOGIE BASH TICKETS WILL BE GIVEN A SHOPDISNEY GIFT CARD AS AN APOLOGY. TO CLAIM YOUR GIFT CARD PLEASE SEE CAST MEMBER FOR DETAILS" and with signs like this Disneyland would improve the Oogie Boogie Bash easily. But I think for next year the price to attend Oogie Boogie Bash will be lowered because I cannot figure out why the Halloween parties are so expensive and the only big deal is that the kids can dress in costumed trick or treat and do Halloween meet and greets for free. Or you can do the same thing by going to the mall and trick or treat around the mall with the kids. Hopefully Disneyland learns it's lesson with the Christmas parties and holiday treats in November

 

[mom2rtk]

What I think Disneyland needs to work on for next year's Oogie Boogie Bash is improving it more. Such as informing guests of cancellations of shows and parades for those days when Oogie Boogie Bash is on and if a show or parade gets cancelled Disneyland should post signs that would read this message "TO OUR GUESTS, DUE TO WEATHER OR UNEXPECTED CHANGE TODAY'S SHOW/PARADE WILL BE NOT BE SEEN AND HAS BEEN CANCELLED. WE WILL BE OFFERING A CHARACTER MEET AND GREET IN PLACE OF TODAY'S SHOW/PARADE BUT THOSE WHO HAVE OOGIE BOOGIE BASH TICKETS WILL BE GIVEN A SHOPDISNEY GIFT CARD AS AN APOLOGY. TO CLAIM YOUR GIFT CARD PLEASE SEE CAST MEMBER FOR DETAILS" and with signs like this Disneyland would improve the Oogie Boogie Bash easily. But I think for next year the price to attend Oogie Boogie Bash will be lowered because I cannot figure out why the Halloween parties are so expensive and the only big deal is that the kids can dress in costumed trick or treat and do Halloween meet and greets for free. Or you can do the same thing by going to the mall and trick or treat around the mall with the kids. Hopefully Disneyland learns it's lesson with the Christmas parties and holiday treats in November

Not going to happen. Disney often gives compensation when party elements are cancelled, but they aren’t going to advertise that fact. They only do it for those who ask to minimize how many they give it to.

 

[jaxmith22]

I’m really glad you said this! I have been thinking I might take my son to OBB next year since he’s finally old enough to stay up that late and have a great time. He has no interest in meeting characters or taking photos. His priority will be rides, treat trails and parade. I thought one of the perks of the parties was short waits for rides (hence why they don’t offer Genie+ or $ILL during the parties). I would be disappointed if the party was so crowded that wait times were like they are during normal park hours.

This was me and my husband - we didn't attend the same night as you, but we did all we wanted to do with the exception of Villians Grove. We were 100% ok with it though. We attend things like this with no set plan, we are very laid back and just want the overall experience. We are not meet and greet people/character people. We rode all the rides we wanted as total walk ons, visited the treat trails as we came upon them, and watched the parade only because we happened to walk up as everyone was getting ready for it. We took a break around 10pm to get a drink and some food at GCH, and also snagged the much coveted zombie gingerbread cookies by chance

 

[Angel141925]

I respectfully disagree with folks saying “don’t ride rides during OBB”. OBB is a hard ticket event that should be what you want it to be (and what it is advertised to be). I was there with my family the same night as OP was attending, so I fully understand the disappointment. But saying she should have focused on different experiences is incorrect, IMO. A hard ticket event specifically advertises rides will have less demand, parades will occur, special characters will be out, treat trails will occur. A person may buy their ticket to this event with any of these as their priority. And when Disney fails to deliver on their advertised items for the event, they should compensate the guest in some way. Yes, technical glitches happen, people call in sick, etc, but Disney SELLS these events with certain expectations. Yes the fine print says that they don’t promise basically ANYTHING. But we all know that we accept fine print on airline tickets, concert tickets, etc all of the time, but we surely generally expect that we will get what we paid for. In this case, it can happen that Disney can’t deliver the full, promised, advertised, experience. But if they can’t, on such a large scale, then they should compensate the affected guest in some way.

We were lucky that we attended the first parade. We wanted to ride RSR since it went down during our ILL$ before the party, but the ride was down. Treat and VC lines were long but moved along, so we were ok there. I don’t think I need any compensation from the same night‘s party as OP because we got to do most of what we intended. OP had a much worse experience, through no fault of her own (to me it is ok that she expected to ride RSR with a shorter than normal wait during the party since that is literally one of the benefits that they advertise for parties). I agree 1000% that you should email Disney and ask for some compensation. I know that OP would have rather not have had any compensation and just had the party she was hoping for, for her child….

This!!! The only reason we had any plans of riding rides was because we didn’t really care about character meet and greets and the big thing was my son has just gotten to 40 inches and wanted to ride the big rides. I figured this would be a perfect time to do it. We planned to ride 2 rides (RSR and Guardians) maybe Spider-Man if we had time and the line was ok. I don’t think that’s unreasonable when we were skipping characters. The only reason we rode Spider-Man and soaring was because that’s what my son wanted to do and at that point he could have had whatever he wanted and I was just over all the party specific stuff not happening. Could we have went down to villians grove instead of soaring yes but at that point I was like knowing my luck by the time we get down there the line will be closer or there will be some sort of issue that we wouldn’t be able to do it. I mean essentially I paid $400 for a bag of candy with all the cancellations everything else I could do on a normal park day for cheaper.