Disney has announced that Halloween Time at Disneyland and California Adventure will return with frightfully fun experiences and entertainment beginning August 22, 2025. With limited-time entertainment, food and beverages, merchandise and more, this season brings family and friends together to delight in silly scares and honored traditions.
In addition to spooktacular thrills, the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration continues to offer special anniversary entertainment, experiences and more. This means that guests will be able to both ‘Celebrate Happy’ and celebrate Halloween–more on what will and won’t be offered from the 70th during Halloween below.
The August 22, 2025 start date is earlier than ever, beating last year by one day when Halloween Time at Disneyland began in August–the first time ever it had ever kicked off that early. For decades, Halloween used to start the first Friday in September, sometimes with a soft opening on the Thursday before that. As is almost always the case, Halloween Time at Disneyland will run through October 31, 2025.
At Disneyland, the beloved Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction overlay invites you into a world where Halloween’s spooky charm collides with Christmas’s magical glow. It’s a must-see for fans of “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” who want to reunite with Santa Jack, Sally and Zero inside the eerie estate.
Catch “Halloween Screams,” the nighttime spectacular filled with haunting projections and special effects showing creatures of the night and Disney Villains like Hades and Ursula. On select nights, your experience may be accompanied by fireworks over the skies of Disneyland.
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and their friends will dress to impress this Halloween in bright new looks featuring swirling colors of purple, green and orange — a twist on their Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration outfits! I absolutely love these–Mickey Mouse looks like a wizard of the underworld!
These costumes change every year and are a huge hit with fans, and make for fun merchandising tie-ins. Meeting the characters for Halloween can be a tad tricky. All of these meet & greets are in Town Square, but the locations aren’t clearly marked, the characters rotate, and most do not have PhotoPass. If you want to meet them, your best bet is being in Town Square between 9:45 am and 2 pm, which is when most of them appear.
Failing that, some of them are back out in the evenings. Those appearances are more sporadic, and characters are not out during the fireworks or Paint the Night (they do roam the parade route shortly before the first Paint the Night, which is pretty fun to see). Another option is seeing them at the very beginning of the day, shortly after Disneyland opens and they appear at the Train Station; they also do the same thing at the end of the night. This is not a meet & greet, but you can get selfies and see them much more easily.
Over at Disney California Adventure, Radiator Springs will take on its wheelie boo-tiful transformation — Radiator Screams — featuring Halloween overlays like Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween and Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree. Lightning McQueen and his friends will take part in the fun in their creative car-stumes!
Available in the evenings at Avengers Campus, Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! transforms into Guardians of the Galaxy — Monsters After Dark. This means you can experience two versions of this attraction in the same day.
Monsters After Dark has a different plot, starting immediately after the conclusion of Mission: BREAKOUT when (spoiler alert!), the Guardians have successfully escaped the Collector’s Fortress. Unfortunately, Groot was accidentally left behind. So now you’re helping Rocket distract the creatures while he saves Groot. There’s also an oddball song, “Monsters After Dark,” created especially for this attraction.
Something’s brewing in the Disney Theater for kids and the kids at heart… it’s Mickey Mouse and his pals dressing up to celebrate Halloween in “Mickey’s Trick and Treat” at the Disney Theater in DCA.
This interactive show will temporarily replace “Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live!” during the fall season, ringing in the spirit of spooky without any real scares. You’ll even get to take home a special treat. (Here’s hoping it’s stickers.)
Mickey’s Trick and Treat typically has several showings per day between around 10 am and 5 pm. It’s a lot of fun for kids–and a great option if you got shut out of Oogie Boogie Bash. Our toddler, Megatron, is a huge fan of both Mickey’s Trick & Treat, and the new Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live show.
Multiple merchandise lines, including the Mickey Mouse Family Halloween Collection, will be available during the season. Guests can nosh their way throughout the resort with autumnal items such as the Oogie Boogie lemonade and new jalapeño-cream cheese bread.
Everyone’s a winner in Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit! Available from Aug. 29 through Oct. 31, you can purchase an activity map to aid your search for Disney-themed pumpkins hidden in Disneyland park, Disney California Adventure or Downtown Disney District. Look for them, complete the map and exchange it for a wicked prize.
If you’re looking for a premium upcharge experience, Disney’s Happiest Haunts Guided Tour unearths chilling stories and thrilling experiences in a two-hour walking tour across Disneyland. The tour includes Lightning Lane access to a select attraction and reserved viewing for “Halloween Screams.”
Halloween at the Hotels of Disneyland Resort
Discover what décor could be lurking around the corner at the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort. Goofy’s Kitchen is once again back with a Halloween twist for 2025, as Goofy and his pals will don their seasonal outfits for a dining experience like no other at Disneyland Hotel. We attended this last year for Megatron’s 1st Birthday! Read and see more in our post: Goofy’s Kitchen Celebrates Halloween Character Dining Experience (Photos & Review).
At Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Storytellers Cafe will conjure an all-new autumn-inspired breakfast and brunch, complete with seasonal décor and characters debuting new festive looks. Read and see more in our post: Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Halloween & Thanksgiving Character Dining Experience (Photos & Review).
Overnight guests at the three hotels can enjoy special perks, such as treat trails on select afternoons and the option to purchase a Halloween-themed in-room celebration, which includes festively themed gift baskets and decorations.
For the first time, Broken Spell Lounge at the Disneyland Hotel will feature a cocktail menu themed to Disney Villains!
You’ll discover a skeleTON of seasonal delights at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa! Watch pumpkin carvers turn gourds into a masterpiece, feast your eyes on a confectionery display in the lobby and treat yourself to Halloween-inspired treatments at Tenaya Stone Spa.
Plaza de la Familia
Extending beyond the end of Halloween Time through November 2, 2025, Disney California Adventure welcomes the return of Plaza de la Familia, a vibrant celebration honoring the spirit of Día de los Muertos through music, food, art and storytelling inspired by Pixar Animation Studios’ “Coco.”
Through song and dance, “The Storytellers of the Plaza de la Familia Celebrate the Musical World of Coco!” street performance brings to life the everlasting bonds of family. Other returning offerings include live music at the Paradise Gardens Bandstand, themed craft activities, colorful décor and a celebratory menu of Mexican cuisine at Paradise Garden Grill. Releasing in early September, the new Disney Pixar Coco Collection will introduce new apparel, accessories, headwear and more inspired by the film.
Frontierland in Disneyland also pays tribute to Día de los Muertos. The area near Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante will be adorned with skeleton figures, brilliant marigolds and other decorative items typically displayed on ofrendas.
Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party
The separately ticketed Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party back at Disney California Adventure on select nights from August 17 through October 31, 2025. Admission to the after-hours event also includes entry to DCA three hours before the party begins and unlimited Disney PhotoPass digital photo downloads from the party.
During this family-friendly, after-hours event, you can creep through Villains Grove at Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, satisfy your sweet tooth and encounter characters at immersive Treat Trails and enjoy the “Frightfully Fun Parade.” You can also make your parade viewing extra sweet by booking spots for the Oogie Boogie Bash Dessert Party.
Mark your calendars! Tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash go on sale to the general public on June 26, 2025, no earlier than 9 a.m. PT. Pre-sale tickets will be available for Magic Key holders no earlier than 9 a.m. PT on Disneyland.com beginning on the below dates:
- Inspire Magic Key holders (limited amount of tickets for pre-sale): June 24, 2025
- All Magic Key holders (limited amount of tickets for pre-sale): June 25, 2025
If you’re waiting in the online queue to purchase tickets, you can be notified via email when it’s your time to enter the ticket store. Once in the queue, choose the “notify me” option and enter your email address.
Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration Continues
The fusion of fall favorites and the Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration is truly a sight to behold.
Not only will you get to experience all of these awesome autumn festivities, but you still get to enjoy 70th Celebration entertainment. Anniversary offerings that will continue throughout the Halloween season include the dazzling “Paint the Night” parade, the nighttime spectacular “World of Color Happiness!,” “Tapestry of Happiness” projections and thematic nods on Toy Story Midway Mania!
Areas and attractions around the resort will retain special touches, including decorative accents and the colorful castle photo opportunity in the esplanade. Interactive MagicBand+ locations and the Key to Disneyland lock stations will remain available.
This means that the “Mickey and Friends Celebrate Happy!” cavalcade, “Wondrous Journeys” nighttime spectacular and “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” parade will temporarily pause to make way for seasonal Halloween entertainment offerings, then resume at a later time.
Based on past precedent and the language of the press release, our expectation is that some of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary decorations will end with the start of Halloween. The gigantic Mickey Mouse pumpkin is likely to return to Town Square, as that’s a fan favorite; that means it’ll displace the smaller 70 photo op featuring Mickey & Minnie, which could be located elsewhere.
All of this is a big win for guests. The best aspects of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary continue throughout Halloween, and only the middling ones (aside from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live) go on hiatus. Visiting during the home stretch of the year should present a great opportunity to double-dip on the highlights of seasonal events and the anniversary celebration!
This is more or less what we saw with Disney100 a couple of years ago. The difference is that Disneyland has fully committed to the 70th Anniversary being an 18-month celebration, whereas Disney100 just kind of fizzled out on its own during Halloween and Christmas, and didn’t return early the next year.
By contrast, Disneyland’s 70th will be back in early 2026. In fact, we’d expect the celebration to get a ‘second wind’ of sorts, with new additions for the home stretch in 2026. But that’s another story for another day. For now, it’s time to get excited for the 2025 Halloween Time at Disneyland!
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
Your Thoughts
What are you looking forward to at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure during Halloween 2025? Excited about the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration largely continuing during spook season? Excited to attend Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!