Help! I’ve convinced my family to take a short October trip and I’m debating WDW or DLR. I’ve been leaning toward WDW, but I keep hearing that OBB is the BEST and I’m really interested in hearing from experienced OBB fans.
OBB seems really focused on cool meet and greets and trick or treating - which is not my family’s thing. Is that true? At MNSSHP last year we only met Stitch and got candy twice. We loved Boo to You parade and the fun entertainment (pirate band, cadaver Dans). We rode lots of rides. Would we feel let down at OBB?
OBB is held at California Adventure, so there aren’t anywhere as many rides. The character treat trail IS the event. It’s more of a “locals” event to meet rare characters.
There’s lot of Halloween decorations in CarsLand. Also, GotG has a unique overlay. However, there is no parade this year due to the Coco construction.
Based on what you’ve listed as priorities, I would go to MNSSHP. It’s AOT more rides, shows and fireworks
Thanks for the confirmation! DCA is my least favorite park, and although we still enjoy it there, I don’t think we’d enjoy OBB as much as MNSSHP. (Plus Food and Wine at Epcot!)
We would love the cute Cars decor, but I think if I’m traveling to DLR for a holiday, I’d rather try for Christmas time when we could still see the HM overlay but also the lights on small world, etc. I’ve only been to DLR in the summertime and over spring break.
MNSSHP is the better event if you’re looking for entertainment in the form of shows and parades and fireworks cuz you’re gonna get the sisters stage show which is sooo good, the parade and the halloween fireworks.
OBB is better for the treat trails because most of them come with characters. It’s not meet and greet characters but a ministage with a cool character doing some stage acting and interacting with the people in line
There is no nighttime show, no stage show and this year no parade. (There are Halloween fireworks over in Disneyland tho for regular day guests)
Wrt to ride overlays both events have some kind of lame overlays like the mad tea party in MK or the tow maters whip ride where it’s just different music and lighting than normal. And both have some good ones. Space mountain all blacked out is my favorite space mountain of all time. Guardians of the Galaxy Monsters After Darl is also fantastic but is not the exclusive to the event and can be done on regular days during the Halloween season. One of my favorite things is the Redwood Creek Challege Trail Haunted Maze at OBB and there is no comparison to MNSSHP.
I prefer the parade when it existed at OBB to the one at MNSSHP but there is no parade this year so there’s that.
However, it sounds like you’ve done MNSSHP and I personally like new experiences so if I was you I’d prolly pick DLR. it’s also the better resort for overall park decorations imho and the two parks are easier to do in a short trip than WDW.
Yes b/w Halloween and Christmas id pick Christmas generally from both Disneys in Murica. But you would get the HM Holiday at Disneyland during Halloween time too. So it’s just the iasw overlay which is stunning that’s unique to Christmas.
These are great pictures! Thank you for sharing your experience. That helps a lot!
I had forgotten about the Guardians overlay. That sounds cool.
I think I would love the general ambiance and Redwood Creek Trail. Not sure if my kiddo would appreciate the rare characters. Apparently characters are much less cool when you hit preteen age.
I wish they had a special World of Color.
Last year we did MNSSHP as a bonus day because we were taking a cruise from Port Canaveral, and I was so surprised by how much we loved it. We’ve also never done Food and Wine, and I know my spouse would love that. Decisions, decisions.
We don’t much do character meet & greets either when I have the now adult (19 and 21) kids but DH and I will if the line is short. But the treat trails with characters are different. It’s like a mini audience interactive performance with lots of candy. LOL. So these we do and they aren’t like long lines of waiting an hour to meet a character but a constantly moving 10-15 min line for so much candy I can’t even begin to eat it! I think the only candy trail we did at MNSSHP was the Monsters inc one to hear the halloween jokes but at DLR we do all the ones with characters.
Yes, the guardians overlay, haunted mansion overlay, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail haunted trail are the best overlays but I do love a darkened Space. but I think it’s easier to fill the entire party time with party explicit events in MK if you’re not doing character meets so overall it’s probably the better event for you. Have you done the other Epcot festivals? My order of pref is Farts, Flags, Foth and then F&W! They do F&W in DCA too but it’s in the spring and I far prefer Epcot’s F&W and Foths to DCAs. So if it’s the festival, Epcot is also the clear winner.
I have never done OBB but I have been at DLR for Halloween season, including on days where an OBB was going on. I have been to MNSSHP.
My family is much more focused on rides, so I’ve kinda decided these events, while fun, were one and done for us. That said, the vibe of MNSSHP appeals to me more. I’m not really into the meet & greets (I appreciate seeing pics of them but would never wait). Also, OBB brings lots of locals out, and it can get crowded all around the resort in October.
Remind me – where do you live? If you are close enough to try OBB, it might be worth going once since you’ve already done MNSSHP. But if it’s far for you to get to DLR, I would honestly recommend going another time of year when it’s less crazy and you can see all the classic attractions.
We’ve done Farts (but it’s been a while) and Flower and Garden (Flags? F&G?). Our usual time at WDW is spring (spring break in recent years due to school). We love the festival foods.
We also did DCA’s F&W a couple of years ago. It was good (I liked the cards you could buy to cover a certain number of items), but overall the food was not at the level of the Epcot festivals, in my opinion.
We got so much candy on the DCL cruise last year that we didn’t finish it all and it got taken to the office. It was kind of some odd candy choices through. Like caramel M&Ms. But trick or treating on the ship was kinda meh. It was just a circle around the pool deck.
The treat trails sound better than traditional meet and greets for sure.
I’m in Colorado, so it’s a flight either way. I have a Poly reservation with DVC points that I made a few months ago, but some recent OBB talk has me second guessing. (Flights are definitely cheaper to LAX vs MCO but we usually pay for flights with points if we can.)
I agree that the food at DCA festivals does not meet Epcot festival booth standards. It is one of the big reasons I say Epcot festivals are stronger
Farts = festival of the arts
Flags = flower and gardens (sounds like the one you’ve done the most)
Foth = festival of the holidays (which dca has a version of and it is solid with lots of great holiday performers but not quite as good as the Santa’s around the world and like you said Epcot food booths are better. But they do have a Christmas WoC and Epcot does not have special fireworks show for holidays minus new years plus I like the big band show and viva navidad a lot in DCA)
F&w or faw = food and wine.
So while I have a winner in Epcot for festivals and given the recent continued drop in special performances for Oogie Boogie making MNSSHP prolly the Halloween party winner overall. There are a lot of strengths and unique things on the west coast.
Btw I once did a comparison of the winter holidays in general over a couple trip reports on the east coast versus the west coast and I think I gave it to Disneyland Resort by a smidge. But again there are things that are better on both coasts. Yup 3.9 Disneyland to 3.8 WDW.
I thought I was the only one who weighed pros and cons and scored vacation options.
Sadly school schedules and work schedules and money won’t allow me to do all the things I wish I could do!
Still leaning toward WDW for October but maybe sneaking in a future DLR trip over Halloween or Christmas time. I have family who are local-ish to DLR but we only visit in the summer or spring so experiencing something new would be fun.
