I'm working on a longer trip report (with photos), but some thoughts about Oogie Boogie's Bash.
We attended the Sunday night party. Overall, this party had some good elements (immersive treat trails, Frightfully Fun Parade), some interesting elements (Villains Grove), and some disappointments (WoC, organization). I'm glad we only planned for one party this year because I don't really think there is enough to do at two parties, unless you're really into the character meet & greets. Overall, things felt a little disorganized and a bit slap-dash put together.
Immersive Treat Trails: I think the best party of the party was the immersive treat trails. It was fun to see the villains interact with the guests and it made the treat trails more interesting. I liked Maleficent and the Evil Queen the best. The trail itself is pretty standard (multi-candy stops), but about halfway through is the villain (on some kind of platform). They'll talk to guests and interact with them, but it's not a traditional M&G (no autographs, no posing for photos with the guests (you can take selfie-style photos from the trail)).
Villains Grove: Villains Grove was an interesting concept and fun to see. It's definitely something different and worth checking out, but only after it's full dark. The areas do invoke the various villains there meant to represent, without (for the most part) having the villain be obvious.
Frightfully Fun Parade: The Frightfully Fun parade is still fun to watch. Given the longer parade route, it made the parade feel short, but it was still fun to see. It was pretty much the same parade as last year, just with a new villain at the end (instead of Vampirina, it was the Cheshire Cat). We got a front row spot with about 15 minutes to go near the very start of the route. About 30 minutes before step off, there were plenty of front row spots available all along the route (except right near Carsland).
World of Color: WoC: Villainous was disappointing. The premise was pretty good...a 9 year old girl is trying to decide between being a villain or a princess for Halloween. To help her decide, Oogie Boogie has her met a bunch of different villains (e.g., the Evil Queen, Ursula, Hades, etc.). Most either try to harm/kill her or trick her, which fits with being a villain, but I'm not sure why that would make anyone want to be a villain. By the end, she's decided to be a dragon and it turns out her Mom is dressed up as Maleficent - I didn't quite understand how she got to that decision point, but I think that's because the storyline got a bit fuzzy about halfway through. We got to the viewing area about 10 minutes before the second show and there were still plenty of viewing spots. I noticed a steady stream of guests leaving before the show ended.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere was different at this party. There didn't seem to be as many projections or random Halloween touches. The Carthay had a few different projections on them, but nothing very impressive (just Oogie's burlap, a skeleton, falling candy).
Costumes: This year, the costumes felt like there was a very different vibe. In the past, most guests seemed to embrace the "child-friendly/family-friendly" guidelines. This year, there were noticeably more costumes that veered into the creepy. There were also a lot more guests dressed up as Oogie Boogie (and he's on the creepy-side). The most common costumes seemed to be Jessie, Star-Lord and Gamora, and Sally. It also felt like there were far fewer guests in full costumes, a lot more guests that were in bounding-style costumes, and a lot less children. This party had a more teenagers and up trend, opposed to MHP where there were a lot of families with small kids.
Candy: The candy was both good and bad this year. It was sponsored by Mars, so all Mars candies. It seemed like there were less filler candies (i.e., candy that few people have heard of), but most of my favorites were no longer available (they must have been Hershey candies). There were M&Ms (regular, peanut, peanut butter, and caramel), Snickers (regular, almond, crispy, and peanut butter), Twix, 3 Musketeers, Milky Ways (regular and caramel apple), Dove Milk Chocolate, Starbursts, Skittles, Lifesaver Gummies, Maltese Balls, Graham Crackers, Goldfish, Fruit Crisps, Applesauce, Carrots, and Apple Slices.
Check-In: The check-in process is very different from MHP. Guests could enter DCA using any of the ticket gates. The CM would take your photo and issue you a cardstock ticket. Then you took that ticket to the check-in area just inside the main gate to get your wristbands, trick-or-treating bag, and guide map. The line for the event check-in was very long at 3:00 pm (when the mix-in period began) and very disorganized. The CMs were giving out wrong information, there wasn't always a CM at the end of the line (so there was a lot of cutting in because the line ended up going almost all the way across the front and switching back several times), and the switch backs were not marked. There was also a check-in location at Blue Sky Cellar. This location as much better organized. You could take your digital or printed ticket with you, get the photo taken and cardstock ticket printed, and then pick up your wristbands, trick-or-treating bag, and guide map all in one line/location. If you're already in the park, I highly recommend you go this route.
Merchandise: Merchandise was both good and bad. They're trying to limit party merchandise to only the party-going guests so that it'll last longer. That means nothing is being put out until 6:00 pm and you need a wristband to buy it. However, we were at Rushin' River Outfitters on Sunday a little after 6:00 pm and it took them 30 minutes to get the merchandise put out. There was only two CMs setting up the merchandise (which included putting things out and taking the stuff away that was being moved out). They were moving things one or two at a time, and kept rearranging things. There was no reason why stuff couldn't have been folded and prepped in the back before 6:00 pm, so that it could have been ready to go at 6:00 pm. The good news is that it seems like everything was still in stock.
Other Notes:
I didn't check at the BVS shops, but I know that Starbucks was doing a "hard" close at 6:00 pm to non-party guests. So if you aren't going to the party and need a Starbucks drink, be sure to be inside Starbucks before 6:00 pm.
Absent was anything like the Cadaver Dans, which was a pretty big loss to us. We enjoyed watching them perform and there really wasn't anything like them at OBB.
