All Disneyland After Dark Events in 2024
Disneyland After Dark events have grown in popularity over the last few years - and for good reason. They’re filled to the brim with photo opps, meet and greets with rare characters, special food offerings, unique nighttime entertainment and best of all, lower than usual crowds.
The caveat? These events are separate ticketed. Meaning your regular Disneyland ticket will NOT get you access. Depending on the event and date, ticket prices are typically between $139 - $169 (even higher for Oogie Boogie Bash).
As the name implies, they take place at night, after the park closes to regular ticket holders, between the hours of 9pm and 1am. As an added bonus, your ticket permits you to enter the park three hours prior to the event’s start time. Additionally, there’s no need to worry about reservations as your ticket is all you’ll need.
Tickets to these events are sold exclusively through the Disneyland website (not the app) and generally sell out quickly. They’ll go on sale no sooner than 9am on the sales date and depending on the specific event’s popularity, you’ll likely wait in an hours-long virtual queue.
The good news, is Disney sells far fewer of these tickets than regular ones, so the crowds are generally lite. Though many of the special attractions of the night (i.e - a rare character or show) can have massive queues, all of the rides remain open, often with low wait times.
In this post, I’ll list all of the Disneyland After Dark events in 2024 - including their dates, ticket prices and more. Additionally, I’ll discuss Oogie Boogie Bash and what the future may hold for these fan-favorites. Let’s get into it.
*Quick Note: If you’re looking to book a vacation to the Disneyland Resort (or Disney World, Disney Cruise, Universal and more) consider tapping/clicking the above image to visit our partners at Get Away Today. Going through them is the same as going directly through Disney only through them, you’ll receive personalized service by Disney experts and receive the absolute best price and any accompanying discounts. By going through Get Away Today, you’ll be getting the best price on your vacation and support our website at the same time.
To see their amazing deals on your favorite destinations, click/tap here (and tell them we said “hi”)
Sweethearts’ Nite
Sweethearts’ Nite proved to be a hit with After Dark attendees in 2023, so it only made sense to bring it back for another go - this time with expanded dates.
This year, some of the offerings include:
A “royal ball” with Disney princes and princesses.
A royal cavalcade parading through the streets of Disneyland featuring Disney royals.
A dance party on the Tomorrowland stage featuring Stitch and Angel.
Photo opportunities throughout the park with backdrops themed after “Lady and the Tramp”, “Tangled” and more.
Unique lighting, music and projections throughout the park - including on Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Special food offerings - including a shortbread cookie churro with strawberry cheesecake dipping sauce and Cafe Daisy’s fried heart-shaped ravioli.
Plus, special dining packages at River Belle Terrace, Cafe Orleans and Plaza Inn.
Last year, the event was held on only one day in January, with the remaining dates held in February. Due to its popularity, Disney expanded the dates in 2024, holding several event dates in both months. They are:
January 23, 25 and 30
February 1, 6, 8, 12 and 14
Like most After Dark events, Sweethearts’ Nite takes place at Disneyland Park. Its hours are 9pm to 1am. Ticket sales begin no earlier than 9am on the dates below and are priced $139 - $169, based on date. Demand will likely be high, so be sure to be logged in prior to 9am:
December 12, 2023 (Magic Key holder pre sale)
December 14, 2023 (general public)
*EDIT: Tickets for all Sweetheart Nite dates are now sold out
Disney Channel Night
Disney Channel Night is the newcomer in 2024, as it’s the only After Dark event this year that wasn’t held in 2023. In fact, the After Dark event that was held on identical dates last year was Princess Nite (which isn’t happening at all this year).
According to the Disneyland website, some of the offerings include:
A “High School Musical” pep rally featuring characters and music from the popular franchise.
A dance party featuring Phineas and Ferb at the Tomorrowland stage.
“Camp Rock” karaoke at The Golden Horseshoe.
Enjoy music from “Descendants” as you sail along the Rivers of America on the Sailing Ship Columbia.
Photo opportunities with backdrops themed after “Lizzy McGuire”, “The Cheetah Girls” and “Teen Beach Movie”.
Special food offerings at Cafe Daisy and Red Rose Taverne, as well as dining packages at select table-service restaurants.
The description on the Disneyland website doesn’t specify character meet and greets, but I imagine there will be as these events typically feature characters you don’t normally see. Even if they have nothing to do with the general theme of the event.
Disney Channel Nite takes place on only two nights in March (5th & 7th), also between the hours of 9pm and 1am. They’re priced at $139 and go on sale on the same date and time as Sweethearts’ Nite above.
*EDIT: Tickets for the March 7th event have sold out. As of January 27th, there is still availability for the March 5th event.
Check out my post, Visiting Disneyland in March, if you plan to visit in March for this event.
Star Wars Nite
Stars Wars Nite is another repeat from 2023, a popular one at that. Aside from dates, not much is known about the offerings and prices for 2024, but we can speculate by going off last year’s information.
In 2023, some of the offerings included:
Unique character experiences.
A galactic dance party in Tomorrowland.
Themed Star Wars treats and dining.
A special nighttime fireworks spectacular - Star Wars: Celebrate the Night
In 2023, prices ranged from $149 - $169, depending on the date. The Star Wars brand proved to be as popular as it has ever been, as nearly all dates sold out in the first day. Despite having expanded dates this year, I expect the same to happen in 2024, in addition to price increases.
The 2024 Star Wars Nite dates are as follows:
April 16, 18, 23, 24 & 30
May 2, 7 & 9
At the time of this posts’ publishing, there hasn’t been word from Disney as to when tickets will go on sale but if they follow the same formula as last year, I would expect it to happen sometime in February.
If you’re planning to attend this event in April, be sure to read my posts, “Visiting Disneyland in April”. and, “Visiting Disneyland in May”.
Pride Nite
After YEARS of unofficial fan events formally known as “Gay Days”, Disney finally threw their support behind the LGTBQIA+ community by adding the officially sanctioned “Pride Nite” to the After Dark calendar.
Similar to Star Wars Nite, there hasn’t been any information from Disney as to how much the tickets or what the offerings during the event will be. All we do know is, much like last year, Pride Nite will take place on only two nights - June 18 & 20.
In 2023, some of the offerings included:
Rare character appearances and experiences.
Unique lighting, music and projections throughout the park (including on Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Ohana Dance Party featuring Stitch.
Exclusive food and drink offerings, dining packages and merchandise.
In 2023, tickets to this event were priced at $139 for both nights. While it was popular, it didn’t sell out as quickly as Sweethearts’ and Star Wars did, so I expect the price to either remain the same or see only a slight increase.
I will update this post as more information about Pride Nite becomes available.
Oogie Boogie Bash
No After Dark post would be complete without discussing the GOAT of events done in the dark - Oogie Boogie Bash. While it isn’t presented with the “After Dark” banner, it is an event that requires a separate ticket to attend and features many of the same general offerings the others do.
Oogie Boogie Bash is the spiritual successor of Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween party and is held on select nights in September and October at Disney California Adventure. Though with Halloween season now kicking off in August at the resort, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two August dates added this year.
Information such as dates, ticket prices and offerings for 2024 haven’t yet been released, as Disney typically announces that information in June. In 2023, ticket prices were date specific and started at $134 and topping out at $189. Those prices were up $5 — $10 from 2022.
This year will likely see another increase, as the event completely sold out in just one day last year, strongly demonstrating its popularity. Disney will likely meet this demand by adding more dates and as stated above, increase the price. It wouldn’t shock me to see prices hit $200 at the top end.
While we don’t yet know what the exact offerings will be, in general, they’ve been mostly the same since its inception (albeit with some minor changes). These include:
Villains Grove: A walk-through attraction with special effects, lighting and music themed to classic Disney villains.
Villain Treat Trails: Villains featured in past events included Ernesto de la Cruz (Coco), Cruella (live-action version), Sid (Toy Story) and Judge Doom (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?).
The Frightfully Fun Parade.
Various character meet and greets.
A dessert party with a great view of the parade.
Specialty food and drink offerings and dining packages.
I’ll be sure to update this post once Disney releases more information about the 2024 event. To read more about Oogie Boogie Bash, read my post about it here.
What The Future Holds for After Dark Events
This is purely speculative on my part, but I love blue-skying ideas. The future of After Dark events definitely looks bright as due to their proven popularity, it is evident they’re not going anywhere. It’s just a matter of which themes will stick around.
Disney seems to be trying to iron out the perfect line up. In 2023, they held two events that are not happening this year - Princess Nite and Throwback Nite. I honestly don’t know why they decided against holding another Throwback Nite as it seemed to receive generally positive reviews online.
Princess Nite is sort of a given. While plenty of “Disney Adults” attended it, let’s face it, Disney princesses mainly appeal to one niche - small children. Given the fact that these events go well past midnight and children are typically sleeping at those times, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why it isn’t on the repeat list.
Sweethearts, Pride and Star Wars Nites all seem to be a lock, but that fourth slot still appears to be in question. This year, they’re giving Disney Channel Nite a try. Tickets for Disney Channel went on sale on the same date and time as Sweethearts’. While the latter sold out quickly, the former still has tickets available for one of the dates.
I’m not saying Disney Channel Nite is poised for failure, but Disney prefers that tickets to events like these sell out quickly. It creates a, “I have to have it”, mindset (much like they did for Magic Keys), driving up demand and in turn, allowing them to keep prices high (along with raising them).
Personally, I would love to see Throwback Nite return, but with a 90’s overlay. I don’t speak for all of us, but I do believe Disney millennials would converge onto the park en masse for something like this. Imagine - a performance on the Tomorrowland stage featuring Powerline! That alone would sell the event for me, personally.
Another addition I would love to see is for DCA to get their own After Dark events. Currently, the only one they feature is Oogie Boogie Bash, but it technically isn’t an After Dark event. Their main drivers are festivals such as Lunar New Year, Food and Wine, and Festival of Holidays, but I think there’s room for an After Dark event (or two).
The two biggest brands that DCA features are Pixar and Marvel. With Pixar receiving its own summer long promotion this year (and if it’s successful, it’ll likely become an annual thing) that leaves Marvel as the only Disney brand without its own special, annual event.
Would Marvel Nite be too far fetched? Is there enough demand? Clearly, Marvel is a successful brand. Otherwise, Disney wouldn’t have plopped down $4 billion for it. Lately, though, the once bullet-proof Marvel movies have dwindled, both in the box office and on the Disney+ streaming service. That could lend credence as to why Disney has yet to pull the trigger on anything Marvel related at the parks since the underwhelming debut of Avengers Campus in 2021.
Whatever the future holds for specific After Dark events, the concept as a whole is here to stay. They’ve become a great way for Disney to boost profits during their slower season. They sell an additional ticket to guests who’ve already purchased regular tickets AND to people who wouldn’t have purchased a ticket otherwise - Magic Key holders.
These events have become largely character driven, as they often feature those who’re rarely, if ever, seen in the parks any other time. They can also sell exclusive food offerings and merchandise during the event, boosting profits even higher. And Disney adults (whom I believe are the main target niche for these events), love spending money on exclusive items.
The prices may be high, with some exceeding the highest price of a one day ticket. But you know what? I’m here for it. Admit it, you are too.
