Update: We were told many phone lines were down and to try again tonight or tomorrow.
It’s getting closer and closer to Halloween!
Mickey Pumpkin
That means we’re getting ready for BOO Bash, Disney’s Halloween After Hours event that’s kicking off this August. We’ve already learned all about dates and pricing (and even some spooky sweets that’ll be up for grabs), and today, tickets officially go on sale.
Now, tickets are only available for Disney World hotel guests who have reservations booked for the days they want to attend BOO Bash. Sales open to the general public on June 15th! But we had quite the experience buying our tickets today, and we wanted to share it with you so you’d know what to expect.
Boo Bash ©Disney
First of all, tickets are not currently available to be purchased on the Disney World website (although that could change very soon), so we called instead. We had been told by multiple Cast Members that tickets would go on sale at 7AM today. However, when we called, we kept getting an error message that the call could not be completed.
Halloween at Magic Kingdom
We tried quite a few different numbers, including the line specifically for booking BOO Bash tickets (407-939-4240), the Help Desk (407-939-5277), V.I.Passholder (407-560-7277), and Recreation (407-939-1929). After dialing about 10 times, we got through on the Help Desk. Then, we were told to wait on the line for the next available agent.
Halloween Character Cavalcade
Eventually, we were given an estimated wait time of 167 minutes (yikes!). Anddd that’s where we are now. A couple other members of our team tried calling and were told all lines are busy. Similarly, when we try to use the chat function on the Disney World website, we’re told all Cast Members are currently busy and received a pop-up message in the chat stating “if you are interested in Disney After Hours Boo Bash Tickets and have an active Walt Disney World Resort reservation for the date you are interested in, please call the Disney Reservation Center at 407-939-4240.”
©Disney
The biggest issue we’re seeing here is a lack of communication. We spoke with a Cast Member yesterday to figure out where to call and what time sales supposedly began, but Disney never publicly shared this information. That’s probably leaving a LOT of people confused.
Halloween in Magic Kingdom
If ya need a little refresher, BOO Bash runs on select nights from August 10th-October 31st. Tickets are MUCH pricier than Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, which it’s technically replacing, and the event includes free snacks, character cavalcades, and Trick-or-Treat stops. And of course, feel free to dress up in a costume — as long as it meets Disney’s guidelines!
You’ll be able to buy specialty snacks, too! ©Disney
Needless to say, if you’re trying to buy BOO Bash tickets this morning…good luck. If you’re trying to get through to Disney, we’d suggest trying any of the numbers we listed above (although again, our only success was with the Help Desk), and attempting to use the chat feature. We’re STILL on hold, but we’ll keep ya posted as this situation evolves more. Stay tuned to DFB!
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I can say that does not surprise me at all. We are not going but in the past have tried to do other things and have had the same experience you are having. Good luck to you and everyone else trying to go to this. It does sound like fun
was calling disney today on other topics and found a number of their phone numbers were dead, or locked up. saw an article online where quite a number of major sites had been locked up possibly by hacking. didn’t mention Disney but wonder if that’s what happened
I finally got through
For those with Club Level reservations, I was just able to book Boo Bash tickets for October after waiting on hold for 45 minutes.
No luck on the west coast. As a DVC member & WDW AP holder this is frustrating
There was a major internet outage this morning that impacted many companies around the world. Companies that use Fastly to speed up their websites were impacted. It’s possible that the website problems you experienced were due to this if Disney is a Fastly customer.
I called last night to find out what time the boo bash tickets would be available. The cast member is spoke with told me a 7:00 am. So i called right at 7:00 am and i got through with in ten minutes on hold and was told be a cast member that the system had not updated on when the tickets would be available and to keep calling back. I was very upset with the cast member and knew what was going to happen next. A system crash. Now i can not even get back on the phone or online. both have locked up with a busy single and online line I keep getting an error.
I started calling when lines opened. After 45 minutes I got through!!!… to the hold line. I have now been on hold for an hour and a half. Fingers crossed the call doesn’t drop after all of this. I don’t think I could emotionally handle it.
Spent over 2 hours on hold with the help desk for Boo Bash tickets as well! Finally got connected after dialing and redialing constantly!
Seriously is Disney trying to upset people on purpose? Don’t send me multiple emails without sending me any links I can use. I have tried calling multiple times. if I don’t get boo bash for my dates I may just cancel because that is why I booked those dates. Also their website is not user friendly like it used to be. If they can’t handle the call volume then don’t sent everyone an email that’s booked in your hotels for the whole three months. Seriously lame they send emails without a usable link to buy tickets. Or I may just cheap out and stay at the best western if they are not giving me and advantage I can use.
This makes me feel a little better that I haven’t gotten through yet.
I called for hours and couldn’t get through, finally got through to help desk and they said waiting time of 200 minutes and 1000 calls on hold!
Still waiting……
Tried for Disney Boo Bash tickets. After 3 hours of attempting different numbers, finally got through around 10AM – only to be disconnected around noon (after being put on hold for 2 hours and 5 minutes). Thankfully, was able to get back in the queue around 12:15PM, but after waiting an additional 1 hour and 45 min, was disconnected again at 2PM. So frustrating that this isn’t an online ordering process!
Just letting you know I waited 144 mins and got my BBT tickets . I did call alot and got thru on the Reservation line as you suggested.
I cannot wait to go in Sept.
Disney emailed me the time and phone number to call for Boo Bash, so they did communicate the specific phone line and time of sale. Both my husband and I have been calling nonstop since 4am (west coast time) and I’ve been on hold for over 2 hrs to be disconnected. I’m finally on hold again right now but am seeing from Twitter that all October dates are fully booked. I really wish Disney could update their site in real time with available dates as this is ridiculous. I’ll continue to hold as I finally got through and am hoping that isn’t truly the case as this is our first trip to WDW and am devastated at horrible this experience has been so far to only know that our dates in Orlando are booked. Absolutely the worst possible experience.
I am still trying! I started right at 7 am, it is now 2:30….man, that popcorn had better be GOOD!!
I have been calling since 8 am this morning snd not one phone number will go through . This is so frustrating!
Been trying since 7:30 am est… Finally got through on help desk line… I am 20 minutes in to a 100 minute hold. 🙂
I’m really surprised Disney wasn’t prepared to offer online ticket sales for the Boo Bash today for those folks who have resort reservations. Completely dropped the ball, or should have changed the date if they weren’t prepared. I’ve tried, like so many, to call today, but am getting the same response – all lines are busy, please try later, etc. I really hope they get the Boo Bash ticketing online soon!
Oct dates gone?????????????? I am so beside myself! Finally booked the trip of my dreams– no hold bars on cost– been saving a long time! Disney you failed this one— bad
I tried to call over the span of one hour, I tried multiple numbers as well. When I got through I waited on hold for 3 hours to speak to an agent. (407) 939-5277 Was the number I dialed since it was at the bottom of the Boo Bash Announcement.
It took 10-ish minutes to purchase my tickets. (9/24)
I also chatted with several team members today after my purchase.
Over 1700 phone calls today alone on three different phones… busy signal, static, call cannot be completed. Never got even the prompts. Gave up for two hours… called back? Fourth call- answered the questions- waited NO MORE than two minutes and got connected with a cast member. COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I thought I was going to cry when we got the confirmation for Halloween night. Still unreal!! All I can say is PLEASE be kind to your cast members when they answer…. it isn’t their fault. Talk about unorganization though!
Started calling at 7am . Dialed about 1,000 times on 3 different phones. Got through to be put on hold for 45 min, only to be disconnected. Got through to be put on hold after 3pm, on hold for 2hrs….. but FINALLY GOT MY TIX!!!!
Party better be worth it?!?
I started calling 6am (central time) and went straight to hold. After 35 min, it disconnected. Tried calling back over and over and over…hundreds of times. No exaggeration. After 3 1/2 hrs of this, I finally got through and was on hold for an hour and 45 min. When the cast member came on I wanted to cry for happiness. I got 3 tix for boo bash and was so happy. I asked if any dates sold out yet. She said no dates were sold out yet. This was around noon (central time on 6/8) when she told me this. Good luck to all those trying to get through. I feel your frustration.
I started calling the Passholder line at 9 am. Got busy signals for about 30 minutes. Once connected it took around 100 minutes on hold to get to someone. From there it took around 35 minutes to buy tickets. At first they were only going to give me the Passholder rate for my ticket rather than my whole party. The rep was very nice and in the end I got the tickets I wanted for the Passholder rate. That being said it would have been good to have online ticket sales.
I called DVC at about 1:45 this afternoon (Central Time). I had to try calling three times before I got through. I was told my wait time was about 41 minutes.
My entire phone call was 48 minutes long and I had four tickets. We have tickets on 3 September.
Called at 530 and waited less than two hours before getting my tickets!
Absolutely a nightmare experience. Agree with everyone’s sentiments. With today’s technology there is not plausible reason we all had two to three hour waits on a phone if you were lucky enough to get through and not have your call dropped. For the record the DVC lines were not working at 9 am when the “discounted” ticket sales went live. Like so many I tried multiple different lines using multiple devices. After 2.5 hours I finally got my call answered. The entire time I was on hold not once did the wait time estimation ever come through. I am however intimately familiar with the recorded loop of how to make my experience more magical LOL! No pixie dust or magical experience gained from this mess today!
I kept getting busy tones, “Your call can’t be completed” messages, and a menagerie of other responses besides actually getting through, and this was right at 7 a.m. Florida time. After trying to call in for about an hour (250 redials for those of you counting), I finally got through to the WDW phone line. The next fun was being told that my wait time was 167 minutes (le sigh). Finally got to talk to a customer service rep. So here are things we (the customer service person and I) learned today when trying to call in for Boo Bash tickets.
1. Let the customer service rep know you have reservations at the hotel so they can bring up your reservation number or the link won’t show for them. This is at least what she was telling me.
2. When you give the representative the date you want to go and they say they can’t find it, let them know that it might show up as an After Hours Party, and not under Boo Bash. We found this out today while I was guiding her on where to find the dates.
3. The representative will ask you how many adults and how many children, but the price will be the same for everyone. For some reason they want you to pay for children and adults separately.
Anyway, good luck and hopefully this helps anyone who might have the same struggles I had today. The positive side of this is I was able to wash dishes, clothes, clean out old emails, and fold clothes while I was on hold with WDW today. So make sure you have some chores you can accomplish while you too are on hold/trying to get into the system with customer service. Cheers!
After being on hold for 2hrs 43 mins, I was told that tickets are not being sold after 7pm. Did not say anywhere that ticket sales were a specific time!!!! I’ll try again tomorrow.
I started calling at 6:55am EDT & got through at 7:02am and was placed on hold. After 3 hours and 4 minutes on hold, a super nice cast member finally answered. I was able to get tickets, but it took 25 mins maybe, as the system was REALLY slow. Even w that insane wait time, I feel fortunate to at least have gotten tickets for the date I wanted.
Day 2 of trying all day and I haven’t gotten further than a “all circuits are busy” or a busy tone on multiple numbers including the DVC lines
I tried calling again. So frustrating. I got an email for a good deal to Tahiti. Very tempted to do that instead. I think other people need and deserve my money more than Disney. Being a southern Californian previous Premier pass holder that got “Sun Stetted” Not feeling the love from the mouse. Disney used to have excellent customer service. But this current round of upper management don’t seem to care about anything but stock prices!
Yesterday was a NIGHTMARE, to say the least. I dialed the number at 6:59 am (EST) and pressed send at exactly 7:00 am. Nothing. The call got dropped. Or a busy signal, operator, or loud screeching noise. I spam-dialed every few seconds for 4 hours. Around 10:30 I got into the phone queue only to have my call dropped after 15 minutes. So, I had to spam dial for another hour before I got back into the phone queue before having my call dropped AGAIN. Finally, after another few hours of spam dials, I got back into the queue at 2:49 pm only to sit on hold until after 4:30 pm to order my tickets. My poor mother didn’t get through until almost 7:15 pm (EST). Then, after linking my tickets, I had to call the help desk so they could submit a tech help ticket because they weren’t showing up in my MDE account…
This event had better be EPIC.
Day two of attempting to reach an agent in an attempt to purchase Boo Bash tickets. Approximately 325 calls later, I’m still trying to get through. Received a message last night that due to high demands and new offerings at Disney, they were closing the call cue. Hoping today to get through! Unsure of how many have been sold, but I’m hoping the night I’m hoping to go in August is still available!
I called all day yesterday and couldn’t get through until 9:45. I was on hold until 11pm and then the cast member told me they stopped selling tickets at 7pm, to call back today. This time I was able to get through after 30 minutes of trying and I sat on hold for 3 hours and 10 minutes before I was finally able to purchase tickets. Incredibly frustrating.
After 3 hours waiting I got my tickets for Sep 3. Super nice cast member did the process in less than 15 minutes but she told me they are receiving numerous calls so be patient. The magic is always waiting….I used the line 407 939 4240
I never could get in yesterday. This morning I called the number in the email at 6:58 and waited through the menu which put me right at 7 am. I was on hold until around 9:30. I got the tickets I wanted for Boo Bash and can’t wait for October to get here. All parks are short staffed and hold times are long. I waited over an hour to book a Cabana for Universal’s Volcano Bay.
We tried for over 7 hours yesterday only to get in the “que” and wait 3 hours to be told they were no longer selling tickets and did not know when they would go on sale again. Cast member was not helpful at all. I understand they are under a lot of pressure, but this could have been planned better. Today, we are on hold for 3 more hours and still on hold.
I literally tried from 7am to 6:10pm. I was disconnected three times. I spent my day saying, “Siri, redial.” Finally got in the queue on the 6:10 call. Waited until 8:58 to speak with a cast member. Got my tickets, he transferred me to the survey and it disconnected.
Here’s the kicker- they stopped selling tickets at 9pm. So all those people in the queue on hold for 2-3 hours- if the cast member answered after 9, they were told to call back today. That’s pretty poor.
People, I can’t tell you the number of times I called. It was pretty much a literal day of redial. On the bright side, I got my hallway painted. And I did get tickets. Thank goodness for a headset and voice commands.
Worst roll-out I’ve seen with Disney. And it’s rather pricey, and shorter time.
After dialing 217 times, on hold for two hours, I finally got my tickets for the Boo Bash. The travel agent I spoke to, told me a lot of people have been purchasing tickets and was very apologetic for the long wait and hassle.
We tried all day yesterday, from 7am ET – 645pm ET there were hundreds of calls made. First time we connected was at 5pm and the call dropped. Second time we got through was at 645pm and held for 2 hours and 45 minutes. We were told that Halloween night was sold out for the day. The cast member was kind enough to tell us that a certain number of tickets are available daily and to try again every day.
This morning we were back at it again at 7am and got right through. We held for a little over 2 hours, but we got our Halloween night Boo Bash tickets!!!
Don’t give up!! My daughter (a former cast member) has been to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and although this is different, she insisted it is worth it and never gave up. Keep calling, and if they tell you that your day is sold out, try again tomorrow. Have a magical Halloween!! I know we will!!
I get it that Disney was hit hard by the pandemic, and I am sympathetic to that.
But this episode convinces me even more they are trying a reopening strategy that has them economizing in ways that hit guest experiences very hard. And that has them “sorta kinda” back in business but not with the level of service faithful guests have come to expect.
I doubt I could do anywhere nearly as well as they are at reopening, but I think the jury is out on if they will be back to what we remember anytime soon.
My TA was on the phone at 7:00am yesterday and spent the entire day trying to get through and procure tickets for us. What a trooper! She finally had success last night around 7:30pm! We’ll be there for one of the Fridays in October!!
Started calling at 8 am Eastern on 3 phones. Connected with DVC 4 times but was disconnected after each attempt. Per the app – moved to the 4240 numbers – no luck there! Gave up around 11 am (need to work sometimes!) and then at 12 noon tried DVC – and was on hold for 40 minutes – and easy peasy to get the tickets. Maybe the “sold out October” is for the early birds and they’re saving some for the general public?
Disney has historically been the benchmark of guest service. However it consistently seems during recent years that few things roll out smoothly and it has become out of the ordinary to have a smooth experience. I’ve thought that more investment needs to occur with IT infrastructure and staff, however just as important is something that doesn’t cost the company money…communicate better internally.
Anyone attempting to purchase tickets for the BOO Bash confirms how willing the public is to be taken advantage of in pricing. The MNSSHP was over-priced, but was longer in duration. Just look at the cost per hour of attending this event in comparison to a full-day park pass. It would nice if the public showed price resistance to Disney with these events, but it never fails that there are those excited to jump in line regardless of price and so the cycle just continues.
Called this morning at 7am June 9th, was put on hold for 1 hr and 45min. A very nice cast member answered and knew what they were doing. The first thing they asked me was what my resort reservation was and we went from there to get tickets for September. I’m an AP holder and was able to get $10 off each ticket purchased. I’m sure glad this is over with, I didn’t want to spend another day worrying I wasn’t going to get tickets.
I got tickets today on the 407-939-4240 number after calling 41 times. Since I am a DVC member it transferred me over to DVC and I waited a little over 40 min until I got to speak to someone. I had tried the direct DVC number several times but could not get through. Keep on calling. It does work you can get through eventually.
We got boo bash tickets the day they were released! It was a half hour of the error message, but I kept calling, and was originally given a 167 minute wait; however, the wait was well over 180 minutes. From beginning to end, it was 4.5 hours of being on the phone in total. I’m glad I had the day off!!
I called DVC Member Services. Took all day, but finally got through to the queue at 4:30pm. Was on hold for about an hour and then got to purchase my tickets. I figured it would take some effort, but certainly not all day. Glad I finally got through and purchased my tickets for August though!
It took all morning calling MANY times but got through about noon and then was on hold for another 2+hrs finally got tickets for August date! Yahoo!