Pixelmania West 2026

Bad news, everyone: Disneyland's 70th anniversary celebration ends on August 9, 2026. As a result, we will not be able to see the Paint the Night parade, the best parade ever.

Since Oogie Boogie Bash starts on August 13, I assume the parade performers are moving from one parade to the other, so some bean counter decided to just end the whole anniversary celebration.
 
@ExploringWDW tells me that Disneyland AP holders will be able to buy OBB tickets starting on June 16 or 17, depending on what type of AP they have. There is a good chance that tickets may be available to the rest of us starting on June 18. Mark your calendar!
 
Tips on visiting Walt's barn and other Burbank attractions from a user on the Be Our Guest Podcast Discord server:

If you'll be in that area on the third Sunday of the month, Walt's barn in Griffith Park is open between 11 and 3. The barn used to be at the Disney home on Carolwood, and was moved and reconstructed here a number of years ago. It's run by volunteers, and can be popular, so arrive a bit early. The barn is quick to tour, but has some items of interest (I particularly like the model of Minetrain Through Nature's Wonderland, which used to be an attraction at Disneyland). It's kind of connected to the Live Steamers Museum (they use the same land, but you have to walk a couple hundred yards down the road to the other entrance), and they have a little train that people sit on and track around the park area. More info here: https://www.carolwood.org/

If you can park about 45 minutes early and line up, you'll save that amount of time as you'll not be waiting to go through the barn. It's a small building and grounds, and I'd say 45-60 minutes at the barn would give you more than enough time to see everything. You can then walk down to the steamers and ride the little train (it's one like Walt ran upon which you sit). There will be a line, but they run a good amount of trains, and it moves quickly. It's a surprisingly long track (you'll see it from the barn) and quite fun.

If you're really into history, the original Disney Brothers studio is not too far away (it's a print shop), and the location of the Disey Hyperion Studios is the Gelsons (supermarket) on Hyperion. Some of the homes that Walt and Roy owned are in the area, too, though they're all privately owned, and you can only see the outside.

Finally, Imagineering and some of other Disney buildings are in Burbank off of Flower Street. It's a pretty industrial area, but worth driving by. The old Burbank Airport building was restored by the WDC, and viewable from the street, too.
 
Good news, everyone: Disneyland has announced that Oogie Boogie Bash tickets go on sale Thursday, June 18, starting no earlier than noon Eastern time (9 am Pacific time).

They have also extended the Paint the Night parade and the Wondrous Journeys fireworks show through August 20. We may have to change our plans and add a park day or two to be able to see the best Disney parade in the USA. That's nice, but since we're going in September, we're still out of luck.

The disappointing news is that, due to construction in DCA, the regular Bash parade is being replaced with Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake – A Haunted Mansion Street Party. Fortunateley, Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, who lead the Bash parade, will appear in the park at various times. I assume that means they will walk along the parade route, without the parade.

The Disney Parks Blog for June 2, 2026, has details of everything going on in the Disneyland Resort during the Halloween season.
 
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ddindy said:
Good news, everyone: Disneyland has announced that Oogie Boogie Bash tickets go on sale Thursday, June 19, starting no earlier than noon Eastern time (9 am Pacific time).

They have also extended the Paint the Night parade and the Wondrous Journeys fireworks show through August 20. We may have to change our plans and add a park day or two to be able to see the best Disney parade in the USA.

The disappointing news is that, due to construction in DCA, the regular Bash parade is being replaced with Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake – A Haunted Mansion Street Party. Fortunateley, Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, who lead the Bash parade, will appear in the park at various times. I assume that means they will walk along the parade route, without the parade.

The Disney Parks Blog for June 2, 2026, has details of everything going on in the Disneyland Resort during the Halloween season.
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So do we need to add a park ticket for Friday?
 
I just re-read the post and realized that the parade has been extended through August 20, not September 20. I corrected it so nobody has to add a day to see a parade that ended a month before.

However, @ExploringWDW and I are planning to add Tuesday as a full park day. You're free to spend the day relaxing in the pool if you like.
 
Should we figure out Park of the day reservations since we still need them?
@ExploringWDW @ddindy

Also the drop for Oogie Boogie bash tickets is confirmed for June 18th .
Ticket purchase opens for me at noon EST. Check your times.

Our dates are:
September 22, 2026 (primary)
September 24, 2026 (back up in case the 22nd is sold out)
 
Joanie Eddis-Koch said:
Should we figure out Park of the day reservations since we still need them?
@ExploringWDW @ddindy

Also the drop for Oogie Boogie bash tickets is confirmed for June 18th .
Ticket purchase opens for me at noon EST. Check your times.

Our dates are:
September 22, 2026 (primary)
September 24, 2026 (back up in case the 22nd is sold out)
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Like @ddindy said, we are getting 5 day park hoppers. So other than our OBB day and arrival and departure days, we will be in the parks every day.

Since park hopping restrictions are gone, how important to you think park of the day reservations are?

I do think that we should rope drop CA on OBB days. Other than that, I would go along with the recommendations of the more experienced visitors...
 
First off, thanks for correcting us on the OBB ticket date. I knew it was the 18th, but for some reason I typed 19 in my June 3 post when it was announced.

Looking at the Touring Plans crowd calendar, the less crowded park on Monday through Thursday alternates: DL, DCA, DL, DCA, mainly because Tuesday and Thursday are party days so the crowds are lower. Obviously, we'll want to rope drop Fantasyland and Radiator Springs Racers at least one day each, so I propose alternating parks, starting with Disneyland, as the plan.

Next step: Meal planning for when the July reservation window opens.

I don't think I've mentioned my flight times:
Arrive Orange County (SNA) Friday Sep. 18 at 7:00 pm.
Depart Long Beach Friday Sep. 25 at 8:20 am.
 
So...

Saturday, September 19, 2026: DL
Sunday, September 20, 2026: DCA
Monday, September 21, 2026: DL
Tuesday, September 22, 2026: OBB Party
Wednesday, September 23, 2026: DL
Thursday, September 24, 2026: DCA

I doubt it will be an issue to change them last minute if necessary. I know it's never been an issue at WDW for us but maybe that's different out west?

@ddindy have the hours been updated by touringplans at all? Probably not since the official calendar only goes out 6 weeks...
 
So my park (entry) days would be
Monday DL
Tues 3pm At Oogie "early entry". 11pm The party's over.
Wednesday DL
Thursday DCA
And Friday hopefully I'll be at the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that will have just opened that week. I purchased a membership so hopefully that will help with obtaining tickets.
 
@ExploringWDW I haven't seen any hours updates from TP. Disneyland's primary guests are locals who don't have to plan months in the future like WDW guests. It takes a little getting used to.

The weather looks like it might be highs in the upper 80s and lows in the low 60s. Typically, the humidity is low and the temperature peaks around 2-3 pm. Mornings and evenings can be chilly, so layers are recommended.

@Joanie Eddis-Koch We can change the park order if you want to start two days in DCA instead of two in DL. There's plenty of time to make that decision and we should be able to change our plans any time before we enter the park.
Do we still want to go to Knott's on Saturday?
I recently saw a post saying that it's easier to park at the Griffith Park Observatory earlier in the day, but since we'll be at Walt's Barn on Sunday morning we'll probably run into the same situation as last year (if we wanted to go there this year).

I'm only adding one day to my ticket to go to the parks on Tuesday. I'll probably take a post-lunch break to go back to my room to put on my costume for the party.
 
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Whoops. I guess I didn't see the point of wasting time outside the parks on Tuesday. So what does everyone think they want to do? A visit to Trader Sam's is at the top of my list, but that only uses up an hour or so, not including the walk there and back for those of us without DVC.
 
That would be a great day for Trader Sam’s. We might do Downtown Disney as well. Our arrival flight has been pushed to late afternoon so the DD on arrival day will either be shortened or skipped.
 
I'm good with the park schedule starting on Monday at Disneyland and then California adventure on Tuesday, then Wednesday at Disneyland and Thursday at California adventure
If we need to switch that up I'm fine with that as well so I guess we'll keep our eyes open and see if anything changed that would rotate the schedule around.

As for Saturday I'm open. Would it make sense to go to the Disney parks with Dave and Gillian on Saturday since they are there, or still do Knott's Berry or even something else? I'm willing to purchase an extra day at the Disney parks if that's what it comes to.

When you're talking about Trader Sams do you mean on Tuesday before we head over to the parks at 3:00 p.m. for the party?

As for Griffith Park on Saturday, I plan on remembering my handicap parking placard so I think we'll have a bit of an easier time parking up at the observatory. At least hopefully that will work out. We also have to figure out what we want to do for dining on Sunday.
 
Trader Sam's before the party on Tuesday is what I think Dennis was saying and sounds good to me as well. Then I thought the timing wouldn't work until I saw their hours are 8AM to midnight. The breakfast menu actually looks decent too. I would also like to get there after 8 when the child ban is in effect.

Regarding dining on Sunday, I don't think we have any dining plans at all, correct? I have not done much research on the subject, but recommendations are welcome.

The Broken Spell Lounge at our resort looks inviting.
Napa Rose of course but I think I can only afford the lounge there. Or maybe not even the lounge...
Lamplight Lounge in DCA has a Brunch Fri-Sun 9AM-1PM but their regular daily menu looks good too.
Oddly, all my suggestions are lounges...
 
I was leaning toward lunch at Trader Sam's on Tuesday. I know it means a walk back to the hotel to change for the party, but I'd rather do that than wear a costume in the bar (but there is a workaround, like leaving it in a locker, so maybe a 1:30 or 2 pm Sam's reservation would work). Also, I don't remember ever seeing kids in Trader Sam's West. It can be a tough ADR to get, so we'll have to coordinate our efforts to be on-line at 9 am when ADRs become available 60 days out.

@ExploringWDW I'm surprised that Carthay Circle Lounge isn't on your list. We enjoyed that a few years ago. We really need to discuss dining a few days before the window opens in July.

@Joanie Eddis-Koch I don't mind dropping Knott's in favor of an additional Disney park day. We can save Knott's for a trip when we don't already have several things going on. I don't remember even discussing Griffith Park Observatory, but since we'll be on the north side of the park on Sunday, it seemed like a logical thing to do. But it's a nice-to-do and not a must-do for me this trip.


Finally, I'll be on the road when Bash tickets go on sale, so if one or both of you can text me a reminder around 11:45 am, I'd appreciate it. Just don't expect an immediate reply, because I still haven't found the time to research how to make my phone send voice texts when I'm driving.
 
ddindy said:
I was leaning toward lunch at Trader Sam's on Tuesday. I know it means a walk back to the hotel to change for the party, but I'd rather do that than wear a costume in the bar (but there is a workaround, like leaving it in a locker, so maybe a 1:30 or 2 pm Sam's reservation would work). Also, I don't remember ever seeing kids in Trader Sam's West. It can be a tough ADR to get, so we'll have to coordinate our efforts to be on-line at 9 am when ADRs become available 60 days out.
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If you guys want to bring your costumes to our room and change there I'd be fine with that.
ddindy said:
@ExploringWDW I'm surprised that Carthay Circle Lounge isn't on your list. We enjoyed that a few years ago. We really need to discuss dining a few days before the window opens in July.
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I did not see the Carthay Circle Lounge option. I'm in!
ddindy said:
@Joanie Eddis-Koch I don't mind dropping Knott's in favor of an additional Disney park day. We can save Knott's for a trip when we don't already have several things going on. I don't remember even discussing Griffith Park Observatory, but since we'll be on the north side of the park on Sunday, it seemed like a logical thing to do. But it's a nice-to-do and not a must-do for me this trip.


Finally, I'll be on the road when Bash tickets go on sale, so if one or both of you can text me a reminder around 11:45 am, I'd appreciate it. Just don't expect an immediate reply, because I still haven't found the time to research how to make my phone send voice texts when I'm driving.
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Regarding Bash tickets, what is the real possibility of a sell out for the 22nd and needing to go to our back up day? If it sells out after one of us gets tickets and before the rest, how will we know? Do they use the online queue system that WDW uses? If the likelihood is high, my thought is to just put one person in charge of purchasing all the tickets and then join up on the app and distribute them. I know Dennis is traveling on the 18th and I am working. Is @Joanie Eddis-Koch busy that day? I could hide at work and get it done if necessary.

Thoughts?
 
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