Halloween Screams

Halloween Screams: A Villainous Surprise in the Skies is a Halloween-themed fireworks show that is presented at Disneyland during the seasonal Mickey's Halloween Party event. Based on the similarly themed, former fireworks show HalloWishes at Magic Kingdom, Halloween Screams is hosted by Jack Skellington and features appearances from Disney Villains and music from Disney animated features.

The show was produced by Walt Disney Creative Entertainment, and its development was supervised by Steven Davison and designer Eric Tucker. The display began in 2009, during Disneyland's Halloween Time Celebration. The show is similar to that of Walt Disney World Resort's former HalloWishes, and uses many portions of that show's audio. The Anaheim version differs in that it is hosted by Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. The show ran from September 25 to November 1, 2009 (the duration of Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort) and since 2010, it ran exclusively for Mickey's Halloween Party until 2018. Beginning that year, it would start presenting on non-party nights again. In 2019, the show was modified to run like Mickey's Mix Magic: show fireworks during Mickey's Halloween Party nights and only show projections on other nights.

On occasions of high winds or bad weather which forces to cancel the fireworks part of the show, a B-mode of the show is presented which consists of only low level pyrotechnics and small-sized firework shells. In September 2022, Disneyland announced that an updated version of Halloween fireworks shows would come. This update introduced a new projection of Jack Skellington on the sphere-shaped balloon.

In 2023, due to the Fantasmic! Maleficent dragon fire that occurred in April of that year, the flame effects were cut and replaced by regular low-level fireworks.

The show opens with the overture from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, an instrumental medley of songs from the film including "What's This?" and "Making Christmas". Zero (Jack Skellington's dog from the film) flies above Sleeping Beauty Castle. He is shortly joined by Jack, or rather his head (in the form of projection onto a sphere shaped balloon), located on the upper left of the castle. These projections can also be viewed along the Rivers of America, which recycle the mist screens used in Fantasmic!. There are only searchlights and projection mapping used in the show's introduction. No actual pyrotechnics are used for the first two minutes.

Jack and Zero fade into the night and the first pyrotechnics are launched when "Grim Grinning Ghosts", from the Disneyland attraction the Haunted Mansion, begins to play. Projections of rising ghosts make an appearance on the castle. The music from "Grim Grinning Ghosts" changes to an upbeat pop tempo. Then the mood is set with "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Then Disney's most infamous villains begin to arrive, beginning with Ursula (from The Little Mermaid). The guests are serenaded with a montage of Disney's most spookiest music. Later, Oogie Boogie (from The Nightmare Before Christmas) soon follows, and arriving last is Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty), showing guests how Halloween should really be celebrated. The party ends with Jack and Zero initiating the "scream-along" grand finale.

^× — Instrumental version is played.