I love McDonald’s Boo Buckets. There are few Happy Meals with the lineage of this annual Halloween offering. (Can we get Teenie Beanie Babies again?) Snackologytook a look at a few Boo Buckets last year, but you’re all in for a treat this year.
McDonald’s has skipped the usual pumpkins, ghosts and black cats, instead releasing the Disney Villains Boo Buckets.
“Our iconic Boo Buckets are teaming up with Disney to bring the ones you love to fear to a McDonald’s near you!” McDonald’s wrote in its announcement of the upcoming promotion. “Starting Oct. 20, the iconic Disney Villains Boo Buckets Happy Meal are making their way to the Golden Arches with five wickedly collectible designs inspired by Disney’s most notorious scene-stealers. Collect the whole squad featuring: Jafar, Ursula, Scar, Cruella and Maleficent.”
What a twist! Here I was expecting another round of traditional Boo Buckets — maybe I would chase the ghost again — and then McDonald’s and Disney go and team up and unleash a roster of villains on this Happy Meal.
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What they cost
Pricing might vary depending on your location, but at my McDonald’s, a Hamburger Happy Meal is $4.79, a 4-piece McNugget Happy Meal is $4.99 and a 6-piece McNugget Happy Meal is $5.49.
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When my daughter saw me unpacking the Disney Villains Boo Buckets, I explained to her that the one on the top of the pile was Scar. “Is there a Moana?” she asked. That’s when I realized that modern Disney movies don’t really have villains anymore, do they?
Moana has Te Kā. Frozen has Hans. Ralph Breaks the Internet has ... um ... capitalism?
It’s impressive that the batch of villains chosen to grace these Boo Buckets stretches all the way back to 1959 and are only as recent as 1994. That’s over thirty years ago! Despite that age, these villains look fantastic in Boo Bucket form.
Scar Boo Bucket. / Snackology
Scar
The Lion King is the most recent Disney movie in this bunch. And it’s my favorite of the lineup. The combination of the iconic Scar and the very Lion King-coded orange absolutely nails this bucket.
Each bucket has a central portrait of its villain surrounded by simplistic but effective vignettes from each character’s movie. You also get a circular sticker page that corresponds with the film.
Jafar Boo Bucket. / Snackology
Jafar
Considering that Eric Goldberg, the original lead animator behind Aladdin’s Genie, created the simplistic style of Maui’s tattoos in Moana, it feels right that there’s a tiny silhouetted Genie on Jafar’s Boo Bucket.
Ursula Boo Bucket. / Snackology
Ursula
There are technically three versions of The Little Mermaid in simultaneous existence. You have the original animated movie, the recent live-action film and then the Disney Junior animated series. The latter is the version of The Little Mermaid that my daughter is most familiar with, which means that the idea of a truly villainous Ursula isn’t what she’s used to seeing.
Maleficent Boo Bucket. / Snackology
Maleficent
The pairing of a zombie-green Boo Bucket and Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent is perfect. I love that despite Disney’s push to cash in on its live-action remakes, an animated villain from 1959 is front and center on this Happy Meal treat. Is there a more terrifying Disney villain than Maleficent in her dragon form?
Cruella De Vil Boo Bucket. / Snackology
Cruella De Vil
“Oh, she looks like a fashion lady,” our daughter said when I showed her the Cruella De Vil Boo Bucket. Yikes. How does one introduce One Hundred and One Dalmatians to a kid in 2026? Just don’t ask any questions about the puppies on this Boo Bucket!
snack score
Disney Villains Boo Buckets Happy Meal Snack score: 5 out of 5
The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
