McDonald’s Boo Buckets 2026 are getting their wickedest makeover yet. The fast-food giant has confirmed that this year’s Halloween Happy Meal buckets will star five Disney Villains — Ursula, Maleficent, Scar, Jafar, and Cruella de Vil — and they land in restaurants on October 20, 2026. Instead of the classic pumpkins and ghosts, collectors will hunt down villain-themed pails with matching lids and movie-specific sticker sheets.
The news broke this week through food bloggers and was quickly picked up by national outlets, sending the nostalgic Happy Meal collectible straight into Google’s trending searches. And honestly, it’s easy to see why: after four decades of Halloween buckets, McDonald’s has never handed the design over to outside characters like this before.
McDonald’s Boo Buckets 2026 Disney Villains lineup
Each of the five buckets gets a color scheme inspired by its villain. According to early reports, the lineup includes a green Maleficent bucket, a red Jafar bucket, an orange Scar bucket, a white Cruella de Vil bucket, and a purple Ursula bucket.
Every pail comes with a sticker sheet featuring characters and details from that villain’s film, so kids — and let’s be honest, plenty of adults — can customize the look. The sheets reportedly include clever Easter eggs that only true Disney fans will spot. Meanwhile, all five designs share one unifying touch: a bright yellow handle shaped like the Golden Arches.
As always, the buckets come with the purchase of a Happy Meal at participating locations, and only while supplies last. If the last few years are any guide, “while supplies last” won’t be very long.
The complete Boo Buckets timeline, 1986 to 2026
To understand why this year’s release is such a big deal, it helps to know the history. The Boo Buckets are one of fast food’s longest-running Halloween traditions:
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1986 | The Happy Meal Halloween Pails debut — all-orange pumpkin-shaped buckets with different faces. |
| 1989 | The lineup changes to an orange jack-o’-lantern, a green witch, and a white ghost. |
| 1990 | Glow-in-the-dark designs arrive, and the pails keep evolving through the ’90s and 2000s. |
| 2016 | The buckets disappear from restaurants, leaving nostalgic fans in mourning. |
| 2020s | After a long hiatus, McDonald’s revives the tradition. The 2025 run features five designs — returning Ghost, Pumpkin, and Goblin buckets plus new Cat and Zombie versions. |
| 2026 | The first-ever Disney collaboration: five Disney Villains buckets completely replace the classic Halloween characters. |
Why the Disney Villains collab is a bigger deal than it looks
Here’s the angle most coverage is missing: this is the first time McDonald’s has handed its Halloween Happy Meal over to outside intellectual property. That’s a meaningful shift, and it says a lot about how deep the McDonald’s–Disney partnership has grown.
The timing is no accident, either. Disney is currently building an entire Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, with these exact villains set to anchor new rides and attractions. A Happy Meal bucket in October becomes a marketing appetizer for a theme-park land years in the making — millions of kids carrying Maleficent and Ursula pails door to door on Halloween night.
For collectors, it’s also the most “completable” set in years. Five designs, one bucket per Happy Meal, and the kind of drive-thru urgency that turns plastic pails into resale listings within days. Expect the full-set hunters to be out in force on October 20.
How to get McDonald’s Boo Buckets 2026
The Disney Villains Boo Buckets Happy Meal arrives October 20, 2026, at participating McDonald’s restaurants nationwide, while supplies last. Based on past years, they move fast — last year’s buckets sold through quickly, and the first-day rush is real.
If you want all five, plan your drive-thru runs early in the promotion. And don’t assume every location stocks all five designs at once — distribution is often random, so the hunt is half the fun. Much like this month’s other viral seasonal drop — Home Depot’s $29.99 holiday sweater, which sold out in minutes — the fastest fans win.
Which Disney Villain bucket will you grab first?
Green Maleficent, red Jafar, orange Scar, white Cruella, purple Ursula — the lineup reads like a Disney Villains Mount Rushmore. Notably absent: Captain Hook, who apparently didn’t make the cut this year. For more of this week’s biggest entertainment stories, check out U2’s newly announced 2027 world tour dates and the wildest revelations from Chuck Lorre’s new memoir.
So — which villain are you? Tell us in the comments, and good luck completing the set.
