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McDonald’s is in its villain era.
As the spooky season gears up for the main event — Halloween — the burger giant has released its iconic Happy Meal. This time, the Chicago-based chain has brought in Disney to help create the brand-new Disney Villains Boo Buckets Happy Meal.
The monstrous Happy Meals come with five designs, each inspired by Disney’s most notorious “scene-stealers,” according to the chain. The whole squad features: Jafar, Ursula, Scar, Cruella and Maleficent.
Each Boo Bucket includes the villain-inspired stickers with its iconic characters. The buckets replace the traditional Happy Meal box but still come with your choice of a hamburger, four-piece Chicken McNuggets or six-piece Chicken McNuggets.
As always, each is paired with French fries, apple slices, and a drink — to slurp up all the goodness. Just note that prices for the Boo Bucket could vary based on individual restaurant and location, McDonald’s said.
This year’s Boo Buckets are officially out today and will only be available for a limited time. Make sure to scoop one up quickly, as it makes for a perfect trick-or-treating bag.
Last year, the Golden Arches released the 2025 Boo Buckets featuring five designs: the goblin, ghost, pumpkin, zombie or cat. The collectables also came with a sheet of Halloween-themed, glow-in-the-dark stickers for diners to use for custom decorating.
McDonald’s first introduced the now-classic buckets back in 1986, as part of its Halloween Pumpkin Happy Meal promotion. However, a year earlier, the chain tested the wicked meals in select spots in New York and Boston.
The burger joint stopped making the fan-favorite back in 2016 but quickly decided to bring back the nostalgia in 2022. It was a massive hit and the company is now celebrating its 40th Boo Bucket anniversary.
Despite the brand pulling out all the stops for this year’s Happy Meal design, fans aren’t buying. Many die-hards commented on the McDonald’s Instagram post, all asking the same thing — how is this Halloween?
One user fumed, “I take my kids to McDonald’s all the time and we will NOT be coming for these. There’s nothing cool about them at all not even Halloween-themed so disappointing.”
In another post where McDonald’s promoted the buckets, a user was hoping for the original — the trio featuring the McPunk’n, McBoo and the McGoblin. The themed plastic had the orange jack-o’-lantern, the ghost-faced bucket and the monster-faced bucket.
“I look forward to these every year but honestly this year I’ll pass. Nothing remotely Halloween about these. Bring back the original buckets!!!!!!! Bring back what the people want!!!!” The customer wrote.
Aside from the lack of Halloween design, one of the biggest complaints this year is that there is no lid. Mickey-Dees discontinued lids in the ‘00s and added plastic handles instead.
The kicker, some of the handles look like lids but is instead just a sheet topper. Diners have been begging McDonald’s to bring back the lids as kids are messy and no top means flying fries.
“I want a re-release of the 1980s buckets with the lids,” a user pleaded.
