The Disney Channel has always shown wholesome, family-friendly content, however, over the years there has been the occasional Halloween episode that has pushed the envelope a little bit.
This list includes some of my top picks for Halloween-themed episodes of Disney Channel shows.
These are episodes that I love to revisit every October, and sometimes throughout the year for a dose of family-friendly spookiness.
All of these spooky Halloween specials are available on Disney+, so take notes!
Read on to find out our top 5 best classic Disney Channel Halloween episodes!
1. Night of the Day of the Dead (Season 1, Episode 24)
Lizzie McGuire
There is something so memorable about children’s TV shows that do horror-themed episodes for Halloween. For me, those are the shows that stayed in my memory long after I grew up.
This episode is set around the ‘Fright Night‘ Halloween dance, which our antagonist Kate Sanders (Ashlie Brillualt) is in charge of planning. Lizzie’s friend Miranda (Lalaine) gets to showcase her family’s culture by providing some accessories to decorate the dance.
As Miranda is Mexican, she decides that Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) paraphernalia would be perfect for a Fright Night dance.
Spooky hijinks ensue when it seems that the Day of the Dead might be true to its name.
I remember being so frightened by this episode growing up. It is so fun to see tributes to Night of the Living Dead on a children’s TV show, and this episode does a great job of creating suspense.
Miranda was able to introduce her culture as a core piece of this storyline, and every time I revisit this episode I am always pleased that Gordo gets turned into a Burger Buddy figurine as it somehow makes him a less annoying character.
2. The Ghost in Suite 613 (Season 1, Episode 19)
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Hotels are inherently scary, and anybody who has seen American Horror Story: Hotel can attest to that fact.
Whether you are scared of bed bugs or ghosts who are trapped forever in a hotel room, there is always something to fear when you are staying in a hotel.
This episode follows Zack (Dylan Sprouse), Cody (Cole Sprouse) and their usual posse of friends (Brend Song and Ashley Tisdale) as they explore the lore of the ghost in Room ‘613’.
Rumour has it that the room is haunted by a ghost named Irene who checked into Room 613 with her h usband on their honeymoon night in 1942. He went off to fight in World War II and Irene waited for 3 years, but he never came back.
It turned out that he had met an Italian woman and they opened up a pizza parlour in Naples.
After finding out this shocking revelation, Irene died in a tragic accident… She also hates pizza, for obvious reasons…
Ultimately, there is truth to fiction in this episode. A spooky twist at the end reveals that perhaps the room is actually haunted, although perhaps it was just a trick of the light…
I love episodes that feature Muriel (Estelle Harris). She is such a fun and quirky character, and her voice is ICONIC.
3. Halloween (Season 3, Episode 2)
Wizards of Waverly Place
There is so much spooky content sprinkled throughout Wizards of Waverly Place, which makes the show great for October viewing.
This episode in particular is set on Halloween, so it qualifies for this list
Justin (David Henrie) is in charge of the Russo’s haunted house again this year, which he does by transforming the family restaurant into a lame, not-at-all-scary attraction.
Under direction from the Waverly Place Merchants Association to make the haunted house scarier or let a different business do it next year, Alex (Selena Gomez) goes to the Wizard World to gather some spooky ghosts and scare up a cast for their haunted house.
Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to just have real ghosts, the ghosts have to be scary! Returning to the Wizard World, they bring back the scariest ghost of them all: Mantooth.
This is a fun episode with some great visual gags by the ghosts. Harper (Jennifer Stone) dresses up as the Bride of Frankenstein, and in true Harper fashion, her costume is executed perfectly.
4. Don’t Have A Cow (Season 2, Episode 2)
That’s So Raven
This episode is kind of a lot, mostly because of the cow prosthetics that Raven (Raven Symone) and Chelsea (Anneliese van der Pol) are in for part of the episode.
It’s Halloween, and Raven and Chelsea weren’t invited to the biggest Halloween party of the year.
After coming across a spellbook, they cast a magical spell to not only get them invited to the Halloween party but for them to win the costume contest.
Things get a little too real when Raven and Chelsea start turning into their costumes: cows! They must work against their changing bodies to reverse the spell before time runs out.
The prosthetics in this episode are deeply grotesque but a great change from the usual ‘changing into my costume’ plot where characters usually end up being classic movie monsters.
Given That’s So Raven takes place in a world where psychics exist, is it such a stretch to imagine that witches are also real?
5. Summerween (Season 1, Episode 12)
Gravity Falls
Trick or treating is a special part of Halloween… unless of course, a big scary monster is forcing you to do it and threatening your life if you don’t.
Thanks to locals who wanted to celebrate Halloween more often, Summerween was created to let them celebrate twice a year.
After learning about this (brilliant) holiday, Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) also learn about the Summerween Trickster, a local legend of a monster who forces children to trick or treat to prove that they have true Summerween spirit or risk being eaten.
After encountering (and immediately offending) the Sumerween Trickster, the kids are forced into bringing 500 pieces of trick or treat candy back to the Trickster before the last ‘jack-o-melon‘ is extinguished for the evening.
As always, Gravity Falls pulls all the punches with this one. Being a cartoon, it can get away with some very spooky imagery and establishes a very cinematic feeling.
I love this episode because it truly embraces the concept of Summerween, which I am tempted to celebrate next Summer!
The Couch Ghost 
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