The festival in Deltarune Chapter 5 is a lengthy Light World section that covers honey toast, Castle Town, Susie and Noelle’s date, and the full beach scene before the Dark World even begins. On a first playthrough it is essential. On a second run — when you are hunting Pink Coins, trying the secret boss, or exploring different choices — replaying all of it can feel like a long detour. Toby Fox built in a skip for exactly this situation, but it only unlocks after you have already finished the chapter once.
- The festival cannot be skipped on a first playthrough. You must complete Chapter 5 fully first.
- After finishing the chapter and watching the ending, the skip unlocks permanently for that save file.
- To skip, interact with Kris’s bed at the start of a new run and choose to go to sleep.
- The game warns you that sleeping will cause you to miss important story events.
- Confirm the choice and Kris wakes up directly in the Flower Shop Dark World.
- Nothing else changes. The story continues from the Dark World as normal.
Can You Skip the Festival on a First Playthrough?
No. The festival skip is completely locked on your very first run through Chapter 5. The option does not appear and the bed does nothing unusual until the game registers that you have already finished the chapter at least once.
This is intentional design. The festival is packed with story content — Susie and Noelle’s first date, the beach scene, the emotional turn that leads to the Dark Fountain opening inside Asgore’s shop. Toby Fox wants every player to experience that arc in full before they can choose to bypass it. The skip exists as a quality of life tool for returning players, not a shortcut for the first visit.
If you are on your first run and finding the festival long, it helps to know it does move at its own pace on purpose. The tonal shift from the warm festival atmosphere to the Flower Kingdom Dark World is one of the more effective moments in Chapter 5, and it lands better if you have just spent time wandering around the stalls with Susie and Noelle. For a full rundown of what to do before leaving the festival area, check out our guide on everything to do at the festival in Deltarune Chapter 5.
How to Unlock the Festival Skip
The skip unlocks automatically once you meet one condition: complete Chapter 5 in full. That means defeating Flowery, watching the ending cutscene, and creating a completed save file. The game detects your progress and permanently unlocks the skip for any future run on that file.
You do not need to do anything special to activate it. There is no menu option to enable, no code to enter, and no collectible to find. Just finish the chapter normally and the skip will be waiting for you the next time you start a new run.
How to Use the Festival Skip
Once you have completed Chapter 5 and unlocked the skip, here is how to use it on any subsequent run.
Step 1: Start Chapter 5 as Normal
Begin the chapter the usual way. Kris climbs back through the bedroom window and retrieves their SOUL from the cage. You regain control inside Kris’s room, just as you did on your first run.
Step 2: Interact With the Bed
Instead of heading downstairs to Toriel, interact with the bed on the right side of Kris’s room. On a first playthrough this does nothing useful. On a completed save, it now offers an option to go to sleep.
Step 3: Choose to Go to Sleep
The game displays a warning telling you that going to sleep will cause you to miss important story events. This is the game confirming you are about to skip the entire festival sequence, the Castle Town scenes, and the beach. Choose to sleep anyway.
Step 4: Wake Up in the Dark World
The screen fades to black. Kris sleeps through the festival entirely. When they wake up, you are transported directly to the Flower Shop Dark World — the point where the Dark Fountain has already opened and the chapter’s main dungeon begins. The entire Light World opening is bypassed in seconds.
What Changes When You Skip the Festival?
Very little changes mechanically. The story picks up from the Dark World as if the festival happened normally. Characters including Susie behave as though the date and beach scene already took place. There is no additional dialogue acknowledging the skipped content and no scenes referencing the fact that you slept through it.
The festival vote, the Ferris wheel pairing, the beach scene, and all other Light World interactions are simply absent from this run. Any potential long-term effects those choices might carry into future chapters are tied to your first completed playthrough, not the skipped run. So if you voted for Susie and Noelle on your first run, that choice is already recorded in your save history.
What you do lose on a skipped run is access to the festival activities themselves — you cannot go back and try different Ferris wheel pairings or vote differently during the same session. If you want to experiment with those choices, you need a full run rather than a skipped one. A save file before Asgore’s flower stall is the most reliable way to test different festival choices without replaying the whole opening every time.
Why the Festival Skip Matters
The festival section is one of the longer pre-dungeon sequences in Deltarune. From Kris waking up at home to the moment you fall into the Dark World, the opening covers honey toast, the town walk, Castle Town, Ralsei’s room, Lancer’s dress design, meeting Noelle, the full festival circuit, the beach scene, and the flower shop cutscene. On a speedrun or a collectible-hunting second playthrough, that adds up quickly.
The skip is especially useful for players who want to:
- Hunt all 19 Pink Coins across the Dark World on a dedicated collecting run.
- Challenge the secret boss Pink without replaying the entire Light World opening.
- Try the Weird Route, which begins from the Light World but has its own distinct version of the festival section already baked in.
- Test different choices in the Dark World, such as sparing or recruiting different enemies, without the long setup.
- Simply replay the chapter’s Dark World content at a faster pace.
Does Skipping the Festival Affect the Weird Route?
The Weird Route in Chapter 5 is a completely separate path that is only available if your save data already carries forward the Weird Route state from Chapter 4. On the Weird Route, the festival plays out differently on its own — Kris sleeps in and misses most of it, Susie says Noelle wants to see Kris at the lake, and the chapter moves toward a much darker Noelle-focused scene instead of the normal Flower Kingdom Dark World.
The standard festival skip described in this guide is a different mechanic from the Weird Route. The bed interaction on a completed normal save simply jumps you to the Dark World. The Weird Route is a full alternate story path with its own opening, its own scenes, and its own ending. The two are unrelated systems and should not be confused with each other.
Tips for Repeat Playthroughs
- Use the skip if you are going for Pink Coins or the secret boss. The Dark World is where all the collectible action happens. Getting there faster means more time for what you actually came back to do.
- Do not skip on your first run. The festival opening sets up the emotional stakes for everything that follows in the Dark World. It is worth seeing in full at least once.
- Keep a save before Asgore’s flower stall on a full-festival run if you want to revisit any festival choices — the Ferris wheel pairing, the King and Queen vote — without replaying the entire opening.
- The skip is permanent once unlocked. You do not need to re-earn it on each new run. Once Chapter 5 is completed on your save file, the bed interaction is always available.
For more on the Dark World content waiting on the other side of the skip, see our guides on how to remove the Floradinn blocking the path, how to power the Mysterious Structure, where to find all 5 foxes, and what to do with Flowery Dollars in Deltarune Chapter 5.
Where to Play Deltarune
Deltarune Chapters 1 through 5 are available now on all major platforms.
