Jollywood Nights is the newest holiday party in Walt Disney World, happening in Hollywood Studios on select nights in November and December. This party started last year and had mixed reviews. We go to go last weekend and let me tell you, it is so worth the ticket price! We even felt that is was better than Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom and although very different, even better than Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party! This may be my most favorite Disney event I have attended in the parks. So let’s dive in and see why, having soooo much snoap might be part of it, who says it can’t snow in Florida!
Timing
With your Jollywood Nights ticket you can enter Hollywood Studios at 6pm even though the event doesn’t start until 7:30pm. If you are already in the park on another ticket you can pick up your wristband at multiple locations throughout the park. We arrived at Hollywood Studios around 5:30pm and there was already a pretty large group of people waiting to get in for the event. We went as far over to the right as we could to wait and it ended up being like a fast pass for entrance! The middle and left stayed still and our side flew through so give that a try if you are headed in for this event.
We used our extra time to take lots of pictures of all the Jollywood Nights stuff that was out already. This included the neon Jollywood Nights sign as you came in, so first PhotoPass picture checked off. We were going to go ahead and get in line to meet Jose or Panchito but no one else seemed to be getting in line early. We decided since Runaway Railway was only a 25 minute wait we would hop on that and then check that character line again. Still no one was in line so we went to go see Muppet Vision 3D because we have to as many times as possible before it’s gone!
After that we got in line for Jose and Panchito with only about 5 people in front of us. The party officially started at 7:30 and Jose danced right out! We got our pictures with Jose and were on to the Tip Top Club by 7:45. From there we went on to do all the things but let’s break each one down.
Characters
When I went to the Halloween party in Magic Kingdom I got in line for Jack and Sally at 4pm, waited 30 minutes for the Seven Dwarves and another 30-45 for Elvis Stitch. I love meeting characters but waiting for anything at these expensive ticketed events feels like you are wasting your time to me. Here at Jollywood Nights we saw Jose Carioca, Balou from Tale Spin and Bert and penguin from Mary Poppins and we didn’t wait anymore than 5-10 minutes for any of these. I know Santa Stitch and Duffy Bear Santa were the two most popular but even the wait for those we noticed was not much later in the evening. Plus, the characters really spent a good amount of time with each person and really gave you an experience. Other than Jack and Sally, I felt like it was just a hop up there, get a picture and go at the Halloween party.
It was really fun just walking up and meeting these rare characters without having to waste time waiting forever. We could have done more characters but had out priorities. Unlike the other parties though, if characters were your priority, you absolutely could easily meet every character that was out at Jollywood Nights!
Special Photo Pass Pictures
There were two really fun PhotoPass locations during the event. The first was an array photo in Animation Courtyard where they gave you some direction on how to move and had some really fun props you could use. They took pictures and a video that uploaded to your My Disney Experience app. I went to do this one around 10:45 and only waited for about 10 minutes. The second one was a robotic arm video with a Muppets Christmas Carol back drop and props!! There was no way I was missing this one and I waited the longest for this, probably about 25 minutes and that was only because there was a large group who did a TON of them instead of just one or two like everyone else. I was actually the last person to do this photo at like 12:35am! You got to choose if you wanted to do a slo-mo movie or if you wanted to have Fozzy Bear interrupt your dance and party session with your friends.
On top of those two fun photo ops, there were PhotoPass photographers everywhere with fun props and Magic Shots. You could do a photo with Ollie, the Gingerbread spokesman for Jollywood Nights. There was one on Sunset Boulevard with Kermit and Miss Piggy and we did them all! I had to go to the Halloween party a second time last year to get the PhotoPass pictures done and just doing that took a big chunk of time.
Food & Drinks
Full disclosure here, I did not have big plans to eat and drink a ton here. In fact we ate dinner before we got there. When we went to the Tip Top Club we waited in line for the bar for about 15 minutes to get a drink there because they are just so pretty. They were tasty too! Waiting in line here really didn’t feel like a waste of time because we got to enjoy the Jazz band playing for the Twilight Soiree and see the dancers. There were even “characters” walking around, dressed to impress and taking pictures with people. Because we caught most of the first set for the band we were ahead of schedule. I had planned on us seeing the second set so we had some extra time.
We could have gotten into the 8:30 Holidays on Hollywood show but our seats would have been bad so we decided to wait for the 9:15 show like we had planned. So we had time and decided to get some food! We got the Turkey Popover and the Just the Sides Popover from Fairfax Faire. They were only $6.49 and $5.49, respectively and much bigger than I thought they would be. AND they were delicious!! Perfect amount of food and I felt like a great price for what you got. Plus it was quick to get, didn’t take forever and I didn’t feel crazy trying to get it. We made the mistake of getting quick service at the Halloween party last year and it ate up so much of our time.
Entertainment
Jollywood Nights has some of the best entertainment in all of Disney in my opinion. The best thing here is that you absolutely can see and do all the entertainment in the time frame of the party and actually enjoy it, not feel crazy. I do not think this is the case with the Magic Kingdom, it feels harried and rushed to get it all done and you always feel like you missed out on something. We started with the Jazz Band at the Twilight Soiree at the Tip Top Club at the exit of Tower of Terror. You feel like you have stepped back in time and they were incredibly entertaining and talented. In between sets there were performers walking around interacting with guests and they were fantastic. Felt like the old Citizens of Hollywood that used to be in the park. We really enjoyed this, it was a vibe!
The next show we saw was the Holidays in Hollywood show at the Beauty and the Beast stage. I cannot say enough good things about this show, it is truly my most favorite show ever! The choreography is FANTASTIC and the dancers are incredibly talented. Mickey and Minnie dance so much and they are also amazing, I was shocked how much they did. The show is hosted by Kermit and Miss Piggy with special guests, Mickey and Minnie, Belle and Tiana who all do their own little song and dance. Tiana’s section was my favorite out of them all! Tiana was incredible, the choreography and song were so fun and the staging for this part was particularly great to me. This show is snoap number 1 of the night for us!
Sunset Seasons Greetings, which you can see on a regular night in Hollywood Studios went on throughout the night. This is the holiday projections on Tower of Terror with different character appearances and of course SNOAP on Sunset Boulevard! This was snoap number 2 of the night and we walked right into it when we exited Holidays in Hollywood. After that we headed back down Sunset to watch Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam on the Chinese Theater at 10pm. This is such an awesome show with the best story and special effects. If you have never watched Prep and Landing on Disney+, go do it now! These are the characters that lead this show and of course Santa makes an appearance. There are projections on the Chinese Theater, lasers, music, fireworks and of course SNOAP! So if you’re keeping track this is snoap stop number 3, all in different parts of the park. There is only one showing of this at 10pm so you do have to make sure you get to this one then but we left the 9:15 Holidays on Hollywood show and made it in plenty of time with a great view. No waiting for an hour in one spot to be able to see this!
After Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam we just moved up closer to the theater to watch the 10:30 show of Glisten, the new ice skating show. I was worried that we wouldn’t get close enough to really see this showing but after the fireworks most people cleared out and we ended up almost front row! This show was really cute and I especially loved that the projections on the theater changed and went with each part of the show. This is definitely one that the kids will like. There are lots of fun elements to it like light up props, guys doing back flips and well, more snoap! So that’s number 4! While this show was not on the same level as Holidays in Hollywood, it was super fun and the multiple shows made it easy to get a good view, plus they make the front section sit down so more people can see.
Originally I had planned to go see characters, get a Gertie Christmas cookie and do PhotoPass pictures after Glisten then catch the 12:30 last showing of What’s This, the Nightmare Before Christmas Sing Along. My husband is not a night owl like me so in an effort to get him to bed a little earlier we decided to do the 11:30 showing and I ran around and did the rest after. This show is so fun, especially if you are big Jack Skellington fan. There is a massive Jack Skelington that comes out (maybe the same one that does the fireworks at the Halloween party?) and the set and transformation of the Hyperion is really cool. We even got snoap stop number 5 here! I thought this show was cute but seemed a little flat if I am being honest. I was expecting the actors to be a little more like the ones in the Frozen Sing Along show and interact with the audience a little more. But it was still great!
On top of all that there was also Holiday Fiesta En La Calle in Animation Courtyard with a Latin band and Latin dancers that went on throughout the night and it was so much fun! The dancers really interacted with guests and even taught some dance moves. This area never really got super crowded so you could really enjoy this in between seeing Jose or Panchito and doing the array photo. Over behind Runaway Railway before you get into Toy Story Land you could enjoy the Pixar Disco party with Edna Mode, Joy, Sadness and more Pixar Pals. This was one of the only things we did not go and do, not because we didn’t have time to do it, just because we didn’t go over there and prioritized some other things instead. We easily could have gone over there before we went to the What’s This show.
Conclusion
So obviously I am a big fan of Jollywood Nights. This might become a must do for me every year. My favorite thing about this event was that it was easy to do everything you wanted to do without running from place to place feeling rushed, you could really enjoy each thing you did. I felt like there were more entertainment options that had more show times so it made it easier to see and do it all. Even if there had been more things to do, there was still time to do them. If you are a character fan, you had a TON to choose from. If you wanted to ride ides, the lines were super short. If you are a foodie, there were lots of options readily available without long lines, the only food option not available to us was the Hollywood Brown Derby special dining event because you had to have a reservation but if that was important to you there was time! If you love the shows and parties, there were plenty and tons of times to go do them all. If you love all the PhotoPass, you could easily do them all without waiting forever and actually be given time to do them right.
More shows, better/cheaper food, time to do everything and actually enjoy it all. That’s it in a nutshell! Plus we got this adorable package of champagne Marshmallows from WonderMade when we exited the park. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Mickey’s Not SO Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party but there is no way to truly do it all at those. You have to pick and choose and even then it can feel stressful. This felt easy and relaxed but yet I did everything I wanted to do and then some! I also loved that a lot of people dressed up for this event, it was like it’s own Dapper Day party. You don’t have to dress up but it made it feel little more fun to be all dressed up to me. Jollywood Nights also felt a little more adult than the Magic Kingdom parties, naturally. Not that the kiddos wouldn’t love it too but there just seemed to be more things that appealed to adults. I am a giant kid so everything at the Magic Kingdom parties appeal to me too but this was different.
This is just my humble opinion of course but if I had to choose between a ticket to this or a ticket to the Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom, I would choose Jollywood Nights. It was so much fun and I didn’t once feel overwhelmed, like I was missing out on something or not getting my money’s worth of the ticket price. 10/10 recommend Jollywood Nights to you all and I hope you get to go at some point. That being said….staying out till almost 1am in your 40’s is crazy…..I felt hungover the next day and I only had one drink! Hahaha! Thank you all for reading along today and have a magical holiday!!
