I recently headed down to Walt Disney World resort to take in all the holiday decor and experience opening night of Disney Jollywood Nights held at Disney Hollywood Studios. Last year was the first year this event was held and after the mixed reviews, I wanted to take in the experience myself.
After attending the event and reflecting on the experience, I wanted to share my feedback (mostly positive) about this second annual event to Walt Disney World Resort.
This year, Walt Disney World, increased the event length by an hour (7:30pm-12:30 am) and allowed guests to enter the park with their wristbands at 6pm. At 6pm, Jollywood guests had the option of enjoying the park, dining or grabbing a seat for Fantasmic! before the park closed to day guests and the party began.
Dress Code
The biggest misconception about this event is dress code. While the suggestions is for “old Hollywood glam,” there really are no rules about what you should wear (other than the normal park safety and security dress code requirements). Personally, we chose to participate in the glam with sequins and sensible shoes. However, many families arrived in their matching PJ’s (and were adorable).
Who is it for?
Second misconception is that Jollywood Nights is mainly for adults. While the event may be targeted for a bit older kids and adults, it really is an event for anyone who can stay up till 12:30am to enjoy an event! We saw families with a variety of ages and stages enjoying the evening.
Capacity and Lines
The event was sold out on opening night and my travel party included myself and one other adult. While the event was sold out, it did not in any way feel crowded at any point during the night. Attraction wait times were very low, with Slinky Dog Dash holding the longest wait (averaging 40-50 mins). During special ticketed events, attraction and meet and greet opportunities operate only with standby lines, unless a guests has DAS (Disability Access Service).
Lines for rare and popular characters yielded longer waits but there were many meet and greets around the park and the characters did regular rotations with out characters (at most meets) every 30 minutes. The highest demand were Santa Duffy, Santa Stitch and Phineas and Ferb.
In addition to more character meets, the event added a new ice rink show, Glisten!. The addition meant that there are now three special show performances during the event, plus Jingle Bell Jingle Bam! projection and nighttime spectacular.
It was very easy to get a spot at a show and there felt like plenty of show times to plan out your evening. The fireworks were the only “show” that occurred one time during the event.
Event Food
Overall, there were a lot of quick service dining options throughout the parks and the lines to obtain the food seemed manageable to low most the entire evening. They do offer specialty dining experiences during the event at Hollywood Brown Derby, for those who want an even more exclusive experience.
We tried the pop-overs ( both turkey and the “just the sides” as shown in photo above), Kermit shake at Fairfax Fare and the spring rolls and coconut macaroon over in the Pixar Plaza area of the park. The food seemed reasonably priced for Walt Disney World resort pricing and was overall tasty.
Event Activities
Jollywood Nights is really for the Disney brand fan. Everything about this event is for folks who love all things Disney, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney branded television, etc. If you were to bring someone to this event who was not a fan of the above mentioned things, then my suggestion would be to focus on the lower crowds and ride attractions that would typically yield longer waits during the day, enjoy the food and maybe pick one show (or two). In my opinion, the shows are some of the best features of this event.
This event is full of opportunity for live music, dancing and specialty cocktails/drinks. In the Pixar Plaza there is a live DJ dance party with Pixar pals, such as Mike (Monsters Inc.), Frozone, Eda Mode (The Incredibles movie franchise), Joy and Sadness (Inside Out). Other musical offerings include a jazz band and swing dancing at the Tip Top Club at the Hollywood Tower Hotel (by the Tower of Terror exit), a “jazzy” piano bar inside the Hollywood Brown Derby, Latin music and dancing inside Animation Courtyard. If someone is not a “brand” fan, these musical offerings may be more their speed.
Methods of Experiencing Jollywood
It is very easy to spend the entire event being busy with activities. We arrived at the park around 6:30pm, ordered our first round of event food around 7:15pm when the stand opened and were walking out of the last show around 12:45am. We felt very pleased with our event experience.
In my opinion, there are a few ways to enjoy this event:
- Do all the unique shows, meet a few characters and focus on all the event specific things that interest you (i.e. characters or the music you enjoy most) and focus less on the attractions.
- Treat the event like a ticketed After Hours event and enjoy the low wait times and ride your favorites over and over!
- Be a foodie, drinker and music lover. Take in all the unique music and dining options.
- Be a little of all the above and just know you will not be able to achieve doing every single thing the event has to offer if you choose to ride some attractions as it will eat into your opportunities for the show times, etc.
Overall, having a general plan can greatly help you achieve your party goals. Since we were the first event of the year, we had to make our plans on the fly, once we had the event map and guide. Even though we had to plan quickly, we did not feel rushed around the park to make it to everything we wanted to do and we enjoyed everything we did. Only one line felt like we were mislead on wait times and that was our wait for Santa Stitch. This lead us to be a little late to experience the fireworks show. This was not a deal breaker for us and didn’t impede our overall impression of the event.
I look forward to attending this event in the future and feel like it’s a great addition to Walt Disney World Resort’s holiday celebrations.
Crush on the Magic 
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