Jollywood Nights is a new addition to Walt Disney World for the holiday season. The prospect of a new ticketed event opens up numerous possibilities for a memorable evening. When this was first announced we decided to give the first event a pass, as it’s common for new events to have some initial hiccups that can impact the overall guest experience. Turns out this was a great decision. The first party was met with a lot of negative reviews. On our YouTube channel we have our video walkthrough of the second night.
By watching and reading reviews from other Vloggers and Blog sites, we gained valuable insights that we built our plan around. Also Disney made various tweaks from the first party to the other. We decided to treat it as a series of mini dates within one grand event. This approach allows us to savor each moment and make the most of the different activities that Jollywood Nights offers.
Studying the event guide, we planned our evening, prioritizing the experiences that interested us the most. We considered exploring different park areas, trying various food and beverage options, and enjoying unique entertainment. Jollywood Nights provides the perfect backdrop for creating magical memories. We entered the park at 6 PM with our AP, so we didn’t get caught in the lines to get it. We used this time to grab some photos and queue up for the Gertie sugar cookie. They opened this line early, and we got the cookie at 7:59 pm. Opening this early was one of the tweaks between the first week and the second week.
Whether strolling hand-in-hand under the Disney Hollywood Studios Stars or Dinosaur, enjoying a romantic dinner, or even singing along to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jollywood Nights offers ample opportunities for a truly enchanting and unforgettable night. So, join us as we stroll through Jollywood Nights.
Jazzy Holidays at The Brown Derby
We chose this spot for our first date of the evening. However, getting into Jazzy Holidays requires some effort. To secure a spot, you must join a walk-up list in front of the restaurant. Once that is full and the first groups are seated you then check availability through the My Disney Experience app. Because we missed the initial seating a cast member told us we could join the walk-up list for the Brown Derby Lounge which offers the same food as the main restaurant. We did this and were called back in ten minutes.
Seated outside next to the main restaurant, they pump the music in, so we felt like we were in the Jazzy club. We studied our options for food and drinks well before we sat down to speed up our process. We ordered the Derby Sliders, Pork Belly Bao, and the Crispy Duck Drumettes. For drinks, we ordered the Sugar Cookie Martini and Hollywood Lights.
The two drinks were better than expected, in our opinion. Typically, we do not buy alcoholic beverages at the Disney parks as they are expensive and mostly premade sugary messes. However, these tasted like they were made to order. Hollywood Lights had a great mix of rums and a tropical taste that reminded us of a Mai Tai, while the Sugar cookie Martini was a vodka-forward sugar cookie in liquid form.
At first bite, I wasn’t a fan of the Crispy Duck Drumettes. You will see the reaction if you watch me eat it on our YouTube channel. However, it got a lot better as I kept eating. The first bite was too much citrus, but the rest of the drumette had an outstanding balance of flavors and tenderness.
These were my personal favorites as they had a great taste to them. The meat is a bison and pork belly blend topped with a fig jam. The balance worked well for my tastes, and I highly recommend these.
The pork belly bao was Emma’s favorite and a strong contender for me. We are suckers for anything with pork belly in it, though, so we could be biased. The pork belly is tender and juicy and exploding with flavor. We’d like to suggest this along with the sliders. The duck drumettes come with a disclaimer of being very citrusy.
Twilight Soirée at The Tip-Top Club
It was advertised as a swingin’ soiree in the courtyard of The Hollywood Tower Hotel. You are greeted with a live band that will bring fun with holiday tunes in jukebox style as you sip on fancy cocktails. Upon entering this area, the band adds a relaxed vibe to the Tower of Terror exit courtyard. I would go as far as to say this should be something they consider adding weekly on Saturdays. In the context of Jollywood Nights, it lacked holiday decor, in our opinion.
Also, for the first weekend of Jollywood Nights, there was only one outdoor vendor cart (ODV) serving premade drinks. One tweak Disney made was doubling this to make the line move faster. We are always hesitant to try premade drinks, but the Twilight Daiquiri caught our eye as it has ube in it! While the cool color purple is an eye-catcher, this premade drink was sugary. Also, the 5th Dimension sounded like a good idea, but it wasn’t. The 5th Dimension is too heavy on the Champagne and leaves an awkward taste in your mouth. Perhaps that is what they were going for.
Overall, the vibe in the courtyard of the Tower of Terror was great. We would love Disney to do this more often during the park’s regular operating hours. People were dancing and enjoying what this brought to the area. They would need to add some food and work on the drink offerings.
Disney Holidays in Hollywood
Serving as one of the leading entertainment options is Disney Holidays in Hollywood, the new stage show, which is held at the Theater of the Stars, sees the holidays through a fresh lens in this star-studded series of jolly vignettes. Enjoy appearances from special guest stars, including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Tiana, Belle, Minnie Mouse, and Mickey Mouse—accompanied by a talented cast of singers, dancers, and jazz musicians.
This show was beautiful and an absolute delight! We love the Muppets so much, and having their presence kept alive makes us happy. Miss Piggy and Kermit serve as the host of this show. The dancing and mix of Disney and Jazz gave us goosebumps. It reminded us of Big Band Beat from Tokyo Disney Sea, which isn’t bad!
We highly recommend fitting this into your tight schedule of Jollywood Nights as it was a really fun show.
What’s This? Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along
Being huge Nightmare Before Christmas fans we knew we needed to put this on our list. This experience is held in the same theater as the Frozen Sing-Along. This show actually was more enjoyable than we anticipated. Not only do we see the huge Jack Skellington, but Oogie Boogie also comes out for a song. All of this had us singing along to our favorite tunes. We would say along with Disney Holidays in Hollywood put this on your list as a must do experience as long as you like The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Jingle Bell Jingle Bam
The previously free Jingle Bell Jingle Bam is back! Billed as, “Wrap up your evening of festive fun with this dazzling nighttime spectacular—returning to Disney’s Hollywood Studios only during Disney Jollywood Nights.”
Watch in awe as heartwarming holiday moments from favorite Disney films are brought to life on the façade of the park’s iconic Chinese Theater. It’s a stunning display of fireworks, lasers, lights, projections and merry music. Considering this happens right at park close there is no reason to not stick around for it, and obviously this was our last experience of Jollywood Nights.
Jingle Bell Jingle Bam is a great show, and the perfect way to end your night at Jollywood Nights. We enjoyed it. For those who haven’t seen it it centers around Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway building. Showcasing projections with a sprinkling of fireworks it really is a cool show. Considering Jollywood Nights only runs for a few select nights November 11,18,20, 27, 29 & in December 4,6,16, 18, 20 it would be more magical if they should it every night at park close for more to enjoy. As of this writing bold dates are sold out.
Conclusion & Final Thoughts on Jollywood Nights
As we conclude our article, here are some odds and ends from the evening not included in the experiences above. Also, our recommendations and tips will make your night as enjoyable as possible.
The first tip is to arrive early, which can happen in one of two ways. If you are an annual pass holder, get into DHS well before the mix-in of the ticketed guests. You can get your lanyard and wristband inside the park, bypassing the long line outside the gates. If you have a ticket to Jollywood Nights, arrive around 6 pm – 7 pm to get in as early as possible.
The next tip is to plan out what is important to you. If you want to experience the Brown Derby, go over there and check in with the Cast Members (CMs) about the line process. If, for some reason, you miss out on that, check in with the Brown Derby Lounge CMs about their waitlist, as it serves the same food, and you get a better ambiance, in our opinion. We started to see openings for the Brown Derby at 9:30 pm. This cuts into your party time too much to consider, but your miles may vary.
If you want a Gertie cookie, they started selling it at 7:50 pm on our party night, which allowed us not to waste time in that line.
As for the shows, keep an eye on them when they start. We suggest them both, and seeing them is well worth your time. For What’s This, The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along, we attended the night’s last show, and the theater was probably 75% full. We would first prioritize Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood as that show seemed very popular.
Finally, for Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam, don’t stress out too much about finding a spot to watch it from. We arrived at 12:28 am and grabbed a great place to watch it.
If you have stuck with us through this review, you may wonder if this party is worth it. For us, this is a mixed reaction. Did we have fun at Jollywood Nights? Yes, we did and recommend it to people; however, you must plan your night as the party goes by quickly. We would love it if Disney added an hour to this party to be more in line with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas. The perfect DHS day would be to enjoy the park in the daytime and then the party at night. If you are not an annual pass holder, this is costly. We got on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway during the party, which had no wait, and we had 20 minutes to kill before Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam. While all the attractions had no waits, there wasn’t time to enjoy them and experience Jollywood Nights. We didn’t even go to SWGE or Toy Story Land. What do you think about Jollywood Nights? Let us know in the comments!