On November 11, Amy and I had the delight of attending the first ever Jollywood Nights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Expectations were HIGH around this event, as it promised a swanky and stylish evening celebrating old Hollywood Glamour. Going into the event our top two priorities were to attend the Twilight Soiree at the Tower of Terror’s Tip Top Club, as well as see the new Holiday Production at Disney’s Theater of Stars featuring Kermit and Miss Piggy. Other than that, we were just excited to get into the Christmas Spirit at Disney World! On with the show!

The Great

Upon arriving at Hollywood Studios we got our event wristbands and lanyards! I LOVE a lanyard, though I do admit it cramped our holiday style a bit. However it was such a creative way to digitally deliver event information, as a QR code with the event book was printed on the pass.We heard rumors of people having a lot of trouble checking in who were already inside the park, but coming from our resort the process was simple and efficient
There’s nothing better than snoap! And that’s exactly what greeted us as we walked down Sunset Boulevard toward the Tower of Terror. We also arrived just in time to see the light show on the facade of the Hollywood Tower Hotel which made for a magical beginning to our evening. Guests of the event can arrive at 7 p.m.; due to a bus snafu we arrived closer to 7:30 which still gave us plenty of time to enjoy the evening.
Short wait for rides! Even before the event began we were able to ride the Tower of Terror in less than 25 minutes. Honestly one of our biggest regrets is that we didn’t spend more time taking advantage of the lack of lines; we were so focused on trying to experience event exclusives that we didn’t fully appreciate just how short all of the ride lines were! If you love an after hours event and want to ride Slinky Dog over and over and over, this is the event for you.
Disney Holidays in Hollywood–This show took over the Theater of Stars (where the Beauty and the Beast show usually performs). This show, in a word, was a delight. The dancing was fantastic, the music great, and when I tell you I gasped in awe at seeing Miss Piggy and Kermit live and in the felt…it was truly a once in a lifetime experience. I’m waiting for Disney to release the original song sung by Tiana in the show, and you know I cried when Belle appeared to sing the classic tune “As Long As There’s Christmas” from the classic direct-to-video prequel Beauty and the Beast: An Enchanted Christmas
The Buffalo Chicken Rolls–These were a HARD item to track down, but once we consulted our Jollywood Nights park map we were easily able to locate them! These wer probably our top food item of the night, though the Gertie cookie was a close second
Speaking of…the Gertie cookie! We waited about 10 minutes to get our chance to purchase this icon in sugar form. The cast members selling these cookies informed us that not only were these cookies HAND CUT, they were also hand iced! The cookie is touted as having a “mint” icing which I wasn’t sure about, but honestly the mint was super subtle and all I tasted was a delicious dino-shaped treat.
The live entertainment: Although the Tip Top Club didn’t exactly live up to what we thought it would be (please Disney, I’m begging of you make a bigger bar) the jazz band and singer who performed in the Tower of Terror Courtyard were fantastic and really helped set the stage for the rest of our night. We also caught the end of the Latin Street party, which had even cast members dancing in the streets.
The Castmembers–I cannot imagine what a chaotic night this was for them; the first night of a new event with people going in with super high expectations. They were amazing as always, even when it started to monsoon toward the end of the night. We love you, cast members!

Things to consider

We were super excited that photopass photos were included in the event. That being said, we had to wait quite a while in line to have our photo taken, and even though the event guide indicated there would be more photographers out and about, we didn’t see as many as we would have liked.
The lines for food and drink were quite long, however my hope/belief is that those will dissipate as less vloggers/influencers attend the event and are trying to get photos/videos/information on all of the new things. I would be interested to see how the food lines go in the next few weeks!
The signature cocktails at the Twilight Soiree were fine…but we actually liked the knock-off espresso martini at the Joffrey’s Cart in the Tower of Terror courtyard even better!
We wished that we had started our evening in the back of the park and worked our way forward; everyone was so excited by all of the offerings on Sunset Boulevard (us included) that by the time we made it to the back of the park the night was almost over! I feel confident that if we had tried this strategy we would have still been able to see the Muppet show, and maybe even the Nightmare Before Christmas sing-a-long which we heard was fantastic (but sadly did not get to see)
Florida Weather–we LOVED our Jollywood Night ensembles (shoutout to Megan for the idea) but the humidity and rain that night made our Hollywood glam dreams a little damp. This is not a note on the event, but just something to consider in how you will enjoy the evening!

I am very excited to see how this event unfolds over the next few weeks. As of this moment, it’s not quite a must-do for me the way that Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was, however we had a great time and I have no regrets about attending! Based on weekend two, Disney definitely heard the feedback and has added more character experiences and tweaked a few existing experiences. We definitely would go again, and simply love having a wonderful Christmastime at Walt Disney World!