Jollywood Nights is a hard-ticket, Christmas themed event held at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on select nights in November and December. The party celebrates the holidays by taking guests back to a period of Hollywood glamour with live entertainment, unique character meets, specialty food and more. We had the chance to experience the party in 2025 and this post will serve as a recap of that night and a review of the event.

Jollywood Nights Details, Background & Initial Thoughts

Jollywood Nights runs from 7:30 to 12:30 on select nights. Guests can get into the park at 5:30 and enjoy 2 hours of Hollywood Studios before the party starts. There are check-ins inside of Hollywood Studios (One Man’s Dream and near the Grand Avenue entrance to Galaxy’s Edge) where it’s easy to pick up wristbands, if you had a day ticket or annual pass. The event includes a special ornament on your way out as well as PhotoPass for the duration of the party.

This Hollywood Studios event started in 2023 and was met with poor reviews. The party did not seem to have enough offerings, was poorly organized and not ready for primetime. With inevitable comparisons to the long standing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom, Jollywood Nights debuted with a thud. But Disney World, by all accounts, drastically improved the party in 2024. Now the event appears as if it will be a part of the WDW Christmas offerings for a long time to come.

2025 was our first year experiencing the party and we came away very impressed. There’s a unique feel to this hard-ticket event that Magic Kingdom’s holiday parties, or even Oogie Boogie Bash at California Adventure, don’t possess. Jollywood Nights has plenty of things to do but maintains a laid back feeling.

Some of that might be thanks to the attendees. Many guests come dressed to the nines and are there for drinks, dancing to live music and to have a really nice night out at something unique. Don’t get me wrong, that’s an expensive date night but the setting was very charming – a throwback to the early 1900’s Hollywood at Christmas time. That certainly played a role in us really enjoying the party! It’s also just a really good event featuring a bunch of quality entertainment.

Our Jollywood Experience

Like most hard-ticket events, guests can get into the park before the event starts. With Melissa and I both having annual passes, we made a reservation for the day at Hollywood Studios and got into the park in the afternoon. For those without a day ticket to the park, the gates open at 5:30 before the 7:30 start time.

If you’re able to get in before the mix-in of the party crowd, Hollywood Studios will likely be as empty as you’ll ever see it. We walked onto Tower of Terror at around 5 PM before picking up our Jollywood Nights wristband at One Man’s Dream. They have a Christmas exhibit there featuring some costumes from holiday movies, including Muppets Christmas Carol, so that was a must stop anyway.

Before long, we met up with our wonderful friends who we spent the party with before grabbing dinner at ABC Commissary. We do recommend eating before the actual party time starts. There are enough shows and character meets to fill up the time without having to stop for a meal. Eat early and then snack throughout the night is our recommendation.

From there it was time to party! But do it in a very classy Christmas way, of course. Below is everything we experienced at Jollywood Nights in chronological order. I’ll have more to say on some of them than others.

What’s This? The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along

We contemplated starting with a character meet & greet but every itinerary I read (shoutout to Mouse Hacking and Disney Tourist Blog) said to save characters for last. They were right! Instead we opted for What’s This? because of the popularity and due to it being one of the few shows that starts right at 7:30. We lined up for the show about 20 minutes in advance and were one of the first groups in the theater.

This sing-along is at the Hyperion Theater, home to the Frozen Sing-Along during the day. I’ll admit that I have not liked the sing-along shows in the past. In fact, I hope to never see the Frozen version again. Admittedly, I am nowhere near the target age range for that style of show but I get frustrated with that style of storytelling, where the narration is done really quickly and just so that a character can come on stage and lip sync.

I type that paragraph not to sound like a grumpy old man but to preface my thoughts for this show. I absolutely loved The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along! The show starts off with the Jack Skellington puppet, which is reason enough to go see it. Sit on the far end of the theater (close to the exit) for the best look at the massive creation. Seeing this up close was a highlight of the whole night for me.

The rest of the show was great too! If you go in expecting to belt out tunes from The Nightmare Before Christmas, you probably won’t get too many weird looks but you might be one of the few who is singing. Turns out that those songs are really hard to sing along with. The words are up on the screen but they move quickly. Way to go, Danny Elfman.

Instead the show acts almost like an interpretive dance between two characters who fell asleep and awoke to the movie’s world. Oogie Boogie enters the scene for his song and portions of the movie (with songs) are played up above the characters dancing around the stage. It’s very different, far more abstract, than other sing-along shows. This is one of the best stage shows I’ve seen at a Disney Park, regardless of if it’s an after hours party or not.

What’s This? plays at 7:30 PM, 8:30 PM, 9:30 PM, 11:30 PM and 12:30 AM during Jollywood Nights. It should not be missed one way or another.

Disney Holidays in Hollywood

After the sing-along ended, we headed over to Theater of the Stars (home of Beauty and the Beast during the day) to watch Disney Holidays in Hollywood. This takes the form of a live variety stage show hosted by Kermit and Miss Piggy. Several Disney characters joined the fun including Mickey & Minnie, Belle and Tiana.

To our surprise, nearly all of the singing was live! That paired with the dancing on stage made for a memorable show that I’d love to see Hollywood Studios do more of. Frankly, this is the type of show that this theater needs year around (without the Christmas theme, of course).

Being a devoted Muppets fan, it was a joy to see Kermit and Miss Piggy on stage and their banter was top notch. While the variety show format can be a little hit and miss in the parks, I thought this one worked well with the holiday tie-in. There’s no doubting the talent on stage and we came away impressed by the whole production. While I probably prefer The Nightmare Before Christmas show, it’s by the smallest of margins and we recommend doing both!

Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood plays at 8:15 PM, 9:15 PM, 11:00 PM and midnight.

Twilight Soirée at the Tip Top Club

While in that area, we walked over to the Tower of Terror Courtyard and enjoyed the Twilight Soirée at the Tip Top Club. Here, you can sip cocktails while a live band swoons and croons holiday tunes. Beverages are available for purchase and are not included with your event ticket.

More live entertainment and more impressive talent. We thought the band here was fantastic, playing jazzy Christmas songs. The singer had an amazing voice and was accompanied by some great players. There were 2 other characters walking around who the singer introduced as movie stars (we had stepped back in time to the fictional 1930’s, into the Twilight Zone). People danced, drank cocktails and looked swanky in their fancy clothes.

I ordered a cocktail, the 1939 Royale, which was good but not great. The whole atmosphere was worth stopping in at though. We stayed for about 20 minutes, watching a full set. The band plays at 7:30 PM, 8:10 PM, 8:50 PM, 9:30 PM, 10:30 PM, 11:10 PM and 11:50 PM and is worth checking out.

Holiday Fiesta en la Calle

We wandered over to another live band playing in front of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster after that. From what I understand, the bands switch out here throughout the evening but all have a Latin flair to them. When we stopped by there was a mariachi band playing and Panchito (Three Caballeros) was dancing along to the music.

This was a nice addition and an easy stop by during the party. There are no showtimes, as the characters and band come and go throughout the night but there’s generally one out for the duration of the party. Melissa ordered the Arepas de Choclo while in the area and we both liked it as a savory snack. Both of these music acts add to the festive atmosphere.

Party Entrance & Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!

Having missed the photo op earlier in the evening, we went back over to the Jollywood Nights Party entrance to get a picture with the cool neon sign. All of the photo ops throughout the night were run very smoothly and with ample time to get the pictures you wanted. Nothing about Jollywood Nights felt rushed, including these.

We walked over to Trolley Car Cafe (Starbucks) to get this adorable Duffy Brownie and some hot drinks (thanks friends). The brownie was delicious but very rich after a while.

As we exited, Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! was going on. Nobody in our group felt the need to watch the fireworks show as we’d all seen it in the past and it wasn’t a favorite. The pyro was impressive though, as we saw the finale in route to a character meet. Judging by the crowd, it looked as if you could walk up to the fireworks 5 minutes before the show starts and have a good spot to view.

Character Meet & Greets

With the party about half over, we turned our attention to characters. I’ll say less about these encounters because everyone has a different experience meeting characters. The longest wait of our night was for Santa Duffy, who met in the One Man’s Dream building. We waited just over half an hour for him and were warned of a 45 minute wait while getting in line. Otherwise, the other characters were no more than a 15 minute wait at that point in the night.

Santa Duffy was a highlight for us, hence the willingness to wait. He looked absolutely adorable and the character meet spot (which is also used during the day for other Christmas meets) was dressed up nicely. Again, there was ample time to interact and the photographers and Cast Members were happy to oblige our request for couple and group photos.

We also met Partysaurus Rex at the entrance to Toy Story Land. He’s a hoot and is clearly in the running for best dressed at the party.

There are a bunch of characters around Echo Lake, including Max in his Powerline outfit. He looked great. There’s also a hoard of characters back in the Pixar Disco. Here’s one more photo of a character, because King Louie knows how to get down.

Glisten!

To end our night, we walked over to the stage in front of the Chinese Theatre and settled in for the final performance of Glisten! This show features international champion skaters performing breathtaking routines set to a vibrant holiday soundtrack – featuring original songs and Disney favorites. Seeing an ice skating show outside in Hollywood Studios is a strange sensation but the show definitely worked.

Glisten! isn’t as tidy as What’s This? or Holidays in Hollywood but there’s room for a ‘do everything we possibly can on ice skates’ sort of show. I, again, was impressed with how much of the performance was live. If I tried to sing while ice skating then people would have the opportunity to laugh at me twice! It’s done here without the performer breaking a sweat. Other performers juggle, ice dance and do some elegant spinning. Forgive me, I’m a little low on my ice skating terminology ever since Michelle Kwan retired.

All that to say, Glisten! is another excellent show that we recommend. While this might not be as strong of an option as the other two big shows I mentioned, it’s one that shouldn’t be skipped. Showtimes are 8:10 PM, 9:10 PM, 10:30 PM, 11:10 PM and midnight.

Leftovers

The midnight showing ended around 12:15 and we had completed everything we wanted. Our friends headed out for the night. Melissa went and watched the final The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along. I went over to Gertie and took some photos around Echo Lake. There would have been time for a ride if we had wanted but we were more than happy with what we had completed that night.

There were a few festive food items we tried that I haven’t mentioned. The Christmas Gertie Cookie was one of them! I didn’t eat it until a few days later but thought it was a good sugar cookie with frosting. You get this one because it’s Santa Gertie!

The other snack we tried was the Meatball and Polenta at Dockside Diner. This was my favorite snack of the night but I’ve never met a meatball that I didn’t love. The polenta was creamy and meatball was surprisingly big and flavorful.

Final Verdict

I have a hard time with the ‘is this party worth it?’ question. They are extremely expensive and it’s hard for me to flat out say that a couple should drop $400 for a 5 hour event. What I can tell you is that Jollywood Nights is extremely fun and keeps up with other holiday parties, while being extremely unique.

The vibe of the whole party bears repeating. While others feel like a frantic dash from start to finish, Jollywood Nights has a more relaxed setting that leans more adult. I think kids could go and have fun but this is more adult than Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. It’s a wonderful date night or experience with some friends. The atmosphere isn’t the headline but it plays a major role in how much we liked the party.

We do have to mention the prices, which stay consistent with the other parties. Jollywood Nights costs anywhere from $159 to $199. Again, that’s a lot of money and equal to a day in the parks. You won’t get as many hours in Hollywood Studios as you would with a regular park day but there’s enough unique entertainment (and rides do have low wait times, although I prefer experiencing everything unique that the party offers) to justify a 1 for 1 swap. At no point did Jollywood Nights feel all that crowded to us and our wait times were kept low throughout the evening.

All this to say, that if you’re entertainment and special character inclined then I think you’ll have a great time at Jollywood Nights. We know we did! The shows were the headline, Santa Duffy is adorable and the whole experience was among the most relaxed I’ve been in a Disney Park in years. We hope that the party lives on for a long time. Assuming that happens, we’ll be back to enjoy Jollywood Nights!

Have you been to this Hollywood Studios event?Let us know, along with any questions you have, in the comments below! Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide to help you out. This site offers discount tickets for those looking! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it