104 - Merry vs Jolly

Tis' the season for Christmas party debates.  

Matt compares two of Walt Disney World’s biggest holiday events: Disney Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom.

Which one feels more fun? Which one gives you better entertainment? Which one is better for families, food, characters, atmosphere, fireworks, rare offerings, and overall holiday vibes? This episode breaks down where each party shines, where each one falls short, and why the “better” event may depend on what kind of Disney night you are looking for.

It is part review, part comparison, and part holiday planning conversation — with Matt looking at whether Jollywood has found its footing, whether Very Merry still feels like the classic choice, and how both events fit into a Walt Disney World Christmas trip.

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Matt: https://twitter.com/mattpeto

Before/After Watch

Music in Dizhappenings copyrighted by Audio Jungle 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

It is happenings. Welcome to another episode in season one. In this episode, I'm gonna really break down Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party versus Disney Jollywood Nights. And I know this has been done countless times on YouTube, and maybe none of this information is new, but I think I can offer a little bit of a fresh and different perspective since I've done both parties, and I did them I did them both last year in the same week. So I I had a chance to experience both parties, and I really got a chance to try to figure out which which one I preferred, which one was I actually having a better time at. Ultimately that's what you're shooting for. And you also want to think about cost, no question about it. You want to think about what's included, what's the freebies, all those things. And and before I start, I'm gonna say everybody's situation is different, right? You might have a you know um nostalgic connection with with the mini um with the mini fireworks or or once upon a time Christmas parade, right? Or or maybe even the you know Nightmare Before Christmas show because you've done that the last couple years and you've got to see it again. I I don't know, right? You might have some different nostalgic vibes that that might that might trump anything I'm about to say here. But if you're somebody that listens to this podcast, most likely you're you're a nerd like me, and you really want to have a different type of experience at a party, at a Christmas party. Let's face it, you're paying usually additional money, right? You're paying uh generally, let's let's just say 150 bucks to 230, right? Between those two party offerings. And who knows they'll probably be even more this year, but you're getting a unique experience one way or another. Now, I do think you have to think about opportunity cost a little bit before you just jump into one of these parties. An opportunity cost to me, and you know, is something that you're giving up um in lieu for something else, right? So when I think of Mickey's very Merry Christmas party, and I'm thinking about experiencing Magic Kingdom at night, I am enjoying Happily Ever After and Starlight. I get to most likely that time of year, probably get Magic King Kingdom open till 10 or 11. Um, probably 11 o'clock is a safe bet. Um you can you could say that if you wanted to. Um, although I'm sure I'm sure there's some 10 p.m. closings, you're not gonna get midnight closings. And you're also gonna get a very busy Magic Kingdom, right? Because let's face it, you're talking about for everybody else on those Christmas party nights, which are generally four times a week during peak season, they're trying to jam in to see their fireworks show over Cinderella Castle. They're trying to see their nighttime parade, right? That they can't see during party nights when when when the Magic Kingdom closes at six o'clock. So, you know, think about it from that perspective. And in terms of Jollywood nights, right, it's a little bit different, right? Because if you just have a day ticket, you're obviously going to be able to stay into Hollywood Studios until nine o'clock. Um I'm sorry. Yes, nine o'clock during non-party nights, during party nights, you have to you you you have to leave at six o'clock, but you can take in Phantasmic. You can take in Phantasmic at 6 30. You know what? And maybe it's 7 o'clock. It's either 6 or 7, but you do get to take in Phantasmic at Hollywood Studios. So the opportunity cost is a little bit different at Hollywood Studios, in my opinion. Right? Because you still get the experience, most of Hollywood Studios, what it offers, and Phantasmic, but think about it from the other way. Okay? Let's kind of flip it. Let's think about opportunity costs in reverse.

unknown 4:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

If you have one night to do a party, and you want to make sure you experience happily ever after, and you want to make sure you experience Starlight, you're not gonna get those if you do the party. Instead, you're gonna get the Christmas offerings, which are still good. But think about it from a Hollywood Studios perspective. Opportunity costs the other way, you do Jollywood nights, you still get Phantasmic, right? You still get Phantasmic. I believe you can leave it, I believe with Jollywood Nights, you you have to be out of there at seven o'clock. So after a Phantasmic, you got a bolt, but you still get the nighttime show, which I think is a huge win. So if you have, well, I got one day at Hollywood Studios, you know, like, and and honestly, a lot of to me, I'm in a position now, and and you guys are probably a lot like me. I can't do a full week anymore. It's too tough with my kids. My kids are, you know, middle school, I'm gonna be one's gonna be in high school next year. I can't rip them both out for a full week anymore. So I gotta be tight with my time. I gotta make good decisions. And if I end up doing, you know, Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom, right? I want to get most value, right? I want to get value out of that. So let's think about it from a lightning lane multi-pass perspective. If you go to Hollywood Studios, you absolutely have to get lightning lane multi-pass. Now I know you could say, nah, you really don't. You don't need to. If you have a longer trip, you're right, you don't. If you have a longer trip, you really don't need lightning lane at all. You can road drop, you can stay late, you can go during fireworks, right? Like there's strategies you can do to kind of, if you want to get on the big rides but not use lightning lane multi-pass or single pass, there's ways to do it. But a shorter trip, you almost have to get lightning lane multi-pass at Hollywood Studios. And you could say, really, a Magic Kingdom, without a party, you need to get it. You need to get it on a, in my opinion, you need to get it on a um a Saturday, Monday, or Wednesday, right? Because it's it's it's bursting at the seams. Magic Kingdom is crazy. But here's what I'm gonna say. Magic Kingdom is crazy on party nights now. It's it's the same crowds, guys. It's not it's not less less crowded at a at a Mickey's Freddy Merry Christmas party than it is at Magic Kingdom. It's not, it's the same crowd. It's crazy. That's that's the truth. You could say, well, it doesn't seem as crowded. I mean, you know, Tron only has a 40-minute wait instead of a 70, 80-minute wait. That is true, and I think part of that is you got all the cookie stops. Um, you have the two parades that are running, and they're longer parades than Starlight. You only have one night, one nighttime show like you do. But what I'm telling you is you don't notice a huge crowd discrepancy between a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party and a and a non-Christmas party night and Magic Kingdom anymore. The lines are long everywhere. Um I should say everywhere. The lines are long for most attractions. You're Tron, you're probably talking 30, 45 minutes. Jingle Cruise cost me about 40 minutes last time. Um, you know, Space Mountain, it's got the overlay. So if you don't catch it at the right time, you're still probably looking at 25 minutes for Space Mountain, right? Just to experience the overlay. So to me, Magic Kingdom just feels like Magic Kingdom anymore when you're there. And to me, do you want to see Happily Ever After, or do you want to see Minnie's fireworks, right? I think you do have some extra, you got some extra what's what's the um not the 360 fireworks, perimeter. I think there are some X some perimeter fireworks with it. If you only got one night in Magic Kingdom, it's tough to give up happily ever after in Starlight. And of course, the the parade is fun. And I think if you've seen it a few times, I don't know if you need to keep going back. I don't I don't think you need to run it back each time. It's one of those things, it's not actually a nighttime parade, right? They run that parade during the day, during Christmas week. And it's fine. It's not a night parade, it's not a light parade. It runs during the night. They use lighting to kind of illuminate things. Starlight is a a night parade, or some people say light parade because the floats light up. Magic happens kind of is one of those hybrids right out of Disneyland, or I can kind of do a little bit of both. Some of the some of the floats light up, but it's not paint that night, and it's not Starlight, is I guess what I'm getting to. So let's get back to just the crowd levels. So to me, you're gonna end up feeling like it's a lot less crowded at Disney Jollywood nights. A lot less crowded. Well, how can you make that statement? Well, all the attractions, except for Sleaky Dog Dash, is less than 25 minute wait. Everything, including Rice, Rise is probably 15-20 minutes the whole night, right? And you might have pockets where to walk on. And let's face it, Hollywood Studios is an eight-ticket park. I mean, you got the Sunset Boulevard attractions, you've got Mickeys and Minnie's Runaway Railway, you have Slicky Dog Dash and Mania, then you got the Falcon, right? Like there's and of course Rise, right? You have a lot of rides that maybe people want to experience over and over again. So you're basically getting an after-hours vibe in terms of lines, which I think is a very big deal. I think a lot of people miss that. Then the other thing that you get at Hollywood Studios, which I think is underrated, is the food offerings. It if you are a fan of Epcot food booths and you are a fan of eating and getting a beverage around the world, this is your ticket. Yeah, it costs money, but it's it's not to me, these these price costs, they they are smaller bites, they're kind of like maybe Tapa style, but you could fill up on a few of them if that's all you want to do. And if you're going with a crowd, like you hit the lottery, because now you could split everything. And there's there's beverages everywhere, you know, there's dance parties everywhere. So it just has a different vibe. It has a relaxed vibe, lower weights, better food offerings, opportunity cost. Well, you don't get the frozen show, but you get a unique show that that is that is won awards, the nightmare before Christmas Sing Along, right? Which is a cool show when it's in um in its current state. My family was a little less enthusiastic about it than I was. You know, I got to experience it again, and I made sure I sat on the left side of the show. It's a little spoiler to make sure you do that, you know, sit on the left side of the seating area. Uh, you'll be happy you did. And then, you know, get to experience Disney holidays in Hollywood with the Muppets, with Mickey and Minnie, and then with some other, you know, princess, princesses that come on and sing is a good time. It's good entertainment. It that is way superior than Beauty and the Beast live on stage. You're getting these unique offerings, and then you got Gallisten, which is an ice skating show. And then again, guys, you know, think about it. You still get phantasmic in this mix. You get phantasmic if you're day guest, or you get it if you come to this party if you prioritize that. You still get phasmic. You could still enter the park early enough to go and do Phantasmic, which I think is a massive win. Imagine if you could get into Magic Kingdom early and do Happily Ever After, and then you still got the Christmas fireworks later. That would be pretty awesome. They don't do that. It's an either-or situation. You don't get that at Hollywood Studios. Now, Phantasmic has its qualms, it does eat up a lot of time. You know, it feels like it's uh it's an hour investment um before and after, just getting in and getting out, and that doesn't include the show, which is fantastic, fantasmic, right? Um, and then you also bonus, you also get another nighttime show later. And I think it was at 10 o'clock. They they do jingle bell, jingle bam, which isn't an entertaining show. Would I have to see that every time I I did Jollywood nights? Probably if I didn't do it five years in a row. But I would say if if my family decides to do that again this year, I would prioritize around it. But in terms of the food booths, in terms of the in terms of in terms of the food offerings, I think it's a major selling point for me because I love I love to eat. Like, honestly, I've had a few trips to Disney World and I made it all about the food. I felt like some of the bloggers that we follow, right? And you know, um Disney Food Blog, right down Main Street, Mammoth Club. I felt like them. I felt like I was them. I mean, I didn't video them, but that was I felt like that was my main thing about going to Disney World. I wanted to try different things that I didn't experience before. And also, of course, experience things that you had. But Jollywood Knights, to me, scratches that itch. Not every food item was a home run, and I did like some things better the first year than the second year, but it still gave me enough unique things that I really enjoyed. And the lines never felt that long, and I know that was a hiccup the first year, but it wasn't like that last year. It wasn't like that the last two years. They seemed to kind of fix some of those crowding issues that they had the first year. And I still been there twice, and I still haven't really uh experienced a little dance party up at Tower of Terror. Um was it Tip Top Club or whatever? And it's just I haven't done that yet. Um, and of course, the other thing is, is at least last year, I don't know what they're gonna do this year, they they made villains unfairly after, and Little Mermaid, they made them include it, which I think's great. I don't even know if if does does Magic Kingdom run Carousel Progress? I know it runs, you know, um monsters, and I know it runs it might it might run Fill Her Magic, but my point is it doesn't run like Hall of Presidents, right? Like you're it's almost like the the um the feature parody of Magic Kingdom during the day versus Magic Kingdom at night. It's it's it's tough, man. Like you're losing a lot. Hollywood Studios, what are you actually losing? You're losing Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which is right now, let's face it, it's a neutered version of the show. And man, like, I don't know. I think that show could be not long for this world once uh once in Canto and in Indiana Jones comes up in Animal Kingdom. And I'd be okay with it probably, as long as they can come up with something that really eats crowds, because that's what that is a benefit of the stunt spectacular. Um, you're missing the frozen show, which has a nice ending, especially around Christmas time. So you got you got little girls, you know, that could be a pretty big con to lose that. Um and you're losing um you're losing, you know, beauty the beast, but to me you get a superior show. So to me, Jollywood Nights really punches all my tickets. It punches all of my my um my wants in a party. Laid back, great food, unique offerings. Offerings I can repeat that I would want to repeat, and I feel like it's also goes till 1230 where where Mickey's very Christmas party goes to midnight. And I think I think it deserves more respect. Uh and overall, I think it's a way better time at this point. If you like Magic Kingdom and it's one of your favorite parks, you gotta experience the ultimate Christmas thing. I'm not saying it's a terrible decision to go, but if you have to choose one, if you have to choose one, and maybe, maybe it's just about you and your family. I think it's I think it's easier, but if it's extended family and you got a lot of kids or you got grandmom and grandpa, like I definitely think my parent, or like my mom, for instance, is gonna enjoy Mickey's Ready Merry Christmas Party more than than Jollywood Nights. But I don't I you know I see that, but I I'm not a hundred percent sure. Um, because there's enough unique stuff going on at Jollywood Nights, especially with the food offerings that I think is very alluring. So anyway, I hope you kind of like this take. I would highly consider Disney Jollywood Nights as long as they don't oversell it, as long as the lines don't bubble up like they do with Magic Kingdom. I think you're seeing lightning lane already pass and single pass cost, I think you're gonna have a um a longer night, you're gonna have a more relaxed night because you got these dance parties, and you have some dance parties that, you know, I know you have like the Christmas zombie or the Christmas, I forget what they are, the the one at Tomorrowland. And if you said it, I'd remember. And don't get me wrong, you get that nostalgia, right? I totally get it. The snow on Main Street. Well, they have snow on Sunset Boulevard, you know, you get the Tower of Terror Sunset Seasons, but you get that door in the day, you get that door in regular Hollywood nights, too. But I really think Jollywood Nights has really upped its game, and I am really curious to see if they're gonna offer anything more. I hope that they keep pouring money in the Galaxy's Edge. I think the unique meet and greets are very fascinating to me. I am not a huge meet and greet guy. Uh my kids are old, older enough where they don't want to, you know, they get embarrassed to get a picture with a character. But if a character is walking past me and it's got that um, what's the word I'm looking for? It's got that like native feel to it, right? Where it's just it's just part of it's part of the park, right? And I'm not saying they do that, but they, you know, walking down Toy Story Lane, you're walking by Party Sorrius Rex and Lazzo. You go to you go to um Galaxy's Edge, and you got, you know, um Chewy, um, Life Day Chewy, you got Mandalorian and Grogu, and now that is one meet and greet that I want my family to do is to get in line and meet Grogu. I think it would just cause some really cute interactions between Grogu and the family, and I'd be down. That would be a meet and greet I would I would want to do. That's probably the only one. I mean, you know, maybe two, but what if they pour more pour more into Galaxy's Edges here? That would be my hope. If they do more for Life Day, they put a projection show around the Falcon, around Life Day, man, like you're really talking about an incredible offering. Or if they just have life day treats, right, that you can buy. Yeah, you're gonna spend some extra money at Jollywood Nights unless you just fill up on the cookies. And I will say, I think that Magic Kingdom is doing a better job with the fruit offerings. Like, you know, the um I had the the fried raviolis at Pinocchio's, they were actually pretty good. Um, you know, and the cookies are okay. You know, the hot chocolate, they had pretzels last year, they had fruit punch sometimes. Like they're it's not it's not terrible, but it is stale to me. They haven't really raised their game that much. They could use some extra riot overlays, in my opinion. Um, they they should bring back dream lights. Dreamlights is a big seller, no question. Um, I will say that you get dreamlights on regular um non-party nights. And honestly, if you want a low-key Magic Kingdom Day and that's your number one thing, then do the best of both worlds. Do a Magic Kingdom Day, right? That's a party night during the day, and go over to Hollywood Nights for Jollywood nights, and you have a completely relaxing day when you get a ton of rides done. You miss some of the Magic Kingdom nighttime festivities. But that's one way. If you want to take something a little bit more low-key approach during the holiday season at with busy crowds, or if you have Hopper, um, it's gonna be really interesting, gang. If we go this if we go in December, what we do, and I'm at the point now where this episode follows the epic episode. I'm at the point now where I'd rather go do Jollywood Nights again than Epic Universe with my family for the first time. That's how much I enjoyed Jollywood Nights. But we'll see, we'll see where it goes. I hope you enjoyed this episode.