Disney102015
Mickey with Minis
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2015
- Messages
- 564
Jollywood Nights
Our plan for the night was Jollywood at Hollywood Studios. The kids were begging to try the Skyliner, so we decided that’s how we’d get there, even though it was far from the most efficient option. We were at the Epcot Skyliner station around 5:00, and getting to Hollywood Studios around 5:40. This was N’s first trip on the Skyliner – the man is not a fan of heights, so this was very brave of him!! (Several times, after dinner at Topolino’s, we have walked down to the Skyliner planning to head to a park, only to panic at the last second and end up calling a Lyft.) The kids had also never been on the Skyliner, and C was nervously talking non-stop, basically a stream of consciousness:
“Ohhh wow, we are really high. Oh no. We’re going higher. OH we are above water, I wonder if there are alligators down there, if we fall down, they’ll eat us. OH NO now we are over the road, we’ll crash if we fall down. Ohhhh we are going higher, oh no!”
N had his head in his hands and was begging C to stop talking – it was pretty funny. At the transfer station, an older couple joined us in our gondola and were telling us all about their trips with their (now grown) children. They were really nice and this was a good distraction to get N through the rest of the ride!
We got to Hollywood Studios and there was really no line to enter so that was great. We got to enter through a bypass area I had never seen before – the decorations and music were really cool. Even N commented how festive it was.
A note on bringing little kids to Jollywood: I’d say the event is definitely geared toward adults, but there was plenty for the kids to enjoy. We initially planned to make this a date night and to get a sitter for the kids. We have a friend of a friend who has babysat for our kids several times before on trips to Orlando, so we are pretty comfortable leaving them with her. Unfortunately she was away this weekend and couldn’t babysit. We looked into some of the agencies that offer babysitting services, but when we added up the price for 3 kids, versus the cost for 2 additional Jollywood tickets (since E didn’t need a ticket), it was actually slightly cheaper to just bring them along to Jollywood. A date night would’ve been nice, but given that it was a shorter trip, I’m glad we all stuck together for the night.
I had booked LLMP for the mix-in time – I was on the fence about doing this, but it was 100% worth it. We walked right onto Toy Story Midway Mania at 6:00 and were off by 6:20.
I love this ride – weirdly, my girls get a little nervous on it! I think because the spinning happens so fast and it kind of whips you around. Then it was time for Slinky, one of my absolute favorites. Only C and I rode this one – hopefully G will be tall enough next time. It was just getting dark and I had never ridden it when Toy Story Land was all lit up, so that was really cool to see. We were off in no time – less than 10 minutes after getting in the Lightning Lane.
We had booked Alien Swirling Saucers for earlier but it expired just as we were entering the park. We still tapped in about an hour and a half late, and it was no problem. E was tall enough for this so we all got to ride! We did wait about 20 minutes since only one side was running. G said, “This is faster than Mine Train!” Which…it objectively is not, haha.
I have a tradition of getting a photo of the kids in front of this big yellow ball, but didn't manage to get a very good one tonight!
We had also gotten a DAS for Minnie and Mickey’s Runaway Railway right when we entered the park, so we did that around 7:10. This ride has really grown on me and now it’s a must-do! We had gotten a lot done in just under an hour and a half, so buying LLMP was totally worth it to us.
Now we had to strategize the rest of our evening. We had originally planned to do the Nightmare Before Christmas show first (the kids LOVE this movie) but we were all a bit snacky so we asked the kids if they minded skipping the show, and they were all fine with it. We all got popcorn and then we headed to ABC Commissary for some of the Jollywood specialty items. I know we got the tacos and I think one other food item? Plus the coquito (which we always love) and the Oaxaca old fashioned (which neither of us liked).
I will say, I had seen a lot of good food reviews for Jollywood, and that wasn’t our experience at all – we didn’t like most of the food we tried. Maybe it was just an off night, or we chose the wrong things to try? Since the snacks were a bit of a bust, we grabbed some more popcorn next!
You could book DAS in the app during this event and I had tried to get a DAS for the 8:15 Holidays in Hollywood show, but only the 9:15 show was available so we changed up our plans a bit and grabbed spots for the Glisten ice skating show. I grabbed a sugar cookie martini while we waited – blech!! I couldn’t finish this, way too sweet and weirdly thick?
We all LOVED Glisten! It was a little goofy and cheesy, but so fun. The music was great, it’s so unique to see an ice skating show outdoors in Florida…I think this was a really fun addition. Next we popped by Baseline because we wanted to try a few drinks and snacks there, but after waiting in line a bit, we bailed since we were hoping to catch the 9:15 Holidays in Hollywood show.
Unfortunately, when we got to the end of Hollywood Boulevard, we pulled back the stroller canopies to find 3 sleeping children!! We were shocked! We asked, but we weren’t allowed to bring the strollers into the theater, and we didn’t think it was wise to wake the kids. N offered to sit with the sleeping kids while I went in to see the show, but we had planned to use C’s DAS, and from the line it wasn’t looking like I’d get into the 9:15 show standby. I think this was the only Jollywood thing I was really bummed to miss – we had watched the show on YouTube and it looked really fun. Oh well, what can you do!
We headed to Fairfax Faire for some additional food and drinks. We had been excited to try the popovers but they were just not good – we tried both kinds, but there was way too much breading, and they were weirdly chewy. However, we did love the Mistletoe Martini, which had vodka, elderflower, and cranberry juice, topped with cranberries and mint leaves. It looked very festive and was delicious too! It was a little challenging to maneuver two strollers plus the popovers plus the drinks – I saw a table of people just staring at me as I tried to make my way to my seat and was just praying I wouldn’t spill anything!
Next we popped over to the Tip Top Club. This was a blast! The music was awesome and it was just a really cool vibe. Again, just really unique to be hanging out right under the Tower of Terror. The specialty drinks here didn’t really appeal to me – I really don’t like tequila, and rum is not my favorite – so I had a glass of Prosecco. We hung out there for a little bit listening to the music and just relaxing, talking about how glad we were that we decided to do this event.
Then we decided we wanted one more Mistletoe Martini, so back to Fairfax Faire we went! Why not, right?? We found a quiet spot to sit and just hung out and chatted while we had our drinks – it ended up being a little date night after all!
We were both tired and decided to call it a night – the fireworks were going off behind us as we were leaving so that was neat. I had never walked back to the Boardwalk before so wasn’t sure how long it’d take – it was almost exactly 10 minutes to the edge of the Boardwalk property and maybe another 5 minutes to the main boardwalk area itself.
All in all, this was a super enjoyable day and evening! I’d do Jollywood Nights again in a heartbeat. MVMCP will always have a special place in my heart and I’m sure we’ll do it again, but I kind of lean toward Jollywood being the better fit for our family at the moment – we aren’t big character people so that isn’t a draw for us at MVMCP, but the shows, cocktails, and snacks really made Jollywood a big hit (even though we personally didn’t love the food items we tried – we’d give it another shot!) Plus the whole “vibe” of the event was just really fun and different – the jazzy Christmas music, people in really fun dress up outfits, etc. I am so glad we decided to do this and don’t regret bringing the kids at all.
Next up…back to Magic Kingdom!
