First December at Disney, first Jollywood, and a first time doing a trip report!

[DenaRox]

Fellow Canadian following along ◡̈ We were at the same Jollywood ◡̈ I haven’t got that far in my trip report quite yet but I’m loving getting another perspective of the night. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Mikey15]

Fellow Canadian following along ◡̈ We were at the same Jollywood ◡̈ I haven’t got that far in my trip report quite yet but I’m loving getting another perspective of the night. Looking forward to reading more.

I’m definitely falling behind but, sneak preview, we definitely loved Jollywood and would do it again!

For us it was the walk-on rides for sure, but the shows we did see and the atmosphere were great too! Hope you also enjoyed it,

 

[erinch]

We were at the second Jollywood. Loved it!

 

[Mary Pops In]

Great report.

 

[DenaRox]

I’m definitely falling behind but, sneak preview, we definitely loved Jollywood and would do it again!

For us it was the walk-on rides for sure, but the shows we did see and the atmosphere were great too! Hope you also enjoyed it,

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I really enjoyed Jollywood. Had a big plan of what I wanted to do and see and then totally got immersed in the moment and just ran around happily like a little kid and forgot all about the plans. lol. Sometimes that’s the best way to do it.

 

[hardcorestitch]

So I left off at Saturday morning, Nov 30 in Hardeeville, SC, where we got decent sleep despite the long day driving on Friday and me watching a college football game on TV that didn’t end until 8OT and nearly midnight!

We got a leisurely start and headed to Savannah Georgia to see some sights:

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This pretty wooded area was the view outside our hotel room. There were a lot of lovely tree-lined areas both on the way into and then in Savannah.

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Drove past a cat cafe. I’ll have to go in one of those someday!

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The horsedrawn carriage rides seemed fun, but we didn’t do any organized tours this time.

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One of Savannah’s many squares, all decked out for Christmas. We had a nice breakfast here at a local bistro.

Then we had to go for a walk in Forsyth Park to see the fountain, which was pretty and tranquil. There was a wedding happening right there with the fountain as their backdrop, and I’d say that was an excellent choice.

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We didn’t leave Savannah until about 1:30, which was later than our original plan. Between I-95 traffic and the busiest Buc’ees I’ve ever been to, we lost the sun as we merged on I-4 and didn’t make it to the timeshare until 7!

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But we were excited to be all unloaded and in our “second home”

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Next up: a very productive “Day 1” of Discovery Cove, Sea World, and Disney Springs!

8 overtimes. Nothing special, just typical Georgia football.

 

[Mikey15]

I’m definitely falling behind but, sneak preview, we definitely loved Jollywood and would do it again!

For us it was the walk-on rides for sure, but the shows we did see and the atmosphere were great too! Hope you also enjoyed it,

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Another thread reminded me… I really need to finish this report!

The above photo was taken by my lovely wife (who’s braver than I am when it comes to some things) while riding Slinky Dog. After leaving the Cantina and doing a quick walk-on of Alien Saucers, we waited in a short ~10-15 minute line for Slinky Dog, perfectly timed for Jingle Bell Jingle Bam to be happening at the Chinese Theater. We’ve ridden Slinky at sunset before, but never full night, timed for fireworks, and this is absolutely the best way to do this ride. Rope dropping in the sun, even in the early morning, it’s understandable to not even enjoy Slinky Dog. At night though, it just shines.



After Slinky, and Toy Story Mania, we stopped by to watch the ice skating show, which was fun if you like these sorts of shows. At this point we were already aware that Rock n Roller Coaster had gone down, but we still wanted to get our Tower of Terror in. This was again a perfect walk-on. The pre-show room doors were wide open to walk through, and we were followed in by riders who had just gotten off and were back for round two. I can’t emphasize enough how great Jollywood is for rides!

We finished the night by heading to the Beauty & the Beast theater for the Christmas show with Kermit and Miss Piggy. Very cute. Cool to see actual Muppets performing live like that, instead of just a show on a screen. The singers and dancers, as one would expect, were top notch. If I have one regret it’s that we had to choose between that and the Nightmare Before Christmas singalong show, but we knew what we were doing prioritizing the rides.



And so went our night at Jollywood! I do have some wrap-up thoughts for Day 2 coming up real soon,

 

[Mikey15]

Finally finding time to continue. Hoping this is still interesting, particularly if people are planning out December trips for this year!

Jollywood (our Day 2, Dec 2nd, a Monday) was a blast. We would do it again. We got the best of both worlds with:
-Short ride waits
-Quiet atmosphere at the back half of the park because the crowds were at the shows
-Still getting a chance to enjoy the shows

Waiting for the Santa Stitch photos was probably a waste of time for us. We waited there a while before Stitch arrived and the line started moving, and the wait was almost more annoying once it did, as at that point we were ready to move on to the other things at Jollywood. While we could have improved our use of that time by seeing the first Nightmare Before Christmas singalong instead though, I think the rest of the evening would’ve looked similar.

Quiet, short wait Rise was great. Getting to enjoy the Cantina was great. Slinky Dog during the fireworks was great! The stage shows were cute and well done. It’s the type of atmosphere that attracted us to the MK parties in the first place (they feel crazy busy these days in comparison). I have a feeling that we’ll be back.



Also, it was quite a change feeling cool breeze while walking through the park, and then the warmth in the attraction queues. It actually got too warm in the queues in comparison… started to feel sweaty. The rest of the year waiting in the indoor part of a queue can feel “too cold” because of the juxtaposition from outside temps to the cold A/C. I consciously underdressed with just a T shirt and no sweater, and while it meant a bit of a cold walk leaving the park (temps were down to 50°F or high 40s) you just have to find that right balance. It was only a 6-hour day for us after all!

Finally onto Day 3: taking it easy. Then Day 4: more Disney adventures.

 

[Mikey15]

Like I mentioned earlier, it was past midnight when we left Jollywood, so Day 3 (Dec 3, Tuesday) was always a planned day of rest. We love Boma for dinner buffet, but had always wanted to try their breakfast, so our plan was a later breakfast slot at Boma after sleeping in.

Apparently I have no breakfast food photos to share (sorry!) but we took in AKL after:


These animals were, of course, all made of gingerbread! Which is pretty cool:


And the tree & lobby at AKL are just as impressive as the one at WL. I would love to stay here during the holidays too:


Boma breakfast review: it wasn’t bad. But there wasn’t anything about it to bring me back either. I’m more of an “eggs and potatoes” breakfast person, and the egg option was really the bobotie (more like a meat and egg quiche, which I tried but isn’t really my thing) or more kid oriented omelette patties folded over some cheese. They didn’t have breakfast potato options outside of kids potato barrels. I tried some yogurt parfaits, but I found them both two sweet and not that interesting or diverse compared to Boma’s other offerings. There was some sort of oatmeal dish that I went for seconds of, but it was more for lack of anything else up my alley.

Still love Boma dinner though! (Normally.)


After that, I took the wifey for some “down day” shopping. Home Goods. TJ Maxx. Ross. That sort of thing. Took a picture of this ducky Jeep in the TJ Maxx parking lot to send to my sister (who also does the duck thing):


And then we headed over to Bahama Breeze after Ross for appy hour (aka our early dinner):


Bahama Breeze is a favourite of ours when we’re in central FL, and we enjoy the deals & selections from 3-5 or 9-close, being on vacation and all