Jollywood Nights

[tony67]

I know what you mean. I watched their videos. They were both trying to be super positive throughout the evening, but at least at the end of the night when they shared their overall thoughts, they had complaints and did not recommend the event. So that’s saying something.

I did not make it that far so Ill have to re-watch - I can only take so much positivity - thanks for pointing that out.

 

[ned911]

I attended on the 11th (first night). It was OK, might have been better if I just wasn't at WDW 10 days ago. I went specifically to attend the party. Resort hopped to check out gingerbread houses when I first arrived on Saturday then took a nap before the party.

I would rate MNSSHP an 8 and JN a 3.

Going through the front gate was the right call versus being in the park and getting your wristband. I was in and headed towards Star Tours by 6:30. Longest ride wait was Slinky Dog at 30 minutes before at 7:30pm. BTW Galaxy's Edge at Toy Story are amazing at night. Walked on TSM, MMRR and TT.

If you don't like Kermit and Ms Piggy banter you probably won't like the show. Big muppets fan so I enjoyed that portion but think they could have picked better songs and characters. As a nit the voice for Mickey was off lol. The live band is amazing.

If you wanted to do any of the specialty things (Brown Derby, Tip Top Club) there were BIG lines. About 11:30pm I think you could have gotten into the Brown Derby but at 10pm then were turning people away in droves. All the specialty food and drinks had long lines. I ended up getting the Candy Cane Shake at the ice cream stand by TT then hit the Tap Room for a Beer-Rita and pretzel.

Both Rise and MMRR broke down during the evening.

I left at midnight because it started to rain and didn't want to get on the airplane in the morning with wet shoes lol

 

[Smugpugmug]

I was watching vloggers tweet about their experience on Twitter and yeah, if I had attended that night I would've 100% asked for a refund. It was a disorganized mess with snacks and drinks that are too small for how much they cost. The Tip Top Club in particular is super disappointing. It's essentially a food and drink cart with premixed drinks.

Allears just put out a review and I'm super interested to see how they'll spin this disaster in a positive way. They refuse to say anything even remotely negative.

 

[Les Poissons]

We had 8 tickets for November 20th. We have decided to cancel. Disney is not offering refunds, but we were able to switch 4 tickets to the Mickey Very Merry Christmas Party (other 4 people already had tickets to the Christmas Party).

They wouldn't cancel or refund the remaining 4 party tickets but told us to just let them expire and we will receive the credit to either be used to future after hours events or they can be applied to annual pass renewals.

 

[Gusey]

Allears just put out a review and I'm super interested to see how they'll spin this disaster in a positive way. They refuse to say anything even remotely negative.

Even they admitted that it was too crowded and there were a lot of extra upcharges, before they tried to make it a positive as an After Hours with 2 new shows

 

[BrianL]

We had 8 tickets for November 20th. We have decided to cancel. Disney is not offering refunds, but we were able to switch 4 tickets to the Mickey Very Merry Christmas Party (other 4 people already had tickets to the Christmas Party).

They wouldn't cancel or refund the remaining 4 party tickets but told us to just let them expire and we will receive the credit to either be used to future after hours events or they can be applied to annual pass renewals.

I think switching to MVCMP is a good move!

 

[Chirple]

Is that a thing? Are they actually giving refunds?

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...n-ticketed-event.981252/page-37#post-10771776
I saw this posted by @lentesta. If you read further down the page, there's a written summary.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Even they admitted that it was too crowded and there were a lot of extra upcharges, before they tried to make it a positive as an After Hours with 2 new shows

I'm watching it right now and you can tell right away they're holding back from being too negative so Disney won't remove them from the media list. They gotta get that free cupcake!

 

[SuzErwin]

I was at the first party.

The walk up list for the Hollywood Brown Derby was full for the night before the party started. We couldn’t join via the app, asked one of the hosts at 8:30, at party start. We checked back around 10:15 to see if there was any availability then, were told it was 75 minute wait for a party of 2.

We joined the virtual queue for Rise at 8 sharp, got boarding group 44 with an estimated return time of 10:40 PM, got called at 10:22 PM. But we were pretty much done with the party by then and decided not to go - and since the ride broke down, that was probably the right decision.

There was one check in point inside the park for guests already in the park, and the line was incredibly long and slow. We exited the park and used the party check in at the entrance, much faster but also unnecessary walking. We never saw the paper guides, finally found a discarded guide which was useful as the QR code on the credential/party lanyard given to you at check in just took you to the My Disney Experience app home screen. Super helpful, thanks Disney IT.

Food lines for Fairfax Fair stretched down the street. The line for cocktails at the ToT TipTop Club was also incredibly long when we went by. The band was great but the space was too small for the crowd and the cast members were run ragged trying to keep walkways open. Glad I didn’t see anny small children as it was literally a crush. Every time I looked over at Echo Lake there was another huge crowd. We never made it to ABC Commissary and the Latin Fiesta. We ended up not getting any of the party food or drinks because even the somewhat shorter lines took FOREVER as not not enough cast members were available to wait on the people in line - and there were a lot of guest who took their time once they finally got to the bar, not that I blame them. The lines for special photo shots were also dauntingly long, and forget the more unique character meet and greets.

People were more dressed up than I thought they would be. We saw full on evening gowns and stiletto heels. Lots of people in everyday park wear, too. And the YouTubers were all out in full force, we joked we should have made up bingo cards and made a game out of who spotted who.

We watched the Muppets/Tiana/Belle show. The concept was a live TV holiday variety show taping, with behind the scenes banter during the commercial breaks. It was cute but disjointed and not a must see, IMO (and probably confused anyone not old enough to remember variety Christmas specials) . We left before Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam, which turned out to be another good decision as apparently the rain was heavy. We were given wooden coasters as we walked out but a friend who left around 10:15 went home empty handed as they weren’t handing them out yet.

Overall, we didn’t think the party was value for money. They needed more food stations or mobile order or something to keep the lines down. They definitely needed more photo ops (over by Municiburg there were some festive backdrops for selfies and we took photos with Frozone and Edna Mode, but then they’re available all the time. We jumped in the line for Mickey/Minnie, but it moved so slowly and we were just over the the whole night so we left after 20 minutes). There wasn’t much to do outside of rides and the two shows, and we’re not Nightmare fans so we skipped that; everything else was either jam packed or entailed very long waits. We didn’t go in the stores and missed the party merchandise - by 10:45 we were pretty tired of seeing nothing but lines and just wanted to get back to the hotel.

So if you want a night of walk on rides at Hollywood Studios, then the party might be worth it. Otherwise, it’s incredibly disappointing.

 

[Disneylover99]

We watched the Muppets/Tiana/Belle show. The concept was a live TV holiday variety show taping, with behind the scenes banter during the commercial breaks. It was cute but disjointed and not a must see, IMO (and probably confused anyone not old enough to remember variety Christmas specials) .

Yes. Disjointed and not a must see, were my thoughts when I watched it on YouTube.

Thanks for your review. Glad you made it out before the rain!

 

[afan]

Even they admitted that it was too crowded and there were a lot of extra upcharges, before they tried to make it a positive as an After Hours with 2 new shows

The problem with spinning it that way is it's not accurate. There's no free food like an after hours and people, at least thr first night, clearly aren't going mainly for rides which is also the point of after hours. I get trying to be positive but that's not the spin to take either.

I'd hoped to be able to go next year, mostly for the Muppets show and the short ride lines. I'm guessing this party won't happen next year, it'll be all they can do to make it better this year.

 

[NickC]

We were at the opening night. The wristband process was a mess. We entered at 7pm and were told that wristbands weren't available at the entrance yet. We were told to go to the Mickey Vacation short theater. The line was very long. After waiting a bit, a CM came by and said that they were available at the entrance. So, we went to the entrance. We were then told that we had to exit the park and wait in line to reenter. It was 7:50 by the time we got the wristband.

We were mainly there for the shorter wait times. This worked out for us. RnRC was maybe 20 minutes because there were other guests still in the park. After that, ToT was walk on. Slinky was 15 minutes, Alien Saucers was walk on. We got a boarding group for RotR without issue. Ogas was walk in. In the past, we never really spent much time in TS or GE because of the crowds. It was nice walking around those areas and being able to look around. It was pretty empty and it was a different experience. We left around 11:30 ish.

We didn't see any of the shows or extras. But, we were able to finally enjoy some of the usually much more crowded areas of the park.

 

[NickC]

The front of the park was a bit more crowded, but these were taken at 9:45pm:

 

[Gusey]

Wonder if there was something party exclusive in Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land, the crowds would have been more scattered?? Felt like the party was planned for a pre-2018 Hollywood Studios, as if Toy Story and Star Wars weren't open yet

 

[NickC]

When we exited ToT, there was a large crowd in the 'alley way.' I'm usually very good with knowing my way around the parks, but when I walked out, it was odd seeing so much to-do back there and I got confused of where I was for a second. Sunset Blvd seemed to be much more crowded than GE. Maybe they wanted to have events AND lower crowds in certain areas of the park?? I also wonder how the media attendance changed the crowd flow. They were focused on covering the special events and not with riding as many rides as possible. So, maybe the crowds will even out??

 

[jesskeys91]

When we exited ToT, there was a large crowd in the 'alley way.' I'm usually very good with knowing my way around the parks, but when I walked out, it was odd seeing so much to-do back there and I got confused of where I was for a second. Sunset Blvd seemed to be much more crowded than GE. Maybe they wanted to have events AND lower crowds in certain areas of the park?? I also wonder how the media attendance changed the crowd flow. They were focused on covering the special events and not with riding as many rides as possible. So, maybe the crowds will even out??

Yeah I’m wondering how much the problem was the type of crowd and whether that will get better as it changes to regular guests. Media night isn’t always the best test.

 

[ak517]

I specifically planned my travel around this party from the jump with the "What's this?" language in the preliminary advertising. It seems like the show is a hit among NMBC fans, and between that, the Muppets show, and the low ride wait times, I think my DH and I will be pretty satisfied. It's too bad about the food and beverage lines being outrageously long, and I do hope Disney troubleshoots that.

Although I've seen several poor reviews, it seems like there's been a lot of having to be in the right place at the right time. Some folks waited an hour for a showtime, some walked in ~10 minutes before start and there was ample seating. Some got snacks without a wait, and others waited 40 minutes. The only consensus really is that GE and TSL were empty!

I wonder if Disney was prepared to spend some time working out the kinks, and that's why there aren't any events between 11/11 and 11/18. I hope anyone going next weekend will report back here!

 

[PolyRob]

I've started watching this guys streams as he is brutally honest and I've found that he is usually right.
Obviously he is not invited to any of the media stuff at Universal or Disney and has to pay.
He also worked at both (I think) in the past - for sure he was at Disney and I think he was an SA at HHN at a minimum at Universal.

Its interesting to watch him and then watch Super Enthused or Mr Morrow and see how positively they spin it all.
I like them both but they just don't want to loose the access do they.

I know what you mean. I watched their videos. They were both trying to be super positive throughout the evening, but at least at the end of the night when they shared their overall thoughts, they had complaints and did not recommend the event. So that’s saying something.

Nate is always super positive and for him to say it wasn't worth the price and he wouldn't return unless there were significant changes makes me know it was rough. He said he had fun with friends, but would have had MORE fun at MVMCP.

 

[Evinrude21]

We have tickets for the event in 2 weeks

Mostly looking forward to the new shows, the rides and jingle ball jingle bam. Not so interested in the brown derby or the tip top club thing

 

[starlite_]

Watching the videos, what I'm most disappointed about is the lack of vibes. I was honestly expecting to see more glamour and 20s. The bar cart with premade drinks is wow, negative wow. Why advertise it as this big cool thing? It doesn't make sense. Cool concept, terrible execution.