The holiday season has arrived at Disney World!
Last night, we attended the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of the season in Magic Kingdom, and tonight, we are in Hollywood Studios for the first Jollywood Nights of 2024! This after-hours event is back for the second year! This party features specialty entertainment, snacks, character meet and greets, and generally shorter ride wait times. Let’s take a look at what the crowds and wait times are looking like this year at the very first party!
This post will be updated throughout the night with a look at crowds and wait times around the park, so be sure to check back for the latest!
Jollywood Nights is a separately ticketed event that takes place on 13 select nights from November 9th to December 21st. The party takes place from 7:30 PM to 12:30 AM, but you can enter the park as early as 6 PM. When we arrived at the party, there were plenty of people also taking advantage of being able to spend some time in Hollywood Studios before the party officially starts.
Once we were scanned in to the park, we were taken through the Fantasmic! bypass which is located to the right when you first walk through the turnstiles. We didn’t remember this being a thing last year and we really thought it helped with the initial crowds.
After the bypass we ended up on Sunset Boulevard where it definitely felt somewhat crowded. Although keep in mind, the event hasn’t started yet, so day guests are also still in the park.
Since this is a specialty ticketed event, the capacity is limited, which helps keep ride wait times down. We took a look at the wait times 15 minutes before the park closed for regular guests at 6:45PM, so we could compare these to wait times once the party starts! The highest waits were for Slinky Dog Dash (80 minutes) and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (65 minutes). Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster had a 45-minute wait, and all the other attractions in the park had a 30 minute or less wait time.
While the wait times for the rides weren’t too bad overall, we were surprised when we headed over to try and meet Santa Duffy at 7PM and found out that the wait was already 50 minutes! We have a feeling Santa Duffy is going to be a popular character to meet.
At 7:30PM, when Jollywood Nights officially started, wait times dropped significantly. The highest wait times were for Slinky Dog Dash (60 minutes), Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams (60 minutes), and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (35 minutes). Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was only 25 minutes, Tower of Terror was 13 minutes (which is essentially a walk-on), and everything else was 10 minutes or less.
At 8PM, we were SUPER surprised to see that meeting Santa Stitch has the HIGHEST wait time in the park by far. Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight had a 90 minute wait! During Jollywood Nights this is where Santa Stitch is meeting so it makes some sense, but that is still a long wait time. The next longest waits were Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams (45 minutes) and Slinky Dog Dash (40 minutes). Santa Stitch is a popular guy tonight!
At 8:30PM, an hour after the official start of the party, wait times remained manageable. The highest wait times were Slinky Dog Dash at 50 minutes, Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams at 35 minutes, and Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight at 30 minutes. Every other ride had a 15-minute wait or less.
Let’s take a look at the wait times at 9:30PM. Slinky Dog Dash was closed but even with that closure, the longest wait time in the park was 35 minutes for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight, and Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams. Toy Story Mania! was 20 minutes and everything else was 13 minutes or less.
By 10:30PM, the Santa Stitch line was till the longest in the park at 60 minutes, followed closely by Slinky Dog Dash at 50 minutes. As you can see, the rest of the rides on this list had a relatively low wait!
As the party starts to wind down, the wait times are also continuing to drop. At 12AM, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was closed, and Slinky Dog Dash had a wait of 40 minutes. Everything else in the park was 15 minutes or less!
We will be keeping track of the crowds and wait times all night long at Jollywood Nights, so make sure to continue to stick around and stay tuned to Disney Food Blog to stay up to date on all the latest holiday happenings at Jollywood Nights!
Everything You Need to Know About Jollywood Nights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
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MORE Disney World Holiday INFO!
Learn About Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
Get the Latest Information About the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays
Get All the Details About Disney Jollywood Nights
Everything You Need to Know About Disney World Holiday Dining and Events
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Will you be going to Jollywood Nights this year? Let us know in the comments!
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