Christmas is a fun time at Hollywood Studios, and we’re looking forward to whatever the holidays have to offer in 2024! If you’re visiting during this time of year, you can expect Christmas flair to come to the park, but every year has been a little different in what’s offered. Read on to learn about everything you need to know about Christmas at Hollywood Studios!
“Jollywood Nights” Ticketed Event
In addition to its usual holiday offerings, covered in this post, Disney debuted a new ticketed nighttime event “Disney Jollywood Nights” at Hollywood Studios in 2023. The event was held on 10 select nights in November and December. I recommend reading more about it on WDW Prep School in preparation for its probable (possible?) return in 2024.
Christmas at Hollywood Studios 2023 Details
Holiday celebrations at Disney World started November 9 in 2023. The first Jollywood Nights event was on November 11.
Typically things start with decorations rolling out in early November and an official start to the celebrations around the same time. This post is based on past years as well as what Disney has confirmed about 2024 in advance. Once the holidays actually roll out, we’ll update this post with any unexpected changes.
Christmas at Hollywood Studios Basics
Christmas season at Hollywood Studios includes unique, limited-time holiday:
merchandise and snack items
attraction overlays
holiday decor through much of the park
entertainment
character greetings
Besides the ticketed event (Jollywood Nights), the cornerstone of the season is Sunset Seasons Greetings, a projection and lighting show on Sunset Boulevard that see the Tower of Terror transform into a variety of holiday-themed designs.
Over at Magic Kingdom, the park offers very little—mostly just decorations, merchandise, and food—during regular park hours to indicate the holiday season. At that park, it’s really the ticketed Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that steals the show.
Over at Epcot, everything that’s included in the Festival of the Holidays is accessible to all guests with tickets to the park. Similarly, all holiday offerings at Animal Kingdom occur during regular park hours.
Hollywood Studios is in between these. A decent amount of holiday offerings—like special character outfits, the Sunshine Seasons Greetings projection show, and the special ending to Frozen Sing Along—are available to all guests. But Jollywood Nights—the separate ticketed event—has more exclusive characters and unique entertainment. This post is focused just on the offerings that all guests have access to, not the Jollywood Nights ticketed event.
Hollywood Studios Holiday Times Guide
If you’re visiting during the Christmas season, you’ll want to check out the paper map and, if applicable, times guide. Nowadays Disney has moved toward a digital times guide, where you’ll have to rely on the My Disney Experience app for to find things like entertainment times and character greetings.
Hollywood Studios Christmas Decorations
The Hollywood Studios Christmas decorations are primarily found:
along Hollywood Boulevard / in the hub
along Sunset Boulevard
around Echo Lake
in Toy Story Land
These areas basically comprise the front of the park. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge doesn’t get Christmas decorations, though the in-world “Life Day” does have merchandise available.
If you’d like to get an idea of what the decorations look like, here are some photos from the past few years (the overall theme of the decorations doesn’t change much). Use the arrows to click through the galleries.
Hollywood Boulevard and Hub Decorations
The entryway decorations are pretty standard. Silver and gold garland, wreaths, and stars. These do light up quite beautifully at night. The hub (and some other nearby areas of the park) includes some interesting statuette figures.
Sunset Boulevard Decorations
Sunset Boulevard primarily gets stars lining the sides of the street. While these are a bit underwhelming, this is still where you’ll want to be at night, as the Tower of Terror transforms for Sunset Seasons Greetings.
Echo Lake Decorations
Echo Lake, near the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, is where you’ll find the Hollywood Studios Christmas tree and the famed dinosaur Gertie in her Christmas finest (a hat).
Toy Story Land Decorations
Toy Story Land Christmas decorations some of the most fun in the park. These are a bit more whimsical than the more standard decorations in the rest of the park, fitting into the “Andy’s Backyard” theme of the land (though, I dunno, where did Andy get the tiny scarf for Woody?).
Hollywood Studios Christmas Merchandise & Snacks
Most of the holiday merchandise we’ve seen recent years at Hollywood Studios is the same merchandise you’ll find at the other parks. Where there are unique items, they’ve been IP-branded merchandise, like holiday Toy Story or Star Wars toys. There hasn’t been much park-specific holiday merchandise in a while.
There are a variety of holiday treats available, too, mostly additions to the menus at the Hollywood Studios quick service restaurants. The best place to find information on holiday snacks is the official Disney Parks Blog foodie guide (2023 link), but you should also check the menus for the restaurants in the My Disney Experience app.
On the table service front, Hollywood & Vine typically offers “Minnie’s Holiday Dine”, a holiday-themed character meal. We generally don’t feel table service meals are worth the time at Hollywood Studios, but if you have a longer trip or prefer table service meals, this can be a nice holiday treat.
Entertainment + Two Holiday Attractions “Overlays”
Most of the changes you’ll notice at Hollywood Studios for the holiday season are overlays—modifications to existing offerings.
Holiday Version of Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
The the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration gets an extra 5 minutes or so of holiday-inspired songs, along with an appearance by a special friend. For scheduling purposes, it’s worth noting this makes the show reliably over 30 minutes long.
Alien Swirling Saucers With Christmas Music
The Alien Swirling Saucers “overlay” is less interesting, as it is the normal ride, but with some Christmas music (auto-tuned alien style) instead of the standard ride music.
Curiously, this overlay isn’t consistent. Some rides will get it, and others will get the normal experience. There’s no rhyme or reason best I can tell, it’s just a luck of the draw (or maybe a Cast Member decision).
Meeting Santa (and Other Holiday Characters) at Hollywood Studios
The Santa Claus greeting returned to Hollywood Studios in 2023, albeit in a new location. Santa Claus now greets at “It’s a Wonderful Shop”, tucked in a back part of the park by PizzeRizzo and Muppet Vision 3D. That greeting used a text-based virtual queue system.
It’s common for other characters to appeal in holiday garb, as well. Here is a look at some past years’ appearances:
Visiting the Resorts Near Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios is about a 15-minute walk from the Boardwalk area resorts, where you’ll find some great holiday decorations. Boardwalk and Beach Club typically have elaborate gingerbread displays, while Yacht Club typically has a model train set.
These probably aren’t worth the diversion just in themselves, but if you can plan to visit as part of a walk between Epcot and Hollywood Studios, these hotels are definitely worth the stop during the holiday season.
Alternatively, you could take the Friendship Boat from the Hollywood Studios entrance to either the Boardwalk or Yacht/Beach stop, walk to the three hotels, and then take the boat back (or continue to Epcot).
Hollywood Studios Christmas at Night
Nighttime is when Christmas at Hollywood Studios really shines. As I said a few times, Hollywood Boulevard is good for decorations (especially at night), but not the center of holiday activity.
During the holiday season, Hollywood Studios usually garners an extra nighttime visit or two from us. Since it’s not too far from Epcot, you can often spend the bulk of your evening at Hollywood Studios and still catch the Epcot nighttime show. That’s maybe a little over the top, but I just want to ask you make at least one nighttime visit to Hollywood Studios during your holiday season visit.
Let’s talk about the two things you don’t want to miss…
Echo Lake Tree Lighting
The tree at Echo Lake is lit nightly sometime around sunset. For precise times, ask a Cast Member in the area.
Hollywood Studios — Sunset Seasons Greetings
The highlight of the evening (to us, at least) is the ongoing “Sunset Seasons Greetings”, which features projections, animated billboards, lasers, and SNOW(!) on Sunset Boulevard.
Generally we don’t like projections, but these are a pretty creative use of them, transforming Tower of Terror into more whimsically themed structures, like the Hollywood Toy Hotel and a gingerbread tower. While the Tower transforms, tunes and lasers bring life to Sunset Boulevard.
Finally, between (and as a part of) these transformations, the billboards on either side of the boulevard play skits featuring Disney characters. The show runs on about a 15-minute loop from around sunset until park close.
Photopass Photographers are usually on Sunset Boulevard during the projection show, but you have to have more flexibility than usual. Some guests will wait for their favorite backdrop, others will wait for the snow. Since the Photopass photographers like to take their time and get things right, this usually means only one family gets photographed during each showing.
[“Returning” 2023] Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!
Note: Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! will be back in 2023…sort of. It will only be a part of the ticketed Jollywood Nights event. Yea, they brought back something we love…behind a paywall.
Evenings end with “Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!” the Christmas-themed projection show on the Center Stage. The show is fine, just about the same as the other Hollywood Studios projections shows.
The plot is a crossover of “Prep & Landing” and “Nightmare Before Christmas,” though really the show doesn’t lean too heavily on it. (I mention it mostly because some people talked to me afterward and were confused as to how Halloween fit into things.)
The Christmas projections are cool, and anything involving Christmas music is nice (the first six weeks, at least).
There’s also a Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! dessert party. We recommend reading more about that over at WDW Prep School.
Overall, Christmas at Hollywood Studios shockingly impressed us when we first visited in 2018, and 2019 has kept up the tradition. Christmas at Hollywood Studios is definitely worth a visit!
Visiting Walt Disney World for Christmas? We’ve got a guide to Christmas at the Magic Kingdom, as well as a guide to the flagship Disney World Christmas party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!
Learn More About The Holidays at Walt Disney World
Want to learn more about Christmastime at Walt Disney World? For starters, we've got a Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World, which introduces you to everything you need to know.
Need more specifics? You'll want to read about the park that gets the most Magical decorations in our post on Christmas at Magic Kingdom. You'll also want to read about Flurry of Fun—the Christmas celebration at Hollywood Studios, the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, and the Holiday Celebrations at Animal Kingdom.
But the flagship event of the season is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party—and our guide has you covered with everything you need to know. Or check out the quick version in our 12 Tips for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Last but not least, let's not forget that the celebrations don't stop at the parks! You can visit our post on Christmas decorations at the Disney World hotels to see how even the hotels get into the spirit!
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