Category: Disney

Jollywood Nights 2023

Disney World will have a new after-hours holiday party this year in Hollywood Studios called Jollywood Nights.

You can dance the night away with live bands, see festive stage shows, and cap the night off with the Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! nighttime spectacular.

Enjoy lower wait times for your favorite attractions, meet beloved characters dressed in their holiday finest, and feast on new holiday treats.

Jollywood Nights takes place on the following nights in 2023:

Saturday, November 11
Saturday, November 18
Monday, November 20
Monday, November 27
Wednesday, November 29
Monday, December 4
Wednesday, December 6
Saturday, December 16
Monday, December 18
Wednesday, December 20

This special event takes place from 8:30pm to 12:30am but ticket holders can enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios as early as 7pm on the date of their ticket. No theme park reservation is needed to enter after 7pm. Ticket prices start at $159. Come dressed to impressed.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit the Jollywood Nights page below. Some dates are already sold out.

Disney’s Jollywood Nights

This adds a new Disney nighttime holiday party to Hollywood Studios, in addition to the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about adding these events to your Disney trip.

Pics ©Disney

Disney Cruise Line Early 2025 Itineraries Announced

Disney Cruise Line has announced its sailing itineraries for early 2025. They include sailings to/from the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Australia, and the South Pacific!

Bookings begin on different days next week, starting Monday, October 30, 2023, for different levels of Castaway Cay members and other Disney affinity groups. General members (those who have never sailed on a Disney cruise) can book on Monday, November 6, 2023.

Oct 30 – Pearl Castaway Club
Oct 31 – Platinum Castaway Club, Club 33, & Golden Oak Club
Nov 1 – Gold Castaway Club
Nov 2 – Silver Castaway Club, Disney Vacation Club, & Adventure Insiders
Nov 6 – General Public

Sail on inaugural sailings on the new Disney Treasure ship or rare sailings from Hawaii and the South Pacific. Check out Lighthouse Point, a new Disney Cruise Line island retreat celebrating the breathtaking beauty and vibrant culture of The Bahamas. View the list in these pictures or on the DCL website below for the specific sailings.

Costs are generally the lowest when you book during this initial release, and some of the more popular itineraries can sell out FAST, particularly the Hawaii and South Pacific sailings. It is expected that there will be long waits on the phone with DCL. If you don’t need to apply a placeholder or credit to your new booking, it’s definitely going to be faster to book on the DCL website starting at 8am ET, or have a travel agent (like me!) do it for you.

For more details, visit the Disney Cruise Line Early 2025 Itineraries page:

Disney Cruise Line Early 2025 Itineraries

If you would like me to help with your bookings, feel free to contact me ASAP. We love sailing DCL, so let me know if you want to chat about them. I have some recaps of our past sailings in the Trip Recap section of this site if you want to see what they’re like.

Pics ©Disney Cruise Line

Play, Stay, and Dine Offer

Disney World is currently offering a Disney Dining Promo Card when you purchase a non-discounted package that includes a resort stay and park tickets on select resorts and days from late 2023 to early 2024.

The promo gives you a certain amount of dining credit on a digital gift card that can be used to purchase meals, snacks, treats, and beverages at participating dining locations across Walt Disney World Resort. The amount will vary depending on resort category and length of stay. A minimum stay of 4 resort and ticket days is required.

The offer is valid for stays that start on the following arrival dates:

Most nights October 27 to November 1, 2023
Most nights November 25 to November 29, 2023
Most nights December 9 to December 25, 2023
Most Sunday to Tuesday nights January 9, 2024 to March 5, 2024

The amount you get will be calculated approximately as such:

Up to $200 per room, per night at most Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts
Up to $120 per room, per night at most Moderate Resorts
Up to $60 per room, per night at most Value Resorts

The number of packages available for this offer is limited so book soon. If you already have a stay booked on the eligible dates, you can call to see if this promo can be applied to it. Everyone in the same room must be on the same package. For more details about this offer, visit the Disney Play, Stay, and Dining Promo Card offer page.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat more about this or anything else related to planning your Disney trip.

Note: this is different from the Dining Plans, discussed in a separate post.

Skyliner Closures

Heads up if you have a Disney World trip planned for January 2024. Disney just announced the following closures for the Skyliner for its annual maintenance.

Jan. 16-21, 2024
- The line between Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation, and Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort will be closed.
- The line between Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be closed.
Jan. 16-27, 2024
- The line between Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Riviera Resort, and International Gateway at EPCOT will be closed.

Buses will be available for affected Skyliner resort guests to get to/from EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, which are the only parks normally accessible via the Skyliner.

If your trip is affected or if you want to chat about any other aspect of a Disney trip, feel free to contact me.

Haunted Mansion Parlor

Are you a Haunted Mansion fan?

Disney Cruise Line just announced that a Haunted Mansion themed lounge will be on the new Disney Treasure ship when it sets sail next December 2024!

This new lounge will bring to life the fan-favorite lore and styling from the Haunted Mansion park attractions around the world. Of course, specialty cocktails will capture the spirit of our ghostly friends and a new collection of Haunted Mansion inspired merchandise will be available.

This will be the first Haunted Mansion inspired venue on the ships and parks. Perhaps, they’ll bring this concept to the parks next. I know many fans of the franchise have been hoping for this for a while.

The artist renderings look really cool so far! Are you excited? Do you want to sail on the Treasure?

Visit my Disney Treasure post for more revelations about this new ship.

Contact me if you want to chat about booking a cruise.

Hurry baaccckkkk!

Pics ©Disney Cruise Line

Holiday Events Beginning Soon at Disney World

Disney announced that a new Frozen Holiday Surprise show will be coming to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, and over 100 of his Snowgie siblings will decorate Cinderella Castle for the holidays, with Elsa transforming Cinderella Castle into a “shimmering crystallized palace” with her frozen fractals.

The show will start November 7, 2023 and will occur nightly during the holiday season. This means you can watch them light up the castle even if you’re not going to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Don’t miss the holiday events at the other parks either. The Merry Menagerie, life-size, artisan-sculpted animal puppets, will return to the Animal Kingdom, the International Festival of the Holidays will be taking place in EPCOT, and a new Jollywood Nights party will be held on select nights at Hollywood Studios. More info coming soon on that one.

Disney also shared that preparations are underway to create the beautiful gingerbread houses and displays at the Disney resorts. They should start going up around mid-November. This year, there will be gingerbread displays at the following resorts:

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Disney Springs will join in the holiday fun with new decor and dining starting November 10th. You can also visit Santa and look for all of the incredibly themed trees on the Christmas Tree Stroll presented by AdventHealth. They are amazing!

Are you excited for the holidays at Disney? It is an especially beautiful and magical time to go.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.

Pics ©Disney

DisneyBand+ Available on the Dream

Disney Cruise Line announced that the DisneyBand+ will now be available for use on the Disney Dream ship starting November 20, 2023.

The band functionality is currently available on the Wish, Fantasy, and Magic ships already. They give you another way to open your cabin door, charge purchases to your cabin, and enhance your shipboard experience with fun sounds and lights. It is not required though and you will still get the current key cards.

The DisneyBand+ is the same as the MagicBand+ at the Disney parks and in fact, will work at both locations if you have one. There are some cool cruise designs but it doesn’t matter what the design is or where you buy it from – cruise ship, park, online. You can link the same one to both your park and cruise apps.

If you have a cruise booked on one of the enabled ships, you will see the link to purchase a MagicBand+ in your reservation 45 days before your sail date. That means those of you on that Nov 20th sailing can buy them now. You can’t buy from there before your 45th day if you have a farther sailing, though you can buy from other sources sooner.

You also have to buy them at least 10 days before your sail date so they have time to mail them to you, though I recommend at least two weeks, and don’t forget to factor in extra days if you’ll be leaving home sooner than your sail date.

Do you think you’ll get a DisneyBand+?

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about booking a cruise.

Blizzard Beach Reopening

Disney World’s Blizzard Beach water park will reopen on November 6, 2023! This winter-themed tropical wonderland is ready for another fun season!

If you don’t know, the two Disney water parks alternate closing for refurbishment in the winter months. Currently, Typhoon Lagoon is open, but it will close for a bit once Blizzard Beach reopens.

New this year, you can buy a Disney Water Park Seasonal Pass valid for unlimited visits at either park from now until May 24, 2024 for $79 (adults) or $73 (child). Considering that a one-day ticket is just a few dollars less, it’s worth it to buy the annual pass if you visit two or more times before it expires. The seasonal pass has no block-out dates and no reservations are necessary.

Have you ever been to the Disney water parks? It’s a good way to do a semi-rest day and cool off between multiple theme park days. We love the water slides, wave pool, and lazy river. Don’t forget about the mini donuts either! Sooo good! There will be new churros and other snacks this year too.

If you want to chat about adding the water park pass or single-day tickets to your Disney trip, feel free to contact me.

Pics © Disney

Disneyland Price Increases

In case you haven’t heard already, Disneyland in California increased prices for tickets and other items effective October 11, 2023. Here’s the rundown.

Magic Key Annual Passes increased by $50 for the “Imagine” and “Inspire” tiers, and $150 for the “Enchant” and “Believe” tiers.
Single-day tickets increased up to $15 depending on date. The lowest tier price remains unchanged. There are now date-based dynamic pricing tiers for tickets.
Multi-day tickets increased by $25 – $65 depending on length.
Park Hopper add-ons for multi-day tickets increased by $5 – $15 depending on length.
Genie+ add-ons increased $5 per day for pre-arrival purchases, but you can add them up to 120 days in advance now.
Genie+ day-of purchases start at $30 and go higher depending on the date. Magic Key holders still get a 20% discount for day-of purchases.
Parking at the theme park and Disneyland resort lots increased by $5.

For a bit of good news, Disneyland has announced a Child Ticket offer (ages 3 to 9) for as little as $50 per day for some visits between January 8, 2024 and March 10, 2024. These tickets will be available for purchase beginning Oct. 24, 2023.

Also, the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure rides will be added to Genie+.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.

Disneyland Small World Closing for Holiday Overlay

Heads up! The It’s a Small World attraction at Disneyland Park in California will be closed from Oct 23, 2023 through November 10, 2023 for its annual holiday overlay. Just be aware if you have a trip planned for this timeframe. It starts next Monday.

It’ll be gorgeous when it’s done. The above pic is from our trip there last December. Look at all those lights! There are holiday overlays inside the ride too. Beautiful! Check it out if you can.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.

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