We move on to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to take a look at the 2018 version of the Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! Holiday Dessert Party.

Pricing depends on the date you’re planning to attend, but it will either run you $79 or $89 per adult and $45 or $49 per child ages three to nine, including tax and gratuity. That’s in line with other dessert parties; the Frozen Ever After Sparkling Dessert Party at Epcot is the same $79/adult, while the Fireworks Dessert Party at Magic Kingdom comes in at $69 or $84 for adults depending on your desired view. You can check availability for the Jingle BAM! Dessert Party and see Disney’s official word here.

Check-in for the event is located to the right of the courtyard in front of the Chinese Theater as early as about an hour before the event is scheduled to begin. Upon check-in, you’ll receive a lanyard that will identify you as a dessert party guest and be told to return to the area around 6:40pm with the official 7pm start of the party. From December 23rd through December 31st, the party officially starts at 8pm, so those times will likely be pushed back an hour on those dates.

Continue reading “Review: Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! Dessert Party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios”

Frozen Holiday Wish, the stage show featuring Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf that precedes the Castle Dream Lights being turned on, returns to nightly performances for the holiday season.

Frozen Holiday Wish is currently scheduled to begin at 6:15pm nightly and any day guest is welcome to stay and watch the show. On Christmas Party dates, a second show is scheduled for 8:15pm, which is exclusive to Christmas Party ticket holders.

Continue reading “Frozen Holiday Wish Strategy, Wishes with Lights, and Once Upon A Time Show Review”

“Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration” is the name of the 25-minute stage show that takes place four times nightly during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

This year, the show schedule is:

Continue reading “Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration Review, Strategy, and Pictures”

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Josh, surely you learned your lesson after trying all of those overpriced, mediocre sweets at the Halloween Party and certainly you care enough about your health and well-being to not do the same thing to yourself at the Christmas Party,” then you would be wrong. AGAIN.

When it comes to “reviewing” food, drinks, and other items of varying levels of edibility at Walt Disney World, there are a couple of schools of thought. You can “Food Blog It,” which consists of ordering the item, snapping an iPhone photo of it, preferably with an on-theme background and a well-manicured thumb, and then potentially try a bite of whatever it is before throwing the rest of the item away. It’s important to note here that trying the item is unnecessary as the person that will actually be writing the review will be sitting at their computer somewhere hundreds or thousands of miles away from Walt Disney World.

You can also “Chip & Co It,” which consists of harassing a cast member behind the counter until they place the item in question on the counter, at which point you quickly take a picture with your iPhone and then run away. You then pretend like you purchased it and sampled it in the “review” by copying whatever Food Blog wrote about it, even if that person wasn’t and never will be within 5,000 miles of that same item. Alternatively, you can also Chip & Co It by harassing people after they’ve purchased their own item so they will hold it out in front of them just long enough for you to snap a picture and then run away.

You also have the opportunity to “easyDUBZ it,” which consists of getting a number of dudes together that all share little bites of tiny desserts in a tight semi-circle, only after taking enough pictures that whatever the item might be is now cold, melted, or otherwise so far away from how it was meant to be consumed that the review can probably be disregarded all together anyway.

With that out of the way, we can easyDUBZ some of the items available during regular hours at the Magic Kingdom, along with a few Party-exclusive treats.

Continue reading “Review: Magic Kingdom Holiday Treats at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Round One”

We pick up our coverage of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party with a look at one of the key components of the event with Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade, which steps off in Frontierland to the left of Splash Mountain at 8:30pm and 11pm on Party nights through December 21st. Beginning December 22nd and continuing through December 31st, the Christmastime Parade steps off at 12pm and 3:30pm for all Magic Kingdom guests. Click any image for a larger version.

Anyone will tell you that the second Parade is less crowded than the first and that remains true, even if Disney instructs cast members to pass that tip along to as many guests as possible. Main Street is still crowded – the picture above was taken during the second Parade and you can see that there’s six or seven people crammed into each row along the narrow, roped-off viewing area that lines the sidewalks on both sides. Still, front-row spots on Main Street furthest from Cinderella Castle in the Town Square area are typically available about 45 minutes before the second Parade steps off. Any time after that and you’re going to be in the second row or further back. Front row Parade spots closer to the Hub in front of Cinderella Castle fill 90+ minutes before the second Parade steps off and as many as two hours before the first Parade begins. If a front row spot on Main Street is what you’re after, then I recommend seeing the second Parade and probably finding a spot to see it closer to The Confectionery no later than 10:30pm. With Holiday Wishes beginning at 10pm and running until about 10:15pm, there isn’t much time to do anything else between the end of the fireworks and the start of the Parade, anyway. So you might as well stake out those Parade spots.

Continue reading “Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade 2018 Viewing Tips and Pictures”