The holiday season is extra special when it includes a visit to The Most Magical Place On Earth. Holiday cheer decks the halls in all four theme parks. This includes holiday decorations, specialty food items, and even seasonal entertainment. There’s lots of festive fun you can have!
Holiday Parties Return
In case you missed it, Disney has confirmed the return of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom and Jollywood Nights in Hollywood Studios for 2026. These are separately ticketed events are available on select nights in their respective theme parks. Some of the benefits to purchasing a ticket to one of these parties include:
- exclusive seasonal entertainment
- specialty food and beverage offerings
- lower crowd levels leading to lower wait times for select attractions
- unique character meet and greets (often including rare characters and/or characters in special holiday outfits)
- holiday Disney PhotoPass opportunities
Tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Jollywood Nights are on sale now! Act fast if you’re interested in attending. These parties are extremely popular and do tend to sell out.
Stay tuned to MouseHouseNews.net as we continue to bring you additional details about the specific offerings available at the 2026 parties.
A Glamorous Holiday Occasion
Of the two parties, Disney Jollywood Nights is by far the most glitzy. Inspired by the glamour of Old Hollywood, this party is a total vibe. The atmosphere is definitely more upscale, so some guests even choose to embrace the theme and come dressed to the nines! Jollywood Nights could be the perfect holiday-themed date night to add to your itinerary. It’s also fun for the whole family!
Jazzy Holidays Returns to the Hollywood Brown Derby
In addition to select regular fare throughout the park, you’ll find a number of party-exclusive eats and drinks. The Hollywood Brown Derby even gets in on the act with a special menu only available during Jollywood Nights. If you want to take swankiness to the next level, you may want to consider reserving a spot for this dining experience. During Jazzy Holidays, you’ll enjoy holiday tunes performed by a live pianist while sipping on craft cocktails and savoring a selection of party-exclusive light bites.
Things to Consider Prior to Booking a Reservation
Before you decide whether or not this is an experience you’d like to reserve for 2026, let me take a moment to give you some of my thoughts. As is the case with anything, there are pros and cons to booking this dining reservation.
Pros
- You get the chance to experience the Hollywood Brown Derby in a new way. The overall atmosphere does feel upscale.
- There’s no committing to the stomach space (or cost) of a full signature dining meal. In fact, the only options on the menu are drinks and appetizers (a.k.a. light bites).
- Live entertainment is always a plus, and the pianist was excellent during my 2025 visit.
- There is an exclusive menu for this event. Disney hasn’t revealed the full menu yet. However, a few menu highlights confirmed include:
- Jazzy Sliders – Bison and pork, onion jam, and Gorgonzola cheese on a brioche roll
- Chorizo Arancini – with shaved Parmesan and Salmorejo tomato sauce
- Pork Belly Bao – Korean barbecue, cucumber slaw, and soy vinaigrette
- Tofu Bao – Seared tofu, cucumber slaw, and soy vinaigrette (plant-based)
- Char-grilled Chicken Yakitori – Crispy rice, passion fruit-soy marinated chicken, cilantro aïoli, and watermelon radish
- Cranberry-Jalapeño Margarita – Flecha Azul Reposado Tequila, Cointreau Liqueur, lime juice, and house-made cranberry-jalapeño simple syrup
Cons
- Jazzy Holidays takes up some of your party time. You may think: “I’ll just pop in for a quick bite or a drink”. However, in reality, it can take longer than you think it will. In 2025, I waited over 20 minutes past my reservation time before I was finally seated for Jazzy Holidays. At one point, I even double-checked with the host stand to make sure they didn’t forget about me. If you’ve read our review of Hollywood & Vine, you’ll see how these things can happen! Since it’s a reservation, you need to be on standby until you are called. Any time spent waiting is time you’re not experiencing other aspects of the party.
- The experience felt somewhat rushed. I know I just talked about how much time was spent waiting for my table and how it felt like a waste of party time. Oddly, once we were finally seated, the experience itself felt kind of rushed. We had barely received our drinks and food before the check was on the table. On the flip side, at least that meant that we could pay and leave as soon as we were ready, rather than waiting on the check to be generated…
- The dining room was loud and echoey. It was somewhat hard to carry on a conversation, or even to hear some of the piano performance.
- No discounts are available for this experience. If you’re an Annual Passholder or Disney® Visa® Cardholder who generally takes advantage of your discount, that’s not an option at Jazzy Holidays.
Reservations Open Soon
To experience Jazzy Holidays, you must have a valid ticket for Disney Jollywood Nights. Dining reservations are highly recommended, although some walk-ups may be available. It’s also important to note that the regular Hollywood Brown Derby menu will not be available during Jollywood Nights.
If you’d like to give Jazzy Holidays at the Hollywood Brown Derby a try for yourself, reservations open on Thursday, September 17, 2026. You can make reservations through your My Disney Experience app or on Disney’s website. Making reservations for this event is the same as the process for making other Advanced Dining Reservations.
Plan Your Holiday Vacation
To recap, Disney Jollywood Nights will be held on select nights in November, December, and even January 2027! It’s a dazzling opportunity for an elegant celebration with a distinctly Disney twist. The sophisticated atmosphere, exclusive entertainment, and celebratory bites are all reasons why every Disney Adult should give it a try at least once. There are even resort discounts available!
If you’d like some assistance navigating the process of planning a trip to Disney World for the holidays (or any time of year), I suggest clicking the button below. You’ll get in touch with MouseHouseNews.net’s Marcus, who is also a Travel Advisor with Purely Luxe Vacations.
The holidays will be here shortly. For now, I suggest bookmarking MouseHouseNews.net. We’ll be sure to keep bringing you all of the holiday news you need to plan that perfect getaway. Be sure to subscribe to the MouseHouseNewsNet YouTube channel for even more sights and sounds from around Disney World. We’ll see you real soon!
