Fun Ways To Celebrate The Holidays At Disney World

It’s the most wonderful time of year at the happiest place on Earth and we were fortunate to experience all of the wonderful things about Winter at DisneyWorld — including holiday food offerings, the all-new Jollywood Nights experience at Hollywood Studios and holiday decor galore!

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The fun kicked off with our stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. In addition to having live animals (eland, zebra, giraffe and pelicans) right outside our rooms, the hotel also includes the Uzima Pool that has a winding waterslide. We were excited to see quite a few characters, including Donald Duck and Goofy stop through for cast interactions.

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For the holidays select Disney Resort hotels feature a gingerbread display.  We visited the life-sized Gingerbread House in the lobby of The Grand Floridian which was made from over 10,000 pieces of gingerbread. There are also 24 hidden Mickey’s found throughout the display. Do you see any?

Starting November 22, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge guests will be able to check out a life-size baby gingerbread giraffe and baby zebra. Super cool right?

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One of our first outings during our stay was a visit to Disney Springs, which is super festive at this time of year, with multiple holiday displays including fully decked out and themed trees and more. There’s also a holiday menu – like the one at Jack Lindsey’s Holiday Hangar Bar at Disney Springs. We tested out the hot chocolate flight (recommend you split this one!) and LOVED the turkey meatballs.

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We also did some shopping while at Disney Springs and found the holiday deals to be in full swing. We picked up a few things to add to the ‘old Hollywood glam’ we were told was the attire for Jollywood Nights.

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The night started with cocktails, appetizers and photo ops!

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We got some great shots with Mickey Mouse, Kermit and Miss Piggy.

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One of the highlights of the visit to Hollywood Studios was checking out The Nightmare Before Christmas sing-along show.

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Of course the Nightmare Before Christmas isn’t the only show getting in the spirit at Hollywood Studios.

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We were treated to another incredible performance thanks to Disney Holidays in Hollywood, which is more of a musical variety show. For those who want to attend either show, just a heads up to be prepared for “snowfall” — the manmade kind.

For folks who purchase Jollywood Nights access — make sure to get familiar with the virtual queue, because many of the more popular rides are only available via the queue during the event.

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As you can probably imagine — the Magic Kingdom only gets more magical during the holidays. The night we visited, they were doing a taping of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party! We also made sure to stop and get some holiday-themed candy at one of the stores on Main Street.

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We closed out our trip with a visit to Epcot — where we had a chance to preview Disney’s latest feature film WISH and meet the movie’s star Asha.

WISH is currently in theaters now — and after having the chance to hear the film’s composer talk about the music, we were super excited to see it.

This is just a taste of what you can expect from a holiday visit to Walt Disney World Parks. There’s lots more to explore and all the holiday offerings are detailed on the My Disney Experience app so make sure to check it out!