Is a Christmas Party Coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2023?
As part of Halfway to the Holidays, Walt Disney World released an announcement teaser image featuring Hollywood Studios. In addition to that, there’s a rumor that DHS is getting a paid Christmas party that revives extinct entertainment and offers counterprogramming to MVMCP at Magic Kingdom. This post breaks down the details and offers our updated prediction on what’ll be announced.
The above promotional image released by Disney during Halfway to the Holidays features the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror as the representation for Walt Disney World (far right). Although Sunset Seasons Greetings is a lovely little production, DHS is not normally the park that people associate with Walt Disney World at Christmas. Cinderella’s Castle would be the natural choice, so there’s likely a reason for using the less-than-obvious icon.
Hyping up the holidays at Hollywood Studios and strengthening its seasonal lineup would make perfect sense. As we’ve mentioned repeatedly, evenings are still comparatively quiet at DHS, even after the return of Fantasmic. That was true last Christmas even after the nighttime spectacular had just returned, and will likely be even more pronounced this year with Magic Kingdom being the ‘heart’ of the holiday season and EPCOT having Candlelight Processional plus a brand-new nighttime spectacular for Disney100.
Given that, counterprogramming at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to prevent overcrowding at those two parks in the evenings makes perfect sense. We’ve even seen precisely this approach in the past. Back in 2019, a big emphasis was put on Animal Kingdom, with festive new entertainment and holiday décor in every land for the first time in the park’s history. With that came the Tree of Life Winter Awakenings and Merry Menagerie, one of the best Christmas offerings in all of Walt Disney World.
Decorations there have since been scaled back, and the Tree of Life Winter Awakenings and Merry Menagerie aren’t promoted by Walt Disney World nearly as much as they were back in 2019. Between that and our on-the-ground observations of evenings in the park, those offerings didn’t move the needle much on getting guests to stay late at Animal Kingdom during the busy holiday season. So perhaps now we’re getting take-two at Disney’s Hollywood Studios…
Enter the rumor that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is getting a paid Christmas Party. This comes via WDWMagic (the main site, not the forum), which has a strong track record. While we cannot corroborate any of the specifics or even the high-level rumor itself, we have zero reason to doubt Steve. If he’s reporting it, the odds of it happening are pretty high.
According to the rumor, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will debut an all-new separately ticketed holiday event in 2023. This will be presented as an alternative option alongside Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom, with the Disney’s Hollywood Studios event similarly featuring special entertainment and access to the park’s attractions.
One piece of special entertainment is rumored to be Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!, which has not been presented since 2019. For those who never saw Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! during its initial run, it’s somewhere between a projections show and nighttime spectacular. More than what they’ve been presenting, but lighter on pyro than a fully-fledged nighttime spectacular or fireworks show.
Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! features Lanny and Wayne from Prep & Landing in search of Santa, and that quest provides an opportunity to show scenes from Disney animated classics and Christmas specials. Those represented include Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Frozen, and virtually every princess and prince in a brief romance montage.
That’s where the rumor ends, and here is where my speculation about a Christmas Party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios begins…
First, I want to start by addressing the elephant in the room. There’s one thing that every longtime Walt Disney World fan wants to see return for the holiday season: The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. This rumor and the subsequent announcement, if it happens but is light on specifics, is going to fan the flames of wishful thinking that those will return.
The Osborne Lights are not coming back. For one thing, there’s nowhere to put them. They worked in the backlot because it was a large and underutilized space with no attractions that drew crowds in the evenings. I can’t think of anywhere like that at Walt Disney World right now…maybe Dino-Rama? Even then, the display would have to be smaller scale than the original Osborne Lights.
In any case, the Osborne Lights are almost assuredly not one of the pieces of special entertainment for a hard ticket Christmas party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even assuming that Walt Disney World did bring back the Osborne Lights (highly unlikely on its own), they probably would not do so for a hard-ticketed event.
Although locking them behind a paywall does seem like a typical Walt Disney World move, I don’t think that would be their approach if bringing back the Osborne Lights. While doing so would certainly cause tickets to sell out, there would also be an opportunity cost. Letting anyone in the parks see them would have benefits of scale–selling regular park tickets and moving more merchandise, food & beverage, novelty items, PhotoPass, etc.
I’m also somewhat skeptical of the part of the rumor that Walt Disney World would bring back Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! just for a special party. For one thing, I don’t think it has the drawing power to sell tickets. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! I’d carve out some time this holiday season to see it if it does return, but it’s not something I’d pay extra to see.
If Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! is coming back, it would make sense to show it to everyone for “free” on a nightly basis as a way to keep people in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the evenings. Not only that, but Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! was directly monetized via dessert parties, which were fairly popular among guests. It just makes more sense to me to show this on a nightly basis or not at all.
However, I could see a scenario where someone at Team Disney Orlando had the idea for a Christmas party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios but wanted to put minimal effort into coming up with new ideas and not invest in new entertainment. That’s how you’d end up with Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! returning, but only for a separately-ticketed event. (Still, I’m hoping that portion of the rumor is wrong and the projection show is simply coming back for all nights.)
As for what I think a Christmas party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios could and should look like, I’d direct you to two different events from the past few years. The first is Villains After Hours at Magic Kingdom, which itself was a mashup of a regular After Hours event and Villains Unleashed, a one-off special event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
My expectation is that whatever is announced for Disney’s Hollywood Studios has the “After Hours” branding and follows that formula. I’d put the chances of that at well over 75%, as that’s the most logical option for a second hard ticket holiday event at Walt Disney World. (We’ll circle back to this in a bit.)
Villains After Hours introduced a stage show, Maleficent from Festival of Fantasy, and a few ride overlays to the familiar After Hours formula. It was a fantastic “plussing” of that event, and something similar could be done in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Ideally, I’d want the ‘stage show’ to happen in front of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but an ‘Enchanted Christmas’ version of Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage could also make sense. (I’m skeptical they’d invest money in that aging show, but stranger things have happened.)
The other event is Disney Merriest Nites at Disneyland. That was another one-off special event, albeit in California. Another example would be Disney Very Merriest After Hours at Magic Kingdom from that same year, but that incorporated a lot of entertainment from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Obviously, that will not happen with the DHS event.
The selling point of Merriest Nites at Disneyland was 6 uniquely themed parties in one, typically accomplished via dance parties and live entertainment. The highlight of these was the Victorian party on Main Street, which featured character costumes from Mickey’s Christmas Carol and the Muppets Christmas Caroling Coach. There were also a bunch of Christmas card photo backdrops around the park. Merriest Nites was a good event that could’ve grown into a great event had it been given another year to find its footing.
All of the above offerings from Merriest Nites could be ported over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and work really well. They’d want to modify the themes of the parties since Disney’s Hollywood Studios (obviously) has different lands than Disneyland. But the idea itself would work, and unique dance parties would have tremendous appeal. Just imagine Muppets, Toy Story, and Star Wars Holiday Special-themed parties, or 50’s Holiday Traditions in Tinseltown. There are a lot of great possibilities.
While unique characters could appear at the dance parties, I wouldn’t expect to see them in meet & greet form. Hopefully enough people in TDO management are still around from the Villains Unleashed disaster to understand why that would be a bad idea–unless they flood the event with a ton of unique characters to dilute demand. I don’t see that happening for several reasons, though.
Basically, the goal with all of this would be creating a holiday party at DHS that is distinct from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Walt Disney World likely wants this to be counterprogramming and not cannibalizing attendance from the iconic Magic Kingdom party. That would mean looking at every selling point of MVMCP, and not doing those things during the holiday event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
That would mean no Christmas parade (not like they’re gonna build a second from scratch anyway) or special fireworks. It would probably also mean no stage show featuring Mickey and friends, and no character meet & greets. The DHS event would need to be differentiated from MVMCP in every way possible.
That’s precisely why something like “Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood After Hours” makes complete sense. Rather than being a party that revolves around entertainment, it would be a predominantly ‘low crowds’ event focused on a quasi VIP experience with short waits at popular attractions and refreshments included.
With an event like Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood After Hours, the Christmas-themed elements would be icing on the cake. The cake itself would be short waits for Slinky Dog Dash, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, Toy Story Mania, etc. The entertainment would be an enhancement (and, from Walt Disney World’s perspective, a way to add capacity to the event and sell more tickets).
Equally as significant, After Hours events are held, as the name suggests, after the park closes for the day to regular guests. Christmas is an incredibly busy time of year at Walt Disney World, and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party already screws with crowds and attendance dynamics. As we covered ad nauseum last year, this can be leveraged to the strategic advantage of savvy guests…but most guests are not savvy. For the overwhelming majority, the scheduling of MVMCP and resulting crowds create headaches.
Walt Disney World understands this, so it would take an act of extreme irresponsibility and greed to add a ‘big’ Christmas party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that also runs multiple nights per week from 6 pm until midnight. I know that I’m more optimistic and charitable than most, but I do not see Disney doing that. They know better, and are still trying to dig themselves out of a hole when it comes to guest satisfaction.
Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood After Hours (or whatever they end up calling it) would likely be held from 9:30 pm until 12:30 am or 10 pm until 1 am, with a mix-in starting at 7 or 8 pm. This would mean Fantasmic would still be shown to day guests, which is important–especially with the new nighttime spectacular debuting at EPCOT for Disney100.
Although I don’t think it’ll happen, I do wonder the extent to which a second big Christmas party focused on entertainment would actually cannibalize ticket sales for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Keep in mind that ticket sales were very strong last year with all dates selling out. Has Walt Disney World discovered there’s enough unsatisfied demand to sell ~50% more tickets to MVMCP?
In that case, cannibalization wouldn’t really matter too much. Sure, some Walt Disney World regulars would choose to do the DHS event instead of MVMCP for the dozenth time, but there would be a sufficient number of first-timers who otherwise would’ve been shut out of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party who are able to attend.
There’s also the reality that Walt Disney World has a higher capacity cap for the non-After Hours parties. If Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood After Hours is priced at $169 per person, but Goofy’s Holiday Lights & Delights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (an entertainment-centric event that also offered rides but no promises about shorter lines) were priced at $129 per person, there’s a good chance the latter would be more lucrative for Walt Disney World by virtue of the higher attendance limit. Again, scale matters. But we’re getting very in the weeds for something that’s only rumored at this point.
Ultimately, I’m very curious about what Walt Disney World will do with a potential new Christmas party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. My strong suspicion is that it’ll actually be a holiday-themed After Hours event, as that would be positioned differently and distinct from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Many guests will still be confused by competing Christmas parties, but that’s the nature of the beast, and this has the lowest likelihood of confusion and cannibalization.
Assuming this is something like Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood After Hours, I think it could be a winner with elements pulled from Merriest Nites and Villains After Hours. As discussed in our Guide to 2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (and reiterated in our recent After Hours at EPCOT Review: Walt Disney World’s Newest Paid Party Disappoints), After Hours at DHS is our favorite ‘vanilla’ version of that event.
Adding some holiday magic would only improve that offering, and make it even better. While I really wish they’d revive Villains After Hours at Magic Kingdom, this would be a good consolation prize. It’s also a paid event that would not be disruptive to normal park guests or contribute to additional crowding during the busy holiday season. So long as Walt Disney World opts for an After Hours event and not an (earlier) Christmas party, we’re on board with a separately-ticketed event during the holiday season at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Would you attend a Christmas event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? If so, would you do it instead of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or in addition to it? Would you prefer Disney’s Holidays in Hollywood After Hours (low wait times focus) or Goofy’s Holiday Lights & Delights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (an entertainment-centric event)? What are your thoughts on ticket prices? Will your family be buying or sitting out the Christmas festivities? Are you excited for Christmas 2023 at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our perspective on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Osborne Lights: We moved to Arkansas in 2017. After years of making memories with the kids at WDW for Christmas, we stayed in state and went to Silver Dollar City. Walking through their area for Christmas lights, I swear many of them were the ones I remember from DHS. I looked it up later and heard that most of the lights were donated to GKTW, but I swear some of the classics were all around me that night. Maybe they are duplicates, but there were several that I thought were pretty iconic. Maybe my memory was just doing some wishful thinking?
DHS Osborne Lights: Our first year seeing them, our son was 4. We were strolling and sipping hot cocoa as the music played and the lights sparkled. Suddenly he said, “Dance with me, Mama!” He reached up and grabbed my hands and we danced along the street. One of those magical moments I will always treasure!
Tom,
What does “the vanilla version” mean?
If they have the characters from Muppet Christmas Carol, or, dare I say, Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas (2 of the greatest Christmas specials ever)………..
As the saying goes “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!”
Yessssssss!!!!
Just here to say that tree of life awakenings at Animal Kingdom is super underrated and one of the coolest things I’ve seen at WDW. That park rules during Christmas!
So, the MVMCP dates didn’t come out today as previously thought? Next date projection?
Who the heck is Steve? *L*
Ah, never mind. I re-read and can infer from context. 😀
Snapshot of the future for the regular folks. 10-4 admission to any park and listening to the other folks talking about the good times and special stuff at the exclusives.
I’ll be right there with everyone grabbing the pitchforks if this is announced as a regular party that requires an early closing and day guests missing Fantasmic.
If it’s an After Hours event, there’s a 99% chance that will not be the case. The park will close as normal, with Fantasmic shown for all.
We are planning to visit at Christmas time for the first time this year. We’re usually October visitors. When planning our trip, last year’s calendar had extended evening hours on a couple of Thursdays for DHS. Do you think that will return, or will this paid event take its place? We live EEH in MK and Epcot, and were hopeful that DHS would have it again this year.
So…you are saying there’s a chance.
We might finally see Star Wars Holiday Special get the respect and treatment it deserves.
Yeeesssss.
What will be really sad is that some guests will be priced out of evening visits to the parks if this happens. We have visited the week after Thanksgiving for years. And, now with the still-in-place need for park reservations, we have had to (and will have to again this year) plan our visits around at least 3 nights when the Magic Kingdom was closed to us unless we paid an additional $150+ pp. While we could easily do this, that won’t be the case if we have to also plan around closures in Hollywood. I can forsee our 7-day-trip being limited to one extended day and night in each park, if that, which is really unacceptable based on the price we payfor our daily passes.
Just to clarify, this will almost certainly be an After Hours event that starts after DHS closes to day guests–so no early closing like at Magic Kingdom for MVMCP.
I disagree with a few parts in this article. Firstly this is the first year we are travelling outwith the Christmas period (we go September for a chance to sample Disney Halloween!) and I am gutted we might miss this potential new event. I’m not a big fan of the the MK Christmas party. It’s overpriced, poor snacks and as a Brit with a 2 week ticket the rides are not the big pull for us – it’s all about the entertainment. How Christmassy it feels. Like the amazing fireworks snd the fun parade.
I was one of those who was devastated when they removed Jingle bell jingle bam – we did the dessert party and it was one of my favourite parts of my holiday. Last years visit with no JBJB was not the same.
What I personally hope is that this is a ‘party’ and not an after hours event that just focussed on rides. I want it up be proper Christmas on steroids!! Lots of shoes, return of jingle bell jingle bam, and others noted – do things not fine before or got a long time. Utilise the muppets Christmas carols and Mickey Christmas carol. Even the Jim Carey version? Also focus on Disney’s other Christmas helpings (it is Hollywood studios after all!).
I just feel the MVMCP covers a lot but misses the mark on a lot of things and HS could capitalise on. Less on ride queues and more on making it a proper Christmas celebration
Little one loves Dino-Rama He’s won many stuffed animals there and is so proud of them. I don’t want it to go. Little ones only enjoy that special magic for such a short time ❤
He also love Dinosaur World in Plant City. When your little one is still very young, it is all very magical.
Although I am very much in favor of bulldozing Dino-Rama, that’s not what I meant here. More that Dino-Rama, as is, could probably host a light display similar in nature to Osborne Lights.
As someone who travels during the holidays but doesn’t go to the parties, I stay on Crescent Lake specifically to avoid MK during these many, many months of hard ticket parties (either you need to pay at night or the park is especially crowded on non-party nights). So this rumor is a negative for me. I haven’t been in MK after 4pm in years and I’d hate to lose HS too. But your post makes a convincing case that it’s coming! I’ll adjust.
We are all for a new Christmas party at DHS but only if there is an epic holiday overlay of Batuu. That would be worth the price of admission. Otherwise, it seems like a lazy money-grab to offset the MK Christmas party from selling out so quickly. Bonus points for Vader in a Santa hat.
I don’t think there’s any chance of Imagineering allowing an ‘epic holiday overlay’ of Batuu. They still have a pretty tight grip on it, so that likely won’t happen this year or next.
Just give it time, though. Galaxy’s Edge won’t be treated as sacred forever.
Given how much I loved Boo Bash After Hours for being really sparsely attended and hated MNSSH Party for packing me in like a very hot and humid sardine, something like this would be a great compromise! I’d probably never buy a ticket to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, but I would definitely buy a ticket to this. I’d imagine that if they do go ahead with a HWS After Party, it’d be testing the waters to see what the appetite is. My current appetite does not involve sardines. It would be a little sad to miss out on that festive Main Street atmosphere at MK, admittedly…but HWS does have a pretty delightful main thoroughfare so maybe a new tradition could start!
“My current appetite does not involve sardines.”
I missed the first reference to sardines, so this came across as quite the non-sequitur at first!
Totally get your perspective, and you’re not alone. My only fear is that by adding entertainment, they increase capacity by too much and have more crowds than anticipated. I think that had started to happen with Villains After Hours by early 2020. With that caveat, I think this could be a great alternative to MVMCP!
Oh how I miss The Osborne Family Spectacle. But of course I miss the whole ‘behind the scenes’ that was the original DHS. When the animation dept was taken away and then the backlots and backstage rides it took away the whole aspect of the park. When I arrived back to the park during the MK 50th, after a very long absence, one whole side of the park was barron. So sad. I agree with your thought of something that may not be a ticketed item, so it brings more ticket sales and calms down the other parks for a spell. That makes since. A ticketed item is certainly not a bad thought, but I believe they could make more over all if all could enjoy something special.
I also loved the original Disney-MGM Studios, but think that incarnation of the park had run its course–especially with the loss of production in Florida. (If you’re really into this sort of thing, I strongly recommend visiting Universal Studios Hollywood. The studio tour there is excellent.)
I do wish they would’ve found a way to keep the Osborne Lights. Not necessarily be keeping the full Streets of America, but by having a ‘flex space’ that could’ve filled multiple roles. I dunno–it seems like some sort of compromise would’ve worked, especially with how many underutilized sections of the park still exist.
Also shouting out the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. It’s amazing.
Actually, Tom, I just came back from Universal (boy has that place changed too) where I did partake in the tour. I had a wonderful guide. I also spent a week in LA last fall where I visited all the studio’s. Having been in the film industry most of my life I’m a geek for anything behind the scenes –
Alston, I did visit Warner Bro again. I had visited in 2005 during the Disneyland 50th. It has changed a lot. But I got to Paramount for the first time-wonderful place.
DHS is in desperate need of after hour paid events. I love it! I have only done Christmas time twice and usually prefer the fall because I would rather brave the weather than the crowds, but this would entice me back to the most magical time of year at the most magical place on earth! Still sitting over here patiently waiting for a paid event or after hours at DHS for fall 2024! Come ON Disney!
With how well After Hours at DHS has sold for this year thus far, I think more dates are an inevitability. It’s really just a question of whether it’s the vanilla version or this.