DisLove Podcast with Vanessa and Kris

DisLove E163: Plan for 2026 with Our Review - Nostalgia or Glamour for the Holidays at Disney World

• Vanessa Ferguson and Kris Johns • Season 7 • Episode 163

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Two holiday parties. One short trip. We set out to answer a question every Disney fan asks in December: should you book Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom or Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios? After doing both just days apart, we share what truly feels like Christmas, where the entertainment hits hardest, and how to get the most value for your crew.

If warm nostalgia is your love language, Magic Kingdom delivers: snowfall on Main Street, Santa in the parade, free cookie and cocoa stations, and beloved characters in cozy winter looks. We met princesses with their princes—Cinderella and Prince Charming, Rapunzel and Flynn, Snow White and her Prince—and moved quickly through lines late at night. For collectors, we talk sippers, the red truck popcorn bucket, and the pro tip to keep popcorn out of your bucket so it stays pristine.

Jollywood, meanwhile, shines with modern Hollywood energy. Think live music, a magnetic ice skating show under Florida skies, roaming dance parties with tuxedoed Goofy and Pluto, and a projection spectacular at the Chinese Theater. Character hunters will appreciate surprises like Scrooge McDuck and an easy meet with Miguel if you know where to look. Foodies and cocktail fans will love the specialty small plates and themed drinks, while families focused on value may favor the included treats at Very Merry.

We also break down strategy: how to structure your day so you’re not dragging by fireworks, when to choose driving over buses or Skyliner, and how to pick the right party for kids, grandparents, or an adults-only night. With variable pricing, DVC discounts, and even free ornaments, the details matter—and we’ve got the playbook.

Many people are already booking their room reservations for the holiday. Are you ready to plan your December 2026 trip? Hit play, choose your vibe—nostalgic cookies or glamorous cocktails—and tell us which party you’d pick. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share with a Disney friend, and leave a review to help more fans find us.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Diz Love Podcast with Vanessa and Chris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm Chris Jones.

SPEAKER_00:

We would like to welcome you to show number 163. And for any listeners joining us for the first time, our show features things we love at Disney. And in most of our episodes, we have a guest who creates Disney Magic for our listeners at home or on their Disney vacation. From vacation planners to product producers, our guests can bring Disney Magic into your life. And as a reminder to our listeners, we appreciate if you take time to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or on YouTube. That allows more listeners to find us and, of course, helps the show grow. And we love to give out shout outs to people who leave reviews as well. And before we get started, we have a couple of messages from two of our partners that we love to use with our Disney vacations.

SPEAKER_01:

We sure do. The first one is going to be where in the park. Our friends love to make you experience more of Disney World and other Central Florida and California theme parks. And what's awesome is that they give you the opportunity to discover pieces of the park that you've walked past a hundred times, a thousand times, and never seen, but through this very fun. It's not a scavenger hunt. It's a seek and find game. Exactly. We don't call it it at the S-word. We say seek and find. That's the S word we use. And this what's awesome about it is that we've done it in California. We had a great time and we love wear in the park.

SPEAKER_00:

We have also used them at Epcot. And one of the things I was really bummed on our recent trip to Orlando, we had wanted to do their Disney Springs one. They have a digital one if you aren't able to get your cards ahead of time. And I never made it to Disney Springs, except for like I had 10 minutes to run in to grab something. So I was really bummed about that. But if you on your next trip are ready to check out one of their seek and find games, what do we have for our listeners, Chris?

SPEAKER_01:

We have a promo code. Use the code DISLOVE DISLO VE to get 10% off your order. Check out that code in the show notes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and that will not only help you out, give you a discount, it also helps out the show as well. And we also have a message from our friends over at Baby Quip.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Baby Quip is awesome. We just used them. We went down to Florida in December. We rented a Baby Quip stroller. Little Karis was riding around Disney World in a beautiful new buggy. You know, some places call it strollers, other places call it buggies. We're gonna have a good time, but here's the great things the customer service is awesome, the prices are wonderful, and the equipment you get, whether it be a stroller or buggy, it could be is it a pack and play?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they have pack and play. What is a pack and play?

SPEAKER_01:

Help dads understand what a pack and play is.

SPEAKER_00:

Like when we used to take Keris places and it popped open and it was like a bed.

SPEAKER_01:

That's where she would play.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, she's slept in it usually.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. So what's awesome is that Baby Quip, they're independent, they have brand new equipment. It's beautiful, it's gonna make your trip so awesome. Here's the thing, here's what you don't want to do. You don't want to have to lug all this stuff on the airplane, try to get it to the park. You're gonna spend the money at Disney no matter what. Spend the money with Baby Quip, make your trip even better.

SPEAKER_00:

And how easy was it, Chris, when we had our delivery in December?

SPEAKER_01:

Here's what they're gonna do. They're gonna text you, say, We're on the way. You're gonna leave your room, you're gonna stand outside for less than a couple of minutes, they're gonna drop it, they're gonna smile on their face, they're gonna give you great equipment, and then you're gonna put your child in that brand new equipment, and you're gonna go around the park. And then when you're done, you give them a call, they come back. It's awesome. Well, you have it pre-that's what I'm saying. You have it pre-scheduled. But what's awesome is that please, for parents, it's one of those things where you always know somebody, well, I'm gonna save a dollar. You're going to Disney, you're not saving any dollars. Spend a couple more with Baby Quip and make that trip even better.

SPEAKER_00:

And you can check out the show notes for a link to book with BabyQuip. Another great thing is that you don't have to have pickup and drop-off at the same location. So, for instance, on our recent trip, we started our vacation at Grand Floridian, which is where we had our delivery, and then we did a resort switch and we were at boardwalk on the day that we checked out, and it's no problem at all. It's super easy when you schedule out. They give you a time frame for pickup, drop-off locations, super simple. So, check out that link in the show notes. Now, today, before we get started, you're probably used to on most of our shows we have where we have a special guest. But every once in a while, if you've listened to the show long enough, you know that sometimes we have a special episode where it's just us, it's just a host only episode. So we don't have any guests today, it's just the two of us because guess what? We're already thinking about another trip.

SPEAKER_01:

Christmas. Oh, that too.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you are a DVC member, December booking's already open for December of 2026, which means a lot of people are in the mode of thinking about Christmas trips coming up later this year. And also, even if you're not DVC, if you're just booking a regular room, resort reservations are open. So it's never too early to start planning. And I thought while it was still fresh in our mind, we would do a show talking about a comparison of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party versus Jollywood nights. And this was we had a chance to do both of these within a we went to one on Thursday and one on Saturday on a recent trip in December. And for us, this was our first time doing Jollywood. I don't even remember how many times I've been to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party, quite a few. But we wanted to make a comparison. So we want to show you, talk about some differences between shows, characters, food, and just like the overall feel and vibe. And hopefully it can help you decide which one is going to be the best fit for your family. Whether you're like us and you want to splurge and spend that hefty price tag on two, which that probably wouldn't be something we do every trip because it does add up quickly, especially if you have little ones to buy for. Or if you want to just mix it up and just do the evening things as well. That's what we've talked about. That it would be nice to do a future trip where you just did the evening ones. So we're gonna talk all about it, and we are going to talk a little bit about each one concurrently. So we're gonna talk about questions with comparisons and help you make some decisions. So, Chris, I'm gonna ask you this and let's see how well you do with this. Sure. If someone asks you to describe, and do you know which one is at which park? Because sometimes you get confused.

SPEAKER_01:

Ask me, let's find out. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

If you had to describe Mickey's very Merry Christmas party in one sentence, what would you say? It was the one at Magic Kingdom.

SPEAKER_01:

This is a run-on sentence, which is allowed. Um it's an awesome experience and an excellent value.

SPEAKER_00:

That was super generic, sir.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's not. Here's the thing as we said before, you're gonna spend the money.

SPEAKER_00:

That's true.

SPEAKER_01:

We got to see so many characters, and I have a very unique way of getting photos with my characters, and so but that with that said, um, and then I've kind of delved into now getting character autographs, and I love it. And it it's a chance to get up close and personal. I think I went to see Moana. There was no line for Moana. I like I walked right up. Of course, they put her like essentially in a closet, but that said I got tea keepers, right? She was, but she was around the corner, there was nobody there. I got my photo, I got multiple autographs, and it was awesome. And it's just one of those things where when it's a it's the experience, it's at night, it was a little cooler than what you'd expect for Florida. But that said, if you were to say, I want to see X number of characters, you're gonna get all those characters in this short amount of time go at to these special events.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so here was a description that I found that was where some people had described it online. They said Mickey's very Merry Christmas party is about classic Disney, including the characters, like you mentioned, nostalgic things, traditional things, kind of that cozy Christmas feel, where Jollywood nights feels like Hollywood glamour with a modern Disney edge. Do you think that's a good description?

SPEAKER_01:

That's a very Disney way of saying it. Yes, I mean it is, it's just a modern edge. It's you have awesome access if you're if let's just say your thing is rides, you want to ride one specific ride, the lines are shorter. You get more that's ultimately you get more character experience, you get more ride experience. And if you're one of the and Vanessa is a person to go to the very end, and if you're willing to really go to the very end, you're gonna get the most possible experience. And the caveat is it's at night, it's not under the sunshine, but when you go to Disney, you want to exp have those experiences, that's what you get. Which one felt more uh like Christmas?

SPEAKER_00:

Now to me, I would say Mickey's very Merry Christmas party, just because the feel on Main Street, I think just the overall decorations, because you have the big tree, you have Santa in the parade, you have like the snacks with cookies and hot chocolate and all of that, and maybe cut in their snow. I don't know if I'm biased because we live in an up north, like we live in Michigan, so I'm used to snow and hot chocolate and cookies and all of those things, but that one felt like more Christmas to me. How about you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I would agree.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you think it's because we live somewhere where it snows at Christmas?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know, Vanessa. It just does. You know, you have that feeling.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, one of the things I will say that surprised me is I was surprised how much I enjoyed Jollywood nights. Now, it was our first time going, and the entertainment and shows I thought were much better at Jollywood Nights than at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I agree. Now, one of the things that I loved about Jollywood Nights is that they have some cool stage shows, but they had a lot of live performances and just like interactive experiences. There were two different times that we got to stop and dance with characters with our daughter. Oh, yes. Yes. So when we were over in Pixar Place, we got to dance with she loves Frozen. I'm sorry, she loves Frozen and Edna and all of the Incredibles characters. And we had seen them earlier in the day and gotten photos, but in the evening at the party, they had a dance party, and I think she danced with Edna for at least five minutes.

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. And that's what I'm saying. That's the experience. If you were to go, and again, we're from Michigan, we're we're snow people, we're not sun people. And so, as part of that, if you were to say, Hey, I'm gonna pay the ticket, and I but I want to have experiences, or I don't want to stand in line, that's why these night events are so wonderful, is because our daughter, for whatever reason, is into the Incredibles and really had a great time dancing, and it was just there was not the crowd. And usually at these bigger events, you know, you can kids kind of get cycled out or they rotate through. None of that happened. We got every dollar's worth.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, then when you we walked a little bit further over towards like where they're doing the construction where Muppets was closed. Um, Chris was waiting in line for Scrooge McDuck, and Karis and I waited or were over. They had a classic card that was pulled up, and they had Goofy and Pluto dressed in like classic Hollywood outfits. So Goofy was in a tuxedo, and they were dancing, and they had a DJ playing music, and they were doing like music through the decades, and they did like nutcracker music. So they had everybody dance ballet, which I love ballet, and that's a personal preference, but then they did music through the decades, and they would have people do the different dances from the decades, and the characters were dancing with everybody, and everybody was laughing and having a good time. We danced probably, I don't know, you were online maybe a half hour, you think we danced. Yes, and those are the things that again we were there, there is multiple people, and it's just great to see how the characters interact with people and just people of all different walks of life, ages, different abilities. It was just really nice to be able to see. And so we had two different experiences for those dance like parties throughout the park, and that was something that there are some of the dance parties at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party, but I just feel like the one that they have at Magic Kingdom, especially the one geared towards kids with the Disney Junior ones at Cosmic Rays, it just I don't know. I don't like it as much as I like the Jollywood Knights. What about what do you think?

SPEAKER_01:

I agree, Vanessa.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, of course, at Magic Kingdom, you have the classic castle show that people always like, and that's usually pretty good. I will admit this year we didn't sit and watch it, but we watch some of the different shows over at Jollywood Nights, and I don't know what it is. If you take me to an ice skating show, I just love it. We love Disney on ice. I'm gonna age myself ice because ice capades. I there's just something about and we're getting ready to be on the Winter Olympics. We watch ice skating. Our friend Mike just went to the U.S. Nationals in St. Louis. There's something about ice skating, and people ice skating in Florida outside was just really fascinating. It was a good show.

SPEAKER_01:

It was a great time. And those they had so much fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that you could just tell they were into it, like they were having a great time. Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, a lot of times, like I'm it's a gig, these folks were into it. I mean, and I'm not, you know, I appreciate ice skating, but I really wanted to see them do more. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, the nighttime shows with the fireworks, and then at Hollywood Studios, they have like the projection show. I will say those are top-notch at both parks. I I you definitely need to take some time to sit and watch those shows on the whether it be um the Chinese Grandman's Theater or on the castle, you need to take time to watch those shows when you're at the party.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, so for me, I felt like the entertainment was better at Jollywood Nights, but I will say the one that I feel like that we moved around and did the most rides and the most characters was probably Magic Kingdom. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yes, we got a lot of rides in.

SPEAKER_00:

So when we look at the character experiences, so we're talking, we talked a little bit about characters and some of those. You have kind of those traditional characters at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that are in like those classic outfits. Our daughter loved it. We had gone to Cinderella's royal table earlier in the day and saw the princesses, and then that night we went around and we saw them with the princes. So we saw Snow White and the Prince. I didn't realize he didn't have a name except for the prince, and we saw Aurora with Prince Philip. Chris saw Belle. Um, you saw Peter Pan. Was Peter Pan with Wendy?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, but so he also saw Moana.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I don't think so. Okay. Well, one of the things that was really cute is that the princess, oh, and then we saw Cinderella and Prince Charming. We saw Rapunzel and Flynn. The neat thing was that they had like winter outdoor kind of outfits on. So the princesses, she had seen them earlier in the day in their traditional outfits, and then at night they had it looked like winter jackets that they were going out with like some holiday trim. So that was super fun. And I thought it was neat to be able to have some of those unique experiences. And like we had I don't know that we had met all of those princes before. I'm pretty sure we hadn't met some of them. I know we didn't meet Snow White and the Prince before. I know we didn't. Yeah, so it was super cool. And Chris had some cards he was getting signed, and he got some of the pr different characters to sign them.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought of this way too late because you did. I did. Essentially, tops, they make a series of Disney cards, and there's a different series, and there's some very nice cards, and really what you do is you just get baseball cards of Disney characters and have them signed. I know there's a woman who I know who loves Belle, got a card signed, got a Cinderella card, uh, gave away Moana, and there's some really nice ones, and it's just fun because it like for myself, I I'm there because my wife and my daughter love Disney the most. I like Disney. He loves Disney. Don't let him fool you. I really do. But for me, it was a way to be like, I want to get these cards signed. And like I went to Bell and like you hold the cards out. I had Anna and Elsa sign, it was wonderful, it was a ton of fun. And of course, I thought about this what five days out, and so I bought cards on eBay, they never arrived in time. So, that said, if you want to even maybe make this a challenge, buy cards online, they're about a dollar to two dollars. The nicer ones might be five. And if there's something in your life that you love, it's a great way, a nice memento. But when I go back, I will have a whole series of cards, and we're thinking about maybe even doing a cruise. I'm gonna find out every character who's there, and I'm gonna have like four or five different cards to be signed, and so I can give them to friends when I come back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, so we had a lot of those classic characters at Magic Kingdom, and I will say I felt like there was more characters at Magic Kingdom than at Hollywood Studios. What would you say?

SPEAKER_01:

Agreed, there was a ton more.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, so at Hollywood Studios, I will say there were some that we didn't wait for. So we like they had over by Hollywood and Fine and 50s prime time, like we saw Baloo from Rescue Rangers, and then they had Louie from Rescue Rangers, and they had Chip and Dale, they had Phineas and Ferb. We did not wait in line for some of those because there was just other things we wanted to do. We did go and who did you go and wait in line for at Hollywood Studios?

SPEAKER_01:

Scrooge McDuck.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so Chris loves to see Scrooge McDuck, so he went and got in line for them. And Karis and I danced during the one party with Pluto and Goofy at the time. Then our daughter loves Coco, so we went and found Miguel, and Miguel was like off in the corner. He was behind the food on your way to rock and roller coaster. And there was like, I don't think people even knew where Miguel was. Uh special thank you to our friend Charlie for letting us know where she had saw him too. But I think some of these characters people just didn't know where they were.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's the thing, like with Moana. Moana was in the tiki, but you had to like walk over the bridge and then like you couldn't see unless you knew they were there, you would never want to. Yeah, Miguel, same thing. You yes, correct. Where Miguel was, you had to know be going to it's not one of those things that, like, oh, but like Scrooge McDeck was out and about. A lot of characters are there, you get in line, there you would have had no clue.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and in fact, we had gotten pictures with Miguel, and we realized we had forgotten. To get out our her um signature books, her autograph books. So we had to go back and we didn't wait either time, really, for Miguel. The first time we walked right up, and the second time there was one person there. So super easy to get access to those. And for us, there wasn't any that like Miguel was a big one we wanted to see. Scrooge McDuck was a big one we wanted to see. We didn't wait in line for some of the ones that were 45 minutes to an hour. We just chose to spend our time elsewhere. At Magic Kingdom, I will say we did luck out a little bit because with some of the princesses, our daughter did have the disability pass. So we didn't have to wait in the same amount of line for the ones that were in the Royal Hall. As we did, we did have to wait in the regular lines for the ones that were out. Um, but the wait times, I guess it just depends on who you're looking for. Like, oh, um Power Line Goofy or Power Line Max had a pretty long line. Um Phineas and Ferb did too at Hollywood Studio. So it just depends on who you're looking for. Now, another thing that I think is important, and you know we talk about food all the time on the show, is that there are special holiday snacks that they have at each of the parks. And I'll put some links to the past menus, but at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party, you get a lot of free snacks. You do not get free snacks at Jollywood Nights. Did that make a difference? Now Jollywood Nights was cheaper, but did that make a difference to you? Not at all. So if you have a now, I will say if you have a lot of kids or people that are more into the food, you might Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party may be your drive just because there's so many of the treat stations, just like essentially what they do at Halloween, only they have cookies and cider and pretzels and hot chocolate and different things. We didn't make that a big priority. So if we were walking by somewhere and they had something we liked, we got it. Now, like I really like the one cookies that they had at Cosmic Rays, so I did go back and get a second one of that. But otherwise, I and we did get so they will have special popcorn buckets, which we did stand in line for, which I'll talk about in a minute. We did also get a special sandwich and we split it that was at Cosmic Rays at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It was quite good. Um, but really you get those you get enough of those snacks. So if you've had a decent meal before Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party, you probably aren't even going to be interested. We were a little bit hungry, so that's why we shared shared the meal. But the one thing they do have is they'll have special sippers, like drink sippers, and like popcorn buckets. So I stand in, I stood in line at the very beginning of the party, like when they first let people start purchasing things. I stayed, I think that line that I was in was close to a half hour. And my dad and I both wanted to get this past Christmas, they had the Mickey's red truck popcorn bucket, and it reminded, I don't, I don't know, my dad's just into the red truck thing. I think he did have a red truck at one point, but it reminded me of a truck my grandpa had when I was a kid. So I wanted that. I did stand in line for that a couple years ago at a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. I stood in line for a Mickey Nutcracker popcorn bucket. So we do do that. Um, those, of course, you can get a tip. Make sure you do this. I always try to make sure I remember when you buy it, ask them to put the popcorn in a separate box so that way there's not popcorn grease inside your popcorn bucket because obviously we're not using the popcorn buckets for popcorn. So we did get the special popcorn bucket. Now over at Hollywood Studios, we had eaten a big meal at Hollywood and Vine, and we didn't buy, I think we bought two dessert things. You bought a couple of the dessert things like the brownie things and that when we were waiting for the fireworks. So we tried a couple of the desserts. Now we had some friends that tried quite a few of the different small food items at Hollywood Studios, and they said they were great. They had a nice variety at Hollywood Studios. I would say the variety of food options that were unique for the party was bigger and better there. There was quite a few people standing in line. They had a lot of cocktails at Jollywood Nights because obviously I think it's more marketed as an adult event, but we're not drinkers, so we didn't try any cocktails. But there were some really I saw some people walking around and standing in line for some pretty neat, unique drinks. So if you enjoy that, I think you'd really like that at Jollywood Nights. Oh, definitely. So I think value-wise, Magic Kingdom's better if you have kids and maybe you're not looking to spend a big chunk of money on food. If you just want to do a leisurely experience and maybe have some cocktails and try different, like small plate kind of things, I would definitely say that Jollywood Nights would be the best for us. Unfortunately, I will say, besides the sandwich we had at Magic Kingdom, everything else we ate were sweets. So we didn't get to try a lot of that savory stuff. But now looking at all of these, if you're starting to think about maybe you just booked for December of this year, and you're starting to think about like what would you do? Would you if you would just pick one, or what would you do? So I think that I think it depends what on who's in your party. What would you say, Chris?

SPEAKER_01:

It really does. I think just the one piece about these late night events is that it you can't go all day, it's just very hard. Like our daughter, she's a trooper, and she will stay up late, and I think or she'll never fuss. But if you have a child that has to be in bed by nine, has to do this, this is not your option. But if you are either adults going in a pair or with a group, or you have a child that's willing to go, or you skip during the day, because it's the other side, what you would get in a full day, like a day Disney experience, you're gonna get even more at these nighttime events.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so what we did like at Magic Kingdom, we didn't go until lunchtime. Like we had a lunch reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table, and that's when we went to the park. Now we had flown in the night before, so we also had a flight delay, which made it even later, but that made it where it wasn't like a 16 or 17 hour day for us. We, I mean, it was still close to 12 hours, but we chose to go at lunch. And I know some people, if this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you really have to think about like the cost. Now, I we had a friend who went, they went over Halloween, and what they ended up doing is they did take their kids to the Halloween party, and they just made those non-park days. So they did like the pool or they went to Disney Springs on the day that they went to the parties, and that gave their kids a chance to be rested up and be ready to go, and then also make sure you don't do an early morning the next day because you're gonna have a late night. Now, another thing to consider is transportation. So at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, we were staying at Grand Floridian, so we were right on the monorail loop, super easy to get back. Although we left so late. Do you remember what we had to take back? I do not. The boat we left so late the monorail wasn't running anymore. So be mindful of times. Another thing with transportation is that when we went to Jollywood Nights, we were still staying at Grand Floridian, but we made a conscious decision. We had a rental car and we drove the car so that way we could leave and we didn't have to stand in a bus line. I've stood in a bus line before, I've stood in a line. We've also stood in line for the Skyliner. And if you have little ones or you're just tired yourself, those can be long. So if you have an option to take a minivan or if you have a rental car, sometimes, like Chris said, you're already spending a lot of money at Disney. If you're super tired, take a minivan, take a lift, something like that. Now, if I was with a family, now my parents were with us. So the grandparents were with us. They went with us to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party and they opted not to go to Jollywood nights. Now, if our daughter wouldn't have had some of the characters that we knew she loved at Jollywood Nights, we might have opted to just do an adults only night, but there were some characters and things that we knew she would love. And I will say in the end, I'm glad we took her. I think it was with those dance parties and she liked the ice skating show and she liked the projection show. She actually had a good time. I don't know if little little ones would enjoy that party as much. What do you think? Like when she was younger, when she was like three and four, I don't think she would have gotten as much out of that party.

SPEAKER_01:

No. I just think it just again, just the sleep schedules. Unless your kid is a real trooper, it would be very hard because then now you're gonna deal with a child who may not be who might be out of their general orientation, and then that's gonna take away from the fun.

SPEAKER_00:

But do you think though, if you were gonna take them to one, I would take them to Magic Kingdom? What do you think? Definitely, yes. So, and then I would also say if it's your first time going at Christmas and you've never done any of the parties and you can only do one, I would do Magic Kingdom. What what would you say, Chris?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I really enjoy Magic Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and if you've been before and you've done Magic Kingdom, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party quite a few times, then I would try Jollywood Nights. I will say that we've talked about on uh next time we end up back there at this time of year, I would probably opt just to do the two parties and skip during the day. We don't have an annual pass very often anymore, and like this time we didn't either. It without an annual pass, I would probably just go for the nighttime parties, and that might be the only thing that we did at those two parks, and then have a day at Animal Kingdom and a day at Epcot, and just do the two evenings for the parties. So overall, I think that both of them offer value, both of them are a unique experience, and I will say that from everything I've heard that again, this was our first time doing Jollywood, but from what I've heard, Disney's gotten much better with it since they started, and I'm sure 2026 is gonna bring even greater things. So I find it's well worth the money, and I would definitely spend it on one or both of those. How about you? Would you spend the money on them?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, definitely both. Get you get so much more for your money. It's a wonderful experience. And the other side is, I mean, again, like we mentioned before, I would prefer to be out at night late than necessarily like be out in the sun. It's just one of those things. And overall, it was a wonderful time. I mean, I would go back in a heartbeat.

SPEAKER_00:

And keep an eye out because like this year we got DVC discounts on our tickets, and there's I don't want to use the word dynamic pricing, but the pricing changes depending on what day you go, closer you get to Christmas, etc. So keep an eye on that. And also there were special nights that DVC members got gifts. We were not on any of those nights. Another thing that we didn't really touch on is that at both parties you did get a free ornament. I loved at the Jollywood nights that it was an ornament that you could put a photo in. So I was able to put photos in those for us. So overall, start thinking about this fall. Hopefully, you've already booked your rooms for December and make plans to attend one or both of these parties. So now we are on to our two-minute trivia and our wisdom from Walt quote. So, Chris, you are up with trivia.

SPEAKER_01:

Vanessa.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

When was the very first ever Mickey's very Merry Christmas party?

SPEAKER_00:

I think the first one I ever went to was in the early 2000s. I'm gonna say let's go with 95.

SPEAKER_01:

Much farther back, and I'm gonna give you one more.

SPEAKER_00:

Did it have a different name?

SPEAKER_01:

Not according to the internet.

SPEAKER_00:

Let's go way back. Let's say 1982.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, you were so close.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, was I?

SPEAKER_01:

December 16th, 1983.

SPEAKER_00:

Wasn't it like one party a year or something?

SPEAKER_01:

One single night event after Magic Kingdom closed a regular guest.

SPEAKER_00:

I think I heard that part before.

SPEAKER_01:

Better yet. What was the cost of an adult ticket? This will make you cry.$15.$13.95. So with tags.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm close on both of them.

SPEAKER_01:

How much would it have it cost for us to take Keris? Five. Ten. Oh wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

You're not even buying one of those special that was the three tickets would have been less than what I paid for my popcorn bucket.

SPEAKER_01:

I was gonna ask you that. What is a popcorn bucket?

SPEAKER_00:

I think oh, I have to look back, but I think the popcorn bucket was$30. Yeah. So that's that's crazy. Now, of course, we always like to end with our wisdom from Walt quote. And so I wanted to find something he said about Christmas. And when you look for Christmas Disney quotes, you get a lot of things from the movies and that. But I did find one from Walt, and this is kind of um an interesting quote to use. One reason the Christmas season appeals to me is that it makes us suspend business as usual routine and let our minds soar for a while. Christmas seems to release even the most solemn of us from the Scrooge realism that occasionally besets all of us. See, you love Scrooge and Walt Disney was talking about Scrooge. Yes. So again, we'd love to hear from all of you. Let us know when in our show posts about what party you're thinking about. Are you already planning for December? I know at least the DVC boards are all abuzz about this year. So let us know what you plan to do and which parties that you've been to. And of course, make sure to follow us on social media, check out our past episodes, and take time to leave us a review. We appreciate those. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the Diz Love Podcast with Vanessa and Chris. I'm Vanessa. And I'm Chris.