Christmas is a merry and bright time at Hollywood Studios! If you’re visiting during this time of year, you can expect Christmas flair to come to the park, but every year has been a little different in what’s offered. Read on to learn about everything you need to know about Christmas at Hollywood Studios!
The holiday season at Walt Disney World will take place from November 13, 2026 through January 6, 2027. These dates were announced on June 24, earlier than the July 8, 2025 announcement.
“Jollywood Nights” Ticketed Event Back in 2026
In addition to its usual holiday offerings, covered in this post, there is a separate, ticketed nighttime event “Disney Jollywood Nights” at Hollywood Studios. It will return in 2026. We’ve reviewed Jollywood Nights here.
Christmas at Hollywood Studios 2026 Details
The holiday season at Disney World runs from November 13, 2026 through January 6, 2027. However….
Jollywood Nights begins November 7, which is before the start of the holidays resort-wide.
In 2025, Santa Claus began greeting the same date Jollywood Nights started
In 2025, almost all decorations were up by November 6 (two days before Jollywood Nights)
But most daytime (i.e. not event) specialty food, character greetings, entertainment, and merchandise won’t debut until November 13.
Core Hollywood Studios Holiday Offerings Return in 2026
The 2026 holidays at Hollywood Studios will include the return of:
Frozen Sing Along holiday ending
Sunset Seasons Greetings
Santa Claus Greeting
Toy Story Land decorations
Minnie’s Holiday Dine
Jollywood Nights
We discuss these in more detail below, but photos and specifics may reflect previous years until this year’s offerings debut.
Christmas at Hollywood Studios Basics
Christmas season at Hollywood Studios includes unique, limited-time holiday:
merchandise and snack items
attraction overlays
holiday decor through much of the park
entertainment
character greetings
Besides the ticketed event (Jollywood Nights), the cornerstone of the season (for us, at least) is Sunset Seasons Greetings, a projection and lighting show on Sunset Boulevard that see the Tower of Terror transform into a variety of holiday-themed designs.
A good amount of holiday offerings—like special character outfits, the Sunshine Seasons Greetings projection show, and the special ending to Frozen Sing Along—are available to all guests.
But Jollywood Nights—the separate ticketed event—has more exclusive characters and unique entertainment. This post is focused just on the offerings that all guests have access to, not the Jollywood Nights ticketed event.
Hollywood Studios Christmas Decorations
The Hollywood Studios Christmas decorations are primarily found:
along Hollywood Boulevard / in the hub
along Sunset Boulevard
around Echo Lake
in Toy Story Land
These areas basically comprise the front of the park. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge doesn’t get Christmas decorations, though the in-world “Life Day” does have merchandise available.
Here are some galleries of this year’s decorations…
Hollywood Boulevard and Hub Decorations
The entryway decorations are pretty standard. Silver and gold garland, wreaths, and stars. These do light up quite beautifully at night. The hub (and some other nearby areas of the park) includes some interesting statuette figures.
Sunset Boulevard Decorations
Sunset Boulevard primarily gets stars lining the sides of the street. While these are a bit underwhelming, this is still where you’ll want to be at night, as the Tower of Terror transforms for Sunset Seasons Greetings.
Echo Lake Decorations
Echo Lake, near the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, is where you’ll find the Hollywood Studios Christmas tree and the famed dinosaur Gertie in her Christmas finest (a hat).
Toy Story Land Decorations
Toy Story Land Christmas decorations some of the most fun in the park. These are a bit more whimsical than the more standard decorations in the rest of the park, fitting into the “Andy’s Backyard” theme of the land (but where did Andy get the tiny scarf for Woody?).
Hollywood Studios Christmas Merchandise & Snacks [2025 Pics]
Most of the holiday merchandise we’ve seen recent years at Hollywood Studios is the same merchandise you’ll find at the other parks. Where there are unique items, they’re usually IP-branded merchandise, like holiday Toy Story or Star Wars toys. There hasn’t been much park-specific holiday merchandise in a while.
There are a variety of holiday treats available, too, mostly additions to the menus at the Hollywood Studios quick service restaurants.
The best place to find information on holiday snacks is the official Disney Parks Blog foodie guide (2025 link), but you should also check the menus for the restaurants in the My Disney Experience app.
On the table service front, Hollywood & Vine offers “Minnie’s Holiday Dine”, a holiday-themed character meal. We generally don’t feel table service meals are worth the time at Hollywood Studios, but if you have a longer trip or prefer table service meals, this can be a nice holiday treat.
Entertainment and Holiday Attractions “Overlays”
Most of the changes you’ll notice at Hollywood Studios for the holiday season are overlays—modifications to existing offerings.
New! Christmas Movie Display at “Walt Disney Presents…”
New at Hollywood Studios in 2025 and returning in 2026 is a holiday display inside “Walt Disney Presents…”, where Santa is also greeting. This displays features items from The Santa Clause, Noelle, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and Babes in Toyland.
Holiday Version of Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
The the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration gets an extra 5 minutes or so of holiday-inspired songs, along with an appearance by a special friend. For scheduling purposes, it’s worth noting this makes the show reliably over 30 minutes long.
Alien Swirling Saucers With Christmas Music
The Alien Swirling Saucers “overlay” is less interesting, as it is the normal ride, but with some Christmas music (auto-tuned alien style) instead of the standard ride music.
This overlay is almost never publicized, and, relatedly, this overlay isn’t at all consistent. Some rides will get it, and others will get the normal experience. There’s no rhyme or reason best I can tell, it’s just a luck of the draw (or maybe a Cast Member decision).
Meeting Santa (and Other Holiday Characters) at Hollywood Studios
Santa Claus will greet at Hollywood Studios in 2026, but a specific schedule has not been revealed.
In 2025, greetings began November 8, some time before the “official” start of holidays at Disney World on November 14. He greeted in the character space inside “Walt Disney Presents…”, the small museum near the entrance to Toy Story Land. Santa greeted through December 24 and was replaced by Santa Goofy, not the typical Santa Duffy, on December 25.
Be prepared to use a virtual queue, which has been used in recent years.
It’s common for other characters to appeal in holiday garb, as well.
Visiting the Resorts Near Hollywood Studios
Update: New language from Disney suggests resort access will be limited during the holiday season.
Hollywood Studios is about a 15-minute walk from the Boardwalk area resorts, where you’ll find some great holiday decorations:
BoardWalk Inn and Beach Club typically have elaborate gingerbread displays
Yacht Club typically has a model train set
These probably aren’t worth the diversion just in themselves, but if you can plan to visit as part of a walk between EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, these hotels are definitely worth the stop during the holiday season.
Alternatively, you could take the Friendship Boat from the Hollywood Studios entrance to either the Boardwalk or Yacht/Beach stop, walk to the three hotels, and then take the boat back (or continue to EPCOT).
Hollywood Studios Christmas at Night
Nighttime is when Christmas at Hollywood Studios really shines. As I said a few times, Hollywood Boulevard is good for decorations (especially at night), but not the center of holiday activity.
During the holiday season, Hollywood Studios usually garners an extra nighttime visit or two from us. Since it’s not too far from EPCOT, you can often spend the bulk of your evening at Hollywood Studios and still catch the EPCOT nighttime show. That’s maybe a little over the top, but I just want to ask you to make at least one nighttime visit to Hollywood Studios during your holiday season visit.
Let’s talk about the two things you don’t want to miss…
Echo Lake Tree Lighting
The tree at Echo Lake is lit nightly sometime around sunset. For precise times, ask a Cast Member in the area.
Hollywood Studios — Sunset Seasons Greetings
The highlight of the evening (to us, at least) is the ongoing “Sunset Seasons Greetings”, which features projections, animated billboards, lasers, and SNOW(!) on Sunset Boulevard.
Generally we don’t like projections, but these are a pretty creative use of them, transforming Tower of Terror into more whimsically themed structures, like the Hollywood Toy Hotel and a gingerbread tower. While the Tower transforms, tunes and lasers bring life to Sunset Boulevard.
Photopass Photographers are usually on Sunset Boulevard during the projection show, but you have to have more flexibility than usual. Some guests will wait for their favorite backdrop, others will wait for the snow. Since the Photopass photographers like to take their time and get things right, this usually means only one family gets photographed during each showing.
Reminder: Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! Now Paywalled
Note: After a hiatus, Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! returned in 2023, but it is only a part of the ticketed Jollywood Nights event. Yea, they brought back something we love…behind a paywall.
The plot is a crossover of “Prep & Landing” and “Nightmare Before Christmas,” though really the show doesn’t lean too heavily on it. (I mention it mostly because some people talked to me afterward and were confused as to how Halloween fit into things.)
The Christmas projections are cool, and anything involving Christmas music is nice (the first six weeks, at least).
Overall, Christmas at Hollywood Studios shockingly impressed us when we first visited in 2018, and the years since have kept up the tradition. Christmas at Hollywood Studios is definitely worth a visit!
Visiting Walt Disney World for Christmas? We’ve got a guide to Christmas at the Magic Kingdom, as well as a guide to the flagship Disney World Christmas party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!
Learn More About The Holidays at Walt Disney World
Want to learn more about Christmastime at Walt Disney World? For starters, we've got a Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World, which introduces you to everything you need to know.
Need more specifics? You'll want to read about the park that gets the most Magical decorations in our post on Christmas at Magic Kingdom. You'll also want to read about Flurry of Fun—the Christmas celebration at Hollywood Studios, the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, and the Holiday Celebrations at Animal Kingdom.
But the flagship event of the season is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party—and our guide has you covered with everything you need to know. Or check out the quick version in our 12 Tips for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Last but not least, let's not forget that the celebrations don't stop at the parks! You can visit our post on Christmas decorations at the Disney World hotels to see how even the hotels get into the spirit!
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Know what to ride with our guides: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, EPCOT rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our Guide to Blizzard Beach and our Guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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