HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS STRATEGY

[Disneymomma18]

Can someone please give me some guidance? My mom and I will be taking my DS 3 and DD 1 to Disney in a week. I really want to go to Hollywood studios bc I haven’t been to that park since 2018 so I didn’t get to see toy story land or Galaxy’s edge. My concern is the crowds and very few things for my babies to do. If you were in my shoes give me some advice for tackling the park and also providing some fun stuff for my kids to enjoy. Tower of terror is a must for me bc it is one of my favorite attractions and I haven’t been on it since 2014. Obviously I know the kids won’t be joining me on this one. Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Hollywood studios is a bit difficult with the little ones. Is your 3 year old at least 32 inches tall? He'd probably have a lot of fun on Alien Swirling Saucers with the height requirement and you all can enjoy Toy Story Mania with no height requirement. Mickey and Minnie runaway railroad also has no height requirement. Definitely check out the Disney Junior dance party, Cars/Lightning Mcqueen Racing Academy, Mickey shorts theater and The Muppets are all fun things to do. Also maybe try to camp out along the main road for the pixar or disney junior cavalcade. If you're interested and able to find a reservation, Hollywood and Vine has a Disney Junior character breakfast and in the evening they have a Minnie themed dinner with several of the fab 5 characters. Plus, when the kids get tired, you can head out of the park and ride the skyliner around.

 

[Disneymomma18]

Thank you for the info. My 3 year old is 40 inches (giant) lol. He can do slinky too! I was just wondering with the waits a few attractions if it’s even going to be fun for my kids. I’m selfish and really don’t want to miss seeing toy story land and galaxy’s edge again. I’ve been twice since it’s opened but chose to skip the park because of pregnancies and time constraints.

 

[GBRforWDW]

He's tall enough for both Star Wars rides and Slinky Dog Dash then! Lol. My 6yo when we went when she was 4 was just under 38 inches, the requirement for Slinky Dog.

However, when we were finally able to go on this year, she screamed in terror the entire time, even though she really wanted to go into. Just make sure he's ready for the thrills! I will also say, if you do this, get in first so you're on the left side. Mainly just for the big drop.

 

[GBRforWDW]

If you can be at the park as soon as they do the early opening, it's really not that bad. Here's how our day went in January. I know it's busier now, but you should be able to follow similar still:

Arrived by car at 750am
Waited at toll booth until 815
Parked, temp check, scan in by 820
Straight to MMRR with no wait until the boarding area.
Restrooms
Over to SDD. Line was just barely out to main sidewalk - waited 15-20 minutes.
Bought Food by SDD and ate
Toy story mania with no wait
AS2 with no wait
Photopass by TSL exit towards Star Wars
RotR boarding group called around this time. We had group 27. Millennium falcon wait was 60 minutes, so we skipped. Instead we explored a bit, grabbed some blue milk and sat down.
We then headed for our RotR ride. After, we went to Droid depot. I had a reservation for both myself and daughter for 1140, but they let us in at 1110. My wife helped daughter with hers.
We hung out a bit waiting for SciFi lunch.
After lunch we went to Disney Junior dance party. Great place to just have fun dancing and seeing some characters.
Then did disney visa Photopass with star Wars at launch bay.
Back to resort at 2pm for rest.
The queues in TSL are all great, your 3yo will have fun looking around and enjoying everything. Even outside the queues, the land is just a lot of fun.

If you're more excited for Slinky and are concerned higher crowds might make a longer wait if you go to MMRR first, then go to SDD first and wait til evening to catch MMRR. Also, millennium falcon waits are typically lower in the evenings as well, if you're interested in doing that ride. We did not do this one.

Overall, I think the 3 yo will have fun.

 

[Minnieandme168]

Just got back from a week long Dis trip and spent the whole day Friday at HS. We were able to get on every ride. We typically arrive an hour before park open, but honestly that only got us maybe one walk on ride. After that the wait times went way up. Even muppets was at 45 minutes not too long after park open. If you are not doing park open, you could wait to arrive just before 1 pm. The second ROTR group is picked at that time and many people ,I think, were just waiting to see if they could get a pass for that. The park hoppers can arrive at 2 pm, but that did not make a huge difference that we saw. It was of course the hottest time of the day and we noticed that the AC was definitely not as cool as it used to be. The lines often stretch out into the sun. We had umbrellas and hand held fans which really helped. There is a relaxation station where the Indiana Jones show used to be. They allowed people to spread out and eat. Lots of room in there if you need a break. Most of the counter service restaurants required a mobile food order if you wanted to sit down so the relaxation spot was useful.
Check the wait times on the app frequently and head over to a ride as soon as you see them drop.
Most wait times were pretty accurate, but we got lucky a few times. We actually got on more rides this trip than last February.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[Jolene Fraser]

We typically arrive an hour before park open, but honestly that only got us maybe one walk on ride.

Curious...I've seen several posts that the parks are opening earlier and have rides running before actual stated park opening time. Do you suggest arriving earlier than an hour before opening? Or did everyone have the same idea?

 

[Minnieandme168]

I heard that if you arrive too early the parking is not open and they ask you to come back so we did not try for earlier than an hour. . There was no rope drop and bag check is a walk through metal detector so that moves faster, but there is. Temperature check as well. Even so it’s really fast to get into the park when you arrive. At soarin we arrived early and were told that the ride would not start until 11, but that we were welcome to wait on line until then. We waited on the line and they ran the ride at about 10:45, so by then the lines were long at other attractions. So they are opening the park earlier, but you are right that people are aware of this. I heard they open 45 minutes early, but things are always changing so who knows,,,

 

[Shellyred8]

I think, for the 3 year old, just make sure you go at his pace through GE and Toy Story land. If there is something that interests him, stop and linger there for a bit and give him a chance to explore that interest. Toy Story land is so full of big bold colors! It's a great time to work on learning/re-enforcing his colors! Make sure to watch the side-walk there too. There are some fun foot prints to see. While it will all be new for both of you, you might gain some interesting insight/perspective from how your son sees these areas.

 

[Kerr84]

They might enjoy the Frozen show too.

 

[karpy111]

We were just at Hollywood Friday. The park opened at 9:00. We were in line near the skyliners are 7:40 and were 1 of 5 families. around 7:45 they walked us to the temperature check. Around 8:15 we were let in the park.

Here is a list of what we did along with times.

Slinky dog 8:20
Smugglers Run 8:35
Mickeys Railroad 9:00
RnRC 9:45
Toy Story Mania 10:30

Went to backlot express for a quick bite to eat.

Then back to Smugglers run 12:15
And Rise of the Resistance at 1.