Is it really worth visiting Walt Disney World right now—let alone their busiest park?
This question has puzzled many since the reopening of the Most Magical Place on Earth in July. 2020 has been a strange year, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic meant some staggering changes at Disney parks. With no fireworks, no park hopping, reservation woes, and stringent safety requirements, even regular attendees and Passholders have been left scratching their heads if a visit to the parks is a good idea or not.
Despite having pretty easy access to Orlando as Florida Passholders, my husband and I admittedly dragged our feet to see how things would play out during those first few months after opening. We even ended up cancelling a few reservations. While some parks like Epcot have had pretty decent availability, Disney attendance models have turned upside down since reopening. Instead of crowds flocking to Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios—once considered the least attended park—has become the resort’s biggest draw, largely thanks to the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
After reading some intriguing reports, we finally braved a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Thursday, September 3rd—a few days before Labor Day weekend kicked off… and we were surprised to say it was one of the best visits to the park we’ve had in years.
We’ll dive further into the details of this experience below, but the primary reason for this is that social distancing and lowered capacity have left the park feeling amazingly empty—like the type of low crowds you expect the day before a hurricane is about to roll in. It was incredible, and it made for one of the most unique experiences we’ve had at the parks in recent memory.
Over Labor Day weekend (right after our visit), Disney attendance trended back towards a more traditional flow with crowds reaching 50% capacity across all four parks. While this might seem an omen that the days of crowdbare Disney parks are over, it seems likely that once Labor Day week has passed, Walt Disney World attendance will lull back into a similar quiet to what we experienced before the holiday. If you plan to visit on a weekend, you can expect slightly increased crowds as compared to weekdays.
So what exactly is it like inside Disney’s most popular park right now? Here’s what we found, as well as some advice if you decide to brave the parks yourself…
1. Rope drop may not be the best time to arrive
If you attempted to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at any point between December 2019 and the parks closing in 2020, you likely endured at least one painfully early rope drop visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This was largely due to the implementation of the ride’s virtual queue system, which went through several changes before landing on the “lottery” version used today. Previously, if you weren’t at the park extremely early, there was zero chance you’d get onto this amazing new ride.
With the post COVID-19 changes, arriving pre-rope drop is still a good idea if your heart is set on riding Rise of the Resistance, but the stakes aren’t quite as dire as before. For one thing, Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t currently opening until 10:00 AM—meaning even on a busy day, you can sleep in a little. Most reports have encouraged guests to arrive about 25-30 minutes early if you want to get into the parks on time. While lines may look long due to social distancing, they go fast since Disney has streamlined security checks and ticket scanning. As long as you are in the park before 10:00 AM, you can fire up My Disney Experience and try for a boarding pass for ROTR.
However, if you happen to strike out during that first Boarding Pass call, that isn’t necessarily the end of the story… because you can try again during another boarding pass call at 2:00 PM. Indeed, for guests looking to avoid lines as much as possible, it may even be a good idea to arrive later.
The general trend at the park has been that guests who arrive at rope drop can expect an initial surge of crowds at the park’s most popular attractions—particularly Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, and Slinky Dog Dash. Largely, this morning window seems to be the busiest feeling part of the day. You statistically reduce your chances of getting onto Rise of the Resistance by not participating in the morning call, but if it’s not a huge deal to you, you really can get away with arriving later and avoid that initial surge. This is a particularly attractive option for Passholders who don’t feel as much pressure to get every attraction in on every trip.
In our case, we decided to try something completely different from our previous strategies. We’d had a pretty late night at work on Wednesday, so we took the pressure off and tested rolling into Disney’s Hollywood Studios around 1PM, around 3 hours after rope drop, just in time to try out that 2PM boarding pass distribution for Rise of the Resistance.
Our first impression was that the parking lot looked pretty empty! Trams were not in service, but they weren’t really needed thanks to how close we were able to park—perhaps a five minute walk to the gate. We encountered zero lines at security thanks to new streamlined protocols. It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, so I opted to dress/Batuubound as a smuggler for the day (the mask actually looked pretty sweet with the outfit!). This meant a short stop at bag check for security to check my bag and hip pouch. While I couldn’t understand a thing the guy said through his mask, face shield, and my terrible drummer’s hearing, the exchange went quick and amiably. We entered the park without any wait or fingerprint scans.
2. The parks really do feel unusually empty
This would end up being the biggest factor in our day—there were definitely a good amount of people present, but even at a park as cramped as Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it felt delightfully quiet. Social distancing was pretty easy, and everyone seemed to stay cognizant of it with only a few exceptions. This trend would increase as the day wore on—the longer the day went, the thinner crowds in the streets got.
There are a few reasons for this besides reduced capacity. The biggest factor is Disney’s choice to eliminate Fastpass+. Some of our writers have addressed this before, but as convenient as Fastpass+ was, it inadvertently threw off Disney’s crowd control efforts. Stand-by lines are “crowd sponges” that corral people out of busy thoroughfares. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, in particular, was so well designed with this principle in mind, that shortly after opening, it felt far emptier than it actually was since guests were encouraged to drift into queues, shops, and restaurants. By getting rid of Fastpass+, Disney reduced foot traffic on the streets by sponging guests into lines instead.
The longest line when we arrived was definitely Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, clocking in around 60-70 minutes. It appears we arrived during a mini-spike in waits that would diminish for the rest of the day. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Slinky Dog Dash, The Rock’n Roller Coaster, and Hollywood Tower of Terror all had waits above 40 minutes at the time, but all of these would lower as hours passed.
The lack of crowds made for a very leisurely pace throughout the day. Oh, and this is definitely the season to get pictures of landmarks and attractions with almost no people in them!
3. Definitely bring a smartphone
You would think with the removal of Fastpass+ that smartphones would be less important, but the opposite is actually true—especially at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Closing in on the 2:00 PM boarding pass distribution for Rise of the Resistance, we opted to head straight to the Milk Stand in Galaxy’s Edge to get some blue and green milk. It was a sweltering hot day (96 degrees at 50% humidity!), so a cold drink was definitely an urgency. This little detour actually became one of the only hassles of the afternoon, albeit a minor one.
In order to encourage social distancing, some quick service dining locations are entirely Mobile Order based right now—you can’t just stand in line and order a blue milk. We had to do a lot of fumbling with the app to get our financial details up to date to place the order. This was slightly stressful as that looming 2PM deadline was approaching, but fortunately, we got the order in and had our delicious green and blue milk at light speed.
We tucked out of the way behind a vase in the Millennium Falcon square and started refreshing the Rise of the Resistance boarding pass distribution screen in My Disney Experience around 1:59 PM (using mobile data, not the park’s dodgy Wi-Fi). My husband nabbed boarding passes immediately, landing us in Boarding Group 83—a backup group.
This was a little bit of a bummer, but we knew the risk we were taking only doing the 2PM call. While the theory is that Disney has split the boarding groups 50/50 between the two times, it seems likely that any ride breakdowns or hiccups in the morning would reduce that 2PM capacity to make sure all of the morning groups make it through. This is an important factor to keep in mind if your heart is set onto getting onto Rise of the Resistance—your chances will be statistically lower if you wait until the 2PM call.
In short, definitely bring a smartphone with some sort of power block to keep it charged. It’s also a great source of diversion if you want to try out Star Wars Datapad to explore Batuu while its nice and quiet!
4. A fun time to explore the Black Spire Outpost
Video: YouTube, User: My Kingdom for a Mouse (Jett Farrell-Vega)
Thanks to lower crowds, this is a very nice time to explore Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Our only note is for those familiar with the layout of the land, you may have to adjust to taking a few detours. Ronto Roasters, for example, can only be entered from one side, and the Market shops can only be reached by passing through a checkpoint near the square with the trash-monster water fountains. If you’re used to shopping at a meandering pace, you may feel a bit more rushed than usual since cast members are only letting one or two people into the smaller shops at a time.
After piddling about playing Star Wars Datapad, we wandered into Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. We couldn’t believe how much room we had to move around! If you’ve ever been into Dok Ondar’s, you may have noticed that crowd control in this place gets pretty bonkers, mostly due to the line for people looking to buy legacy lightsabers. At the time we visited, these had been temporarily moved to Savi’s Workshop, which left Dok Ondar’s surprisingly open.
We’ve always had a soft spot for the cast at Dok Ondar’s—along with the team at Docking Bay 7, they tend to be the most fun to banter with if you want to lean into the role-play components at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I was mindlessly perusing the shop when a cast member pointed at me and accused me of being Vi (the Spy) Moradi. It’d been so long since I’ve been to Batuu that I almost forgot I was dressed up, but I remembered how to use my brain and ended up having a hilarious argument with the guy about how he clearly had the wrong person. We ultimately landed on the conclusion that whatever the problem was, it was clearly Hondo Ohnaka’s fault.
Another cast member asked me later if I was the legendary Mara Jade (a very popular character from the old Star Wars canon). This completely made my day, as it told me this guy knew his Star Wars history—some pieces of my outfit were actually borrowed from an old Mara Jade cosplay. We had a casual discussion where he deftly stayed in character and avoided mixing up the various canon timelines. It was a great, low pressure moment of Disney magic.
This kind of mirrored our experience across the board in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. While you can definitely tell some elements of the experience are missing, the low crowds makes for a really nice opportunity to just explore the outpost and increases your chances of fun encounters with the cast.
5. Characters are still around—sort of
One of the biggest changes we noticed immediately at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was the lack of wandering characters. The return of wandering characters was one of the most pleasant surprises that came with the land’s opening, and it made for some fun chance encounters with stormtroopers, First Order officers, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, Rey, and Vi (the Spy) Moradi.
Unfortunately, up close character meet-and-greets have had to go on hiatus for the foreseeable future due to social distancing requirements. While this did make Galaxy’s Edge feel a little less lively, it wasn’t long before we started to spot characters presented in new ways.
For one thing, the Black Spire Outpost already hosts several “staging areas” where character vignettes sometimes play out. In the past, you might see Vi Moradi or Finn hiding from stormtroopers, or Rey and Chewbacca recruiting new Resistance fighters. Now, this is pretty much the main way you will see characters in the land. Throughout the day, we saw Vi Moradi (and later, Rey) working on landspeeders in the mechanic’s garage (an interesting nod to her undercover work in the novel, Black Spire) as well as stormtroopers regularly patrolling the First Order landing pad. At one point, Kylo Ren appeared and started picking out kids from the crowd to approach for inspection. This made for a few pretty amusing moments since some kids were absolutely not eager to approach the looming Supreme Leader.
Elsewhere in the park, we saw an example of the character cavalcades that pass through the park periodically throughout the day. These mini-parades are a nice addition to the entertainment lineup, and thanks to the fact they’re random, you don’t have people piling into rows like you normally do for parades. By using a mix of walking characters and characters on floats, they feel more personal than parades but still allow for social distancing.
6. Stand-by lines are back (but that’s not completely bad news)
The day was getting quite hot, so we decided on a strategy of drifting from one air-conditioned attraction to another. A cursory glance at My Disney Experience revealed that lines were growing shorter as the afternoon went on. We decided to hit an old favorite attraction we hadn’t done in a while—Muppet Vision 3D.
Muppet Vision is a good example of a great show to hit if the heat is getting to you. Once you get past the exterior queue, the indoor portion of the show lasts long enough to give you a good dose of air conditioning. Cast members kept guests social distanced through the entire experience—there was even a funny moment when they corrected Gonzo for telling guests to squish together.
It wasn’t too long after our stop at Muppet Vision 3D that we realized the queue at Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run was down to 20 minutes. This actually proved to be incorrect—there was almost no wait at all. We literally walked onto the ride. Thanks to social distancing, every party gets their own cockpit, which meant my husband and I were able to pilot together alone for the first time! If you really enjoy a certain role on Smugglers Run, this is a great time to ride, and it definitely was a highlight of our trip. Later in the day, we were able to also walk onto Toy Story Midway Mania (more on that in a moment) and Star Tours.
We mentioned this in our exploration of how a visit to Disney parks during this season might feel a little strange, but Fastpass+ no longer provides a core spine for planning a Disney day. How much time you spend in lines is all about strategy, and if reducing waits is important to you, be flexible. You may have to zig-zag about the park a bit, but if you keep an eye on crowd trends, you can avoid the longest waits. Our strategy of arriving later in the day did end up helping us avoid the longest queues, though it meant we didn’t get onto one or two attractions later on.
7. A great time to try new rides
I have a terrible confession to make as a Disney parks writer. Despite having been a regular Walt Disney World visitor for over thirty years and a Florida resident for four of those… I had never been on Toy Story Midway Mania.
I know…
I’ll be honest, I’ve just never been able to bring myself to stand in a long line for it. I like Toy Story, but it just never really appealed to me as a ride concept. The use of screens and 3D came across to me like a cheaper take on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.
Thanks to the wonderfully low wait times, we decided that we wanted to try some rides we hadn’t before, and Midway Mania stood out because it had basically no line. We didn’t wait more than 5 minutes to get on, despite a longer time being posted. I didn’t realize Mr. Potato Head in the queue was interactive as we passed. I may have kind of, sort of inferred he might be nightmare fuel. He chuckled eerily in response. We walked faster.
I’ll admit it—Midway Mania is a great little ride! If you’re going to rely on screens, a gaming experience is the way to do it, and my husband and I had a good time trying to best each other’s score. The cars also seemed pretty clean, though we did use hand sanitizer immediately afterwards.
The low pressure pace that comes with visiting while crowds are low provides a lot of breathing room that you may not have on a standard Disney trip. Rather than focusing on the things that aren’t available, this is actually a great time to try some experiences you may have passed over previously.
8. You’ll need some mask breaks in the heat
One of the biggest issues currently looming in the minds of prospective park visitors is that of masks. Putting aside the politically charged debate surrounding masks, they are simply a reality of visiting Walt Disney World right now. With the combination of across-the-board mask requirements, temperature checks, social distancing, and easily accessible sanitizer and washing stations, I honestly felt safer during our visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios than I do on the average visit to a local store. Despite these benefits, the question remains:
Is wearing a mask in the sweltering Florida heat unbearable enough to bust a Disney day?
Not necessarily, but here are a few thoughts…
As mentioned, the day we visited was hot—around 94-97 degrees with 50-80% humidity. It felt like the inside of a tea kettle. We’ve lived in some places with higher temperatures than that, but the humidity is making the weather quite brutal right now. With that in mind, I cannot emphasize enough to be wise what type of mask you choose to wear when visiting Walt Disney World.
We’ve tried a few different types of masks over the course of the pandemic, and there are some that I think would be downright miserable in Disney parks. Early on, we made our masks out of bandanas folded into multiple layers and held on with elastic bands. While these looked pretty cool (I felt a bit like a Mad Max character), the way they smoosh your nose and mouth would get pretty miserable on a humid Disney day. Guests are not allowed to wear neck gaiters or masks with valves, so that’s not an option.
We had particularly good luck with simple, multi-layer cotton masks that looped around the ears (with a bit of wire in the nose to conform it to your face). We also had a couple paper disposable masks in my bag in case the cloth ones got too nasty, but we never needed them. While we were definitely cognizant of some extra heat with the masks, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. The key really became to move from air-conditioner to air conditioner, as well as to pull off to the side every once in awhile to drink some water or eat a snack. You are allowed to remove your mask temporarily if you are stationary, out of the way, and actively eating or drinking, so we took advantage of this several times to take a breather. If you really want to improve comfort, some sort of mask bracket to keep the fabric off your nose and mouth may be a good idea as well.
For us, using the right mask, moving from AC to AC, taking periodic rests, and taking advantage of Disney’s relaxation zones made the masks a non-issue. Speaking of which…
9. Unprecedented access to private experiences
One of the best experiences we had all day came at the most unexpected place… and it really drives home what’s so great about visiting Disney parks during this time.
Disney has established several relaxation zones throughout the park where guests can kick back and take their masks off while safely distanced from other parties. We were looking for one of these locations when we realized that Star Wars Launch Bay (a longtime favorite stop of ours) has been designated as one of these zones. The vast majority of guests stopped immediately outside to enjoy a cool breeze from fans, but the cast member assured us we were welcome to go inside, so long as we camped on a dot distanced from others.
Inside, we found a few parties resting in the museum, but we know our way around Launch Bay pretty well, so we kept walking until we hit the cantina replica. Sure enough, there was a dot right next to the bar, and only one other quiet family was present. We sat on the floor and took off our masks, enjoying some peace, quiet, and air conditioning. It wasn’t long before the other family left, after which we hardly saw a soul for the next 30 minutes.
It was Disney introvert heaven.
I cannot describe what a marvelously refreshing experience this was. We spotted so many details we’d never seen before. It felt uncharacteristically relaxing for being smack in the middle of Disney’s busiest park. Dave caught some Pokémon; I spent a little time reading and ate a Coffee Crisp. It was wonderful, like some sort of Star Wars fan’s VIP experience.
That theme really stood out to us throughout the day—due to social distancing and decreased capacity, guests have unprecedented access to private experiences. We already mentioned flying the Millennium Falcon by ourselves, but we also got to explore Savi’s Workshop without a build-a-lightsaber reservation. This is going away later in the month, but at the time we visited, all legacy lightsabers had been moved to Savi’s. All we had to do was walk up, and a series of cast members ushered us inside, even having us use a secret password. We not only got to finally see the inside of the place, but they let us hang out trying out lightsabers for a good fifteen minutes.
In short, if you like your personal space and prefer to enjoy some experiences alone, your chances of fulfilling that dream are pretty high at Disney parks right now.
10. What about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?
Our day continued at a leisurely pace after our transcendent stop at Launch Bay. We picked up some Starbucks (the barista wrote that I was a Jedi on my cup, which was sort of adorable) and did a quick ride on Star Tours where we got to see one of the new scenes from The Rise of Skywalker. We were getting close to closing time, wondering if we’d actually get onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Around 6:50pm, we intended to go ride Smugglers Run again when our phones both buzzed.
Our backup boarding group was called!
This would end up being our second ride on Rise of the Resistance (after several failed attempts, we finally got on last December), and we noticed several things different. For one thing, we spent a fair amount of time in the queue—at least 30 minutes. I actually had time to play through the entire Star Wars Datapad mission tied to the ride.
As for the actual ride, as expected, cast members kept guests social distanced. Some of this actually worked with the idea of a military operation, such as during the mission briefing. It proved a little problematic on the transport sequence as we were placed in a corner where I couldn’t see either of the viewports very well, and we couldn’t just move around like the pre-social-distancing days.
The Star Destroyer sequence also played out a little differently because cast members were ushering guests through fast. When the ride first opened, guests were given time to hang out and take pictures of the stormtroopers, but there was zero time on this visit. New plexiglass barriers have been installed inside the Star Destroyer halls to separate guests from cast members, but they feel appropriate to the setting. The briefing with the First Order officer went very fast, as did the prison sequence. We ended up in the same vehicle we’ve been in previously (facing the AT-AT head on), and the ride went off without a hitch, short of one hiccup in the audio. The Kylo Ren animatronic was also fully up and running, which was nice to see.
This ended our day on a great note. The only experience we really missed was trying Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but we’ll be aiming to hit that at the end of the month. We may also try Tower of Terror and Rock’n Roller Coaster next time to see how those are looking with distancing in place.
Our final assessment is this: if live shows and fireworks are a key component of a Disney visit for you, or if you find it extremely uncomfortable to wear a mask in the heat, it’s probably not an ideal time to visit Walt Disney World right now. However, for guests who highly value short queues, unprecedentedly low crowds, and private experiences, we would recommend taking advantage of this time to enjoy a Disney visit unlike any you may see again in our lifetime. For fans of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, in particular, this is a uniquely low pressure time to go, and your chances of getting onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are pretty good!
Did you enjoy this article? Keep reading to explore our Reader’s Guide to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or go back in time with us to revisit some of the Ridiculous (and Adorable) Things You Totally Believed as a Disney Kid.
