Disney’s Hollywood Studios is, in many ways, Walt Disney World’s greatest underdog story—what was once considered the resort’s most dismissible park has become one of its most popular, even rivalling Magic Kingdom.
The park has had a quirky history from the beginning. It opened in 1989 as Disney-MGM Studios, a dreamchild of then-CEO Michael Eisner as a response to the success of Universal Studios’ parks. Ironically, it wasn’t officially linked to MGM—Disney simply licensed the name and the studios’ movie library. When Disney attempted to use the MGM name as part of the park’s stint as a working studio, MGM was not happy, and the name was ultimately changed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2008.
While the Disney’s Hollywood Studios of today has drifted from its film-production roots, it remains Disney’s most eclectic celebration of cinematic storytelling, a place where guests can step into the worlds of Star Wars, Toy Story, the Muppets, the Twilight Zone, and the rock music industry to experience thrills of a lifetime.
Maybe you’re planning your first Walt Disney World vacation, or it’s been a while since your last visit. Alternatively, maybe you’re a longtime fan who has friends and family wanting to visit, and you wish there were some way you could quickly sum-up the key “need-to-knows” for an amazing Disney vacation.
This guide is the third in a series starting here at Theme Park Tourist to fulfill that need—sharing the basics you need to know to make the most of a Walt Disney World vacation. Our goal is to prepare you for what to expect, as well as help you avoid the snags that spoil too many potentially great vacations.
In our first installment, we focused on what you need to know about Walt Disney World overall—give that piece a read if you haven’t yet, as it covers some of the “big picture” facts about visiting The Most Magical Place on Earth. In our second piece, we dove into the top things you need to know about Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
Today, we’ll be zeroing in on the top 10 things you NEED to know before visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios…
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: Take some time to research Disney’s latest pandemic policies. These are frequently changing, and many policies are still in place at the time of this writing, including that you cannot enter a Disney park without a Disney Parks Pass reservation. You can find information on the latest developments in Disney’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic here at Theme Park Tourist and at Walt Disney World’s website.
1. It is no longer a half-day park
While Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t Walt Disney World’s smallest park (that honor actually goes to Magic Kingdom), it has often felt small compared to other Disney parks. Indeed, the park has long suffered from a bad reputation as a half-day experience.
In the past, this reputation was partially deserved. When Disney-MGM Studios first opened, it felt threadbare compared to other Disney parks, relying heavily on live shows and a lengthy backstage tour attraction. Over the years, Disney started filling out the park with popular rides like Star Tours, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith, but these still weren’t enough to make the park feel completely full.
Two major additions changed things.
First, the arrival of Toy Story Land in 2018 provided a much-needed draw for families, bringing with it Slinky Dog Dash, the park’s only outdoor coaster. The biggest shift, however, took place in late 2019 with the arrival of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Despite a somewhat rocky opening at Disneyland Resort earlier in the year, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was extremely well-received at Walt Disney World, drawing crowds in such numbers that the park frequently had to open hours before posted times.
The turning point was the arrival of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Rise of the Resistance proved to be the win the park had needed for years—an attraction so celebrated and popular that it required the implementation of a virtual queue system (more on that shortly). The opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in 2020 only added to the park’s appeal. For much of 2020, after Walt Disney World reopened following COVID-19 pandemic closures, Disney’s Hollywood Studios stood out as Walt Disney World’s most attended park.
What this means for visitors today is that you will find plenty to enjoy throughout your day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, particularly if you take your time at the park’s immersive themed lands.
2. It is Walt Disney World’s most teen-friendly park
When we looked at the Magic Kingdom in our last piece, we mentioned that teenagers often struggle to enjoy the more child-focused parts of Walt Disney World, especially Magic Kingdom. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the opposite—in many ways, it is easily Walt Disney World’s most teen friendly park (alongside Disney’s Animal Kingdom)…
It’s not that Disney’s Hollywood Studios only appeals to teens—the park has a good balance of attractions to draw all ages. It’s that Disney’s Hollywood Studios hits all the right notes for teen visitors who tend to prefer thrill-heavy parks like Universal Orlando Resort.
For one thing, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has some of the resort’s best thrill rides including Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, The Hollywood Tower of Terror, the Rockin’ Roller Coaster, Star Tours, and even (to a point) Slinky Dog Dash. Other rides like Toy Story Mania appeal to video game fans and teens with a competitive streak.
The other win for teens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is that many of the park’s attractions surround content that Gen-Z grew up loving: things like the ever-expanding Star Wars saga and Toy Story series. Even Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway offers a cheekier take on Disney’s most famous cartoon couple, one that teen visitors might find more palatable than vintage Disney fare.
3. It has some of the resort’s best rides
Disney’s Hollywood Studios stands out as the home of some of Disney’s most ambitious rides. While the park doesn’t have nearly the quantity of rides that Magic Kingdom does, it makes up for this in the quality of its attractions.
For starters, we can’t go on enough about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance—it is truly one of Disney’s finest achievements. The 18 minute experience utilizes four different ride systems to launch guests into a Star Wars adventure so immersive that it’s actually considered part of the official Star Wars canon. If you’re able to get a place in the ride’s virtual queue, it’s an experience like no other.
It isn’t the park’s only winner. Disney’s Hollywood Studios stands out both for its richly-themed thrill rides like the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, as well as its immersive and interactive attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (which puts you at the controls of the fastest ship in the galaxy), Toy Story Mania, and Star Tours. On top of this, the park has some truly incredible live shows like the stunning Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (these are currently closed but will hopefully reopen later this year).
4. Getting onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance can be complicated
Heading to Disney’s Hollywood Studios? We all have the same question: How do I get onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?
The answer is complicated.
Disney had a tough decision to make opening this ultra-popular attraction: they didn’t want to utilize the traditional strategy of making guests lose an entire Disney day standing in a 12 hour line just to enjoy one ride. To mitigate the problem, they implemented a virtual queue which would allow a certain number of guests to visit the ride every day.
The system has gone through a number of adjustments and tweaks since opening, and it is now, essentially, a lottery. Basically, you may or may not get to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance on your day visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Here’s what you need to know:
1) As long as the Disney Park Pass reservation system is in place, Disney’s Hollywood Studios must be your main park for the day if you want to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The virtual queue is not available to park hoppers.
2) You will need to download the My Disney Experience app on your smartphone and make sure everyone in your party is set up and connected in the app using the Friends and Family Feature.
3) As of the time of this writing, Boarding Groups for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are distributed twice a day. The first call takes place before the park opens at 7 AM. Guests can attempt to join the virtual queue from anywhere (even outside Walt Disney World) by visiting the Rise of the Resistance Virtual Queue screen in the My Disney Experience app. As long as you have a ticket and a Disney Parks Pass Reservation for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you can attempt to join the queue for that day.
4) If you fail to get a Boarding Group during the first distribution time, you can try again at 1 PM. The method is the same (using the app), but you must be inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
5) We have had the best luck getting boarding groups by starting to refresh the Boarding Group screen by swiping down at around 6:59 PM. Repeat this every few seconds and use the fastest internet you have access to (in our case, this is our home Wi-Fi; inside Disney parks, we get better results using cellular data). If one member of your party gets the option to join a group, have them add everyone and secure the group immediately. If something bugs out, have them get a group anyways. You can talk to the Guest Experience Teams inside the park to see if you can get the rest of your party added if there was a technical glitch.
6) Sometimes, you may be added to a “Backup” boarding group. These are groups that may be able to ride later in the day if the ride doesn’t have any major breakdowns. We have gotten onto the ride in backup groups, but there aren’t any guarantees since the ride does suffer from occasional breakdowns.
As park capacity continues to increase at Walt Disney World, it is going to continue to get more and more difficult to get onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Go in prepared that you may or may not get a group, and have a good backup plan of other fun things you can do throughout your day in the event things don’t work out.
5. Take your time at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
I’ve written about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge extensively, and the top tip I can give for enjoying this incredible land is to take your time.
Immersion is king at Walt Disney World and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the ultimate example of this. The land itself is an attraction.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is unique among theme park lands in that it is set in a very specific location in the Star Wars universe: in the Black Spire Outpost of the planet Batuu. Your visit actually takes place on a specific day in the actual Star Wars canon in between The Last Jedi and Rise of the Skywalker.
Every element of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge tells a story, from the inscriptions on the wall to the merchandise in the stores. All of the cast members you meet play roles as locals living on the planet, and they will adjust their interactions with guests accordingly depending on how much you engage (while they don’t “break character” unless they have to, they will treat you as sort of galactic tourist from another world so they can still be helpful).
Along with the two rides, the land full of other incredible experiences. Some of these are free-exploration spaces like Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities (a happy place for fans of Star Wars lore) or the booths of the Jewels of Bith marketplace. The land also offers several experiences guests can enjoy at additional cost, such as the lightsaber building experience at Savi’s Workshop, building a droid at the Droid Depot, or visiting Oga’s Cantina (get reservations early if you can). Previously, wandering characters also played an integral role in the immersive experience of the land—these are still around, but they’re staying distanced from guests for now.
One last thing: the land actually includes a “secret” attraction. Star Wars Datapad is a game on the Play Disney Parks app (available for Android and iPhone) that allows guests to interact with elements throughout Galaxy’s Edge including data consoles, land speeders, starships, droids, and more. Not only does the game cause elements in the land to react to what you do in the app, but it’s a great way to explore the details of the Black Spire Outpost.
6. Line trends are difficult to predict right now
Predicting crowd patterns is easier at some Disney parks than others—for example, Magic Kingdom has slowly reverted back to familiar crowd traffic patterns in recent months.
Lines at Disney’s Hollywood Studios aren’t as straightforward to predict.
We’ve seen a few things play out consistently at Disney’s Hollywood Studios if you’re looking to reduce your time spent in line:
1) Arriving well before opening is a good idea, particularly if you can get there an hour early. If nothing else, you will get a major head start on your day. The one attraction that sees massive lines first thing in the morning is Slinky Dog Dash. If you can’t be one of the first people in line for it, you may want to wait to visit it later in the day and choose another high-demand attraction to start your day. Lines rarely get truly low for Slinky Dog Dash, but waits do taper down sometimes.
2) Many people head straight for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway early in the morning. This attraction has such high capacity that it almost always sees lower waits later in the day. Saving it for later is usually a good idea.
3) Wait times are unusually erratic right now largely because the park’s live shows haven’t returned yet. The return of these shows will help smooth out line trends a little bit. In the meanwhile, you can expect wait times to peak shortly after opening (particularly by around 10:30 AM), then ebb back and forth throughout the day, with some high-popularity rides seeing peaks in the early evening between 5 and 6:30 PM. We are still seeing lower wait times for many attractions during the last two hours the park is open. This is likely to continue until fireworks resume at this park.
4) If you see a short line for a popular attraction, take advantage of it! Long waits are more enjoyable at some attractions than others. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, in particular, has quite an enjoyable queue area as well as a fun game you can try on the Play Disney Parks app.
5) Take advantage of single rider lines if they are open! These are a great way to enjoy top attractions without a significant wait.
With the ongoing shifts in capacity and pandemic policies, pinning down the best time to hit each attraction is not easy right now. Take advantage of sites like TouringPlans.com to get the most up to date idea on what line trends for attractions look like.
7. This park will see some dramatic changes as pandemic policies lift
Walt Disney World is continuing to change rapidly as pandemic policies adjust and capacity increases. These shifts will be particularly noticeable at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
For one thing, much of the park’s appeal has long surrounded live shows like Fantasmic, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage. There is no question that the park has been missing something without these shows, and as mentioned, this is affecting wait times throughout the park. When the live shows return, guests will not only have a fuller experience to enjoy at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but opportunities to catch lower lines will increase.
The park will also benefit greatly from the return of wandering character encounters. Spontaneous encounters with characters in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge played a huge part in the immersive elements of that land—it was a regular occurrence for guests to potentially be approached by Stormtroopers or kids to be recruited into Resistance missions by Rey and Chewbacca. The Animation Courtyard also featured regular character encounters. Seeing these come back will breathe some much-needed excitement into the park.
8. The food options have improved over the last few years
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: food is part of the magic at Walt Disney World.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has always had some uniquely fun restaurant offerings. Some of its most popular restaurants include the Sci-Fi Dine in Theater, The 50’s Prime Time Café, and The Hollywood Brown Derby steakhouse.
The one area the park fell somewhat short in was variety for its counter-service food. While burgers, chicken tenders, and other American favorites are necessary staples at theme parks, it sometimes felt difficult to find other options at this park.
A few things have changed. For one thing, more variety has been introduced into the park’s restaurants overall. Locations like the ABC Commissary have introduced new plant-based options, and the park also houses an Italian restaurant now.
The biggest shift in dining options came thanks to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. If you want to enjoy a meal you can only enjoy at Walt Disney World, both Ronto Roasters and Docking Bay 7 offer delicious meals made to feel like they came straight out of Star Wars. We’ve particularly enjoyed the plant-based options at Docking Bay 7. You can also enjoy unique Star Wars-themed beverages at Oga’s Cantina or the Milk Stand (most people prefer the blue milk; I’m a fan of the green).
9. There are lots of ways to get to this park easily
When it comes to transportation options, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is one of the easiest Disney parks to visit. Guests visiting with their own vehicles don’t have to worry about the hassles common to visiting Magic Kingdom: the parking lot at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is right next to the park, and even on a busy day, you will almost never need preferred parking since the walk isn’t far. Rideshare services are also able to drop guests off fairly close.
Guests staying at Walt Disney World resorts have several options to reach the park. Epcot resort guests can take either Friendship Boats or a convenient walking path to reach the park gate. Guests at the Caribbean Beach Resort, Pop Century, Riviera, and Disney’s Art of Animation resorts can use the Disney Skyliner. Finally, guests at all other Disney resorts have access to busses running throughout the day.
10. It may be worth getting a park hopper pass
If you’re a more-seasoned Disney guest or you prefer flexibility, you may want to consider getting a park hopper option added to your ticket when visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The reason why is that Disney’s Hollywood Studios very close to Epcot. Guests can easily get from one park to the other by Skyliner, Friendship Boats, or the walking path. Usually, the journey takes about 15-20 minutes.
For many Disney visitors, having the option to hop between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is extremely appealing. You’re able to enjoy a very full day of Disney fun with extra options for attractions, dining, shopping, and exploration. While Epcot is the easiest park to reach, you could easily also visit the Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Animal Kingdom by car or bus.
While this approach may not be for everyone (some people just prefer one-park-a-day), park hopping provides wonderful flexibility. If you’re just not feeling one Disney park, you can easily head to another. Right now, park hopping is only available after 2 PM, but we suspect Disney may adjust this policy in the near future as they continue to roll back pandemic limitations.
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