Seriously thinking of Skipping Hollywood Studios this trip!!!

[monorailrabbit]

I definitely see your point of view. We go back and forth over HS as far as how much we like it. My thing is I LOVE F! So I always at least try to get there in the evening for that. I also super enjoy TSMM and TOT. This trip though, we are skipping it. Our main purpose in going this year is for Epcot 35 - I hope there's some some stuff for that. We are doing 2 days in Epcot, 2 days in MK (including MNSSHP) and one day at SeaWorld. It will be weird for us skipping AK & HS. I can't wait for SWL to open though!!!

 

[Kindermouse]

I'm just curious, if you're only able to go every few years, are Park Hoppers not worth it for you? Or do you think you just wouldn't use them?
Matt

I do think that they are worth it, and my original plan was to have park hoppers and even add the express bus to make park hopping a breeze but, then we had unexpected expenses come up that basically cleared out our savings-which were pretty modest to begin with- and it makes the budget too tight to include basically any extras. Gosh darn life getting in the way of my Disney vacations . And then I remind myself that at the end of the day there are a lot of people on planet earth that would gladly trade situations with me.

 

[odd man out]

My wife and I are going in March. We have 4 day park hopper tickets (may add a 5th day for the morning the day we leave). We are not planning on going to DHS. Not that much there that interests us and since it's a short trip we want to spend as much time as we can at the other parks.

 

[IvyWinter]

Im doing HS from about 3pm to close (9:30pm) on my upcoming trip, and thats it for the whole 4 days. But you know what, i just remind myself that come 2019, its going to be an epic park again!

 

[Davey Jones II]

I'm just curious, if you're only able to go every few years, are Park Hoppers not worth it for you? Or do you think you just wouldn't use them? I always get them, but sometimes I've wondered if I'm really getting my money's worth considering I go almost annually.

One Man's Dream is still open, but the Florida Project part (which was my favorite) has been scrapped to become a Guardians M&G (argh! they weren't happy taking my beloved ToT from DCA?) and the film is now a Pixar commercial.

Matt

We always get park hoppers. There are always some nighttime events that we missed the first time in the park, so we often hop over to a park for the evening. We go in October, so we have to hop away from the MK when the Party starts. Sometimes we'll hop to a water park and back when it gets too hot in the aft.

We also hop based on our FP+ reservations. This year, I plan to take any FOP reservations I can get, since I don't expect that many will be available. As for DHS, as I mentioned, we might do a few half-days at that park. The SW fireworks will be new to us, and I've only made a brief visit to Launch Bay at Disneyland.

 

[hammie59]

I have an ENTIRE HS day for our August trip. It's AK I have only planned as the EMH pandora time. I understand all of the Orlando area is hot and humid, but the design of AK makes it worse! I find it unbearable in March, June, July and a December, so I expect August to be the same.

This is exactly us, except we have 3 half days planned at DHS (hoppers).We sometimes skip AK all together and are only going once this trip doing a half day in the pm just to see Pandora. I totally agree about the heat there too. Not enough air flow or something.

 

[LiaNWillsmom]

This is exactly us, except we have 3 half days planned at DHS (hoppers).We sometimes skip AK all together and are only going once this trip doing a half day in the pm just to see Pandora. I totally agree about the heat there too. Not enough air flow or something.

Funny thats exactly how I feel about HS, like the asphalt holds in more heat or something, i never feel comfortable there!

 

[MrsDuck]

We don't even dedicate a half day to DHS anymore. Just not much there except for Star Tours, ToT, and RnRC. We have APs and can do all 3 of those during EMHs... then we head out.

 

[Blue32]

Having GMR close will have to have a negative impact on other FP availability also. GMR is tier one, albeit not as popular as the others. But there was always a very good chance of picking it up as a 4th FP. Closing this ride will cause people to pick up anything else available, if there is much.

 

[Spacepest]

I'm debating whether we should even go to this park at all on our next visit. If we do go, it will probably be just to see the Indy show and ToT, and then leave. Food options at that park are abysmal, so I'm not even staying long enough to eat there.

 

[GeneralTso]

We will definitely go, but I totally see your logic here.
We have Park Hoppers so this makes it easy. I also LOOOOOVE TOT, and now that it's changed to Guardians of the Galaxy at Disneyland it will be great to ride the original.
It's a fun park to walk around and see stuff, so it won't feel like a wasted day.

If anything, I'm spoiled at Disneyland so Magic Kingdom is quite a disappointment for me. The Small World is a pale shadow of the real one. It's another park that I like to walk around and just soak in the different atmosphere. For REAL Disney though, it's Disneyland all the way.

 

[dkrauss]

So we leave for Disney in Oct, and I was just notified of yet another closure for Hollywood Studios. This seems like such a waste of a park ticket now with all the closures going on while they transition the park.

Looks like we will have 2 attractions open (Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. I cant count TOT or RockNRoller Coaster cause theyre too scary for us) and then the rest is all Meet and Greets and shows (Beauty and the Beast and Frozen sing a long, as we have already seen Fantasmic, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and The Indiana Jones Stunt show)

Bummer. We dont have Park Hopper tickets this trip so am I wrong for wanting to skip this park completely and just going to Epcot instead??? What are your thoughts???

With no park hoppers and your perspective..........HS would be a 1/2 day park at best. I think for you and this trip..........this isn't a bad choice. Take that HS day and spend a second day at AK...........there is so much in there...........get there early.........take a break in the afternoon and return for dinner in the evening.

Doug

 

[Micca]

Our WDW trips are incomplete without TOT, TSMM, and an occasional meal at HBD. We only stay at studios for a few hours, but it remains a must.

 

[shh]

You'd be amazed how easy TSMM is to get on now. At park open, it's easy. FP+ aren't really that hard to get. And, the last 30 minutes the park is open, the ride is a ghost town. We were just there for the first few weeks of July. Park close was at 9:30 every night. We had a few nights there where we didn't see shows and just closed the park out on rides. From 9pm on, it was literally a walk up. You walk up the steps, right back down to the carts and the CMs are just standing there waiting for guests to arrive. Almost surreal how quiet it is in there.

Wow... I wish we experienced that. We were there in Dec, then again early June, and couldn't get near Toy Story either time - but we're not rope drop people. I have good intentions, but hate getting up early!

I was trying later in evening and right before closing time. We only found standbys of 60+ min and no FPs avail the day before or day of. (And this was weekdays.) I just figured with fewer things to do in the park, people were gravitating towards what was left.

I'd love to do Toy story - we missed it the last 3 trips because I don't want to give up FPs at another park to reserve one there and admittedly I'm too impatient to wait an hour or longer in standby line for any ride, since our trips are usually just a couple nights each.

 

[Eddie512]

Here's what we did at DHS in July, arriving 9:30 ish for 9 am open:
1. Sign up for Jedi training (me and younger 2 kids) ride ToT (DH and older kid). *people trip all over themselves to get the early shows, for good reason b/c it's so stinking hot, but I wasn't willing to do this.
2. Meet Chewy, Kylo, BB8, jawas at Launch Bay (DH could've spent hours here, he's like that at museums too)
3. Meet Star lord and baby groot- unexpected highlight! They're awesome!
4. Meet Buzz and Woody- so cute, energetic, interactive
5. Ride TSMM w/ FP- fun ride
6. Watch the storm trooper march- got heckled by the silver leader...name?? Hilarious
7. Ride ToT w/ FP- LOVE IT
8. Lunch at Backlot Express (it gets no love, but I really like the food!)
9. Star Tours w/ fp (got 4th fp for the 2pm frozen show while in line, DD was the rebel spy!!)
10. Jedi training at 1:30 WHY DO THEY DO THIS OUTSIDE WITH NO SHADE/COVER?? WHY??? This is the only time my phone has ever given me an error for overheating! And I wasn't wearing a robe or costume! *end rant*
11. Frozen sing a long (got 5th fp for RnRC that evening while waiting for show to start)
Took a break at the hotel 3-7
12 RnRC w/ fp
13. Fantasmic! Not a fan, really wish we had done the Star Wars fireworks instead!!

Things I wanted to do but didn't: meet Olaf, meet Minnie and Mickey @ red carpet dreams, Beauty and beast show, spend some time looking at displays in Launch Bay, tracking down a butterfinger cup cake or carrot cake cookie

I have been one other time and had no interest in repeating Little Mermaid or Muppets (both cute) or Great Movie ride (not for me! Thought it was super lame)

So when people say DHS is a half day park, I am like "how??" Haha. Like my dad used to say, " if everyone liked the same things then the world would be pretty boring". But we spent a full day there, with a nice long break, and didn't see everything I wanted to. I'll be back in 2019!

 

[ChristineOH]

Wow... I wish we experienced that. We were there in Dec, then again early June, and couldn't get near Toy Story either time - but we're not rope drop people. I have good intentions, but hate getting up early!

I was trying later in evening and right before closing time. We only found standbys of 60+ min and no FPs avail the day before or day of. (And this was weekdays.)

Wow, that's too bad.

We were there June 10-17, and we got TSMM as a 4th FP three different days. We never booked it as our initial three, because we love RnR. Even now, a Saturday at 3:45, you can get TSMM for five people at multiple times less than two hours out, and there are multiple times tomorrow beginning mid-afternoon on. (Granted, Saturday is a great day to visit DHS.)

I wonder why early June was so much worse than mid-June. (And it does seem like it was.) Did you go before the FL resident blackout dates started? Or before they cracked down on the FP cheaters? I'm surprised that either of those would make a huge difference, but maybe the combination of the two did.

 

[superman007]

I'm a big Star Wars fan (see my avitar), so HS was a must, but I can see skipping if you're not.

I'm actually planning on spending 1 1/2 days there with DW, DS2, DS5 (with large mid day breaks) so we can make all the shows and do the dessert party/fireworks!

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

So we leave for Disney in Oct, and I was just notified of yet another closure for Hollywood Studios. This seems like such a waste of a park ticket now with all the closures going on while they transition the park.

Looks like we will have 2 attractions open (Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. I cant count TOT or RockNRoller Coaster cause theyre too scary for us) and then the rest is all Meet and Greets and shows (Beauty and the Beast and Frozen sing a long, as we have already seen Fantasmic, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and The Indiana Jones Stunt show)

Bummer. We dont have Park Hopper tickets this trip so am I wrong for wanting to skip this park completely and just going to Epcot instead??? What are your thoughts???

Yeah... I always have enjoyed Studios a lot. The ambience of the place makes me feel good. But if I didn't have hoppers I'd probably skip it for now too. Hard to justify otherwise.

 

[shh]

Did you go before the FL resident blackout dates started?

Yup. And it was right after the opening day weekend of Pandora (although we were there several days after the holiday weekend ended, but I think there was a spillover effect.)

 

[zebrastreyepz]

If I were in your situation, I would skip it.

Since we are huge Star Wars fans (I named one of my kids after Obi-wan's portrayer in the original), we can happily spend two days there. I also like to see the shows every time I go and we love all the rides and we love the meet and greets.

As much as we do love it, I am taking one of my HS days next trip and going to Epcot since Epcot does more Christmas stuff.