DHS = Ghost Town.

[momimouse27]

We were there in November, and mostly just to see the Osborne lights. My son and I don't do thrill rides and Since we weren't able to snag FP for TSM, there was very little for us to do. He got bored, which felt weird to me, at a Disney park. So, the highlight of our evening was the Sci Fi Dine in.

 

[hakepb]

How much of "ghost town" is general crowd levels being down?

It seems wait times are currently looking more like September than summer busy.
TT and Soarin at 60 mid-day in the summer?

 

[DisneyFive]

I would love for HS to be a ghost town when we're there in August!!! Easier for us to enjoy!

Dan

 

[IrishNYC]

Hate to hear this. We are going in January and have never been to DHS. We were going to add it this trip since we hope to see the Star Wars fireworks, and DD wants to add Rockin Roller Coaster to her "done that" list. If we are really just interested in RRC, ToT, some of the shows, and the fireworks, could this be done in a half day? If so, we wouldn't mind enjoying our resort for the first half of the day.

You will find plenty to do!

 

[mckennarose]

While we enjoy Star Tours, RnRc, and TT, we skipped HS on our trip last month.

 

[yulilin3]

Another thread about "everything is closed at DHS"
OP I'm a local who visits DHS once a week. It is not a ghost town.
As with all parks there are some attractions in each park that will interest some people and other will just skip.
Could you spend a whole day at DHS if you wanted to do everything? yes.
That being said I understand people with small children might not be able or find appealing some attractions at DHS. There's still things to do for the whole family
Little kids: Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Disney Jr. Beauty and the Beast show.
Teens and adults: Star Tours, GMR, Muppetvision 3D, ToT, RnRC, TSMM
Meet and Greets: Mickey, Minnie, Olaf, Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, Donald, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Buzz and Woody
For everyone: the Citizens of Hollywood, Fantasmic! Star Wars a Galactic Spectacular (I know more so for SW fans but it's still a pretty amazing show even if you know nothing of SW)
There are 2 main walls up, one at the end of Pixar Lane and one blocking what used to be Streets of America, that's it. You're not bumping into walls at every corner.
Skipping this park or planning on only half a day is a personal choice. But do your research on everything that it has to offer before making that decision

 

[jbish]

We just got back from a trip. A year ago, if you had asked me, I would have said there was a good chance we would skip this park because I wouldn't want to waste a day's admission for a few rides. But we got PH this year so I didn't feel bad knowing I could hop in or out of this park. Then, six months ago, my kids discovered Star Wars. And lo and behold, we went to HS three different times on this trip. First day was to RD so that we could sign up for JTA. Left by late afternoon. One day we hopped in around dinner time and stayed through fireworks. And our last day, we hit up all of the favorites again.

Now, don't get me wrong - this isn't a full day park for most people. But here's what our family liked: my 9 year old daughter LOVES thrill rides - so TOT and RNRC were hit up as much as possible. The kids loved JTA, Launch Bay, meeting Kylo and Chewie!!, Star Tours, and they got to build light sabers. The boys loved TSMM - and with FP+ and a third track, we were able to ride this multiple times - something we never could have done in years past. We didn't even do Indiana Jones, Muppets, or GMR, so I know we didn't get to do everything.

 

[AnnaKat]

I took a stroll through the "launch bay"....i kept asking exactly what the attraction was, kept looking for what the buzz was about....best i could tell, a bunch of models and a gift shop, and get in line to take a picture with a wookie???

Lol. WHY we never went in there on our last trip. It had just opened & we were also " privileged " to be invited for a special M&G through Disney Visa, but we figured it was a glorified gift shop.

 

[capegirl]

We are very excited for our DHS day. We will do RD on an EMH day, have an early lunch at SciFi, and hop over to DAK where we made our FPs for the afternoon. After dinner at our resort, we will return to DHS to enjoy the Star Wars dessert party. Fun day!!!

 

[Aeweddle]

We just returned from a 9 day trip and visited HS twice. We only had one visit planned but my daughter wanted to go back on our last day to ride the "crazy elevator" again, lol. I was able to secure FPs for TSMM and ToT at the last minute. My only complaint is that there isn't much for little ones, as previous posters have stated. The only thing he could do was the GMR and it scared him. We ended up hanging out in animation courtyard and doing the meet and greets while DH and DD did the rides. He's not great with shows unfortunately. I wish he was. It would've made the day a little easier.

 

[JimmyV]

The only two items on this list that I will miss is the Backlot Tour and Lights, Motor, Action.

But if you take these two things, and add in the Animation Academy, you have shaved three hours off of your day. If one allocated 9 hours of park time for the day, that is a full third of a day lost. To some, that is "nothing". To others, that is "a lot". Plus, the BLT and LMA were crowd eaters. Those two attractions processed literally thousands of guests at a time. Moving that crowd over to the other open attractions has lengthened the lines making it more difficult to do other things. I realize that this last comment cuts against the "Ghost Town" notion (which I don't agree with). But we have noticed that when we add up the number of things we accomplished at DHS now compared to three years ago, our list is a lot smaller now. We run out of things to do, and patience, by 4:00 or so. That didn't used to happen.

 

[bbjunkie]

We were there in February. I can't remember if we rope dropped the park, but it was very close to it if we didn't. We hit everything we wanted to- GMR, Toy Story, Muppets, Indiana Jones, and took a while looking through Launch Bay and Watto's Grotto. We were done by 1pm. We ended up going back to our resort because there wasn't anything left to do. We're skipping it this July trip, since we don't really see the point in spending the time there when we could be in MK for a few more hours and do WAY more.

You left at 1:00 because "there was nothing left to do?" You DIDN'T do more than you did do. RRC, TOT, BATB, FTFTIF, ST, LM, F!, and SitS.

 

[ParkHoppers]

How about they add a Indiana Jones ride next to the Stunt show. So much you could do with an Indiana Jones ride. Not to mention how it would bolster the crowds at the stunt show. Come on Disney....give me a call and I will come down there and help you all out.

 

[aleksandr]

I took a stroll through the "launch bay"....i kept asking exactly what the attraction was, kept looking for what the buzz was about....best i could tell, a bunch of models and a gift shop, and get in line to take a picture with a wookie???

Not just a gift shop--a very high-end, expensive gift shop. Lots of props, masks, and artwork. Certainly beautiful stuff, but I don't recall seeing anything less than a couple hundred bucks.

We did the Kylo Ren meet'n'greet back in April. The line for Chewbacca was too long for out tastes. I was surprised at how quick the Kylo Ren thing was. It's basically a giant herding operation--herded in, take 2 pictures, herded out. I tried to chat with Kylo and he gave me the 'zip the lips' finger motion.

 

[JimmyV]

So much you could do with an Indiana Jones ride.

Or...they could just replicate the ride they have at DL, which remains immensely popular to this day. Sure, it is on the same ride platform as Dinosaur. But so what? It's not as if Disney is opposed to replicating rides in different parks based on different theming.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Still would be a full day park for us! LOVE IT!

 

[ParkHoppers]

Yep. A undated version of the DL Indiana Jones ride would be great at DW.

 

[MariMama]

Or...they could just replicate the ride they have at DL, which remains immensely popular to this day. Sure, it is on the same ride platform as Dinosaur. But so what? It's not as if Disney is opposed to replicating rides in different parks based on different theming.

You forgot Aladdin's Magic Carpets.

 

[JimmyV]

You forgot Aladdin's Magic Carpets.

I was going to include that, but it is in the same park as Dumbo, so it cut against my "same ride-different park" concept. But I suppose "same ride-same park" makes the point all the more poignant.

 

[Mainemama]

It all depends on what you want/like to do. I just got back from rope dropping HS and we loved it-- arrived at gate at 8:35, walked on to TSMM, older kids rode ST while little and I met Mickey and Minnie (walk up), had a fabulous meal at a very uncrowded H and V (made reservation this am) and saw Beauty and the Beast. Finished with Starbucks with no line and back to hotel to swim by noon. We will do more Star Wars activities another night. I guess I like ghost towns!