Hollywood Studios: how do you fit everything into 1 day?

[StirlingSilver83]

Ok so I never thought I would be asking myself this question but now I find myself wondering how other people do it. My kids are still young so we don't do the headliner rides (RnR & tot). We currently have adrs for Hollywood & Vine (pre park opening), sci fi dine in for lunch, and beaches and cream for dinner. We have FPs for the little mermaid show, the frozen show, and tsmm. My kids want to see every other show as well. I have worked all the shows into our schedule. To this point I have no problem, I mean it will be crammed but it's doable for us. Now my older son says he wants me to throw in the toy story M&G and the monsters inc M&G. That just blew my mind! My schedule was pretty much set and I honestly don't see any time in it to squeeze in a M&G. Specially ones that could be like 30-45 minutes long waiting. Should I pull my hair out now?

My other option is to see the toy story characters at Magic Kingdom since we are doing 2 full days there as well as 2 half days. Then I will only have to squeeze the monsters inc characters in someplace on my schedule. Which could be doable. My question is how does everyone do it? Especially if you are the type to do the headliner rides. How do you make it all work?

 

[siskaren]

I wouldn't do a breakfast and lunch TS meal on the same day.

 

[mrzrich]

We don't eat 3 TS in one day.

 

[subtchr]

That's what I was going to say...I don't even do ONE TS every day, much less three. That's both a lot of time and a lot of food.

 

[ModernArtist]

We don't eat 3 TS in one day.

This. Table service meals take up so much time and you've got 3 scheduled.

 

[Alesia]

Getting rid of at least 2 of those ADRs would be a start. 3 ADRs in one day sounds absolutely miserable.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Yeah well unfortunately I need to have that time scheduled for my older son. He needs those sit down meals to get away from the hustle and bustle of the theme park and quick service meals don't really work for our family. The ts meals are my sons relaxing points. He will get over stimulated then have a meltdown so the meals break up our days. Unfortunately that's the 1 thing in our schedule that we can't do away with. i guess we will just see how our day plays out when we get there.

 

[disney world dreamer]

Ok so I never thought I would be asking myself this question but now I find myself wondering how other people do it. My kids are still young so we don't do the headliner rides (RnR & tot). We currently have adrs for Hollywood & Vine (pre park opening), sci fi dine in for lunch, and beaches and cream for dinner. We have FPs for the little mermaid show, the frozen show, and tsmm. My kids want to see every other show as well. I have worked all the shows into our schedule. To this point I have no problem, I mean it will be crammed but it's doable for us. Now my older son says he wants me to throw in the toy story M&G and the monsters inc M&G. That just blew my mind! My schedule was pretty much set and I honestly don't see any time in it to squeeze in a M&G. Specially ones that could be like 30-45 minutes long waiting. Should I pull my hair out now?

My other option is to see the toy story characters at Magic Kingdom since we are doing 2 full days there as well as 2 half days. Then I will only have to squeeze the monsters inc characters in someplace on my schedule. Which could be doable. My question is how does everyone do it? Especially if you are the type to do the headliner rides. How do you make it all work?

well i certainly don't eat at two TS restaurants.
that right there is likely to take 2.5-3hrs!
i mean if you need it then you need it although sometimes i don't feel very relaxed at TS restaurants.
honestly i'd be more relaxed eating at a QS and then spending a little while in an out of the way place to chill.

we are rope droppers.
usually we do RNRC and TOT first thing.
then have a FP+ for TSMM and TOT again.
beyond those attractions our musts are BATB, GMR, muppet vision 3D, and sometimes we do VOTLM and sometimes we don't.
just depends on what we feel like at the moment.

we generally always eat at sci-fi for lunch and make the ADR for as early as possible. we aim for 11am-12pm but sometimes we end up with a slightly later ADR.

we are generally go go go before lunch and then fairly leisurely after lunch and even doing it that way we are generally out of the park no later than 4pm. (we are not huge fans of fantasmic so don't stay for it)

i'm going solo in april and i'm gonna be go go go the entire time i'm at HS because i'm looking to leave as early as possible so i can go back to POP and enjoy the pool for a little while and then head to DTD for the evening.

my plan is to be done by 2pm and this is what i'm doing and in this order.
-RNRC
-TOT
-FP+ for TSMM
-FP+ for VOTLM
-GMR
-muppet vision 3d
-BATB at 1pm
-FP+ for TOT
-grab a bite to eat from fairfax fare and head out.

 

[lauradis]

Yeah well unfortunately I need to have that time scheduled for my older son. He needs those sit down meals to get away from the hustle and bustle of the theme park and quick service meals don't really work for our family. The ts meals are my sons relaxing points. He will get over stimulated then have a meltdown so the meals break up our days. Unfortunately that's the 1 thing in our schedule that we can't do away with. i guess we will just see how our day plays out when we get there.

The simple answer is you cant do everything in one day.

Add transportation and table service your talking 3-4 hr for meals min.

Most of us make list of everyone's top must do's in each park

I will use Mk for example
Mine are 1. Meet Mickey and Minnie, 2. haunted mansion 3. splash mountain
dh 1. haunted mansion 2.splash mountain 2. space mountain
dd 1. play sorcery card game 2. splash mountain. 3 Eat at castle.

 

[AllieBoo]

We normally only do one day at DHS, and always manage to do everything we want to do, however, we don't do any TS meals. They are too time consuming for us, and we don't find the food at Disney to be that great anyway, so we do breakfast in the room (granola bars, cereal, etc), pack a lunch to take with us and then do a QS for dinner.

 

[Katholicchik]

I wouldn't do a breakfast and lunch TS meal on the same day.

Agreed.

But I totally get that you need the down time. You just can't do everything in one day I don't think. It sounds like you have the makings of a magical day as it is. Try not to stress about doing everything. You're going to have so much fun!

 

[livinginthecornfield]

What about doing some cereal or granola bars in your hotel room? Then make it for rope drop and do one of the character meals for BRUNCH??? That would take away one of your TS and give evryone enough fuel to plow through the afternoon until dinner? That would easily give you another couple of hours for park time!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Thanks everyone for the tips! My next question is would you do all the shows or is there a show that you would give up to meet the characters that just isn't that good. The Disney jr show is a must do for us bc my youngest is obsessed with Mickey lol and the car show is another must bc my oldest wants to see all the stunts and obviously the frozen show is a must. I am thinking about possibly giving up the beauty and the beast show to do 1 of the M&Gs. What's everyone's thought on this? If you had to give up 1 of the shows which would it be?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yeah well unfortunately I need to have that time scheduled for my older son. He needs those sit down meals to get away from the hustle and bustle of the theme park and quick service meals don't really work for our family. The ts meals are my sons relaxing points. He will get over stimulated then have a meltdown so the meals break up our days. Unfortunately that's the 1 thing in our schedule that we can't do away with. i guess we will just see how our day plays out when we get there.

This is understandable.

I think folks are just pointing out that those 3 sit downs are interfering with how much you can accomplish.

My suggestion, if managable for your family is this:

List the options for the kids and have them prioritize. Are they capable of understanding that doing activity A means you risk not being able to do Activity B?

Going on my pregnant brain here--but I think you have 3 other shows that you do not have a FP for: LMA, Indiana Jones, Disney Jr, and B&B. Each of those shows is roughly 30 minutes not including queuing and exiting.

There is also then great Movie ride and Muppets--was that expected?

Let them decide and prepare to shift gears.
I wonder if timing at RD would allow you to get the character meet and greets done and out of the way.

Good luck with your planning. I hope the kids will get to enjoy as much as possible.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thanks everyone for the tips! My next question is would you do all the shows or is there a show that you would give up to meet the characters that just isn't that good. The Disney jr show is a must do for us bc my youngest is obsessed with Mickey lol and the car show is another must bc my oldest wants to see all the stunts and obviously the frozen show is a must. I am thinking about possibly giving up the beauty and the beast show to do 1 of the M&Gs. What's everyone's thought on this? If you had to give up 1 of the shows which would it be?

I would leave off B&B if the other shows are priorities.

This may not be everyone's vote. But it is mine.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

This is understandable.

I think folks are just pointing out that those 3 sit downs are interfering with how much you can accomplish.

My suggestion, if managable for your family is this:

List the options for the kids and have them prioritize. Are they capable of understanding that doing activity A means you risk not being able to do Activity B?

Going on my pregnant brain here--but I think you have 3 other shows that you do not have a FP for: LMA, Indiana Jones, Disney Jr, and B&B. Each of those shows is roughly 30 minutes not including queuing and exiting.

There is also then great Movie ride and Muppets--was that expected?

Let them decide and prepare to shift gears.
I wonder if timing at RD would allow you to get the character meet and greets done and out of the way.

Good luck with your planning. I hope the kids will get to enjoy as much as possible.

Thanks for the info! My older son due to his cognitive disabilty does not understand time very well...he thinks time just stands still and he has all the time in the world and he doesn't understand y we can't just do everything lol its cute but trying at times. We had the DAS last year which helped a lot with that so hoping to be able to get that again this year. I think I can easily leave out b&b and have him not worry about it bc it's on the other side of the park so if he doesn't see a sign for it he won't want to see it lol

 

[mrzrich]

Are you doing Indian Jones show? I would skip that before I'd skip B&B

 

[UnderTheRialto]

iirc there isn't much mickey in the disney jr show. It's short stories with Jake, Sofia and Doc. Mickey is there but just a bit.

 

[tink9702]

I'd hit Buzz & Woody at Rope Drop if I were you. The line is quite quick then since everyone else is headed to TSMM or RnR. Plus it's a really fun M&G to start with!

And frankly have you seen the little mermaid show? in my humble opinion it's terrible. mostly just clips of the movie and DD who was almost 4 when we went and should have loved it didn't care for it that much. It's okay, but I'd consider skipping that show over all the others. Definitely do NOT skip LMA show!!

If you share your actual schedule someone might see where you can change it up to put the Monsters Inc. M&G.

 

[alicat8]

What about doing some cereal or granola bars in your hotel room? Then make it for rope drop and do one of the character meals for BRUNCH??? That would take away one of your TS and give evryone enough fuel to plow through the afternoon until dinner? That would easily give you another couple of hours for park time!

This is what I was going to suggest. I totally get the whole "needing a break" thing! But I bet if you start early, you won't really need to start the day with a sit down. It could be worth a shot, especially if it's only for one day of the trip.