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

[JZCubed]

Your question was "how do we fit it in?" The answer is not eating 3 TS and not leaving the park for one of those 3 meals.

Both of these points are non negotiable for your group...

So... My short answer is, you won't fit it all in.

You're gonna have to sacrifice a few things.

^This^.

 

[Amanda999]

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.

DS LOVES Holllywood & Vine. But, that said, a pre-park opening breakfast there will NOT be relaxing, quiet, or out of hustle and bustle. If you need that, I'd absolutely eat in your resort room (we bring bread, or buy muffins/bagels night prior). Or, at Writer's Stop - a hidden away pastry/coffee shop (but its CS - not open until the park opens). I live for the carrot cake cookie. But I digress...

We go to Hollywood & Vine breakfast (and lunch) alot - like, multiple times per trip sometimes! The only time that it is not loud and busy - remember, every 20 minutes a dance party with music and singing and parades breaks out - is right at 11am (for lunch) for about 15 minutes, and then for the 15 or 30 minutes before lunch ends. Between 8:05am and 9:15am it is busy and boisterous in there. Of course, it is a buffet - so, every single customer is getting up and down to go get food, the waitstaff is moving around, the managers and tech guys and the 4 characters are all walking around most of the time. The tables are close together. Its not calm (it is calmer than Chef Mickey's, though - that place is loud).

So, if you were going to drop a TS ADR to free up time, H&Vine is the one to drop if calm is important. Sci-Fi is, I find, calm and relaxing - which you wouldn't think due to (sort of) horror movies playing. But its actually quiet - very little talking, no music, calm (low) lighting. Basically its like your quiet home with the tv on and everyone watching it.

Again, we love H&Vine, but its not a calm quiet TS respite from the busy parks or breakfast in your room.

 

[PoohsFan1]

For my family which it consists of DH, DD11, DD13, and myself, we go to RD after having a quick breakfast at our resort (we don't do TS, we just pick something up quick and then head out to the buses). After RD, we head straight over to RnRC and ride that a few times (we always get a FP here so we will use it then too), then after a few rides on that, DH, DD11, and DD13 will head straight over to ToT (I don't ride ) while I either look around the gift shop or sit outside and people watch. After ToT, our day is fair game...we normally would head over to Star Tours and ride that (we like to get a FP there as well) or we would head over to see Little Mermaid and then go visit Walt at One Man's Dream. We also make time to see Muppets Vision 3D, ride The Great Movie Ride, go take a class in the Animation Building, and while we are there go visit some of the characters there as well. We don't bother with Fantasmic, Lights Motor, Action Show or Indiana Jones, and my kids really aren't huge fans of TSM so we will skip it, unless I get a FP because DH loves that ride. For the most part, we will also make sure we watch my favorite show, B&B but sometimes time slips away from us and we can't make one of the scheduled shows. We do however, always make time to do 1 TS meal for lunch....our favorite is Sci-Fi because it gives us a break from the park and it is a really nice place to cool off (the AC always seems to be blasting while we are in there), plus the food is really good and we all love the old cheesy science fiction clips. After lunch, which I try to make a later lunch, my kids are wanting to ride ToT and RnRC again, and while they are doing that, DH and I are strolling down Hollywood Blvd to do some shopping or watch some of the street performers. DHS is the one park where we don't have to go back to the resort for a break because the park is so small it is very easy to get from one side to the other, plus you tend to sit more in this park due to all of the shows so you aren't using as much energy.

 

[Sarahbelle341]

We usually end up needing more than one day at HS since my DS wants to see a lot of the characters and shows. The Beauty and the Beast show is great and much better IMHO than Little Mermaid. Disney JR show it puppets and sitting on the floor its not really characters the way you think it is. We use TS as a break too but there are a lot of characters at HS that you can't find anywhere else. Characterpalooza is a great way to meet them and the Animation building usually has short lines.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Thanks yeah we've seen the Disney Jr Show several times and my boys love it...well the older one (hes 8) has sort of outgrown it now, but my younger son is only 18 months (will be 20 months on our vacation) and he loves Mickey and I don't think he will care that they are puppets lol. I just had to explain to my older son that we are doing stuff that you want to do so we need to do stuff that your younger brother wants to do. Its a sad day in my house when my older son says he doesn't like Mickey anymore bc he's too old for that. I'm like I still love Mickey and I'm 30, so whats that say about me, lol

 

[tcherjen]

I haven't ever made a full day out of HS. We always go back to the resort to relax.