Hollywood Studios- One Day SW Focused

[3smithboys]

We are visiting our son in FL for Thanksgiving from out of state and just found out that DH and I have Monday to do something on our own. We are huge Star Wars fans & want to visit HS. It’s been years since we’ve been to Disney. (We used to visit every year with our kids when they were younger.)

We will be drive from Jacksonville but would get there for rope drop and plan on staying the entire day. What do we need to do to maximize our time? We want to get on all of the SW attractions. Do we need Genie + and ILL? (It’s been so long since we’ve been that we’ve never actually used either ) I’d appreciate any advice/assistance to make the most of our day! TIA

 

[lentesta]

I would ILL/LLSP for Rise of the Resistance. It's one of the least-reliable rides in Walt Disney World. The last time I checked it averaged 2 breakdowns and just under 2 hours of downtime per day. The LL is insurance against wasting time (twice) in line for a ride that isn't running.

It was also not open at rope drop around 40% of days. I believe DHS actually puts a CM on Hollywood Boulevard at opening to tell guests if it's down. So ask a CM when you enter the park if Rise is running, before heading over there for it.

Consider the single-rider line for Smugglers Run if the standby is too long. Also, Docking Bay 7 is one of the best places in the park to eat - use mobile order about 30-45 minutes before you want to eat, to ensure you get a decent return-time window.

 

[Marthasor]

There are only two rides in Galaxy's Edge and they both have standby lines. If you are truly interested in only riding those two rides, you may not want to purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass (for Rise of the Resistance) or Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (for Millennium Falcon and other DHS rides). If you don't purchase the LLs, I would consider heading straight to Rise at rope drop and then going to Millenium Falcon. If you want to splurge a little, maybe purchase LLSP for Rise. It also depends on whether these rides still have LL availability at this point, but you can check the app to find out.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

For an alternate strategy, the standby line for Rise gets very short in the evening. For example, yesterday the posted wait was 25 minutes during the last hour of operation. The actual wait was likely about half that.

On a recent visit, we were able to ride 3 times in less than an hour and a half. We don’t purchase the single pass and save those funds for Dole Whips and Mickey bars.