Hollywood Studios - What Exactly is Left?

[hyzdufan]

I understand this is a transition period for the park, but what a disheartening thing to see when I loaded up the Hollywood Studios touring plans and it churned me through the entire park, all attractions and sites in less than 2 hours for an early December trip. I'd imagine a lot of folks without hoppers may be skipping it all together rather than burn a day here.

That being said, with so much of the park closed, are there less people? Or are the same amount of people being squeezed into a smaller area?

 

[ArwenMarie]

It's still a full day park if you aren't tired of all of the shows. You have the rides (ok not than many of those). Jedi Training. Character M&Gs.

For shows, there is Mermaid, BATB, Frozen Sing A Long, Indiana Jones, Muppets. Then at night, Fantasmic and fireworks. A projection show.

 

[siskaren]

There's plenty left:

Tower of Terror
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Toy Story Midway Mania
Star Tours
Fantasmic!
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast stage show
Indiana Jones stunt show
Muppet Vision 3D
Frozen Sing Along
Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular

 

[mesaboy2]

I understand this is a transition period for the park, but what a disheartening thing to see when I loaded up the Hollywood Studios touring plans and it churned me through the entire park, all attractions and sites in less than 2 hours for an early December trip. I'd imagine a lot of folks without hoppers may be skipping it all together rather than burn a day here.

That being said, with so much of the park closed, are there less people? Or are the same amount of people being squeezed into a smaller area?

There is no possible way "all attractions and sites" can be done in less than 2 hours.

 

[hyzdufan]

There is no possible way "all attractions and sites" can be done in less than 2 hours.

Sorry - I should have left out the sites. Rides, experiences, that type of thing. I know there's still shows - but it still seems a bit slim pickins.

 

[mesaboy2]

Sorry - I should have left out the sites. Rides, experiences, that type of thing. I know there's still shows - but it still seems a bit slim pickins.

There are currently 4 "rides", true. DHS does offer a fair amount of shows and other experiences as well, and is enough to keep us occupied for most of a day. YMMV.

 

[SaintsManiac]

There will also be holiday projection shows and such during December.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

When we visited HS in 1998, they had two things there that aren't there now that essentially haven't been replaced: Hunchback show, Backlot Tour. (I'm not counting the HISTK playground.)

When I visited in 2001, Backlot was gone but now we had RnR and Fantasmic! So -1 +2

When I visited in 2017, Hunchback is now gone but I now had TSMM so -2 +3

When we go back in December, the GMR is gone so -3, +3 (We're even) and they are replacing GMR with a new ride.

I'm not sure why people keep saying everything is closed down there?

Yes, I'm sure I'm missing some small things but essentially, the park is the same at this time and growing.

 

[Sarah Brecht]

FWIW I agree OP, HS is more of a half day park for us right now. Still love it though, and it helps that all of the current rides are ones I could easily repeat 3 or 4 times in a day if the wait times are short.

Star Wars Land will be worth it I think!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Um the park has never been known for its abundance of rides.
It has only lost 2 rides. One last month and one several years ago.
So yeah if you only want to do the 4 rides then you can do them in 2 hours especially with FP+.
I didn't leave until about 1:10pm a week and half ago and there was AM EMH too.
So 8am-1:110pm... no less time than a usual HS park day for me.
Went on RNRC once, TOT 3 times, TSMM once, saw Muppets Vision 3D, VOTLM, BATB, and Frozen sing along.

 

[only hope]

Several other things have closed over the years. The Magic of Disney Animation (now Star Wars stuff), the Streets of America, the amazing Lights Cameras Motors show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire show, Sounds Dangerous! (now Stars Wars clips that can be watched at home), The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow, Mulch Sweet and Shears, and no day parade/street party- there was something or another nearly continuously from '91 to '13. While there is still plenty to enjoy, many things have closed with no replacement. Even when the Star Wars and Toy Story lands open, there will still be less to do than there used to be.

 

[ShadeDK]

I was going to write a longer reply but realized the main board had already answered the question. Agree with the PPs that the park will take more than a couple of hours if you do shows in addition to rides. Another way of looking at it - enjoy the park in its lazy, uncrowded glory now before the masses descend for Toy Story Land and SW: Galaxy's Edge and you can barely move around the place.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We spend half a day here maximum and probably wouldn't visit at all if it wasn't for Fantasmic. We ride Toy Story, watching the Citizens and see Fantasmic.

 

[Felicis]

I have just planned our day, and it will be a full day for us, because we want to do all the shows. If you weren't into them, though, I can easily see how it would be a half day park.

The thing that annoys me most is that if we want to see fantastic, we will have to do a park hop just for that, one other day, grrr. We are doing the SWDP as we are SW fans.

 

[CAS239]

The real question is "what exactly is gone?"

Not much has been closed at HS in the past 1-2 years. The claims that half or more of HS is closed or gone is exaggeration

 

[Klayfish]

Frankly, I love it when people say "Oh we skip it because of all the construction, there's nothing left, etc...". Truth is that not a lot is really gone. But if it keeps people out, the more often I can ride RnR, my absolute favorite ride in all of WDW...and TSMM which is in my top 5 or top 10.

 

[slpeters]

I haven't been yet so we are looking at all the shows and it's a lot to fit in. I keep seeing this idea that there is nothing left and all I can really say is wow, The Great Movie Ride must have really been something! You close it down and nobody goes to the park any more!

 

[tlmadden73]

The problem DHS has ALWAYS had was the lack of "ride" attractions and heavy use of "shows" or walk through attractions. Rides are things people like to do over and over again. It is now down to 4 rides. Three of those 4 attractions are VERY repeatable because of the random elements in them.
Shows just aren't as repeatable as rides (for most people). There are just some shows that even a big DHS fan like myself has never seen at DHS due to lack of interest or time.

Once the "magic" of the making of movies lost its luster, it was very apparent DHS just simply had a lack of attractions and also is a very small park (space wise since a lot of its space was supposed to be utilized for making actual movies and shows).

But, to make up for the lack of space and ride attractions, they have a ton of meet and greets in a very small area.
If you are a Star Wars Fan, the Launch Bay itself is a fun attraction and can spend a lot of time there. Give Disney credit though, they've tried to keep the park relevant by pushing tons of quick fixes into the parks (Frozen Summer Fun, all the Star Wars stuff, etc.).

To me .. because of the attractions it DOES have (and the nostalgia of it when it first opened) . .it is still a "must-do" park for me. It is the only park (except the MK) that I have hit on EVERY one of my short trips (hoppers help).
Though, I can't see spending a full day there anymore though until at least Toy Story Land opens up. Even then .. with ONLY the addition of two new rides, there won't be much there for the veteran DHS goer.

 

[ArwenMarie]

They could change up the shows once in a while, that would help.

BATB in particular. That should be an easy one to switch out every five years or so.

 

[DisneyFive]

VERY little has changed at HS, and actually things have been added like the Star Wars Fireworks...

Physically, a lot of space has work going on, but the actual number of attractions that were closed are minimal. Probably the two most popular with the Lights Motors Action show, and the Backlot Tour(which isn't saying much ).

Way overblown IMO.

Having said that, if it was a 1/2 day park for you before any of the recent changes, then it is no different now. For our family, we always book 2 full days at HS of an 8 day trip. It's our second favorite park behind MK.

Dan