Hollywood Studios - when to arrive/day plan help

[lily2521]

I'm not sure if we should arrive in the AM at RD, leave for a midday break and return, or just do a late arrival day. We'll be with DD (6) and it's a crowd level 3 day.

Our prior 2 days are pretty full, so I like the appeal of sleeping in. Day 1 is MK, full day. Day 2 is Epcot, full day. So HS is day 3.

But on the flip side I like the idea of getting there at RD while it's not too busy as well.

We do want to be there at park closing to see F!

We'll only FP TSMM for our tier 1, and our other 2 FP's will be Frozen Sing a Long, and Great Movie Ride. We'd like to have dinner at 50's. Won't be doing RnR at all, maybe TOT if we can get the gusto to do it, it's something we're not sure if we want to do at all.

Suggestions on how to plan our day?

 

[Robo]

I'm not sure if we should arrive in the AM at RD, leave for a midday break and return, or just do a late arrival day. We'll be with DD (6) and it's a crowd level 3 day.

Our prior 2 days are pretty full, so I like the appeal of sleeping in. Day 1 is MK, full day. Day 2 is Epcot, full day. So HS is day 3.

But on the flip side I like the idea of getting there at RD while it's not too busy as well.

We do want to be there at park closing to see F!

We'll only FP TSMM for our tier 1, and our other 2 FP's will be Frozen Sing a Long, and Great Movie Ride. We'd like to have dinner at 50's. Won't be doing RnR at all, maybe TOT if we can get the gusto to do it, it's something we're not sure if we want to do at all.

Suggestions on how to plan our day?

I, too, like the idea of getting there at RD while it's not too busy...

 

[minnie mum]

Another fan of getting there at RD. We were able to do TSM, RNRC, TOT, and VOTLM, all before our first FP at 10:00. By noon we had used our 3 FPs and had our 4th for after lunch. That left us with time to return to the resort for a rest before going back to the park for the evening.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Rope drop to Fantasmic is a long day and honestly, there just isn't enough for us to do in Hollywood Studios all day. It also means we have to eat there for lunch

Do you have park hoppers?

If so, what we do is start the day at rope drop at Hollywood Studios, hit the big things standby at rope drop (sign up for jedi training, TSM, RnR, etc) then the second tier things (Tot, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Sing along), then walk or take the boat over to Epcot where my three FP+ would be waiting for me. Have a much better lunch in the world showcase, then use my three FP+ and make it back to Hollywood Studios for F!.

 

[smiths02]

I haven't been since 2011, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I was just going to say that I don't think DHS is a full day park, especially if you don't need to ride RnR or TOT. I vote for spending the afternoon/evening there.

For our family, even with a mid-day break 3 days in a row of opening and closing a park would have been too much when our son was 6.

 

[lily2521]

Rope drop to Fantasmic is a long day and honestly, there just isn't enough for us to do in Hollywood Studios all day. It also means we have to eat there for lunch

Do you have park hoppers?

If so, what we do is start the day at rope drop at Hollywood Studios, hit the big things standby at rope drop (sign up for jedi training, TSM, RnR, etc) then the second tier things (Tot, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Sing along), then walk or take the boat over to Epcot where my three FP+ would be waiting for me. Have a much better lunch in the world showcase, then use my three FP+ and make it back to Hollywood Studios for F!.

We wouldn't do a full day at HS if we do RD. We'd RD, leave for a few hours to go to the pool, have lunch at our resort, etc. and then come back in the PM, hopefully be able to get another TSMM FP (I know this might not happen) and see F!

Or just do a later arrival overall

We don't have hoppers.

I haven't been since 2011, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I was just going to say that I don't think DHS is a full day park, especially if you don't need to ride RnR or TOT. I vote for spending the afternoon/evening there.

For our family, even with a mid-day break 3 days in a row of opening and closing a park would have been too much when our son was 6.

I agree it isn't a full day park for us. We were there for a quick visit a couple of years ago, were there for RD and left by noon.

I'm leaning towards the PM arrival, maybe a 2:00 or so? I was thinking this could be our sleep in/be lazy/hit the pool day. All that is on our HS list is:

Must do:
TSMM
F!
Frozen Sing-along
Beauty and the Beast show
Dinner at 50's Prime Time

Do if we have time, 2nd priority:
Indiana Jones show
Animation Station

We saw LMA last time we were there and left 1/2 way through.