HS lot full at 5:00 tonite???

[DebbieB]

Pop Warner maybe?

Pop Warner's party is tomorrow night, there will not be a public viewing of Osborne Lights, park closes at 6:00.

I was there yesterday, it was packed.

 

[Cdn Gal]

So, to avoid having to turn around because the parking lot is full, can I just go directly to Epcot, get a parking spot and then take a bus to Hollywood Studios??

 

[Skywise]

I wonder if they'll start extending the evening hours...

 

[hiroMYhero]

So, to avoid having to turn around because the parking lot is full, can I just go directly to Epcot, get a parking spot and then take a bus to Hollywood Studios??

Yes. There are always park-to-park buses running.

Beginning Thursday through the end of the month, all DHS CMs will park at Epcot unless they have a DHS backstage parking pass. That opens up the entire CM parking area for regular guests.

 

[AngiTN]

This explains it a bit

Guess the site is blocked here

5 Things Guests Should Know About the Problem Disney Never Expected to Have

When Disney announced that the 20th anniversary edition of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights would be its last, fans were understandably upset. However, even though Disney expected guests to turn out in large numbers to experience the final year of this annual tradition, the response this year has been much larger than Disney has even expected. If you have yet to attend 2015's final edition of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, here are some things you should know first….

1. Plan for a parking lot closure
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Over the past few weeks, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been experiencing alomst-nightly parking lot closures that generally hit the park around 5PM. When these closures happen, guests looking to get in to Disney’s Hollywood Studios are instantly turned away from the gate and re-routed to Epcot’s parking lot. Unfortunately, after driving to Epcot, guests must then wait in line for a bus that will bring them back to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Because so many guests are being re-routed, wait times for this bus back to the park can be an hour or more.

Though it seems a little weird to talk about Disney’s Hollywood Studios and closing in the same sentence, this problem has been growing in recent weeks, and as record crowds begin to pour into the resort later this month during the busiest weeks of the year at Walt Disney World, we aren’t expecting this issue to get any better. However, guests who want to avoid this issue do have options

While the all-new attractions now open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are attracting some guests, the vast majority of current traffic at this park is coming after 4PM. So, if you are wanting to see the Osborne Lights without waiting an hour or more in traffic (and then for a bus) your best bet is to try and arrive at the park at 2PM or earlier. There are plenty of new things to do at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and even though you might not want to arrive at a park several hours before the event you want to experience kicks off, this is the only real way to guarantee you can park at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and see the lights on a given evening.

Though it might sound a little crazy, guests who want to avoid the hassle of driving, parking and bussing can skip Walt Disney World’s transportation entirely and take a short walk from Epcot to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It may not be a hidden secret per se, but many guests don’t know that there is a walkway that connects Disney’s Hollywood Studios to Epcot, which can be traversed by most guests in 15-20 minutes. Simply park your vehicle at Epcot, walk through the park and then exit through the International Gate (located at the end of the U.K. pavilion, before the bridge to France). From there you'll find a little walkway, which will lead you directly to the front gate of Disney's Hollywood Studios.

4. Be ready for massive crowds inside the event.
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Though your immediate problem when trying to see the Osborne Lights this winter will be transportation, once you are able to get inside the park, a whole other issue will present itself. Because of the volume of guests seeing the lights this year (even on non-peak days), Disney has been occasionally implementing a queue system that may delay your entrance into the display area, as Disney waits for crowds to thin out before letting other guests in.

Once you do get in, be aware that you probably won’t have a lot of room to move around or take pictures. Though Disney is regulating the amount of people going in to the display area, they are getting as many people in as safety allows, and considering guests tend to congregate in a few areas (like by the trees or in the light canopy side street) it can be tough to move once you're actually in the display area, and tempers have been known to flare as guests are sandwiched together like sardines.

Unfortunately, there's no real way to circumvent this issue, as there are no more "slow" periods left when it comes to this event, and guest levels are only expected to grow as this annual tradition's time runs out. Which brings us to our last piece of advice...

New Year's Eve may just break records at Disney's Hollywood Studios
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New Year's Eve and New Year's Day have both typically been record-breaking days at Walt Disney World, with Epcot and the Magic Kingdom hitting phased closures as guests pour into these parks. However, with guest levels at what is likely to be an all-time high during this holiday season, guests may bypass the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, instead opting to see the historic final days of this light display, which could lead Disney's Hollywood Studios to its first capacity closure in many years. Though this park has been closing its parking lots regularly, it hasn't had to refuse guests at the gate in a very long time. However, with this event's popularity continuing to build as it heads into its final days, a closure scenario seems likely.

The irony here of course is that Disney's Hollywood Studios' sudden surge in popularity isn't because of something new that is being opened, but instead due to a looming closure. Though some local news outlets reported back in September that Disney had originally considered finding a new home for this annual light display (potentially on Sunset Boulevard), they ultimately decided against it, and are giving the lights one last, fun-filled anniversary run, which will likely turn out to be the best-attended Osborne Lights in history.

Are you planning on seeing the Osborne lights one last time? What are some of your fondest memories of this event?

 

[Gina Starr]

Wow. Planning on going to see the lights on the very last day January 3rd. If it's like this now, I can only imagine what it will be like then.

 

[KathyTX]

We tried to go last Saturday night, driving over, and got caught in the huge and unexpected traffic jam getting to the Studios, then wound up in the very, very full parking lot... We were just hoping to see the Osborne lights and didn't have a lot of time so wound up bailing since an overflowing parking lot seemed to indicate a overflowing park.

Allow a LOT of time to see the lights this year.

 

[Daisy62]

We were there last night. We got there at noon. We went to see the lights at 8 pm and it was a mob scene. You could barely move.

 

[DVC1991]

We are supposed to go to the merry and bright dessert party on the 15th but we have dinner reservations at le cellier around 4 at Epcot. Does anyone know if there is a way to find out if the Hollywood studios lot is full before we leave Epcot? It would be such a waste of time to go from Epcot to Hollywood back to Epcot, especially when we are going to be somewhat pressed for time to make it to the dessert party at 6ish

 

[AngiTN]

I'm thinking the dessert party is looking better and better. Yes I realize we can't see ALL the display from the seating but at least we can see something and not be in the massive crowds. Add in how much more crowded it will be come the 21st and I am so very glad I booked it. Chalking that choice up with the choice of moving us from AoA to BWV. At least we can get to HS by people power (walking) vs. Disney transportation.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We were there a couple days ago. We went on a night without evening emh. The lights stayed open an hour after park close, which I don't think many are aware of. Most people left after fantasmic. Santa Goofys line also stayed open a half hour after park close and was short. By the end of the extra hour we were walking up to all the photo pass photographers without a wait and the area was almost empty.

This strategy may work for the next week or so.

I imagine the park will have capacity closures from Christmas on until the final lights closure.

 

[AngiTN]

We were there a couple days ago. We went on a night without evening emh. The lights stayed open an hour after park close, which I don't think many are aware of. Most people left after fantasmic. Santa Goofys line also stayed open a half hour after park close and was short. By the end of the extra hour we were walking up to all the photo pass photographers without a wait and the area was almost empty.

This strategy may work for the next week or so.

I imagine the park will have capacity closures from Christmas on until the final lights closure.

Yeah, I was really looking forward to doing this. But starting on the 18th they are open till 10:00 or later. With the fireworks I don't think they can keep the lights on till close, much less past close. I'm glad to see the fireworks but sure miss the chance to stick around past close.

 

[hakepb]

We are supposed to go to the merry and bright dessert party on the 15th but we have dinner reservations at le cellier around 4 at Epcot. Does anyone know if there is a way to find out if the Hollywood studios lot is full before we leave Epcot? It would be such a waste of time to go from Epcot to Hollywood back to Epcot, especially when we are going to be somewhat pressed for time to make it to the dessert party at 6ish

You can avoid traffic by taking the friendship boats from EPCOT (IG) to DHS.

It might even be the same to less walking to just walk to DHS from EPCOT instead of walking all the way through EPCOT to the tram, walking to your car, then repeating the walk in the DHS parking lot...

 

[DVC1991]

You can avoid traffic by taking the friendship boats from EPCOT (IG) to DHS.

It might even be the same to less walking to just walk to DHS from EPCOT instead of walking all the way through EPCOT to the tram, walking to your car, then repeating the walk in the DHS parking lot...

We thought of this but then weren't sure of how big of a pain it would be to get back to Epcot later at night to get the car. We also considered parking at beach club/ boardwalk area but felt this wasn't fair to people dining at those resorts or staying there.

 

[DebbieB]

We thought of this but then weren't sure of how big of a pain it would be to get back to Epcot later at night to get the car. We also considered parking at beach club/ boardwalk area but felt this wasn't fair to people dining at those resorts or staying there.

Use valet parking

 

[DVC1991]

Use valet parking

What time does the valet close? I heard its kind of hard to get past security there unless you have a reservation or are staying at the resort too. That would be ideal for us though because we will be having dinner at the world showcase and could go to he back entrance of the park then walk or take the boat like others suggested to go to Hollywood.

 

[AngiTN]

What time does the valet close? I heard its kind of hard to get past security there unless you have a reservation or are staying at the resort too. That would be ideal for us though because we will be having dinner at the world showcase and could go to he back entrance of the park then walk or take the boat like others suggested to go to Hollywood.

Seeing as there are several locations on the Boardwalk that do not take ADR it's not hard at all. Just tell them you are heading to ESPN Club or Big River if you need to. No ADR to check. But you would need to plan on Valet for sure since they do have a parking restriction there. Sometimes even resort guests are forced to use Valet

 

[DVC1991]

Seeing as there are several locations on the Boardwalk that do not take ADR it's not hard at all. Just tell them you are heading to ESPN Club or Big River if you need to. No ADR to check. But you would need to plan on Valet for sure since they do have a parking restriction there. Sometimes even resort guests are forced to use Valet

I think as long as the valet will be open til 930 or 10 we will definitely do this

 

[hiroMYhero]

I think as long as the valet will be open til 930 or 10 we will definitely do this

Valets are out 24 hours a day because guests are always coming and going. You won't have a problem retrieving your car.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We are headed down to Orlando this weekend in order to see the lights one last time. We are staying off-site for the first time in 9 years (a friend offered to let us stay at her house) and these posts about HS are freaking me out. Since we only have a couple days at the parks, my plan was to spend Saturday morning at the MK, then drive over to HS after the FoF parade. Reading about the parking lot at HS closing, I started thinking maybe we should just park at Epcot, do a couple things at Epcot, then go to HS by boat through the IG exit a little later than planned and take a bus from HS back to our car at Epcot. But then I started wondering if perhaps we shouldn't just leave our car at the TTC and take the monorail to Epcot, then a bus from HS back to the MK after the lights. The MK is open until 1:00am so we could reenter the MK and do a few more things. Which is the better plan? Drive to Epcot or take the monorail and leave our car at the TTC?