Is anyone else disgusted about the state of Hollywood Studios?

[Turn the Page]

Honestly, DHS has always been a half day park for us so I'm not sure I would really say I am disgusted with the state of the park today as I never really liked much of it anyway. In fact, I would be perfectly happy skipping it on our trip this fall but DFi really wants to go so we will go. On our previous trip my mom and I were talking about how we have never seen Fantasmic and we wondered why that was. We concluded it was because we would always get to DHS (it was MGM back then) for rope drop and be ready to leave around lunch time and didn't feel the prospect of Fantasmic was enough to get us to go back. It is on my list of must do's for this trip though. I really would like to see it once.

 

[Itinkso]

The one thing that I REALLY miss, (and I forgot about this one) was the afternoon parade. One of my favorite in all the parks. So much energy and fun.

I also forgot about Countdown to Fun as well as Disney Channel Rocks!

Though Countdown to Fun was cute, it was only a shell of the previous Block Party Bash parade as well as no comparison at all to Pixar Play Parade at DCA.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

Let's not even joke about this!!!!

But I am not joking. Pretty soon the place is going to be called Frozen World.

 

[Suzanne74]

We skipped AK this trip and did not miss it at all. There are only a few rides and way too much walking inbetween them. Hardly any characters, not very magical. We live near the free National Zoo in DC so seeing animals is not a huge draw for us. The Rapids ride is way too short, Expedition is great, Primal Whirl sucks and Dinosaur is just okay. The whole carnival theme is tacky. We are waiting until Avatarland opens to see if it is worth it.

That said, I love Animal Kingdom lodge and savannah views.


We went to DHS this trip and really had fun for my girls ages. We did TSM 3x, RRC 3x, ToT 2x, Frozen sing-along, Indiana show, Star Tours x5, Muppets, Mermaid, Baymax and Incredibles character greets, Fantasmic and a great late lunch at Mama Melrose. Oh and youngest did Jedi training! It was a full day for us and we like that the park isn't too big and more times to do rides over and characters to see. Lots of places to shop too. We love Starring Rolls for breakfast and the desserts next to the villains shop.

 

[lustergirl]

<<< skipping DHS on my next trip. Nothing there that tickles my fancy. I don't ride TOT or RNR and there is only so much LMA and Indy you can see. If it was Christmas time I would go to see the Osborne Lights.

 

[JimmyV]

I guess my point is that HS isn't much different at all than just 5 years ago. So if you are complaining about HS now, you're talking about pretty dang much the same park as it's been the last 5 years.

Minor or not, the attractions that have closed ate up time. If you did Back Lot Tour and American Idol before, and now you can't, you have an hour and a half unaccounted for now. And soon, The Great Movie Ride will join the list of closed attractions, (though this one is temporary. But it promises to be for an extended period of time and will occur before anything new opens up. So it will be a net loss for the park). Whether or not you lament the loss of the closed attractions, they occupied time that is now not shifted over to anything else, making DHS very much a half day park unless you choose to wait in the TSMM standby line two additional times to chew up your new-found 2-3 hours of free time.

 

[tabistar]

There's more for my family to do at HS than at AK. We've done all 4 parks the other times we've gone, but this year, we are skipping AK. We will probably take an afternoon break at HS, but it's still worth going.

 

[Dimaline312000]

Frozen Summer Fun?

Frozen Fall Fun?

Frozen Winter Fun?

Frozen Spring Fun?

I LOVE FROZEN!!!! Just sayin!!

 

[sweetnjmom]

I think there have been many missteps at HS. Closing the Pixar parade is one major mistake, IMO. But, then, Disney also did that at AK and I must only guess there was some negative feedback? But I still think that the parade there was fabulous.

We'll have 3 partial days planned at HS in May -- one afternoon/evening to FP rides and see Fantasmic! and two mornings for character ADRs (Star Wars and Disney Jr. at H&V). But beyond the few rides and meeting characters, it's not really our favorite park. My son definitely preferred MK and AK. I like the shops at HS but I'm not really splurging this trip.

 

[amber.miller]

Yes, the Muppets 3D movie is still there.

The only non-Frozen thing being added is the Doc McStuffins meet and greet near Jake and Sofia's meet area.

Baymax along with Hiro, who wipes make-up off of Baymax, will continue their meets.

Thank you so much! My boys (and y hubby and I!) will love the Baymax and Hiro meet and greet! I'll keep that a surprise to them

 

[ArwenMarie]

How long is GMR going to be down for?

 

[JimmyV]

How long is GMR going to be down for?

Unknown when, and unknown how long. If rumors are true, a lot of the updating will be to the pre-ride movie montage as well as the Grand Finale movie montage, which could be done "backstage" and input without much down time. But if they redo any of the scenes in the ride itself, I would imagine you would be looking at a couple of months. And if it is a major overhaul, longer than that.

 

[Jennasis]

They really need to incorporate Big Hero 6. We just finished watching it and it was SO good! Frozen isn't fit to dispense Baymax's scotch tape! I haven't laughed this hard at a movie in ages. The fist bump slayed me.

 

[SamRoc]

I really actually like it there! Tower of terror has to be one of my favorite rides, as well as rock n roller coaster and toy story mania. I also love going to the sci fi diner, reminds me of the drive in in warwick ny we used to go to. We had such a great time in october, met our friends there and made a fun day of it. We also really enjoy fantasmic at night. and i guess it also helps that my dd is a "friend" of Ariel from the voyage of the little mermaid. The first time i saw her i really got teary eyed!

 

[DougEMG]

I think all 3 parks are broken in their own way, other than MK. I would pay the $100 ticket for a full day at MK if I only had one day to spend in Orlando. I would not spend the one day ticket price for the other three, $50 at most. Anyway, I don't think it's just DHS, I think it's all three but for different reasons. Hopefully they all get help soon but everything takes so long at at WDW so who knows.

I agree with you here, Epcot, Ak and DHS are not worth $100 a day. One thing I've found with using FP+ is that it is causing me to spend way more time in MK than any of the other parks just cause I don't want to waste my time with poor FP+ choices.

 

[Itinkso]

and i guess it also helps that my dd is a "friend" of Ariel from the voyage of the little mermaid. The first time i saw her i really got teary eyed!

Very cool! I know how you feel and it's hard to know some think of your DD's "home" as being disgusting. My DD performs in JTA and Fantasmic so I've watched those shows more times than the average park guest and it never gets old watching your child living their dream and bringing happiness to others.

It's just a different perspective for some of us but I do admit, I look forward to the upcoming additions to the park.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

DHS is kind of sad. If it wasn't for TSMM, we might be skipping it on our next trip, although I am excited to see Hollywood Blvd without the BAH. I think I would feel better about it if Disney actually confirmed any plans for DHS. AFAIK, the only thing confirmed is the additional track to TSMM.

I didn't really mind the construction walls in AK on our last visit. We still had a great time because the only thing actually closed was a CS restaurant.

 

[Magic Band Defender]

Minor or not, the attractions that have closed ate up time. If you did Back Lot Tour and American Idol before, and now you can't, you have an hour and a half unaccounted for now. And soon, The Great Movie Ride will join the list of closed attractions, (though this one is temporary. But it promises to be for an extended period of time and will occur before anything new opens up. So it will be a net loss for the park). Whether or not you lament the loss of the closed attractions, they occupied time that is now not shifted over to anything else, making DHS very much a half day park unless you choose to wait in the TSMM standby line two additional times to chew up your new-found 2-3 hours of free time.

DHS just has so few rides in the first place, any closures are just so much more noticeable.

 

[Magic Band Defender]

These half day parks are certainly putting the squeeze on MK. It was hard to find any day MK wasn't nuts when we were there last month. None of the other parks were crowded, IMO.

 

[SnackCredit]

AK is very easily a full-day park for us. We see all of the shows, and the animal exhibits are perfect time-killers. I wish we were able to spend time there on extra days.

This past trip, we did HS on our arrival day after eating lunch at DTD. We did almost everything we wanted to in a half day (went to Cape May for dinner and came back for the later Fantasmic). I ended up going back to HS by myself on our last day to ride RnRC during the morning EMH because my mother won't ride it (we met up in Epcot for lunch).