Is Hollyhood Studios worth a full day?

[Sevey13]

I agree with everyone else.. make it a half day..

I have to point out that not every else here has said make it half a day.

 

[Dis703]

We did a full day in February and we don't even do everything (no RnRC, Star Tours or ToT that trip). It's always been a full day park for us and none of the closures have changed that.

 

[yulilin3]

We did a full day in February and we don't even do everything (no RnRC, Star Tours or ToT that trip). It's always been a full day park for us and none of the closures have changed that.

this is my point...it's like gossip, just because one person said "DHS and everything is closed and behind walls and there's nothing to do" then everyone start repeating the same thing and for someone reason people don't research first.
OP it's great that you asked this question, like others have said, look at the attractions, shows and entertainment that are offered now and make a decision that fits you and your family.

 

[JimmyV]

If you only want to do rides, it's a half day (RNR, TOT, Toy Story, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours).

If you want to do rides AND do all the shows, it's a full day (Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, Frozen, Muppets, Disney Jr., Fantasmic)

If you want to do rides, shows, AND see characters, then it's more like a day and a half.

I think this is pretty much the case.
For us, we do all of the rides, and see some of the shows, and do not meet characters. So for us it is a 2/3rds of a day park and we are usually tapped out by 4:00-5:00. This makes waiting around for the evening stuff (like F! or Fireworks) pretty painful. Given that DHS is still a tiered park, we go at RD to catch the Tier 1 rides that we don't have a FP for. That pretty much assures us of being done with the park well before the nighttime stuff.

To yulilin3's point about things not being any different now, I have to disagree. The closure of Animation Academy, LMA, the Backlot Tour, The Motion Picture Academy Museum and the walkthrough staging areas where they had the 101 Dalmatians/Narnia exhibits takes a good 2-3 hours out of your day. If all that stuff was still open, we could easily fill up the hours between 4:00-7:00. But these closures have shrunken the park for sure.

 

[Bellhop97]

I have to point out that not every else here has said make it half a day.

Oh.. wow.. so sorry... geez.. ok a hand full.. thanks for correcting me..

 

[mco65]

Can't imagine NOT doing a full day at DHS.. maybe when the kids are older but I think my oldest could simply ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster all day long!

 

[Story Girl]

I have had a soft spot for DHS since it first opened. I've always loved it. Things have changed over the years but I still manage to fill up two days of our trip there. I love all the shows and we definitely hit the rides at least twice each. Some of the shopping is a bit different so I enjoy that too. In our case though, we tend to linger about and just take in our surroundings. The Citizens of Hollywood have caught our attention more than once and definitely are worth your time. I have not yet had a chance to explore the new Star Wars attractions since our last trip was in October last year, so that's an added plus.

 

[Shellyred8]

Planning our 1st trip to the world in 5 long years. We usually do at least 1 sometimes a day and a half (for SW weekends) at Hollywood Studios. I read that because of so many closures that it's become a bit of a half day park. I booked an ADR for the Fantasmic package at Mama Melrose but now I'm second guessing myself because I don't want to have to sit around and wait for the show, especially if we've seen and done all that we want to. Our "dinner" ADR is for 3:45pm. The Food and Wine festival will be going on so I'd like to get back to Epcot if possible since we only have 1 day planned there this time. Can anyone give some perspective on what their visits to the park have been lately? TIA

Just in case you haven't heard, there will be no SWW's this year.

 

[JimmyV]

Just in case you haven't heard, there will be no SWW's this year.

No need for the frowny face. We just got back. Every day is Star Wars Day now. (Minus the character meal). Tough to cross the street without bumping into a Stormtrooper.

 

[lynch34]

Disney knows its a half-day park and that's why they are doing all the expansions there.

 

[yulilin3]

I think this is pretty much the case.
For us, we do all of the rides, and see some of the shows, and do not meet characters. So for us it is a 2/3rds of a day park and we are usually tapped out by 4:00-5:00. This makes waiting around for the evening stuff (like F! or Fireworks) pretty painful. Given that DHS is still a tiered park, we go at RD to catch the Tier 1 rides that we don't have a FP for. That pretty much assures us of being done with the park well before the nighttime stuff.

To yulilin3's point about things not being any different now, I have to disagree. The closure of Animation Academy, LMA, the Backlot Tour, The Motion Picture Academy Museum and the walkthrough staging areas where they had the 101 Dalmatians/Narnia exhibits takes a good 2-3 hours out of your day. If all that stuff was still open, we could easily fill up the hours between 4:00-7:00. But these closures have shrunken the park for sure.

I've never said it's no different now. What I'm saying is that the only things to close this year was lma and street of america, both things most guests here had said they didn't even enjoy
Animation Academy was a loss and many guests enjoyed it
The Narnia exhibit got swapped with Pirates and everyone said that was a waste of time
Backlot Tour closed 2 years ago, again most people enjoyed the ride but said that it was outdated.
I'm just saying that only recently because a big chunk of DHS is behind walls people are now saying everything is closing when the fact of the matter is that only 1 ride, a meet and greet and some shops closed.
Again it goes to what each person/family are interested in. I could make a day watching all the sets from Citizens of Hollywood but some people don't enjoy them or think it's a waste of time. So it is really dependent on what each group wants to do

 

[yulilin3]

No need for the frowny face. We just got back. Every day is Star Wars Day now. (Minus the character meal). Tough to cross the street without bumping into a Stormtrooper.

and now I have to disagree with you
Even though there is more SW offerings it is not the same as SWW. No parade, celeb meet and greets, characters (other than 2 meetable ones) no celeb panels. I'm not saying there should be, I'm saying it is not SWW every day. Plus the Galaxy Far Far Away show really sucks.

 

[JimmyV]

What I'm saying is that the only things to close this year

When people speak of the closures at DHS, they are not limiting themselves to 2016. They are referring to closures in the aggregate, without any replacement attractions taking their place. That generally relates back to around August/September, 2014 which is when Back Lot Tour closed down. Animation closed in August, 2015; LMA just closed last month; the AFI Museum closed in August, 2014. For people who go to WDW every year, or more), it may seem as if nothing much changed recently. But for most people who travel less often, DHS has undergone major shrinkage since the last time they were there.

 

[JimmyV]

and now I have to disagree with you
Even though there is more SW offerings it is not the same as SWW. No parade, celeb meet and greets, characters (other than 2 meetable ones) no celeb panels. I'm not saying there should be, I'm saying it is not SWW every day. Plus the Galaxy Far Far Away show really sucks.

My point, (in addition to being tongue in cheek), is that they have frontloaded so much SW stuff into DHS that they no longer feel the need for a "special" weekend. The Stormtroopers "parade" several times a day. There are characters to meet. There is a stage show. There is fireworks. No, it is not the same as SWW, but Disney has decided that a lot of SW stuff 365 days a year is better than a lot, lot, lot of SW stuff 10 or so days a year.

 

[sturner324]

I have a full-ish day planned for June. Here's my plan...

Toy Story
Star Wars Launch Bay
Star Wars Character meets
Star Wars stage show (forgot the name)
QS lunch
Leave park for 2-3 hr rest at resort
Star Tours FP
Muppets
Tower of Terror FP
Rock'n Rollercoaster FP
Great Movie Ride
Dinner at 50s Prime Time
Wander around the shops/etc
Fantasmic

Also plan to hop over another evening for fireworks and EMHs. If I wasn't taking it easy with an afternoon break I'd throw in some shows.

 

[serenitynow]

Once upon a time Hollywood Studios was a great full day park ...

 

[JimmyV]

I have a full-ish day planned for June. Here's my plan...

Toy Story
Star Wars Launch Bay
Star Wars Character meets
Star Wars stage show (forgot the name)
QS lunch
Leave park for 2-3 hr rest at resort
Star Tours FP
Muppets
Tower of Terror FP
Rock'n Rollercoaster FP
Great Movie Ride
Dinner at 50s Prime Time
Wander around the shops/etc
Fantasmic

Also plan to hop over another evening for fireworks and EMHs. If I wasn't taking it easy with an afternoon break I'd throw in some shows.

I'm not showing shade on your plan. Sounds like a great day. And you are calling it a "full-ish" day, so I think you fully understand what I am about to say. But for the benefit of others, this schedule points out how the terms "full day" and "half day" have no set meaning. Let's assume that this is an average day in June when the park is open from 9:00-9:00, a convenient 12 hours. Now let's look at how much of that time the above schedule occupies.

Toy Story-No FP listed, so let's assume that this is to be accomplished at RD. You're out of the ride by 9:30.
Star Wars Launch Bay-Let's kill 30 minutes here. It's now 10:00.
Star Wars Character meets-Line up and meet some characters. Assume another 30 minutes tops. It is now 10:30.
Star Wars stage show (forgot the name)-The times for this event are not set in stone, but lately, the first show has been at 12:30, and that is what it appears the schedule is for May. No times are listed for June. If the 12:30 time holds, then there is a 2 hour void between the end of the character meet and the show. Sitting around doing "nothing" only counts toward a "full day" if you are in an episode of Seinfeld. But let's be fair and move the QS lunch up so that it is before the 12:30 show. Still, a QS lunch will only occupy 30-45 minutes tops of that 2 hour void.
QS lunch -Moved to 11:30.
Leave park for 2-3 hr rest at resort-When filling out a full day, is it fair to count a 3 hour resort break? Isn't that really the sine qua non of a "half day"?
Star Tours FP-Using a FP, this is accomplished in 20 minutes.
Muppets-Usually a 5 minute wait, followed by show. Another 20-25 minutes tops.
Tower of Terror FP-Using a FP, this is accomplished in 20 minutes.
Rock'n Rollercoaster FP-Using a FP, this is accomplished in 20-25 minutes.
Great Movie Ride-Without a FP in the afternoon, this could be an hour from start to finish.
So assuming that the afternoon break resulted in getting back to the park by 4:00, using the FPs and standby attractions would take one up to around 6:00-6:30, in time for dinner, after which dinner and evening entertainment fill the gap. All tolled, this "full-ish" day used up around 5 hours of activity prior to dinner. It is absolutely a "full-ish" day in some people's mind, and is absolutely a "half day" to others. There is no right or wrong here.

 

[Delirium]

Why does it seem like people always ignore shows and characters when talking about how much time it takes to tour a park? Disney is about so much more than rides/attractions. Six Flags is about rides. Disney is about a family experience.

Let's assume that 50% of Disney visitors have at least one child under the age of 12. If that's the case, we can assume that the MAJORITY of visits to Disney parks will involve one or more character meet and greets. Those are usually enormous time hogs and newbies asking about how much time to spend in a park need to know that.

Likewise, because of the way the schedule falls, it is virtually impossible to catch all of the HS shows in a single day and have time to do everything else. Again, newbies need to know that.

'Half Day Park' is a misleading label to new Disney visitors.

 

[Accident]

This really depends on 1: if you've seen it before and 2: what your family is interested in... It can fill a full day especially if you do a couple meals there and it's your first time going. While not much, much of what is there is either some show that takes awhile to see... I've seen it a bunch of times so we tend to only hit 2 rides, and then figure out where we are going next.

Indiana jones: 40-60 minutes, set show times.
Beauty and the beast show: 30-60 minutes, set show times.
Muppets: walk on, but it's a show style so 10-15 minute wait and then 10-15 minutes to see it.

Pixar fans with meet and greet: 2-3 hours without a tsmm fastpass, about an hour with depending on character line and if you can fastpass that too. TSMM does close when it's near fireworks so that's not a come in late afternoon and ride before fireworks ride. you need to be there earlier and it's a fall out zone for fireworks right now so it's a hard close early enough for the line to be empty before fireworks.

star wars fans: star tours , launch bay, all frozen stores are now star wars stores if your merch browsing, new stage show in the middle during the day and the fireworks at night.. not really sure how long to do them all, I never did them all at the same visit but the fireworks at night is probably disney's best show and it'll get even better when the new version starts in june..
Fast ride fans: tot, rnr and star tours can take an hour or two to get them all depending on fastpass and lines..

50's prime time, sci fi cafe and brown derby are some of the better table service places on property if you plan to get lunch or anything to add that time in..

Villians party, ticketed show and according to the disunplugged crew very worth seeing and paying for. no clue how long that is but I think it's only at night if your doing that.

Fantasmic: at least an hour and ends in time to get to fireworks..

 

[MegMouseketeer]

We have this planned for arrival day. We are arriving to Orlando at 10am, so we are planning on being at HS right after lunch. We will Fastpass TSMM, TOT for adults, and Star Tours for adults. My 4 year old twin girls are not really into Star Wars yet. My husband and I are fans, but we figure we will be back and hit that stuff in a few years when Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land opens. Right now, we just plan on doing our FP rides, seeing the Muppet show, Frozen Singalong, Mama Melrose, and Fantasmic.