Is Hollyhood Studios worth a full day?

[Jenna319]

For me, it is definitely a half day park. Every family's touring plan is going to be different. DHS has some fantastic shows that I try to see most of them every visit. We are travelling with an 18 month old next month and plan to see:
Disney JR show
Beauty and the Beast show
Frozen show
Little Mermaid Show
I may pass on Beauty and the Beast depending on how well my little one will even sit through a show at this age. I usually do Toy Story Mania but I'm pregnant so I think I'm going to pass on it. We were there in January and my daughter had a blast at the Honey I shrunk the kids playground and also Club Disney was awesome. Very disappointed those two attractions have closed. I would love to take her to Fantasmic but I just don't think she can stay awake for a 9pm show.....

 

[sturner324]

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.

Yep, everything you said is about right... and purposeful. I used touring plans to map out the time spent, so I'm aware of it all. Good to bring up for other's benefits though.

I still call it a full (ish) ;-) day, because I'm spending essentially all day there. People take breaks from all the parks if that's their prerogative, and still consider it a full day.

If by chance I find myself with nothing to do, I can still stand in line to ride things again, watch a show not in my list, meet characters not listed, check out One Man's Dream (I think it's still there, right?), etc. I started with a plan of things I want to accomplish with plenty of buffer time, so true it is not crammed full... but this is purposeful.

Any park (particularly Epcot, AK and HS) could be a potential half day park depending of the person, their touring speed and expectations. At the same time, others could spend multiple days at each without feeling satisfied. Everyone is different, which makes these opinion questions interesting.

 

[Frozen2014]

We easily did a full day. This was the only park that we split up where DH and DS did things like Star Tours, Jedi Training (which in itself requires you to go at park entry and then it depends on when/if you get a spot), stunk shows, How I Shrunk playground, etc. DD and I saw all the shows...Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Disney Jr...and we did things like Frozen Sing Along, TSMM, meet and greets, Great movie Ride, Muppet movie. We met up again for dinner and saw Fantasmic. That pretty much took up the day. There is also the Animation area that we never even got to, but I imagine it would have kept us busy too.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Olaf's meet and greet opened today at DHS. Factoring in meeting Olaf, if not at rope drop, can add another hour or so to your day.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

For some, yes. For us, no.

Mind, I'm quick to skip Fantasmic, but the special Frozen fireworks were very worthwhile.

We also aren't big on any of the HS TS dining options. for that matter, Pizza Planet was one of the better options in the park.

I haven't followed all the latest updates/timing, but the new Star Wars fireworks should be fun. I also hope a QS with a fun atmosphere like Pizza Planet is part of the new Pixar additions. At the very least, it will probably have better food than PP.

 

[JimmyV]

People take breaks from all the parks if that's their prerogative, and still consider it a full day.

This is where the math always gets fuzzy. People can consider their day to be a full day. But if they left the park for 4 hours and then came back later, is it? Really? Sort of like saying: "I don't know why people consider AK to be a half day park. For us it is a three day park. We arrive at 10:00. Leave at noon. And then come back again at 3:00. It takes us three full days to see that park." In that example, "full days" is used solely in a personal sense, and not in an empirical sense. Which is why the whole "full day/half day" thing defies any sort of apples to apples discussion.

 

[loves to dive]

Yep, everything you said is about right... and purposeful. I used touring plans to map out the time spent, so I'm aware of it all. Good to bring up for other's benefits though.

I still call it a full (ish) ;-) day, because I'm spending essentially all day there. People take breaks from all the parks if that's their prerogative, and still consider it a full day.

If by chance I find myself with nothing to do, I can still stand in line to ride things again, watch a show not in my list, meet characters not listed, check out One Man's Dream (I think it's still there, right?), etc. I started with a plan of things I want to accomplish with plenty of buffer time, so true it is not crammed full... but this is purposeful.

Any park (particularly Epcot, AK and HS) could be a potential half day park depending of the person, their touring speed and expectations. At the same time, others could spend multiple days at each without feeling satisfied. Everyone is different, which makes these opinion questions interesting.

I agree with the any park could be a potential half day park, I get flamed, tarred and feathered and kicked in the stomach when I say for us, MK is a half day park. We don't have little ones (I go with my grown son), we aren't ride centric and he has nerve damage in his spinal cord so almost all roller coasters are out anyway. If we get there fairly early in the morning or later in the day around 4, we ride SDMT, BTM, POTC, climb SFR treehouse, ride the people mover, ride haunted mansion and that is about it for rides, we've been done with rides by 11 on some days. We will wander around and shop and look at things and are out of the park by 1. He doesn't like parades and I'm not overly fond of them myself except whatever the night parade is called now. He doesn't watch stage shows but will stop and watch street performers. When I'm solo I do watch shows so I might be in the park a little longer than that. On the other side of the coin, we can and have made Epcot a full two day park, from 9 to 9 without leaving.

 

[Anal Annie]

I don't get why people keep asking this. They didn't close half the park. They closed LMA and the Streets of America. HS never really did have a full days worth of stuff going on before. We always park hop every day and do at least 2 parks every day. But we do EACH PARK multiple times too. We would never do 1/2 day at HS during a trip and then call it "done" tho. I think all the parks are half day parks at any one time. I can't imagine wanting to spend all day in ANY one park (we've only done that once for 2 parks over 2 days and that's only because we were with someone who didn't have a hopper tix - drove me crazy). We usually alternate if we're spendin mornings or evenings.

 

[richmo]

I guess I'm in the minority, but I've increased my time at DHS a little. I used to be in and out of there in a few hours, but the addition of some of the Star Wars stuff: the Launch Bay, the 'Becoming a Jedi' movie at Sounds Dangerous and the Star Wars fireworks have lengthened my day a little. I'm not quite at a full day there yet, but I found myself there a bit longer last time.

 

[advcfam]

We were just there this weekend, there are so many new, fun SW things but I would consider it a half day if you can get all the fast passes you want. Now, with that being said, I would go in the afternoon/evening hours because the new fireworks show is fantastic and it's supposed to be even better with a new show in June!

 

[JimmyV]

They didn't close half the park. They closed LMA and the Streets of America.

That's true only if your last visit was very recent. For people who do not go every year, and were last there in, say, 2014, the following have closed since their last visit:

• Back Lot Tour
• AFI Museum
• Animation Academy
• HISTK Play Area
• LMA
• Pizza Planet (will re-open)
• Osborne Lights
• Mulch, Sweat & Shears

There's a lot on that list that could easily bump a "half day" up to a "full day", or convert the park from a "full day" to a "multi-day".

 

[Anal Annie]

That's true only if your last visit was very recent. For people who do not go every year, and were last there in, say, 2014, the following have closed since their last visit:

• Back Lot Tour
• AFI Museum
• Animation Academy
• HISTK Play Area
• LMA
• Pizza Planet (will re-open)
• Osborne Lights
• Mulch, Sweat & Shears

There's a lot on that list that could easily bump a "half day" up to a "full day", or convert the park from a "full day" to a "multi-day".

Sorry. We never did half that stuff before or if we did it was maybe every other trip or two. And Osborne Lights were seasonal so only anybody going during the holidays would have seen them so that wasn't a regular FT cut.

(And Pizza Planet - ick. Won't be missed.)

We still wouldn't ever call ANY of the parks a full day park and we would always park hop between 2 parks / day.

 

[sturner324]

This is where the math always gets fuzzy. People can consider their day to be a full day. But if they left the park for 4 hours and then came back later, is it? Really? Sort of like saying: "I don't know why people consider AK to be a half day park. For us it is a three day park. We arrive at 10:00. Leave at noon. And then come back again at 3:00. It takes us three full days to see that park." In that example, "full days" is used solely in a personal sense, and not in an empirical sense. Which is why the whole "full day/half day" thing defies any sort of apples to apples discussion.

It's vacation, so let's leave math out of it! Just kidding. ;-)

For my particular day, hours are 9-8:30. We will just say 12 hours with Fantasmic. According to my touring plan, I'll be in the park about 9 hours. That's a typical work day. By the math, a half day would be 6 hours.

If the question is, "is Hollywood Studios worth a full day?" My answer is still - for me, yes. I could easily stay all 12 hours and do the shows, but I'm skipping most. For what it's worth, I don't plan on being in any of the parks for 100% of the opening hours either.

It's all personal. So I suggest for anyone worried about it to first decide how many hours is worth a day, work out a touring plan with everything you want to do, and decide from there.

 

[tj6285]

We've planned the last 1/2 of a day to see Fantasmic. That same day is an evening extra hours at HS so if we need to stay we will!

 

[ZoZo]

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.

I agree that calling any park a "half-day park" is very misleading to newbies. I always feel sad when I see posts here on this board saying that Animal Kingdom is a half-day park. What people really mean is "it's a half-day park for me and my family." If first-time visitors see that "half-day park" statement a lot, they might not realize that frequent visitors say that because they're not interested in repeating attractions and rides they've already experienced before.

I always recommend to first-timers that they spend at least one full day in each park, because every individual and/or family is interested in different things. Not interested in animals? You might not spend 2+ days at Animal Kingdom, like I do every trip, but I bet you'd find enough to fill a full day if it's your first time. For myself, I'd rank HS as my fourth-favorite park, and usually don't spend an entire day there - but I'm not interested in repeating many HS attractions over and over again. But for some people (certainly based on posts on this thread), they can find enough to fill a full day and even more, based on their interests.

 

[123SA]

Is the Muppet Movie scheduled to close? If so, when?

Thanks for your help.

 

[TraceyPoppins]

We love DHS and spent a good 12 hours there on Easter Sunday. We were in line at 7:30 for emh at 8:00 and left after the 8:30 Fantasmic, as the fireworks were going off. Loved every minute of it!