Not sure about a day at DHS - not understanding the draw...

[kbelle8995]

Right now I think that DHS is a park in transition. I still think that you should visit there is some really nice shows and attractions over there.

Then again I love Star Tours. Also if the TCM addition to the The Great Movie ride are ever done I think that makes it a must visit. Then again I love old classic movies.

 

[loves to dive]

I love DHS and go to it and Epcot more than the other two parks. How about doing your arrival afternoon there instead of MK? That way you would know if you enjoy it, still have a full day at MK and could always go back if you find you liked.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Honestly, and this is jmho, if I was going to skip any part right now, it would be AK. There is a lot of construction going on. We were only there for a half day a couple of weeks ago and it didn't really bother us too much but if I was there all day it would. The park seems even more crowded and hotter with all the walls up. Now, that's just me and you may have enough favorites of you or your child there to make it a "must do". But, I would skip AK and add in Epcot. The characters at Epcot (like Alice, Mary Poppins and Mulan) that you can't get anywhere else is enough for us to want to always do the World Showcase.

I agree, we were in AK in January and we couldn't believe all of the construction walls, it got very hard to move around at certain areas of the park. We don't go to AK every trip, only when we feel the need to ride the Safari or EE, normally we skip it.

Now DHS, that is one park we will not skip, however I have older kids (DD11 and DD13) who love to do everything in that park...I guess we are in the minority because we all love this park. Yes this park needs a LOT of love and attention and I am very excited to know that Disney is making every valiant effort to reimage the park to the potential that it has, however we still will go for at least one full day (sometimes we will add a half day on another day). My family can't get enough of RnRC and DH and our DDs love ToT (I tend to skip this ride), there are many many shows that we love to watch and Star Tours is always fun to ride over and over again. The Great Movie ride is a great way to get out of the heat for awhile and DH and I try to beat each other at TSMM, while the girls do the same. DH and I have to pay a visit to Walt at One Man's Dream and shop at the stores while the girls head back towards ToT or RnRC to get in a few more rides. We also all really like to take a class or two at the Animation Academy and give hugs to all of the characters that are there (the best is when you catch Characterpalooza). The best part about DHS is that it is the smallest of the 4 parks and there are a lot of attractions that allows you to sit down for a while to rest your footsies, so we tend to not get tired as fast and we don't take afternoon breaks. For my family, there is so much to see and do at DHS that we couldn't imagine skipping it ever...but like I said before, we are in the minority with that.

 

[tlmadden73]

DHS is my favorite park .. but it became so when I first went to it in the late 80s as a teenager.

The problem is the park added some thrill rides (which are neat), but lost the "movie studio" feel and thus just lost its way.
So yes .. it is out of date, but so was Universal Studios until they added Diagon Alley. DHS just seems to be in transition (but maybe could have done this 5-10 years sooner).

I think it is still a great park for young kids. I am looking forward to taking my 3 year old there to be wowed by the shows and Pixar Place (I mean ... everything is "new" to a toddler no matter how old it is to us). Plus the Frozen stuff this summer will add a little more value to the park I think.

 

[L&Lfan]

AK is my skippable park. I love DHS because I love that old Hollywood feel and the Tower of Terror. I skip the shows because I've seem them all ad nauseam since 1989. But I enjoy cocktails at the Hollywood Brown Lounge and High Octane Refreshments and just the atmosphere on Hollywood and Sunset Blvds. I love wandering around the Streets of America and pretending I'm on a movie set. I'm especially thrilled that that eyesore Sorcerer's Hat is GONE! I prefer Disneyland's Fantasmic so I only see DHS' version every couple of years. Although I don't spend the whole day there I always have to spend a few hours each visit at DHS. And I love the walk from my Epcot resort hotel to the park and back. Very relaxing and good exercise.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

It is my least favorite park, but we are doing it on our upcoming trip because I have two girls (8 and 2) who will enjoy it more than Epcot. I think there is a lot to do for young children - especially if they like shows, as mine do. My daughter actually loved Lights Motor Action last time we were there, and surprisingly, so did I (not a car person, but this was really neat). My whole family also thought Fantasmic was very special. It is is not the place to go if thrill rides are your primary mission, but then again, Disney World is not the place to go if thrill rides are your primary mission.

 

[avic77]

We skip it... but we have been a few times now

 

[Sarahbelle341]

DHS has much more to offer our family than AK or even Epcot. We enjoy meeting more rare characters, we love the shows, Fantasmic is our favorite nighttime spectacular and we enjoy the restaurants. Now Epcot has better restaurants as a whole and DHS is really lacking good counter service options but Epcot needs just as much attention as DHS. AK is the most skipable park in our opinion as there aren't many rides without a height requirement, we have a nice zoo here where we can see the animals and the peaceful feeling is diminished by all the construction. Plus there aren't many characters exclusive to animal kingdom. Epcot needs some updates desperately like Ellen's energy, captain eo, innovations, etc. We mostly go to Epcot for the world showcase and the land pavillion.

 

[DVCcurious]

There's really only one question to ask yourself:

Would you enjoy DHS more than another day at MK?

You have a limited number of days at the park, I recommend maximizing them. We always go 6 days and spend 4 at MK, 1 at AK and 1/2 HS (AM) for Muppet Vision and Dis Jr. 1/2 EP (PM) for Nemo, Soarin and the Mickey dinner at Garden Grill

Sure, all the parks are "great" in their own way, but some are more "greater" than others. In my families opinion the other parks just can't compete with MK. So why should we spend our valuable time there?

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

I love DHS and go to it and Epcot more than the other two parks. How about doing your arrival afternoon there instead of MK? That way you would know if you enjoy it, still have a full day at MK and could always go back if you find you liked.

I agree with this post. I would consider moving HS to your first afternoon/evening. This way you get to go for a little while and still will have two full days at MK. Make a FP+ Reservation for Toy Story; also consider Great Movie Ride if you think your DD wouldn't get scared of the "gangster acting" from the cast members (from an adult perspective that part of the ride is cheesy and/or fun but it *might* startle some kids).

If it's too late to get the FP+ reservation, or it's too late to move your GF Character meal, then I wouldn't move anything.

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

I agree with this post. I would consider moving HS to your first afternoon/evening. This way you get to go for a little while and still will have two full days at MK. Make a FP+ Reservation for Toy Story; also consider Great Movie Ride if you think your DD wouldn't get scared of the "gangster acting" from the cast members (from an adult perspective that part of the ride is cheesy and/or fun but it *might* startle some kids).

If it's too late to get the FP+ reservation, or it's too late to move your GF Character meal, then I wouldn't move anything.

Regarding the draw of DHS. We think it is really fun despite the random "Hollywood" theme throughout the park. It has some of our favorite rides and shows, too. It has fewer options than other parks, yet we like more of the attractions there (we listed our top 20 recently, and 6 were at Epcot and DHS, 5 MK, and 3 AK. Percentage wise, we like more at DHS than any other park).

For what it's worth (some posters will cringe at this), I am not a Star Wars fan, but I love Star Tours. It's a great attraction; so fun! Having said this, I think that you really would have fun at some of the attractions (Indiana Jones for example from your OP) despite their movie's age/popularity today. Liking/popularity of the movie doesn't necessarily equal liking the attraction at WDW.

 

[cbellasmomma]

I agree with this post. I would consider moving HS to your first afternoon/evening. This way you get to go for a little while and still will have two full days at MK. Make a FP+ Reservation for Toy Story; also consider Great Movie Ride if you think your DD wouldn't get scared of the "gangster acting" from the cast members (from an adult perspective that part of the ride is cheesy and/or fun but it *might* startle some kids).

If it's too late to get the FP+ reservation, or it's too late to move your GF Character meal, then I wouldn't move anything.

We have an ADR for 1900 Park Fare at 6:15. I think anything that isn't on the monorail might be too much running around on arrival day in a place I have never been to. I might move Epcot but DH really loves Epcot and I think he would enjoy going with us....

 

[Disfan1968]

We go for two half days over the course of a 10 day trip... we like:

B&B Live
Lights, Motor, Action
Headliners like ToT and Roller Coaster
Frozen Sing Along
Great Movie Ride
Fantasmic
Frozen Fireworks (This Summer, Last Summer)
Eating... this coming trip for us Mama Melrose and Sci Fi

We find this is plenty to fill a couple 3-8:30 days.

 

[Golden Rose]

We just got back from a WDW trip, and actually put DHS back on our list. We skipped it for several trips, and my son often said it was his least favorite park and he didn't care about it. DS doesn't like thrill rides, and DD has always been too little (although that is changing.) This trip we did the Disney Junior character meal at Hollywood and Vine for DD, which actually turned out to be our least favorite part of our day. We did Toy Story Midway Mania, let the kids play at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground for a bit, enjoyed Star Tours, and loved the Frozen Sing-Along. The Frozen Sing-Along was the big surprise for us; we all really enjoyed it. It wasn't a hugely long day - we were heading home, and felt like we needed to go, but we really enjoyed it while we were there. Honestly, we like it better because of Fast Pass Plus, because we know we'll get to ride Toy Story. It's back on our must do list for the first time in a long time.

 

[jrandall]

So interesting to read through these. I really think it's all preference. I love the Hollywood feel and whole look of the DHS and always have. I'm using tour planner for the first trip with my kids to see what we can accomplish in a day there & the day is full. I am skipping a lot too because I have young ones that won't be able to sit through all the shows and it's still full! In my opinion, a few of the attractions are must see/do and are some of my favorites in all of Disney. On the other hand, we are skipping AK so I guess that shows how I feel about that park.

 

[cbellasmomma]

I never got to say THANK YOU to everyone who replied. You have convinced me to try DHS. DD will love the parade and shows for sure. I do think we are going to make this a half day park though. If we want to go back there is flexibility in our schedule so we can do that. Thanks!!!