Ok, what exactly is there to do at HS these days??

[mommymanda]

36 days until check in for my family of five

I'm just finalizing must sees and to dos for each day. I'm on our last park day with I planned to be a full HS day. Except I'm not seeing a lot

Our FPs are set. Rockin, Star tours and Indiana jones as well as a 50s lunch ressie.

I went through the rides and entertainment section of the Disney site and my list of other things to see is one item, Toy Story Mania (maybe tower of terror, but nobody has a real interest in it).

I have a 5 and 7 year old boy, who although know OF Star Wars are not really Star Wars fans yet and too 'old' for Disney Junior shows. My 13 year old daughter has no Frozen interest. In the past we killed an hour at the Honey I shrunk the kids play area, but its gone. The boys have loved the Thrills, car show and now its gone (if I'm reading right Mater and McQueen are not even there anymore to meet?). I mean we will wonder and meet the Star Wars and characters if the kids want, I'm just not seeing enough to keep us there for the day.

I had planned a full day to see the Fireworks, but now thinking we will be done by 4pm and head back to the resort to relax. Possibly return for the night.

Am I missing something? I know a lot is closed to upgrade, which is great for those arriving once all is completed, but I feel like I'm wasting a ticket for four to six rides during my visit.

 

[anniemae]

The frozen ever after show is fantastic, even if you have no real Frozen fans. It's very funny and worth it to do.

 

[SureAsLiz]

There is a lot to do at DHS, but it sounds it might be things that your family isn't interested in.

Great Movie Ride
Rock n Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror
Toy Story Midway Mania
Star Tours
Muppets 3D
One Man's Dream
Beauty and the Beast Stage Show
Voyage of the Little Mermaid show
Indiana Jones show
Star Wars Launch Bay (10 minute movie and characters)
Star Wars stage shows
Jedi Training for the kids under 12
Frozen Sing Along
Disney Jr show
Lots of character meets
Star Wars fireworks
Fantasmic!

If your family isn't interested in Star Wars or princesses, it definitely cuts down the options. If your goal is rides, then this park has never been the one to visit.

 

[lynch34]

We are going to Hollywood Studios at about 2 pm on our arrival day and staying until the Star Wars fireworks but after that, we are leaving. its a halfday park at best. Disney knows this and that's why they are doing Toy Story land and Star Wars. As you can tell from how slow they add stuff, Disney doesn't love to spend money on new stuff. The fact they are expanding the park so dramatically tells you all you need to know about what they think of the park.

 

[Delirium]

Ahhh. The great Hollywood Studios debate. If you go there focused on what's not there, you may be disappointed.

However, if you focus on what IS there, you'll have a great time.

For what it's worth, we took a short trip to Disney with extended family over Memorial Day weekend. We could only hit two parks. MK was the obvious choice for one. Hollywood Studios was the other. That was with 4 kids ages 12, 11, 10, & 9.

 

[Delirium]

its a halfday park at best.

That's a blatantly false statement for someone that may not know anything about the park, and is looking for advice. The fact is that, with the timing of all the shows, it is virtually impossible to do everything Hollywood Studios in a full day, let alone a half day. And, yes, there are families, especially ones that have never been, or ones that do not go often, that do, in fact, like to do everything.

 

[Mikie]

Even when we weren't bemoaning the closures at DHS, I've always had the hardest time with my touring strategy there. When my kids were littler, there were things there that simply weren't of interest and now that they're old enough for most, it can still be challenging to organize our day around shows, which of course have schedules that you can't simply walk up whenever like a ride. Last trip, we filled an open to close day with Fantasmic! but signing up for and doing Jedi Training was part of it. We did Indiana Jones, Muppets, Rockin Roller Coaster, Star Tours, Tower of Terror (some riding, some only waiting), Frozen Sing Along, Toy Story Midway Mania, Great Movie Ride, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, counter service lunch and table service meal, a little bit of souvenir shopping and Fantasmic. We missed Beauty and the Beast, were too old for Disney Jr and didn't do many character meets. By the end of that, I'd say we definitely "did it all" at that park and wouldn't need any other day or half day there, but it was a very full 1 day!

 

[mrzrich]

Rather then leaving at 4 and coming back, might I suggest leaving at lunch time and coming back, or maybe arriving after lunch and staying.

To me, leaving at 4 is just too late. By the time you get back to your resort it will be almost 5. If you want to relax a while and soon it's 7. Wanna eat dinner? It's 8:30.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Why would you assume there`s nothing to do there?.......So Test Track closed no loss there. You could ride Star Tours all day and not get the same experience....and there`s Star Wars fireworks and Kylo Ren..and....

 

[lynch34]

Even when we weren't bemoaning the closures at DHS, I've always had the hardest time with my touring strategy there. When my kids were littler, there were things there that simply weren't of interest and now that they're old enough for most, it can still be challenging to organize our day around shows, which of course have schedules that you can't simply walk up whenever like a ride. Last trip, we filled an open to close day with Fantasmic! but signing up for and doing Jedi Training was part of it. We did Indiana Jones, Muppets, Rockin Roller Coaster, Star Tours, Tower of Terror (some riding, some only waiting), Frozen Sing Along, Toy Story Midway Mania, Great Movie Ride, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, counter service lunch and table service meal, a little bit of souvenir shopping and Fantasmic. We missed Beauty and the Beast, were too old for Disney Jr and didn't do many character meets. By the end of that, I'd say we definitely "did it all" at that park and wouldn't need any other day or half day there, but it was a very full 1 day!

Disney knows it. Just because they space the shows out doesn't mean there's a full day worth of good stuff for people. All they have done in that park is close stuff.

 

[Mikie]

Disney knows it. Just because they space the shows out doesn't mean there's a full day worth of good stuff for people. All they have done in that park is close stuff.

I know it. I'm just saying that I think the "half day" deal primarily applies if you've seen the shows already and don't want to repeat or they're simply not of interest. Our family is the type to do just about everything (we don't skip whole categories of things like "no characters" or "no shows") and also brought some first-timers with us, so we eliminate almost nothing from consideration. From that standpoint, it does take all day (or it did for us) to enjoy all DHS still has. If, for any reason, you DO eliminate anything, you definitely start needing only part of a day there.

 

[Melwhit16]

We love HS!
ToT, RnR, Star Wars, Toystory, Frozen, movie ride. Haven't seen the new night show but I am sure we would love it. I am really sad that Osborne lights won't be there but I still think there is plenty to do, more than Epcot. But that is why there is such a variety at Disney.

 

[MissouriPrincess]

On our trip last week, I couldn't get everything we wanted to do in. We only did one day, and we take an afternoon break at the resort usually starting at noon.

We did Launch Bay with meet and greets, Tower of Terror twice (my fav at DHS), Toy Story, Frozen sing along, Rockin Roller Coaster, Star Tours, and met Pluto, Daisy, and Olaf. We did the Star Wars dessert party and the fireworks in the evening. We also had EMH, so we rode TOT again.

I couldn't fit in Beauty and the Beast or Indy. I also wouldn't have minded Muppets and the movie ride. We could probably do more without the break, but we get too grouchy without it. I guess it does come down to interests.

 

[mommymanda]

Thanks, I think we will just see shows through the day. The past trips most were not fans of a lot of the shows we saw there, but to fill a day we will go again. Its still Disney and I would rather stay through than leave early. I guess its more the disappointment that the few things my family asked to see are now closed with no real replacement. I am sure my boys will love the Star Wars themes throughout despite having little knowledge of the actual show.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Be sure to have some things for your kids to trade with the Jawas (cheap shiny dollar tree stuff works)- even if they aren't familiar with the characters, it is still a fun thing to do. Maybe you could introduce your kids to Star Wars through the animated series or maybe watch one of the original 3 movies while you are counting down days to your trip. At age 7 my DS loved Star Wars, especially light sabers. There are many cool things to see at Launch Bay-ships, light sabers, costumes and props. Chewie is officially my favorite character meet ever at WDW. We haven't met Kylo yet (Vader was still there in early Feb), but he looks to be a little scary and intimidating so maybe watch some youtube of him before deciding if your kids would like that.

DHS is a very odd park-on the surface there may not seem like a lot to do, but we always manage to be able to fill a morning, take a break, and then close out the park in the evening. We have a hard time getting all of the shows in.

 

[loves to dive]

HS, much like Epcot and AK, is one of those take it slow and not rush around parks. There are a lot of details to take in if you go slow and look. It is not ride centric but never has been and never was meant to be. The street performers are still there, and while the stunt show and the streets of America are closed, not really all that much has closed down. If your kids haven't seen Indiana Jones but enjoyed the stunt show, they probably would enjoy it. I'm not a huge star wars fan but even I enjoyed walking around the museum part they have back in the Animation courtyard.

 

[Moonwolf]

HS, much like Epcot and AK, is one of those take it slow and not rush around parks.

This. I actually appreciate that the park isn't as jammed packed with rides as MK. We only visit every few years so we try to do everything when we do go. I'm actually worried about squeezing everything in once the new lands open. My last trip my brother and I did open to close nearly everyday for a week and I think the only reason we survived was the fact that we were able to take our time in HS and AK and not feel as pressured to hurry through to get to the next ride.

And still saying that I think we spent the most time (1 1/2 days) in HS than any other park other than MK to get everything done, and we didn't do any of the character meets (we did have LMA which is now closed so that could have been a replacement). Now one part of that is because HS has our 2 favorite rides (and that best rides in all the parks to re-ride in my opinion- as long as you don't get motion sick). We could probably ride Star Tours and TSMM several times a day and not get bored. I know TSMM can be tricky to get multiple rides but if you use FP in the middle of the day you can get another ride in either at rope drop or at the end of the day (or both). Star Tours usually has relatively short lines (just don't enter right after a performance gets out) also has excellent re-rideability due to the random scenes. My brother and I rode it about 8-10 times through the course of our trip to get every scene at least once.

 

[DJFan88]

Try and fit in The Great Movie Ride.

 

[disney world dreamer]

everything that i've cared to do lately is s still up and running.
we do RNRC a couple times, TOT a couple times, TSMM, GMR, VOTLM, muppet vision 3d, and BATB.
we also enjoy sci-fi.
we're usually done by 1-2pm and don't care about the nighttime shows at HS so no need to stay all day.

my parents did say that the frozen sing a long was great and even saw it twice in one day so that may be something you do want to end up checking out.

 

[CounselorX]

We're the type of people who like to ride our favorites several times per day. For us, Rock N' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, Great Movie Ride and the Star Wars fireworks show all make it a full day park. In addition to those, we also spend time in the shops and watching the various impromptu skits in the streets. Some of them are hilarious. We're not rope droppers, though, so we might get there around 10 or 11 and stay 'til closing.