One day at Hollywood Studios... what's a MUST?

[PixieMama]

our must dos at HS are:

TSMM (absolutely get FPs first thing)
Lights Motor Action (awesome car stunt show)
Indiana Jones show
Little Mermaid
Beauty and Beast
Fantasmic (we usually dont go to HS on days with Fantasmic since they are usually busier we usually just hop over for F! from another park)

While we have never done the Animation Academy at HS but we have done it many times at California Adventure and Im pretty sure its the same at HS. Its pretty awesome, they teach you how to draw a disney character and you get to take your drawing home with you.

We dont do RnR or ToT because my son doesnt like rides with drops.

Thanks, sportbettor! I'll have to look into the Animation Academy... we skipped it last time, I thought it was just a walk-thru. But both of my DDs absolutely LOVE to draw, so they would really enjoy this!

 

[PixieMama]

Thank you, everyone, for all your ideas and input!

I'm re-thinking Indiana Jones... at least for myself and DDs.

I didn't mention before, but we will be vacationing with my DH's youngest brother and his family... so maybe DH can catch Indy with his brother and whoever else wants to watch it, while the rest of us do something else!

 

[Planogirl]

Personally I would much rather see Indy than LMA. LMA was hot and overly crowded and I just didn't enjoy it much. I always thought that seeing actual people do stunts with explosions and so on was more interesting. But to each their own.

I can't really judge it for girls easily. DS always insisted on seeing Indy but he always loved the movies from an early age. I could skip it now having seen it many times.

 

[sportbettor]

Thanks, sportbettor! I'll have to look into the Animation Academy... we skipped it last time, I thought it was just a walk-thru. But both of my DDs absolutely LOVE to draw, so they would really enjoy this!

Pretty sure they will love it! Sounds like a hassle but you might want to bring a cardboard tube to put the drawings in so they don't get messed up. We usually fold them up but after reading another poster here who brings a tube with them we might do that next time.

 

[AmericangirlinFrance]

Thank you, everyone, for all your ideas and input!

I'm re-thinking Indiana Jones... at least for myself and DDs.

I didn't mention before, but we will be vacationing with my DH's youngest brother and his family... so maybe DH can catch Indy with his brother and whoever else wants to watch it, while the rest of us do something else!

I have to disagree - I think Indy is a fun show and you definitely don't have to have seen the movies to like it! There is some funny slapstick humor that kids will like, and some cool special effects (if you haven't seen it before - if you have, you know what's coming!). I like it much better than Lights Motors Action (which is good, but long) because it's faster paced.

At Indy - there is a fake well near the entrance with a rope leading down into and a sign that says "Do not pull the rope!", except the "not" has been crossed out. Make sure to pull the rope a couple of times.

Definitely need to get Toy Story FPs first thing; then backtrack and you can ride Tower of Terror and Rock & RollerCoaster with little to no wait. Then you've got the "big 3" handled, and you can fit everything else around the shows you want to see! (Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour)

I think the Animation Academy is super fun! It's something totally different than you'd normally see in a theme park, and the exhibits along the way are really cool. I also like wandering around the Streets of New York in the back of the park, there are some fun things to see if you slow down and "smell the roses" - i.e., street sounds, hilarious signs, others have mentioned the "Singin' In the Rain" umbrella.

Fantasmic is awesome - not to be missed - but be prepared to wait if you are going at a busy time of year; really, a minimum of 45 minutes before. We bring dinner and eat while we're waiting to kill time.

Have fun! I know the Studios has the "thrill rides," but I think it has a lot of cool Disney details and theming that are underappreciated; you will find some neat stuff there if you take time to slow down!

 

[pickles]

Personally I would much rather see Indy than LMA. LMA was hot and overly crowded and I just didn't enjoy it much. I always thought that seeing actual people do stunts with explosions and so on was more interesting. But to each their own.

.

I agree with this. I REALLY hate the car show..hot and boring. I suffered thru it for the boys. I guess they enjoy it
you have a whole day in oct to do mgm..no reason you cant get most the stuff in you want

 

[Neverland98]

No one mentioned Jedi Training (and I know you have DD, but if they like Star Wars or "hamming it up" on stage), they may want to participate. If so, you may want to hit that a RD to get in the first show (send another grown-up with ALL the tickets to TSM to get FP's while you wait).

It'll be our first trip for our family...great question! I'm trying to figure out our DHS day, too.

Keep the info coming....

 

[Rainwater]

Get to the park when it opens, stay until it closes, and you will get to see everything.

 

[stepdisney]

DHS is my DS's favorite park. We go at least twice but we split the days into Fantasmic night and American Idol Night. (Hard to do both shows since the finale is during Fantasmic line up time).

If we only had one day, we would go at rope drop and then:

Go immediately to TSM. Unlike the get FP first theory, we would get in standby line first and then FP when we got off. This would give us a later FP time which is what we want.

Then to to Tot and RnRC which will have little to no line because everyone else will be trying to ride TSM as many times as they can in the morning.

We ride RnRC and Tot as many times as we'd like. Tot is very cool. My Ds has been riding it since he was 4.

We never miss the Indy show. I think they'd like it. Its funny. You can use your TSM fast passes any time after your time shows up. It is nice to ride again later in the day, especially when the lines are so long and you'll have FP's.



We see the Beauty and the beast show and walk to Great movie ride. We love this ride and standing in line repeating the lines to the movies is funny.

If your children like the High school musical, don't miss the show. It is a lot of fun.

We also love:

Afternoon Parade
Lights Camera Action Motor Show
Then do Voyage of Little Mermaid because the above show gets hot and voyage is a great way to cool down.
One mans dream (we love this and never miss it) The pre-tour is nice
Back lot tour (We love Universal's tour a lot better but we really like this tour)

In between, go to see the American Idol show, even if you can't see the fanale.

As you can see, we love this park and it is definitely not a one day park for us.

Don't forget to see the Pixar characters for meet and greet. Toy Story, Cars, Incredible family....we love this park!!!!

 

[raven69david]

Be there for EMH and get there early. Everyone you see there WILL go STRAIGHT to Toy Story Mania. A CM will guide everyone to TSM so there won't be no running involved. Just a nice stroll to the attraction.

Do not FP first...get on the ride first and THEN FP. This is a lesson I learned during a VERY RARE June trip. Since you will be there all day due to your MYW tickets, it doesn't really matter what time your FP's are for as long as you get them.

Don't be discouraged if there are alot of people in front of you as the ride line goes by pretty quickly. You should be in queue no more than 20 minutes if you got caught in the middle of the crowd. If there's no crowd at the entrance gate during EMH and/or if you're at the back of the huge crowd, then the wait time will be significant. If this is the case, then FP first and then make your way to the attraction. EMH at DHS is great if you FP TSM and then do all other attractions first. There will be little to no lines at all other rides.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

My only things I would HAVE to do are Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster. Toy Story Mania is a close third. I have never done the drawing lesson, but I really want check it out this time, along with Fantasmic, which I haven't seen in ten years. I also love Muppets, but that was on your skip list

I'm sure this is on here somewhere, but I'm looking for tips and strategies for Hollywood Studios!

We (me, DH, DD9 and DD7) will be visiting WDW in October, and this will be our 2nd family trip there. This time around we will not be adding Park Hopper to our tickets, so we're planning on just one day at Hollywood Studios. Since we've been to the park before (back in 2007), there are a few attractions we know we can skip:

Beauty & the Beast Live on Stage
Studio Backlot Tour
Playhouse Disney Live on Stage
MuppetVision 3D

(nothing wrong with these, but as we're limited to one day and we've already seen these, I feel we can skip them and focus on other things!)

Should we hit Toy Story Mania first? Get FPs for ToT or the RnRC?

If you just had one day to visit HS, what would YOU do?


thanks!

 

[joyfulDisneytears]

Must-do for me at DHS (I *still* have a hard time remembering not to call it MGM...):

-A meal at 50's Prime Time Cafe, or Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre
-The Great Movie Ride
-Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
-Tower of Terror (ride as many times as I can!)
-Star Tours (but it's closing soon)
-Muppet*Vision 3D
-Toy Story Mania (get your FPs first thing, don't wanna miss out!)
-One Man's Dream exhibit/movie (more of a grown-up thing here, I'm not sure how well this would hold a kid's attention)
-Fantasmic!

I would suggest taking in at least one show (my picks would be Voyage of the Little Mermaid or Beauty & the Beast). After all, the stage productions are one of the great things about WDW!

If you're there all day you won't have any issues doing just about everything there is to do here!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Oh, can't believe I forgot Great Movie ride--I have to hit that too!

 

[lisadonahoo]

Tower of Terror and Toy Story!

 

[PixieMama]

If we only had one day, we would go at rope drop and then:

Go immediately to TSM. Unlike the get FP first theory, we would get in standby line first and then FP when we got off. This would give us a later FP time which is what we want.

Then to to Tot and RnRC which will have little to no line because everyone else will be trying to ride TSM as many times as they can in the morning.

Be there for EMH and get there early. Everyone you see there WILL go STRAIGHT to Toy Story Mania. A CM will guide everyone to TSM so there won't be no running involved. Just a nice stroll to the attraction.

Do not FP first...get on the ride first and THEN FP. This is a lesson I learned during a VERY RARE June trip. Since you will be there all day due to your MYW tickets, it doesn't really matter what time your FP's are for as long as you get them.

Don't be discouraged if there are alot of people in front of you as the ride line goes by pretty quickly. You should be in queue no more than 20 minutes if you got caught in the middle of the crowd. If there's no crowd at the entrance gate during EMH and/or if you're at the back of the huge crowd, then the wait time will be significant. If this is the case, then FP first and then make your way to the attraction. EMH at DHS is great if you FP TSM and then do all other attractions first. There will be little to no lines at all other rides.

Thanks for the tip about getting the FPs after riding... sounds like a great plan!

 

[PixieMama]

My only things I would HAVE to do are Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster. Toy Story Mania is a close third. I have never done the drawing lesson, but I really want check it out this time, along with Fantasmic, which I haven't seen in ten years. I also love Muppets, but that was on your skip list

Oh, can't believe I forgot Great Movie ride--I have to hit that too!

Toy Story Mania, ToT and RnR are my "must" list... I think I'd be pretty happy with just these three, LOL!


We skipped the GMR our last trip (2007)... I think I thought it would have been too scary for our DDs, who were only 6 and 4 at the time. But it's definitely on the list for this trip!

 

[mattyg]

you have to get to TSM and either get a FP or stand by I say do both if you DD's love TS. If you dont you will spend on hour in line. MY two ages in sign loved doing the Art of Animation. You can skip the show about drawing and the line to wait and go in through the gift shop you have to wait for session to draw a char with animator but inside they have char greets and mine games to do plus lots of AC. We have drawn about 7 char. and my DS wanted to go back one last time over riding anything and he loves RnR and TSM. MY list is TSM, RnR, ToT, LMA show, AofA, GMR. You could have one get FP and the others get in line, but you run the risk of being rude. I dont think it is a problem.

 

[SnowWhite1]

I'm quite interested in all these bits of advice as we've never hit Hollywood Studios before either. Everyone keeps mentioned ToT - do you think it's ok for younger kids? Mine are 4 and 6 and I was thinking they were too little to go on it, but is that not so?

TIA!

 

[mill4023]

I'm quite interested in all these bits of advice as we've never hit Hollywood Studios before either. Everyone keeps mentioned ToT - do you think it's ok for younger kids? Mine are 4 and 6 and I was thinking they were too little to go on it, but is that not so?

TIA!

4 is too young. 6 is borderline, depending on the kid.

Our kids all enjoy Indy. Its a fun show.

 

[stepdisney]

I'm quite interested in all these bits of advice as we've never hit Hollywood Studios before either. Everyone keeps mentioned ToT - do you think it's ok for younger kids? Mine are 4 and 6 and I was thinking they were too little to go on it, but is that not so?

TIA!

4 was not too young for my DS who was 4 when he rode it the first time. There is a "chicken" elevator if he changes his mind. If the child is interested and is tall enough, take them is what I say. Believe it or not, he was more afraid of the HM than ToT. Show them videos of it on youtube, perhaps this will give you a good idea of whether or not they are interested. With an older brother, my DS was ready, willing and able.