Pulling back from so much time in HS........especially when we don't have park hoppers

[100AcreWood]

Only the MK has a parade which I find sad. Parades and entertainment is what set Disney apart from other theme parks IMO. I always said there's no parade like a Disney parade. Now AK's parade is gone and HS. Add to that all the great entertainment lost at EPCOT If we can't get on a lot of rides anymore I feel like we need the entertainment to keep the value there. Now a really great parade is the Paint the Night at DL.

I had no idea the AK parade ended as well.

 

[Kalliope]

We are just skipping it all together.

 

[AquaDame]

We're just going to go for a few hours and use our FP+ to get on some rides then hop - if we couldn't hop then we'd have a pool afternoon and an early night after dinner at a nice resort restaurant.

 

[Ladyfish77]

My touring plan shows it as 1/2 to do everything we want to do including a couple of shows. So I'm going to hop there one evening for a few rides before Fantasmic (I have never seen it so I'd like to see it). Then one morning to do our 1/2 day and lunch at Sci Fi, then off to another park. I think this works best because I know we won't spend an entire day there, and I do want to see F!

 

[tlmadden73]

I just got back from a trip where we did DHS with 3 toddlers (ages 2,3 and 4) and 6 adults.

With the speed that toddlers move there was plenty to do all day and we didn't come close to doing it all. There is plenty to do there with all the shows (the length of them and the timing of them) to fill an entire day or more. So it depends on your group dymanic if DHS is a "skippable" park ... if you aren't interested in shows (or have seen them way too many times), then yes, there simply isn't much to do there. ... hop it or skip it altogether.

When we went last Friday we did:
Disney Junior (one of the best shows in the parks for toddlers)
Meet and Greet Disney Junior characters
Toy Story (finally rode it .. so much fun)
Star Tours (multiple times (pretty much no wait even at 11:30 am))
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Hollywood & Vine Play N Dine (I had a 3 year old scared of the characters and their giant heads)
The 2 year old left for the day.. the 3 year old napped in the "cool zone" for 90 minutes (Legend of Jack Sparrow)
Frozen parade
Ice Palace Boutique (for the 4 year old)
Frozen Sing Along
Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground
Make a lightsaber/watch Jedi Training
Muppetvision 3D
Dinner at Pizza Planet
Frozen Fever short
Frozen DJ Dance Party
Rock-n-Rollercoaster

We could have easily gone on Tower of Terror AND still seen Fantasmic at 8:30 PM (with a last minute Fast Pass or standby), but my son (3 year old) was wanting to go back to the hotel after a long day.

Several things we wanted to do (like one of the stunt shows or the Great Movie Ride) , but just couldn't find time due to not getting there at rope drop, naps, bathroom breaks and slow moving toddlers.

 

[DisneyOma]

We always parkhop, but we could fill a full day at HS. But I guess some people's HS experience is like our Universal one. We only go to Universal for Harry Potter, have no interest in the other stuff there, so we did two half days this time, but would do one full day next time with a park to park pass.

 

[WriterGina]

We have PHs for our 4-day trip Sept. 12-15, and we're doing MK first and last day, and AK/Epcot, HS/Epcot the other 2 days (Mommy and Daddy want plenty of World Showcase dining and cocktail time). We almost would have skipped HS this go-round, except my son is obsessed with JTA. Looks like we've made it in under the wire before that show closes. So we'll get there well ahead of rope drop and try to get the first JTA. We have FPs for TSMM and ToT, and will try to squeeze into RNRR and that will be pretty much it before we bail.

 

[SJDisneyFanatic]

I was going to just do a half day at HS for my upcoming November trip, but then with all the changes taking place, and things closing, I decided to do a full day, but not sure if I will be there right at rope drop or not. Once I put in all the things I was interested in doing into Touring Plans, it was pretty much a full day, and I don't even ride ToT or RnR. I was going to skip B&tB and VotLM this time, but decided not to, since who knows if they'll be sticking around. This will be my first park day. So, I may sleep in a bit and get there around 10 am if I need to. This is my outline of what I'm thinking, so far:

View attachment 119706

I've never seen the Osborne Lights, so that is a must do.

ETA: I do not have park hoppers, and if I did, I probably would have been swayed to only do a half day.

Thanks for posting this..I have been on the fence about paying for Touring plans but your post pushed me over the edge into seeing value in this!

 

[MataHari22]

Thanks for posting this..I have been on the fence about paying for Touring plans but your post pushed me over the edge into seeing value in this!

If you click on my trip report in my signature, you can see my HS day Touring Plan. There's a bit of room between each thing for shopping, snacks, photos, and maybe a meet and greet, but it's a pretty full day. I've not taken any FP+ into consideration because I cannot make them for about two weeks. This was just me getting an idea of things.

 

[BuenaVistaBound]

I wish all of this ambivalence towards Hollywood Studios was reflected in the ADRs. I had more choices getting ressies at Be Our Guest than at Sci-Fi Drive In!

 

[BabyHabs]

I'm going in March and planning on 2 HS days. I love this park! Last time we went, we didn't make it to half the attractions in a full day. I also love the shopping at HS. My family loves TOT, Star Tours and Toy Story. We've never had time to do the shows. I can't wait to do it at a more relaxing pace.

 

[SJDisneyFanatic]

I wish all of this ambivalence towards Hollywood Studios was reflected in the ADRs. I had more choices getting ressies at Be Our Guest than at Sci-Fi Drive In!

Did you hear that they opened Sci-Fi for breakfast from Nov. through January? In case you are going then thought it might interest you!