Star Wars & DHS - advice please!

[heather13]

We're planning to spend one full day at Hollywood Studios for our fall trip since my girls (9 and 11) love Star Wars. Both have seen every movie. We probably won't do much else there (Toy Story Mania was fun but last time we waited an hour with fast passes), so looking for advice & thoughts on what to see, what we can miss, what requires early planning / fast passes / reservations, and if there's any other Star Wars stuff at other parks we need to look out for. Thanks!

P.S. trying to avoid gift shops FYI. The girls could spend hours shopping if given the chance.

 

[EdmondD]

We're planning to spend one full day at Hollywood Studios for our fall trip since my girls (9 and 11) love Star Wars. Both have seen every movie. We probably won't do much else there (Toy Story Mania was fun but last time we waited an hour with fast passes), so looking for advice & thoughts on what to see, what we can miss, what requires early planning / fast passes / reservations, and if there's any other Star Wars stuff at other parks we need to look out for. Thanks!

Are you familiar with the Jedi Training Academy? Because...that.

 

[Gehrig1B]

If you waited an hour for Toy Story Mania with FP+ there was definitely a problem with the ride that caused this. We have never waited more than 15 minutes in the TSM Fastpass+ line and we are usually there during high crowd days.

Have you witnessed the March of the First Order?

Since you have been before there is probably little new from your last visit. The Frozen Sing Along is great fun if you have not done it but won't require a FP+.

 

[Kingdome8]

Yeah we got 2 toy story fast passes in one day and both were on in 5 mins. That was June.

The Interactions with kylo ren, chewy and bb8 may have been the best of whole trip.
My girls are 13,10,5 and they thought it was the best. We never did the Jedi training but the march they do throughout day was cool. Hollywood is our fav park
We Always do muppets, ToT, RnR and see sourcerer mickey. Ending with fantastic is the best
Can't wait for 2019

 

[yulilin3]

page 1 of the official SW thread has all the info and you can also ask specific question on that thread
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...-party-galactic-nights-launch-bay-jt.3439569/

 

[hes122]

I wouldn't dismiss Toy Story Mania. The addition of the 3rd track has helped the lines move MUCH faster.

 

[heather13]

Are you familiar with the Jedi Training Academy? Because...that.

I've heard about it but my kids were so young last time I didn't explore it further. Good idea.

Have you witnessed the March of the First Order?
Since you have been before there is probably little new from your last visit. The Frozen Sing Along is great fun if you have not done it but won't require a FP+.

The Interactions with kylo ren, chewy and bb8 may have been the best of whole trip.
My girls are 13,10,5 and they thought it was the best. We never did the Jedi training but the march they do throughout day was cool. Hollywood is our fav park

The March sounds like a necessity too, especially after my 9yo asked if she could meet bb8. We were last there five years ago so a LOT has changed (including their interest in Star Wars). But their interest in Frozen has sadly passed.

page 1 of the official SW thread has all the info and you can also ask specific question on that thread
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...-party-galactic-nights-launch-bay-jt.3439569/

Thank you! That didn't pop up when I searched for Star Wars, so I'll go back and research from the top.

Side note, our issue with TSM was my mother was using a wheelchair. Using a Fastpass in the handicap line with only one handicap car available was a horrible idea. We told cast members she could walk onto a car but they wouldn't let us move to the regular line. She'll be using a wheelchair again this year so we've all just decided it's not worth it.

 

[tlmadden73]

I spent a Star Wars half day there with my son, wife and infant daughter this March:
1) Star Tours .. my son (only 4) found it a little quesy and he did NOT like being picked as the Rebel Spy . .but he still enjoyed the excitement of it all beforehand. Heck . .go on it multiple times as where you fly randomly changes every time.
2) Star Wars Launch Bay
Do a meet and greet (or all of them if you want to wait). (We did Chewy, they didn't have BB-8 yet)
Be sure to interact with the Jawas
Check out all the props
Watch out for wandering Storm Troopers
3) March of the First Order (a VERY short parade of stormtroopers marching up the main street . .but cool to check out). Easy to check out (since the park is so small now, it doesn't take long to walk over to see it).
4) Galaxy Far Far Away stage show .. short, but very cool show where you see a ton of characters "live" and in-person.
5) Jedi Academy Training - my son (rightly so) was too scared to take on Darth Vader (fake or not . .he seems real to him), but he enjoyed watching his friends do it. His older friends (boys) enjoyed it.
6) Build a droid (your kids may be a bit too old). My son and his friends enjoyed building his own custom droid from bins of parts.
7) Get your picture taken on the Speeder Bike by Star Tours (sometimes this is a Photo Pass spot, other times you just take your own photos).

Toy Story is worth using your fast pass for. Definitely the best ride in the park. I would ride that multiple times a day if I could easily (but the lines are too long).

We did all that in just a half a day and could have probably stayed there longer.

What I did on a previous trip (when he was 3 and not tall enough for Star Tours):
8) Build a lightsaber - (Did this on our last trip) . .build your own custom lightsaber. Very cool for the price in my opinion compared to the cheap ones you find at outside toy stores. And the fact that it is CUSTOM made makes it a memorable keepsake.

NOTE: Star Tours and Launch Bay dump you into stores. No avoiding that.

 

[Klayfish]

Even with the wheelchair, something was wrong. TSMM moves very fast, I've seen wheelchairs go into FP+ at the same time we do, and when we're loading onto our car, they're about to load into theirs. I really think you should give it another shot, you're really missing out.

There is so much Star Wars there, you'll love it. Ride Star Tours a bunch of times (easy to get FP+ for it). Hang out in Launch Bay, watch March of the First Order, interact with the storm troopers who roam the park. JTA, yes, definitely. For non-Star Wars stuff, definitely do Frozen Sing A Long. It's not what you may think, it's a comedy show and it's great. RnR is my favorite ride in all WDW, so there's that. All the shows they have are pretty good, you can see those. Muppets are sort of meh for me, but it's cute.

 

[heather13]

tlmadden73 you rock! Exactly what I need. Thanks everyone for the great responses. My girls are super excited now that they have an idea of what they can enjoy now at DHS (the Disney website isn't completely up to snuff - no mention of Frozen or Disney Junior). Knowing to anticipate half a day with Star Wars we can spend the rest of the day at ToT, RnR, Indiana Jones and I may convince them to do Frozen - they both balked initially but maybe they'll be in the Disney spirit by then