Toy Story Land Early Morning Magic, OK Not Great

[Wraith1876]

I visited Hollywood Studios on 4/22 for the Early Morning Magic. I watched several YouTube videos, read articles (this forum included) and listened to numerous Podcasts in advance to get a sense of the value for this event (and strategy). Based on my research, I have to assume from my visit that they have increased the amount of tickets available per day for this event or I simply chose a day it was sold out. It was packed. I arrived at the park at 7 AM and was allowed in without delay, plenty of staff and dedicated lines to get the early morning wristbands. We were stopped at the Chinese Theater for about 30 minutes, allowing a crowd to form and they slow walked us to Toy Story Land at 7:45. Slinky Dog opened at 8:10 (delayed opening not announced until you got to the entrance of the attraction). Slinky had a posted wait time of 15 minutes throughout the event. I rode it twice and waited 17 and 21 minutes. Swirling Saucers was a walk-on attraction for the first 30 minutes and a short 10 minute wait for the second half of the event, essentially two ride cycles. Toy Story Mania had a posted wait time of 10 minutes, we rode it twice and waited 15 and 17 minutes. Each character meet and greet had approximately 10 families in line throughout the event, we did not wait for any as we were trying to maximize ride time. All in all we got on 5 attractions in the hour, not awful, but not what I was expecting and I wanted to share this experience so others can be informed consumers. At 9 we headed over to Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, we got on both with minimal waits. This left us enough time to make it to the Backlot Express at 9:45 to have the breakfast that shuts down at 10.

 

[pattyw]

I visited Hollywood Studios on 4/22 for the Early Morning Magic. I watched several YouTube videos, read articles (this forum included) and listened to numerous Podcasts in advance to get a sense of the value for this event (and strategy). Based on my research, I have to assume from my visit that they have increased the amount of tickets available per day for this event or I simply chose a day it was sold out. It was packed. I arrived at the park at 7 AM and was allowed in without delay, plenty of staff and dedicated lines to get the early morning wristbands. We were stopped at the Chinese Theater for about 30 minutes, allowing a crowd to form and they slow walked us to Toy Story Land at 7:45. Slinky Dog opened at 8:10 (delayed opening not announced until you got to the entrance of the attraction). Slinky had a posted wait time of 15 minutes throughout the event. I rode it twice and waited 17 and 21 minutes. Swirling Saucers was a walk-on attraction for the first 30 minutes and a short 10 minute wait for the second half of the event, essentially two ride cycles. Toy Story Mania had a posted wait time of 10 minutes, we rode it twice and waited 15 and 17 minutes. Each character meet and greet had approximately 10 families in line throughout the event, we did not wait for any as we were trying to maximize ride time. All in all we got on 5 attractions in the hour, not awful, but not what I was expecting and I wanted to share this experience so others can be informed consumers. At 9 we headed over to Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, we got on both with minimal waits. This left us enough time to make it to the Backlot Express at 9:45 to have the breakfast that shuts down at 10.

We did an Early Morning Magic in March and had a similar experience. We rode Slinky dog twice, Alien Saucers twice, Toy Story Mania once. The character lines were long. We did get the photopass picture on the entrance to TSL. We had breakfast about 9:30. There was no indoor seating available- just a few outdoor tables. March has pleasant weather to eat outside, but I wouldn't want to sit out in the summer heat!

We are doing an after hours event at HS in May. The ticket wasn't much more than the EMM (with AP discount) and we'll get more time in the park and more attractions open.

I think the EMM was worth it just to get to ride the new attractions with minimal wait, though.