What's All the Fuss About HS Closures?

[KimBean]

Another new name?

Closed in early July of 2016.

What!?!! Guess it was still there when I went in 2014 and didn't know it. Lol!!

 

[Kara12314]

To me almost all of the things worth doing are closed. I love Muppets, Star Tours and Toy story Mania. But there isn't much left that I enjoy one by one they are all closing. I never was a big fan of that park but now they are completely eliminating the cool theming it used to have with that old Hollywood feel and turning it into "Hey that's a movie"

 

[Robo]

Nothing beats Disney fun!

 

[Robo]

I love Muppets, Star Tours and Toy story Mania. But there isn't much left that I enjoy one by one they are all closing.

They are building an entire Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land.

to posting on the DISboards, Kara!

 

[mom2rtk]

Another new name?

I hear there's a lot of that going on lately.

 

[srwarden1928]

I think the thing with HS being a half day park is people who don't like shows. There are four rides currently in the park. I personally think they are four outstanding rides, but it is correct that there are only four. For me, HS has always been a challenge to see everything I wanted to because of the timing of the shows. Even with the closings, the shows include Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, One Mans Dream, Muppets in 3D, Fantasmic, the new Frozen show that I have never seen before, the new Star Wars fireworks, and the Disney Junior show that I never went to as an adult but that we will include because of my 2.5 yo great nephew. I think it will still be a challenge to fit everything in. Lights Motor Action, while an excellent show, seemed to really impact planning all the others, so it may be a LITTLE easier. My family always enjoyed HS, and I see no reason we won't enjoy it this time. HS has always been show heavy. Some of its shows are excellent. Maybe its because it has been several years that I am looking forward to seeing these shows again while others have little interest. I especially would encourage someone who is new to WDW or who has not been in awhile to not give too short a time to HS. Those who go often know what they want to do and what they want to skip. Very little in Disney doens't at least deserve a chance if you've never seen it before.

 

[Jennasis]

That is still 3 more rides than MGM opened with. Its was Backlot and GMR and I consider Backlot more of a show than ride. They also had the Animation Tour, Monster Sound Show, and Superstar Television. DHS was always more about the shows than it was about the rides which ended up being its downfall. They are trying to rectify now but its going to take a lot of downtime.

You don't need to apologize/make excuses for the park. I still love DHS. We just aren't spending a whole day there. And we are ecstatic about the forthcoming changes! I'm glad to be a DVC owner so we can be there to see all these things.

 

[Lothlórien]

If you try to make fast passes for this park, it comes together.

 

[MrsAlexis]

Wow. When did you go last? That's been closed awhile.

Oh about 15 years only lol! My friend gave me a book from 2015 and said the playground is "can't miss" with my DS4. Didn't occur to me it might not be there anymore. And it closed so long ago I never saw anything on the boards when I found them a few weeks ago

 

[KimBean]

Oh about 15 years only lol! My friend gave me a book from 2015 and said the playground is "can't miss" with my DS4. Didn't occur to me it might not be there anymore. And it closed so long ago I never saw anything on the boards when I found them a few weeks ago

Well I was the one way off the mark. Only closed 2016 and I haven't been there since 2014. Thought it closed way back.

 

[epcotty]

Do HS 1 day. Since then Lights Motors Action, Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground, Streets of America, (Seasonal) Osborne Lights, Great Movie Ride have closed (all with no replacement now). Still nothing replaced the backlot tour or the old Narnia/Pirates theatre. It was good that they reopened the ABC Sound Studios theatre, the former Animation building and the Superstar Television/Hyperion theatre with new Star Wars/Frozen attractions but now the lack of attractions is so much more noticeable. We're skipping it for now as we don't park hop and it isn't worth it for us for the time being

 

[Disney_Princess83]

For us, there was never really that much at HS to keep us there more than half a day. With the closures, it's a quarter day park for us now. With GMR and Starring Rolls closed, it's dead to us. If Fantastmic wasn't there, we wouldn't visit HS at all.

 

[bcrook]

I miss the Animation Academy a lot.

Totally. A lot!

 

[bcrook]

That park was dead to me the moment they closed Starring Rolls!

Yes.

 

[Grumpy's_Girl]

The main thing to me is that the loss of Backlot Tour,LMA and New York Street mean that Guests run into 2 "dead ends" instead of being able to make a "loop"-this makes the Park feel MUCH smaller.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the possibility of the "loop" returning once the Grand Avenue area opens?

 

[igrsod]

There is still plenty do to at DHS though a substantial portion of it isn't rides, but rather other forms of entertainment. Part of the allure of Disney is that it's a mix of experiences, not just getting on one thing after another that flings you through the air. There's no way I'd go to WDW and not spend some time at DHS.

I would agree with this. DHS was/is a family fav.... but I agree there is less to do than in past years. The boys of the family miss Lights Motors Action. My daughter misses the American Idol show... (she got to perform on it once and wanted to tryout again). I liked the back lot tour, and the whole family MISSES the animation classes. Those things took up plenty of time in our day at DHS. So this trip I can't see how we will be there for a whole day.
We do love to sit and watch the citizens of Hollywood do their skits in the streets. I hope they never take that away.

 

[kandb]

I still can't believe Disney closed GMR. I have told some friends and they all look in shock and all say they "loved that ride", as well as us. The ride always had a wait, a lot longer wait than a lot of other rides in Disney that are still open. I am really disappointed in Disney closing this classic. Not all of us care about "star wars" or "toy story". I believe they just try to push merchandise and are trying to build up star was and toy story. Disney has disappointed a lot of the older crowd by closing GMR and those are usually the people who are spending the money and deciding on where to vacation. HS also closed Osborne Lights which was super popular and I am sure they could of done something to keep that classic show as well. We like backlot tour also but I guess star wars and toy story will make Disney more money.

 

[ChimCher-ee]

I think the thing with HS being a half day park is people who don't like shows. There are four rides currently in the park. I personally think they are four outstanding rides, but it is correct that there are only four. For me, HS has always been a challenge to see everything I wanted to because of the timing of the shows. Even with the closings, the shows include Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, One Mans Dream, Muppets in 3D, Fantasmic, the new Frozen show that I have never seen before, the new Star Wars fireworks, and the Disney Junior show that I never went to as an adult but that we will include because of my 2.5 yo great nephew. I think it will still be a challenge to fit everything in. Lights Motor Action, while an excellent show, seemed to really impact planning all the others, so it may be a LITTLE easier. My family always enjoyed HS, and I see no reason we won't enjoy it this time. HS has always been show heavy. Some of its shows are excellent. Maybe its because it has been several years that I am looking forward to seeing these shows again while others have little interest. I especially would encourage someone who is new to WDW or who has not been in awhile to not give too short a time to HS. Those who go often know what they want to do and what they want to skip. Very little in Disney doens't at least deserve a chance if you've never seen it before.

I have to agree completely. I went in July with a non-Disney-fanatic friend who was happy to see Beauty and the Beast and Indiana Jones but our ride experience was shredded because of a weather related FP change up. We felt like there was nothing much left to see and went back to the hotel earlier than planned. Meh.

But here's the thing: just got back from a trip with DD13, who hadn't been in two years. We criss-crossed DHS many times, starting with the Indiana Jones-Star Tours (standby)-Muppets end. We drifted past Grauman's, where we grabbed popcorn and sat and people watched; this meant that we caught the Stormtrooper "photo op" act, where they just marched up and start pulling people to ask for identification. Great fun that we've somehow missed before and wouldn't have caught this time unless we were sitting still.

We went along Sunset Blvd, where DD paused, then stopped, and actually became a part of a Streetmosphere act--something she'd never been interested in before. We wandered on down to ToT for a standby ride (stopping for ice cream at Hollywood Scoops, another first we'd never made time for before) and enjoyed the queue through the hotel--which we'd never seen because we always FP it and usually only ride once.

Then we went back to the Muppets end to start over again, this time using our FPs. Went on Star Tours again and found that we got our second new tour in one day! I know they have many trips but we'd only gotten the same one.

We made our way back to ToT again--stopping for an unplanned visit to Toy Story Mania because of low standby times. I never FP us because we didn't see the fascination the first time we went on years ago. Really had fun, and we both managed respectable scores too.

As we got back down to RnR and ToT, we took in all the colors and the "Hotel California" album cover feel--DD said she could really feel as if we were in LA.

My long-winded point is, we came away pushing DHS up to 2d place, after our beloved Epcot. And it was because 1) DD is at a different age now, and 2) we made ourselves open to the experiences, really just trying to be in the moment in "the Hollywood that never was ... and always will be."

 

[WEDWDW]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the possibility of the "loop" returning once the Grand Avenue area opens?

"Seems" like I read somewhere that Guests can exit Star Wars into Toy Story,but can't exit Toy Story into Star Wars(entrance to Star Wars will only be possible via Grand Avenue),BUT I coul be "misremembering"!lol

(I think Grand Avenue will be a "dead end" until Star Wars opens.)

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I can spend two days there happily.

The only thing I truly miss and will miss forever is the Hunchback show.

I was sad to see GMR is leaving as I loved it for the nostalgia factor but it is time for something new.