What's All the Fuss About HS Closures?

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.

Honestly, I love classic movies but found GMR to be a bit of a disappointment. And my kids would want to go to DHS only for Star Tours, and maybe TSMM because it's fun. I'm not saying that GMR had to go -- I'd much prefer an upgrade while keeping the classic movie focus -- but DHS needed some major changes. I know that not everyone loves Star Wars, but it's going to bring a lot of non-Disney fans to DHS, non-Disney fans willing to spend a lot of money on their love for Star Wars.
 
Which, I assume, is in reference to the "Frozen Sing-Along Celebration."

If you don't go, you are missing one of THE funniest shows at WDW.
It stars WDW's likely best comedic actor.
He used to play Six-bits Slokum at the Hoop for several years.
(The first time I saw him in the Hoop,
I found a CM lead after the show just to make sure that I voiced our praise for Six-bits' hysterical schtick.)

A few years later this same actor moved to various other WDW roles (like the Mayor of MK.)
He is a spectacular improv guy, and in the Frozen Sing-Along has a knack of throwing out innocuous quips (thinly veiled jabs) at the "Frozen madness."

The show is hilarious, especially if you are tired of "anything Frozen."
Great show for parents of kids who "already know all the words."

We were blown away to see our favorite WDW comedian in this show.

Totally agree! This was one best things we experienced on our recent trip to HS. And yes the lead actor narrating the story was hilarious. After exiting the show I was thinking that guy could easily be snatched up by Saturday Night Live or a similar type show because he is so witty/funny!
 
Honestly not a ton has closed in the last year, attraction-wise, so it's easy to read about the closures on paper and say, "That's not so much" ... The most popular rides are all still open, Toy Story, Aerosmith, ToT, Star Tours... most of the shows and minor attractions are as well.

But it's difficult to visualize the fact that half the park's land mass is still closed until you walk in and look it in the face. The park FEELS much smaller/and more closed off right now because literally the entire rear half is behind construction walls. There wasn't much back there aside from the Lights Motor Action Show, restaurants and gift shops... But it's still a large hunk of land mass and themepark, and cutting it out makes the park feel noticeably small.

Like... as a point of comparison, imagine Epcot closed World Showcase for a couple years. Leaving only Future World open. Sure, the only rides you lose on paper are Three Caballeros and Frozen, but there's way more to that half of the park than just the two rides... even if just more things to look at, more space to divert crowds and walk around, and more places to eat and drink.

Point is, to sum up... yeah, it doesn't sound like much on paper, and attraction-wise it isn't... but the park does feel much smaller and more closed off in-person. It kinda doesn't set into your mind until you get there and hit construction wall after construction wall, haha.
 
I didn't see anyone mention this, but to your question about should you switch AK to 2 days and HS to 1...I would say yes if you want to ride both Pandora rides. You can only get a FP+ for 1 Pandora ride per day, meaning you will need 2 park days to get a FP+ for both Flight of Passage and the Navi River Journey.
 

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.


I loved the Hunchback show and the Pocahantos one that preceded it. Enjoy the Frozen Singalong too. For me, anyway, the shows and things are what makes WDW special. Otherwise it just feels like going from one ride to another. I love the rides but the variety of experiences at WDW is what keeps me loyal.
 
Honestly not a ton has closed in the last year, attraction-wise, so it's easy to read about the closures on paper and say, "That's not so much" ... The most popular rides are all still open, Toy Story, Aerosmith, ToT, Star Tours... most of the shows and minor attractions are as well.

But it's difficult to visualize the fact that half the park's land mass is still closed until you walk in and look it in the face. The park FEELS much smaller/and more closed off right now because literally the entire rear half is behind construction walls. There wasn't much back there aside from the Lights Motor Action Show, restaurants and gift shops... But it's still a large hunk of land mass and themepark, and cutting it out makes the park feel noticeably small.

Like... as a point of comparison, imagine Epcot closed World Showcase for a couple years. Leaving only Future World open. Sure, the only rides you lose on paper are Three Caballeros and Frozen, but there's way more to that half of the park than just the two rides... even if just more things to look at, more space to divert crowds and walk around, and more places to eat and drink.

Point is, to sum up... yeah, it doesn't sound like much on paper, and attraction-wise it isn't... but the park does feel much smaller and more closed off in-person. It kinda doesn't set into your mind until you get there and hit construction wall after construction wall, haha.

Sorry, but I have to say that I must disagree with many of the major points of this post.
I was not going to post a reply until we got to the last line... "hit construction wall after construction wall, haha."
Really?
Many guests won't even notice there is any construction happening.
"Hitting a construction wall" (or seeing one) is very low on a day's experience list at DHS.

And, the contention that HALF of the park is under construction is
very misleading, in itself.
I know a little bit about the size and usage of all of the parks' land layouts.
Construction area at DHS is far from a situation like "Epcot closing World Showcase."
I don't want to start an argument, but that kind of hyperbole can
do nothing but mislead readers.

Below are two versions of my DHS maps.
Top map is more current.
Lower map is from 2015.

DHS-ALL-Sat_Tall_030815-448.jpg

DHS-ALL_040817_zpsfzqrip6f.jpg
 
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I agree with many others that DHS is very much a full day park. We toured like commandos, used two sets of bands. We're the second family in line at Rope Drop Rope Drop and we're in the last surge of people to leave... and we still missed BATB and I only rode ST once and missed IJ show.

We DID have a leisurely dinner, so that ate up some time, but all-in-all DHS moved up our list to Most Favorite park for many of the members of my travel party.

(A play-by-play of this day is part of the thread in my signature BTW. We went 5/2016.)
 
I would love to see how attendance is at DHS now compared with 5 years ago.
 
I would love to see how attendance is at DHS now compared with 5 years ago.

That kind of info (in generality... that specific info is not released by Disney) is available on those yearly lists of "Theme Park attendance in the US."

I just googled and the first one popped up from (where else?) Wikipedia, HERE.

There are more lists out there for comparison.
 
That Frozen show....
It's hilarious!!!!
I had never even saw Frozen and loved the show because of the actors in it!!!!
They are hysterical- especially the guy narrator.
I would do it again!!!!
Lots of exclamation points in this post, but that Frozen show is what got me interested in actually watching the movie.
For first timers who want to see and do everything it's definitely still a full day park. And try the saltimbocca at Mama Melrose's if you want a phenomenal sit down meal. I just can't say enough about that saltimbocca....
 
Does anyone know if the Frozen show at DHS is the same as the one they had at DCA? We only saw that one and really did enjoy it.
 
Ah, okay. I missed that one.
It's a very cute show. I'd see it again, but they closed it prior to the Hyperion show beginning. (It wouldn't make sense to have two Frozen "shows" so close together, although I would have gone to both). We never saw the Muppets at DCA, but I'm thinking it was in the Muppets theater.

I'm just trying to figure out if it's the same as what people are talking about at DHS since we haven't seen it there.
 
It's a very cute show. I'd see it again, but they closed it prior to the Hyperion show beginning. (It wouldn't make sense to have two Frozen "shows" so close together, although I would have gone to both). We never saw the Muppets at DCA, but I'm thinking it was in the Muppets theater.

I'm just trying to figure out if it's the same as what people are talking about at DHS since we haven't seen it there.

In one sentence, I'd describe DHS's as a couple of live comedic performers bridging together several of the film's musical numbers karaokeified with lyrics. Anna, Kristoff, and Elsa also make appearances. Of course, there's always YouTube.
 
We love HS. My husband's 2 favorite rides are there (ToT and TSMM). We plan to 1.5 days there in November, but we like to do character meets! There are lots of those to do there. Plus, we love Fantasmic!
 
We love HS. My husband's 2 favorite rides are there (ToT and TSMM). We plan to 1.5 days there in November, but we like to do character meets! There are lots of those to do there. Plus, we love Fantasmic!
As much as I'd be OK with skipping it, my daughter would never let me get away with missing ToT and RnR.
 

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