Hollywood Studio Plan- feedback?

[Disneyfan628]

We (myself and husband 40, son 13, daughter 6) will be staying at the GF and plan to spend the 18th of September at Hollywood studios. This will be our only day there. We have not been to Disney since 2019 and I’m reading the strategy posts trying to catch up but it’s a little tough. We plan to arrive early….is 8am still early enough? I know we can get in at 830 because we are on property but I also know that it wouldn’t be wise to show up at that time. I plan to get genie plus as soon as I can and prioritize slinky dog dash first. I also plan to do lightning lane for rise of the resistance. We want to get in everything we can in Star Wars area and toy story land. We also want to ride the new Mickey and Minnie coaster. Our son does not like Tower of terror but enjoys rockin roller coaster. Our daughter would never ride either. So hitting rnrc would be a bonus but not a major deal. We have an 11am reservation for the sci fi diner. Open to canceling if we should. A 345 reservation for our son to build a light saber. He’s only slightly into Star Wars so I’m not against at least discussing dropping this. I expected him to say he didn’t want to do it when I asked about it but he said yes so I made the reservation. We also have oogas cantina at 440. We definitely want to keep that one. Ideally we would maybe do one more ride after that or not and head back to the hotel. Would anyone like to help me with a more fleshed out plan? We used to visit Disney multiple times a year and aren’t used to doing so much planning. Very new to us. Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.

 

[Disneyfan628]

Anyone? Totally out of my element since we haven’t been in so long!

 

[Mheato]

I would get there just a little earlier if you can. We typically arrive 7:45 or so. You should be able to knock out 2 maybe 3 rides before general park open. If you are able to get Slinky as genie+ and Rise as iLL I might start with Smugglers run then immediately go to Mickeys Runaway and then over to Toy Story Mania where you might have to wait but wouldn't be too long.

Since Tower of Terror isn't a priority you now have every major ride done or planned before park open except for Rockin Roller Coaster. There is a single rider line so you can always use that. All you have left then are rides that will typically have lower wait times or filler rides. I dont see where you would need to cancel any of your plans.

 

[coasternut22]

Resort busses start running 1 hour before early entry. For a HS early entry of 8:30am, be at the GF bus stop by 7:15am to be on the first bus. If you are on the first bus, you will be at the front of the rope drop pack. Anything later, you will be in the middle or back of the pack. Because you are G+'ing Rise and Slinky, this eases things for you. As stated previously first knock out Smugglers and Railway. You can get these done during early entry if you walk fast and are at Smugglers first thing during early entry. The key to early entry at HS is to be off your first ride and in line for your second before the regular guests are allowed in. Lines for mid-tier rides quickly build after that. Then do Toy Story Mania and Saucers. Because you have a lot of reservations, if you book a G+ selection during one of these times, see a cast member at a blue umbrella to see if they can do something about it. Watch videos on how to score an early G+ selection for a high demand ride like Slinky. I recommend the Youtube channel Earscouts and his 27 tips on G+. I also recommend you both using two phones on the same account right at 7am. One getting Slinky, and the other getting Rise.

 

[JodyK]

I think you have a good base of plans that also allows you some flexibility to go with the flow of what happens during the day. Since you've visited before in the past you have a lot of knowledge, yes there's a lot to learn with new things but having been there before hopefully you can just layer those in with how you used to do things.

I'm assuming you'll be prioritizing Smugglers Run at early entry since you'll have ROTR and Slinky LL. I think you'd probably be alright arriving at around 8AM, if you wanted to be safe you could arrive earlier. Using 2 phones at 7AM for Rise and Slinky sounds like a good plan just to make sure you get them. I'd probably then try for Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway, check the app first to make sure it isn't down I'd say it often has delays at opening, also note it isn't a coaster. If it is down or you just prefer Toy Story Land and you'd be able to knock out a few rides before first dining reservation.

Assuming your Slinky reservation is in the afternoon and not first thing in the morning I'd make sure to set an alarm on my phone for 2 hours after park opening so you can get that next LL. I'd probably just try for whatever has return times that aren't too far out so you could get something around the time you are finishing up lunch. There may be a bit of criss-crossing between Toy Story, Star Wars Land and Center Stage but they aren't too far apart in terms of Disney walking. I'd probably then leave Sunset Boulevard for last since it isn't priority and is a bit out of the way from all your other plans.

 

[Disneyfan628]

I would get there just a little earlier if you can. We typically arrive 7:45 or so. You should be able to knock out 2 maybe 3 rides before general park open. If you are able to get Slinky as genie+ and Rise as iLL I might start with Smugglers run then immediately go to Mickeys Runaway and then over to Toy Story Mania where you might have to wait but wouldn't be too long.

Since Tower of Terror isn't a priority you now have every major ride done or planned before park open except for Rockin Roller Coaster. There is a single rider line so you can always use that. All you have left then are rides that will typically have lower wait times or filler rides. I dont see where you would need to cancel any of your plans.

Thank you! I really appreciate it. Will plan to get there as early as possible. We will for sure attempt to take the first bus. Is that the best way to do it or would driving be smarter?

Resort busses start running 1 hour before early entry. For a HS early entry of 8:30am, be at the GF bus stop by 7:15am to be on the first bus. If you are on the first bus, you will be at the front of the rope drop pack. Anything later, you will be in the middle or back of the pack. Because you are G+'ing Rise and Slinky, this eases things for you. As stated previously first knock out Smugglers and Railway. You can get these done during early entry if you walk fast and are at Smugglers first thing during early entry. The key to early entry at HS is to be off your first ride and in line for your second before the regular guests are allowed in. Lines for mid-tier rides quickly build after that. Then do Toy Story Mania and Saucers. Because you have a lot of reservations, if you book a G+ selection during one of these times, see a cast member at a blue umbrella to see if they can do something about it. Watch videos on how to score an early G+ selection for a high demand ride like Slinky. I recommend the Youtube channel Earscouts and his 27 tips on G+. I also recommend you both using two phones on the same account right at 7am. One getting Slinky, and the other getting Rise.

Thanks so much! I will watch the videos and for sure have my husband booking one while I book the other. Didn’t think of this. I didn’t realize I could speak to someone about a possible change if I have a reservation either so thanks for that as well!

I think you have a good base of plans that also allows you some flexibility to go with the flow of what happens during the day. Since you've visited before in the past you have a lot of knowledge, yes there's a lot to learn with new things but having been there before hopefully you can just layer those in with how you used to do things.

I'm assuming you'll be prioritizing Smugglers Run at early entry since you'll have ROTR and Slinky LL. I think you'd probably be alright arriving at around 8AM, if you wanted to be safe you could arrive earlier. Using 2 phones at 7AM for Rise and Slinky sounds like a good plan just to make sure you get them. I'd probably then try for Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway, check the app first to make sure it isn't down I'd say it often has delays at opening, also note it isn't a coaster. If it is down or you just prefer Toy Story Land and you'd be able to knock out a few rides before first dining reservation.

Assuming your Slinky reservation is in the afternoon and not first thing in the morning I'd make sure to set an alarm on my phone for 2 hours after park opening so you can get that next LL. I'd probably just try for whatever has return times that aren't too far out so you could get something around the time you are finishing up lunch. There may be a bit of criss-crossing between Toy Story, Star Wars Land and Center Stage but they aren't too far apart in terms of Disney walking. I'd probably then leave Sunset Boulevard for last since it isn't priority and is a bit out of the way from all your other plans.

Thank you! I’ll for sure set that two hour alarm if we get a later time. Will keep that in mind about the railway. Makes sense to leave sunset for last for sure. If we end up not making it over there it will be fine.


Thank you all so much for the feedback and information. Sounds like this is doable as long as we are smart!

 

[JodyK]

I like to watch Molly from All Ears perfect day videos on YouTube if you have time and want to do more research. She usually uses a combination of genie+ and standby lines to make the perfect day and it'll give you an idea of what it is like.

Good Luck!

 

[Disneyfan628]

I like to watch Molly from All Ears perfect day videos on YouTube if you have time and want to do more research. She usually uses a combination of genie+ and standby lines to make the perfect day and it'll give you an idea of what it is like.

Good Luck!

Thanks! I’ll check it out! This is really the only day I’ve been stressing about! Sounds like a good idea!

 

[Disneyfan628]

Hey! We are back from our fall break trip! Left on the 23rd so we missed the Ian craziness. We ended up changing our hotel to the Polynesian and even though we didn’t have the Disney plus discount there we paid the same. Main building std room at Floridian v. Garden view club level at Polynesian. Bus situation was the same but thought I’d mention that.

We used everyone’s suggestions in this thread and had a very successful day at Hollywood studios. We did everything we wanted to do and we were back at the hotel mid - late afternoon. We (barely) made the 7am bus which was not crowded to Hollywood studios and while we were on it I set up our genie plus for slinky dog, afternoon time, and paid for LL for rise of the resistance. We got in about 740 after a bit of a wait and were able to ride Mickey and Minnie railway, smugglers run and the swirling saucers before the park officially opened. Once I was able to make our next genie plus we pretty much walked through the park making genie plus and getting on the ride. We did standby for rockin roller coaster and tower of terror. Both were short waits. Overall we liked using genie plus. I think we did everything including things we hadn’t planned on, Indiana jones, frozen sing a long etc.

Thank you so much for your advice!