Who Agrees that to see the best of Hollywood Studios, one day is NOT enough, since the Toy Story and Star Wars Galaxy Edge Areas have been finished?

[larsonb74]

I will go with it being a 1/2 day park. Being there at rope drop, using genie +/LL/ILL we can hit all major rides and be ready to leave by noon - 1PM, hit shops on the way out. We used to stay longer and make it a full day when they had the Starwars Fireworks show. Back then we would maybe hit a few other shows along with the rides. Seems like a waste staying all day without that fireworks show. Fantasmic is ok, but not the same.

 

[rdaky]

I think if you're someone who wants to do everything and really look at the details and enjoy shows, it can easily be 2 days. So many times I have seen people speed walking to the next lightning lane (in any park) and they miss out on a lot.

 

[disneyseniors]

I disagree. It is a 1/2 park at best for us. It is also the first park we will skip. It depends on your family make up and preferences. I find Galaxy’s Edge the most boring land of any theme park, anywhere. I also don’t encourage first timers to re-ride unless they have a 5-day ticket. Then, I advise them to pick the park they liked best. Re-riding takes too much time away from seeing other things that they have never seen before. Most of the shows are stale. They no longer have the large operation shoes like they once did (Lights, Action, MC, and VotLM, for examples). Hopefully the reopening this summer of mermaid will be fantastic.

I agree that it is half a day park for us. But, it all depends on what your preferences are. It seemed huge and barren (I know, I know that's what it looks like), but the rides did not interest us or did the food. We love AK the best, which is not a popular opinion. It's a good thing we all have different likes because AK or HS would be overrun all the time, LOL. It's all good!

 

[J-Dog]

I think if you're someone who wants to do everything and really look at the details and enjoy shows, it can easily be 2 days. So many times I have seen people speed walking to the next lightning lane (in any park) and they miss out on a lot.

Yes. This.

Lots of subjective comments on here about it being a "half-day park", but all those comments have the disclaimer that "I don't really like the park, so I skip a lot of it".

If you are actually there to see everything at the park, even with LL lined-up perfectly, the chances of seeing every show, Fantasmic, and do a reasonable amount of exploration will easily take more than a single full day.

 

[Anna131517]

It’s my least favorite park. Even if I went to WDW for 2 weeks I can’t see going to HS for more than a day.

 

[Lewandowski]

Yes. This.

Lots of subjective comments on here about it being a "half-day park", but all those comments have the disclaimer that "I don't really like the park, so I skip a lot of it".

If you are actually there to see everything at the park, even with LL lined-up perfectly, the chances of seeing every show, Fantasmic, and do a reasonable amount of exploration will easily take more than a single full day.

AbsoIutely! All the people saying it’s a half day park probably are not fans of much of what the park has to offer. I’m a huge do all attractions person or at least most of the attractions in all parks when going to WDW! As for Hollywood Studios, I could probably skip Animation Courtyard and maybe the Alien Swirling Saucers but that’s pretty much it. I like to do everything else, and some rides twice: Rock N Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and Rise of the Resistance.

 

[Lewandowski]

The thing about the Hollywood Studios as well is while it might not have as many attractions as the Magic Kingdom or even Epcot, a lot of the attractions either are longer durations, have longer lines, and quite a few shows are on time schedules and require you to be at the theater like 30 min prior to get good seats for the show. And Fantasmic can eat up a lot of time when getting to the theater, etc.

 

[mcd2745]

It's certainly not a 1/2 day park. However, if you get there prior to rope drop and have LLMP, it can probably done in a single day. Also depends if everything really means everything, including all character meets and shows...or is that mainly meant as all rides and most of the other stuff.

 

[Skywalker3]

Anymore, it's hard to imagine a first time visit to HS. What one does there really varies by the guest, possibly ages of guest, if they're Star Wars fans, etc. Our kids are older, and currently no desire at all to see Beauty/beast, The dance party thing, etc. We don't seek out meet/greets, dont' need to ride Swirling Saucers, etc. but do want thrill rides, and multiple rides on those when possible.
Shows can take up a lot of time, the waiting to get in, the sitting waiting for the show, the actual show, etc. We're not really show people, Have only seen Fantasmic twice, about 16 years apart, and I'm good for another 16 years. But if I'd never been to HS/seen it, I'd probably seek it out.
We're massive Star Wars fans, so even though GE is limited, if one was a big fan and doing a lightsaber build and/or droid build, that can take a while. We like multiple rides on Smuggler's. Oga's take some time, seeing the Mandalorian, etc. etc. We even always work in time to walk around Launch Bay, just looking at stuff, but haven't met the characters there in a long while, but we totally would if it was our first time, and those meet/greets take time!
We usually find ourselves at HS at least twice on our trips, often more, usually for a few hours in the morning, and/or a few hours in the evening. We love HS, and looking forward to anything/everything they can add there, like the Monster's coaster.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Hollywood Studios isn't a half day park. It's an hour max park. Go in, ride Tower of Terror, grab the Buffalo grilled cheese from ABC Commissary and then leave.

 

[J-Dog]

Hollywood Studios isn't a half day park. It's an hour max park. Go in, ride Tower of Terror, grab the Buffalo grilled cheese from ABC Commissary and then leave.

Not really sure how your opinion/comment on the few things that you like is supposed to help the OP in any way.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Not really sure how your opinion/comment on the few things that you like is supposed to help the OP in any way.

The Buffalo grilled cheese is very good at ABC Commissary. That's helpful, I feel.

 

[elaine amj]

One time we went for early entry rope drop, did our route perfectly and were finished everything we wanted to do, including shows by 2pm. Didn’t have coaster people with us though…

I usually spend at least 2 days at DHS. But am also usually in WDW for long trips.

I love all that DHS offers. But somehow spend the least amount of time here.

I love the shows. But other than Fantasmic, generally only watch each once per trip (Although we happily rewatched Frozen with the holiday add on twice a few days ago).

Everything else I would re-ride: RnRC, ToT, SDD, MMRR - all have crazy lines. Although in low season, it’s totally possible to do Smuggler’s Run multiple times late at night lol. I do often re-ride Star Tours a couple of times because that’s easy to do and it’s always fun.

There’s also not many pleasant places to just chill out and enjoy a nice atmosphere. I love hanging out in various nooks in Animal Kingdom to read a book. I’ll do low-key attractions like Peoplemover in MK or Figment in Epcot several times a trip. And I somehow always forget/mis-time the MK train. In Epcot, there’s always another musical performance/little concert to watch.

Still, I generally try to fit in 2 DHS days for first-timers. Otherwise, it makes for a very long day (that has to be carefully planned) to fit everything in. The shows are always hard to schedule. And all are very, very good.

 

[denman007]

Did anyone else find Smugglers Run underwhelming? Glad we only waited 15 mins for that one.

It made little sense. We sat in seats 4 and 5 and my DD could even see the screen. The 2 pilots didn't speak English and we had no idea what was going on or what we were supposed to do.

 

[elaine amj]

Did anyone else find Smugglers Run underwhelming? Glad we only waited 15 mins for that one.

It made little sense. We sat in seats 4 and 5 and my DD could even see the screen. The 2 pilots didn't speak English and we had no idea what was going on or what we were supposed to do.

Awww…I love Smuggler’s Run. It’s an incredibly immersive video game where the pilots actually affect the ride. For the other 4, it’s more like a cool motion simulator ride although the gunners sort of have stuff to do.

 

[kylenne]

Did anyone else find Smugglers Run underwhelming? Glad we only waited 15 mins for that one.

It made little sense. We sat in seats 4 and 5 and my DD could even see the screen. The 2 pilots didn't speak English and we had no idea what was going on or what we were supposed to do.

Smugglers Run is highly dependent upon your role, which is its biggest flaw imo. You had some of the worst ones so naturally you had a bad experience. It's almost an entirely different ride when you're a pilot, to the point where I will politely ask the CM to be one and am willing to wait for it if necessary. That ride brings out the toxic gamer in me and is just not fun with a couple of clueless scrubs piloting.

Re: OP, we generally spend multiple days at HS because we enjoy it a lot, even with all the changes. Even prior to TSL and GE I found it challenging to get all rides and shows done in a single day. The only thing we ever intentionally skip is the Disney Jr thing because we don't have kids. HS is actually my favorite park during the holidays in particular. None of the parks are half day parks to me. If they were I'd honestly stop going.