A Day at Disney Hollywood Studios

Another weekend, another Disney World park. Lucky us!! This time we picked Disney Hollywood Studios. It was Easter weekend which meant the parks were extremely crowded (8/10 on the crowd calendars). Thus, we wanted to steer clear of the most popular ones, including Magic Kingdom, even though they had extended hours. Hollywood Studios was packed to the gills, so I would hate to see it on a 10/10 day. That being said, we had a fabulous day and accomplished almost everything on our list of must-dos because of good planning. 

Crowded Day Tips

If you find yourself at Hollywood Studios on a crowded day like we were, here are some tips:

1. Get to the Hollywood Studios early! Preferably be parked and at the gate when the park opens. That was our plan, but we were a little late due to a  giraffe having a baby. Seriously!
2. Book your fast passes early. Like a week early. Typically, the rides with the longest wait times are Toy Story Mania, Star Wars Star Tours, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror. Pick 3 of these (that’s the maximum number of fast passes you can book) and go to the 4th one first thing in the morning before the lines become unbearably long. Also, book your fast passes for the afternoon if possible. That’s when all the lines are the longest. 
3. Get to the shows early. For Fantasmic, you want to be there 45-60 minutes early. Really. You don’t want to be stuck on one of the sides for the show, or worse, completely miss it because the seating is full. Get to the other shows (such as Beauty and the Beast) around 20-30 minutes early. If you are worried about wasting your time waiting around, bring your lunch or a snack to your seat and eat while waiting.

General Tips:

Other tips not related to crowds:

• The professional photographers scattered throughout Hollywood Studios will take pictures of you with your personal camera. Be it a DSLR, point-and-shoot, or your smartphone… just ask. Usually, they are in the prime locations and know the best angles for the shot. They do this every day for hours on end, so take advantage of it!
• If you are going to a 3D show (Muppet Vision or Voyage of the Little Mermaid), do NOT be the first to enter the theater. The first ones in each row have to walk all the way down to the end. You want to be in the middle of the crowd as you enter the theater so you end up in the middle of the row and have the best view. 
• All of the rides at Hollywood Studios (as of April 2017) allow you to have a bag with you. Even the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. So, feel free to bring a backpack with water, sunscreen, and any other necessities you need during the day. Just don’t bring too much because you’ll be carrying it around all day!
• A lot of people might say Hollywood Studios is a half-day park, but that is inaccurate. We were entertained the entire day and still didn’t make it to all the shows/attractions. Though we did cover ~90% of them. 

The Great Movie Ride (7/10):

We planned on going to Toy Story Midway Mania first thing in the morning (it was the one we didn’t get a fast pass for), but the ride was already experiencing technical difficulties. Whomp, whomp! So, we ended up on The Great Movie Ride as our first attraction for the day. And, I must say, this was an awesome way to start the day. It is the epitome of Hollywood Studios. It is a 20ish minute ride that transports you into movie sets such as Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, Alien, and classic Western movies. The tour guide might be a little cheesy, but it is still great.

March of the First Order (9/10):

As we exited The Great Movie Ride, we noticed a huge gathering outside. We were just in time to watch the March of the First Order. Freaking awesome! And, I’m not even a huge Star Wars fan. Captain Phasma leads a group of Storm Troopers to the stage in a demonstration of obedience. Just like the movie, they love shoo-ing people to get out of their way. Hilarious!!

Jedi Training (6/10):

After watching the March of the First Order, we headed towards Muppet*Vision, and along the way, we saw the Jedi Training. If you are a kid participating or a parent watching your kid, I’m sure this is great. For the rest of us, it is just meh. Except for those rare occasions where the kid bows to Darth Vader (Youtube it). That would have been precious to see. But no. The kids we saw were just average kids obeying orders from their Jedi masters. May the force be with them and their plastic lightsaber.

Muppet*Vision 3D (Debatable):

We finally made our way over to Muppet*Vision 3D and we couldn’t agree on the rating.  Ashley’s conclusion: Ashley hates The Muppets. She is cold and has no heart. She, therefore, didn’t enjoy the show. Nisheet’s conclusion: Nisheet loves The Muppets and thought both the pre-show and the main show was absolutely hilarious. So, if you like the Muppets, by all means, go watch the show. 

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant (8/10):

I was hoping Toy Story would be open again by the time we got out of Muppet*Vision, but since it wasn’t, we decided it was a great time for lunch. And, we ended up at one of the coolest restaurants I’ve ever eaten in. The Sci-Fi DIne-In Theater Restaurant. You get to sit in an old 60s car and watch classic movie clips while eating. And, did I mention you get free popcorn?!? What’s not to love about that? So why only a 8/10 rating? The food wasn’t that great. We had a veggie burger with sweet potato fries. The veggie burger was on the bland side and quite dry. The sweet potato fries were a bit under-cooked (raw-ish in the middle). However, the booze-infused milkshakes were amazing! Go here for an absolute unique dining atmosphere.

Toy Story Midway Mania! (10/10):

During lunch, Toy Story Midway Mania reopened! Yay! But even though we booked it straight there, the wait was already 75 minutes. I had been checking wait times all week and knew that the wait was often over 100 minutes (it’s Spring Break around here, aka peak time), so we went ahead and jumped in the long line. Surprisingly, the time passed quickly. And, the wait was definitely worth it. Both Nisheet and I agreed this was our favorite attraction of the day. It was a perfect combination of riding, spinning, 3D, and shooting. Try to beat the people you are riding with! I got over confident with a high score in the beginning and was nudged out by Nisheet in the end. I want a rematch! (Protip – Pull the trigger-string as fast as you can and aim for targets worth 1000+!)

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (8/10):

It was perfect timing. As soon as we were finished with Toy Story, it was time to use our 1st fast pass of the day at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. The fast pass was definitely the way to go too. We were in line maybe 10 minutes while the standby line was approaching 2 hours. Yikes! The best part about this roller coaster is the very beginning. There is a countdown and then you blast off crazy fast! It also does loops, but don’t worry about your backpack. It’ll stay put at your feet.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (10/10): 

At this point, it was mid afternoon and the peak time of day with the longest wait times. So, I’m happy we had another fast pass to use right away! The Tower of Terror is an oldie but goodie. It’s a classic that will hopefully never be taken away. I really don’t want to spoil the surprises on this ride…. but just make sure you buckle up!

The Trolley Car Cafe (Glorified Starbucks):

Since we split only a veggie burger for lunch, we were getting a little hungry again. And, we had heard about the famous Butterfinger cupcakes, so we went in search of one. The bakery we had heard about (Starring Rolls) was closed for the season though. What?!? Who closes a bakery during peak season? But, after some googling, we found it at the Trolley Car Cafe, which is really just a Starbucks. It had some other heavenly looking treats to choose from too including the Darth Vader Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake. They did go a little heavy on the icing, but it was totally worth it! Yum! We took our sweet treat and headed off to the Beauty and the Beast show. We knew we would be waiting a while for the show to start, so we thought we might as well be efficient with our snack time.

The Butterfinger cupcake is to the left of the Darth Vader Cupcake in the photo below.

Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage (8/10):

I think we have had a bit of a Beauty and the Beast overload recently. We watched the new movie. We watched the old movie. And now we have watched it live on stage. Even so, this was a great performance. It was an extremely abbreviated version of the story lasting roughly 30 minutes, but they squeezed in the most famous songs. I especially loved how they did the “Be Our Guest.”

Star Wars – A Galaxy Far Far Away (8/10):

Next up was Star Wars – A Galaxy Far Far Away. I think I was a little overloaded with all the Star Wars stuff going on, but Nisheet was eating it up. And, I have to admit, it was cool seeing all the characters together. They show scenes from all the movies and bring the characters on the stage one-by-one.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid (8/10):

Because the Star Wars show went a little longer than expected, we missed our chance seeing the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. So, we went to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid instead. The Little Mermaid was my absolute favorite movie as a kid. I was obsessed. I had a Little Mermaid bedspread, pillow, etc. So, I was grinning from ear-to-ear the entire show. I probably would have given it a 10/10 just out of my love for the movie, but I tried to be objective and gave it a 8/10 instead. For the best view, sit towards the back of the theater. We sat towards the front, and while we had a great view of the characters, we missed out on some of the laser show. 

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (5/10):

And then it was time for more Star Wars. We had another fast pass, so no long lines for us! Yay! And, I’m so glad we didn’t wait because I wouldn’t go on this ride again for anything. Supposedly it has a good story to it, but I was so nauseous 30 seconds into the ride that I just closed my eyes. Maybe it was because I was sitting on the very edge and not in the center? I don’t know. But it certainly wasn’t a pleasant experience for me. The odd thing though was Nisheet is usually more motion sensitive than I am and he was absolutely fine. Who knows. I’m only giving it a 5/10 but Nisheet gave it a 6.5/10 and said he would give it another try. 

Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream (7/10):

At this point, the day was winding down and we didn’t have much time before we needed to head to Fantasmic! We weren’t quite ready to head there though, so we made an unexpected stop at Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. Nisheet wandered through the museum looking at all the cool artifacts and replicas, and I headed straight to the movie in the very back. I was too tired to do all that reading! We compared notes afterward, and we both learned pretty much the same thing: really interesting facts about Walt Disney, his career, and all the lovable characters. So, take your pick on if you want to read about it or sit back and watch but definitely do this one to gain a perspective of what it took for Disney to become one of the most successful mass media and entertainment conglomerate.

Anaheim Produce:

On our way to Fantasmic! we picked up some “dinner” to enjoy while we waited for the show to start. We really should have gotten something more substantial, but I couldn’t resist a Mickey shaped pretzel. And we washed it down with a frozen mango pina colada. And then we were still hungry, so we bought a box of popcorn… Quite the balanced meal, I know. 

Fantasmic! (10/10):

You will most likely be waiting a while for Fantasmic to start, so it really is a good time to eat dinner, whatever that might be. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the DJ. People really got into some of the songs while we were there, waving their lightsabers and cell phones.

And then the show begins. Fantasmic! is fantastic! The show transports you into Mickey’s dreams where they start off all fun and nice, but then he has to fight the bad dreams! Does he survive? Of course he does! The best part of the show is at the end when a boat full of Disney characters appears including a black and white Mickey driving a steamboat (Steamboat Willie reference here). Just awesomeness!

Star Wars – A Galactic Spectacular (7/10):

If you want to see Star Wars – A Galactic Spectacular you either need to skip Fantasmic! or leave really early. We left right away and ran to the Galactic Spectacular and couldn’t see anything, except the fireworks. I think this show is still too new and Hollywood Studios hasn’t quite figured it all out yet. First of all, on the way to the show, there were people holding tiny signs directing us to the fireworks. Second, we got there too late even though we ran. Third, the main projection is on a building that you can’t see unless you get a really good spot. But, the fireworks were cool! We gave it a 7/10 because we think if you watched the show from front and center for the whole duration, it’ll be a pretty epic show.

End of the night

After the Galactic Spectacular, the Hollywood Studios is essentially closed. Except for the souvenir shops along the way to the exit, so this is when I suggest you do your shopping. Plus, this way you don’t have to carry everything around all day. Also, there is going to be a major traffic jam leaving Hollywood Studios, so you might as well take your time browsing through the shops.