This Post Has Been ArchiveD
We have simplified our Hollywood Studios content. This information has been consolidated into the following three posts, and the third is a related post you may be interested in reading:
Introduction
Extra Extra Magic Hours ended on November 2, and Rise of the Resistance opened on December 5. Disney threw us a curveball, with incredibly early opens for Rise, along with a rehashed Boarding Pass system for the ride. We have a separate post talking about the ins and outs of getting on Rise of the Resistance and how it impacts Hollywood Studios touring.
In this post, we’re covering Hollywood Studios besides Rise of the Resistance. In its current state, you’ll be getting a boarding group for Rise and then worrying about the rest of the park. Since that Rise post is 4000+ words just about Rise, we figured we’d give you a separate post to guide you through your day outside Rise. If you read our post on visits between November 2 and December 5, you’ll notice this post is largely similar to that post.
It's Christmas Season at Walt Disney World
Visiting between November 2 and January 1? You'll want to read about Christmas Season at Walt Disney World! See how the entire resort is transformed for the holiday season! Click through to learn about special events, ride overlays, and holiday decorations galore!
The Situation At Hollywood Studios
Following the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on August 29, Hollywood Studios has had Extra Magic Hours from 6AM to 9AM daily. Those ended, but when Rise of the Resistance opened, Disney went ahead and has tweaked park hours significantly, pushing up opening hours to 7AM or 8AM for upcoming dates, and actually opening the park gates closer to 6:30AM.
Besides the end of Extra Extra Magic Hours, the other big challenge to Hollywood Studios planning remains that FastPass+ situation. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance are still not part of FastPass+ selections at Hollywood Studios. In addition, all the major rides are Tier 1 FastPass+ selections. And of course, Slinky Dog Dash remains a highly sought after FastPass+ selection.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Flurry of Fun, the Hollywood Studios Christmas celebration, started November 8.
With FastPass+ not ideally situated to solve all your problems, rope drop becomes more important for Hollywood Studios visits. You want to be sure you arrive early enough and use the proper strategy to get through the rides as quickly as possible. With that said, let’s get to the real tips…
FastPass+ Strategy
Ideally, your Hollywood Studios FastPass+ selections are Slinky Dog Dash, Star Tours, and something else. If you don’t get Slinky Dog Dash, you’ll want a Toy Story Land ride (doesn’t matter which, I’d generally take Alien Swirling Saucers).
This lets you get out out of the most heavily trafficked part of the park quickly in the morning. If you wind up with Tower of Terror or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, that’s fine, you just might not see as huge time savings from those.
If you haven’t read our Walt Disney World FastPass+ guide to learn about “tap grab modify” and same-day selections, we recommend you do so. We also recommend reading this supplemental post on skipping / not booking advance FastPass+ reservations.
Arrive 60-120 Minutes Early
Arrival times are discussed more in the Rise of the Resistance strategy post, but we recommend 60 to 120 minutes early depending on your precise situation.
Get Your Rise of Resistance Boarding Pass
HEY DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE NEW RIDE? Seriously though—last mention of this one. Make sure you’re prepared to get your Rise of the Resistance boarding pass.
Start With Slinky Dog Dash
Obviously if you have a FastPass+ booked for Slinky Dog Dash, start with Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Otherwise, recent wait time patterns make Slinky Dog Dash the priority.
You shouldn’t plan to ride Smugglers Run and then Slinky Dog Dash. During 6AM EEMH if you were one of the very first people on Smugglers Run, you’d get a short Slinky Dog Dash wait. That hasn’t continued. You get one of these rides quickly in the morning, and you push the other one later in the day. (Obviously if you exit Smugglers Run and Slinky Dog has no wait, hop on.)
You might get a same-day FastPass for Slinky Dog Dash, but you cannot count that. If you’re willing to roll the dice on that, we will add that Slinky Dog Dash is a ton of fun to ride at night. So if you want to try for the same-day FastPass+ and settle for a nighttime wait, that’s not the worst strategy. But in general, we’re assuming you can’t count on a FastPass+ here.
The rides see similar wait times. Slinky Dog Dash has slightly longer average wait times than Smugglers Run, thought it is close enough that we don’t need to argue about that here.
So to this point, you’re looking at a coin flip. Similar waits, can’t do both, and probably not getting that Slinky Dog same-day FastPass+. Now let’s tilt the scales in favor of Slinky Dog Dash…
Slinky Dog Dash is closer to the front of the park and to the other Toy Story Land rides. Guests who start with Slinky Dog Dash will board that ride before guests who start with Smugglers Run. They’ll also be in a much better position to go to either Alien Swirling Saucers or Toy Story Mania (more on this next).
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has a single rider line. No, it’s not ideal. Yes, you’ll wind up an engineer. But single rider is a good option to cut down on waits later in the day.
Ultimately, it’s up to you, ya know? If you arrive early enough and try at all to do things properly (like using FastPass+, for example), it won’t matter what you start with. But to our mind, the “best” strategy is to start with Slinky Dog Dash.
Remaining Ride Priority
It’s still mostly a toss-up whether you go with Alien Swirling Saucers or Toy Story Mania after Slinky Dog Dash. If you start with Slinky Dog Dash, we give the edge to Toy Story Mania second. The reasoning is that while Alien Swirling Saucers will nab some guests exiting from Galaxy’s Edge, there shouldn’t be a ton of them yet (when you get off Slinky Dog Dash).
The bigger concern is people arriving as the park is scheduled to open, seeing the Slinky Dog Dash wait, and opting for Toy Story Mania instead. So you’ll want to visit that first, then go to Alien Swirling Saucers. If you started with Smugglers Run, it’ll be easier just to pop onto Alien Swirling Saucers and then Toy Story Mania.
After Toy Story Land, you’ll head to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and then Tower of Terror. Plan to fit in whichever of the big two rides you skipped later in the day. Never push rides too late though, because you don’t want them to break down and then not reopen (rare, but it happens).
Then you’ve got the rest of the park to explore, including the great shows. We recommend reading our recent trip report post covering a full day at Hollywood Studios. That post is pre-Rise of the Resistance, but the afternoon show schedule is largely the same.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And at 180 days out it's time to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World FastPass+ strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom FastPass, Epcot FastPass, Animal Kingdom FastPass, and Hollywood Studios FastPass.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.