Hollywood Studios is undergoing some changes May 22 and May 26, and these will shake up strategy—primarily Lightning Lane and rope drop strategy—at the park for at least a few days. Ultimately, rope drop and Lightning Lane strategies work together, so I wanted to take a chance to walk you through exactly what we’re expecting and unsure about as these changes arrive.
About This Post
This post supplements our existing Hollywood Studios strategy content:
This post won’t review the basics of those topics, so if you don’t know what a Lightning Lane is or what Early Entry is, check those out first.
This post focuses on visits May 22 and onward:
If you are visiting May 21 or earlier, you don’t have to care about this post, just know that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is closed when you’re visiting.
If you’re visiting mid-June or later, we expect to have a much more solid plan for the park by then, so this post will hopefully be moot.
What’s Changing At Hollywood Studios
Let’s start with a timeline of what’s happening.
Currently: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is closed (Aerosmith version is permanently done)
May 22: Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will receive new storylines
May 26: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets debuts
Also May 26: Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! debuts
Quickly, I want to put the Disney Jr. show to the side. It’s probable that show will have some increased crowds on May 26, and if you have a little one you’ll want to keep an eye on showtimes and crowds (arrive 15 minutes early for the first showtime—if the show is full, consider trying earlier for the next one).
The bigger issue is the one-two punch of Smugglers Run and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Notably, both of these are Tier 1 Lightning Lanes at Hollywood Studios. Tier 1 is usually a slot that’s easy to give to Slinky Dog Dash (or, alternatively, any of the other options if you’re willing to arrive early and rope drop Slinky Dog Dash). Now, for some time around the end of May, we’ll seemingly have multiple good Tier 1 options. Since you need your rope drop strategy to complement your Lightning Lane strategy, rope drop also gets impacted.
Complicating matters is that neither of these was the most popular ride in the park before, but neither was a slouch either. Predicting how these changes will be received by fans and how they’ll boost ride popularity is a lot of guesswork, not something we’re particularly keen to traffic in. Luckily, we’ll have data pretty soon…
Data Reminder
While I hope to update this post as new data rolls out, I don’t want to hide the ball in case you want to do your own prep (you should!). Thrill Data is an excellent source for all data related to Disney park waits and Lightning Lanes. The four specific pages you need to know for this topic are:
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Data Page (the URL on this one includes “Aerosmith”, so it might get updated at some point)
There are a few different data points (and views of those data points) across all those pages. The key things you’ll want to know heading into the end of the month are:
Beginning May 1, we’ll have the earliest data about Lightning Lane demand for the updated Smugglers Run, as resort guests hit their 7+14 days booking timeframe (the above links allow you to see what the earliest available time is for the next 21 days)
Beginning May 5, we’ll have the earliest data about Lightning Lane demand for the updated Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, as resort guests hit their 7+14 days booking timeframe (the above links allow you to see what the earliest available time is for the next 21 days)
But, a note about the two dates above—they’re not really that meaningful, since not many guests are booking 14-day trips. Realistically, the first meaningful data on Lightning Lane demand is around 11 days out (7 days + 4 day trip), so May 11 for Smugglers Run and May 15 for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.
Beginning May 22, we’ll have data on wait times for the updated Smugglers Run (and, for comparison, everything else at the park)
Beginning May 22, we’ll have data on same-day availability of the updated Smugglers Run Lightning Lanes
Beginning May 26, we’ll have data on wait times for the updated Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (and, for comparison, everything else at the park)
Beginning May 26, we’ll have data on same-day availability of the updated Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Lightning Lanes
With all that said, let’s address this timeframe in two chunks—May 22 through May 25, and May 26 onward.
Hollywood Studios Visits May 22 through May 25
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will be getting a new storyline beginning May 22. This will cause increased interest in the ride, at least for a few days.
For visits May 22 through May 25, I’d be open to using my Tier 1 Lightning Lane pick for Smugglers Run. If I did so:
I’d rope drop Slinky Dog Dash; and
Either buy the Single Pass for Rise of the Resistance or just plan to ride it standby later in the day.
If you’re unable to book Smugglers Run, or if Slinky Dog Dash just looks like the better pick when it’s time to pick, then you’ll rope drop Smugglers Run, pushing Rise of the Resistance to later in the day (or you buy the Single Pass for that).
The caveat to this is that increased Star Wars fans in the parks these days might also drive up waits at Rise of the Resistance. You might then prioritize Rise of the Resistance over Slinky Dog Dash at rope drop, but I’ve written elsewhere that the ride’s reliability problems in the morning usually keep me from recommending this approach.
Keep in mind the single rider line probably won’t be a good option for Smugglers Run for a while after the new storyline debuts. It’s been advertised that new elements will be added to the engineer experience (the role single rider usually get), so expect increased single rider demand, too.
Hollywood Studios Visits May 26 Onward
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith had its last day of operations March 1, 2026 and is now closed. It will reopen as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets on May 26, 2026. Once the ride reopens, we expect it to surge in popularity for some time (more than Smugglers Run, in part because Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was already the more popular ride).
In the immediate term, beginning May 26, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is definitely a safe Tier 1 Lightning Lane pick. You could have made your day in the park work with it booked before all this happened, so it’s definitely a good pick going forward (longterm, we’ll have to see what’s best).
If you don’t book Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with your Tier 1 pick, plan to head right there to start the day on May 26 and probably the few days after that, too.
The more difficult—but maybe less consequential—question is which of Smugglers Run or Slinky Dog Dash to prioritize:
If you’re able to book Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with your Tier 1 pick, lucky you, you can just go ahead and look at the recent data the night before you visit and decide whether to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash or Smugglers Run.
If Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster times are unavailable or too late when it’s your time to book Lightning Lanes, probably book Slinky Dog Dash, plan to rope drop Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and plan to deal with Smugglers Run once your’e in the park.
This isn’t a must-follow strategy—you might choose to book Smugglers Run if its more important to you or if the data shows it continues to be exceedingly popular. But on balance, a couple of smaller factors push me to save it to deal with midday:
The Smugglers Run queue is generally more pleasant than the Slinky Dog Dash queue if I have to wait midday
Even if it might be more popular, Smugglers Run at least might have a single rider option
Notably, Rise of the Resistance sort of falls out of the rope drop equation for the time being. We were already pretty low on using rope drop for Rise of the Resistance, and this provides a good opportunity to just ignore that option, at least until we get a handle on just how popular Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets will be.
Do you feel prepared for the end of May at Hollywood Studios?
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