Hollywood Studios Attraction Vehicles and Seating: A Disney World Guide
The seating situation on Disney World rides and attractions is a cause for concern for many guests. Physical constraints and family configuration are two of many reasons why you might have questions about the attraction seating.
For example:
- I’m a single parent with multiple small children, will I be separated from them on rides?
- I’m a plus-sized person, can I fit into the ride vehicles without embarrassment?
- My knees are bad, will I have to step up or down to get into the ride vehicles?
- I’m in a wheelchair, do I have to transfer out of it to go on the rides?
- I have a large party, how will we be split up when visiting the attractions?
- I have balance issues, will the attraction vehicle be moving while I’m trying to board?
To answer these questions and more, here’s a photo guide to all the vehicle and attraction seating at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. Pull down on that lap bar, we’re going for a ride…
Photo galleries are used in some places below in order to minimize scrolling. Tap into any image to page through the pictures.
Alien Swirling Saucers | Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage | Disney Junior Dance Party | #Fantasmic! | For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration | Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular | Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy | Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway | Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run | Muppet*Vision 3D | Slinky Dog Dash | Star Tours, The Adventure Continues | Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance | Toy Story Midway Mania | Twilight Zone Tower of Terror | Vacation Fun Film | Walt Disney Presents
Alien Swirling Saucers
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 2-3 people, depending on size
- Seating surface: Hard bench with back
- Safety restraints: Fabric lap belt. One belt for all occupants of the vehicle
- Boarding Procedures: Small step up into vehicle (less than 12″)
- Height Requirement: None
- Accessibility: Guest must transfer from wheelchair or ECV into the ride vehicle.
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Metal bench with back
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater.
- Note: This theater is outdoors. It is shaded, but it may be hot during summer months and is occasionally impacted by severe weather.
Disney Junior Dance Party
- Seating capacity per row: Guests sit on the floor.
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Most guests sit on the carpeted floor. There are a very few benches at the rear of the theater.
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater.
Fantasmic!
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Metal bench without back
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater.
- Note: This theater is outdoors. There is no protection from the weather. The show is typically cancelled in extreme conditions, but may continue if there is only light rain or mist.
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Padded chair with armrests
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater
Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Metal bench with back
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater.
- Note: This theater is outdoors. It is shaded, but it may be hot during summer months and is occasionally impacted by severe weather.
Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy
- Seating capacity per row: About a dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Hard, backless bench
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Seating capacity per row: 3-5 depending on size
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 6-10 guests per individual railcar
- Seating surface: Hard bench with back
- Safety restraints: One pull-down lap bar covers all guests in the row
- Boarding procedure: Walk into ride vehicle, very small step up and then down (less than 6″) required to enter
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer out their devices to board the ride. Transfer access vehicle is available. See cast member for assistance.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 6 individual seats per vehicle
- Seating surface: Padded chair without armrest
- Safety restraints: Individual fabric lap belt
- Boarding procedure: Walk into ride vehicle
- Height requirement: 38 inches
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer out their devices to board the ride. Transfer access vehicle is available. See cast member for assistance.
- Note: The controls for the gunner and navigator positions (center and back rows of the vehicle) are to the side of the seat. If sideways movement is an issue, ask to be the pilot or choose the side that best fits your needs.
Muppet*Vision 3D
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Padded chair with armrests
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater
- Note: This attraction requires 3D glasses. While the attraction is completely stationery, some guests may experience motion sickness.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Seating capacity per row: 2
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 4. 24 seats per full limo.
- Seating surface: Lightly padded bucket-style seats
- Safety restraints: Individual over-the-head harness rests on shoulder and waist. The harness accommodates even very large guests.
- Boarding procedure: Moderate step (just over 12″) up over a wall into the vehicle. Must be able to reach arms up to pull down safety restraint.
- Posted warnings: Standard motion sickness, pregnancy, and heart/back/neck warnings.
- Height requirement: 48 inches
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer to the standard ride vehicle on their own. There is a transfer practice vehicle available to assess guest fit and ability to board. See a cast member for assistance. Boarding must be done quickly.
- Note: This is an intense inversion roller coaster. Motion sickness and head and neck movement may be issues for some.
Slinky Dog Dash
- Seating capacity per row: 2
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 4 per slinky segment
- Seating surface: Hard plastic bucket seats
- Safety restraints: Individual pull-down lap bar
- Boarding Procedures: Walk into ride vehicle, very small step up and then down (less than 6″) required to enter
- Height Requirement: 38 inches
- Accessibility: Guests must transfer to a standard wheelchair, and then to the ride vehicle.
Star Tours, The Adventure Continues
- Seating capacity per row: 10
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 40
- Seating surface: Lightly padded chair with armrest
- Safety restraints: Individual fabric lap belt for each guest.
- Boarding procedure: Walk into ride vehicle
- Height requirement: 40 inches
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer to the ride vehicle on their own. There is one seat with a removable armrest which can facilitate transfer. Ask a cast member for more information.
- Note: This is a motion simulation. Guests with motion sickness issues take caution. Shooting, aliens, and the Galactic Empire may frighten some children.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Seating capacity per row: 4
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 8
- Seating surface: Hard plastic seat with back
- Safety restraints: Individual fabric lap belt for each guest.
- Boarding procedure: Small step up into ride vehicle (about 6″)
- Height requirement: 40 inches
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer out their devices to board the ride. Transfer access vehicle is available. See cast member for assistance.
- Note: One of the ride pre-show areas involves standing on a moving platform. Speak to a cast member if this is an area of concern for you.
Toy Story Midway Mania
- Seating capacity per row: 2-3. The ride is designed for two people per vehicle – there are two game controllers. Cast members will usually allow two adults plus a small child (if the child is a lap-sitter), or one adult plus two small children (if one child is a lap sitter), to ride in one vehicle.
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 2-3
- Seating surface: Hard bench with back
- Safety restraints: Individual pull-down lap bar for each guest
- Boarding procedure: Small step up (less than 12″) into ride vehicle
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: One ride vehicle will accommodate wheelchairs. ECV users must transfer to the standard ride or to a wheelchair. Wheelchair users load from a different area than the main queue. Speak with a cast member for instructions.
- Notes:
- The two-game-controller set-up may prove problematic for some families, particularly single adults with multiple children. The easiest solution is to put the two kids in one car and put the solo adult in a nearby car. All members of the party will arrive at the unload point within seconds of each other. To make this work, the children must feel comfortable not having eyes on their adult at all times (and vice versa). However, you will always be within earshot, so if there were a concern, you could shout and be in communication. If you’re going to have parent/children in separate vehicles, be sure to discuss in advance what to do in the event of a temporary halt of the ride. Let the kids know that short stops happen with some regularity and that they should never leave the car unless instructed to by you or a cast member. An alternative solution is to have the adult and one child share the ride, with the other child in the next vehicle.
- The ride vehicles have two rows situated back to back. Guest on either side of the same vehicle will never see each other during the ride. Guests seated on either side of adjacent vehicles will see each other periodically while the ride is running. This may be comforting in some family situations. Speak to a cast member about your load preference.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Seating capacity per row: 7
- Seating capacity per vehicle: 21
- Seating surface: Hard chair with back.
- Safety restraints: Individual fabric lap belt for each guest
- Boarding procedure: Walk into elevator. Guests in the second two rows with have to walk up 1 or 2 steps to board.
- Height requirement: 40 inches
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users must transfer to the ride vehicle on their own.
Vacation Fun Film
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Padded chair with armrests
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater.
Walt Disney Presents
- Seating capacity per row: Several dozen
- Seating capacity per vehicle: NA. Show-style attraction. More than 100 guests per show.
- Seating surface: Padded chair with armrests
- Safety restraints: None
- Boarding procedure: Walk into theater
- Height requirement: None
- Accessibility: Wheelchair and ECV users may ride directly into the theater.
See our other posts on Attraction Vehicles at Magic Kingdom, Attraction Vehicles at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Attraction Vehicles at EPCOT.
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If you have a child(ren) 6 and younger that meet(s) the height requirement for Smugglers Run, a parent/adult must ride next to them or BEHIND them. The parent/adult may not be a pilot and have the child 6 or younger be in the gunner position. This may make for an interesting experience on that attraction…..
@andy Thanks for the catches – updating now!
A couple minor notes, because I love how detailed and accurate Erin’s articles are:
-The Fantasmic amphitheatre is not actually shaded, as stated above. However, since it’s not used during daylight hours, it doesn’t really matter.
-Runaway Railway uses a single lap bar for all occupants of a row; the article currently says there are no restraints.
-For those with mobility issues, part of the struggle getting an and out of ride vehicles can be the rush to do so. You may be able to get in and out of a vehicle, but the real question is whether you can do it *quickly*. Given that, special attention should be paid to three DHS rides: Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania, and Smuggler’s Run. All three of these have dedicated load/unload zones for those with mobility issues, meaning you can take AS LONG AS YOU NEED to transfer between your chair/ECV and the ride vehicle. No rush or urgency to keep up with the dispatch cycle, and no “everyone waiting and watching you struggle” situations.
-For Toy Story Mania, there is a neat trick for large groups. Each vehicle has four rows, with rows 1&2 and 3&4 sitting back-to-back. If you have a party of four, the CMs will typically send you to 1&2 or 3&4, but this is lame, as you will never see your party-mates during the ride. The trick is to ask for your party to be seated in rows 1&3 or 2&4. In this configuration, when the vehicle stops at a game, you will always be next to each other and facing the same direction, making you feel much more like you’re riding *together*. This also makes the split-children situation Erin describes much easier, as you can keep eyes directly on the “loose” kids for all stationary portions of the ride (i.e. most of it).
Thank you for including accessibility information. Most Disney fan websites don’t even think about including this information. But you cared enough to think about including accessible information. I want you to know I appreciate it. I can’t think of another major Disney fan blog that has ever cared enough.
This information and the photos are SO helpful, now that I have some of the physical issues you list. I’ve been going to WDW for 47 years but love it even more than I did back then. When you’re young, you never think that time will catch up with you, but it does. Pre-Covid, I could always find someone who would be happy to give me a hand getting into and out of some ride vehicles. Now that there is distancing, I will have to re-think some attractions.