Hollywood Studios After Hours Touring Strategy and Information

One of the best things about Disney After Hours is that pretty much, you don’t need a strategy. Or at least, that’s the story you hear. While these limited-attendance events do offer much lower waits, at Disney World fortune favors the prepared. You’ll still benefit from priorities about what to do first, and what to do later. For everything you need to know about After Hours at Hollywood Studios, read on!

If you’re looking for specific information, jump ahead with any of the links below.

• Dates, tickets, and check-in
• During the mix-in period
• Food & Drink
• Shopping and other things to do
• Characters (rare characters!) 
• Suggested Touring Plan

Dates, Tickets, and Check-In

Disney After Hours at Hollywood Studios runs from January through September this year. The current schedule includes the following dates in 2025.

• January 22, 29
• February 12, 19
• March 5, 26
• April 1, 30
• May 14, 28
• June 4, 11, 25
• July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
• August 6, 20, 27
• September 3

Prices range from $155 to $185, with a $30 per ticket discount available for Disney Vacation Club members and Annual Passholders. Our After Hours Dates and Details post has prices for individual dates, and you can buy tickets online from the event page on Disney’s site.

How to Get Your Wristband

After Hours typically runs from 9:30 pm to 12:30 am, and guests can enter the park using their event ticket at 7 pm. Hollywood Studios typically closes at 9 pm, so arriving at 7 gives you about two hours to enjoy the park before it shuts to day guests.

When you get to the park, look for the After Hours sign in the entrance plaza to locate the check-in. If you’ve spent the day at Hollywood Studios, there is a check-in location in the park on the corner of Sunset and Hollywood. You can stop by to check in and pick up your wristband.

During the Mix-In Period

All the rides will be open during After Hours. So where should you spend your time during the mix-in period from 7 to 9 pm? There are basically four options:

• You can do a few of the show-style attractions or nighttime shows.
• You can visit the park’s regular Meet & Greets.
• You can experience some things that will not be open during the event.
• You can get dinner.

Or, of course, you can do some combination of the above!

Shows & Nighttime Spectaculars

The shows that are on a schedule will have had their last daily run before you can enter on your After Hours ticket. You won’t be able to see any of the following unless you have regular admission during the day:

• Beauty & the Beast – Live on Stage
• The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Disney Junior Play & Dance
• For the First Time In Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration

But MuppetVision 3D and the Vacation Fun Mickey & Minnie shorts will be open. (MuppetVision will be closed permanently beginning with the June 11 After Hours event.) Check My Disney Experience hours for these attractions, as some close an hour or so before the rest of the park.

All the nighttime shows and spectaculars will run after the mix-in period begins. Disney Movie Magic and the Wonderful World of Animation are projection shows on the Chinese Theater, usually between 8 and 9 pm. And Fantasmic, which runs about half an hour, typically has one showing right when the event starts at 9:30 pm. If Fantasmic has two showings then the early one is usually at 8 and could be a great use of your time. If not, you’ll need to decide whether you want to spend your event time on it.

Meet & Greets

Unlike After Hours in some other parks, none of the character greetings that are open during regular hours will be available during the Hollywood Studios event. If you’d like to Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight, Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams, or any of the other regulars, you’ll need to do it now. Not all the Meet & Greets are open until the park closes, so check My Disney Experience to see what’s available. But as you’ll see, After Hours features plenty of Meet & Greet, including some rare favorites.

Rides to Target Before After Hours Begins

If you don’t care about entertainment, and only about rides, you should be able to get them all in during the event. But striking some off your list now can make time later for free snacks and characters. Your best options will be:

• Star Tours: it won’t have a line later, but it doesn’t now either. A good combo with MuppetVision 3D.
• Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run: if you are OK with the single rider line, it may give you a shorter wait than using the regular line during the event. Note that the single rider line skips the pre-show.
• Alien Swirling Saucers: the line may still be longer now than later, but it’s often pretty short later in the day. Waiting until After Hours may only save you 5-10 minutes.

Hollywood Studios After Hours Food & Drink

Free snacks included with the event include popcorn, soda, Mickey bars, and Mickey ice cream sandwiches. You can find these at a variety of snack carts around the park. These carts will switch over to serving the free snacks once the event begins; you won’t be able to collect them before 9:30.

If you’re looking for something more, the Milk Stand in Galaxy’s Edge, KRNR The Rock Station in Sunset Boulevard, and Woody’s Lunchbox in Toy Story Land were also open during the party. Of these three, Woody’s is the only one that offers anything more substantial than snacks. Mobile Order during the event is available at the Milk Stand and Woody’s Lunchbox.

Oga’s Cantina is also open, and you may well find it with walk-up availability. And unlike After Hours at the Magic Kingdom, the event is not dry – you’ll find select outdoor bars are open throughout the event.

Shopping and Other After Hours Experiences

Although there is no After Hours specific merchandise, several shops are open. Look for locations on Hollywood Boulevard, and in almost every land at least one shop is open. In Toy Story Land, it’s Jessie’s Trading Post, in Echo Lake, it’s Tattooine Traders, and Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities and the whole Black Spire Marketplace is open in Galaxy’s Edge. The Droid Depot and Savi’s Workshop are both open during Hollywood Studios After Hours. Check the times as they may not be open for the whole event, but you may find walk-up reservations available.

Characters at Hollywood Studios After Hours

The regular daytime meetings are not open during Hollywood Studios After Hours. But, you’ll find a lovely assortment around the park, including several who are rare. Some spots have two characters rotating in half-hour shifts so there is always someone to see. Lines tend to be low and steady; many characters had no wait at all.

• Bo Peep meets in Toy Story Land
• Mary Poppins rotates with Burt and Mr. Penguin on Grand Avenue
• The White Rabbit also meets on Grand Avenue
• ⁠Thumper!!!!! Thumper meets in Echo Lake
• Jiminy Cricket and Gepetto meet on Hollywood Boulevard at Center Stage
• Several characters were meeting at Disney Junior Play & Dance in Animation Courtyard
  • Mickey rotates with Minnie
  • Goofy rotates with Donald
  • Chip and Dale were together and out all night

Note that character greetings are subject to change at any time and the character lineup is one of the easiest things for Disney to adjust. We expect there may also be changes to locations once Muppets Courtyard closes on June 8.

Animation Courtyard and Grand Avenue have both rotating and non-rotating characters. We suggest you meet the rotating characters first. If lines are a bit longer, or you are lucky on timing, the rotating characters will swap out while you are greeting the non-rotating characters. If lines are very short (which is common) don’t wait 20 minutes for characters to switch – remember, After Hours is only 3 hours long! Cast Members may be able to tell you how long you’ll need to wait for the swap.

Suggested Touring Plan for Hollywood Studios After Hours

Take good note of the word “suggested” in the heading above. I’ll explain the logic behind some of these decisions, but we never forget that thing about different strokes for different folks. If some strategy below doesn’t suit you, mix it up until it does!

1. Arrive at 7 pm. During the mix-in period choose one or more of the following, as time allows

   1. See MuppetVision 3D (before June 11 only). Then ride Star Tours (or Smuggler’s Run via the single-rider line)

   2. Do a Meet & Greet (or two, if time allows)

   3. Ride Alien Swirling Saucers

Consider combining any of these choices with Mobile Order at a nearby Quick Service for an efficient dinner. If you’re at Star Tours, or the Meet & Greets, head for Backlot Express or ABC Commissary. Smuggler’s Run is right next door to Docking Bay 7. And Alien Swirling Saucers is conveniently located to Woody’s Lunch Box. Of those locations, only Woody’s will be open after the event starts.

2. Head to Hollywood Boulevard in time to catch the projection shows.

When the projection shows finish, head to Sunset Boulevard. The park layout makes “I’ll ride them on the way out” feel obvious, so the rides here tend to draw steady lines throughout the night. But, they have a little lull immediately before and during Fantasmic. Riding these now also gives some time for the last of the day guests to filter through the queues of super-headliners elsewhere.

3. Ride Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, starting with whichever has the shortest wait.

After the party starts, Toy Story Land may draw early crowds. This is partly because of families with small children that won’t remain for the entire event. We’re going to Galaxy’s Edge instead. Rise of the Resistance takes 18 minutes to ride and may well be down for part of the night. Targeting it now kills two birds with one stone. You’re hedging your bets against a later breakdown. And you’re also burning time for early lines in Toy Story Land to die down a bit.

4. Head back up Hollywood Boulevard to Galaxy’s Edge and get in line for Rise of the Resistance, then ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run.

5. Cross from Galaxy’s Edge directly into Toy Story Land and ride Alien Swirling Saucers, Toy Story Mania, and Slinky Dog Dash as you come to them. Also meet Bo Peep while you are here.

6. Head to Animation Courtyard and meet characters at Disney Junior Play & Dance.

7. Exit towards the center of the park, meet Geppetto & Jiminy Cricket, and ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

8. Head over to meet Thumper.

9. Continue to Grand Avenue and meet Mary Poppins, Burt & the Penguin, and The White Rabbit. Also ride Star Tours.

I mentioned earlier that Rise of the Resistance may be down – including when you first head back from Sunset Boulevard. In that case, go directly to Toy Story Land, stopping to Meet & Greet in Animation Courtyard on the way if you’d like to. Then continue through to Galaxy’s Edge afterward if Rise is back up.

Have you been to Hollywood Studios After Hours? What was your approach? Let us know in the comments below!

(Originally published February 1, 2024. Last updated/republished January 27, 2025.)