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Our NEW Best Hollywood Studios Touring Plan for 2025

Len Testa 3 Comments
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If you’re planning a visit to Hollywood Studios this year, you probably want to wait less in line. And if you can do that without paying for Lightning Lane, that’s even better. Never fear, TouringPlans is here! We’ve been working on new models and improving our standard plans. This post shows the best step-by-step plan we’ve found, based on that recent work.

This new Hollywood Studios touring plan can fit in every ride, show, and attraction in the park. And it doesn’t need you to pay for Disney’s Lightning Lane, even on the busiest days of the year.

What’s New In our Hollywood Studios Wait Time Models and Touring Plans

I mentioned that we’ve been working on improving our models. You can read about that work in a post from earlier this week, but here’s why it matters. Our touring plans rely on being able to forecast wait times throughout the day at each park. You’ve probably heard the saying “Garbage in, garbage out”. Quality wait time predictions put good data into our optimizer, which maximizes touring plan performance. So we’re constantly working on making our predictions better!

These new models really focus on the first two hours after park opening. All our analysis shows that getting the first four to six attractions right during this time is key. If we do a great job there, the rest of the day becomes easier to manage.

Part of that model development includes validating the plans they generate by testing them in the parks. We ran this test in Hollywood Studios on January 4, 2025. The actual crowd level for that day ended up being an 8 on our Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar. Wait times for rides that day were in the top 15% of all days for the past year.

The parks were pretty busy on the day of our test.

That made for a great test because testing on a really busy day lets us know quickly if a new plan is going to fall apart. It also means that if you’re using this plan, you can expect it to work well when crowds are high.

How We Test Our Hollywood Studios Touring Plans

To validate our models, we tested three different strategies at the same time:

  • Our new touring plan (using our new wait-time models)
  • The current version of our touring plan (for comparison)
  • A Cast Member’s custom touring plan made using their expert park knowledge

In previous testing, this Cast Member came up with touring plans efficient enough to be in the top 10% of all possible plans for Hollywood Studios. To put that in perspective, there are 362,880 9-attraction touring plans in Hollywood Studios. This Cast Member can make a plan in their head that’s in the top ~36,288. Even if you assumed Slinky Dog Dash is the best opening move, there are still more than 40,000 possibilities. Few people can do that kind of planning in their heads, but our Agent H is a planning rock star.

For the computer-generated plans, we set the software’s walking speed to ‘fast’ and told it to minimize waits in line.

Included Attractions

Each of the three plans included the nine attractions below – every ride in the park except Rise of the Resistance. We didn’t include shows or walk-through attractions, as those could be done after these rides and with minimal waits. Here’s that list in alphabetical order:

Rise of the Resistance isn’t included because it’s the least reliable ride in Walt Disney World. Our data indicate that Rise of the Resistance is not running at rope drop around 40% of the time, and it averages between one and two hours of downtime per day. Our concern was that it’d break down for one of the people testing and ruin the whole effort.

Incidentally, this downtime is why we recommend purchasing a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Rise. It’s insurance against wasting your time in line for a ride that’s going to break down. Does that make Rise’s downtime a perverse incentive for management not to fix Rise’s issues? One topic at a time, dear reader.

Other Decisions

We didn’t use the single-rider lines for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Single-rider lines can save a lot of time if you’re willing to break up your group and ride separately. We don’t think most families do that, and we wanted our test to reflect how the average family tours.

Finally, we didn’t use Lightning Lane Multi Pass. We wanted to show that it’s possible to see everything in Hollywood Studios without long waits in line, even on the busiest days of the year.

Explaining Our New Hollywood Studios Touring Plan Step-by-Step

Let’s go through this new Hollywood Studios touring plan in order. These are the steps we recommend you follow. But we’ll also talk a bit about why, and what our other testers found.

  1. Slinky Dog Dash

All three testers were at the park by 7:30 a.m., 30 minutes before Early Theme Park Entry began at 8 a.m. All three were together at the very front of the rope-drop crowd for Slinky Dog Dash. All three waited 4 minutes to ride Slinky Dog Dash.

A first-person view from the second row of Slinky Dog Dash. Slinky's giant butterscotch-colored head is in the foreground and you can see almost all of Toy Story Land in the distance
Everyone goes to Slinky Dog Dash first!
  1. Alien Swirling Saucers

Our group went their separate ways after Slinky Dog Dash. One went to Toy Story Mania, one went to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. The one with our new touring plan went to Alien Swirling Saucers.

Previous testing we’d done in the park had discovered that with large crowds, the wait at Alien Swirling Saucers increases faster than at Toy Story Mania. We’ve counted up to 1,690 people per hour riding Toy Story Mania when all three ride tracks are running.  In contrast, the peak ride capacity of Alien Swirling Saucers is around 900 people per hour. So you can kind of see why this happens.

After the models adapted to this, the touring plan software picked up on it and put Alien Swirling Saucers in the second spot. The wait at Alien Swirling Saucers was 4 minutes.

A first-person view while riding Alien Swirling Saucers. We see the alien behind us, smiling as if it's really enjoying being spun around with us.
Step 2 is Alien Swirling Saucers and it looks like we’ve made a friend!
  1. Toy Story Mania!

Toy Story Mania is within a few feet of the first two attractions in Toy Story Land. So it makes sense that it should be the third ride here. Our tester waited 4 minutes in line for Toy Story Mania.

A first-person view of one of the video games inside Toy Story Mania. In this one you have to fling pies at bullsyeve targets held by Buzz and Woody.
Our third attraction is Toy Story Mania. It looks better with the 3D glasses on, trust me.
  1. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Both the old and new plans started with the three rides in Toy Story Land, but in different orders. This is where they diverged. The old plan went to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Galaxy’s Edge. The new plan went to Sunset Boulevard for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.

The interesting part of this decision, from my point of view, is that it represents the software looking multiple steps ahead.  Looking multiple steps ahead is something that people, in general, have a hard time doing. And most people don’t generally have enough experience in the parks to have an accurate mental model of how lines develop. This is why Agent H, the CM, is so impressive.

Using data from the new models, the software realized that the combined savings of visiting Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror next would be better than Millennium Falcon and anything else, given that you’d still have to visit either Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror either way.

The actual wait at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was 34 minutes. The ride broke down while our tester was in line, which added a few minutes to the wait. Even with that delay, this was still the best touring plan of the day.

The inside of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. A car-shaped ride vehicle awaits its catapult launch down what looks like a seedy city alley.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is the next step in this plan. Dream On!
  1. Tower of Terror

Tower of Terror was running well this morning. Our tester waited 12 minutes to ride.

First-person view from the top of Tower of Terror. A window has opened inside the tower and we can see for miles and miles into the surrounding distance.
The next step in our touring plan has us dropping in at the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
  1. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

The posted wait time here was 65 minutes when we arrived a little after 9:30 a.m. And Smugglers Run’s posted wait time is generally one of the more accurate when it comes to predicting actual waits in line. But not this morning – our actual wait in line was 38 minutes.

Since we’re in the area, it’s time to catch the attractions near Grand Avenue and finish up on Hollywood Boulevard. The nearest attraction that we haven’t yet seen is MuppetVision*3D, and that’s what the plan had next.

A look out across the top of the Millennium Falcon. It's appropriately aged for a ship that's been across the galaxy.
She may not look like much, kid, but she’s got it where it counts.
  1. MuppetVision*3D

We tested this plan before Disney had announced that Muppetvision would be closing for good on June 7, 2025. We only had to wait for the current show to finish before being let into the next one. Our total wait in line was 12 minutes.

Visual gags and written puns decorate the inside waiting area at MuppetVision*3D. The box in front of us says it contains an entire staircase for the film production of "Stair Trek."
The legend of MuppetVision’s preshow gags will live forever in theme park history.
  1. Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

At this point there are only two attractions left in the day. We sent our tester off to grab some photos and do a quick test of the two-person “single rider” line that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was testing that day:

Text message and photos showing Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run was testing two-person "single rider" lines
Smugglers Run briefly tested one- and two-person “single rider” lines over the holidays.

Smugglers Run has since gone back to “single rider” meaning one person.

With that and a break for lunch, we returned to testing around 11:50 a.m. Our wait for Star Tours was 46 minutes, the longest of the day so far. The only attraction we had left was Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

A droid inspects galactic luggage inside the line to board Star Tours.
There’s an “Incredibles” gag in the Star Tours queue if you’re lucky enough to catch it.
  1. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

All three of our testers left Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway for the back half of the day. All three had similar wait times: the lowest was 67 minutes and the highest was 77 minutes, with a 68-minute wait in the middle.

Our first and second-place plans ended up getting to MMRR between 12:30 and 12:50 p.m. That’s a reasonable strategy because 12:30 p.m. is the most popular time for lunch in Walt Disney World. Since so many people are in restaurants it’s the best mid-day time to try to capture a dip in waits at popular attractions. This touring plan had the lowest wait of the three, at 67 minutes.

A first-person look at a scene inside Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. Here you're rolling through a Coney Island-style amusement park as a tornado swings by to cause havoc.
I think Runaway Railways is one of the best things Disney’s done in years. It’s a great second-tier attraction that’s better than it has to be.

Touring Plan Testing Results

Our best plan, above, finished 9 of Hollywood Studios’ 10 rides shortly after 2 pm. We waited a total of 3 hours and 27 minutes in line – an average of 23 minutes per ride – on one of the busiest days of the past year. That includes stopping in the middle of the plan to document the Smugglers Run two-person singer-rider line.

The next-best touring plan finished around 30 minutes later without stopping for unscheduled photo shoots. They waited almost exactly an hour more in line.

The third tester didn’t finish the plan due to ride breakdowns after the other two plans had finished. At that point we already knew this plan would finish last, so there wasn’t a lot to be gained by waiting around for rides to open again.

We mentioned that we took a break for lunch and returned to testing just before noon. Here were some of the posted waits around the park at that time:

  • Slinky Dog Dash: 115 minutes (we waited 2 minutes by rope-dropping it)
  • Tower of Terror: 105 minutes (we waited 12 minutes by riding it earlier)
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: 95 Minutes (we waited 34 with a breakdown)
  • Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run: 75 minutes (we waited 38)
  • Toy Story Mania: 70 minutes (we waited 4 by riding it earlier)
  • Alien Swirling Saucers: 40 minutes (we waited 4 by riding it earlier)

How to See the Rest of Hollywood Studios

Our best plan focused on rides to start with, blasting through them in our first few hours in the park. Disney’s Hollywood Studios closed at 9 p.m. on our test day, so we had just under 7 hours left to see the shows and walk-through attractions. Here are the showtimes that remained available to us for the rest of the day:

Show scheduling at Hollywood Studios is not as complicated as it used to be. Disney’s done a good job of ensuring that scheduled show start times are staggered enough so you can go from one to the other without missing anything. It was not always like that, and Disney deserves credit for making that change.

Two stunt actors run from an exploding German plane during a scene at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.
The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular remains popular decades after it opened at the Studios. Proof that fire makes everything better.

Here’s one possible way to see all of the remaining shows and attractions in the park, with time left over for dinner, shopping, and fitting in that ride on Rise of the Resistance using Lighting Lane Single Pass:

  • 2:10 pm Disney Junior
  • 3:15 pm Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
  • 4:00 pm Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (5 pm alternate)
  • 5:30 or 6:30 pm For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
  • Dinner
  • Walk-through attractions such as Walt Disney Presents, and character greetings
  • Shopping
  • 8:25 pm Disney Movie Magic
  • 8:45 pm Wonderful World of Animation
  • 9:30 pm Fantasmic!

The touring plan software will figure this out for you automatically too.

Mickey Mouse stands alone in the spotlight at the end of Fantasmic!
When it’s offered, the second showing of Fantasmic is less crowded than the first.

Future Hollywood Studios Touring Plans

We’ve already updated our standard Hollywood Studios touring plans to reflect this new order for visiting attractions. We expect that by the end of March, we’ll have rolled out the new models to our custom touring plan software. This plan uses Early Entry, but we’ll be working on plans for rope drop at regular park opening too.

In the meantime, we’re always interested to hear if there’s a specific set of attractions you’d like to see us test!

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Len Testa

Len Testa is the co-author of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, and has contributed to the Disneyland and Las Vegas Unofficial Guides. Most of his time is spent trying to keep up with the team. Len's email address is len@touringplans.com. You can also follow him on BlueSky: @lentesta.

3 thoughts on “Our NEW Best Hollywood Studios Touring Plan for 2025”

  • Thanks for all the data! I just don’t seem to find the new plan in the list of DHS plans in the app. Where can I find it?

    Reply

  • Thank you for calling me “dear reader.” It’s nice to be called “dear” on Valentine’s Day!

    For people staying in the park all day, would it be better to do the last few rides later in the day, after the shows and such, rather than in the early afternoon? Or does that not matter when the crowds are this bad? Which will the plans provide on moderate crowd days?

    Reply

  • Thanks, Len, I really like reading these and appreciate you testing things on the ground.

    Reply

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