Why Disney’s Hollywood Studios May Be Worth a Visit

16 thoughts on “Why Disney’s Hollywood Studios May Be Worth a Visit”

• Planning our next trip, half-universal/half-disney. With only 3 1/2 Disney days, and in the wake of Great Movie Ride being closed, I had decided to skip HS this time… then my daughter asked, “Which park is Tower of Terror in?” and “Wait, what about Rock & Roller Coaster & Star Tours”? and “Isn’t all the Star Wars stuff in HS?” and “Fantasmic is my favorite night show” and “Can’t miss the muppets”. And this kid doesn’t even want to do the Frozen show (backlash, was her favorite movie until it was no longer cool for that to be one’s favorite movie), even though I think it’s the funniest show there, with one gag after another.

  So I’m trying to figure out how to fit it in. The easy thing to do would be departure day, but missing Fantasmic is not an option.

  This was a really excellent article.
  I was surprised by the time element, but indeed shows take more time.

• We initially planned on doing only a half day this last June when our family of 4 went to HS. My husband had fond memories of HS the last time we went (10 years ago) and convinced me to throw caution to the wind and go the whole day. We went early and just winged it the first part of the day and picked up at 11 am with our Touring Plan. We were SO GLAD we did! We had so much fun and the kids loved the rides and characters. It was nice to have a day where we didn’t feel rushed to get from one attraction to the next and could enjoy everything and take it all in. It was definitely a full day of fun without being in a hurry to get to everything. The whole day we just kept saying, “this is so much fun” and “what a great experience!”. I wouldn’t miss HS, otherwise, you will miss the classic Disney experience.

• My teenage boys were there over the summer and left after a half day. Most of the shows hold little appeal, and there’s only so many times you can ride RnR or TSM, especially if you don’t want to wait in lines after FP+ run out. I think their interests are skewing more toward Universal at this point, so that probably also plays into their experiences.

• I completely agree with you, Julia! As a thrill ride fan, I can’t imagine going to Disney World and not riding the Rockin’ Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror! Fantasmic is unique and I enjoy the Frozen show and the Star Wars stuff. I definitely think DHS is worth a half day, but probably not a whole day. Last time I think I paired it with dinner and shopping in Disney Springs. Another option might be to pair it with a half day at Magic Kingdom, spending 1 1/2 days there, because 1 day at Magic Kingdom never seems to be enough!

• We were there recently and were pretty disappointed. Most of the place seemed to be one big gift shop. After the Roller Coaster, ToT, TSM, and the stunt show, we really didn’t have much to do since we are not SW fans and my teens weren’t interested in the kid’s shows. We ended up sitting around playing cards waiting for Fantasmic. We only spent 1/2 day and even that was too much.

• I certainly don’t represent every guest, but as an annual passholder and DVC member who is at Disney World twice a year at least, I love DHS. There are a handful of rides that rank among my favorites at any park and we enjoy the shows. But since we go often, a lot of times I care less about what we ride/see and more about enjoying walking around the park. I enjoy the cast members walking around playing roles, I like wandering around with a beer, we pin trade, the fireworks are cool… I think the park has a fantastic atmosphere. If you have one shot at Disney World this year and don’t have park hopper, I might not recommend it. But I always leave there in a great mood.

  • Excellent point – the cast members/actors on the street are great and pin trading appeals to us as well. Also the shopping. Maybe we’ll hit up HS with our larger group but enjoy a loosey-goosey “schedule” instead of a firm touring plan/

• Frozen Sing a Long is amazing for all ages and very funny
  We love DHS and spent a lot of time there in April with a Family group aged from 2 to 90 . We just split up so everyone could do what they wanted.

• There’s a problem with the “seven shows” bullet point that feeds into your observation that the park is lopsided. Of those seven shows, three only appeal to young kids (Disney Jr, Frozen, Jedi Training), two are objectively terrible (Beauty & Beast, Mermaid), and two are great but haven’t changed in the *slightest* in over a quarter-century (Indy, Muppets). If you’re an adult who’s been to the park several times (as I have to assume most people reading this are), those seven shows hold zero drawing power.

  • It really depends on the person. I’m not a big fan of stage shows in general, and so the ones at the Studios hold equally as little draw as Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo, or even non-live-performer ones like The American Adventure. I know some people who like to do primarily the shows at theme parks and skip other forms of attractions. But older and unchanging doesn’t automatically mean zero draw for the general population. (If it did, Peter Pan would be a walk-on every day, for instance.)

  • Frozen Sing a Long is amazing for all ages and very
    We love DHS and spent a lot of time there in April with a Family group aged from 2 to 90 . We just split up so everyone could do what they wanted.

  • I’m an adult who’s been to the parks countless times and the Frozen sing along is my favorite show there. The jokes change quite frequently and if you want the best experience, follow @equityben on Instagram. He’ll post the days and times of when his shows are and he really makes the show ten times better.

    As for the others, I love Beauty and the Beast, so I actually like the show. Indiana Jones is entertaining every time, and I don’t mind doing the Little Mermaid every now and then. The Muppets and Disney junior shows I have no interest in though.

  • 1. Yes some of the shows are for little kids. Frozen is not- even though I didn’t really care for it.
    2. No not “Objectively terrible”- “Subjectively terrible” maybe. I love both of those shows and think they are great. So this point is wrong.
    3. Muppets is a must-do, but Indy is a once every few years for me. Just because something hasn’t changed doesn’t mean no one wants to go.

• Thank you for a thought provoking article. I’ve been struggling with this myself – we have a large family group going to Disney World in March; some of whom are Star Wars/thrill ride fans and some are not (myself, my daughter & niece). Not sure yet if we will accompany the group to HS as it would be fun to do TSMM and the 50’s Prime Time Cafe is pretty great but there’s not much else there that would capture our interest.

  For people who strongly dislike thrill rides, is the queue for ToT worth waiting through just to see it and then exit via the chicken door?

  • Queue for ToT is very detailed and visually interesting, but it’s not worth going to the studios *just* to walk it. I’d check out a walk-thru on YouTube to see if you get the “I want to see that in person” feeling or the “I’d rather sit on a bench with a churro” feeling.

    Depending on the ages of your daughter & niece, they could certainly LOVE the Frozen singalong, Disney Jr, or even *shudder* Beauty & Beast and Little Mermaid.

  • The queue for Tower of Terror isn’t that interesting. Spoilers if you haven’t been…… It has a spider web lobby with some hidden Mickeys. The pre-show room is too dark to appreciate all the references to the Twilight Zone television show. Then, you walk into a basement like room with elevators.

    While it is indeed themed very well, there isn’t anything exciting or interactive about the queue. The amount of time actually spent in the lobby and the preshow room is generally low compared to the basement and of course the outside queue through the gardens.

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