1-Day Hollywood Studios Itinerary Using Lightning Lanes
Our 1-Day Hollywood Studios Itinerary using Lightning Lanes covers how the paid line-skipping services work in practice. This step-by-step Walt Disney World touring plan answers questions, illustrates the process, and offers time-saving strategy for making the best ride reservations.
This is a theoretical day at DHS due to unknowns, but that’s true of literally any itinerary. Wait times vary, attractions experience downtime, and there are unique wrinkles to any day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Just like a normal touring plan, there’s a lot here that we can pull from past precedent, historical wait time data, and extensive experience with similar systems.
In particular, crowd levels have a big impact on what you can accomplish with Lightning Lanes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. On slow to moderate days, using Lightning Lanes is straightforward and stress-free. On busier days, the number of ride reservations you can make drops dramatically, as there are more people in the park competing for line-skipping access to the most popular attractions.
More than any other park, the Lightning Lanes service “breaks” at DHS under the stress of heavy crowds. Be warned, this itinerary will work well in low-to-average months, but not so much around Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or other peak weeks. If you’re visiting during school breaks (aside from summer), you’ll want to use this plus Early Entry at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
When it comes to this itinerary, the most important thing to know is that there’s one big attraction per park that sells Lightning Lane access at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, that ride is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Normally, we don’t recommend paying extra to bypass the lines because there are other ways to beat the crowds at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
By and large, Lightning Lanes offer the better bang for your buck, and is the superior way to spend if you’re on a budget. That comes with an asterisk with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, as it’s the most popular ride in all of Walt Disney World and is prone to downtime. If it has an issue while you’re in line–or throughout the day of your visit, the standby line will back up, slow to a crawl, or stop completely.
This is intended to supplement our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World. A lot of you have had questions, and we’ve tried to answer most of the common ones there. However, many are about specific scenarios and that FAQ would be as long as a Tolstoy novel if we addressed each one there.
With that said, some of you may want to ignore our advice and purchase Lightning Lanes. Depending on crowds, this actually can be a “challenge” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which is home to the most popular Lightning Lanes attraction (Slinky Dog Dash) and the most popular Individual Lightning Lane attraction (Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance) in all of Walt Disney World.
Both of these often book up within seconds of 7 am, which presents a practical problem—how do you book both? There is no good way for one person to accomplish both beyond trying to do things quickly and hoping for the best. Ideally, you’ll want to have two adults awake at 7 am, with one booking Slinky Dog Dash and the other booking Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This is the only dynamic duo of rides where this presents a problem–if you’re booking any other combination, it’s no issue.
Anyway, on with our 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary with Lightning Lanes (note that this assumes an 8:30 am opening time for DHS; if the park opens at 9 am during your visit, simply adjust these times by 30 minutes)…
7:00:00 am – Book Slinky Dog Dash with a Lightning Lane return window of 3:10 pm to 4:10 pm.
In a perfect world, you’ll get a much earlier return time for Slinky Dog Dash, but it doesn’t always work that way–even if you’re refreshing right at 7 am on the dot. For this attraction, we strongly recommend following our Speed Strategy for Lightning Lane Selections.
~7:35 am – Race to Rise of the Resistance during Early Entry “bonus time” at DHS.
~8 am – Beat the crowd to Slinky Dog Dash.
8:30 am – Rope drop Toy Story Mania via standby line.
8:50 am – Do Alien Swirling Saucers via standby line.
9:00 am – Blast off to Batuu, enjoying free time in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge before the crowds and midday heat arrive. It’s an excellent time to Meet the Mandalorian & Grogu if you want a chance to encounter theme without a mob of people. (This is not a character meet & greet but is the most popular character encounter at Walt Disney World, so it’s ideal to be there for their first set of the day. See the above link for tips & tricks!)
Although it’s early, consider playing Batuu Bounty Hunters via the MagicBand+ for a little bit. Alternatively, you can browse the shops or even potentially do Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run via standby or the Single Rider line if you anticipate wanting to do that more than once–or just want to knock it out early!
10 am – Do Star Tours: the Adventures Continue via standby line.
You may not be wild about waiting in three consecutive standby lines for popular rides, but that’s bound to happen at DHS given the top-heavy nature of the lineup. In fact, you will almost certainly have more Lightning Lane reservations in late afternoon than in the morning or early afternoon. That’s just how it tends to work out, so plan accordingly and knock out “easier” attractions via standby early on.
10:20 am – Marvel at MuppetVision 3D in all of its distinctly patriotic brilliance.
10:30 am – While waiting for MuppetVision (but without taking your attention away from its profound pre-show), book Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run with a Lightning Lane return window of 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
Note: 10:30 am is chosen because it’s 120 minutes after park opening (assuming DHS opens at 8:30 am), which is consistent with How the 120 Minute Rule Works at Walt Disney World. This rule governs when you can make your next ride reservation, and is incredibly important to understand.
11 am – Free time or a buffer in case crowds are worse during your visit. If you’ve already accomplished all or most of this, consider rewarding yourself with one of the best snacks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
11:45 am – Arrive at least 15 minutes early to catch the second showing of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Take notes to improve your sick parkour moves.
12:30 pm – Book Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith with a Lightning Lane return window of 4:05 pm to 5:05 pm.
Note: Lightning Lane return times for every attraction except Slinky Dog Dash get refilled or “roll over” throughout the day, so if you only see late evening return times when first opening up My Disney Experience to book another Lightning Lane, give it a few minutes–you should see earlier times.
12:40 pm – Browse Walt Disney Presents for evidence to confirm suspicions of grave-rolling.
1 pm – Lunch, free time and/or buffer (we recommend an ADR at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant)
2 pm – Double back to Pixar Place to meet the Monsters and other Pixar Pals.
2:30 pm – Meet Minnie & Mickey at Red Carpet Dreams or Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight, whichever character appeals to you more. Potentially both if the lines are short.
2:30 pm – Book the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Lightning Lane with a return time of 4:20 pm to 5:20 pm.
3:10 pm – Do Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run via Lightning Lane.
3:40 pm – Do Slinky Dog Dash via Lightning Lane.
4:00 pm – Do Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith via Lightning Lane. Arrive 5 minutes early, taking advantage of grace period.
4:20 pm – Do the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror via Lightning Lane.
4:45 pm – Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy via standby line.
5:10 pm – Race on over to the Trolley Car Cafe Starbucks for some coffee…and against your better judgment, a Carrot Cake Cookie. Lightning McQueen would say you’ve earned it–time to ka-chow down!
5:25 pm – Do Frozen Sing-Along Celebration via standby line.
6 pm or so – Dinner at another one of Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ excellent themed restaurants.
7 pm – Free time to do repeat favorite headliner attractions via the standby line. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and even Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance all usually have moderate actual wait times–regardless of what the posted wait time is–after 7 pm.
Second Showing of Fantasmic – On some nights, there are two showings of Fantasmic. If that’s the case during your visit, see the later one and do rides until ~15 minutes before showtime. If there are multiple showings, you do not need to arrive super early for good seats. If there’s only one performance of Fantasmic, catch that one and arrive at least 30 minutes early. See our Viewing Guide to Fantasmic at Walt Disney World for further advice on the best seats, etc.
Once again, this was a theoretical day with Lightning Lanes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios based on assumptions about capacity allocation and demand. Some or all of these assumptions could be off and not reflect what you actually experience depending upon your travel dates. Again, the same could be said of any itinerary. If you’re diligent, this is probably ~75% accurate, and at the very least, should illustrate how a day could look using Genie+ for those who never used paper FastPass or MaxPass.
To be sure, this is an efficient day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but not an overzealous one. The biggest challenge will be the backloaded return times, and filling out your late morning and midday with stage shows and table service meals–or whatever else you want to kill time before your Lightning Lane return times roll around.
Ultimately, the point here is not to “sell” you on buying Lightning Lanes, but rather, to illustrate how Genie+ could prove advantageous for days you opt to purchase the add-on, put some doomsday assumptions to rest, and start making lemonade out of lemons.
If you’re still not quite satisfied with how Lightning Lanes work in practice, see My Day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Using Genie+ (if you’re visiting during a busier season, don’t expect to accomplish that much–here’s a look at my day using Lightning Lanes with peak crowds). If you’d rather simply know which selections are objectively the best (in terms of time saved and how quickly they book up), see our Disney’s Hollywood Studios Genie+ Priorities & Ride Ranks.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Was this 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary w/ Lightning Lanes helpful to illustrate how paid FastPass works at Walt Disney World? Have any questions we didn’t answer with the above? Still confused by how Lightning Lanes work? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
All fine and dandy with the Genie app, but the big question is have they beefed up the backbone that supports it. In park wi fi tends to be spotty in places and cell reception also has numerous dead spots. I have also dealt with the network crashing due to the sheer volume of users on the network. I hope that they built up the infrastructure to support this.
Have you used in-park WiFi in the last 18 months or so? It sure seems better to me, but I haven’t extensively stress-tested it.
Definitely still some dead zones–spots like Rise of the Resistance and the Soarin’ queue come to mind.
I missed where you booked the rockin Rollercoaster lightning jabber lane pass in your scenario above. Pointing out in case I didn’t miss it and you missed it.
Tom,
I am glad to see your optimism but I’m not sure that itinerary in a real world circumstance with real world tourists is very likely. Even with fast passes with booking in advance, our days were never that full, especially with the waiting on standby lines. And, as many have stated, being on our phones all day while we are supposed to be vacationing does not sound fun.
I have concerns that Disney missed their mark this time…
This Genie thing sounds like a lot of complicated moves. We always did our 3 fast passes and planned our days around them. Just not looking forward to the hassle of trying to have a game plan with the Genie!
Reading the comments, I’m shocked at the number of people describing this as “stressful.”
It’s much less stressful than FP+. No getting up at 6am 60 days in advance, to micro manage every single day of the trip. Guess what – if it’s raining, you can now re-schedule your Animal Kingdom day instead of being locked in by your FPs.
If you were planning on rope dropping, you’ll be awake at 7am anyway. If you were planning an afternoon arrival – then you don’t want to schedule your Genie+ until later in the day, no need to get up at 7am. (Genie+ return times should typically be 1-3 hours after scheduling. So if you want to ride 3-5pm, you’d click Genie+ between 1-3pm).
Instead of locking in an entire ride by ride itinerary months in advance, you now have the freedom to just plan a couple hours at a time. Look at your family and say, “so what should we do next?”
Instead of, “what do you mean you don’t want to do Jungle Cruise?!? We booked the FP 2 months ago, we are doing Jungle Cruise!”
The freedom to just go through your day doing what you want, is so much less stressful than locking everything up 60 days ahead.
I don’t get it either, and I chalk that up to fans being resistant to change. I cannot imagine anyone who used both MaxPass and FastPass+ describing the former as the more stressful of the two. There are so many valid criticisms to level at Genie+, but I have a hard time with that one.
The plan for 12:50pm… excellent! Well played sir, well played. 🙂
I think this is a fair and accurate likely illustration. And it’s clearly a better experience than FP+, where you’d be limited to 1 or 2 headliners without lots of lucky refreshing.
So your cost was about $30-35 for the day.. for an experience far better than FP+.
Assuming you purchased both ROTR and the second LL attraction, and used Genie+ for another headliner, then you’d be starting your day with 3 “FP” headliners, while FP+ limited you to just 1 tier-1. And as you demonstrated, should be able to add additional headliners through the day as they weren’t all booked 60 days out.
This sounds exhausting. (Disney’s process, not your commentary. ) And obviously sleeping in will never happen… There goes the few nice relaxing mornings we used to have with my three fast pass reservations for later in the afternoon that I successfully made a month earlier so I didn’t have to think about it anymore. This is so frustrating. Paying $600 for something that used to be free, not getting to sleep in at all, and having to come up with multiple itineraries, should you not be able to get the rides you want. That used to be taken care of well in advance… Now you can’t even go back to sleep because you have to sit there and figure out what you’re going to do.
Sleeping in by 2 hours should put you one Genie+ attraction “behind” on this itinerary. I personally don’t think that’s make or break, but YMMV.
We slept in all the time with MaxPass–sometimes didn’t arrive until afternoon. You definitely wouldn’t get 3 headliners accomplished at DHS that way, but you could still do a lot, including several Genie+ attractions.
WAY too much walking back and forth.
I have been able to avoid renting an ECV because we planned our days in a circle. Fewer steps. The ECV is $50 a day in addition to all the other charges and fees now imposed. Since the DAS is not meant for people with disabilities except autism classes, this just won’t work.
With all that walking to and fro, we might get to do one or two things.
And we still have the situation where disney is requiring employees to get a medication.
We cannot support that.
Thanks for the optimism, Tom. Maybe all is not lost. But my biggest question at this point: At 7:00am will ALL the available Lightning Lane purchases become available for the two top tier rides in each park? I am fearful that those most popular rides will have their Lightning Lane access sell out for the entire day, before 7:01am during our Christmas Break trip. Likewise, the old Fast Passes would become unavailable if you didn’t book, say, Flight of Passage at 68-70 days out. (The 60 day window plus the 10 days for length of stay access). It seems that a pretty high percentage of guests will opt to pay the premium for Lightning Lane, in order to avoid a two or three hour wait during high season to ride Flight of Passage or Slinky Dog. And we will have to frantically enter the 7am virtual rat race every morning, and fork out mega bucks, if we don’t want to send the kids home disappointed from a trip they’ve been looking forward to all year. I guess I don’t know what percentage of guests during high season are locals, who will likely just forego the added cost of Lightning Lane purchases for those top tier rides, because they can return to the park easily at a slower time and ride them without paying the extra bucks. However you look at it, it will start off each and every day of our Disney “vacation” with early morning stress and quite likely disappointment and frustration. I hope I’m wrong.
“I am fearful that those most popular rides will have their Lightning Lane access sell out for the entire day, before 7:01am during our Christmas Break trip.”
I would be absolutely SHOCKED if that happens, but it’s too early to say definitively how it’ll play out. My expectation is ample availability for the individual Lightning Lane headliners throughout the day. I’d be surprised if anything besides RotR sells out with regularity. Guess we’ll see!
Tom, Thanks for the best laugh I have had in weeks with your comment: “ 12:50 pm — Browse Walt Disney Presents for evidence to confirm suspicions of grave-rolling.”
Sounds far too unsettling and stressful. When is our family actually going to be able to relax and enjoy ourselves? Micro managing the day is not my idea of a vacation. Hopefully, my adult children will accept the challenge of scheduling our day and I will scoot along on my ECV. There are already thoughts of cancelling our long awaited 2022 Disney trip because of the numerous unwelcome changes. The dream of our next visit is certainly becoming more of a nightmare.
@ Harry Rotter
Genie will gladly sell you an upgraded phone.
This was great! Thanks, Tom! I’ve sort of been doing this in my head to get an idea on how it could work for my family and this was very helpful. I’m not happy about losing something that was free, but for us, I think the biggest disappointment was losing the ability to at least plan some parts of our day around the 3 initial fast passes. We enjoy being spontaneous in the park and we always utilized park hopper, but we really liked having a plan going in. Now it’s a day of the unknown.
@Mike
Although my family loves to rope drop, you raise a great question about how this will work for those that like to go to the parks in the afternoon and evening. As far as I can tell, Genie+ is not like FP where you can choose one of the available times in the morning, afternoon, or evening. They are just showing the first available arrival time which may be prior to when you plan to enter the park, so you would have to keep checking until those slots filled up and they post an afternoon time that works for you. That seems awful if that’s how it would work.
Just curious why you will add Genie+ to your AP? Do you think it will be that much of a necessity to hit the big secondary rides versus rope dropping standby lines? Any guess how much it will be as an a la carte item, or just another tier of AP?
I have a flip phone…will there be a way to sign up for genie + without a smart phone?
Disney’s nickle and dime charges will only serve to outprice its loyal fan base. We’ve aleady decided on our next 2 trips, and they won’t be overpriced Disney. They’ve killed the magic by constantly upcharging, while taking away more and more benefits. They should call it Scrooge+!
That sounds exhausting! haha
But I’m glad yo left room to inspect for grave rolling!
Hi Tom. Do the popular rides typically “sell out” with MaxPass? If so, what’s the earliest you’ve seen a ride sold out?
Reason I ask is we typically don’t go to the parks until the afternoon (2-3pm range) and stay until closing (love the parks at night). Will we be able to get rides with Genie + at those times? I guess another way to ask, will Disney “stagger” the release of genie + roses or will they be allowed to sell out early if the demand is there?
Radiator Springs Racers was always first to go. If I recall correctly, that would frequently be gone within the first two hours of the day (returning sporadically with cancellations).
My usual day at HS will remain unchanged! – turn up do Toy story star tours and M&M train – as long as lines are less than 30 mins for first 2 and less than 1 hour for train. Have walk around enjoying people watching have coffee go home . But then I’m local and don’t do roller coasters rides and can take or leave Star Wars
Not the typical tourist I know