1-Day Hollywood Studios Itinerary
Our 1-Day Hollywood Studios itinerary offers an efficient touring plan & strategy for minimizing time waiting in lines, maximizing rides, and avoiding crowds at Walt Disney World. This covers attractions, restaurants, shows, and includes Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. (Updated January 29, 2021.)
Note that this DHS touring plan has been overhauled following the start of Walt Disney World’s phased reopening. A lot has changed in the last several months from a strategy perspective, namely the temporary suspension of FastPass+, pause of Extra Magic Hours, reduction of operating hours, and reduction of park & ride capacity. This has caused changes in guest behavior, and certain attractions now have longer and shorter wait times than before.
Nowhere is this more apparent than Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Normal touring plans have been upended not only by all of the above, but also Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and a total lack of stage shows. We’ve revisited DHS over a dozen times since Walt Disney World’s phased reopening began, and have monitored wait times, tested various approaches, and fine-tuned our strategy as crowds have progressively increased. Accordingly, this is our revised post-reopening 1-day Disney’s Hollywood Studios itinerary…
This post continues our series of Walt Disney World Park Itineraries & Touring Plans designed to answer the frequently asked question, “what would you do in an ideal day at the park?” With Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway plus all of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge now open, including both Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, there’s more to do here, and we once again highly recommend spending a full day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
However, it also can be a very challenging and frustrating day because the attraction lineup is very top heavy right now, consisting almost entirely of rides, many of which are incredibly popular. Unlike virtually every other park at Walt Disney World, DHS is lacking in the “supporting players” department. Which is to say there are very few “low hassle” attractions and shows that are easy to do with minimal wait to round out your day or kill time.
Unlike all of our other WDW touring plans, our strategy for Disney’s Hollywood Studios starts prior to the day of your visit…
Before Your Visit – When making Disney Park Pass reservations, start by booking at least a couple of days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. At this point, due to Cast Member blockouts and weekend attendance, your best option is a Friday. Consider also booking DHS Park Passes for all days when you’re actually planning on visiting EPCOT (and maybe even Animal Kingdom), in addition to your dedicated DHS day.
This is our recommendation because it’s always easier to change from Disney’s Hollywood Studios to another park than vice-versa. By the time your travel dates arrive, it’s possible that DHS will be fully booked for every day of your trip. Same goes for Magic Kingdom on some dates, whereas Animal Kingdom and EPCOT usually have same-day availability. You’ll understand why this flexibility is important shortly…
Rise & Attempt to Go See a Star War at 6:55 am: Episode I – On the morning of your Disney’s Hollywood Studios day, at least one person in your party will need to be awake before 7 am. This is because guests with a valid ticket and a Disney Park Pass reservation for Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be able to access the virtual queue system starting at 7 am on the day of their park visit. This is done outside the park–before you leave your resort hotel, or from literally anywhere.
With the new 7 am time, the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance still fills up within seconds. There has not been a single morning when boarding passes are still available at 7:01 am. (Our How to Ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance FAQ & Guide is essential reading right now and covers everything you need to know–like increasing your chances of success.)
If you’re unsuccessful, you can immediately change your Disney Park Pass reservations day-of to EPCOT. This is what we call the “EPCOT Audible” and it’s highly recommended unless you have can’t miss Advance Dining Reservations in DHS. Alternatively, you can try to join the virtual queue again at 1 pm from inside the park.
DHS Rope Drop – For an ideal experience at DHS, we highly recommend arriving to the park about 45 minutes to an hour before official opening time, and picking up this itinerary from there.
That may not be possible if you’re staying at a Skyliner resort due to the operating hours of the gondolas. In that case, consider taking an Uber or Lyft to DHS. The park typically opens ~30 minutes prior to the officially published time, giving you a significant advantage by arriving early.
Toy Story Land Mania – For years, the craziest morning at Walt Disney World was the Toy Story Mania dash. Then came FastPass+, pretty much ending that. Then FastPass+ temporarily ended. Now, there are three morning dashes. The vast majority of the crowds go straight ahead to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway or left to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That leaves a smaller, third group going right to Toy Story Land.
Zig while everyone else is zagging and go right, too. Once you’re in Toy Story Land, start with Slinky Dog Dash. Do it again if the line is short. Continue to Toy Story Mania. Finish with Alien Swirling Saucers if the posted wait time is moderate. Then bounce from Toy Story Land before the crush of the crowd arrives.
Go See A Star War: Episode II – Once you’re finished with Toy Story Land, wander through Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to Star Tours: the Adventures Continue. Don’t be afraid to slow down and enjoy some of the atmosphere on Batuu–it’s the least crowded Galaxy’s Edge will be until the evening hours.
Lines should still be fairly short for Star Tours, so do that next once you’ve strolled through Galaxy’s Edge.
Shows & Stuff – Normally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a bunch of shows that are worth seeing. These include the Frozen Sing-along, Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, and MuppetVision 3D.
However, at present only Frozen Sing-along and MuppetVision 3D are running. The latter we absolutely implore you to see, and now is a good time to do that before lines build there. To miss MuppetVision would be distinctly unpatriotic. Consider spending some time in the pre-show area and overflow queue at MuppetVision, as there are some hilarious Easter Eggs all around.
Lunch – During the middle of the day, you’re going to have some time to kill while waiting for wait times to drop. Fortunately, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is home to two of the Best Themed Restaurants at Walt Disney World.
Definitely book Advance Dining Reservations for right around noon at 50’s Prime Time Cafe or Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. Disregard the negative reviews, as the experience at both restaurants is the star of the show. Personally, I think both serve pretty good food, too.
Midday Break – In every touring scenario we’ve run for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it doesn’t take a full day to finish the park. That’s true even on busier days. However, rather than leaving early, we recommend a midday break–whether that means going back to your hotel for a swim or staying in the park and perusing the gift shops (several good ones in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge) is up to you.
Another option is to caffeinate by heading to Trolley Car Cafe (the Starbucks location at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) for coffee. Oh, and while you’re there, grab one of the two Best Snacks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Dinner – If you’ve somehow already worked up an appetite and still have time to kill, consider doing another meal. Ideally, whichever of the two table service restaurants you didn’t do above. If you’re more in a drinking and snacking mood, give BaseLine Tap House a try (food spreads pictured above).
Another option is Docking Bay 7 Food & Cargo in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That’s currently the best counter service restaurant at Walt Disney World.
Go See A Star War: Episode III – In mid to late afternoon, we recommend blasting off to Batuu once again. It’s better to spend the bulk of your time in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge later in the day rather than in the morning for a couple of reasons. First, crowds are actually worst in the morning and get progressively better as the day wears on.
Second, because Star Wars Land is simply better as the day goes on (ideally after sunset, but that option is off the table right now). The lighting adds a lot to the moody off-planet atmosphere, and makes the experience even more immersive. While you’re in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, be sure to do Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
ROCK AND ROLL! – Next, head all the way to the other end of the park for the Sunset Boulevard attractions. In the last two hours of the day, wait times for Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror begin falling.
If you arrive late enough here (or it’s a slow day), you might also be able to do Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster a couple of times via standby with short waits. Follow that by doing the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror while you’re in the neighborhood. Our actual waits for these rides late in the day have been under 20 minutes regardless of posted wait times.
Last Train to Runnamuck Park – While it might be tempting to run(away) to the newest headliner attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to start your day, the better option is jumping in line for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway about 10-15 minutes before park closing.
There are three benefits to this approach. First, that’s when its line is shortest, so you’re waiting the least amount of time. Second, the queue is mostly outdoors, and the sun can be brutal earlier in the day. Finally, queueing up at the end of the evening, you’re effectively extending your day in the park since most of your wait will be after official closing time.
After that, take the time for a slow stroll out of the park upon exiting, taking your time to look at and photograph all the beautiful neon signs. The good news here is that even though it’ll be dark out, the neon is so bright that it’s easy to photograph at night.
All in all, it should conclude a pretty satisfying day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This park is so much better than it was just a few years ago–it’s now unquestionably a full day park and one that is free of visible construction. The added good news is that Disney’s Hollywood Studios should further improve once more of the stage shows start to return. That has already happened with the Frozen Sing-Along, so hopefully the others will follow suit soon!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, 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 unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it. For overviews of all of these topics and so much more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience!
Your Thoughts
What would you include in your ideal day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Would you recommend visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios to a first-timer? If you haven’t visited Walt Disney World, what do you plan on doing? Do you agree or disagree with our strategy or plan of attack? Any questions? 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!
Again, your advice spot-on…rope-dropping Slinky’s Dog Dash allowed us to ride with about a 10 minute wait, and lines were no shorter than 45-50 all day. We enjoyed Hollywood & Vine lunch, but as a character meal was our least favorite and more expensive than Chef Mickey’s & Topolino’s Terrace. Your Rise of the Resistance advice – especially to practice at home – got us in, and my star wars-loving boys & husband thank you for that 🙂 Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was a HUGE hit with our whole family, too! We loved it! And were able to get in with short waits twice! Thank you, January crowds! As someone mentioned elsewhere, the sun exposure in that queue is a bit intense, so be prepared with sunscreen!
Also, I was wondering if rider swap would work across the parks and specifically Rise of the Resistance. And it worked beautifully everywhere. My boys have no idea how lucky they are to ride it twice within an hour on the first day we tried!! For those doing rider swap, we learned you don’t have to ride it right away, but if you do rider swap somewhere else, it will cancel the first one. for example, we set up a rider swap at splash mountain, I took my toddler back to nap, and when we reentered the park, went straight to splash mountain to redeem the rider swap. Faster than a normal fastpass…
Could you help me understand what you mean by try at home? I’m terrified the rise of Resistance ride will fill up and my two star wars fanatic husband and son will be so disappointed as that is the only reason they want to do hollywood studios. Any tips l, tricks you can offer would be great.
Danielle, Tom has a whole post dedicated to Rise of the Resistance that was really helpful. I was in the same boat as you 🙂 To practice, just get on the disney app any morning around 6:58 and practice joining the queue. It will stop you from actually doing it, but you can learn the right buttons to push and make sure you don’t have extra people on your friends & family list that would slow you down.
Thank you so much I’m terrified we won’t get on but I’m just going to work on my practice skills and do some prayers
Mickey and Minnie’s Railway is not worth waiting in line for. There’s nothing special about it. I’ve been going to Disney since the late 70’s. If this was in the Magic Kingdom, it would have already been replaced.
ON another post you said to do DHS on a weekend because currently it is the most regularly crowded park. Then you can do the other parks when they tend to be less crowded. This post says Friday specifically. What do you recommend? We only have 1 day for DHS and were doing 2 days in MK. So we have DHS for a Saturday and MK for Friday and Tuesday. So which way would you recommend? Weekday for DHS or MK? Thanks!(this is for a trip in Feb, not Presidents day, fyi)
Hello- Thanks all! I love reading the suggestions and questions!
I am going to HS on 1/1/21 with park opening at 10a. From what I can read it is best to get there at 9am. I am staying at The Grand Floridian, what’s the best way to get there early? Uber or Disney buses? Is there a best way?
Good morning Aimee!
I am not Tom, but my boyfriend and I just went to HWS on November 09 following his and other Disney blogger’s advice.
We were staying at a skyliner resort. We got in line around 7:45, or 1 hr 15 minutes earlier than the skyliner would open. This ended up making a big difference though as we were close to the front of the line for temperature screenings/ security when they started allowing guests in, so one option for you all could be to uber to Caribbean Beach. However, we were not first in line. We probably could have gotten their sooner if we had ubered to the boardwalk area for breakfast and then walked over to the line. It just depends on what your priorities are for the day! Being close to the front allowed us to get to Mickey and Minnie’s quickly. They started the ride right when guests were let in around 9:15. We waited about 15 minutes and were back off again at 9:35. This allowed us to then go and do the Sunset blvd area (we were worried about potential weather related closures at the Tower of Terror). We did the Toy Story area later in the afternoon which had us waiting for Slinky around 25 minutes, and we walked on to Toy Story Mania and alien swirling saucers. The only lengthy line we waited in was for Smuggler’s Run–and even that was only about 45 minutes.
Hope this helps!
Tom’s advice also ensured that we got boarding group 12 for Rise of the Resistance!
Do you have any updated information? Do you know what to expect in December? Thanks!
Morning Report for Tuesday, October 27! We attempted to arrive early-early, not realizing that the parking lot doesn’t open until 9:00 a.m. Oops! When we returned it was past 9:00 but we were still able to pay for parking, park, get through temp check, security, ticket window, and gate by 9:25. We headed straight to Slinky Dog Dash. Posted wait was 50 minutes and it was probably close to that. We scored Rise of the Resistance boarding passes while on line and a few minutes later had boarded the gem of a coaster. Headed straight to Toy Story Mania with an accurate 25 minute wait, then to Alien Swirling Saucers with the same. After a bathroom break we headed for Rise of the Resistance. What a blast! Glad we avoided the spoilers. Enjoyed our packed lunch in a rare shady spot. Headed back toward the parking lot and noticed on the way out that Toy Story Mania was down to a 20 minute wait and decided to go for it. Out of the park by 12:45 p.m.
Afternoon report! We returned to the Studios around 5:00 p.m. The wait estimates were much more lower than earlier in the day. We hoped on Star Tours (10 minute wait) first. Heading back to Galaxy’s Edge we noticed that the line for Slinky Dog Dash was much shorter than it had been in the a.m., so we took a chance on it despite the posted wait time of 50 minutes. Well, it ended up being 50 minutes. (The ride shut down twice, once for cleaning and once for a reason not shared with us. Sigh.) The kids wanted to repeat Toy Story Mania (10 minute wait). We had hoped to have time for Millennium Falcon before getting on line for Mickey & Minnie, but I didn’t trust our ability to hustle. Instead we took a break, got some snacks, and reached the Mickey & Minnie line at 6:55. The posted wait was 60 minutes, which ended up being only 35 or 40. The sun exposure is WICKED in that line so even if it had truly been 60 minutes, it would have been worth it just to have had the wait time occurring after sunset.
Here’s what we accomplished today 10/23.
Left on foot from the swan at 8:30am arrived at the line at 8:48. They moved us up to temp check at 8:50. Around 9:05 they opened the gate. We briskly walked to Mickey and Minnie’s runaway rail. We got all the way to the building before we were stopped. They started the attraction early and we were off it at 9:26. We booked it over to slinky and got in line at 9:34. Our ride ended at 9:57 and we got into our spot to try for Rise of the Resistance. 10am got my wife snagged boarding group 2. We head over there next. Got off ROTR at 10:40am.
After those 3 big hitters we decided to grab Starbucks and chill for a bit. We had an ADR for Sci-Fi at 12:35 so we decided to squeeze in Tower of Terror. Posted wait was 40 mins. It broke down while we were in line. Only a 15 downtime so we got on it. Got off and went over to Sci-Fi.
After lunch we decided to head back to Swan VIA the Skyliner arrive we’ve never tried it. We took it to EPCOT walked back to Swan. Got to our room around 3ish. 4:30 grab our car and drive to Hollywood Studios. Our target was Aerosmith but it was down so we high tailed it over to Star Tours 20 min wait. Got off that at 5:06 walked fast to Aerosmith. Posted wait was 55 mins. Ended up being 40. While in line I grabbed a pumpkin cake taramisu which was good. Now we were hoping for some luck to get on slinky and Mickey and Minnie once more. We get in line for Slinky at 6:01 with a 50 min wait time posted… Oh boy this will be close!!!! Projected boarding time is 6:51 lol. They even pause the attraction for cleaning. As we get ready to board here comes tons of rain ponchos out time!!! We get off Slinky at 6:55 street getting pelted in the face by rain we’re almost running to Mickey and Minnie!!!!! Did we make it??? YES! We get in line at 7:01 shhhhhh!!! The Cast member was right behind us and we were the last ones on it today!
Kevin! What was your strategy for getting ROTR boarding passes? This is highly impressive!
Hi Tom — I don’t quite follow your example 1-day itinerary. Going left to Galaxy’s Edge, Right to Toy Story and straight to Mickey&Minnie’s railway.
This is our first time to HS. So where is the entrance to the park ? We’ll be walking over from Beach Club resort. Thanks!!
Kelly, Hollywood Studios entrance is at the front of the park. When you go down its “main street,” it will open up to the central plaza. From the central plaza is where you head left to Galaxys Edge after walking past some stores and through a tunnel (And past the turn to Mama Melrose, my wife and I’s favorite restaurant at HS), straight into Runaway Railroad in the Chinese Theater, or left to Toy Story Land. You can go through Toy Story Land to get to Galaxy’s edge as well. Hope this helps!
Hi! We have a trip planned during Thanksgiving week and were not able to get a reservation to Hollywood Studios. Any idea if more will open up or how they manage that? To be honest, it is still a lot of money to miss out on our favorite park (which is already running at half-options). Thanks!!!
Hi Megan. I just looked at the park pass availability and HS is available on M, T, W and F the week of THGV. All parks are available on 11/23, 11/24, 11/25, and 11/27. Not sure why you weren’t able to get a park pass for HS during that week. I’d try again.
Hi Tom,
I had tried to ask this question before, but think I messed up sending it.
Could you give your opinion on the safety of being dropped off at the Speedway gas station by uber at about 8:30 am and walk to HS?
I had seen this suggestion on another blog as a way to shorten the walk if you are dropped off somewhere except the rideshare stop at HS. But I was questioning the safety of walking along side the road, are there walkways?
Thank you
Hi Cynthia, there is a walkway. Pull up your favorite map program and zoom in, you’ll be able to see it. When walking along the path, you’ll get to a fork, the left path heads towards the road and goes over the river/crescent lake area, go right and it’ll take you to the river, turn left and you’ll go under the road on your way to HS.
Eriik, thank you so much!
We’ll be there next week and I am trying to get us in reasonably early, but also decreas walking time!