Hollywood Studios Photo Report: Addition & Subtraction
We’re back at Hollywood Studios for our first visit since DHS Reopening Report: A Tale of Two Visits. In this Walt Disney World photo update, we’ll share a look at the brand new Society Orchestra Beauty and the Beast stage show, another attraction being retired, low crowds & wait times, and more.
Since our last visit, Walt Disney World adjusted the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, consolidating the 1 pm and 4 pm boarding pass ‘drops’ into a single 2 pm one. Generally speaking, his was a smart and guest-friendly decision. Both of the latter two distribution times had low inventory, and were incredibly difficult to join. The single distribution time makes things easier.
Or so we’re told. While we like this move, it disadvantages us. We have no desire or need to arrive at Disney’s Hollywood Studios before 2 pm, as the entire park can be “done” with a ~4 pm arrival. We love the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge E-Ticket, but our hatred of summer weather outweighs that. See you in November (curse you, Daylight Saving Time!), Rise of the Resistance!
In addition to arriving shortly after 4 pm, we also opted to do Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a weekend. This is something we don’t do (and wouldn’t recommend doing) with Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or Animal Kingdom, but Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a different story.
Whereas the other three parks see increased crowds on the weekends due to locals, that’s not true of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The difference is that the former three are never hitting even their limited capacity and crowds are thus limited by organic demand, which is higher on weekends.
By contrast, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is hitting the same threshold every single day of the week. This is due to a mix of its capacity being ridiculously low and DHS being home to Walt Disney World’s two newest and most popular rides.
As such, there’s no difference in crowds between Wednesday and Saturday or Sunday. The park is equally “full” every day of the week. Plan accordingly if you’re a tourist and do Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the weekend!
Unsurprisingly, crowds are pretty sparse pretty much everywhere we went in the park.
Judging by wait times, Disney’s Hollywood Studios was much busier before 2 pm, but dropped off after that.
All of these photos were captured between around 4 and 7 pm.
Wait times were all pretty much 5 to 30 minutes for the duration of our visit.
Above are the highs as of 6 pm.
In our experience, wait times for pretty much everything aside from Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway have been inflated. It’s not so bad with the above times, but earlier in the afternoon you might see Tower of Terror or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with posted times of 30-40 minutes when they’re actually around 10 minutes–or walk-ons.
Even the line for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was pretty short by the end of the evening.
My working hypothesis is that more locals are doing DHS on weekends, and they’re less inclined than tourists to stick around for the full day. Insufficient data to support this theory, but it passes the smell test, I think.
I remember this scene on opening day at Disneyland when it was unexpectedly uncrowded and thinking, “I’ll never see this area like this ever again.”
Then I remember the same empty courtyard during Extra, Extra Magic Hours and thinking, “I can’t believe this happened again.” Same thing a few months later when Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted and the park quietly opened at like 5 am for a few weeks.
I’ve become numb to it. Now I’d do a double-take if this area were busy. (If it’s never going to be busy, Disney should liven it up by designating it as the official lightsaber duel zone–just put up some more liability disclaimer warnings!)
Honestly, that’s what I’d prefer to see–not necessarily the duels, just crowds in general. It has been a rough first year for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and the land deserved so much better. I still think it’s incredible.
At the opposite end of the quality spectrum, here’s a look at what will be the entrance to Roundup Rodeo BBQ Restaurant. Walt Disney World really timed its “new things without windows” additions poorly. Somehow I do not see that trend catching on.
This is something Toy Story Land “needs,” but like so much of this land, the idea seems phoned in and full of squandered potential. No clue when Roundup Rodeo BBQ Restaurant will open at this point–probably late 2021 or early 2022.
Getting to the “Addition & Subtraction” post subtitle, let’s look at the brand-new show that made its unannounced debut today at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the Theater of the Stars on Sunset Boulevard.
In the Hollywood Bowl-inspired venue, Disney Society Orchestra and Friends (temporarily?) replaces Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage.
Disney Society Orchestra and Friends features a 6-piece orchestra playing music from around Disney’s Hollywood Studios, including the MuppetVision theme, Star Wars songs, and more.
For the show’s second to last song, Beauty and the Beast characters appear on stage.
For the finale of Disney Society Orchestra and Friends, Belle and Beast appear in the “balconies” above the stage.
Due to physical distancing, the characters don’t actually dance together, but it’s a cute way to end the show.
As a bit of background in case you’ve missed it, Walt Disney World is currently in the midst of a bitter standoff with the Actors’ Equity Association, the union that represents most in-park performers.
This has been an ugly, public battle (at least on the part of the Actors’ Equity Association–Disney has mostly carried on silently) with the union leadership doing interviews and making videos attacking Walt Disney World.
This has been ongoing for several weeks, and my initial reaction was “this isn’t going to end well for the union.” From the outside, it appears that they’re concerned less with negotiating a path forward for their members to return to work, and more about setting a precedent and making Disney look bad.
It would also appear that the overwhelming majority of Cast Members–including those in the Actors’ Equity Association–share this view. (See the 180+ comments to the “Welcome Home” Facebook video posted by the union.)
We don’t really have a dog in this fight, but sincerely hope the union and Walt Disney World can set aside their animosities and work out a deal. It’s unfortunate and disappointing to see the Cast Members put in the middle, seemingly treated as pawns.
It should go without saying, but it’s in everyone’s best interests for equity entertainment to return. Unfortunately, that seems pretty far from happening.
We watched Disney Society Orchestra and Friends twice and generally enjoyed it. The show is basically members of the Grand Floridian Society Orchestra, plus a mild character component.
It’s certainly not as elaborate as Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage, but it’s also not nearly the commitment or effort. For what it is–a cool, open air diversion with mellow music–it’s solid.
Sets are pretty frequent, to the point that you should be able to see one or two without any pre-planning. Of all the big changes at Walt Disney World, the most peculiar for a lot of planners is that spontaneity wins the day.
In our view, this is exactly the type of thing Disney’s Hollywood Studios needs right now. The ride lineup is stacked and top-heavy; it’s the entertainment and smaller-scale offerings that could use rounding out.
On the subtraction front, BlogMickey is reporting that the Voyage of the Little Mermaid puppet and stage show has been permanently retired.
There have been rumors about the potential closure of this for a while, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The show had a good run–it’s now old enough to vote!
Ultimately, Disney’s Hollywood Studios needs to be adding more shows rather than subtracting them. It’s highly unlikely that Walt Disney World is going to develop ambitious new concepts, so the options are either hammering out a deal with the union or more capacity-adding quick-fixes like the Disney Society Orchestra & Friends. The former is obviously preferable, but we’ll take either at this point.
As it stands, Disney’s Hollywood Studios continues to be Walt Disney World’s most frustrating park if you experience it like a normal guest. The morning rush and boarding pass dash are a hassle, there’s not enough to fill a full day, and now you can’t even park hop. Our immediate suggestion to Disney would (again) be to allow guests with Park Pass reservations to attempt joining the virtual queue without entering Disney’s Hollywood Studios. On the plus side (for us!), all of these issues make Disney’s Hollywood Studios a great late afternoon arrival park, but only if you’re willing to skip Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Hardly recommended for the vast majority of people reading this.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios since the park reopened? What was your experience? When did you arrive? How long did you stay? If you’ve yet to visit, will you be attempting to join the modified virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? Do you plan on arriving at rope drop, or will you utilize a late arrival strategy? What do you think of the Disney Society Orchestra? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
Stop lying, BBQ Roundup might be postponed to next Summer….., I’m not missing out on it by the time I go next Fall
Equity is notoriously difficult to work with and has a rep for hating the institutions that actually hire actors.
That being said, both sides need to give in on this one and work together. DCL also hires several of their actors on Equity contracts. They’ve got to figure this out ASAP. And Equity needs to actually want their actors and stage managers to work.
Such SAD news about NOT having The Little Mermaid show any Longer !!! It was such a Great show for Everyone — especially liked the Bubbles, the Rain and Always loved the
Live Singing of the Great ” Part Of Your World ” Song ! It will be Sadly Missed.
Seriously??? Closing the Little Mermaid show!? Sad, very very sad.
I hope Disney reconsiders this move. I also look forward to this mess being over with the union and Disney as I miss the wonderful shows. Those live performances is one of the things that set Disney apart from just being an amusement park.
Has anybody heard what’s going to happen to the Star Wars hotel? Haven’t seen anything about it being put on hold or cancelled. I’m assuming there would be a lot of union actors required to work there so maybe it will go away too…would be nice if they extended Galaxy’s Edge out to where they started the hotel and make it another E-Ticket…I can dream.
Any thoughts on if you arrive around 4pm can you still do everything and have an ADR for dinner? We rode ROTR several times before the closure so we are ok skipping it. I’m thinking we should be ok because we will skip Hollywood Blvd area. Not really into bigger coaster or TOT.
Yes I think you could. We went around 4:15 today, rode MMRR, Slinky dog dash and Toy story mania. Had dinner at 50s prime time and still had an hour and a half to do more rides. Everything is pretty much a walk-on later in the day.
Voyage of the Little Mermaid reminds me of the similar The Legend of the Lion King MK show (1994-2002), which took advantage of lessons learned and the size of the Fantasyland Theater to put together an impressive show. As it is, Voyage is an attraction that uses a unique format not really matched at WDW.
“13 minute wait” for the Tower of Terror will always be funny!
Tom, we currently have HS reserved for Christmas Day, which is our first park day seeing as we arrive Christmas Eve to Disney staying at POP. Our original plan was to have a nice casual Christmas morning and head over to the park late morning, however my concern comes in with getting the boarding pass for ROTR. If we did this and were not in the park for rope drop, which we really did not want to have to do on Christmas morning, then we will be forced to only try to get the boarding pass for the 2pm bucket and I am concerned we will not get it. I am completely frustrated about this. Not to mention there is a group of 12 of us which makes it even harder. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks
Time out. The Beauty and the Beast show is gone? How did I miss that update? My heart is broken. Is it coming back? I know it’s been there forever now, but it’s so magical, it’s one of my favorite things to do at Disney. Right now I’m in Texas working due to this pandemic but I can’t wait to return to Disney asap!! Thanks for all of the great info you share!
All the shows (Indiana Jones, Finding Nemo, Festival of the Lion King, etc.) are gone right now because of the union issue Tom discusses in the article. As far as I know, there has been no announcement or rumor that the Beauty and the Beast show is gone forever.
Agree Kimmy! One of my absolute favorites at WDW. But hopefully we’ll see it sometime soon enough!
Isn’t it possible to change park reservations at the last minute? If so, maybe Disney isn’t allowing guests to join the virtual queue until they are firmly locked into HS through ticket admission, as a means of preventing massive shuffling around for those who aren’t successful in obtaining a Boarding Group number in the morning. I know I’d personally secure park reservations for HS every day of my trip, then simply switch over to another park until I could successfully ride ROTR (changing park reservations for the remaining days of the trip, as well). If many people adopted this strategy, it would make it impossible for Disney to correctly predict crowd levels in each park, thereby creating cast member shortages and customer dissatisfaction.
Even gaming this scenario out, I don’t see the problem.
If someone cancels at DHS, that opens up a slot that’ll almost instantly fill up because Annual Passholders are so eager to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and availability is so limited for them at DHS.
It doesn’t seem that much different to me than canceling a Flight of Passage FastPass and booking Dinosaur instead. It’s all going to normalize and level out in the end, and is not really a widespread enough of a phenomenon to cause real issues.
I wonder if WDW will reintroduce park hopping while the park pass system is still operational. It doesn’t seem impossible to invite guests to reserve 2 parks in one day, with the afternoon slots subject to those with morning slots subject to acceptability by tracking those exiting the park. That’s a big part of what makes DHS a good park to visit, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever gone to it without hopping to another park.
Agreed. I think sooner rather than later Park Hopping is reintroduced in some capacity.
The easiest and quickest fix would probably just be lifting the reservation requirement from Epcot. That park is colossal, demand is lowest, there’s a ton of unused capacity, and it’s a great option for dinner. It’d be win-win for guests and Disney.
We are going to be there the 17th of August. Our flight lands at 2:20, so we are hoping to be there by 4:30. Our only goals are to ride Mickey and Minnie with my 2 year old, swirling saucers (for 2 year old), and maybe the new Disney Junior show. Does this sound possible? Maybe 2 rides for my Mickey and Minnie obsessed child?
I just returned from my solo trip last week. From the time my plane landed early till the time I reached my attraction destination in Epcot was 1 hour 50 minutes. I traveled alone, walked fast, did not stop at restroom, had only carry-on luggage and know my way around MCO. If you are using Magical Express, I think it would be nearly impossible to get to Hollywood Studios by 4:30. If you are checking luggage, you will need to retrieve your own luggage from baggage claim before proceeding to Magical Express. There is a line to check in and then be assigned a line to wait for your particular resort. At 11:00 am the wait was estimated up to 90 minutes just to board the bus. I lucked out and waited 10 in line and another 10 on the bus. Traffic was exceptionally light on Sunday, so we reached Disney property (the DisneyWorld arch) in about 20 minutes. Each bus typically stops at 3 resorts. In my case it was Riviera, BoardWalk (my resort) and then Beach Club. My room was not ready so I put luggage in storage and walked to Epcot. If you aren’t staying at an Epcot area resort, it will take longer to wait for bus transportation to Studios. Once at park, temperature check and security lines were minimal to non-existent. This info is not to discourage you, but to plan for worst case scenario and avoid disappointment. You’ll get to the Studios, but probably later than 4:30.
That’s definitely possible. Saucers and the show will have minimal waits. Runaway Railway you might have to wait up to an hour, but if you time it right (the later the better) that will come down significantly. If you’re in the park for the last two hours of operation, then two Runaway Railway rides are probably doable.
As a jazz musician, I’m thrilled that Hollywood Studios is staying true to its roots and is having a Live Jazz Combo perform a medley of Hollywood Studios songs. Considering that’s the style of music that’s played throughout the park, it just seems like a smart, perfect fit.
Now, if they could occasionally get a live band to play on the Path of the Jedi kids stage & perform the covers heard across the path at Baseline Tap House, they’ll really be on to something!
Thanks for your insight. We are only doing carry on luggage as well, and I know mco like the back of my hand. We are staying at the Poly, so will have to wait for a bus. By reading this, I think we could achieve our main objectives even if we don’t get there til 6. We honestly only want to ride 2 rides and see one 10 minute show, lol! Thanks!
You only have one chance of getting a boarding group at 2P? Does that mean no rides it all morning? That doesn’t make sense.
No, the 10am boarding pass drop is still happening. It was just the afternoon 1pm and 4pm that combined into one group at 2pm instead.
So the times are now 10am and 2pm to get the boarding pass.
“Walt Disney World really timed its “new things without windows” additions poorly.”
Double true. I’m very interested to see what happens with the Star Wars hotel…
Based on your reviews, let’s say your a non local staying at a skyliner resort. Would it be a good approach to rope drop DHS for the RotR boarding pass, and then maybe doing the pool for the part of the day? Coming back in the evening to do other attractions and enjoy the park after the morning rush subsides? I guess you are still at the mercy of your boarding time though…
That’s what I’d do. It’s still not a perfect approach, but it’s the best you’re going to do under the current constraints.
We were able to do rise of the resistance on Thursday (got group 9 and got called at 10:30!) and we have a second day at DHS tomorrow. Planning on a later arrival so we can do Slinky Dog and MMRR as we skipped those and did all of Galaxy’s edge on our first day. We’ll have to check out this show as well.
we wound up skipping little mermaid the last 2 trips just due to time constraints after it was always a must do for us. sadly now my kids won’t ever see it.
Such a weird time. I do wish HWS and DAK would add some more content if you will. Need some elaborate playgrounds for kids and a few more attractions for each park-some low key things for HWS and some more ambitious things for DAK. A lot of dough for a moderate experience.