Hollywood Studios Report: Skip or Strategize
It’s time for another visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios! In this Walt Disney World photo report, we’ll look at late October crowds, lengthy lines & posted wait times, and our attempt at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance’s boarding pass drop. We’ll also offer commentary on whether you should skip DHS entirely or just strategize, be patient, and manage expectations.
Let’s begin with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which has been an ‘evolving’ problem point since debuting last December. It started as a pure first-come, first-served system and slowly morphed into a hybrid first-come, first-served and lottery system. Short of closing the attraction down for several months (ahem) to iron out its problems, this was the approach we viewed as most equitable back in the winter.
When Walt Disney World reopened, the story was more or less the same as pre-closure for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue. In the last month or so, it’s worsened. Thanks to increased attendance and slashed attraction capacity, the “boarding pass dash” has become a de facto lottery, and not one with a high success rate. It’s leaving a lot of guests disappointed and frustrated they bought tickets for DHS. It has left us wondering, is Disney’s Hollywood Studios even worth the hassle?!
Right now, you must be in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 10 am in order to even have a shot at obtaining a spot in the virtual queue. Strategy helps give you a fighting shot, but luck determines whether you’ll ultimately score a boarding group. There is zero room for error: if My Disney Experience stutters, arbitrarily forces you to sign-in, you’re in an area of the park with weak cell service or Wifi, or you need help from the Guest Experience Team, forget about riding at all.
To compound matters, if you lose this lottery at 10 am, your alternatives are not great. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Slinky Dog Dash, and Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run are instantly posting 60-90 minute wait times, and physically distanced lines are massive everywhere else in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There is no park-hopping, so you’re stuck at DHS, hoping against all odds for better luck at 2 pm.
It was against this backdrop that we headed to DHS this week to once again test an afternoon arrival strategy to see if maybe that was the most viable approach…
This approach is not really new for us. Our last Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Report: Morning Highs & Evening Lows suggested arriving for rope drop and the first attempt at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance before taking an extended midday break.
That was also a few weeks ago, after crowds had increased at Disney’s Hollywood Studios–but before they had reached their latest highs. Despite that, it’s the approach we still recommend; you just should temper your expectations in terms of wait times and congestion.
For this visit, we opted to skip the morning entirely and instead arrive a bit later. Our aim was to see what we could accomplish after crowds peaked and (hopefully) score Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding passes in the 2 pm drop.
Although a lot of these scenes don’t look particularly crowded, this visit was noticeably busier than our last one to DHS, which was noticeably busier than the one before that. Basically, each time we do Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the park is worse than the time before.
Lots of space in the main courtyard, but this photo is deceptive.
The posted wait time for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was 105 minutes, and it was “only” that low because the queue had been closed to new guests earlier.
Here’s a look at Disney’s Hollywood Studios wait times at 11:30 am.
This is about par for the course right now. However, this is also a snapshot in time–if you’re visiting in November or December, peak times times could be worse. Or, Walt Disney World cut see the error of its ways, reduce capacity to improve the guest experience, and things could be better. (Hahahahaha.)
It’s not just rides, either. In the early afternoon, lines are long pretty much everywhere.
Above is the line for BaseLine Tap House. It was the same story around several restaurants, including the recently-reopened ABC Commissary. The menu is supposedly better, but I’ll believe that when I taste it.
We also observed a lot higher “feels like” crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
In the past, we’ve commented that DHS can appear deceptively uncrowded because most guests are standing in long lines for the headliner attractions at any given time. On this day, the walkways were noticeably busier.
Here’s a look at the line for Slinky Dog Dash, which extends almost to the entrance to Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
The posted wait time was 80 minutes when this photo was taken; Slinky Dog Dash has had longer waits and actually extended into the Voyage of the Little Mermaid queue. (The custodial Cast Member is actually standing on one of the markers–you can sort of see it in the photo above.)
With physical queues this long, it’s less likely that posted wait times are significantly inflated as compared to actual wait times.
This may not be an 80 minute wait given the spacing and that it’s constantly moving, but it’s probably still a 60 minute wait. In short, if you’re visiting in the next couple of months, don’t expect the dramatically inflated wait times that we and others were reporting over the summer and early fall.
Toy Story Mania is probably still an exception to that since its capacity is pretty high.
This was a 40 minute posted wait; we’ve found that if the end of the line is within Toy Story Land, the actual wait is likely 30 minutes or less.
Continuing in Toy Story Land, we have our next queue…but it’s not for Alien Swirling Saucers, which had a 25 minute posted wait (and was likely less than that in actuality).
It’s for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run.
This is the queue for Smugglers Run within Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. On the plus side, you can watch a Stormtrooper performance while waiting in line!
Last week we reported that More Virtual Queues are Rumored for Walt Disney World. This is why Smugglers Run is one of the likely candidates. If the line gets much longer than this, it’s routed backstage.
There are lines for literally everything in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Even those little $7 bottles of Coke that TSA thought posed a grave threat to national security. (Ah, simpler times!)
Back when the land debuted to low crowds, there was criticism that the sprawling layout was not necessary. Who would’ve guessed that the Imagineers that designed Batuu did not overestimate crowds, and instead were actually visionaries who foresaw all of this coming?!
As we’ve reiterated repeatedly, the lines at Disney’s Hollywood Studios drop off significantly in the last two hours of the day.
The problem is lasting until that point. After waiting in long outdoor lines for pretty much everything and perhaps failing to secure a spot in the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue, you might be losing your patience and ready to call it a day by 3 pm. (Hence the lines getting shorter later in the day…)
Leading up to the 2 pm boarding pass drop, there are a lot of guests just sitting around, waiting for that.
This is understandable–the stakes are high for many, and it’s either this or waiting in a 35 minute line for MuppetVision 3D. As much as I love that national treasure, I also would not wait 35 minutes for it.
We were once again unsuccessful with the 2 pm Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue lottery. Not a huge surprise, as the chances are incredibly slim with that second drawing of the day.
We’ve recommended that readers start out by booking Disney Park Pass reservations for two days–ideally Saturday and Sunday if your trip encompasses a weekend–at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (That is, if Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is a must-do. Otherwise, only one day is necessary.)
We’re reaching the point where skipping Disney’s Hollywood Studios entirely might be the better advice. I’m not sure what the average guest’s chances of success are in joining the virtual queue, but I’m guessing it’s at or under 25%. Hence the “skip or strategize” subtitle. It’s still possible to have a good day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (especially if you don’t care about Rise of the Resistance), but you need realistic expectations, solid strategy, and patience.
I cannot believe I’m suggesting that some guests consider skipping Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is home to Walt Disney World’s newest and best attractions, and the park’s massive overhaul is finally finished. Back at the end of February, it seemed doing DHS could not possibly get worse. Then reopening operations came along, said “hold my beer,” and managed to make things much, much worse.
Some of this is no fault of Disney’s–reduced capacity attractions, restaurants, and retail make things tough. There are also plenty of unforced errors, like not resuming outdoor stage shows or not trying to fix Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance when it was shut down for 4 months. Walt Disney World leadership is undoubtedly aware that the guest experience is suffering at DHS and that some stopgap fixes exist, but has instead just shrugged and said, “deal with it.”
Ultimately, I’m not sure what the longterm solution is with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The first, near-term step is definitely increasing the attraction’s hourly throughput. The ride-through portion currently accommodates one party per vehicle, which could mean a single rider or a family of 8. Disney has already begun testing and installing plexiglass barriers between the front and back row, which should help immensely. That move alone could increase capacity by 50%.
Beyond that, Walt Disney World should consider other solutions. Those could include allowing guests with Park Pass reservations to attempt joining the virtual queue without tapping into Disney’s Hollywood Studios, testing an actual random-drawing lottery that guests can enter throughout the day (a la Tokyo Disney Resort), or a way for on-site guests to attempt pre-booking the virtual queue and allowing them to switch parks if they’re unsuccessful. We’re not saying definitively that any of these approaches would work better, but when the status quo is a train wreck, alternatives are at least worth testing.
With Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance being unreliable for the foreseeable future and a standby line not being viable due to its frequent breakdowns, it behooves Disney to continue tweaking things. The current approach is not working, and is resulting in a ton of unsatisfied guests. It’s one thing when these are Annual Passholders (like us!) who can visit weekly and play the odds. It’s another entirely when it’s families taking infrequent trips who don’t have that luxury and potentially don’t even understand the stakes. While there are no guarantees with anything in life or even in vacation planning, Walt Disney World needs to come up with an approach that gives guests more options and alternatives–or at least be more transparent about the colossal shortcomings and odds of the current Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance lottery.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the last month or so? What was your experience? When did you arrive? How long did you stay? Thoughts on lines and crowds? Success or failure with the 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? 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!
DHS on a weekend over a weekday? Is that really preferable? We’re on the property for six days (Sun-Fri). Was planning for DHS on Mon and Thurs. Would Sun and Thurs be better?
Matt the answer is yes. It is best to visit DHS on a weekend and visit the other parks on the weekdays. DHS is reaching maximum capacity no matter which day that you visit. The other parks are not going to reach capacity on the week days, but they will on weekends. If you much visit DHS then go on the weekend and use your weekday visits on the other parks where you will see lower crowds.
We actually had really good luck at DHS when we were there Oct 14 due in large part of tips from this blog. Stayed at Riviera resort and skipped the skyliner and took an Uber. Was at gate at 8:50am for 10am opening. To my surprise they started letting us in at 9am. I thought this was just to get to Main Street but this was all the way in. We went straight to Toy Story Land and got into line for Slinky Dog. The cast member said they were going to start the ride at 9:20 so a full 40 min before park open! We got to ride it twice! Also got to walk into Toy Story Mania. About that time was time to get into queue for Star Wars and with two people trying we got group 39. Until our boarding time we got to ride Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. We saved Runaway Train to park close. All in all a successful day thanks to the tips from this blog! Thank you!
When you were trying for boarding groups, were you both signed in as you or was it two separate accounts linked to your family? Working on figuring out the best strategy!
As a local passholder, I tried an afternoon arrival strategy today, October 26. Was not successful in getting a Rise BG at 2, but still had what I felt was a satisfactory afternoon. Arrived about 1:20. Did one run on Toy Story Mania, which as you note does not have long waits due to near normal capacity, then waited for 2:00 to try for Rise, unsuccessfully. Did another run on Toy Story Mania, then got a ride on Rock and Roller (waiting in an admittedly pretty hot line for 35 minutes). At that point I got in the line (posted as 80 minutes) for the Runaway Railway, since I had never done it and thought I would just leave thereafter if things did not improve. The wait was actually about 65 minutes. I found the new ride quite enjoyable. I then went back to Toy Story Mania and did it two more times with waits of 10 minutes or less. It was now a bit cooler and seemed less crowded, being nearly 5:00, so I went over to Galaxy’s Edge and rode Smugglers Run (wait was a little less than 30 minutes). I saw a few Star Wars characters while in Galaxy’s Edge, and also saw two short character caravans during the afternoon. I then did Star Tours, waiting about 10 minutes. By then it was almost 6:30. I decided to get in the line for the Runaway Railway again – it was shorter and also seemed to move much faster this time. The wait ended up being about 45 minutes.
Of course it was after closing when I got off that ride, but I had managed to do nine attractions (Runaway Railway twice, Toy Story Mania 4 times, Smugglers Run, Rock and Roller, and Star Tours), after arriving 5 and a half hours before closing time. My impression is that the crowd on this Monday was not quite as bad as your post indicates. In my situation, having not done Runaway Railway before and still trying to figure out how to score well on Toy Story Mania, I felt my visit was a worthwhile experience.
I was also there today, 10/26/20 and had a great experience. We got boarding group 26 and went to get breakfast at Trolley Cart, ride Toy Story Mania, and Star Tours before riding Rise of the Resistance. We followed that with Smugglers Run and had a really good lunch at Docking Bay. We squeezed in Muppets 3D, Slinky Dog, Alien Flying Saucers, Rockin Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror this afternoon. It left us a little shopping time. We did not ride Mickey and Minnie RR, but the waiting time never got less than 50 minutes. Most of the day it was higher than 70 minutes so we just gave up. It was hot but clouds kept it decent. Overall, a really fun day!!!
Russ, sounds like a great day to me! You could’ve been at work instead!
We went Oct 15 and 17 to DHS. Arrived via the sky liner from CBR. Was in line for skylines at 8am. Arrived at DHS at 8:45am or so. Was in our first line (slinky dog dash) by 9:10am. Rode that and was onto Toy Story Mania and out by 9:45am. Then the wait for the virtual que. One trick I think helped us get boarding group 10 was at 9:59 exactly we started a 55 sec timer on my watch. Then we knew exactly when it would switch over to 10am to refresh our page. Couldn’t believe I got group 10. This was Oct 17 (Saturday). This same day we saw them open the backstage doors for Smugglers Run line in the afternoon . Our first day we got in the sky liner line around 8:10 am and didn’t get into DHS until about 9:15am. Did Runaway Railway first and finished that around 9:50am. Did old fashion guessing on when to refresh the page and got boarding group 40.
Arriving early, taking a mid day pool break and staying til close helped us do all the major rides in one day. I really appreciate your blog and research. Helped us so much for our trip which was a 4 years after our first trip. So it will be several more years until we go back.
Why did it take from 810am to 915am to get from CBR to DHS on the skyliner? Was there a line at the CBR station?
Hi. There was a line and they didn’t start running it until 8:30.
The short hours they are running the Skyliner are idiotic. There is no logical reason to stop it so early in evenings and then to not start it earlier. The transfer station was clearly not designed for large crowds waiting, snaking the lines down the street and around in the sun, and having a single line for Epcot and DHS is ridiculous. With its capacity and requirement for a smaller cast/crew, it makes no sense.
This is off-topic, but I’m wondering what your thoughts are on Tokyo’s AP cancellation and what, if anything, will happen to Disneyland APs. Thanks!
Wow, really glad we can’t go, no health coverage for going to Florida during Covid and will not fly now, too many cases spreading around US airports.
Not sounding magical at all. We have gone every other year, for a long time. Dropping $10-20, depending how many Family members can go with us.
How few things you get to do is not worth the traveling let alone The money. With you saying fast passes might not return- not sure when we will return. We always planned everything out and that is impossible now. For sure zero benefit to staying onsite- we loved OKW 2 br.
Sad that WDW is no longer something to look forward too.
My stomach is queasy reading this. I was excitedly looking forward to go to HS this past May, but of course didn’t get there. It would be key for us to get on the ROR, until there is a way to do that wouldn’t want to go to HS.
I’m REALLY glad I got to do Rise of the Resistance before the pandemic, when the hard part was getting to the park before 7:00 AM.
It’s definitely a “must do” for me now.
I don’t live in Florida, so I won’t plan another trip to WDW until they bring back park-hopping. I don’t want to commit a whole day to DHS if I can’t get a boarding group!
Lack of park hopping really, really, REALLY suuuuuuuuucks! There is NO logical reason their system cannot track and indicate capacity limits of the other parks and tell you if you’ll be allowed in. It’s ridiculous, with the only caveat being that many would initially go to Studios, try for a boarding group, then go to other parks if available. But that would still be better than the current fiasco.
Sounds like the opposite of bang for your buck. A lot of dough for what? So frustrating with ROTR. Feel bad bc my kids love HWS but I’ll push for Universal 2021 or 2022.
I just got back from a stay at Pop. I was at HS on 10/18 and 10/22. I am a single mom of a tween girl, and for that reason, I’m not comfortable with Uber or cabs. I’ve been a victim/survivor of crime, so please don’t judge. I’m not taking any chances with my child, so it’s beyond my comfort level to Uber, even though I’m sure that most drivers are wonderful, hard working people with families of their own. We only use Disney transportation and we love the Skyliner. Here was our experience:
10/18: Skyliner started running at 9:00am. We got in line at Pop at 7:30am thinking that was plenty early. The line was already pretty long at that point, winding around past the first 60’s building. Skyliner started boarding right at 9:00am. At that point, the Skyliner line at Pop was all the way past the third bowling pin. Had to disembark and get in the back of the line at CB as expected (there is a loophole, keep reading). At CB, the line for HS and Epcot is the same line,
even though at that hour, the line is all HS bound. By the time we got into HS, around 9:30, I did not want to get in line for anything because I was worried about missing 10:00am – I’ve read too many accounts of people missing 10:00am because they were boarding Slinky or were in the queue for TSM right at 10:00. We did not get a boarding pass for ROTR and were very disappointed as ROTR was our priority. Lines and wait times were VERY LONG for every attraction except for Star Tours… wait times are not inflated by more than 10 minutes. By lunch, we had done nothing but eat lunch and take a restroom break. I thought to myself that I went against Tom’s advice – I sat around and waited for the 10:00am lottery instead of getting in a line – and I got burned. The entire morning felt and was literally wasted. We did end up riding Mickey and Minnie’s (we did wait 90 minutes for that because it was a must do), TOT, TSM, saw Muppets, and rode SDD 2x at the end of the day. We did not do any shopping in SWGE because the lines were too long. The line was also too long for us for Smuggler’s Run. I had reservations for lunch at Brown Derby and dinner at Minnie’s Halloween dine. The day was okay at best because of the disappointment with not getting a boarding group. I made ADRs because I knew lines would be long and I didn’t want to have to wait in line in the heat for a hamburger and wander around looking for a place to sit. We needed the meal breaks that included air conditioning and a table reserved for us. Dining wait lists were all at capacity, so if you do not have an ADR, you’re probably out of luck.
10/22: started earlier. Got in line for Skyliner at Pop at 6:45am (I know). We were second in line. I assume when AOA opens, the morning Skyliner rush will be awful and will have a zipper merge. Anyone who is comfortable with Uber might want to Uber. I’ve read that some people Uber to the Boardwalk Inn and walk from there. On this day, the Skyliner started boarding at 8:30 am. I was pleasantly surprised because the posted start time was 9:00am. This is what happened when we got to the CB hub. The line to HS was of course VERY long, but we DID NOT have to go to the back of that line! Staff at the hub allowed the first guests from Pop to go to the front of the line in the first spots for the Skyliner ride to HS! I was thrilled and in disbelief. I had been thinking how guests at CB are always at an advantage at the Hub as long as they line up early, BUT for the first guests from Pop (I’d say the first 8-10 parties), we got the front of the line! This was huge. When the Skyliner started boarding for HS, before 9:00, we were among the first to be on our way. At HS, we did not have to get to the back of that line either, and were able to merge with others entering HS. Had temp checks, etc., and were among the first 20 people in the park. Mickey and Minnie’s was not starting until 10:00, so we headed to Slinky. Rode Slinky and TSM. We could have ridden TSM one more time before 10:00, but I needed a restroom break. I got boarding pass 32 for ROTR. This is what I did: no wifi, Verizon data. Sat in Toy Story land just outside of the restrooms on one of the dice seats. It was less crowded there. Logged in at 9:50. Hit the first “join” button at 9:55. I let nothing or nobody around me distract me. At 9:59, I started counting seconds in my head. At 57 seconds, I started to refresh, scored the boarding passes at maybe the third or fourth refresh attempt. I agree with Tom that 25% or less (I’m thinking less than 25%) actually get boarding goups. Anyone reporting that they scored a boarding group more than once on a trip just had very good luck. I agree with another commenter that if you go to HS, plan on NOT getting a boarding pass to ROTR. Plan on very long lines, even for Muppet Vision. Hopefully the milder temps in Nov and Dec will make the mask wearing more bearable. On this day, we also had ADRs for lunch and dinner for same reasons as above. We wanted to ride Mickey and Minnie’s again, but the wait times were just too long. Wait times for Smuggler’s Run was also too long for us. Still could not shop in SWGE due to long lines, which was very disappointing. We’re used to Fast Passes, and we’re just not waiting over an hour for anything. We hit a wall and took a midday break. Went back and rode Slinky 2x before dinner.
The second day on 10/22 at HS felt successful only because we ride ROTR. If I had not had the luck of getting a boarding group, I would have felt like I had wasted 2 days at HS on days that could have been much more enjoyable at the other parks.
Another issue is that while a few restaurants are taking ADRs after park closing at 7:00, the Skyliner has a hard stop at 8:30. So even though we had a 7:30 ADR at 50’s Prime Time, we had to rush our meal so we’d make the Skyliner back, even had to get dessert to go. We dealt with a mobile order meal on our first night at Pop. The experience of it and the time it took was awful and the food quality was mediocre at best, barely warm. We did not want any more meals at Pop, and we usually like it there. Everyone understandably wants to make the most of the limited park hours, go back to Pop for mobile order dinner, and it’s a nightmare, the entire area outside of the shopping and dining area is crazy packed.
If you’re still reading, HS is such a huge headache right now, we WILL NOT be going back to HS until Fast Passes are back, or some form of them (Max Pass, whatever, ANYTHING besides the current offering, which is nothing). My daughter and I are huge Star Wars fans, waited eagerly for SWGE to open, had a blast there pre-Covid, was able to ride Smuggler’s Run when ROTR was not yet open. We’ve done Savi’s, Oga’s, love the shops at SWGE and just love being in the land. ROTR was amazing and lived up to our very high expectations….BUT, we’re still not going back to HS until they greatly improve the guest experience. I’m not using a park day at HS with no option to park hop for a maybe 20% chance of riding Rise, and no Fast Passes or some form of them. 60-90 minute waits for everything…can’t even shop without lines. My opinion is it’s not worth it, and I never thought I’d say that.
We went three weeks ago, and planned two days at DHS. Our morning experiences were much like your second day. Stayed at Caribbean Beach, in line at 7:50. Got back to Toy Story Land by 9:25-9:30, rode SDD and Swirling Saucers before 10:00. Sat at the Toy Story restrooms, Verizon with no wifi. Got boarding passes both days (#53 and 29 respectively). I don’t know what the success rate is, but lots of people didn’t get them – but to be fair, quite a few of them acted like they weren’t sure what they were supposed to be doing, a guaranteed recipe for failure.
I have to say, I read your entire review of Hollywood Studios and thank you for putting together such a thoughtful and well-written review! Very helpful when trying to plan vacations and which days in the parks.
Thanks for that report. You mentioned something that I noticed as well. Reading Tom’s blog weekly, I went into this past trip thinking that the wait times were going to be terribly exaggerated. I timed each of the lines that I waited in with my wrist watch, and found that the advertised wait times were pretty much spot on. There were a few instances were we waited less than the listed wait time, but even in those instances it was probably 5 – 10 minutes less. It was my experience last week that at DHS if it said 70 minute wait time it was going to be about 65-70 minutes of wait time.
Thank you for such a detailed report. Our experience in DHS was similar except we didn’t get boarding passes. It was a miserable, hot, and unproductive day and, like Eric below, we went expecting inflated wait times for rides but they were accurate and, in a few cases, the wait times were longer. We will not be back until Disney fixes the situation in ALL the parks, but especially at HS.
Thanks so much for your informative and helpful blogs, Tom! My husband and I visited HS Oct. 21st and had a great experience due to strategic planning. We’re huge Star Wars fans, so Galaxy’s Edge was definitely a priority for us. We entered the park at 9:30AM and immediately headed to GE stopping to take pics at many photo worthy spots along the way. Picked up a Batuuan Spira Credit Medallion at Droid Depot and headed over to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run afterward. We both logged into our MyDisney App at 9:50AM, pressed the Join Virtual Queue for RoR and continued refreshing until 10:00AM. My husband was able to get us Boarding Group 42 with his Samsung phone. Did it help that we were at Galaxy’s Edge at the time we joined the queue or was it just blind luck? Who knows? We were pleasantly surprised. We immediately got in line for Millennium Falcon with a 30 min. wait time. Also visited the marketplace to purchase gifts and later returned to Oga’s Canteen for a refreshing drink. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as our boarding group for RoR was called shortly after leaving Oga’s. Headed to Baseline Tap House around 11:30AM for a pretzel and snacks with only a 20 min. wait. We skipped over the mid day crowds at Toy Story Land opting to watch the pop up calvacades and watch Muppets Vision 3D instead. Again, Tom, thanks for the heads up on the re-opening of Hollywood & Vine. We had a late afternoon ADR for Minnie’s Halloween Dining where we enjoyed a great meal and socially distanced interactions with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto all dressed up in their Halloween attire. They were fantastic and gave each table their undivided attention while allowing for photo ops. This was the most relaxing part of our day. We noted the wait time for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Train was still above a 60-min. wait at 6:30 PM when we left H & V. We could’ve stepped in line but decided it wasn’t worth the wait since we had another big day planned at Magic Kingdom the following day. My advice is to arrive early, prioritize whatever is important to you and do that first thing in the morning. Also, have at least one ADR for a restaurant where you can take a midday break to cool off and recharge. Take some time to enjoy the pop up calvacades, impromptu character interactions (we spotted Chewie, Rey, Kylo Ren and stormtroopers) and fall snacks.
I’m traveling with my family in late January 2021 (party of 3 total) and have only one day at HS planned (01/27). Seeing the crowd levels now is not encouraging in the slightest and I hope they improve into the winter in the middle of the week. Are my chances any better by going on a Wednesday instead of a weekend? I’ve ridden RotR once before in early January 2020 (group 10!) but I don’t know if my luck will extend into another trip. I had a friend go twice since reopening and she had no troubles either time with the boarding pass.
So, I know I am the odd man out here, but I am 4/4 for getting 2pm Rise boarding passes since DHS reopening, and that’s for boarding groups as large as 6 people. I definitely scheme it…watch the second hand, get off wifi, make sure there aren’t extra people in my party so I can “select all” but so far I’ve had great luck. Have you recommended to people not to have extra people in their My Disney Experience? Because that’s what I think kills it.
“Have you recommended to people not to have extra people in their My Disney Experience? Because that’s what I think kills it.”
I’ve been reading this, but all four days we tried it, we have a lot of extra folks in there and no issues. It’s random, just Disney’s glitchy system.
Curious to know why you think November is going to be more crowded than October (because I’m hoping crowds die down!). I know that people are more open to travel at the moment (although maybe hanging with cases skyrocketing) but since October is historically a busy month for WDW, why wouldn’t that die down somewhat leading up to Thanksgiving?
“Curious to know why you think November is going to be more crowded than October (because I’m hoping crowds die down!).”
Because every month since July has been busier than the one before it.
October is usually busy due to conventions, special events, school breaks–a lot of things that didn’t happen this year. There has been some increase due to people pulling their kids from school or just needing a break, but it’s been mostly driven by Floridians and other Southerners.
Unless Disney pulls back and tightens attendance levels, I’d expect November to be busier than October, and December busier than November. We shall see, though!
makes sense. I guess I am just wishful thinking picking a historically slow week (early November)!
We were at Hollywood Studios twice during our trip this past week. Tuesday 10/20 and Thursday 10/22; our main goals were Star Wars Galaxy Edge and MMRR. Got Rise boarding passes both days Group 6 on Tuesday and Group 5 on Thursday. We hadn’t been to the parks in over 5 years. We rode Skyliner both days from Caribbean Beach with no problems. Tuesday we saw cars still being held in the parking lot. Tuesday they asked if we would be willing to share the skyliner cabin with another group of two. We said yes and got to skip part of the line. We each sat facing the other member of our party and each party sat on opposite ends of the cabin–so one party at the window the other party at the door. We rode Mickey and Minnie Railroad without much of a wait Tuesday as it was open that morning. However on Thursday they said MMRR wouldn’t open until 10 or after so we went right to GE. Rode Smuggler’s Run and Rise both by 10:30! Which made up for getting stuck in the Smuggler’s Run line for over two hours on Tuesday. We ate at Sci-fi Tuesday and on Thursday at Docking Bay 7 (excellent food, small wait for food to be prepared, and they seat you at a table). Pack plenty of patience because those afternoons are pretty unbearable with the heat, crowds, and lines. Not sure if the crowds/wait were any less early evening because we were done with what we wanted to see by early afternoon both days. My advice is go early in the morning and get as many of the headliners done as you can in those morning hours.
The fact that you have to be in DHS at 10:00 to attempt to get ROR boarding passes means that rope drop strategy isn’t nearly as effective. DHS gets very crowded prior to opening for this reason, and due to the fact that you can’t park hop, people stay at DHS the entire day. This leads to DHS having maximum capacity crowds for the whole day.
We were at WDW in March the week prior to CV-19 pandemic. While the 6:00 mass crowd at park opening, was crazy, we never had a problem getting ROR boarding passes, and by the time 9:00 rolled around most of the people park hopped to another location if they didn’t get boarding passes. It actually made DHS a very enjoyable day with relatively light crowds. Given the social distancing rules with the attractions, the inability to park hop, and the limitations on the number of boarding passes that are being distributed by ROR, DHS is a place I will be avoiding until normal operating structure resumes.
My family and I made a trip to Hollywood Studios in late September. We planned to get into the park right when it opened and were the first 30 cars or so to even enter the parking lot. We waited about 30 minutes to enter the park, since it was a month ago, I don’t remember all the details.
We were in SWGE before the 10AM virtual que and were able to hop right on to Smugglers Run. I think most people were worried about missing the virtual que, no one wanted to risk waiting in line for Smugglers Run and it worked out for our benefit. Even though the park technically didn’t open until 10AM it was up and running before that.
Luckily, we won the lottery and were issued boarding group 16! We could not believe it! We only had to wait about an hour before our boarding group was called so we just walked around SWGE and looked in the shops while we waited.
Some tips to help you and you friends have the best chance on getting on Rise of the Resistance weather you are going in the morning or afternoon. I think the morning might be best because at 2PM a lot of the people who didn’t get on in the morning will be trying to get in the que as well.
We were all connected through the My Disney App as friends, so only one person needed to try for the virtual que. We were told by a cast member, if more than one person who is linked is trying for the que the virtual que may not work. We were a group of 3 and we chose the person to try for the que with the fastest and newest phone. Also, do not be on Disney Wifi to try for the que, use your data for that. Make sure you are signed into the app 10 minutes before. We had an issue with logging in and our password had to be reset, so give yourself the extra time. We did ample research on how the que worked and best practices prior to going to the park for our best chances. Not sure if they really worked or we just got lucky.
For us, we only went to Hollywood Studios because of Galaxy Edge but decided to stay in HS studios for a few more hours. We never made it to Toy Story because no one on our party was interested. We only rode Tower of Terror, besides Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance. Unfortunately, Rock and Rollercoaster was closed that day. The wait time for Tower of Terror was about 60 minutes.
As a group of adults that are not really into Disney we were a little disappointed with Hollywood Studios other than Star Wars Galaxy Edge. I don’ think we would return to Hollywood Studios again.
ere at HS
We were in DHS on Wed, 21 October. We were early enough that they weren’t allowing anyone through the parking “gate” yet. Got through the temperature check, security scanners, and turnstiles by 9:20 AM for a 10:00 AM opening. Headed straight to Slinky Dog Dash – which was broken down, so they dumped the line after we stood in it for 15 minutes.
We didn’t want to get in line for Toy Story Mania and risk not having cell service for Rise of the Resistance boarding-pass-lottery. So, we stood outside TSM and I refreshed the My Dsiney Experience app (via T-Mobile data) repeatedly until 10:00 AM, We scored Boarding Group 7. Pretty awesome, right? …. Read on.
Group 7 was called by about 10:18 AM and we got in line for RotR. Line moved relatively quickly. We got the shuttle segment and the (now kinda sad) hangar sequence done in good time. Next, we proceeded to the hallway interrogation queue. My wife and I were assigned silver and orange – which we wanted because those colors get you the “elevator” up to the AT-ATs during the ride portion.
At that point, the ride broke down. If you haven’t experienced a breakdown here, just know that the guards come out of character and the threatening First Order Guard became “Craig, the helpful cast member.” The expected reset cycle to was initially expected to be 10 minutes. That reset didn’t work. Next, a longer reboot was tried with a reported cycle time of 30-35 minutes. We were offered the opportunity to leave the line at any time an be issued a return pass. However, there’s air conditioning and good cell service in space — and my wife reports that the restrooms/refreshers on the ship are clean and well-maintained. We assumed – incorrectly as it turns out – that our best bet was to wait. The CMs said that it’s rare that they can’t get things working with the two resets.
After a total wait of around 50 minutes, the entire queue was dumped. It’s now 11:00 AM and we have been on zero rides, despite arriving at the parking gate at 8:45 AM. We’re starting to feel cursed.
We were instructed to watch the MyDisExp app and return any time the boarding groups started moving again. At that point, we headed over to the Runaway Railway to join the 90 minute line. (Touring Plans app reported 80 minutes and would have been right on the money. — However, just before entering the boarding area, we got stopped while cast members cleaned the ride vehicles. Ultimately, we had the full 90 minute wait.) ***TIP: Watch a POV ride through introduction on the internet before you ride. They cut out the set up where Goofy crashes the train through the wall. You’ll have a more complete experience if you see the intro. You can stop the video before the ride portion if you want to avoid spoilers.)
After riding the Railway, we returned to RotR and rode, starting right at the Rey sequence. (Hopefully this is spoiler-free enough to inform without ruining the surprises.)
As we left Baatu, it started to rain. A proper Florida rain, because…2020. We made it to our 1:30 PM reservation at the Brown Derby with a minute to spare. We dined from the abbreviated Drown Derby menu and called it a day at around 2:45 PM.
We’re FL AP holders, so we saw the two important things on our list. I’m an avid fan of the custom touring plans in the Lines app and had built one for this trip. The robots at Touring Plans, who are usually spot-on, had us doing these attractions BEFORE lunch:
1) Slinky Dog Dash
2) Toy Story Mania
3) Runaway Railway
4) Tower of Terror
5) Rise of the Resistance (Assumed boarding pass with AM boarding time.)
We were 2 for 5. On this trip (Mon EP, Tues EP, Wed DHS, Thu AK, and Fri MK) we had breakdowns on the monorail, Slinky Dog Dash, RotR, and Winnie the Pooh. All in all, not a stellar trip.
Masks and social distancing were in effect and followed pretty much all the time. Rebreathing 95+ degree air that you exhale takes a lot out of you. We followed the CDC guidelines and changed our masks each time they got damp. We had 6 masks each and used 5 per half day per person. Ours were the disposable blue surgical masks. We both work out 6 days a week so it’s not a question of being in shape. Last night (Sun 10/25) we hit the gym to burn off all the pumpkin stuff we ate. I was less sweaty after 55 minutes/730 Kcals of cardio than I was standing in line for Splash Mountain.
Take plenty of water and some towels if you are going when it’s over 80 degrees.
In unrelated news; The Gingerbread is back at Karamel Kuche in Epcot. If you like gingerbread even a little, buy this.
Great tips! I never heard of that Touring Plans app.
It’s listed as “Lines” in the app stores, if I recall correctly. You do need a Touring Plans membership, but I’ve had one for years and years. The time savings are well worth it. However, the predictions – like everything else in 2020 – aren’t quite as good as they normally are. We used the app to plan two days of Epcot, and one each for the other three parks. The results were great for Epcot and the Animal Kingdom. The Studios and Magic Kingdom were not. That’s partly because of breakdowns are partly because the crowd predictions were a little low.
“My wife and I were assigned silver and orange — which we wanted because those colors get you the “elevator” up to the AT-ATs during the ride portion.”
I wasn’t aware there were any ride vehicles that don’t get the elevator experience. I’ve ridden it 4 times and always gotten it, colors were I think blue, red, etc. It IS awesome, even though the giant ion cannons weren’t booming back and forth like they are supposed to. They were in Feb, not in Sept…
Replying to Mrnico October 26, 2020
“My wife and I were assigned silver and orange — which we wanted because those colors get you the “elevator” up to the AT-ATs during the ride portion.”
I wasn’t aware there were any ride vehicles that don’t get the elevator experience. I’ve ridden it 4 times and always gotten it, colors were I think blue, red, etc. It IS awesome, even though the giant ion cannons weren’t booming back and forth like they are supposed to. They were in Feb, not in Sept…
====
I’m referring to the “elevator experience” in the AT-AT room. There’s a track that stays on the floor and doesn’t see the AT-AT cockpit from the side. We had the “floor” track in December 2019 and the “elevator” in October 2020. With the floor track, you race around the AT-AT’s feet.
Brian, yes that’s what I thought. I guess we got lucky then, all 4 times we got the elevator ride, colors didn’t seem to matter. One time we did go more around the legs/feet, but then still went back over to the ride up to look in the cockpit. It’s entirely possible that it varies from trip to trip somewhat, depending on what effects and things are malfunctioning. In Sept, the large ion cannons didn’t move, whereas before, they did and the cars would stop in between them. Any way you experience it, it’s an amazing ride!
My family of 5 was at HS on Sat. Oct. 17 and Mon. Oct. 19th–we got on RoR ride both times! We live in TX and hadn’t been to WDW in over 2 years. Thankfully I had read Tom’s blog and we had a great trip! We stayed at the Yacht Club and walked to HS both mornings. (We rode the skyliner back in afternoon/evening).
Sat. morning, we arrived at 9:15 am and there was already quite a few people in the park! We rode Slinky (25 min. wait) and then waited for the virtual RoR queue outside of Toy Story Mania. Not sure exactly what made the difference but this is what we did: At about 9:50 am we turned off/turned on our phones. Then we made sure all other apps and windows were closed. I signed out and then back into the My Disney app. We disconnected from Wifi. At 9:59 we clicked “join” button and then refreshed continuously (hard pull down) until the “Join Now” button appeared. All of our names in our party of 5 were already selected (but we didn’t bother to check). We did this process both mornings and on Sat. I got boarding group #27 and on Monday my son got us into boarding group #10. (Our phones’ provider is Verizon and we have a iphone 8 and 6+ so not the newest).
Right after getting RoR on Sat. we walked on Toy Story Mania. After that, everything was pretty packed and it was hot! We enjoyed The Vacation Short film + Frozen Sing Along prior to our RoR. The ride was AMAZING and it was definitely worth the stress. Then we had a sit down lunch at Brown Derby–very good! After that things were pretty crazy so we went back to hotel. We came back at 4:00 pm for Star Tours, Savi Workshop reservations (also amazing–glad I read your review on it Tom!), ToT and jumped on Rockin 2x at the very end of day. We were the last one on the ride.
On Monday, we left our hotel even earlier! We arrived at 8:50 AM and waited til they let people in at 9:00 AM. We were definitely at the head of the pack and could have rode anything. We walked on Slinky Dog (love that ride), and walked on Toy Story Mania 2x prior to getting our group #10 on RoR at 10:00 am. (booked it right outside Toy Story Mania again). At 10:00 the rides are already crazy unfortunately. So then we saw Muppets, prior to our time on RoR and our reservations at Oga’s Catina, which so really fun. (I scored a reservation 3 days prior to our trip somehow!) We took another mid-day break and then came back at 4:00 for Smuggler’s Run, ToT, and jumped on MMR at 6:50.
Each morning we got to the parks EARLY, like an hour early. We were able to ride big rides ASAP as a lot of people didn’t seem to realize that they are letting people in super early. When the lines got crazy, we then saw shows and had lunch. Sit down reservations for lunch actually worked really well. (normal times we would do sit down dinner but with the early closures the lunch worked great and then we had counter service at the park or even at the hotel for dinner).
Taking a mid-day break worked well and then we were able to do a lot of stuff the last 3 hours before closure.
I feel like it took a “different plan” this trip, but thanks to reading this blog my family really had a wonderful trip!!! Good luck everyone!
I was there 10/20. I was one of the first 200 in the gates thanks to Tom’s recommendation of an early Ale and Compass breakfast reservation (great food!) and headed straight to SWGE. I was one of 6 people in SWGE and was able to walk on Falcon 2x and do TSMM before 10 am. I was one of the few lucky ones to get a BG 61, although no one else around me got one. I had a perfectly good iPhone 6 and one of the reasons I upgraded in September was to make sure I had a phone that would work well with MDE in my attempt to get a BG. I left the park for a couple of hours after that, returning about 2 pm for when by BG was called at 2:45. But I rode nothing else. The lines were all were 85 minutes or more, and I figured that was about an hour wait. I just won’t wait that long for every ride. 2 minutes of fun isn’t worth 60 minutes in the sun.
I went into the park choosing to prioritize SWGE. I made no attempt at MMRR, knowing the lines would be too long for me. I wish I’d gotten to do SDD though – it’s one of my favorites. Now that I have been lucky enough to do SWGE, I will avoid HS on a future trip until the lines are fixed. What’s the point of going to a park if you can do park things when you are there?
Well, I’d avoid it if I was coming back any time soon. As an out-of-state guest who paid full price because I was desperate for some fun, it just wasn’t worth it.
Any predictions if this will be the norm moving into next year as well? My friend and I are planning a trip for late February and if this is still the case for DHS we may not be choosing this as one of the parks we go to.
Wow. This is terrible. I totally appreciate your candor though about blowing off HS. We’re coming in early December (supposedly one of the better crowd weeks,) but I’m trying to keep our expectations a little low. If we didn’t have DVC points that HAD to be used, I would probably have kicked the can to next year, but c’est la vie. IDK. Fingers crossed it’s abnormally warm and we can chill out at the hotel pool and relax.
I had commented on your Universal threads last week, and I have to say, Disney is really leaving a sour taste in my mouth how the experience is so crummy now with no bones thrown to APs, DVCs, or even, frankly, guests staying on site for FPs and hopping. I’m kind of hoping Universal spanks Disney’s butt in the next year or two and starts cannibalizing the Disney population a bit to force them to step up to the plate and work on recovering fan loyalty.
It might be in the eye of the beholder I think they did an okay job making it up to AP. We’re in the wrong age bracket for Universal to be much competition though (very young kids) we renewed our passes 7 months late, still got the discount. Got our Christmas shopping done with the 30% off merch (that could be used in ShopDisney and stacked with visa codes). 40% off hotel rooms…
For us it’s worked out really well. Rider Swap means going directly to the front of the line which is nice. FPs are hard with little kids so we’ve enjoyed the freedom to go at our kid’s pace. Lots of open space. No line for photo pass (our kid is young enough to not have to wear a mask we have some CUTE pictures) and this probably goes without saying but even with 25% capacity there is no line for Dumbo.
We’re staying for almost a week at a Springs resort free with credit card points. Now if one splash pad would be running and Casey’s would just open so I can get a veggie dog it would be the perfect day.
Maria, or in the eye of beer holder… Sounds like you have a great attitude in the face of crazy adversity, and if the kids enjoyed it then I bet you did too.
I’m just going to pretend I didn’t read that last part…
Heather, before you get to out of hand with your praise of Universal Studios, let me share some of my experience with Universal Studios last week. Universal studios decided that they would offer 2020 annual passes for all Florida Residents for the price of one days admission. The result was a massive influx of people into their park. Especially on weekends. I was visiting Universal Studios on Columbus Day weekend (or Indigenous Peoples Day depending on your political persuasion) and I was alarmed at how many people were filling that park. It was packed and with the social distancing of the ride vehicles and queues, it made for a pretty miserable experience. I also found that US was far more Nazi about the mask usage. If a worker saw any part of your face other than the eyes then you were going to get scolded.
If you are going to go to Universal Studios then you have no choice but to purchase the expensive Express Passes. We have probably visited Universal Studios twice a year for the past 15 years and never had to purchase an Express Pass. We found out very quickly that if you didn’t have Express Pass you were probably only going to get on four or five attractions at best because of the size of the lines. Attractions such as Harry Potter or Transformer had three plus hour wait times. Rides such as Dr. Doom’s Drop that you can usually walk onto had 45 minute wait times throughout the day. The New Haggarid’s ride had a virtual line so you could at least get on it once, but only if you were in the park within five minutes of park opening. By ten minutes of park opening all times were filled. Generally, we like to use the single rider lines at US and avoid a lot of waiting, but they aren’t doing single rider lines at this time.