Hollywood Studios Hours Extended & EMH Changed through August 2020
With Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opening at the beginning of next month, Walt Disney World has once again extended park hours for Hollywood Studios. Additionally, Extra Magic Hours have changed through August 2020, a predictable pattern attribute to the boarding pass dash for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. In this post, we’ll share the details and offer commentary about these changes.
It’s now been over two months since the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge blockbuster attraction debuted, and there’s no sign of its popularity fading anytime soon. Sadly, there’s also no indication of it becoming more reliable, either. The recent rockiness we discussed in our 8 am opening crowds report post remains an issue–on Friday, the attraction only made it to boarding group 69.
Despite this, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is absolutely “worth it” and our newly-updated Ride Guide & FAQ for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance makes the whole process easier. The barrage of posts and thousands upon thousands of words we’ve written about it might make the process seem intimidating (and it is at first), it’s not as bad as it might seem. We’d reiterate that if you know how the system works, arrive accordingly, and have flexibility in your plans, you are likely to be successful…
Let’s start with the changes to Extra Magic Hours at DHS. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, since Walt Disney World has been shifting Extra Magic Hours from mornings to evenings on a month by month basis. Now, the same thing is happening with all dates through August 2020 (as far out as the calendar goes on DisneyWorld.com).
This change was foreseeable, and we’re happy to see so many months move all at once so people can plan accordingly. The reason for the change is the boarding pass dash for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This already makes mornings sufficiently chaotic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and throwing Extra Magic Hours into the mix would only exacerbate that, and probably be frustrating and unpleasant for all involved.
While we’ve soured on evening Extra Magic Hours in recent years, these “new” DHS late nights are the exception to this. As we covered in our recent Strategy for Evening Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios (Post-Star Wars Rise of Resistance), you can actually get a lot done during these evening EMH at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The main reason is likely because most savvy planners are rope dropping Disney’s Hollywood Studios in an attempt to score boarding passes for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. They’re then focusing on other headliners in the park, both via FastPass+ and standby lines. Consequently, evening Extra Magic Hours are underutilized, as compared to other parks at Walt Disney World.
As we’ve noted, these standby lines have ballooned at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the last month-plus, so an efficient morning strategy isn’t as easy as it once was. The idea of bouncing back and forth between DHS and Epcot may seem less than ideal, but it’s probably the most efficient approach right now, and lower waits during Extra Magic Hours present another way to leverage this.
How this will change when Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens remains to be seen. Earlier this week, Walt Disney World released FastPass+ for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. As we cover in that post, those FastPass+ went quickly, but all hope is not lost.
It’s also fairly safe to assume that Runaway Railway will operate during evening Extra Magic Hours. This is not necessarily a given in light of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance being excluded, but there are two significant differences between the two attractions. First, there’s the novel virtual queue utilized for Rise of the Resistance, which would be difficult to incorporate into EMH. Second, the continuing need for as much test & adjust and overnight maintenance as possible on the Star Wars headliner.
The former definitely will not be an issue with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and we have no reason to believe the latter is a problem. If the attraction is operating smoothly, there’s every reason to believe it’ll be included in Extra Magic Hours. Disney’s Hollywood Studios could certainly use a “return to operational normalcy” with Runaway Railway.
In terms of the park hours changes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, opening time has been moved forward to 8 am (from 9 am) for March 1-14, 2020. Park opening time is also 8 am for the remainder of February, including around the busy Presidents’ Day holiday. We’re still holding out a sliver of hope for a last-minute extension there, but it seems increasingly unlikely.
Closing time for all dates remains unchanged–either 8 pm or 8:30 pm, depending upon the date. While that’s an early closing time, we don’t anticipate these evening hours changing. As previously noted, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance needs as much overnight work as possible.
However, we do anticipate further extensions for both March and April 2020. With Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opening at the beginning of next month, followed by Spring Break season and Easter on April 12, 2020, there’s every reason to believe that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is only going to see worse crowds in the next two months than it has in January or February.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is likely to see a stretch of crowds that necessitate opening the park before 9 am. (Personally, I’d contend that opening at 7 am would be ideal for many of these dates.) Frankly, we’d be surprised if more hours weren’t extended.
In the interest of transparency, we didn’t see the most recent lack of extension coming. In our last post about DHS park hours, we wrote: “Quite simply, it’s highly unlikely that Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be opening at 8 am any day during the week of Presidents’ Day.”
Well, the highly unlikely is exactly what happened. Given what we observed crowd-wise at rope drop this week, we remain of the belief that this move (or lack thereof) was a mistake for Presidents’ Day week. However, it’s clear that Walt Disney World wants to inch back towards a normal park opening time for Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Whether delaying the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding pass dash until 9 am is even possible without a lot of unintended consequences, disappointed guests, and overcrowding remains to be seen. It doesn’t strike us as a wise move, but it’s going to happen at some point. Hopefully Walt Disney World at least gets through the busy Easter and Spring Break seasons before trying to find out. For now, that’s a wrap on the changes to park opening times and Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition. As for planning the rest of your trip, we have a thorough Walt Disney World Planning Guide.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have any predictions about when these early park openings will end at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Do you think Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be included in Extra Magic Hours? If so, do you think this will make EMH just as overcrowded as the mornings? Do you plan on visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios in March or April 2020? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and 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!
Hey Tom – planning to visit for a one day 4 park situation on Easter (yikes…maybe). If HS moves to 8am opening on that day – do you think it possible (physically) to get into HS – grab a RoR boarding group AND make it to rope drop at Animal Kingdom for FoP?
Tom – let me start by saying I am faithful follower of DisneyTouristBlog and thoroughly enjoy your unbiased reviews and wit. You are my “GO TO” reference for all things Disney and some things non-Disney. I do however, respectfully disagree with your assessment of the evening EMH’s at DHS. We were recently there in JAN, here were the wait times during EMH on a Sunday evening – Rockin Roller Coaster – 80 mins, Tower of Terror – 60 mins, Slinky Dog – 90 mins, Toy Story Mania – 40 mins, Flying Saucers – 40 mins, Smugglers Run – 70 mins… we ended up just walking around Galaxy’s Edge and enjoying the ambiance after dark but we didn’t even attempt to get on any ride. Like you , I am very disappointed with the evolution of late night EMH’s . The combination of less hours and increased availability (for NON Disney Hotels) has become a deterrent for us. I long for the days (albeit was more than 10 years ago now) when my then 7 year old daughter and I attended evening EMH at Magic Kingdom for her birthday on JULY 2. That’s right on a holiday weekend! We were there until 2:00 am and able to stay on rides like Magic Carpets and Dumbo multiple times without even getting off, because there was absolutely no line!!! I joked with her that I had rented the park out just for her like Miley Cyrus did at Disneyland for her 16th Birthday party. Thanks again for all you do!!!
Do evening extra magic hours have an impact on your morning/rope drop strategy? Basically do you see more, less, or no difference to crowd levels at park opening on days with extra magic hours?
With the 8 AM openings, what time has the Skyliner been opening from Art of Animation? Not sure I want to risk trying it for our one day at HS unless it’s opening by 7 AM…
It’s not consistent, and more often than not, doesn’t start running until the official park opening hours. http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/p/weekly-walt-disney-world-times-guides.html This shows the operating hours for all things Disney last week including Skyliner run times. if you only have 1 shot, may want to Uber just to be absolutely sure – book the night before so you know someone is going to get you picked up. More and more people are doing that, so it’s taking longer and longer to use, but can still be better than waiting on a bus at the resort.
Hi,
I need advice. We will be at the after hours event at AK on 2/19. We’d like to go to HS the following day but I know we won’t be there at rope drop. We are not planning on going to ROR this trip. The closer we get the larger the crowds seem to be getting. We’ve got fast passes and dining reservations lined up for the whole trip so I’m leary of changing our park schedule. Any advice?
If you’re not doing RotR but do want to do your fastpasses, keep your plans the way they are and enjoy the things you want to do. HS is going to be busy regardless of the day, so it won’t help much to change plans for another day. It’ll be helpful that you’re there on a Wednesday and not a weekend or holiday.
Seconded. I’m at Disney World right now and don’t see you finding a quiet day at Hollywood Studios. If you aren’t interested in Rise of the Resistance and already know you aren’t trying to rope drop anything, might as well stick with your planned FastPasses.
Thanks for all your updates. They have been very helpful. We are visiting WDW the last week of February and would like your advice on the best means of transporation from the Contemporary Resort to Hollywood Studios in the early morning. We have heard that Uber lines tend to back up at the entrance to Hollywood Studios. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
MinI Vans are expensive but might be worth it on your HS days. They have priority drop off area just for people that use Mini Vans so they might be worth the splurge for that one day
We have reservations for the week of August 16 and EMH have changed and not only for HS. Monday no longer has EMH for AK, but instead for MK! I am waiting to see what other changes will occur for that week as dining reservations need to be made soon and this totally changes my plans. Thought on what is going on there?
I was wondering if anyone has had issues with making it to an early morning reservation at HWS? I am going the week of June 21. We have an 8:05 am reservation for breakfast. I am hoping that the crowd to get in at 9 am does not hinder us getting to our breakfast on time. We also plan on trying to get my sons into the Jedi training as well. We made this reservation in hopes to score that reservation and now to hopefully score a boarding group.
One question I have, per the official park calendar, am I reading it correctly that the only days that Hollywood Studious has Extra Magic hours are Sundays, for the time being?
Correct.
Thanks. A bummer for a family that booked with Monday-Saturday park days (that would be us). Wanted a sweet shot of our sabers in front of the Falcon at night.
Thanks for all the updates. Our family is traveling in May to visit HS/GE. The entire point of the trip is to see the new RotR and Smugglers Run rides (ok maybe make a few light sabers too). We only go to DW every 5 years or so so I’m not lying that this whole boarding group uncertainty is giving me major anxiety. I’d hate to drop several grand on flights and hotels, let alone my vacation days and get shut out. I hope they continue to smooth things out over the coming weeks, for all our sake.
If you’re in the park at rope drop and you follow the strategy we’ve shared, your chances of scoring a guaranteed boarding group and riding are above 75%.
If you’ll have Park Hopper tickets, go on both your DHS morning and Epcot morning. It won’t impact your touring plan for the latter, and by giving yourself 2 chances, your likelihood of success is near-certain.
Don’t freak out too much. There are some horror stories, and you’ll likely endure some hiccups, but the vast majority of guests who are knowledgeable and prepared end up riding.
I agree STL Okie, we are going in May. Lots of anxiety as this will be our last trip to take our Grandchildren. Lots of money and will be so disappointing if they don’t get to do Star War rides!
STL Okie – As Tom has written elsewhere on this blog, you can further increase your chances of success with RotR by having multiple family members all attempting to secure boarding passes for the entire group on their own separate devices. There are some things you have to setup in the app to make sure everyone has access to modify everyone else’s plans – you’ll want to make sure that’s all setup in advance!
Tom, I know you’ve been careful to avoid spoilers for RofR, but I would be curious to have a discussion about the mechanics that make this ride so unreliable. I’ve been lucky enough to ride it once. We didn’t have any delays or downtime, but we did get 1/2 of Plan B, from what I can tell. I would be interested in a discussion about the technology that is causing the problems. I know you’ve ridden it more, and have a better understanding of things like trackless ride systems than I do. Or if that isn’t your thing, are you aware of anyone else who has explored it?
To my knowledge, there are two different major things that are problematic: transport and the WiFi for the trackless ride system.
I have no clue as to the nature of the problems with the transport. I’ve had the problems with the trackless ride system explained to me a few times now, but I still don’t really understand it well enough to explain. My clumsy layperson explanation would be that it’s the equivalent of your home WiFi network becoming unresponsive and you having to reset the router, which–as anyone who has ever sat waiting for all the lights to start blinking again knows–is not an instantaneous process.
That admittedly terrible explanation (based on indirect info) is why I haven’t done a better write-up.
Went on 2/9. There at 7am and crazy busy as others said. The request for boarding pass really is a lottery now and wegot group 94. Finally got called at 5pm. Ride broke down just as we were getting on after a 50 min wait in the line. They give you a fast pass to return Same day or the the next day. Not helpful since the ride never came back up and the next day is a Monday and had to work. Went to guest services to see what they could do and encountered yet another extremely long line. So gave up and went home. Easily spent over $100 in food and drinks for 2 people just to kill time all day. Very disappointing.
We had fast passes all set up for HS on March 2. On Saturday (2/8) morning, I found out that opening time was moved to 8 am, I was able to shift them around a bit to get one in the 8 am time frame and then strange things started happening. Smugglers Run fast pass was replaced by a “wild card” fast pass that can be used on any ride (except Rise of Resistance) at any time that day. So I immediately went in and was able to get Slinky Dog, which was then replaced with a wild card. Then my Rock n Roller coaster was moved to later in the day. I got Smugglers Run again and that was replaced with Muppets 3D which I switched back only to have it replaced again with Little Mermaid. It kept on like this over the course of the morning until eventually I ended up with three wild card fast passes! This will be awesome and provide us with a lot of flexibility that day, but now I fear that the glitch will be discovered and they will all disappear. Odd.
Thanks for sharing your experience! A lot of people have reported having this same problem (especially with good FastPasses being replaced by MuppetVision or Voyage of Little Mermaid). Not really sure why it has happened, but it’s definitely a system-wide glitch.
Hopefully it works out to your advantage and doesn’t result in further headaches!
At some point today they added a “Multiple Experiences” fast pass for Hollywood that is valid March 1 – 14. So that’s a total of 5 “wild card” fast passes we can use when we are there March 2. Or save that one for our other day at HS that week). Too good to believe. I would not be surprised if they all disappear by the time we get there.
Here is text from the email explaining the latest addition:
”We’re sorry, but some of your FastPass+ selections needed to be modified. Note: You may have already received this notification via the My Disney Experience app.
To correct this issue, we will be adding a new FastPass+ selection to your account for use at any FastPass+ attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios® –excluding Slinky Dog Dash, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience.“
Rick I would double check because I think there limitations to what rides the multi use fastpasses can be used on (I think I read not eligible on SDD, MFSR or MMRR)
Mike – You are correct. They are all different:
– one is good for everything at HS except Rise of the Resistance – this replaced Smugglers run fast pass that I had
– one is good for everything except Rise and Smugglers Run – this replaced Slinky Dog
– one is good for everything except Rise, Smugglers Run, and Slinky Dog – this replaced Toy Story Mania – twice, so it’s actually 2 fast passes.
– the one I received today is only good for tier 2 rides, but it is good March 1-14
I think what happened is as I was swapping around fast passes and they were being replaced, they all eventually ended up as replacements, maybe I glitched the glitch?
Went 2/9 was at park at 6:30 attempted to get boarding group and it said my other party member wasn’t there in park! After I excluded them and attempted again got bg 118 and only made it to 108 due to breakdown. Such a let down. Traveled a long way and would have been happy with only riding that one ride! Magic kingdom on 2/8 was also a letdown only got to ride 3 major attractions due to overwhelming crowds and seven dwarfs was closed till about 11am. Getting on Disney Dream Monday, maybe my experience will be better. Spending over $600 on park admission to people watch is a little excessive.
Tom, in your opinion, do you think park hoppers would still be trying to get a boarding pass at HS at a 9am opening and, for the most part forgoing the ability to rope drop another park? Or would a 9am open encourage more hoppers to select a different park to RD and only RD’ing HS once or twice in a week rather than every day, therefore creating less of an issue in HS at 9am?
That’s some interesting thinking, but I suspect those strategic Park Hoppers that early are a small percentage of guests. I think a 9 am opening creates more of an issue, not less of one.
Yeah, I figured. It doesn’t seem like the crowds are dispersing from HS in the mornings at all. Pretty much every decent ride had a ~2 hour wait this morning, while every other ride is 45 minutes or more, which seems crazy. so guessing 9am just gives more people more time to get into the park and try to get a boarding group. So..here’s hoping they continue on the path of 8am openings into the future!
Rode it twice in over Christmas holiday – got groups 40 & 41 respectively. Got in on Sat this week, got group 81, got called around 5pm. Had a full wait in the queue – over Christmas we just walked right in. I also felt the cast members in the Star destroyer had lost their magic. No one in the big staging room after getting of the transport even talked to us or told us where to go. If we hadn’t already done it to lead our transport buddies, they would have just been standing there. The ones who put us in our interrogation groups were no different than reg cast members – the ones at the interrogation room were spot on though – one even letting me know (I was wearing a dark side shirt) that I could just let him know when I was ready to be pulled out of the group.
The rope drop crowd was insane! 45m at Starbucks before park opening, 1 hr stand by at RnR, ToT and TSM very quickly. When we came back for our RotR and Fastpasses in the evening – RnR was at 2hrs still. Super busy weekend.
Oh – hey, btw, saw a Country Bear coffee cup at the art gallery store at Disney Springs you might like!
Are you seeing Evening EMH posted somewhere for HS? What I’m looking at on Disneyworld.com still shows 9am-9pm for everything in August. (We are scheduled for Aug 2-8). Thanks!
Yes. MDE app has Sunday August 2 EMH from 9pm-11pm (consistent with other months where EMH are every Sunday night).
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Thanks for the update Tom. I am honestly surprised that they haven’t gone to 7am for the holiday week and I am also just as surprised that they still have 9am posted for April (which I thought was guaranteed to change but now I’m not so sure). Reading reports that boarding groups have been gone in less than 10 minutes since the park moved opening to 8am coupled with the upcoming Presidents’ Day/Easter/spring break crowds seems to be asking for very disappointed guests, especially since last week was the worst week the ride has had since it opened with 2 days coming in under 70 boarding groups being called. The weekdays/weekend disparities between amount of BGs being called seem to have some correlation. I am also wondering why Disney hasn’t tweaked the BG system by limiting repeat riders, offering morning EMH for resort guest even once per week in addition to the later opening times. I am scheduled to go April 15-23 and I am seriously considering cancelling and waiting to see if things improve. Our HS days Are scheduled for Friday 4/17 and Wednesday 4/22, both weekdays. I don’t want to wake up at 6am and not be able to get a BG since it seems Disney is allowing the ride to run smoothly on the weekends at the expense of the weekday guests. Any advice would be appreciated
” I am also wondering why Disney hasn’t tweaked the BG system by limiting repeat riders,”
Disney hasn’t permitted repeat riders on the same day since the first few days the ride opened, back on 12/05/2019. If someone who has ridden it on one day and returns on a different day, that’s a different matter. I’m not sure how Disney could restrict that.
A suggestion I saw elsewhere, and maybe Mike is alluding to it, only allow riders 1 ride per week for AP holders or once per ticket package for non AP holders. This could eliminate some of the mass insanity at opening, allow everyone a chance to ride that wants to ride, and possibly giving Disney more time each day to fix the ride issues to make it more reliable, which would allow them to move away from those restrictions sooner.
I meant limiting riders to ride once or twice per week
Limiting riders to once per day is understandable. But if someone returns on another day, that means they paid for another ticket (or paid more for a multi-day ticket), so it doesn’t quite seem fair to exclude them. (Although this logic might not hold up with respect to season pass holders.)
Plus, it would be fairly easy to get around any restriction like that. Just purchase a single day ticket for each day and register with a different email address and name. Disney doesn’t check photo IDs when you enter the park.
Couple points.
1) AP holders who have already paid wouldn’t do that and they are the majority of repeat riders
2) resort guests have less inner working knowledge and wouldn’t know to do that.
3) who would do this?