Hollywood Studios: Everything You Need to Know

It was normal to get anxiety about Hollywood Studios even before Covid. Will I get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance? Will the line for Runaway Railway be insane? Trust me, I get it. It’s stressful. As the home to Walt Disney World’s newest attractions, Hollywood Studios gets a lot of traffic. Here is my tips and tricks for doing everything you want to do at Hollywood Studios and MORE!

My first piece of advice, get there EARLY. We were lined up at the gate in our car at 9am, even though the park didn’t actually open until 10. They started allowing parking around 9:15 and we were in the park by 9:30. We walked QUICKLY back to Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which they had opened early to help the lines not get so crazy. The wait said 45 minutes, we only waited about 35.

Boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance become available at 10am and 2pm, but the 2pm ones will only be released if they get through all of the 10am ones, which is difficult on days the ride breaks down a bit. You can get a boarding group through the My Disney Experience app. Starting at 9:45 I had my phone out and ready to go, keeping it on MDE. The Rise boarding groups became available RIGHT at 10am. I managed to get a boarding group for everyone in our party with no issue. My advice is to make sure you are there to get one of the 10am boarding groups. That means, again, make sure you get there early!

My next piece of advice is once you get your boarding group and ride Runaway Railway, avoid running back to Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land. Believe me when I say everyone is running back there at opening and if you can hit those lands later in the day, you will see much reduced wait times. We chose to ride our two favorite thrill rides on the opposite side of the park. Rockin Rollercoaster was only 20 minutes, which was an accurate wait time. Tower of Terror said 55 because half of the ride was down, but we only waited 20. The seating on tower of terror is that there must be three seats and one row between groups. We definitely felt safe with the spacing.

At that point if you are needing a break from the heat, definitely check out Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy. Shows are every 15 minutes and they are keeping it pretty cool in there. Even with the mask on, I felt refreshed when I got out of there. At that point Rise had been down for a minute and it was saying we had 55 minutes until our boarding group would be called, so we decided to venture back to Toy Story land so the kids could get some rides in.

The wait times were great. Toy Story Mania was only 10 minutes, Alien Swirling Saucers was walk on, and even Slinky Dog only had a 30 minute wait. We did Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers and then had a snack, by the time we did that, our boarding pass was called. We all went over so we could set up rider swap and then my parents took the kids back to Toy Story Land so they could ride those two rides again. Me and my husband headed on to Rise and we were beyond excited.

I am going to avoid posting photos of Rise on here for anyone who is trying to avoid spoilers. If you want to see the line and pre-show, definitely check out my Galaxy’s Edge Highlight Reel on our Instagram. We waited about an hour and then got on with no issue. The first part of the line is in the sun and it does get hot, but from there it is all inside and really cool. Rise is worth getting there early for. The imagineers created something truly mind blowing and if you skip it you really are not getting the full Hollywood Studios feel.

My parents rode next and we took the kids to do Toy Story Land for a THIRD time! They were not upset at all and we had a great time. Afterwards we walked Galaxy’s Edge and hit Smuggler’s Run which had a 10 minute wait, but honestly we walked on. We were given our own car which honestly I was happy about, although I was sad to see the pre-show no longer happening.

After that we decided to try and do Runaway Railway one more time and we’re easily successful! With only a 20 minute wait, we hopped in line. We waited only ten minutes and had a wonderful time. After that it was time to head home. The park was still open another two hours but at that point we had done everything. We caught the Pixar cavalcade on the way out and it was super cute.

Here are some other tips for Hollywood Studios:

• Joffrey’s, Starbucks, and the popcorn station with fountain drinks are all giving out free ice water. We would get water from there and put it in our water bottles.
• The cavalcades only happen towards the front of the park. If you want to see all of them, plan on most of your day being spent up there. The Pixar one was super cute, but we did miss the Disney Junior one which was a bummer.
• The indoor relaxation station is inside Launch Bay over by the Disney Junior dance party. Hollywood Studios feels so much hotter than the rest of the parks, so take advantage of that space. It’s a great place for little ones to take a nap as well.
• Take advantage of things like Muppet Vision 3D and Lightning McQueen Racing academy. They give you a much needed heat break and are both darling shows.
• Prioritize what you want to do, but honestly if you get there early you should be able to do it everything.

If anyone has any questions, of course please reach out! And of course, make sure you follow us on Instagram to keep up with the latest!