Hi. I am a 1st time Liner. Loving this site!!! We are traveling in just a few weeks. This trip will be DH, DD (age 6.5), DS (age 6.5) and DS (age 5). I feel like I’ve developed great plans for every day except our Hollywood Studios Day. Every other day I’ve managed to schedule an afternoon break and “free” park time in the evening to go back and revisit favorite rides or hop to another park. Everything I’ve read says that Hollywood Studios is a half day park. BUT… I’m having trouble cramming it into 1 day with no break. Advice please! On top of that, my older son came home from school the other day asking about the Jedi Training - he’d heard about and wanted to get to do it. So I had to put that in.
So quick summary of our expectations… My boys love Star Wars (and are doing some Princess stuff at other parks) so that’s a must for us. My husband is a roller coaster junkie so Rock n’ Roller coaster is a must for him (Yep it’s not on the plan at all… I’m planning on him going 1st thing in the morning while I take the kids to sign up for Jedi Trials). Frozen Sing Along for my daughter and Disney Junior show for my youngest. And I personally love Star Tours though I haven’t been in years. I missed Beauty and the Beast the last time I was at the park so I’d love to fit it in this time. Tower of Terror for my husband and me - the kids have seen a video and all say they want to but I’m planning on Rider Swap for this one.
I’m willing to change Fast passes if I need to but there doesn’t seem to be much available in the morning. Not to mention you won’t know which timeslot Jedi Training is so that can throw the whole thing out of wack Ahhhhh… feeling a little overloaded. Thanks in advance (and for reading this far and letting me purge some of these thoughts on to paper).
I find HS to be a full day park, with no break, and I have no problem finding stuff to do. And, we don’t go anywhere near the Star Wars stuff… And because of all the shows (sit down!), it doesn’t wear me out as much as the other parks.
I found Toy Story to be a 1x and done. We’re not big video game people. I couldn’t stand all the spinning and the blinking of the arcade lights. You have it 2x in your plan.
Standing in line for 1 hour for Fantasmic seems a bit much. April 2 is CL 6. Ask around, but I personally feel like 30 min is probably enough.
Great Movie Ride, then Beauty and the Beast, and then Star Wars seems like zig zagging to me. I would swap BATB with Disney Jr and arrange your TOT FP for directly after BATB.
Last thought for now - did you make a copy of the plan and let the software optimize it for you?
My family seems similar enough to yours that I felt perhaps looking at how I arranged my TP might be of help. I have two boys (8 and 6) who are similarly Star Wars obsessed. We will be at HS in two weeks. Of all my TPs, this is the one I had to spend the most time on to get the shows lined up just right to be able to see everything and minimize waiting time.
We have FPPs for TSMM, Indy, and Star Tours, plus they apparently give you an extra FPP for signing up for Jedi Trials, so I have that one saved for the end of the day for the Rock n Roller coaster or ToT or to ride something the kids liked again. I have one son that likes roller coasters and one who doesn’t, so I’m leaving that one open for now. The one difference in our plans is that no one in my family is into Disney Jr so we’re skipping that one. We also have a Fantasmic dining package for dinner at Mama Melrose. Also, I edited the time on Launch Bay to make it 100 min as I think my kids will really want to spend a lot of time there and meet both Kylo and Chewie. Hope this helps!
Thanks @SillySamsMom I made a copy and let it optimize… It used 0 of my fast passes and had me zigzagging all over the park. So I tried to take most of it’s suggestions and reorganize it a little so we weren’t running from corner to corner.
The Toy Story 2 x’s came from advice from my SIL and her family who love it and suggested doing it multiple times. That wasn’t in my original plans either!
I appreciate your thoughts and I’ll try incorporating them into my next version!
Thanks @shermND! Yes your plan looks close to what I was thinking for my crew. I hadn’t heard that about the FPP for signing up for the trials. That’s interesting! (and would help out). I’ll try reordering it on my next version. Thanks!
I would try to allow longer for Launch Bay if they are big fans.
Also another gem which the kids will love is March of the First Order. It’s actually almost better if you’re along the route than up at the stage. The problem is it’s 30 minutes before most, but not all, showings of A Galaxy Far Far Away. We saw it twice, once at the stage, once at the junction with Sunset Blvd, which is where they paused and picked out a potential traitor. Try and fit it in if you can is my advice.
@SillySamsMom@Nicky_S Thanks! I’ve added March of the First Order and set my walking speed to minimize. That helped the zig zagging some. I then jumped on the crazy train and decided that since the “unknown” element of Jedi Training times was driving me batty, I might as well create separate touringplans for each Jedi Training timeslot that way whatever timeslot we get I’ll know what to do next and won’t have to work it in on the fly! …
I did two different touring plans for 2 different slots that worked best for our DHS Jedi Training day. We had an ADR at a Chef Mickey’s at 10:45 and then wanted a midday break right after the meal so I didn’t bother with morning or midday times, but if we had a more open day, I definitely would have made as many TPs so I thought we may need and then order them by preference and then ask for the showtime with my favorite plan when signing up. So yes!! I love your plan to create separate ones for each timeslot you think you’ll go for. Good luck!
Another “show” of sorts. In pixar alley or toy story alley (whatever it’s called, it’s just the walkway between TSMM, and the entrance to the Disney jr/Launch Bay area) there’s a quick show every so often. It’s the little green army men from Toy Story. It’s a bunch of guys dressed up as the green army men, and they put on a little show. It’s actually pretty funny. Just don’t be surprised if you’re walking through that area, and the kids want to stop and take a look if the show is going on. As far as I know, dhs doesn’t list showtimes for them, but imo, they should. It’s just a little side show, but they are pretty funny.
Just a couple of things. First, we did the 10:10 show of Jedi training on Feb. 13th this year. We got there at 9:40 for lineup and getting the robes, etc. The show started right on time at 10:10 and the kids weren’t finished coming off stage and returning their robes until almost 10:45. Also, we didn’t get any FPs at signups so I wouldn’t count on that. If you get them then it’s a bonus.
I think you’ll need more than 20 min. for lunch. Have you allowed for potty & snack breaks?
Open to close with an 8:00 am start is a very long day. Just remember to be flexible and enjoy what’s going on around the park.