Screwed! Hollywood Studios EMH All Week Long!

6 adults, 2 kids, going thanksgiving week, staying offsite and Disney goes ahead and puts the nail in the coffin by extending EMH at Hollywood Studios ALL week long beginning @ 7am. Now i have no idea what to do… impossible to get the Slinky Dog Dash FP or rope drop smugglers run.
With RD not possible, what should be my overall touring strategy? Should i still get to the park @ 8am or will the crowds be ‘better’ (using that term VERY loosely) later in the day and therefore plan a late arrival? Then am i risking the park possibly reaching capacity??

If you were me what would be your plan of attack?

We’re also Thanksgiving week. Ever since I heard that SWGE would open in my timeframe I’ve been worried about HS. My party cannot rope drop b/c one of our people just can’t do early mornings so we’ll probably get there around 9 or even 10; so, we are onsite but you’ll probably get there earlier than us. I did manage to get a SD FP after a lot of trying for just 2 members of our party; keep trying, you might get one. We got an Oga’s res so that we can get entry into SWGE in the evening (it’s around 7 pm) and might try smuggler’s run but it just depends on the line. I have read many things where people say that single rider line for smuggler’s run is good. Our goals are mostly to see toy story land b/c we’ve never seen it and to see SWGE a little bit. If things get really crowded where we aren’t having fun we may leave for another park or even the hotel; I just don’t want to deal with a mega crowd. The ride our kids really wanted to ride is TOT so once I got that FP for early I stopped worrying so much about HS. I spent a lot of time worrying about HS hitting capacity but with the history of SWGE opening it doesn’t seem to me like that’s as much of an issue as was expected. Probably more of an issue once ROTR opens. Of course, no one knows for sure.

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FWIW, I wouldn’t worry too much about capacity. Historically, it doesn’t happen as often as we might think. https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/capacity-closures

As for your plan, I would arrive as early as you can and keep and eye on wait times. You might get lucky with a bit of a drop as people clear out of popular areas, having finished EMH. I’d pick my top priority and plan to ride that at close. Then let TP do the work for me to keep my wait times as low as possible for the rest of the day.

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Is late night a possibility? We did MFSR around 8:30 pm, and then got in line for SDD around 9:45. We were off the ride by 10:20.

As long as you are in line for something when the park closes, you will ride it. Since FPP are not available after park close, the line goes quickly.

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How about renting a throwaway campsite for a night? I know there’s an extra expense there, but you’d end up with magic bands and EMH for 2 days (arrival and departure), plus free parking for those 2 days. Just a thought…

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They are already within 30 days of going, so it wouldn’t help them get a FP. It would allow them into the park at rope drop.

I’d still RD for official park opening. If you look at Disney's Hollywood Studios Wait Times. Most wait times are still much lower at park opening than later even if it is an EMH day and you can’t participate. Some wait times drop later in the day so maybe RD the rides with best wait times early, take a break, and make it a later night to get the rides with lower waits at night. Follow the tips on the forum about picking up same day FP for Slinky etc. and try to get as many as you can.

I’d maybe do HS on days when the other parks have EMH as well. It might draw people away.

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We will also be in the park during Thanksgiving week. I did get a FPP to SDD. I am hoping to not have to wait too long for MFSR. I may try to do that at closing.

I would keep an eye on the waits, but use the touring plans wait times instead of what Disney posts. Call me skeptical, but I think Disney posts inflated wait times at more popular rides to try to thin those lines down and makes less popular ride wait times much lower than what they actually are.

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I’m usually not in favor of this, but this late in the game, if something is available still, might be worth it. Also not as questionable if a move this late in the game - vacations should already be booked at this point.

Almost every wait time we experienced on our recent trip was around 10-15 minutes less than posted except one - EtwB, which was 15 minutes the other way. Anecdotally, we reached the same conclusion that the posted times are inflated.

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After reading everyone’s comments, this is the plan… RD the 2nd opening, hoping a dip in crowds will follow soon after, and follow the TP as much as possible… or the kids will let me.
:crossed_fingers:t4:

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Definitely a possibility as long as it doesn’t interfere w/seeing Fantasmic - it has eluded me in previous years! :laughing:

I just downloaded the app - thanks!

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