Hollywood Studios is one of our favorite parks to visit. There are so many big headliner rides–Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash, Tower of Terror and others. Because of this it tends to attract large crowds and long lines. It is widely believed to be the best place to make use of the Genie+ Lightning Lane system.
So when we decided not to buy Genie+ for our trip in October, we set our expectations pretty low. But we put all of our pre-Genie strategies to work. And whether by skill or sheer dumb luck we had no problems riding everything we wanted to ride and seeing the shows we wanted to see with time to spare! Here’s how we spent our day in Hollywood Studios!
Rope Drop
We arrived at the park early. Our stay at Saratoga Springs earned us a half hour early entry at 8:30. We arrived by bus around 8, and were through security waiting to be let into the park by 8:10. They started allowing people into the park about 15 minutes later. We scanned through the gate right at 8:25 and made our way down Hollywood Blvd. Much of the crowd headed toward Rise of the Resistance. We anticipated that, so we decided to go the other way and made our way to Slinky Dog Dash as quickly as possible. Once they started operating the ride at about 8:35, we waited less than 20 minutes. We were on and off the ride before regular park opening.
After getting off of Slinky Dog Dash, we headed across Toy Story Land to Midway Mania. This had a listed 10 minute wait, but it was really a walk on. Unsurprisingly, Ethan kicked all of our butts on Midway Mania.
Early Morning
By this point the park was open. We got in a 35 minute line for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The line moved really fast, but came to a stop and we could tell something was wrong right as we got up to the pre-show. The ride went down, and they gave each of us a Lightning Lane pass to use when the ride was up again.
We decided our next best strategy was to give in to the lines that were forming, and get Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster done. I don’t love thrill rides, so my friend Tami and I wandered off to look at some of the gift shops and the guys headed to Tower of Terror. By the time they got over there, it had a wait time of 95 minutes, and Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster was down. But as they stood outside the ride debating whether now was the time to ride, the wait time dropped to 70, then dropped again to 55. So they took that as a good sign, jumped in line, and were on and off of Tower of Terror in about 20 minutes.
Then they decided to try Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, even though the app still showed the ride was down. But it opened right as they walked up, and they walked right on that ride as well. Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster in 35 minutes. Unreal.
Tami and I had decided to go see the Frozen Sing-a-long while the guys were in line, thinking they would be in line for a while. By the time they were off their second ride, our show was just starting!
Time for a Break
The guys picked up lunchbox tarts from Woody’s Lunchbox and coffee from Joffrey’s (the longest line we’d waited in yet today!). At this point, we had been on 4 major rides, watched a show, and it was just after 10am. We knew we wanted to watch the Pixar cavalcade at 10:30, so after we sat down with our snack, we wandered back to the Chinese Theatre area. We said hi to Chip and Dale, who were having a picnic!
Then we hunted down 50th anniversary statues with our Magicband+.
We sat by Dockside Diner and watched the Pixar Pals Character Cavalcade.
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was back up, so after the cavalcade, we were able to use our lightning lane passes to ride!
Escaping the Noon Crowds
Hollywood Studios really started to get busy just before 11. So we headed to less populated areas of the park. We started out by getting in line for Star Tours. It was listed as a 20 minute wait, and we waited probably 15 minutes.
Then we grabbed some drinks and went to see Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. We walked in about 10 minutes before the show started, and even though we were way off to the left side of the audience, we were only about 5 rows back. Our seats were awesome. Being off to the side didn’t impact our view at all, and we didn’t have to wait long for the show to start.
After Indiana Jones, we had planned to go for lunch at Baseline Taphouse. But when we walked by the line was out the door, so we decided to wait a little bit. Instead we went to The Muppets 3-D. I had not seen the show since I was a child, and it was so much fun!
We went back to Baseline for a beer flight, pretzel, and charcuterie. This was a nice, chill place to sit down and eat a little bit in the middle of the day.
On to Batuu
We had no idea that we’d have everything done outside of Galaxy’s Edge by 2pm! Obviously, the middle of the afternoon is not the best time to try to ride Rise of the Resistance or Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. So we spent mid-afternoon wandering Batuu. We played the Bounty Hunter’s Guild scavenger hunt game with our Magic Bands.
We tried blue and green milk.
We met some stormtroopers.
By 3:00ish, Rise of the Resistance had dropped to 90 minutes, and we decided that was short enough to wait it out. Again, our luck with wait times was good, and we were on the ride by 4:00! This is still the best ride in Hollywood Studios, and well worth the wait, even if it had been 90 minutes.
Since we made such good time on our rides, we headed back through Toy Story Land and rode Alien Swirling Saucers
Breaking from the Park
We left Hollywood Studios around 5:30 to get a break from the park crowds. We rode the Skyliner over to the hub station, and then on to Riviera.
We had supper at Primo Piatto at the Riviera and took our time sitting in the air conditioning. By this time we had been on our feet for hours and walked more than 10 miles. The chill Riviera atmosphere made a perfect break.
Night Time in Galaxy’s Edge
We had done everything we wanted to in Hollywood Studios except Smuggler’s Run, and we had a late reservation at Oga’s Cantina. So, returning to the park a little after 7, we headed right to Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. Galaxy’s Edge has a certain magic in the dark, so we stopped to take lots of pictures on our way in.
Smuggler’s Run had had surprisingly high wait times all day, so even though it said 55 minutes when we got there, we got in line. I don’t think we waited quite that long, but it was pretty close. We’re guessing the ride system wasn’t operating at 100% capacity. Still a great ride, and lots to look at in the queue, so I’d recommend waiting in the evening if you did not get to ride it before that.
We got a bonus after Smuggler’s Run, because Rise of the Resistance had dropped down to a 30 minute wait! We couldn’t pass that up, so we ran over there and very nearly walked right on the ride. Anyone who has been to Galaxy’s Edge knows that is unheard of!
We ended our night in our favorite way. We had a reservation at Oga’s Cantina at park close, which meant sitting with drinks while the park emptied out and then walking out through an empty park. Oga’s was especially lively that night, and we enjoyed the antics of both our booth mates and the bartenders.
Conclusion
We definitely had some magic moments with our wait times on our Hollywood Studios day, but we also had enough free time in our day that we would have been ok waiting longer. I think Genie+ would be a great tool in Hollywood Studios, but on a regularly busy day I think you can do it without.
We have plans to test out Genie+ at Hollywood Studios in a couple weeks, so check back with us to see how that turns out! And read more about our parks experiences here!
Linked resource credits:
