Guide to Visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park [One Day Itinerary for Families]

Disney’s Hollywood Studios has seen a lot of changes over the years, probably the most out of any of the Walt Disney World theme parks. It was once MGM Studios and has been renovated a few times in recent years.

Most recently, it has seen the addition of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and the Toy Story Land additions. Let’s look at some of the best things to do here for families during a one-day theme park visit! 

Visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios

If you love movies, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the place to be! There are also a number of thrill ride options at this theme park, so it is a great option for families with older children that love thrill rides.

The theme park also has some unique dining options, making this a great place to spend the day for families! From character dining at Minnie’s Seasonal Dining at Hollywood & Dine to sitting inside a “car” at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, families are sure to find a dining location at Hollywood Studios that is both memorable and delicious. 

Where is Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios is located conveniently near both EPCOT and Blizzard Beach water park, in the heart of Walt Disney World. This 135-acre theme park has a variety of attractions, and we will detail different itineraries based on your family’s activity preferences. 

To get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios from your resort, buses are available from all Disney Resort properties. This theme park also has easy access from the EPCOT resort area via water transportation and access from the Hourglass Lake resort area via the Disney Skyliner, this theme park is easily accessible from a number of resorts.

If you will be driving your car in and parking, large parking lots are available to accommodate your vehicle and these rarely fill up. Trams are available to take you to the front entrance of the theme park from your parking spot if needed. 

Parking passes at Walt Disney World theme parks are a one day pass that is good at all four theme parks for the day. Fees to park range from $20-$25 per day based on the time of year, and can go up to $50 per day for preferred parking nearest the entrance. 

All lots have designated parking for guests with disabilities where a valid disability parking permit will be required to be displayed on your vehicle. 

Arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

When you get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, be prepared to be immersed in the world of film! Every corner of this theme park celebrates the magic of film-making. You’ll see well known Disney characters here like Buzz Lightyear, Chewbacca, the Incredibles, and Olaf. 

From the minute you step into this theme park, you feel like you’ve been transported into a movie set. Admittedly, if you are not looking for thrill rides or have people in your party that don’t match up to the required heights for a number of rides, this is one theme park where you may not need the entire day. (Or is a great park for a midday break, especially if you’re staying at one of those easy to access resorts via the Disney Skyliner or boat transportation.) 

For thrill seekers or avid fans of the dedicated areas like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land, there will be plenty to do here to fill up one entire day. 

Areas within Disney’s Hollywood Studios

There are eight distinct areas within Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake, Grand Avenue, Commissary Lane, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, Animation Courtyard, and Sunset Boulevard. 

Hollywood Boulevard is the area that greets you right as you enter the theme park. This area is home to many of the shops, dining like The Hollywood Brown Derby, and one of our favorite rides, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. 

In Echo Lake, you’ll find the iconic dinosaur lake, and attractions like the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, an Olaf meet and greet, For the First Time in Forever: A “Frozen” Sing-Along Celebration. There’s also fun dining in this area, where you can be transported back in time to the 1950s at 50s Prime Time Cafe and dine with characters at Hollywood & Vine. 

Along Commissary Lane, it’s one of the smaller areas within the park, however it’s also where you can meet Mickey and Minnie at Red Carpet Dreams and enjoy eats at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant or the ABC Commissary. 

Grand Avenue is all about the Muppets, and has the Muppet Vision 3D show and PizzeRizzo, if you’re in the mood for pizza. Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano is also in this area, if you are wanting a sit down Italian meal. 

As you move into the back of the theme park, two of the new highlights are grouped together. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is home to Batuu, a planetary experience  where you can try off world treats like sausage from Ronto Roasters or drinks from Oga’s Cantina. There are also two must-try rides for families that enjoy Star Wars, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (40” height requirement) and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (38” height requirement). 

As you step into Toy Story Land, you become the size of a toy and can play with your favorite pals, Woody and Buzz. You may also see some Green Army Men walking through! Alien Swirling Saucers (32” height requirement) is a fun ride like the tea cups and Slinky Dog Dash (38” height requirement) is a family-friendly coaster with ups and downs.

Check out our review on Roundup Rodeo BBQ if you’re looking to get some chow while in Toy Story Land. 

Over in the Animation Courtyard you can find character meet and greets, and a Disney Junior Play & Dance that is perfect for younger visitors.

And finally on Sunset Boulevard, this is a must see area for thrill seekers, as it is where both Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (48” height requirement) and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (40” height requirement) are located. For younger visitors, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy and Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage, are also located here.

At the end of the night, the sky comes alive with Fantasmic!, located in an amphitheater in the Sunset Boulevard area. It’s a fun way to end the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! 

Dining at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

The theme park has a number of memorable dining options, especially for families looking for unique interactions! Here are some of our favorites!

Hollywood & Vine – At breakfast this table service is a character meal with Disney Junior friends. At lunch and dinner, this becomes a dining extravaganza with Minnie and friends, at Minnie’s Seasonal Dining and the characters are dressed in their seasonal best. 

50s Prime Time Cafe – Get transported back to the 1950s at this table service diner, and don’t forget to finish your plate! (Servers are in character, so go into this one expecting a bit of ribbing!)

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant – At this table service restaurant you sit in a car while you watch sci-fi clips from yesteryear!

The Hollywood Brown Derby – Table Service with a fine dining selection. 

Rodeo Roundup BBQ – Table service with a family style service of meats, salads, and desserts. 

Oga’s Cantina – You’ll need dining reservations for this one, but keep in mind it is a cantina with drinks and appetizers, so you won’t want to plan this one as a main meal.

Woody’s Lunch Box – Quick Service located in Toy Story Land with American fare treats.

Backlot Express – Quick service with a solid menu of chicken tenders and burgers.

PizzeRizzo – Quick service with pizza and salads.

ABC Commissary – Quick service with “feel good” food.

Docking Bay 7 – Quick service where you can try the delights of Batuu.

Rosie’s All American Cafe – Quick service to grab an All American bite to eat with hot dogs and burgers.

Ronto Roasters – Quick service with a limited selection of drinks and snacks, try the oatmeal and Ronto Wrap at breakfast! 

Entertainment and Shows at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios has some unique shows that families will enjoy. The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular shows you how the stunts in films are done and you enjoy some live action performed by stunt actors. Stunt shows are performed approximately five times throughout the day based on actor availability, routinely around 10:45am, 12pm, 1:15pm, 3:15pm, and 4:30pm. Check your times guide for the dates you’ll be visiting to confirm performance times. 

At Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage, talented performers take to the stage to enchant you with the story, singing, and dancing of Beauty and the Beast. Live stage shows of Beauty and the Beast typically run at 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 4pm, and 5pm, check the times guides on the days you’ll be visiting to confirm available times. 

The night time show at Hollywood Studios is one of our family’s favorites though, don’t miss Fantasmic! in the amphitheater located on Sunset Boulevard. You will want to get there about 30-40 minutes before the show, because this theater can fill fast on busy nights. 

Planning your Day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

In this next section, we are going to share our “must dos” for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, our family has toured this park a variety of different ways as our children have gotten older. (And taller!) 

Here are our must see attractions for all ages at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
  • Toy Story Midway Mania!
  • Muppet Vision 3D

These attractions are must see if your family enjoys thrills and meets the height requirements:

  • Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (38” height requirement)
  • Slinky Dog Dash (38” height requirement)
  • Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (40” height requirement)
  • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (40” height requirement)
  • The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (40” height requirement)
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (48” height requirement)

Tips to Make the Most of Your Disney Day

Most families will set aside one day to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios and you will likely want to maximize your time here. For families looking for the thrill rides, your day will fill up fairly quickly.

As you can see from the above “must do” lists, a number of the rides have height requirements, so if your riders do not meet the height requirements or if you are avoiding the bigger rides, your day will skew more towards meeting characters and seeing shows. 

Using Genie+ and Lightning Lane at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a great park to use Genie+ if you’re a thrill seeking family wanting to ride a number of rides. 

However, if you are not looking to ride a number of the higher height requirement rides, this would be one park that you could skip the service in favor of waiting for your must do rides.

The Individual Lightning Lane purchase would be for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (40” height requirement) and this ride is a must do in our opinion for families that love Star Wars! If this is on your must do list, then we recommend grabbing that Individual Lightning Lane and planning around the return time you get at the time of purchase.

Even if you do opt for the Individual Lightning Lane, during regular times of year you should be able to ride a good number of rides in this theme park without Genie+ service. If your family has Genie+ budgeted and you want to use it for convenience during busier time periods then it could be justified, however base this purchase off of how busy the time of year will be during your visit (during Spring Break or the holidays it may pay off) and how many rides are on your own “must do” list. 

Sample One Day Itinerary for Disney’s Hollywood Studios

This is another theme park where your itinerary will vary depending on whether your party will primarily be focused on thrill rides, or looking for things to do for younger visitors. Park hours typically run from 9am to 9pm, with early entry on days it is available around 8am. Check the times guide for the days you plan to visit.

Use early entrance hours to maximize getting on to typically longer wait time rides. Focusing on rides like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway or Slinky Dog Dash will ensure that these rides happen with minimal waits. 

We like to have breakfast at the resort before going over to the theme park, so that way we are not waiting inside the theme park on food orders early in the day. However if you have a leisurely start to your day and aren’t concerned about getting onto rides early, Ronto Roasters in Galaxy’s Edge makes a great spot to grab breakfast.

We will split the itinerary into two sample itineraries to give you ideas for two different family scenarios. One for families focused on riding as many thrill rides as possible, and another for families with younger visitors along with them, that will be focused more on shows and lower height requirement rides. 

-Grab breakfast at your resort before taking the bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

For opening, you have two options:

  1. Use early entry hours to head to the more sought after rides, like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, or Slinky Dog Dash (pick your top sought after choice!)
  2. Arrive at park opening time and head to a different section of the park than where a majority of people will be heading to avoid crowds. For thrill riders this would be over to Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. And for the younger crowd, we recommend you head to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway to do this early before a crowd has a chance to form. (If the park is already open by the time you’re there and the line is backed up, check back to this ride in the afternoon when times can dip down lower again.)

Suggested Itinerary for Families at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

We will split the itinerary into two sample itineraries to give you ideas for two different family scenarios. One for families focused on riding as many thrill rides as possible, and another for families with younger visitors along with them, that will be focused more on shows and lower height requirement rides. 

Suggested Itinerary for Thrill Seekers

If you’re willing to use the Single Rider lines at Hollywood Studios, you’re able to get through the lines at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run much quicker by using this option. You are not guaranteed to ride with other people in your party (so this may not be the best option if you’re riding with a younger rider trying out the ride for the first time), however when traveling with tweens and teens – this is a great way to maximize ride times.

We are going to assume using the single rider line at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster below to maximize time in the parks, and out of lines. Purchasing a Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance can also be a way to ensure a ride time and you can shift in your designated time to the schedule if you end up purchasing that special access.

Early Entry Priorities for Thrill Seekers

  • Rise of the Resistance
  • Slinky Dog Dash
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

8:30am – Early Entry Ride Selection

8:35am – Rise of the Resistance

8:55am – Slinky Dog Dash

9:00am – Park Opens

9:20am – Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (Use the single riders line to get through the quickest way)

9:45am – Toy Story Midway Mania

  • 10am – Snack break (Woody’s Toy Box)

10:30am – Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror

11:15am – Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (Use the single riders line to get through the quickest way)

12noon – Lunch Break – Meet up with your group at Backlot Express or head to Rosie’s All American Cafe

12:40pm – Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

1:15pm – Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (1-hour show)

2:25pm – Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

2:55pm – Meet Darth Vader and BB-8 in Animation Courtyard

  • 3:35pm – Snack break (we recommend getting ice cream at Hollywood Scoops!)

4:00pm – Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage (30 minute show)

  • 5:00pm –  Dinner (Meet the rest of your party at Hollywood & Vine or head to Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant for a memorable dining experience, reservations required.)

6:30pm – Visit the shops on Hollywood Boulevard

8:00pm – Head to seating for Fantasmic!

8:30pm – Fantasmic! show time

At the end of the evening, we had the two itineraries come together for dinner and shows. However you can adapt this itinerary to head to rides you missed earlier in the day or also ride thrill rides for a second time if they are your favorite! (Our family often does this at Hollywood Studios in particular!)

Suggested Itinerary for Low Height Requirement Riders

For families with lower height requirement riders or visitors that aren’t as keen on riding the thrill rides, there are still plenty of things to do at Hollywood Studios. If you have a mix of both in your traveling party, you may want to combine these itineraries – or “divide and conquer” between your different touring groups – to maximize what you can see for both styles of touring. 

Both itineraries come together for Fantasmic! at the end of the evening. 

Early Entry Priorities for Low Height Requirement Riders

  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

8:30am – Early Entry Ride Selection (Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway)

8:50am – Head to Toy Story Land

9:05am – Toy Story Midway Mania

9:30am – Alien Spinning Saucers (32” Height Requirement)

  • 10am – Snack break (Woody’s Toy Box)

10:45am – Meet Mickey and Minnie at Red Carpet Dreams

11:30am – For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration

12:30pm – Lunch Break – Backlot Express

1:15pm – Meet Olaf

1:45pm – Meet Disney Junior Pals in Animation Courtyard

2:10pm – Disney Junior Play and Dance!

3:00pm – Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy

  • 3:35pm – Snack break (we recommend getting ice cream at Hollywood Scoops!)

4:00pm – Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage (30 minute show)

  • 5:00pm –  Dinner (we recommend getting reservations at Hollywood & Vine!)

6:30pm – Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, if you didn’t make it there already at early entry

7:30pm – Visit the shops on Hollywood Boulevard

8:00pm – Head to seating for Fantasmic!

8:30pm – Fantasmic! show time

Final Thoughts on Disney’s Hollywood Studios

As you can see, there is lots to do and see while at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Use the plans above to choose what will be the best fit for your family, and we recommend planning at least one day of your trip to enjoy this theme park. 

Visit all of our theme park guides to plan out your Disney days!

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