1 or 2 days Hollywood Studios

[Tessaf]

We are planning another trip to Disney World this year and this will be our first time to Hollywood Studios. The new Toy Story Land will be open when we go, and we are trying to figure out how many days. We have one day we don’t have any park planned yet and are wondering if Hollywood Studios is big enough to use 2 days.

 

[Bullseye1967]

After TSL is open it will be packed, but I can still imagine doing it all in one day.

 

[belledream]

I would say the deciding factor may be what shows you are interested in seeing. Toy Story Land and the big rides like Mania/Tower of Terror/Rock n Rollercoaster will have it's crowds, but the shows can be the real time-eaters. It may be difficult to fit in showings of Beauty and the Beast, Frozen Sing-a-long, and Indiana Jones, amongst all the rides, dining, FPs reservations, and various stage shows/Meet & Greets you are interested in. But if you are okay missing one, I definitely think one day at HS is enough and that extra day you have would be better served at any of the 3 other parks, a water park, or a chill resort-hopping-shopping day!

 

[jimbojones]

Even with Toy Story land opening I think 1 day is plenty, but for me there are only a handful of attractions there that are must dos. On the flip side I think AK is worth 2 or more days while others think that is a half day park so take the opinions with a grain of salt

 

[Weather_Lady]

As @belledream said, it all depends on how much of HS you want to see. Even before the closure of GMR, my family could cover every single "ride," plus Muppets 4D, two live shows (e.g., Indy, Frozen), a CS meal, the One Man's Dream exhibits and the SW Launch Bay M&Gs, in under 5 hours starting at rope drop. With Toy Story Land, we'd still need far less than a day. However, that means we're skipping all of the other shows (e.g., Disney, Jr., Mermaid, Jedi Training Academy, Beauty & the Beast, Fantasmic! at night) and M&Gs. I would say that if you wanted to do every single show (not that I'd recommend it -- they're not all winners) or meet every character, you would need two days, largely because the showtimes tend to overlap in such a way that it's not possible to do them all in one day. If you're happy just choosing the best-of-the-best and only doing a couple of shows and/or M&Gs along with all of the other "rides" (e.g., Rock 'n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, TSMM), one day will be plenty of time, even after Toy Story land opens.

If you want to see how much can realistically be done in HS in a day, you might consider a subscription to touringplans.com, where you can make personalized touring plans for only those attractions you wish to see, customized for your dates/crowd levels. If you're someone who enjoys planning, it's great fun.

 

[yensid67]

Personally, for me I would stay away because there is nothing I want to see, BUT this is your first time to DHS I would plan FP's for TSL and only do the ABSOLUTE MUST DO's after that if there is time!

 

[Jedi Stitch]

2 Days, just because TSL will have DHS packed and you will need to Fastpass both new rides and the favorites, need to use two days for that. I am betting most of the lines for non TSL will be just as bad, from people not waiting in the TSL lines.

 

[Tessaf]

Thank you for the help! My girls do want to see some shows (Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, Disney Jr and Fantasmic) along with the rides, character dining and meeting characters like Olaf and Woody. With the FP tier system and longer wait times with TSL being open, I was concerned one day wouldn't be enough.
I did consider doing another park but we will have 5 days at the magic kingdom and 2 days at epcot. My girls weren't huge fans of AK the last time we went, so we are skipping that park.

 

[belledream]

Little Mermaid/Disney Jr. are shows that play pretty much continuously, so I think you could do those plus Beauty and the Beast no problem. Fantasmic is at night when everything else is closed so that's also doable. There are really not many rides at HS, and it sounds like your girls are young and may not be tall enough for RnR or ToT...(?)

I'd still say 1 day is enough BUT since you said you are already doing 5 (!) MK days and 2 Epcot days, it definitely wouldn't be a bad idea to allot 2 days for HS then, s you can ensure you don't have to rush around or stress about missing something crucial. With that many park days already scheduled, it's not much to add on another day and you could always leave early and go relax at the nearby Boardwalk or something.

 

[Tessaf]

My girls will be 8 and 10 and want to do ToT and at this time they aren't showing any interest in RnR at this time. But they want to see the Disney jr shows just because they grew up watching those characters. Being their first time to HS they thought it would be fun. When we went last October we only allotted 1 day for Epcot and it felt very rushed. We didn't get to see everything which was one reason I was worried about HS, with the new TSL opening. I know that HS is a very small park compared to some of the others, but I've read the shows can be big time eaters.
That's a great idea! We've never been to the Boardwalk either, so we could always swing over there if we finished early.

 

[21stamps]

I say plan 2.. but just so the second as a half day and enjoy you evening at your resort.

 

[belledream]

My girls will be 8 and 10 and want to do ToT and at this time they aren't showing any interest in RnR at this time. But they want to see the Disney jr shows just because they grew up watching those characters. Being their first time to HS they thought it would be fun. When we went last October we only allotted 1 day for Epcot and it felt very rushed. We didn't get to see everything which was one reason I was worried about HS, with the new TSL opening. I know that HS is a very small park compared to some of the others, but I've read the shows can be big time eaters.
That's a great idea! We've never been to the Boardwalk either, so we could always swing over there if we finished early.

Sounds like a plan! Boardwalk is a lovely place to unwind. Ample Hills Creamery is a tasty stop as well.

Have fun!

 

[crxbrett]

Are you planning on going from opening to close if you visit? If so, it's easily a 1-day park (or 2 half days as I like to do). My most recent trip I went one evening from 3p-9p (had dinner at SciFi for 70 min though) and went the following morning from 9a-12p. In those 9 hours I was able to do Midway Mani, One Man's Dream, Star Tours, the IJ stunt show, eat dinner at Sci-Fi Drive-In, Muppet Vision 3D, Rock N Roller Coaster 3 times and Tower of Terror 5 times as well as shop and stroll around and relax. We were planning on Fantasmic, but it was raining that night and we decided to leave early and go swim at the resort pool instead. We also skipped Voyage of the Little Mermaid. But could have had we skipped one of those extra rides on RNRC or ToT.

So a full day from 9am-10pm should easily allow you to do that pretty much everything at the Studios. Even with TSL opening, I don't feel like the park takes more than 10 hours to see.

 

[Jedi Stitch]

Thank you for the help! My girls do want to see some shows (Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, Disney Jr and Fantasmic) along with the rides, character dining and meeting characters like Olaf and Woody. With the FP tier system and longer wait times with TSL being open, I was concerned one day wouldn't be enough.
I did consider doing another park but we will have 5 days at the magic kingdom and 2 days at epcot. My girls weren't huge fans of AK the last time we went, so we are skipping that park.

Don't forget to do a Fantasmic Dining package, so as not to waste a FP+. We did the Brown Durby, we enjoyed the meal and got to see Fantasmic from it.

 

[ColinDLR]

I definitely think one day will be enough. If you are there at rope drop, you can enter TSL. In that land I am predicting that the highest wait time will still be Toy Story Mania. It already has crazy wait times now, and bring thousands more, and it will be insane. I think if you fastpass one Toy Story ride, Rock N Roller Coaster, and ToT, and dinner package Fantasmic!, you can still fit most shows and Star Tours.