"Budget Cuts" - Now Showing at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[Minnesota disney fan]

With the closing of The Great Movie Ride on August 13th, there are some other major cuts occurring at Disney's Hollywood Studios:

• As of July 23rd, there have been changes to the operating hours of two attractions. Walt Disney: One Man's Dream and the Meet & Greet with Star-Lord & Groot have reduced their operating hours to 10:00AM-8:00PM. On the other side of the park, Star Wars: Path of the Jedi has reduced its operating hours to 10:00AM-6:00PM. According to some Cast Members, the two attractions do not have any operating hours listed after September 30th. Some of you might remember that September 27th was the last day of operation for the Studio Backlot Tour back in 2014. September 30th is the last day of the fiscal year. With the demolition of Soundstage 4 next door, it seems possible that One Man's Dream will be closing permanently to prepare for the new Toy Story Land opening next summer.
• Over at Star Wars Launch Bay, there will be cuts in the Entertainment department. Most importantly, one of the free-roaming characters will no longer be meeting guests after July 30th. Along with that cut, there will be less Entertainment Cast Members working at the attraction. Expect longer wait times for Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and BB-8 as a result from these changes.

To be clear, some of these cuts might be occurring temporarily due to low attendance during the Fall season. It is possible that these attractions and Entertainment offerings might return to normal for the holiday season. In the meantime, anyone coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios throughout August and September may be disappointed with the changes throughout the park. A 1-Day ticket to Hollywood Studios has less value today than it did 3 years ago.

Sigh........Even if the cuts are due to low fall attendance, don't the guests in the fall deserve the full experience that everyone else gets??? Seems like a lame excuse to cut back to me. The Fall guests pay just as much as any other guest during the year whether it is busy or not..........

 

[aw14]

Yeah this park is basically dead to me through 2020. Oh well, sad times indeed. I really loved this park growing up and really through 2010ish.

2020?

Toy Story land in the Summer of 2018 and SWGE in 2019...Ill take your place

 

[Ryan H. Serowinski]

Is the enterance for TSL already that big enough they don't need to demolish OMD, because of more room for that land's entrance(or that it'll gain the biggest crowds that park ever had yet?

PS-Only if they built more areas with a decent number of attractions for families back in the 90s. then there would be somethings to do for them(but nope)

 

[Jbres_]

I think that part of what they're doing is to drive people to buy park hoppers to go to other parks at night which I think is a good strategy because this means that, if Disney does this correctly, that when DHS turns into an all-day park, they have the money to refurbish things like one mans dream and beauty and the beast. This could also just be a ploy to get people out onto the streets for a higher attendance for late night fireworks in the park. Which I think DHS needs to do something different with the scheduling for the night time shows. Like I want to see Fantasmic and SWGS and DMM but it takes forever to get out of the theater for Fantasmic and the SWGS FWS start before I even make it out of the seats. Hopefully this is all a part of some bigger plan. I think we still have a good 5-7 years before DHS returns to a substantial park like it was back in '05.

 

[Mickey5150]

I know what you are kinda getting at, but what you really are saying is that your are happy there is less to do.

Happy to have less to do when I'm planning on spending the day in Epcot. Hit up the favorites at HS during extra magic then take the boat to Epcot. I get TSMM, ST and Muppets and still have my 3 fastpasses at Epcot.

 

[frontman]

We'll still go as always. ToT is my daughter's favorite ride in all of WDW so HS will always be a must visit park for us. My wife and daughter couldn't care less about any of the Star Wars meet and greets and other offerings (except for the fireworks and Star Tours) so it will give us more time to ride the big 3 rides multiple times. I wish they were a little more interested, but oh well I'll survive. lol

Where was your profile pic taken? Ohio? African Safari?

 

[Herdman]

Am I the only one that still likes the shows at Hollywood Studios? I would never dream of going there to "run through the rides" and then leave. Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Fantasmic, Indiana Jones, Disney Junior (not for everyone, I know), Frozen, MuppetVision, Far Far Away, Galactic Spectacular, and The Music of PIXAR Live add up to many hours worth of entertainment without doing a single ride.

Absolutely, totally agree!!

 

[Goofyernmost]

I would guess the people attending are mostly people with park hoppers.. I love the attractions still running at the park, but would not be able to justify a one day admission there

I doubt that park hoppers are the draw when buying a ticket for all four parks is built in to a multi-day pass. Even if they decided that DHS was not a full day, there are still things to do and perhaps it works for a lot of people to head for the water parks or Disney Springs later in the day. As someone said the only things that are missing now are the Lights, action show, The backlot tram tour, which was pathetic by that point anyway and Streets of America... super whoop on that one. Other wise, for now, until GMR closes, it is pretty much like it has been for years now.

 

[MrHappy]

With the closing of The Great Movie Ride on August 13th, there are some other major cuts occurring at Disney's Hollywood Studios:

• As of July 23rd, there have been changes to the operating hours of two attractions. Walt Disney: One Man's Dream and the Meet & Greet with Star-Lord & Groot have reduced their operating hours to 10:00AM-8:00PM. On the other side of the park, Star Wars: Path of the Jedi has reduced its operating hours to 10:00AM-6:00PM. According to some Cast Members, the two attractions do not have any operating hours listed after September 30th. Some of you might remember that September 27th was the last day of operation for the Studio Backlot Tour back in 2014. September 30th is the last day of the fiscal year. With the demolition of Soundstage 4 next door, it seems possible that One Man's Dream will be closing permanently to prepare for the new Toy Story Land opening next summer.
• Over at Star Wars Launch Bay, there will be cuts in the Entertainment department. Most importantly, one of the free-roaming characters will no longer be meeting guests after July 30th. Along with that cut, there will be less Entertainment Cast Members working at the attraction. Expect longer wait times for Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and BB-8 as a result from these changes.

To be clear, some of these cuts might be occurring temporarily due to low attendance during the Fall season. It is possible that these attractions and Entertainment offerings might return to normal for the holiday season. In the meantime, anyone coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios throughout August and September may be disappointed with the changes throughout the park. A 1-Day ticket to Hollywood Studios has less value today than it did 3 years ago.

I edited this for everyone's convenience:

• Walt Disney: One Man's Dream to close at 8pm
• Meet & Greet with Star-Lord & Groot to close at 8pm
• Star Wars: Path of the Jedi to close at 6pm
• Star Wars Launch Bay, one of four characters will not be around

Hardly the end of the world - just smart decisions to keep the park running efficiently.

 

[Kman101]

Yeah some of those 'cuts' make sense to me. Path of the Jedi isn't exactly the most popular offering packing in the crowds. Why run it longer than you need to? One Man's Dream and the Meet and Greet inside closing an hour or two before park closing seems reasonable I suppose.

Hardly the end of the world.

 

[asianway]

Correct. This is the last week for the Jawas until attendance goes back up.

I thought originally Jawas were supposed to be cut when BB8 started, so technically theyve been on borrowed time since.

 

[danlb_2000]

Is the enterance for TSL already that big enough they don't need to demolish OMD, because of more room for that land's entrance(or that it'll gain the biggest crowds that park ever had yet?

PS-Only if they built more areas with a decent number of attractions for families back in the 90s. then there would be somethings to do for them(but nope)

Studio 4 (where Jack Sparrow was) will be removed for the TSL entrance, OMD will not.

 

[Ryan H. Serowinski]

Studio 4 (where Jack Sparrow was) will be removed for the TSL entrance, OMD will not.

I knew that of course(they would never ever remove the building for OMD, regardless), and i apologize for my little rant

 

[danlb_2000]

I knew that of course(they would never ever remove the building for OMD, regardless), and i apologize for my little rant

I wouldn't be so sure about it never being removed.

 

[djkidkaz]

I say close as much down as soon as you can. Who cares, the park is already a rip off in terms of price, so just close what you can and the quicker it will all turn around.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

If the Star-Lord meet & greet closes at 8:00pm, how late can you get in line for it? 7:59pm? 20-30min before then?

 

[MisterPenguin]

No one thinks they're being taken advantage of at Epcot because the World Showcase... half the park... doesn't open until 11 AM.

I've seen DHS in the fall in a year when the fall meant drastically reduced crowds. I can't imagine anywhere close to a handful of people being in OMD or a Jedi Clip movie first thing in the morning or during fireworks/Fantasmic.

Disney went out of their way to reduce crowds with price hikes... and it worked. They can probably tell by room and ADR reservations that this fall will be a quiet one and their staffing and cutting back accordingly.

If it really is a light fall.. well then, go to DHS because there ain't going to be anyone in your way for the things you want to do, even if they're only available for 8 hours instead of 10.

 

[BrianLo]

The way I figure it WDW is currently pricing their 4-park magic tickets in a buy 3, get 1 free fashion... DHS is your get one free.

If you are visiting DHS on anything less than a 4+ day multi-ticket, you are probably asking CM's where the Potter ride is.


Meanwhile a 2 day ticket can also be incredibly discounted in Paris, simply because WDS is so mediocre.

Tokyo and Anaheim really don't give you meaningful discounts until you buy more days than there are parks. I expect if WDW gets all 4 parks into a desirable fashion by 2021, the days of meaningful discounts on a 4 (or maybe even 5 day) multi-ticket will evaporate.

 

[azox]

I edited this for everyone's convenience:

• Walt Disney: One Man's Dream to close at 8pm
• Meet & Greet with Star-Lord & Groot to close at 8pm
• Star Wars: Path of the Jedi to close at 6pm
• Star Wars Launch Bay, one of four characters will not be around

Hardly the end of the world - just smart decisions to keep the park running efficiently.

Any Idea if Pixar Live will still be around this fall? (Sept/Oct)

 

[diapsidal]

It's actually beneficial to them to keep it only a viable option for park hoppers. Keeps attendance to capacity whilst holding revenue steady.