Hollywood Studios 1/2 day park

[blackthidot]

It's def a half day park. That place is hurting.

 

[David S.]

I guess I'm in the minority, as it's a FULL DAY park for me!

When I get there at rope drop, I am NEVER able to finish the park in anything less than a full day! And the only times I've been able to do every open attraction on the same day is when the park closes at 10 PM with a second Fantasmic! show at 10 or 10:30 PM.

And even on most 10 PM closes, there are usually one or two attractions I end up having to skip. Being a "show park", where many of the attractions are shows that take place at scheduled times, it can be a challenge to line up all the show times to make sure you get them all in, and this requires a lot of backtracking and walking across the park. Also, since most of the attractions have long run times, if you find yourself with 20-30 minutes to kill before a show you want to see starts, there is often no attraction that can be done in this time without risking missing the beginning of the show.

On an 8 PM or earlier close, it is impossible for me to do every attraction in a full day, so I don't even try! Finishing every attraction on an 8 PM close would mean having to rush through Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, which I am not prepared to do!

Whatever I have to skip due to time constraints, I always make sure I do on my next visit, so I still get to experience everything fairly regularly that way. Although once a year for some (such as American Idol) is enough (as a seasonal resident, I do multiple full day visits to all 4 parks every year)

Now, when the Studios opened in 1989, I was there the opening season, and back then I WOULD consider it a half-day park. It took about that long to see and do everything thoroughly! But IMO it hasn't been a "half-day" park for a long, long time.

Now if someone does not care for what the park offers enough to stay for a full day, that is a different matter! But I don't think anyone could realistically say that you can do EVERYTHING the park currently offers in a half-day or really anything less than a full day!

Here is a list of what I normally do on each full day visit which EASILY fills up an early-close day, in no particular order (although the first two are usually the same)

Rock N Roller Coaster - multiple rides at rope drop; possible last ride near closing with Fastpass

The Great Movie Ride (and then finding the cement character footprints of Mickey Mouse and pals outside the theatre)

Playhouse Disney: Live On Stage

The Magic Of Disney Animation
a) looking at the character development art in the outdoor waiting area
b) Mushu show, which I find hysterically funny
c) Looking at concept art displays for upcoming animated features
d) Looking at the fingerprint cement blocks in the outdoor courtyard of some of Walt's most legendary animators
e) coloring a character in the postshow area
f) Meeting the current character/s from the current film, (although I don't do this on every visit)
g) Trying to improve my poor drawing skills in the Animation Academy
h) Looking at the art on display in the attraction postshow gallery (currently from Snow White)
So, just this one attraction takes up a bit of time, but then I'm a hardcore Disney animation buff!

Walt Disney: One Man's Dream
a) at least an hour reading every panel, and looking at every single artifact and picture on display
b) Watching the movie
I'm a hard core Walt Disney/Disneyana buff, so this also takes up a large part of my day, but it never gets old for me!

Voyage Of the Little Mermaid

Beauty and the Beast: Live On Stage

Tower Of Terror (with Fastpass)

Toy Story Midway Mania (with Fastpass)

Star Tours (including watching all or at least a good part of the charming banter between R2-D2 and C-3P0, which I enjoy as much as the ride!)

Muppet Vision (including watching the preshow in it's entirety, as I enjoy it as much as the main show)

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure - I think it's really charming and love the background music loop

Sounds Dangerous (on days when it's open)
a) The main show
b) the postshow exhibits, especially the headphone presentation with R. J. Mc Bean and Mickey Mouse, which I enjoy as much as (if not more than) the main show!

Fantasmic! - I LOVE this show and it's the perfect nightcap finale, so I don't visit this park on non-Fantasmic! days unless there is something special going on that I don't want to miss (such as the Imagineer presentation for the parks 20th aniversary, which was on a non-Fantasmic! day)

So, there's 14 of the 19 attractions, that a full day would feel incomplete to me without.

The remaining 5 are the candidates for skippage due to time constraints, although if I miss any of the first 4, which I enjoy enough to do regularly, I make sure I do them on my next visit. So what it amounts to is most of the following get done on every other full day visit:

Narnia

Lights Motors Action

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

Backlot Tram Tour/AFI postride exhibit (I don't care for the preshow, so if I miss the preshow it won't bother me)

The last attraction, American Idol, I'm not a big fan of, so it's not a part of my regular "rotation"

 

[C&D]

It is only a half-day park if you choose it to be. There is plenty of stuff to do; whether you take the opportunity of all the choices provided is up to you.

 

[Xethis]

I guess I am in the minority also, as DHS is more than a full day for us. If we take the time to ride/see everything of interest to us than it takes a full day, or more. Conversely, to us Epcot is a shorter day than DHS. My wife & I had this conversation not long ago & 'categorized' each park. MK = the family park, Epcot = the educational park, DHS = the movies park & AK = the zoo.

We can do everything we like in AK in 1/2 a day (or less if we get there early enough), and we usually spend less than a full day in Epcot. We noticed that we spend more time in MK & DHS than the others. My wife & I are both movie geeks & also graphic designers and think thats part of why we're taken with DHS. There are plenty of rides to go on, plenty of shows to see, and then there's a bunch of random things that keep us enthralled in between. We spend a lot of time in the Art of Animation, the display from IFN after the backlot tour, and in the shops as well. We noticed on the last trip our designers side pokes its head out when we're there, as we also spend a lot of time looking at the design of things & the creative processes that went into DHS. I realized how much we actually do there when I ordered this trip's set of Customized Park Maps, which we get a set for each trip. I had 8 or 9 landmarks in MK & Epcot, 4 in AK, and 17 in DHS.

I know everyones opinion differs, but for us we spend more time in DHS than any other I think. We try to plan a day for each park and a few empty days to revisit favorites or have an afternoon of down time. More often than not we end up back at DHS, or MK, to fill up our spare time.

 

[disneyireland]

its only a half day park if you go on a non fantasmic day and you have absolutly no interest for the shows. ive always found the park a full day park altough i never enter the park until around 2pm i always leave at about 11 pm after the second Fantasmc!. Also this year we spent almost a full day at Hollywood studios when we went for 11:30 to see the star wars motorcade, it was also a fantasmic day so we stayed until 11pm. but then again a few years ago at star wars weekends i remember going to MGM(as it was back then) at around 10am to catch the star wars millionare show and stayed till 11pm.

 

[cblodg]

its only a half day park if you go on a non fantasmic day and you have absolutly no interest for the shows. ive always found the park a full day park altough i never enter the park until around 2pm i always leave at about 11 pm after the second Fantasmc!. Also this year we spent almost a full day at Hollywood studios when we went for 11:30 to see the star wars motorcade, it was also a fantasmic day so we stayed until 11pm. but then again a few years ago at star wars weekends i remember going to MGM(as it was back then) at around 10am to catch the star wars millionare show and stayed till 11pm.

Well, I have no interest in Fantasmic! so that one's a moot point for me. We don't do BatB because it's simply not appealing anymore. We're all grown up, the show shows it's age (as does Indy) and it's not enclosed and air conditioned.

I'm with the majority, I find DHS to be a half-day at best. We have a couple of ADRs there on our next trip, but all are for dinner, so we'll probably get there around 2:00 pm. DHS is in desperate need of some dark rides to eat at capacity issues. As much as I loved BLT in it's previous form, it is merely a shell of its former self. Knock down the rest of what's left and put in something worth while.

 

[MattyFresh]

I could maybe stretch it into a full day, but that would only be if I was forced to do so. Anyone remember when it first opened and all that was there was GMR and the backlot tour???

It wasn't even a half day park then when it first opened. I remember how disappointed I was with my first visit there. It has gotten better, but still could use some help.

 

[xdan0920]

It depends on the length of your vacation I think. If it is a short trip, then it is a half day park. And the only thing that keeps it from being a park I just skip entirely is ToT. Without that, I may just blow DHS entirely on a 4-5 day trip. If I am there for a full week however, I will be there one morning at rope drop, to ride the three major attractions, maybe see a show, then head out. Then either later that night, or another day, I come back for a night ride of ToT and to catch Fantasmic.

 

[zurgandfriend]

We usually get there early for TSM then ride/see anything else we want to. The street performers really make DHS for us however. They really make the park fun for my family, they make a visit that would last less than ½ day into a ¾ day.

 

[powlessfamily4]

I agree.. 4 - 6 hours is really all you need. I did visit HS back in '96 when it was still MGM. I went to the park again this past June and I can't say that much was different. I mean I understand that there will always be some attractions that are timeless. They take us back to our youth and we never want them to go away, but is asking for a new attraction for a new twist to an old one too much to ask? With the exception of a huge useless hat, I didn't see much difference. Who knows... maybe my memory is fading LOL

 

[majorrfb]

DHS only a 1/2 day at best

We go to DHS only for Osbourne Christmas lights and Fantasmic, which is not in its former glory. It's our least favorite park. We use it as a quick switch from EPCOT and back. However, having said that, Disney is STILL the premier place to be for entertainment and food. :sohappy:

 

[bgraham34]

My last trip I only went to the studios to ride TSMM. We even skipped Fantasmic because we were not in the mood to wait there for over an hour. Normally i would hit TSMM, RRC and TOT.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Oh, I had two threads last summer that maybe I should revive because people had interesting routine posts, but I never got around to doing one for DHS.

I don't know if I think of it as 1/2 day but I have set routines for DHS that I do over time.

Sometimes I just want to walk down the street and shop upon entering the park. I bought some nice stuff from Cahuenga's last year. I just love to stroll, go to each store, and then have breafast at Starring Rolls.

Sometimes I go right and we have a drink at the area by Starring Rolls then continue down the boulevard and ride RR and TOT. Love the 30's loop and admiring the design of TOT as I enter the structure.

Other times I go straight to GMR and then right to Pixar but last summer TSMM was a 2 hour wait for me so next summer I may rethink the time I do this.

Or I enter the park and go left and we just hang out by Echo Lake, lunch at 50's and hit Indiana Jones and Star Tours. Do a few things, spend time at Muppets and then dinner at Sci-Fi.

DHS is the most relaxing park to me, less ambitious walking than when I go to Epcot and MK or even AK.

I could admire the design and architecture at DHS all day and not do much else.

 

[Master Yoda]

ANY park is a half day park once you start not going into attractions and/or shows.

MK is a half day park....if all you do is go on the mountains.
Epcot is a half day park.....if you skip WS.
AK is a half day park.....You only go on the thrill rides.

 

[Ttocs]

DHS has always been a full day park for my family. Since I have small children we can do every attraction except for TOT and RRC. I think AK has way less to do. We usually do the Safari and sometimes the Nemo show, and then we are out of there.

 

[fosse76]

Not only is it a full day for us, it's a multiple day. Even when it's just my wife and myself. We still do the kids stuff because I guess we are just still kids at heart. I guess if you are simply an adrenaline junky it might just be a half day adventure for you. But if you take the time to catch the majority of attractions, streetmosphere presentations, OMD, and F!, you are spending the day.

I disagree. Even if you catch a majority of the shows, you can be done with the park by 2:00pm at the latest.

 

[Bravo 229]

We rarely spend an entire day in the parks because we are passholders and live 30 mins away, so we usually arrive over there around 1 or 2 pm each trip. We find that we are not able to see everything in 'Half a day' at Hollywood Studios. Usually, we have to pick between TOT and RNRC, plus TSM if there's time. And we rarely get to see more than two shows (usually we go for dinner to the Brown Derby, which takes up a lot of time). So, if you were to see all of the shows and attractions, and add in a quick lunch and sit down dinner, Hollywood Studios becomes a full day park in my opinion. If you rush through everything, you'll be able to do most of the things there by the afternoon. But if you pace yourselves and plan to take a few rest stops, you can stretch it out until closing time.

 

[Bravo 229]

ANY park is a half day park once you start not going into attractions and/or shows.

MK is a half day park....if all you do is go on the mountains.
Epcot is a half day park.....if you skip WS.
AK is a half day park.....You only go on the thrill rides.

Agreed. That's the bottom line right there.

 

[C&D]

ANY park is a half day park once you start not going into attractions and/or shows.

MK is a half day park....if all you do is go on the mountains.
Epcot is a half day park.....if you skip WS.
AK is a half day park.....You only go on the thrill rides.

I was just about to post something similar to this. If you don't afford yourself of the 'varieties' of each and/or every park, well, then you're not going to have a full day park anywhere.

 

[lebeau]

This thread is the perfect example of what happens when your park has too many attractions that don't reach a bare-minimum of interest for a whole family (various age groups). You get families with young kids that have no interest in half the park. And you get families with no young kids that have no interest in half the park. Ultimately, you wind up with a half day park for everybody.

You'd think somebody would look at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom (and the original Future World) and realize that dark rides eat people and, typically, everyone will go on them. The backbone of WDW is Pirates and Haunted Mansion - AK and DHS (and Future World, again) need equivalents pronto.

Totally agree with these points.

For us, DHS is a half-day park although we mostly visit the parts of the park th OP avoids. Basically, you have 2 half-day parks which appeal to two very distinct groups with very little overlap.

Dark rides would help a lot.