Hollywood Studios Vent

[YoJDew]

Guys.

I'm trying to sketch out plans in advance so that I can be prepared to select my FPs at the stroke of midnight at the 60-day mark... and Hollywood Studios is giving me acid reflux. With a 3-year-old child, we could easily check this park off the list in one day, IF it wasn't for the stupid dumb-dumb fascist Tiered FP+ system. So basically, there are really only nine major things I/we want to do at Disney's Hollywood Studios:

Fantasmic
Aerosmith R&RC
Beauty and the Beast
Toy Story Midway Mania
Disney Jr.
Frozen Singalong
Muppets
Indiana Jones
Tower of Terror

In order to do all of those things without spending half of our day in line, we would need to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios on FOUR SEPARATE DAYS. That is stupid. I do not like this tiered system. It is dumb.

Possible solutions:
Pay $96,000 for a Fantasmic Dinner Package (hooray, we knocked off ONE day!)
Take our chances on Beauty and the Beast and possibly not be able to see anything
Single rider line for R&RC since I'm really the only one who wants to do that anyway

Making a mad dash to TSMM from rope drop is not an option. 3-year-old + Grandma = not so much on the running.

Thanks for listening to me vent.

 

[BrianV]

Don't forget that you get more FP+'s after you use your pre-booked ones.

I would argue that another way of using FP+ is to consider that you only have three! and book them mid to late afternoon when crowds are at their worst. In the morning from opening until maybe even 11:30, lines are low but getting longer. 11:30 to say 1 is a good lunch time. After lunch, lines are their longest. And by mid afternoon, no decent fast passes are left anyway.

I suppose an alternative is to book fast passes for the first three hours possible. But generally speaking, they aren't really needed then. I guess it is just a balancing act.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I would argue that another way of using FP+ is to consider that you only have three! and book them mid to late afternoon when crowds are at their worst. In the morning from opening until maybe even 11:30, lines are low but getting longer. 11:30 to say 1 is a good lunch time. After lunch, lines are their longest. And by mid afternoon, no decent fast passes are left anyway.

I suppose an alternative is to book fast passes for the first three hours possible. But generally speaking, they aren't really needed then. I guess it is just a balancing act.

If you define "decent" as TSMM, then I agree. I've seen ToT, Star Tours, and sometime RnRC available past dinner time. There are different strategies of course, but for us, we get on the most rides without a wait by booking FP+ for the morning and then grabbing extra FPs throughout the rest of the day. Especially if we plan on MK in the evening. Something good is always available there.

 

[ChrisHouston]

YOJDEW:

you started this thread with the premise:

"With a 3-year-old child, we could easily check this park off the list in one day, IF it wasn't for the stupid dumb-dumb fascist Tiered FP+ system."

your ability to do all the items on your list in a day would be the same regardless of the system in place.

We get that you were just venting. But when you whine, you have to expect a little push back. especially when you say as something as silly as it would take 4 days to do it if there was not tier system.

 

[CheshireCat12]

Just remember, all the rides take more time than you think ( I was suprised to note that we spent 25 min.at Test Track from start to finish!) Be sure to budget enough time. Also the shows are not very short either.
For rides, I would FP the following: TSMM, ToT and one more, whatever you like best
The idea is to minimize your wait so the longest wait is certainly TSMM, you can avoid that.
You should be able to do everything you want if you go from rope drop until lunch, break for a nap, and come back early evening like around 5-6:00.

 

[BrianV]

If you define "decent" as TSMM, then I agree. I've seen ToT, Star Tours, and sometime RnRC available past dinner time. There are different strategies of course, but for us, we get on the most rides without a wait by booking FP+ for the morning and then grabbing extra FPs throughout the rest of the day. Especially if we plan on MK in the evening. Something good is always available there.

We've had less luck and therefore changed strategy. Never was there anything worth booking. Our last trip we would go to one park. Come back and have lunch and swim and then hop to another park where we had FPs lined up. Despite being super crowded Easter week, it was very doable.

I'll have to give it a try as you suggest next time.

 

[ToTBellHop]

We've had less luck and therefore changed strategy. Never was there anything worth booking. Our last trip we would go to one park. Come back and have lunch and swim and then hop to another park where we had FPs lined up. Despite being super crowded Easter week, it was very doable.

I'll have to give it a try as you suggest next time.

Well, I don't travel when it is anywhere near as crowded as Easter, so I'm sure that requires a different strategy. I am speaking from experience in early January, mid March (Spring Break but not Easter), late May (Memorial Day), and late August.

 

[BigRedDad]

Its not as difficult as you think and I agree FP+ is facist bordering on something much worse that I will not state.

DHS is a very easy park to plan. It is a half day park at best. You can complete everything quickly. You have a choice: RnRC or TSMM first. If you get a FP for TSMM, you head to RnRC, do it first. Then hit ToT. From there, most everything else will have extremely short waits. All of the shows fit tons of people, so no worry there. Never FP Muppets, Indy, or any of the shows. It is a waste. Fantasmic fits so many people it is not even funny.

Since we do not have to see all of the shows, we can finish DHS in about 3 hours. 1 hour of that would be pin trading.

 

[King Panda 77]

I find it strange that people can "do" a park in 3 hours or half a day.
As for the FP+ syatem being "fascist" i disagree.Previous incarnations used to see people abusing the system and gaining multiple paper passes for the day and locking all the time slots out very early in the morning so anyone not willing to be there at the opening bell and willing to rush between rides gets no chance of getting any "easy" access to rides.As for the 60/30 day divide why shouldn't Disney make some sort of bonus for staying on property ? It is in their intrest to get more occupancy.People are quite willing to make a dining reservation 180 days in advance yet moan about choosing rides

 

[ChrisHouston]

You cannot do HS with a grandmother and 3 year old in three hours (one of which is pin trading). At least not if your plan is to do actually enjoy the trip.