This is one of my first post and wanted to share some interesting info on some Hollywood Studios visits. Not sure of this is a true "Trip Report" but a summary of recent visits which I took a lot of video versus pictures.
As an Orlando resident and annual pass holder, I decided to venture out to Hollywood Studios on Friday June 29th with my 9 year son. I was hoping for a "soft opening" and it was also raining in the afternoon so I thought why not? If you don't know - heading to the parks after a thunderstorm in the late afternoon is a good thing. Most people (that arrive early in the morning/day) will leave if there is a storm in the late afternoon since they feel like they got their money's worth and will take in dinner outside of a park. It's a good time to arrive when this happens as you see a flood of folks leaving the park as you enter.
Anyways upon entering Hollywood Studios a day before the Toy Story Land Grand Opening around 630pm we headed directly to Toy Story Land. You could see the advance preparations like areas to queue lines and extra large umbrellas to shade folks for the next morning/day soon to be waiting. Even saw a lot of roadway signs driving up in place for the next mornings crowds. I was pleased to see on the day before the opening that first at 630 pm - Toy Story Land was open to the public! And second there was no line to get "in" to Toy Story Land. I know the next day (Grand Opening) folks had to wait hours just to get into the land that was capacity controlled due to crowds. So the day before the grand opening (Friday Night) we just walked around.
Slinky Dog was 2 1/2 hour wait and that's with no fast passes issued so the line moved however the line was outside of Toy Story Land. We got real lucky since Alien Swirling Saucers was listed as one hour but it gets better. One side of the 2 sides of the ride was working. We noticed the other (2nd) side was being tested which usually means it will open soon. We got lucky since we got in line with the posted 1 hour wait and shortly after the 2nd side opened (just one line feeds both) and our wait went from a posted 1 hour to a overall 35 minute wait.
I have a video trip report which shows the day before the grand opening and a POV from Alien Swirling Saucers.
Video - Day before Grand Opening
We took our second trip to Toy Story Land last Friday (August 17th). This was great since Disney reclassified the Fast passes to Hollywood Studios and Aerosmith is no longer in the premium category. Once again we went in the afternoon around 630 pm and in 3 hours we had fast passes for Aerosmith, Toy Story Mania, and Tower of Terror. But it got better. Similar to Alien Swirling Saucers being out of service, when we arrived to Toy Story we noticed Slinky Dog was not running. After looking around the area for a while we saw the first test train dispatched which means it's almost ready. We quickly got in line before others could hear the train going around the track and scored Slinky Dog in 35 minutes and still made all of our fast passes in 3 1/2 hours. Best day ever to hit the quality rides in 3 1/2 hours that can usually takes 5-7 hours.
Enjoy and let feel free to provide any feedback. We took a trip to Japan this summer and planning to make some Tokyo Disney Land and Disney Sea videos as memories for those experiences. Hopefully not posting this in the wrong forum - still the new guy here.
As an Orlando resident and annual pass holder, I decided to venture out to Hollywood Studios on Friday June 29th with my 9 year son. I was hoping for a "soft opening" and it was also raining in the afternoon so I thought why not? If you don't know - heading to the parks after a thunderstorm in the late afternoon is a good thing. Most people (that arrive early in the morning/day) will leave if there is a storm in the late afternoon since they feel like they got their money's worth and will take in dinner outside of a park. It's a good time to arrive when this happens as you see a flood of folks leaving the park as you enter.
Anyways upon entering Hollywood Studios a day before the Toy Story Land Grand Opening around 630pm we headed directly to Toy Story Land. You could see the advance preparations like areas to queue lines and extra large umbrellas to shade folks for the next morning/day soon to be waiting. Even saw a lot of roadway signs driving up in place for the next mornings crowds. I was pleased to see on the day before the opening that first at 630 pm - Toy Story Land was open to the public! And second there was no line to get "in" to Toy Story Land. I know the next day (Grand Opening) folks had to wait hours just to get into the land that was capacity controlled due to crowds. So the day before the grand opening (Friday Night) we just walked around.
Slinky Dog was 2 1/2 hour wait and that's with no fast passes issued so the line moved however the line was outside of Toy Story Land. We got real lucky since Alien Swirling Saucers was listed as one hour but it gets better. One side of the 2 sides of the ride was working. We noticed the other (2nd) side was being tested which usually means it will open soon. We got lucky since we got in line with the posted 1 hour wait and shortly after the 2nd side opened (just one line feeds both) and our wait went from a posted 1 hour to a overall 35 minute wait.
I have a video trip report which shows the day before the grand opening and a POV from Alien Swirling Saucers.
Video - Day before Grand Opening
We took our second trip to Toy Story Land last Friday (August 17th). This was great since Disney reclassified the Fast passes to Hollywood Studios and Aerosmith is no longer in the premium category. Once again we went in the afternoon around 630 pm and in 3 hours we had fast passes for Aerosmith, Toy Story Mania, and Tower of Terror. But it got better. Similar to Alien Swirling Saucers being out of service, when we arrived to Toy Story we noticed Slinky Dog was not running. After looking around the area for a while we saw the first test train dispatched which means it's almost ready. We quickly got in line before others could hear the train going around the track and scored Slinky Dog in 35 minutes and still made all of our fast passes in 3 1/2 hours. Best day ever to hit the quality rides in 3 1/2 hours that can usually takes 5-7 hours.
Enjoy and let feel free to provide any feedback. We took a trip to Japan this summer and planning to make some Tokyo Disney Land and Disney Sea videos as memories for those experiences. Hopefully not posting this in the wrong forum - still the new guy here.
