What is your plan of attack for Hollywood Studios?

Da Bird is Da Word

Da Bird is Da Word

Active Member
For those of you who are locked in to trips in September and now realize Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge will be open during your stay; what is your plan of attack for Hollywood Studios?

I’ve heard some people say they’re avoiding Hollywood Studios altogether. For a short trip, that might make sense. Me and my girlfriend will be there for 7 nights though, and this is her FIRST time ever going to WDW. So NOT going to Hollywood Studios is not an option. And we may as tell take advantage of the fact that Galaxys Edge will be open, and see it for ourselves!

So, what is your plan of attack? For those of you who plan to brave the crowds, what ideas do you have to maximize your time at Hollywood Studios during the opening weeks of GE? Do you wait an hour before rope drops? Two hours, THREE hours? (Who am I kidding, there’s probably gonna be nuts literally camping out in the parking lot overnight aren’t there?)

What fast passes should we try and get? Will the Star Wars ride be fast pass eligible? Does anyone here have experience with crazy grand openings at Disney World? Like Pandora most recently? What’s your advice on facing this kind of thing head on? 😎 Appreciate your thoughts
 
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me_stitch

me_stitch

Premium Member
I'll probably explore SWGE in the daytime and then come back before the park closes and hop in line for the Millennium Falcon ride. Or hopefully score a fastpass.
 
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belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Smugglers Run will not be a FP+ offering, initially at least.

We’ll be there opening week. No intentions of riding the ride, but would just like to see the land. We’d like to arrive after rope drop and just walk in to a “busy” HS to sightsee.

I’ve never been to an opening day/week/month of an attraction, let alone an entire land of one of the most popular franchises to ever exist, so I’m probably grossly underestimating how crazy things will be... but since we’ll be there anyways, I would like to give it a shot.

Part of me wonders if we don’t intend to ride, will this actually work out for us... and the other part of me wonders if HS is going to close for capacity by 10am so haha nvm delete this. :hilarious:
 
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Da Bird is Da Word

Da Bird is Da Word

Active Member
Original Poster
Well, GE will have been open for almost a week by the time we go to Hollywood Studios, so there should hopefully be some good online tips on how to tackle this thing by then. If I can wait 1-2 hours for rope drop and only have to wait an hour or so to ride the Falcon once we get in to the park, and we score afternoon fast passes for Tower of Terror and/or Rockin Rollercoaster, that wouldn’t be a bad day. I’m sure I’m underestimating things too, but we’ll see. 😁
 
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larryz

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Da Bird is Da Word said:
Well, GE will have been open for almost a week by the time we go to Hollywood Studios, so there should hopefully be some good online tips on how to tackle this thing by then. If I can wait 1-2 hours for rope drop and only have to wait an hour or so to ride the Falcon once we get in to the park, and we score afternoon fast passes for Tower of Terror and/or Rockin Rollercoaster, that wouldn’t be a bad day. I’m sure I’m underestimating things too, but we’ll see. 😁
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One good tip -- buy the services of a plaid for a day, and take nine of your best friends with you.
 
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belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
Da Bird is Da Word said:
Well, GE will have been open for almost a week by the time we go to Hollywood Studios, so there should hopefully be some good online tips on how to tackle this thing by then. If I can wait 1-2 hours for rope drop and only have to wait an hour or so to ride the Falcon once we get in to the park, and we score afternoon fast passes for Tower of Terror and/or Rockin Rollercoaster, that wouldn’t be a bad day. I’m sure I’m underestimating things too, but we’ll see. 😁
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Same here. We’ll go to HS last, keep up with the developments, and go with Plan B if things aren’t looking so hot.

P.S. Don’t forget about Toy Story Land and possibly Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway for FP options. :)
 
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bclane

bclane

Well-Known Member
My plan is to sleep all day the day before, head to DHS at about midnight and then stand in line until they let me in. Then I’m going to cry tears of joy while I drink blue milk and walk around my new favorite place on earth. After successfully piloting the Millennium Falcon, I’m gonna cry somemore. After spending the day completely high from geeking out so hard they will drag me out (since I will be the last one there) (hopefully before maxing our all of my credit cards...but there are no guarantees on that part. I will try to limit myself to one $200 lightsaber however). Then I will take a day off to sleep and then repeat the process. Who’s with me!?
 
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Da Bird is Da Word

Da Bird is Da Word

Active Member
Original Poster
belledream said:
Same here. We’ll go to HS last, keep up with the developments, and go with Plan B if things aren’t looking so hot.

P.S. Don’t forget about Toy Story Land and possibly Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway for FP options. :)
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The last time I went to Disney World, George Bush was in office. Lol. Heck, I still call it “MGM Studios” in my head, and whenever I think of the park the TOT and Rockin rollercoaster are still the big rides that come to mind. 😂 I’m gonna have my hands full with Toy Story Land, Pandora, and now Star Wars land, on top of all the other big name attractions they’ve added over the last dozen years. Can’t wait!
 
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nickys

nickys

Premium Member
Da Bird is Da Word said:
For those of you who are locked in to trips in September and now realize Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge will be open during your stay; what is your plan of attack for Hollywood Studios?

What’s your advice on facing this kind of thing head on? 😎 Appreciate your thoughts
Click to expand...

Plan of attack? Well, obviously with your light sabres drawn! ;)

OK, joke over. People currently arrive for RD 45-60 minutes before, that’s just for TSL. This will be insane in comparison, heck there is no comparison bar, possibly, the opening of WWOHP at Universal.

I would be aiming to get there at least a couple of hours before any EMH offered. The EMH will be the perk for staying onsite. Admittedly, everyone staying onsite will be wanting to go, and they will likely reach capacity even for EMH.

How they handle that I don’t know. After all, if onsite EMH people are queueing for SW:GE all the way through EMH, anyone arriving at normal rope drop could find themselves joining a line that is already facing a 3 hr wait. That negates any pretence of offsite guests having an equal chance of getting in.

For onsite guests staying a week or more, the no FPs is a definite drawback, IMO. You would have been fairly certain of getting FPs at least towards the end of your stay. That is certainly what I am banking on by December 2020! For everyone else, offsite or onsite with a short stay, it is a good thing. And there’s no doubt the ride line will move faster.

However once in the land, it won’t be easy to get people out. Presumably they are hoping people will go in, join the ride queue, look around and get out of the land after 30-60 minutes. Unfortunately, the die hard SW fans will be looking at every nuance and could stay in the land in for hours. I have to assume you will not be able to join the ride line a second time.

Sorry, I realise this isn’t being particularly helpful with a plan of attack, but I think it is the reality. There are at least as many people really upset at the timing of the opening as there are those who are ecstatic. They planned their stays to avoid the opening, and now find their plans already in disarray. Even the logistics of getting into DHS for dining and FPs for the rest of the park is unknown just now.

Edited: @bclane has a good suggestion above. It may be (a tad) tongue-in-cheek but the idea of arriving at midnight could be a good one!
 
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Da Bird is Da Word

Da Bird is Da Word

Active Member
Original Poster
nickys said:
Plan of attack? Well, obviously with your light sabres drawn! ;)

OK, joke over. People currently arrive for RD 45-60 minutes before, that’s just for TSL. This will be insane in comparison, heck there is no comparison bar, possibly, the opening of WWOHP at Universal.

I would be aiming to get there at least a couple of hours before any EMH offered. The EMH will be the perk for staying onsite. Admittedly, everyone staying onsite will be wanting to go, and they will likely reach capacity even for EMH.

How they handle that I don’t know. After all, if onsite EMH people are queueing for SW:GE all the way through EMH, anyone arriving at normal rope drop could find themselves joining a line that is already facing a 3 hr wait. That negates any pretence of offsite guests having an equal chance of getting in.

For onsite guests staying a week or more, the no FPs is a definite drawback, IMO. You would have been fairly certain of getting FPs at least towards the end of your stay. That is certainly what I am banking on by December 2020! For everyone else, offsite or onsite with a short stay, it is a good thing. And there’s no doubt the ride line will move faster.

However once in the land, it won’t be easy to get people out. Presumably they are hoping people will go in, join the ride queue, look around and get out of the land after 30-60 minutes. Unfortunately, the die hard SW fans will be looking at every nuance and could stay in the land in for hours. I have to assume you will not be able to join the ride line a second time.

Sorry, I realise this isn’t being particularly helpful with a plan of attack, but I think it is the reality. There are at least as many people really upset at the timing of the opening as there are those who are ecstatic. They planned their stays to avoid the opening, and now find their plans already in disarray. Even the logistics of getting into DHS for dining and FPs for the rest of the park is unknown just now.

Edited: @bclane has a good suggestion above. It may be (a tad) tongue-in-cheek but the idea of arriving at midnight could be a good one!
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I’m staying at Animal Kingdom, so definitely on-site. But it sucks to pay a premium price for a Disney resort hotel only to stay the night outside Hollywood Studios 😂It won’t shock me if that’s what people do though.
 
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LAKid53

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
My next two visits will be before GE opens. After that, I may skip DHS for a while. Hoping the SW Half in 2020 runs through GE...and runDisney waves its pacing requirement, along with opening the 2 rides early for us runners.
 
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disneyworlddad

disneyworlddad

Well-Known Member
Does any one else think this not being a fastpass offering is actually a way to see if Disney should move away from fastpasses altogether? They could see how long the line is and moves as opposed to how quickly slinky dog or flight of passage moved at their openings. Its a long shot but maybe someone thought about it.

I know they have a ton of money in magic bands but people can still use magic bands to enter the park, open room doors, on ride applications, charge purchases, other things i'm missing.
 
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