We’re back with another look at wait times for the week of November 17 – 23. If you missed our first post you can check out our Magic Kingdom wait time breakdown here. Let’s dive into Hollywood Studios wait times. (Click on photos to display full size)
November 17th
Hours: 9am – 8pm
easyWDW: Recommended
Monday proved to be more busy than predicted. Toy Story Midway Mania (hereafter TSMM) experienced the highest average actual and posted times for the entire week. For over 2.5 hours it had a posted time of over 100 minutes. Two major contributing factors are the lack of headliner attractions and MVMCP at Magic Kingdom. We usually see crowds move from the Magic Kingdom to Hollywood Studios as we approach 7pm. TSMM is usually a good barometer for crowd levels and we see an increase in actual wait times at 4:30pm, the time that party attendees are let into the Magic Kingdom. If you plan on visiting Hollywood Studios during MVMCP, make sure you get your rides done before 3pm.
November 18th
Hours: 9am – 8pm
easyWDW: Recommended
The 19th was much less crowded than the day before. TSMM remains a draw at rope drop. Tower of Terror also saw high crowds in the couple of hours before and after lunch. Fantasmic continues to draw crowds which leads to shorter wait times around 6:30.
November 19th
Hours: 9am – 8pm
easyWDW: Recommended
With no Fantasmic scheduled, the only good times to find low waits were during lunch and dinner. That is, 12:30 – 1:30 and 5:15 – 6:15. Overall, wait times were fairly light today.
November 20th
Hours: 8am – 4pm
easyWDW: Most Recommended
With a closing time of 4pm (for a cast event), not many people wanted to “waste” a day here. That said, guests who went for rope drop had a wonderful experience of low wait times. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster saw actual wait times of less than 30 minutes for the first 3 hours of park operation. Tower of Terror didn’t get above a 20 minute actual wait all day! Bottom line is that if you can rope drop Hollywood Studios on a short operation day, you’ll be able to hit all the rides at least once before lunch.
Also, if you’ve ever wondered what wait times are like during a cast event, we have the data!
November 21st
Hours: 9am – 8pm
easyWDW: Recommended
A normal day in most respects with a little bump in times around dinner due to guests being kicked out of Magic Kingdom if they’re not attending MVMCP. With no Fantasmic scheduled we didn’t see any drop in crowds. Overall, not a bad day to be at Hollywood Studios, but if you’re trying to maximize your day make sure to look for early closings, like yesterday, or days with one or two Fantasmic showings.
November 22nd
Hours: 9am – 9pm
EMH: 1 hour before park open
easyWDW: Not Recommended
Unless you’re able to get in for EMH, this wasn’t a great day. When you have EMH, plus two Fantasmic showings, the crowds will come. We actually saw an actual wait of over 100 minutes for TSMM. Compare that with the 20th and you’ll see what early closings are a good idea at Hollywood Studios.
November 23rd
Hours: 9am – 9pm
easyWDW:
With most resort guests getting in their Hollywood Studios fix during yesterday’s EMH, we saw slightly better numbers than yesterday. Keep in mind though that an early closing day is still the best. That said, let’s take a look at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and the effect that a ride going down can have on wait times in Hollywood Studios.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster went down for about an hour in the morning. That means that guest who were trying to incorporate it in their rope drop plans may have to reschedule. Guest who have FastPass+ will have to reschedule. Finally, guests who were trying to make Hollywood Studios a half day park will have to come back later.
So what does that do to other rides? The obvious attraction to go to when Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is down would be its next door neighbor, the Tower of Terror. We did see a bump in wait times of about 25 – 30 minutes during the down time. Ok, that’s great, but there are a lot of displaced guests that can’t all ride Tower of Terror, so lets look at other attractions. The Great Movie Ride saw a bump of about 10 minutes, Star Tours experienced an increase of almost 30 minutes, and even Muppet Vision saw a 5 – 10 minute bump. (Note: Our actual wait time data looks weird for TSMM, but that would also be a big draw when another ride is down).
So what can you do? My advice is to either grab a snack and wait for it to re-open or head over to a show. When Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster re-opened we saw all the displaced guests come flooding back. If you were waiting for it to re-open you experienced a wait time of about a half hour. If you missed re-opening by just 45 minutes (an easy thing to do if you’re in another line), then your wait would jump to the 60 – 90 minute mark.
That’s just a little peak into what a single ride closure can do to the rest of Hollywood Studios…unless it’s Muppet Vision that’s gone 101.
Thank you again for reading this breakdown. I hope it will give you a little more insight into what you can expect the week before Thanksgiving. As we head into Thanksgiving (and I hit the road like many of you), I will save Epcot and Animal Kingdom breakdowns for another time. If you’re interested in Thanksgiving breakdowns for Walt Disney World, check back next week and we’ll have a full report!