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Planning | Exploring Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The first thing you notice when you pass through the Hollywood Studios turnstiles is the laid-back California attitude. Palm-lined Hollywood Boulevard oozes glamour—but in a casual way that makes you feel as if you belong, even without your slinky Michael Kors jersey and Jimmy Choos.
When the park opened in May 1989 its name was Disney-MGM Studios. Disney changed the name in 2008 to broaden its appeal. Unlike the first movie theme park—Universal Studios in California—Hollywood Studios combined Disney detail with MGM’s motion-picture legacy and Walt Disney’s own animated classics. Imagineers built the park with real film and television production in mind, and during its first decade, the Studios welcomed films like Ernest Saves Christmas and TV shows like Wheel of Fortune to its soundstages.
The Animation Studios, too, were busy. Stories such as Aladdin and Lilo & Stitch came to life on the easels and computers of Disney’s Florida animators. Though production has mostly halted at the park, you can enjoy plenty of attractions that showcase how filmmakers practice their craft. If you’re wowed by action-film stunts, you can learn the tricks of the trade at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! or the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. No trip to the Studios would be complete without a tour of the Magic of Disney Animation, where you can sit down and draw a character like Mickey or Donald.
In a savvy effort to grab a big piece of the pop-culture pie, Disney replaced its American Idol attraction with a Frozen singalong show in 2015. But big-hit attractions such as Toy Story Midway Mania! and new twists on old favorites like the 3-D Star Wars–themed simulator ride, Star Tours—The Adventures Continue keep the crowds happy.
Top Attractions
For Ages 8 and Up
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
The Magic of Disney Animation
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Star Tours—The Adventures Continue
Toy Story Midway Mania!
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
For Ages 7 and Under
Beauty and the Beast—Live on Stage
Disney Junior—Live on Stage!
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure
Muppet*Vision 3-D
Planning
Getting Oriented
The park is divided into sightseeing clusters. Hollywood Boulevard is the main artery to the heart of the park, and is where you find the glistening replica of Graumann’s Chinese Theater.
Encircling it are Sunset Boulevard, the Animation Courtyard, Mickey Avenue, Pixar Place, Commissary Lane, the Streets of America area, and Echo Lake.
The entire park is 135 acres, and has fewer than 20 attractions (compared with Magic Kingdom’s 40-plus). It’s small enough to cover in a day and even repeat a favorite ride or two.
If you’re staying at one of the Epcot resorts (BoardWalk, Yacht or Beach Club, Swan, or Dolphin), getting to the Entrance Plaza on a motor launch is part of the fun. Disney resort buses also drop you at the entrance.
If you’re staying off-property and driving, your parking ticket will remain valid for parking at another Disney park later in the day—provided, of course, you have the stamina.
Park Amenities
Guest Relations: You’ll find it just inside the turnstiles on the left side of the Entrance Plaza. A FastPass+ kiosk is at the corner of Hollywood and Sunset boulevards.
Lockers: You can rent lockers at the Crossroads of the World kiosk in the center of the Entrance Plaza. The cost is $7 or $9 with a $5 refundable key deposit. The lockers themselves are at Oscar’s Super Service.
Lost People and Things: Instruct your kids to go to a Disney staffer with a name tag if they can’t find you. If you lose them, ask any cast member for assistance; logbooks of lost children’s names are kept at Guest Relations, which also has a computerized message center where you can leave notes for companions.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Lost and Found.
Report lost or found articles at Guest Relations. | Hollywood Blvd. | 407/560–4666.
Stroller Rentals: Oscar’s Super Service rents strollers. Single strollers are $15 daily, $13 for more than one day; doubles are $31 daily, $27 multiday.
Visiting Tips
• Visit early in the week, when most people are at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.
• Check the Tip Board periodically for attractions with short wait times to visit between FastPass+ appointments.
• Be at the Fantasmic! amphitheater at least an hour before showtime if you didn’t book the lunch or dinner package.
• Need a burst of energy? On-the-run hunger pangs? Grab a slice at Pizza Planet at Streets of America. Alternatively, Hollywood Scoops ice cream on Sunset is the place to be on a hot day.
Exploring Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Boulevard
With its palm trees, pastel buildings, and flashy neon, Hollywood Boulevard paints a rosy picture of 1930s Tinseltown. There’s a sense of having walked right onto a movie set of old, with art-deco storefronts and roving starlets and nefarious agents—actually costumed actors known as the Citizens of Hollywood. Throughout the park, characters from Disney movies new and old—from Mickey Mouse to Toy Story friends—pose for photos and sign autographs.
Sunset Boulevard
This avenue honors Hollywood with facades derived from the Carthay Circle, the Beverly Wilshire Theatre, and other City of Angels landmarks.
Animation Courtyard
As you exit Sunset Boulevard, veer right through the high-arched gateway to the Animation Courtyard. Straight ahead are Disney Junior—Live on Stage!, the Magic of Disney Animation, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
Pixar Place
Pixar Place is home to one of the park’s biggest attractions, Toy Story Midway Mania! Where TV- and film-production soundstages once stood, warm brick facades welcome you to the land of Woody and Buzz. Open-air kiosks invite you to browse for themed toys and souvenirs. The brick building featuring Toy Story Friends is the place to mix and mingle with characters from the blockbuster movie Toy Story. Check schedules on your Times Guide.
Streets of America
It’s fun to tour the New York and San Francisco sets here on foot so that you can check out the windows of shops and apartments, the taxicabs, and other details. If you’re lucky (or smart enough to check the Times Guide show schedule), you’ll join the street party for a performance by Mulch, Sweat & Shears—Live in Concert, as they play a 30-minute set of rock classics or rockin’ seasonal tunes during holidays.
Echo Lake
In the center of an idealized slice of Southern California is a cool, blue lake—an oasis fringed with trees, benches, and things like pink-and-aqua, chrome-trimmed restaurants with sassy waitresses and black-and-white TVs at the tables; the shipshape Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner; and Tatooine Traders, where kids can build their own Lightsabers and browse a trove of Star Wars–inspired goods. You’ll also find two of the park’s longest-running attractions, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! and Star Tours—The Adventures Continue, where a 3-D attraction transformation jazzes up the galaxy.