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Hollywood Studios has extended park hours again. Full details below.
With the busy holiday season over, Hollywood Studios is still needing to adjust hours to accommodate crowds.
Over the last month, park hours have been extended and rearranged for many dates. It seems as if they are being cautious in starting off with early mornings and late evenings.
They are examining crowd levels and going from there.
I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing; however, it does make planning for an upcoming trip a bit difficult.
It can be hard to prepare yourself for when you will need to wake up for Rise of the Resistance boarding passes, how to get your touring plan set up (not hard with Character Locator but it still can take some tweaking based on your needs), and how long you can be in the park.
So far the changes have affected dates all the way through March 2020.
This means they are likely using boarding groups for the foreseeable future to ensure they can get as many guests in as possible to experience Rise of the Resistance.
Check out Kenny’s guide to boarding groups and then head over Character Locator for a good touring plan to help you navigate the crowds and maximize your time.
January 8, January 12-16, and January 21-23 all have updated hours.
Also, Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios have been switched from morning to evening in March.
It seems as if they will keep morning hours early and employ later evenings as well. Remember, Rise of the Resistance does not operate during Extra Magic Hours.
Head over to Kenny’s crowd calendars to see new hours and any new updates to the calendar you may not be aware of.
So, what does this mean for you?
If you were not able to snag a hard-to-get FastPass+ for popular attractions (like Slinky Dog Dash) check often during the next couple days. You should see more pop up!
Also, you will, of course, need to tweak your plan for when to wake up for an earlier arrival! Many guests do not feel the need to get up so early and can get to the park 30-45 minutes before opening, but if you want to be at the front of the crowd for other attractions it is still best to get there 1 hour early.
Are you visiting Hollywood Studios during these new dates? Are you happy they keep updating park hours or do you wish they would stay the same? Let us know on the KtP Crew facebook group or use the facebook share button below!
-Monica S.
Share the love!
Angela Parker
Tuesday 4th of February 2020
Anyone have any idea if HS will let you in early if you have an early ADR? We are going in June and have an Oga’s Cantina 9:05 ADR for 9 am opening. Hoping to get in the land early to take some photos, grab a Latte at Oga’s and then get a boarding pass for RotR and get in line for Smuggler’s Run. Does this sound crazy?
kennythepirate
Tuesday 4th of February 2020
I doubt the park will actually open at 9am and they won't let anyone enter Galaxy's Edge before official opening
Linda Mastroianni
Friday 10th of January 2020
We did Edge of the Galaxy on Dec 29 &30-two of the busiest days of the year. We drove, got to the parking lot at 5 am for a 6 am park opening and we’re through security and close to the front. They started admitting people at 5:30 (half hour before park opening) and held us on the street until 6 am At this time you could use the app to get a boarding group. The speed of whic appeared to be related to your carrier. My daughter got on instantaneously and we go boarding group 19 one day and 14 the next. It’s important to have everyone in your party have their own My Disney Exp account and have everyone in the party linked as family and friends. This allows anyone in the group to get tickets for all. Getting there early allows you to proceed quickly to the line for Smugglers Run. The first day we were too slow and just did Rise of the Resistance. The second day we were much quicker and able to do Smugglers Run waiting only 45 minutes and doing Rise toward the end of the window. Unfortunately Rise broke down half way through but we did get fast passes for return. We actually chose to use the for a repeat of Smugglers Run which my daughter liked better. All in all a typical Disney experience her the early bird gets the ride. Given how often Rise of the Resistance was down, Disney maybe should have picked a slow time to debut.
Robyn Gerner
Wednesday 8th of January 2020
We were at Hollywood Studios last week an hour before rope drop to get our boarding pass, #84. Yesterday we got there an hour after opening and still got a boarding pass, #149. I was amazed and even though we had a late number we still got on at 5. It still seemed pretty busy there, but at least there were no lines for the women's bathrooms, LOL.