Hollywood Studios 1-Day Itinerary – Disney World Must Do Attractions, Shows, Restaurants

If you only have one day to spend at Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, our Hollywood Studios 1-day itinerary includes all your must-do rides, shows, and experiences for the day.

We also figure in utilizing Lightning Lane Multi Pass, which is a paid service that allows you to access a shorter line for attractions called the Lightning Lane. At Mickey Visit we are constantly visiting Walt Disney World to bring you the most helpful planning tips.

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Hollywood Studios 1-Day Itinerary Prep

Before you arrive at the park, there are some essential steps you should take to be prepared for your day at Walt Disney World.

• Walt Disney World has an app that you can download for either Android or iOS that will give you the most accurate wait times for rides. This app is a must-have for anyone visiting Walt Disney World. You can link your park tickets to it, make dining reservations, use the mobile food ordering feature, and link your PhotoPass tickets.
• Book Lightning Lane reservations in advance of your trip. If you purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Hollywood Studios, you can book up to three ride reservations in advance of your trip. Read our full guide to the best Lightning Lane tips to see which rides to prioritize for Hollywood Studios, and keep reading for my best tips on this!
• Download and link your tickets to this app PRIOR to your trip and become familiar with it. This way, when you show up to the gates, you are already a pro at using the app. Take a look at the layout of each park on the app so you have a rough idea of where you are going once you enter.
• Decide which attractions are the top priority for each member in your group. Have each family member pick at least one attraction that they do not want to miss. This way, you can make sure that no matter what, each person does their top ride. During your planning, familiarize yourself with the Disney's Hollywood Studios map so that you know how to effectively navigate the park!
• Plan on staying for the entire day and not taking a break so you can maximize your time in the park since you only have one day to spend.
• Check your park operating hours for the day. Walt Disney World is known for changing park hours at the last minute!
• Make sure to pick a day when Hollywood Studios is staying open late enough to see the parks at night! This will often be a weekend unless you're traveling during a peak time of year.
• Make your dining reservations ahead of time. The restaurants at Walt Disney World fill up fast, especially the reservations slots for some of the more popular restaurants.

Hollywood Studios 1-Day Itinerary Morning

Guests will be allowed into the park 30 minutes prior to park opening. This helps control the flow of the crowds and can be a big advantage for arriving to the park early. The access points of the park will be blocked off with ropes (hence the term: rope drop!) until the park officially opens. But being inside the park and ready to go at the entrance to the land you want to head to first is a great advantage.

Walt Disney World Early Entry: Guests staying at Walt Disney World resort hotels are given access to select attractions 30 minutes before park opening, giving those guests an advantage for some popular attractions. Read more about early entry and our advice on what you should prioritize during that 30 minutes if you have it in our Walt Disney World Early Entry guide!

If you don't have early entry, don't worry too much. The hotel guests don't have access to all the attractions during the 30 minutes, so it won't impact your day too much, except that those most popular morning rides will already have a line forming by the time you're let in.

Hollywood Studios Rope Drop

Plan to arrive at least one hour prior to the park opening. You want to be lined up at the front gate roughly 45 minutes before opening, which means giving yourself at least 15 minutes to get through security and manage any transportation delays. If you are driving to the park, see our top Hollywood Studios parking tips.

Hollywood Studios breakfast

Get breakfast to go and eat while you're waiting to be let in through the turnstiles. This will help make the time pass quickly or allow some extra time to eat at your hotel. Just make sure you eat before you arrive!

Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy

If you are only planning on spending one day at the parks, in this case, I absolutely recommend you plan on purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass for your day. This will allow you to access the quicker line, called the Lightning Lane, for attractions rather than the longer standby line, which will save you hours during your day. If you plan on purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass, I recommend reserving these rides in advance:

You can only pick one attraction from the first group. This is the order I recommend prioritizing these selections based on popularity.

1. Slinky Dog Dash
2. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
3. Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
4. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

Slinky Dog Dash is easily the most popular ride aside from Rise of the Resistance in Hollywood Studios! This means that reservations often run out right away for advance bookings, but some will be available in the parks the day of your visit. I would recommend booking Slinky Dog Dash immediately once you redeem your first ride reservation, if it's available. Slinky Dog Dash is one of the most popular attractions in the park, and the line will stay long all day- even in the evening.

The second grouping lists most of the other rides in Hollywood Studios, with the most popular attractions from the list easily being Toy Story Midway Mania and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Here are all the attractions available in the second group which you can make two selections:

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Toy Story Mania!

Now, if you want to ride Rise of the Resistance with no wait, you should consider purchasing Lightning Lane Single Pass for this ride since it is NOT included in Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

I highly recommend you use it for Rise of the Resistance! This ride is easily the most popular in the park and always has a long line- even at park closing and opening. Some guests will arrive early and attempt to rope drop it. However, unless you're in the very front of that crowd heading to the attraction, you might find yourself waiting a long time to ride. Rise of the Resistance will often have the longest wait in the morning, right after rope drop.

Hollywood Studios Touring Plan

• Book Slinky Dog Dash with Lightning Lane, if possible
  • If you are staying at a Walt Disney World resort hotel, you can do this seven days before your visit, giving you an advantage. If you cannot secure this in advance, your best bet is to try to get one the day of OR rope drop this popular ride.
• Ride Tower of Terror & Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at park opening
  • These two rides are directly next to each other, and most of the crowds in the morning tend to run towards Slinky or Rise- leaving the path open to knock these out before the crowds build up! You may have to wait in a longer line for the second one (I recommend doing Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith first!), but it will be far shorter than it will be later in the day.
• Go at your own pace, enjoying the rest of the rides, and use Lightning Lane to save time!

Since Hollywood Studios usually opens a bit later in the day at 9 AM or 10 AM, by this point in your itinerary, the rides will be at the length they will remain for the rest of the day, so you can go to the rest at your own pace. I would use Lightning Lane as often as you can in this park to help maximize your time!

Star Tours- The Adventure Continues typically has low waits consistently, so it's a good option to enjoy while waiting for your Lightning Lane reservation.

Should I buy Lightning Lane for Hollywood Studios?

I highly recommend getting Lightning Lane Multi Pass for this park; I would prioritize having it at Hollywood Studios above all others. This park is extremely popular, and it will help to have a way to save time in line.

Hollywood Studios Best Iconic Lunch Spots

For an iconic Hollywood Studios lunch spot, here are my top three table service (sit-down dining!) recommendations:

• 50's Prime Time Cafe- 50's Prime Time Cafe is an all-American restaurant inside Hollywood Studios that is themed to be just like “Mom's Kitchen” from the 1950s. Be prepared for some humor at this restaurant- the staff here isn't above giving you lessons in table etiquette and lectures on table manners! I was put in ‘time out' along with two other adults in our section for having our elbows on the table, which all the kids found hilarious.
• Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater- The theme at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater makes it one of my favorite Disney World restaurants. The booths are shaped like cars with attached tables in front of the seats. The inside of the theater is themed like an outdoor dine-in theater, complete with a movie screen, light-up sky, and 50s-style car speakers by each table.
• Oga's Cantina- And of course, I'd be remiss to not mention Oga's Cantina, which is the Star Wars-themed bar in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge where you can enjoy space cocktails and bites. All while DJ Rex plays some familiar and new Star Wars cantina appropriate tunes.

Hollywood Studios also offers some great quick-service locations, including:

• Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo– this quick-service location in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge offers great dining options right next to the Millennium Falcon!
• Woody's Lunch Box– this spot inside Toy Story Land offers traditional American fare with a Toy Story twist, with offerings like old-fashioned soda floats and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Characters

You can find Disney characters scattered throughout Hollywood Studios. Some offer traditional meet and greets, and some are just seen from afar or are part of spontaneous character cavalcades.

If you are only devoting one day to Hollywood Studios, you may want to only plan to see characters in passing, as some of these lines (especially for the characters in Toy Story Land!) can get pretty long.

Hollywood Studios Entertainment

Hollywood Studios also offers great stage shows to fill in your day, which is a great way to spend your time when waiting for your next Lightning Lane reservation to be ready! Since this is such a popular park at Walt Disney World, you will find yourself with some time to kill in between ride reservations, so this is a great time to utilize the stage shows.

All these do offer Lightning Lane access, but I wouldn't recommend prioritizing it over a ride you want to avoid a line for! You will usually still get in all these shows without Lightning Lane. Regardless, folks with Lightning Lane just get let in first, so they get first choice of seats and are guaranteed to make it into the show they reserved. We noticed even for the most popular show, Indiana Jones, that the seating area is massive, and they had no issues getting everyone in. Here are the shows that accept Lightning Lane and standby:

• Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage
• Disney Jr. Play and Dance!
• Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular

The absolute must-do on this list? Easily, the choice is Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which will feature behind-the-scenes looks at how stunt actors perform action shots for popular movies like Indiana Jones! You will see explosions, fight scenes, and even a rolling boulder.

As for the two shows not included in Lightning Lane? That includes The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure and Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After. Both of these shows are fairly new, and both are well worth watching. The showtimes are consistent throughout the day, and they are very easy to work into your Hollywood Studios touring plan.

Nighttime Spectaculars

Disney's Hollywood Studios offers two main nighttime spectaculars that are worth taking some time out of your evening to finish off your day.

Fantasmic!

Fantasmic! at Disney's Hollywood Studios is a classic nighttime spectacular and a must-do to add to your Hollywood Studios 1-day itinerary. During peak times of the year, you can expect two shows per evening, which usually are at the end of the park day, which makes for a nice way to wrap up the evening.

Wonderful World of Animation- Hollywood Studios

This new nighttime projection show uses the façade of the Chinese Theatre to celebrate more than 90 years of Disney and Pixar animation. Sequences featured in this film include moments from Sleeping Beauty, The Incredibles, Coco, and Mickey Mouse shorts. The show ends with a tribute to Mickey. The theme of the show incorporates the love of animation with magic, family, adventure, romance, and friendship.

This show is 12 minutes long and typically plays nightly at 9 PM in front of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.

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