Welcome to our trip report covering the start of Christmas Season at Walt Disney World! The primary purpose of trip reports is to supplement our existing content to let you know how our strategies are actually working at a given time! This post covers two rope drops and a day at Hollywood Studios.
Note: This post essentially operates as our one-day Hollywood Studios itinerary post until December 5.
About This Trip Report
This trip report covers a five-night visit to Walt Disney World for the beginning of Christmas season at Walt Disney World. Following the end of Halloween season, Walt Disney World takes a few days to transform into Christmas mode. You can read the full introduction in part 1.
We don’t know exactly how we’ll be breaking up this trip for the purposes of this report, but posts will go up here as we publish them:
Disney World Holiday Trip Report Part 1 — Introduction, Booking, and Arrival
Disney World Holiday Trip Report Part 2 — Updates from around Walt Disney World
Disney World Holiday Trip Report Part 3 — Hollywood Studios Day (you are here)
Disney World Holiday Trip Report Part 4 — Rainy Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
Disney World Holiday Trip Report Part 5 — Day at Animal Kingdom
Recommended Reading
Since this post is all about a day at Hollywood Studios, we want to highlight some other content you might be interested in. Our Walt Disney World FastPass+ Guide and our Hollywood Studios FastPass+ Strategy are crucial to planning your day at Hollywood Studios. It’s Christmas season, so you may want to read our Guide to Christmas at Hollywood Studios.
The Hollywood Studios Rides and Entertainment Guide is recommended but not essential. Likewise you may want to read about Disney World’s Height Requirements and the best activities for toddlers at Hollywood Studios.
Then there are two posts you can probably skip but we still want to note. Our one-day Hollywood Studios itinerary is currently in flux (because the park is, too) and at the moment just tells guests to come here. Relatedly, our post on Rope Drop at Hollywood Studios gives some context you might not find here, but the important stuff is reflected in this post.
Hollywood Studios Rope Drop (Day 1)
This post is going to start with a rope drop at Hollywood Studios where things went a little wrong. Then we’ll cover a rope drop from the following day, along with the rest of that full day at Hollywood Studios.
For both of these mornings, we’re sticking with our recommend strategy of starting with Slinky Dog Dash and saving Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run for the afternoon.
If you have a Slinky Dog Dash FastPass+, you could start with Smugglers Run in place of Slinky Dog Dash, but keep in mind that Smugglers Run is farther from the entrance and takes longer to load and then get to Toy Story Land, so you’ll lag a bit behind the guests who start with Slinky Dog Dash.
Boarding the bus to Hollywood Studios at 7:31AM, I was at the park gates at 7:44AM. The Skyliner doesn’t start operating until 8AM, which makes it a bad option for Hollywood Studios rope drop (you can read more about the Disney World Skyliner system here). Security opened at 7:45AM, and only a few lines were formed right off the bat.
As the morning went on, they opened some lines on the right and then some on the left. Generally, you can expect some touch points on at least one of the sides to be added.
At 8:24AM we were let into the park and held up near the end of Hollywood Boulevard. At 8:40AM, we were walked to the rides. I was heading to Slinky Dog Dash. Guests going to Toy Story Land follow Cast Members on the right. Guests going to Smugglers Run go left.
I was on the first Slinky Dog Dash ride of the day, boarding at 8:48AM. From there I didn’t think twice and went to Alien Swirling Saucers, boarding after a three-minute wait at 8:55AM.
This is when things got strange. The Toy Story Mania wait was posted at 60 minutes, a ridiculous wait for this early. And notably, it was the same wait time as Slinky Dog Dash and not much shorter than Smugglers Run (70 min).
There was no way I was going to wait for it at that point. And as it turned out, the ride was having mechanical issues. Toy Story Mania has three tracks, and obviously at least one was down to start the day. Within a few hours, the ride was temporarily closed after peaking at an astounding 105-minute wait.
There’s no way you could plan for this. Even if you went right after Slinky Dog Dash (which I do recommend), the ride still probably would have broken down before you got on it. In general, it is going to be best to pass up a 60 minute wait that early and hope to luck into a FastPass+ or deal with a long wait later.
I headed to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, waiting only 12 minutes (posted wait was 25 minutes). From there I went to Tower of Terror, riding that with a 21-minute wait (posted was 35 I think).
Altogether, I had finished Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror by 9:41AM.
Hollywood Studios Rope Drop (Day 2)
Now let’s look at a day when Toy Story Mania didn’t have technical issues. This was a crowd level 7/10 day (according to Touring Plans), so it should provide a useful guide for all but the busiest days in the next month.
Since I did the narrative and the photos above, I’m just going to give you a quick timeline for this morning (ride times are when we boarded):
7:26AM Board Bus
7:40AM Arrive
7:53AM Inside Park
8:49AM Slinky Dog Dash
8:59AM Toy Story Mania
9:15AM Alien Swirling Saucers
9:42AM Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
So that winds up as the same number of rides by almost the exact same time, but riding Toy Story Mania instead of Tower of Terror. I was again on the first ride of Slinky Dog Dash for the day, which makes the 7:40AM arrival worth it, to me.
Tower is generally the easiest of the Tier 1 FastPasses to find, and I managed to grab a 9:40AM slot at 9:39AM when the posted wait was 40 minutes. I also could have easily just gone and waited the 40 minutes, if necessary.
Late Morning at Hollywood Studios
I modified my Star Tours FastPass+ to 10:20AM while waiting for Tower of Terror. We rode Tower at 10AM and Star Tours at 10:24AM.
Exiting Star Tours around 10:30AM, I set my sights on the 11AM showing of Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage. Generally I like to tackle this one early. It usually only has about five shows, and the last one tends to be pretty early (around 5PM).
We stopped at Starbucks and grabbed our seats at the show by 10:55AM. It’s a good show, and even though we don’t watch it every trip it’s worthy of a spot in a full day at Hollywood Studios.
It’s a tight squeeze, but you can make the 11:30AM showing of Frozen Sing-Along if you book it from Beauty and the Beast. There are a good number of these shows, so it’s not the worst if you miss this one. We caught it. The holiday edition ends different from the standard version. I prefer the standard.
At noon we faced a choice—lunch or Smugglers Run. It was a coin flip decision, but we weren’t too hungry and were fine finishing off our ride list, so we hopped in line at 12:19PM when the posted wait was 80 minutes.
The line was all the way back by Kylo Ren’s ship, which is weird but consistent with how things have gone. It’s strange that the queue doesn’t seem to have space for more than 60 minutes of people, sort of.
Once FastPass+ is added, those 60 minutes of people will be more like 90 minutes (or more?), which is a reasonable amount for the queue I suppose.
We wound up waiting 85 minutes, boarding at 1:44PM. After a 2PM lunch at Docking Bay 7, we set out to enjoy entertainment and holiday fun.
Afternoon at Hollywood Studios
Around 2:15PM we were over by Echo Lake and overheard that the 2:30PM showing of the Frozen Sing Along might be full. Obviously we were glad to have checked it off our list, but I’m sure the later shows had space (though they might conflict with dinner / show schedules).
Our afternoon was basically balancing some of our remaining shows with taking in the holiday decorations. We have a separate post specifically dedicated to Christmas Season at Hollywood Studios, but here’s a gallery you can click through, including some of the snacks we ate:
In between snacking, we watched: Muppet Vision 3D at 3:35PM, Voyage of the Little Mermaid at 4:25PM, the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at 4:45PM, and Star Wars: A Galaxy Far Far Away at 5:30PM.
You might notice that gap between the Little Mermaid and the Stunt Spectacular was tight. Well, we actually wound up with “standing room” at the Indy show.
The space all the way at the top is standing room, though you can also sit on the planters up there. It’s fine if you know the show and know when you actually need to stand up for a good view, but I wouldn’t recommend it for first-timers.
One thing we totally blanked on was Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy. We mentioned it a few times during the day, but got so swept up in Sunset Seasons Greetings (covered next) that we forgot about it.
Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy is located behind Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. It’s a fun show and I actually prefer it to several other things at Hollywood Studios. But with its location, you won’t see it unless you deliberately go to it, which makes it easy to forget. Adding to that, it tends to close earlier than the park, so always check the times in the app.
Evening at Hollywood Studios
Our evening started with the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Echo Lake. This isn’t on the Times Guide or in the app. There’s an announcement made in the surrounding area. This night the tree was lit at 5:48PM. Sunset was at 5:34PM, but I think they were mostly waiting on the Star Wars show to wrap up around 5:45PM.
I need a haircut.
As for shows, Hollywood Studios has long given guests a choice. Watch Fantasmic! or watch something else. We pretty much always choose “something else,” particularly during the holidays when that something else is exclusive to the season.
Tonight’s entertainment schedule was 8:35 Wonderful World of Animation, 9PM Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!, 9PM Fantasmic! We were targeting Wonderful World of Animation and Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!, both projection shows on the Chinese Theater.
But first…
Sunset Seasons Greetings
Sunset Seasons Greetings is our favorite part of Christmas Season at Hollywood Studios. Starting around sunset and continuing until the park closes, lasers, projections, and holiday lights transform Sunset Boulevard (the street that ends at Tower of Terror).
Sunset Seasons Greetings is actually about a 12 minute show running through four scenes on a loop. Each scene starts with a short video on one of the two giant screens on either side of the street.
Then comes the projection and laser portion, which sees the Tower of Terror transformed into something like a Gingerbread Tower or the “Hollywood Toy Hotel.” Finally, the street is covered in “snow” and laser lighting while the finished product stays projected onto the tower for a hot second.
Because the projections are so intricate, you really should watch this at least twice. You’ll see details the second time that you missed the first time. Personally, we watch it a lot more than twice.
One thing to know is that the street does have a few photopass photographers but it’s really tricky to get the perfectly timed shot because everyone is looking for it.
We had dinner on Sunset Boulevard (Catalina Eddie’s), so we could enjoy an obstructed view of the tower.
Finishing Our Night at Hollywood Studios
We walked around and took some holiday night shots, which I’ve compiled here (I don’t have a great night camera, sorry):
At 8:21 we decided we’d seen enough and grabbed a spot for the 8:35PM show. The projections for both shows are very good, and given that some people are over at Fantasmic!, it’s actually pretty easy to grab a fantastic view just a few minutes early.
Wonderful World of Animation is a pretty simple Disney animation clip show projected onto the Chinese Theater. It’s worth a watch, but I wouldn’t rate it as essential during the holidays.
Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! is the special holiday show at the Chinese Theater. It’s a good show, but if you aren’t familiar with Nightmare Before Christmas it will be confusing (I’ve heard this from people who were themselves very confused).
One question we get a lot that we don’t have an answer for is watching Fantasmic! and another show (in this case the 8:35PM show and then Fantasmic!). The problem is you won’t know the show schedule ahead of time, which makes it difficult to predict what Fantasmic! will conflict with.
One other problem is that you don’t know if Fantasmic! will fill up, which it does. If you rushed over to Fantasmic! at 8:55PM you might get in, you might not.
And finally, it’s moot today because Fantasmic! conflicted with the holiday show, which we like.
Skyliner to Pop Century
I’m not a fan of exiting with crowds, so we just grabbed a spot off to the side and waiting a few minutes for people to disperse. I grabbed this photo of the new logo:
A Cast Member was king enough to see me taking it and to scoot out of the middle of it. They’re such gems.
Exiting the park at 9:25PM we were on the Skyliner at 9:32PM and back at Pop Century at 9:42PM. Of course, the Epcot line was down which lightened the crowds at Caribbean Beach (since we didn’t have anyone transferring from Epcot to Pop). We had problems with the Epcot line at night one day too.
As always, the lesson is that when the Skyliner works, it’s fantastic. 17 minutes from the park to the hotel is amazing. Even if we caught the first bus, with the walking time to the bus stop and bus load time, we might not have departed within 17 minutes.
Final Itinerary
Keep in mind this itinerary doesn’t set aside time for character greetings (including Santa Claus), and it doesn’t include a few other things like Star Wars Launch Bay or the Disney Junior Dance Party. Large gaps were probably just us walking around taking pictures, shopping, or eating snacks.
Time are either when we boarded a ride or when the showtime we watched:
7:26AM Board Bus
7:40AM Arrive
7:53AM Inside Park
8:49AM Slinky Dog Dash
8:59AM Toy Story Mania
9:15AM Alien Swirling Saucers
9:42AM Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
10:00AM Tower of Terror (FastPass+)
10:24AM Star Tours (FastPass+)
Coffee
11:00AM Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
11:30AM Frozen Sing Along
1:44PM Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (85 minute wait)
Lunch
3:35PM Muppet Vision 3D
4:25PM Voyage of the Little Mermaid
4:45PM Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
5:30PM Star Wars: A Galaxy Far Far Away
5:48PM Tree Lighting at Echo Lake
Dinner & Sunset Seasons Greetings
8:35PM Wonderful World of Animation
9:00PM Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!
Next In Part 4…A Rainy Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
Learn More About The Holidays at Walt Disney World
Want to learn more about Christmastime at Walt Disney World? For starters, we've got a Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World, which introduces you to everything you need to know.
Need more specifics? You'll want to read about the park that gets the most Magical decorations in our post on Christmas at Magic Kingdom. You'll also want to read about Flurry of Fun—the Christmas celebration at Hollywood Studios, the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, and the Holiday Celebrations at Animal Kingdom.
But the flagship event of the season is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party—and our guide has you covered with everything you need to know. Or check out the quick version in our 12 Tips for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Last but not least, let's not forget that the celebrations don't stop at the parks! You can visit our post on Christmas decorations at the Disney World hotels to see how even the hotels get into the spirit!
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And at 180 days out it's time to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World FastPass+ strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom FastPass, Epcot FastPass, Animal Kingdom FastPass, and Hollywood Studios FastPass.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.