Reopening Day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios reopened on July 15, and my daughter and I were there. It has always been my favorite park, even before Galaxy’s Edge, and I couldn’t wait to get back. There were some rough patches throughout the day, but we still had a great time. It was good to be back.

We arrived at 9:15, even though the park is currently opening at 10:00. I expected a backup at the toll plaza, but there wasn’t one. Since we were so early we had a great parking spot. There are still no trams. There was no wait for temperature check, and the new system for bag check is brilliant. Disney is no longer requiring a finger scan, and we were in the park less than five minutes after we parked.

We immediately saw a problem. There was a large crowd gathered in front of the Chinese Theater. I know that you can’t tell if people are staying apart from a distance, but we still did not want to end up in a group of people. We went into a store for a few minutes, and when we left the crowd had been dispersed.

The park wasn’t officially open, but we were allowed to wander over to Galaxy’s Edge. Our top priority was to get a reservation for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Disney is releasing Boarding Passes at 10:00, 1:00, and 4:00. That’s supposed to keep the early morning crowds from gathering. I’m sorry, but the system is flawed! We opened the My Disney Experience App at exactly 10:00, only to discover that our names weren’t on our Friends & Family list. (How does that even happen?) We closed the app, opened it again, and kept getting errors. We ended up having to talk to two different people from Guest Relations, and we were finally able to get our spots. Disney needs to fix the system, because we talked to other people who had problems with it. I personally think that they need to scrap getting the reservation through the app and using something more like the old FASTPASS system. What they have now is not working.

Things did improve quickly. Smugglers Run was our first ride of the day. The queue started outdoors and it was already hot. Both outdoors and indoors had markers to keep parties apart, and inside there was plexiglass when people might be next to each other. Hondo’s preshow was running, but you didn’t stop for it. You just kept walking through. There were no cards with Pilot, Gunner, or Engineer on them. Instead, your party only would ride, and you could pick which positions you wanted. Everything else was put on automatic. We might have returned a few times later in the day…

Back to Rise of the Resistance for a moment. Once your ticket or MagicBand is scanned, you’ll head through the queue. We got to ride fairly early in the day, things got backed up later on. When you arrive in the room before the preshow with BB-8 and Rey, you’ll be given a number. That’s the number that you’ll stand on for the preshow, when you head back outside, and in the transport vehicle. The number system worked smoothly. It is an amazing ride.

There are some modifications to other rides. Star Tours – The Adventures Continue now is seating only rows one, three, and five. The first row is for parties of two, the third for parties of three, and the fifth for larger groups. There are physical barriers placed on some seats to make sure that groups stay apart. On Toy Story Mania!, Mr. Potatohead is nowhere to be seen. There’s no preshow for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Pixar Place is closed. These are a few examples of the changes. Sadly, we didn’t get to ride Slinky Dog Dash. It was down for part of the day, then the Wait Time went way up (the queue is in the sun), and then it shut down again because of the weather.

Speaking of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the new ride seemed to be plagued with problems for a good part of the day. Several times when we checked the My Disney Experience App it was down. When we got in line the Wait Time on the app said 70 minutes, but we only waited for about 30. It’s a great ride, but it’s too short!

Another blip was when we went to PizzeRizzo. The eatery is only accepting Mobile Ordering. We received the notification quickly after hitting the “I’m here” button, so we went inside. Our order wasn’t really ready, but we didn’t complain because it was better than waiting outside. The Cast Member getting the food for us kept apologizing, but it wasn’t her fault. When our order was actually ready we went upstairs, intending to eat in the banquet room. Tables in there were marked off, and those that weren’t were all dirty, every one of them. We went back out into the main area, and found a clean table. The food was great.

The indoor Relaxation Station (where you can remove your mask for a few minutes as long as you keep away from other people) is in Star Wars Launch Bay. It’s a strange choice. Launch Bay is officially closed, but people kept coming in to see the exhibits. That meant that they were walking in the middle of people not wearing masks. When we were in Launch Bay there wasn’t a Cast Member inside, making sure that the rules were followed. The other indoor Relaxation Stations that we’ve visited have had someone working inside. Those who took off their masks were staying apart and following the rules.

We didn’t see many characters. This wasn’t Disney’s fault, I blame Mother Nature. Our plan was to hit all the rides, and then watch the Character Cavalcades on Hollywood Boulevard. We saw Mickey’s Cavalcade, but then it started to rain and the rest were canceled. (We were in a covered spot when the hardest rain started, so my magical waterproof shoe covers stayed in my bag once again.) We did see Stormtroopers in Galaxy’s Edge. I know that other characters were on Batuu at some point, but we missed them.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios was more crowded than the other parks that we’ve visited in the past week. It’s the smallest of the four Walt Disney World theme parks, and it always feels like there are more people there. We were able to mostly keep away from other people, and almost everyone was obeying the rules. The Cast Members were great once again. We even made one last trip back to Guest Relations before we left because we wanted to leave a compliment for someone. The guy in Guest Relations who we left it with knew the man who we were leaving it for, and we could tell that he was smiling about it behind his mask.

We still felt safe, but there were areas for improvement. Disney needs to do something different with the Rise of the Resistance situation, because it is still going to draw crowds. There are no live shows, so a good chunk of a normal day is gone. Some of the Wait Times were longer than the other parks, but that’s to be expected because so much is new. The kinks that we experienced weren’t things that could potentially put someone in danger (except maybe for the dirty tables) and I know that much is trial and error right now. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is one of my favorite places on the planet, and I already have a Disney Park Pass reservation to return. I can’t wait to go back again! I hope that most of the issues will have been worked out by then.