Today I’m sharing the last of my Disney one-day touring plans as a follow up to my Disney World tips and tricks post! You may have already read the Animal Kingdom touring plan and the Magic Kingdom touring plan. Just as the other touring plans, this Hollywood Studios itinerary is for a one-day visit and tailored to a family with older children (9.5 and 8 years) and a toddler (2 years).
When we were trying to decide on which park to do for our third day, I was hesitant about Hollywood Studios. Out of all the parks, it sounded like it would have the least amount of attractions. But that’s partly why we selected it for our third day. Plus, the much anticipated Toy Story Land opened this past summer.
For our last day, we were staying off property so we drove and parked near the entrance. Easier and closer than Magic Kingdom for sure. Breakfast was in the park again (Disney’s Starbucks version on Hollywood Boulevard, called The Trolley Car Cafe) and much less crowded than the same version at Magic Kingdom. So far, pretty easy and more relaxing.
Magic Kingdom Touring Plan: Morning
- Star Tours. We used a FastPass+ for our first ride, but the wait was only around 15 minutes so the boys rode this back to back. It’s a 3-D, motion-simulated space flight and different each time. I get motion sick easily, and I was more than ready to get out when it was done.
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid. A puppet show with songs from The Little Mermaid, what could go wrong? The boys tolerated this show, the toddler didn’t like the dark. She sat in my lap, facing away from the stage basically the entire time.
We walked over to Toy Story Land after this to take a look around. It was packed. Wait times for Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Saucers were loooooong. 90 minutes and 45 minutes. We considered waiting for the saucers, until we saw one ride break and everybody had to get off… No thanks. We had a FastPass+ for Toy Story Mania later in the afternoon and knew this would be a lot of fun.
Magic Kingdom Touring Plan: Lunch
We had lunch at Backlot Express near Star Tours. Again, great value for the kids meals, and I enjoyed my vegetarian sandwich.
Magic Kingdom Touring Plan: Afternoon
- Beauty and the Beast. This live show was perfect after lunch. Lots of singing and some dancing. The toddler was perfectly in her element except for one scene with the scary Beast. One thing to keep in mind about Hollywood Studios is that there are a lot of shows in this park. The theaters are massive so you don’t need to worry about using a FastPass+. We walked up at our leisure and found great seats every time.
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. At this point, my parents stayed at the park with the boys, while we called it a day with the toddler to take her back to the hotel for a good nap and swim in the pool. My mom rode this with the boys, because they really wanted to do it, but wouldn’t do it by themselves. It sounds terrible, if you ask me, but the boys seemed to enjoy it. My mom not so much. It’s a haunted elevator ride where the elevator drops a few times…
- Toy Story Mania! This was a huge hit with my boys and my parents. It’s basically a laser shooting game, and they all really enjoyed it.
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Amazing stunts and movie magic. I wasn’t there myself, but the boys would not stop talking about this in excruciating (but not comprehensible…) detail. They couldn’t get enough.
Magic Kingdom Touring Plan: Evening
My husband and I took our daughter to a casual dinner off Disney property, while the boys and the grandparents ate dinner at Hollywood Studios. Win win! We desperately needed a non-Disney meal at this point.
I hope our Hollywood Studios touring plan is helpful to you in your planning. It was the perfect park to end our stay with, and we hope to return sometime after Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is open! It looks amazing from the bits we could see behind the construction fence, and we have high hopes that it will have similarly amazing rides to Avatar Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom.
Disney Springs
One final note: We had dinner on our very last night in Florida at Disney Springs. My advice: Skip this area at all costs. It’s just a really crowded outdoor shopping Mall with very mediocre restaurants at ridiculous prices. We ate at Paradiso 37 along the water, and the only enjoyable thing was the view that we lucked into. The food was so bad that my husband didn’t eat his dinner. Jaleo is opening there soon, so perhaps that will make it an ok place to go. That and the ice cream that we got after dinner.
