Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney - MGM Studios) opened in 1989. The park takes its theming from the glory days of Hollywood. Shops and dining options greet you as you make your down Hollywood Boulevard towards the Chinese Theatre. This building is home to the newly opened ‘Mickey & Minnies Runaway Railway’ and is also the backdrop to the nightly fireworks and projection show.
In this area you will find the Fine/Signature dining restaurant ‘Brown Derby’. A recreation of the original restaurant in California featuring caricatures of its famous diners.
As you walk along Hollywood Boulevard you can turn right onto Sunset Boulevard.
On this street you can find the ‘Sunset Ranch Market’ a collection of quick serve food booths and seating, perfect for those family members that all want to eat something different. The dominant feature is the park icon ‘The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror’, a drop ride through a haunted hotel. If you can’t find it follow the screaming. This is also the case for ‘Rock n roller coaster starring Aerosmith’ where you are catapulted through LA traffic on this fast paced roller coaster.
Sunset Boulevard culminates in ‘Fantasmic’, a twice nightly spectacular light and water show featuring many of your favourite characters and songs. You can get preferred seating to this show by enjoying a dining package before hand or it is recommended to take your seat when the theatre opens 90mins before showtime due to its popularity.
Unfortunately Sunset Boulevard is a dead end, requiring you to turn around and head back to Echo lake.
On Echo lake you can find ‘Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction’ the perfect place to grab a snack and cool off. Then you can head to ‘Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular’ or ‘For the first time in forever - A Frozen sing-a-long celebration’. One goes behind the scenes and explains how they achieved the special effects in the film Indiana Jones, the other allows you to sing your heart out to the songs of Frozen and get covered in snoap! (Disneys version of snow bubbles!)
As you walk around the lake you will come to ‘Star Tours’ a simulator ride through the worlds of Star Wars and one of our all time favourites. You never go on the same adventure twice.
On the other side of Echo lake you have Grand Avenue and Commissary Lane. Grand Avenue is home to ‘Muppet Vision 3D’ a classic 3D film featuring all your favourite muppets. You can also find the majority of dining options in these two areas with ‘Pizza Rizzo’, a quick serve pizza joint to ‘Sci-Fi Dine in Restaurant’ on Commissary Lane where you get to sit in a car whilst watching classic Sci-Fi movie shorts. Dining reservations are highly sort after for ‘Sci-Fi Dine in’ and should be made 60 days in advance. You can also dine here as part of the preferred seating ‘Fantastic’ dining package.
Next stop on our tour around Hollywood studios is Animation Courtyard. Unfortunately this area has not been updated in some time and the ‘Little Mermaid’ show has not reopened since the Covid closures.
If you have little ones you can find the ‘Disney Junior Play & Dance’ area where they can dance with their favourite Disney Junior characters.
Those interested in Walt Disney history shouldn’t miss ‘Walt Disney Presents’ this multimedia museum and short film offer and interesting insight to the company.
Welcome to Toy Story land where you have been shrunk to the size of a toy! The theming in this land is incredible and a must see for any fans of the Toy Story movies. Take a ride on ‘Slinky Dog Dash’ a family friendly roller coaster or enter the fairground shooting range of ‘Toy Story Mania’. Both these attractions are available through Genie + and you will need to make your selection at 7am to guarantee a spot in the queue.
Opening March 2023 is the lands only sit down restaurant ‘Roundup Rodeo BBQ’. This family style BBQ dining experience will probably be quite popular and reservations should be made early.
Now we come to in our opinion the most exciting part of Hollywood Studios, Star Wars - Galaxy’s Edge. Batuu is an extremely immersive world based on the movies of Star Wars. Here you will encounter the Rebel alliance as they try to evade capture by the First Order. Storm Troopers interrogate guests, Chewie and Rey ask for help and Jedi Knights wander the world with lightsabers. In this world Cosplay is encouraged and there are regular fan meet ups to take photos in front of the life size Millennium Falcon.
The attractions here are world class. ‘Millennium Falcon - Smugglers Run’ puts you at the controls of the legendary ship, where a team of 6 must capture Coaxium cargo pods. In this ride your actions have a direct impact on the story and movement of the simulator.
‘Star Wars-Rise of the Resistance’ is a multi part attraction featuring a trackless vehicle and simulator. Individual Lightning lanes are available to purchase or you can use the standby line but be prepared to queue for over an hour. ‘Rise of the Resistance’ is not included in Genie +.
The dining options here are all suitably themed to an alien world, from ‘Ronto Roasters’ serving a quick ‘Ronto Wrap’ (Sausage in a pitta) to ‘Docking Bay 7 food and Cargo’ for a quick service meal.
Our favourite experience in Batuu is ‘Oga’s cantina’. A real world replica of the bar from Star Wars - A New Hope. This bar serves incredible drinks such as the ‘Fuzzy Tauntaun’ which makes your lips numb to the ‘Bespin Fizz’ featuring dry ice. There is a collectable Endor mug available with the purchase of a ‘Yub Nub’. The food selection is small and can only be described as bar snacks. This themed experience must booked in advance, walk ups are rare.
When we visit Hollywood Studios we mainly head straight for ‘Galaxy’s Edge’. The immersive world of ‘Batuu is incredible day or night. If you are a Star Wars fan this is a must do. And to be honest even if you don’t like Star Wars you can’t deny that the team of Disney Imagineers have worked their magic, it’s just a shame that the rest of the park pails in comparison.