Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Hooray for Hollywood la la la la la la la Hollywood ……. as the song goes! Hooray indeed – this is Mrs Oh!Orlando’s very very very favourite park. It always was – but now with Toy Story Land, a fantastic addition, and with Star Wars land having arrived, it has very swiftly moved up in Mr Oh!Orlando’s ranking too. It has some of the best rides in our humble opinion and a fantastic overall feel about it.

Hollywood Studios used to be called MGM Studios back in the day and it was built and opened in a bit of a rush as The Disney Corporation had got wind of a film studios type theme park being opened just down the I-4 in Orlando – and they wanted to get there first – and they did! And the rival park Universal Studios is doing just fine thank you very much! As you enter the park it’s Hollywood in its heyday – 1940’s glitz and glamour and it feels like that as soon as you walk through the gates. The buildings and shop fronts and restaurants are superbly themed to match this glamour of the movie industry at its best. And so to begin…..

The first “street” Hollywood Boulevard is mostly shops, a whole road of them. Lots of character based clothing, gifts, toys and general merchandise – a very happy and lovely way to steal some much needed air con in the heat or shelter from that passing rainstorm. This leads up to the Brown Derby (fantastic restaurant and lounge bar serving lots of old American classics, Cob Salad, Cesar Salad, etc and proper old fashioned cocktails, such as, well the Old Fashioned and the Shirley Temple – and styled like the original Brown Derby in Hollywood where the famous folk ate). At the very top of the Boulevard is a copy of the famous Chinese Theatre – and this used to host the Great Movie Ride Attraction. We miss this ride – it was iconic (if a little clunky and outdated) and we were very sad to see it go. We look forward to Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Ride attraction opening next year, hopefully before we next visit. There is also still currently on the Centre Stage the Star Wars a Galaxy Far Far Away Stage show which is on several times a day – we don’t know if this will continue with the opening of the Black Spire Outpost.

Anyway – back to the Brown Derby – turn right at the Brown Derby and you’re in Sunset Boulevard – a street full of promise and excitement. There are a couple of fabulous shops and generally lots of street performers wandering around. They put on some vey funny little skits and shows and involve the public too, so you could find yourselves in a mock casting or screening – it’s all done in a very 1940’s themed way and it’s great fun to watch. There’s also the Sunset Street Market here – which is basically an outside food court – fresh fruit and pretzels, burgers,Tex-Mex, pizza and heaven knows what else. Great place to have a little pit stop as every member of your party can have a different snack! This is also the place where Mr and Mrs Oh! shared a children’s pizza meal – filled us both up for $5.99.

The top of the Boulevard is where you’ll find the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster (two of our top rides) and also the Beauty and the Beast stage show (makes Mrs Oh! Cry every time she sees it … so pretty)…… sings “be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test,…” with much gusto! There’s also the Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy attraction (which we haven’t actually seen) but we’re sure if you have Cars fans in your family your kiddos will love. At night Sunset Boulevard is where you’ll find the Fantasmic! Show – Sorcerers Apprentice Mickey in a 30 minute spectacular with music and pyrotechnics – definitely worth a Fastpass to guarantee your seat. Both Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror are Tier 1 Fastpasses (and you can only book 1 Tier 1 Fastpass for any one day, with the other two Fastpasses needing to be Tier 2 attractions). The queues for these two rides are often very long (as are the queues for Slinky Dog but we’ll come to that later) so we’d suggest either an early start and get those big ones done before the crowds build up, or go in later on to see Fantasmic! and ride these two when the crowds have dwindled before the show – sorted!! Tower of Terror is the most fun – if you fancy leaving your stomach at the top of a massive drop then this is the ride for you – a real thrill and themed so fantastically that you really do feel like you’re in the Twilight Zone for a little while. Rock N Roller Coaster, featuring Aerosmith is also a fantastic thrill ride – rock music, fast cars, in the dark roller coaster! Ticks all of our boxes! Brilliant. OK now we’ve flung our breakfasts up to our necks we’ll take a little stroll to get everything back where it should be.

Heading back towards Hollywood Boulevard you can head off in various directions. Let’s take a right into Animation Courtyard – great place for the kids (big and little kids). You’ll find The Voyage of the Little Mermaid live musical, Disney Junior Dance Party, lots of character meets and also the Walt Disney Presents Attraction, which is films, exhibits and a gallery showing Disney past, present and future of the Walt Disney Company and Disney Parks featuring – obviously Mr Walt Disney – One Man’s Dream. Very interesting actually – and again, a fabulous place to get some air con or shelter from the rain.

Follow a lovely little path out of Animation Courtyard and you’re off to a land where you are a tiny toy! Toy Story Land! What an absolute joy! This land is fantastically themed to make you feel like a toy in a toy box. Everything is oversized and there are lots of little Easter eggs to find for film fans and fact finders. Alien Swirling Saucers is a fun ride for the kids and adults alike – cute and fun for the whole family. There’s also Toy Story Mania – a moving shooting game/ride – again fun for all of the family. Our absolute must do – Slinky Dog Dash – a family-friendly little coaster and how cute is the slinky dog ride carriages – right down to his springy little tail bobbling along as you go over bumps and curves! Awesome. MMMMMMAAAAASSSSSIIVVVEEEE queue alert here – use your Tier 1 Fastpass for this one, or definitely get there early or late, or do extra magic hours if you’re staying on Disney property. That said, the queue is very cute too, theming wise – but still, unless you’re in the middle of a thunder storm and can use the queue as a good place to shelter for an hour, we’d definitely recommend you get a Fastpass – if you can!

Great land to wander around, look out for Andy’s footprints in the floor just to prove what a tiny toy you are – and the characters are also here for you to meet too – Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Bo-Peep. The green toy soldiers are also performing and kids are mesmerised. Whether you’re Toy Story fans or not you’ll enjoy this place. We can’t wait to go back there. Woody’s Lunch Box is where you can get your Toy Story themed snacks and treats.

Commissary Lane takes you to – well – the ABC Commissary of course! It’s a fast food casual diner styled on a film set Commissary. You’ll also find the Sci-Fi Dine-in Restaurant. A 1950’S very kitsch looking diner designed like a drive in theatre – you can sit in a car booth or at a kitchen table complete with a tv in front of it – like being in a 1950’s movie set. You can meet Mickey and Minnie along here too – they have their own little Red Carpet movie set and they are in their posh film clothes! Great photos and lovely interaction we had with them when we went last time as we’d just got married and were wearing our wedding ears!

The Echo Lake area is where the Frozen fans amongst you need to head – the For the First Time in Forever Frozen singalong is here – all together now “let it go let it goooooooo” etc etc. Meet Olaf too if you fancy. The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular is always worth a look – a very good stunt show even if you’re not that fussed about the films, and if you aren’t fussed about the films what the heck is wrong with you – Indiana Jones! What’s not to love?!? The Star Tours 3D motion simulator ride is still here despite the new Star Wars Land opening, and it’s still a pretty good ride for the Star Wars fans! Incidentally if you have young children Star Wars fans (the real children ones not the husbands, boyfriends etc that are jumping up and down at the mere thought of Star Wars Land) there is a Jedi training academy in this area as well. It’s totally free – yes we said it, FREEEEEE! – you need to be present with your 4-12 year old child to register them early in the day as places are limited. Head over to the Indiana Jones Outpost to register and there are various shows/slots throughout the day where your kiddos get to learn the ways of the Force and test their skills against the Dark Side. If they did one of these for adult men there’d be loads of wives signing up their fellas – like husband day care – while they head off and go shopping or have a relaxing lunch at Hollywood & Vine with the Disney Characters.

Finally Grand Avenue – grand indeed because that’s where the Muppets live! Fabulous 3D Muppet show in a proper looking theatre complete with Statler and Waldorf doing their cantankerous commentary from the box at the side of the stage. Fun family show and we have seen it heaven knows how many times – still funny! Wakawaka as Fozzie bear would say. PizzeRizzo is also here – an Italian American pizzeria but I wouldn’t get your hopes up on eating here as it’s rarely open for some bizarre reason, but there is another Italian restaurant there too, bit more pricey but a bit more open too! Cute couple of shops selling Disney Christmas and Holiday decor and Disney apparel which generally has a good selection of muppet plushies and tee shirts.

So there’s a quick whizz round Hollywood Studios for you. We are very excited to be going back here obviously – Mrs Oh!s favourite and Mr Oh! is as wild and excitable as Salacious B. Crumb to get into Star Wars a Galaxy’s Edge and his head might just burst when we get there. Looking forward to that – Star Wars land, not Mr Oh!s head exploding.