It was a relatively quiet day, but with Park Passes for Annual Passholders unavailable for the next week, we were super lucky to be able to check out Disney’s Hollywood Studios and see what might be new at this classic park. Let’s get started!

We arrived at the parking gate just a few minutes before 9am, so just over an hour before park opening, expecting to be pushed through to the exit and told to come back at 9am or later. Instead, we found lots of cars already there, possibly having arrived mostly at the same time. The cut-through seen on the left of this picture is where the parking staff generally has guests turn around to exit before 9am, but with so many cars present, that quickly became impossible.

Instead, the parking security moved their vehicles and the cones blocking the road and allowed the gathered cars to proceed to the parking gate, where we all lined up and waited to be let in.

The parking staff here have a unique system of informing guests how long they have to wait until they can park. They have created these poster signs, and every 5 minutes they show a countdown, helping those unfamiliar with the parking lot routine to understand that the delay is purposeful.

Once inside the park, while most guests ran for the queue of their favorite attraction, not any one of them had a large line or crowd. Shortly after reopening, we saw this square full of guests lining up to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but today, the line stayed under an hour all day, and within the confines of the attraction building and its immediate surroundings.

We checked out Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, and while we didn’t find anything new, we did find plenty that we enjoyed. What’s your favorite item in this shop, or in Galaxies Edge? Let us know in the comments!

First Order Cargo was open this morning, so we took the opportunity to peruse the gear for the First Order supporters.

Shortly after park opening, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was a 10-minute wait. It’s still strange to see this area so empty. Before the closure, this space would have been filled with a line of guests waiting to ride this attraction.

We spotted the new “The Child” plush at the Creature Stall and couldn’t help but take a picture. Have you seen the new spirit jerseys that just came out on shopDisney? Plus, Annual Passholders get 30% on shopDisney now until August 14th!

We spotted this tiny menu change at the Joffrey’s kiosk near Walt Disney Presents and the entrance to Toy Story Land – Pumpkin Cold Brew is back! It seems to have replaced Shakin’ Jamaican at this particular location, but don’t worry, you can still get Shakin’ Jamaican at other locations in the park.

We found a new Dress Shop dress featuring a design from Inside Out at Legends of Hollywood. We love all the Memory Orb details of this dress! For more pictures and information, see our full article here.

Around midday, even we were surprised to see the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror had a wait time of only 15 minutes. While it was a busy day at the park, the wait times seemed to remain low throughout the day.

We found this adorable Loungefly mini backpack of everyone’s favorite sentence rearranger, Master Yoda. He’ll make the perfect traveling companion on your next adventure.

On our way out, we caught sight of Chewie and Rey on a walkway above Black Spire Outpost, waving to guests and signaling conversations back and forth. We love seeing characters out like this, even though they have to stay socially distant.
We had a great day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we hope you enjoyed coming along with us. Have a magical day!
Were you able to get into the park early enough to get a boarding group for ROTR? The time seems really tight if you’re driving/parking versus staying onsite.
I see someone else already asked, but I was wondering if you were able to get Rise of the Resistance. We tried several times in February but were unable to get on. Fingers crossed for our trip in October. On another note, I am totally in love with that Yoda Loungefly. I don’t think I’ve seen that one before. Thanks for sharing the pics.
We will be at Hollywood studios next week and are trying to figure out what time to leave our hotel (yacht club) to get into the lot to park. Is 8:00 too early? Is 8:30 better?