Lights! Camera! Action!
Hello from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where early mornings are now a regular thing. Since the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the park has had to adjust its operating hours in order to accommodate the demand for the attraction. The park currently opens at 7 a.m., which is also the time when guests can grab a coveted Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding group.
We arrived to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 6:15 a.m., along with hundreds of other people. The security screening area and park entrance were pretty congested. Surprisingly, though, it only took us 20 minutes to work through the lines and scan our MagicBands to enter the park.
At 6:30 a.m., guests were allowed to enter the park. Guests can roam Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard while waiting to join a boarding group.
The fog this morning added to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror’s eerie appearance.
Some of the shops are open before 7 a.m. on Sunset Boulevard for guests to browse. The Trolley Car Cafe was also open so people could get their Starbucks fix.
In Once Upon a Time (which was open before 7 a.m.), we found fun mismatched Mickey and Minnie flip-flops. The left shoe is inspired by Mickey and the right by Minnie. On the straps are a Mickey glove and Minnie bow accent.
The bottom of the sandals are yellow with a sole pattern that will leave hidden Mickeys wherever you walk.
There was also a pair of flip-flops covered in vintage Minnies with hot pink straps.
The soles of these sandals also have the Mickey patterns. Both pairs of flip-flops cost $14.99 each.
Once we had obtained our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding group and the sun began to come up, we realized that all the Christmas decorations were taken down. But, Christmas music still played throughout the park.
In Toy Story Land, Rex no longer donned his cardboard reindeer antlers.
We noticed one of the popcorn carts used the new Millennium Falcon popcorn/fries/whatever-you-can-fit-in-it bucket to house mustard packets.
Construction walls are still up around the new Mickey Shorts Theater.
While there wasn’t much visible change, we could hear construction work.
It seems that the Resistance wasn’t quite prepared to fight the First Order this morning. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance had a delayed boarding process, which resulted in the first boarding groups not being called until right before 9 a.m. This delay caused the rest of Batuu to be busy.
There was even a wait for Ronto Roasters!
Joffrey’s also had a long line later in the morning. Time for a caffeine (re)fuel!
We stopped in It’s a Wonderful Shop and were surprised to see a new Fab Five ornament set this soon after the holidays. Each ornament is a vintage design of the character.
Minnie is dressed in a polka dot skirt and hat with a flower.
A laidback Goofy is posed mid-shrug.
Donald, dressed in a red sailor’s top, shows off his snazzy duds.
Pluto sits with his tongue out.
Mickey, wearing blue pants, holds his hand up to his mouth like he’s telling a secret. This ornament set costs $34.99.
At Mickey’s of Hollywood, we came across more new adult t-shirt designs. The first shirt is blue with a pastel tie dye graphic of Mickey’s face in the center. Below Mickey’s face is the original Walt Disney World logo.
We might just be obsessed with this second shirt, because it looks straight up out of the 90s. This blue “Hercules” tee shows Hercules power lifting the film’s logo.
He’s surrounded by pretty much every character from the film, including Hades, Phil, Megara, the Muses, the Fates, Pain and Panic. Both shirts are $24.99.
Over at Celebrity 5 & 10, we noticed the checkout counter from the back of the store was missing.
We also found these Disney Dad and Disney Mom hats. Word to the wise: for $27.99, they’re a waste of your money. The quality of these hats is awful… we’re shocked they’re being sold in park and not some third-party outlet store. It reminded us of the free promotional hats businesses give away.
Well, we’ve made an entire loop around the whole park and still have a while to wait before our boarding group is called. That does it for our tour of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Thanks for following along!
You mentioned a few shops opened early but do the other rides start early as well? Or Are you just walking & waiting until the normal park open time?