Welcome to Disney’s Hollywood Studios! It’s a warm summer Friday filled with new merchandise, the premiere of the Mulan preview at Walt Disney Presents, and everything in between. Let’s see what the glitz and glamour of Hollywood have to offer today.
Upon first entering Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a sign promoting the “limited time sneak peek” of Mulan at Walt Disney Presents was front and center. Given that this was the debut of the preview, we decided to head over to the Walt Disney Presents theater to check it out.
That didn’t stop us from popping into Mickey’s of Hollywood along the way, though, where our quick detour was rewarded with another debut — the first Walt Disney World sighting of the Baby Yoda “The Child” Loungefly mini backpack. This adorable bag features a ton of details from The Child’s role in The Mandalorian, such as a frog zipper pull and intricate lining.
Once we were able to tear ourselves away from the Loungefly bag, we were treated to updated signage and a new display for Mulan just outside of the Walt Disney Theater.
The display holds some colorful screen-used costumes and props from Mulan, offering an up-close experience with some intricate items.
Thinking about performances in general, we headed next door to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Unfortunately, despite the agreement between Disney and the Actors’ Equity Association, we have yet to see certain shows return to Walt Disney World.
The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is another show awaiting equity actors’ return.
Gertie has been patiently waiting outside the Indiana Jones stadium — we assume she’s a big Indy fan.
Heading towards Grand Avenue, we took a moment to take in the Muppets Courtyard. Sadly, we’re still awaiting the reopening of Stage 1, the Muppets-themed shop across from PizzeRizzo.
Continuing further back into the park, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was having a surprisingly smooth day. The attraction had little downtime in the first half of the day, with boarding groups getting as high as 54 by 2:00 pm. The 2:00 pm boarding group distribution lasted a full minute, far longer than usual.
While Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was also operating normally, it had waits as high as 60 minutes during the day.
Waits of an hour or more aren’t for everyone, and stopping into Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities to appreciate the detailed decor can be a rewarding experience with little or no wait.
If you’re looking for visual stimulation on a larger scale, the ships strewn about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge should satisfy that need.
Though if something a bit more dramatic is what you seek, we caught a glimpse of Vi Moradi evading some Stormtroopers elsewhere in Batuu.
Moving along to Sunset Boulevard, we see that there hasn’t been much more progress on Legends of Hollywood’s exterior refurbishment. Specifically, we’re still awaiting reinstallation of the many neon elements which give the store a lot of its character.
The secondary sign further down the boulevard is similarly incomplete without the neon accents.
As is always the case, though, any issues on Sunset Boulevard are forgiven as long as the Hollywood Tower Hotel stands at the end of the street.
It’s not just the attraction that we love, but inside Tower Gifts the selection of Hollywood Tower Hotel and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror merchandise continues to be expanded. For example, this shirt appeared today, accompanying other recent additions such as a bellhop dress and baseball tee.
Featuring a neon outline of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, this shirt asks you to “enjoy your stay” and features The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror logo beneath the hotel art.
This shirt is currently retailing for $36.99.
Also inside Tower Gifts, a few new pieces of The Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise showed up, including a Her Universe shirt and Jack Skellington wreath.
Beyond the new merchandise, the Hollywood Tower Hotel also offered the luxury of a relatively short 25 minute wait time for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
While the posted wait time for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith was 40 minutes, the mostly-empty queue indicated a shorter wait for the indoor coaster.
Much like Tower Gifts, Rock Around the Shop (the exit shop for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster) had new items on offer, adding to a recently-introduced line. Today we found items such as a sleek water bottle, leggings, t-shirt, and hoodie.
On the way out of Rock Around the Shop, and rounding out our day at the park, we took a moment to check out the signed attraction dedication photo which features the members of Aerosmith. The band’s name is notably absent from all of the new merchandise, drawing into question how much longer they will be the ride’s namesake star.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our galivanting around Hollywood, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios as a whole. What new merchandise are you most excited to get your hands on — Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, or Baby Yoda? Let us know in the comments!