Worst Things About Hollywood Studios?

[ChrisFL]

Losing the great movie ride was a big loss, not because it was my favorite attraction, it could have definitely been updated, but because it was a long, indoor, air-conditioned ride with short wait times that you could relax in.

I don't mind them adding the Runaway Railway, I just wish they put it somewhere else. Actually in the Circus area of Fantasyland would have been thematically ok I think?

They could also open up the area between the current Launch Bay area and Sunset Blvd. to make crowd flow much better. I've heard a rumor this might happen eventually.

DHS partially suffers from being a VERY small park initially where there was no Sunset Blvd at all in 1989, and them slowly expanding/changing over time.

Agreed with lack of dining options and it's difficult to get ADR's for the good places sometimes.

 

[yorkieteacher]

Only one ride without height restrictions-I get it that this was originally a park for shows connected to movies, but with all the new additions, only TSMM can be ridden by all ages.

 

[Chovy]

This is a great thread and I think most everything has been addressed in other people's posts. Here are my (not original) top 4.

1. The layout is confusing and doesn't lend itself to continuous "parking." You have to backtrack to get places and it seems like we are always lost when we are there. Lost => angry => not enjoying the park => not enjoying the day. I can't be the only one with a family who can make Disney not the happiest place on earth.

2. The lack of filler rides was a great observation. Give me a Philharmagic or Aladdin or Living with the Land to fill some time and not just Tier 1 FP rides.

3. No filler activity. Epcot has Agent P, the scavenger hunt, the KidCot stops. Wilderness Explorers, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and the Pirate Adventure are in the other parks. Those are great things to occupy time when waiting for a FP or ADR or when lines are too long. Disney should add something like this to HS (less time-specific than the Jedi training, which is seemingly always booked up!)

4. Too much star wars. I just don't get it. Other people do but my (8 YO!) kid ran and hid under a table in a random restaurant when she saw an unexpected Stormtrooper last year.The star wars stuff is just so loud.

 

[Arielfan98]

1. Overall themeing. HS began as a studio and for reasons I understand, strayed away from it for a little bit. However, there is not enough "Hollywood" or movie making magic in this park. I would say the attraction that best exemplifies this is the Indiana Jones stunt show. Getting rid of the Backlot Tour, Lights, Motors, Action! Show, and of course The Great Movie Ride, were all huge mistakes. While I do feel these attractions needed renovation, they at least represented the true spirit of HS. Now it seems HS is all intellectual property, which I don't think works for the overall theme. Not to mention they removed the animation class from the park, which was a fun and unique activity!

2. I will second all food options. There isn't a large variety and it's mainly low quality. As of right now, the best QS seems to be Backlot, but their food is low quality in comparison to other QS places like Pecos Bill, Satuli Canteen, etc. in other parks. My family got sick from the fake garlic seasoning on the salad! I feel like it's ridiculous to expect guests to either pay $$$ to eat at The Brown Derby or leave the park to get higher quality food. The Baseline and Brown Derby lounge present decent priced food for high quality food, but these are more or less snack type foods.

3. Going back to my themeing issue, I would agree with the previous poster about no filler activity. My suggestion would be to have the citizens of Hollywood be more interactive with guests. I know Disneyland did some role playing activity with guests at Frontierland called "Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush!" so something similar would be interesting and it would add to the overall Hollywood feel.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Can I just say, we had QS hamburgers at every park. They were all garbage. I'd rather eat a Quarter Pounder than one of those again. And they are $$. For 4 people, lunch was never under $70 at QS and it was often more. That's just 4 meals and 4 drinks, no desserts or other stuff. 3 years ago, I could feed 5 people the same meals for just over $50. That was a shocker.

And I still can't figure out how we spent more money at Tony's (in MK) than we spent at Chefs de France (EPCOT). The food prices are really out of touch for what you get.

 

[wendlle]

The worst things about Hollywood Studios:

1. No Filler Rides - there are no ride that relieve the E-Ticket rides. The park needs some smaller rides like Dumbo or the PeopleMover that could shorten lines at the bigger attractions.

2. No merchandise store in Toy Story Land. Al's Toy Barn would be perfect for this.

3. Low Quality Bathrooms - Most of the restrooms in Hollywood Studios are not kept up as well as in the other parks. Even in the new Toy Story Land the hand dryers are over the sinks which causes other people to get sprayed.

4. Hollywood and Vine - Enough said

5. The Pizza Rizzo Space - If they are not going to keep this restaurant open then they need to put a new one in its place.

Honorable Mention - A lack of Jingle Bell Jingle Bam merchandise.

Agree with all of this especially the missed opportunities in TSL, I mean they really rushed this land out. Where is Al's Toy Barn? Where is Pizza Planet? Where is the SHADE? Toy Story is a MASSIVE franchise and they need to expand this land ASAP and offer more "kiddie" rides as you mentioned.

 

[shocker]

1) Bring back the animation class!!
This was updated and upgraded at Disneyland when they renovated that building but then they canceled it completely at WDW!! What the...
They "moved" it AOA resort lobby now, but its not even close, drawing on a piece of typing paper on a clipboard, while DLR has a studio class on nice thick, large paper with a California Adventure logo on it that makes for a nice souvenir.

2) As everyone else says, yes, food options need worked on. I was down to the chicken and waffles at Backlot Express and that fell off the last menu update.

3) Alien Swirling Saucers breaks down continuously!!
This is the lowest tech ride at all WDW and is the same mechanism as the Mater ride at DLR. It breaks down EVERY SINGLE TIME I'm in line for it. There's a pre-recorded message that plays to the people in line explaining that "some vehicles are not spinning" and MAY "increase wait times". This message drones on and on every time in for it. I've tried over 10 times to ride. Many are left debating if they're close enough to keep waiting or cut ties and leave the line having wasted their wait time.

4) This park needs a big icon.
They removed the hat and what is a signature item at every Disney park has not been replaced. Sad really.

5) Time to change the Indiana Jones show. Sorry, but the next generation is coming up.

But!!!! Not to be outdone by negativity.

1) Adding to TSMM was a nice addition.

2) Fantasmic! is still Fantasmic!!

3) Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster still don't disappoint.

4) Offering multiple shows in Star Tours is a great addition.

5) The Frozen Sing-a-long show is current and not a bad use of that space. It can easily be changed for the next iteration, but indeed, it does need new carpet/seats.

6) Finally!!! New transportation options to this park!! Can't wait to use it.

 

[Toolulu22]

I'll expand on this and say to bring in more rides and attractions that appeal to everyone of all ages. For example, with aging, I've developed osteoarthritis in my neck and back. So my days of going on roller coasters and bounce you around rides are sadly over. That takes out RnRC, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours right off the bat. That leaves us with the shows and TSMM. IMHO, not enough for a full day at a park.



Star Wars Land will be neat, but its going to be wall-to-wall chaos mob scene for a couple of years at least. The problem is that there aren't enough other attractions to spread out the crowds.



Its not just you. I'd gladly skip DHS, but my daughter likes that park for some reason, so we end up going there. Since we don't get hoppers to save money, I feel cheated that i've burned a ticket day there.



Agreed. Like Epcot but much worse, DHS is a park where one gets the impression that Disney is trying to figure out what to do with it.

Agreed about the park hopper condundrum. The only reason we plan to visit HS on our next trip is because we have Hoppers and will stop there on the way to Epcot. We don’t do many/if any rides at Epcot, so will use our FP on a couple of rides at HS and then go hang out in the lands at Epcot.

I also agree with you about the identity crises at both parks. I loved the studios feel of MGM/HS in days past. Times and interests change, but aren’t there a ton of Disney movies that they can develop ideas upon? But then, Animal Kingdom now also has Pandora, which thematically may have made more sense in HS. I get why they put it in AK- they needed, and got, the draw.

Epcot is a whole other story. Hope the upcoming changes will include SERIOUS facelifts to the existing infrastructure. Sometimes, when its not super packed out and I look around and notice the wear and tear on the park it makes me sad- hence, we avoid “Future World” and stick to the lands. There are usually more people and everything is closer together so you don’t notice as much.

 

[Disneypro1]

I would like a true dark ride........maybe TOAD returns!!

 

[Kippa-Dee-Do-Dah]

I'm sure everything I'll say has been said, but still:

- Layout. This was such a pain for us when planning our trip. We did so much backtracking (which couldn't be helped due to showtimes.)

- The park's identity crisis. Is this a studio park? (like when we went in 1990) Is this a Star Wars park? (SO MUCH Star Wars stuff, now including a land) Is this a Hollywood park? (Sunset, Brown Derby, that's about it) What are we trying to achieve here, Disney?

- Muppet show obviously in need of updating. I thought my glasses were dirty watching the film. Glad to know it's not just me!

- No shade. No shade. No shade. We went in August and there was No. Shade.

- Definitely agree that this isn't the park where you can stroll and just enjoy being there. This was the only park I wasn't wishing I had more time to visit. (I do think a lot of it had to do with how much it has changed since my visit as a kid though. RIP GMR)

- Parking Lot is a mess. Granted it was under construction when we were there, but we got there before rope drop and still had to walk a good quarter mile to the gates (we drove and parked "close"). I was shocked at Epcot when we parked and could see the gate a whole 4 rows away.

I hope eventually Disney figures out the direction they want for the park and make some much-needed improvements.

 

[North of Mouse]

Lack of good restaurants to choose from - we usually head out of park when time for lunch.

 

[fractalpotato]

We have been skipping the park completely over our last few visits.

For our upcoming trip we are just going in to do RRC, the two new Toy Story rides, Star Tours, and possibly Indiana Jones (if we’re still there at noon). Main reason in going is to try SDD.

You're skipping the park completely except for nearly every one of its major attractions?

Matt

 

[fla4fun]

You're skipping the park completely except for nearly every one of its major attractions?

Matt

I read it that they HAD been skipping the park, but due to SDD, they were going to try to hit the highlights. That’s pretty much how I have been treating the studios recently as well (although I don’t do thrill rides, so my highlights are different than most). I really miss the backstage tour and GMR and the animation tour, and I rarely find enough to keep me interested more than the time it takes me to use my three FP. I don’t anticipate that changing much with GE as I am a casual fan at best of the SW universe and I am expecting both rides to be a little more thrilling than I prefer.

I would like to see a more cohesive theme to the park and a good balance of attractions for all ages, not just a thrill park with a few theater shows.

 

[si-am]

I agree with almost everyone that theming is a big problem now. What, exactly, is this park supposed to be about?

And there is literally NOTHING to do here for adults who can’t (or don’t want to) ride thrill rides. Not much else to do for anyone else either. When we were there in early March, we rope dropped TSMM and RNRC, used a FP for Alien Saucers, and then sat around totally bored til our lunch ADRs at Brown Derby. It was pretty bad! (had FP for Tower of Terror for after lunch, but we were ready to leave by 1:30.j

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I agree with almost everyone that theming is a big problem now. What, exactly, is this park supposed to be about?

And there is literally NOTHING to do here for adults who can’t (or don’t want to) ride thrill rides. Not much else to do for anyone else either. When we were there in early March, we rope dropped TSMM and RNRC, used a FP for Alien Saucers, and then sat around totally bored til our lunch ADRs at Brown Derby. It was pretty bad! (had FP for Tower of Terror for after lunch, but we were ready to leave by 1:30.j

Adults can watch the shows you’re leaving out:

Mermaid
Muppets
Beauty and the beast
Indiana Jones

Plenty to watch

 

[cmwade77]

Adults can watch the shows you’re leaving out:

Mermaid
Muppets
Beauty and the beast
Indiana Jones

Plenty to watch

Beauty and the Beast isnt very good though. The rest you list are great. Oh and Fantasmic! Is seriously in need of help.

 

[Toolulu22]

You're skipping the park completely except for nearly every one of its major attractions?

Matt

Yes. The rides we’ll do will take a few hours. Then we’re out. We’re going over to Epcot to eat. As others have mentioned, better options there. The rest has been done or doesn’t appeal to us. As someone else mentioned, in other parks, there is the option to stroll and shop, view the sites. Not so much here. Why would I stay the day, when I could skip over to another park?

If I didn’t have a park hopper, I wouldn’t go at all- why it’s been a while.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Pretty much nothing, I love this park. The shows are all great, rides are all great, night time shows are great. Never had a problem with the food, LOVED 50's and Sci Fi. Still love that old Hollywood feel. Only thing I really miss is the Osborne Lights, so glad I got to finally see those their last year running. Never understood all the hate this park gets, so much to do and see!

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Having Fantasmic and the Star Wars night time shows at the same time.

The traffic flow isn't as good as the other parks.

Many of the shows need updating/replacing (Indiana Jones, Beauty and the Beast, Muppets, etc.)

 

[Minsc]

1. Lack of shade
2. QS eating options
3. Lack of good secondary attractions to pull some load off the e-ticket attractions
4. To paraphrase a PP: This park often feels like a dumping ground for stuff that doesn't fit in elsewhere.