How to spend one day at Hollywood Studios — the order, from our own queue record

What order should you do Hollywood Studios in?

By when each queue is shortest, which our own record measures. We log every posted wait at Hollywood Studios every five minutes. Across the nine days from 5 to 13 September 2026, 26,056 readings, with the park open 9am to 9pm, this is what the rides averaged:

The middle of the day runs from four hours after opening to two hours before closing; the last hour is the hour before closing. These are posted waits, which Disney pads, and nine days of September is not a season, so read the pattern rather than the minute.

Does Early Theme Park Entry change the plan at Hollywood Studios?

More here than at any other park. Guests at Disney Resort hotels and some nearby hotels get into every park 30 minutes before official opening, every day of their stay, and at Hollywood Studios Disney plans nine rides for that half hour, including Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

That is why our record shows so little gain from arriving at opening. By the official time, the headliners have been loading hotel guests for half an hour, and anyone without early entry is held on Hollywood Boulevard until then.⁸

With early entry, spend it on Slinky Dog Dash or Rise of the Resistance, whichever you have no Lightning Lane for. Have the other as the fallback, because in our record from 6 to 21 September 2026 Slinky Dog Dash was still not running at official opening on 4 of 16 mornings, and Rise of the Resistance on 2.

One or the other was down at opening on 6 of the 16.

Without early entry, the plan above stands: book Lightning Lane for the midday headliners and use the evening, when our record has the shortest queues.

Is it worth getting to Hollywood Studios early?

Less than at any other park, in our record. Slinky Dog Dash averaged 61 minutes in the first two hours and 63 at midday; Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway 42 against 44; Rise of the Resistance 49 against 55. Everybody arrives for the same rides, so the early queues fill as fast as the late ones.

Disney Tourist Blog's one-day plan, from June 2025, starts on Sunset Boulevard at Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, which it found with waits under 20 minutes early. Our record, a year later, has Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at 42 minutes early, and it reopened with its Muppets theme in May 2026, in between.

Tower of Terror, at 30 early, is the better start of the two.

What should you save for the last hour?

Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash and Runaway Railway. In the hour before closing Rise averaged 28 minutes and 22 in the final 20; Slinky 40, Runaway Railway 28 and Toy Story Mania! 30.

Disney Tourist Blog's plan points the same way, with Toy Story Land during the dinner rush and Rise later in the evening, and it times Runaway Railway for about three hours before closing.

Two rides go the other way. Tower of Terror averaged 38 minutes in the last hour against 37 at midday, and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster 44 against 55, so do those two earlier.

What should you do in the middle of the day?

The shows, which carry more of the day here than at any park but Animal Kingdom. On Sunshine Whispers' February 2026 ranking of all 46 Disney World shows, Fantasmic! is first, Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After fourth, the Frozen Sing-Along ninth, Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage 13th and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! 16th. Most run about half an hour.

Disney Tourist Blog fills the midday lull with them and books lunch at 50's Prime Time Café or the Sci-Fi Dine-In. Our where to eat page prices every place in the park.

Is Lightning Lane worth it for one day at Hollywood Studios?

More here than anywhere else, and Disney Tourist Blog ranks it the best park for Multi Pass. The reason is in our table: getting there early barely helps, so the midday queues are the ones to skip. Rise of the Resistance is a Single Pass, sold one ride at a time.

Slinky Dog Dash, Runaway Railway and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster are the Multi Pass bookings that save most. Lightning Lane opens seven days ahead for Disney hotel guests and three for everyone else. Our Lightning Lane guide has the prices.

Who should not follow this plan?

Families with small children, because most of the headliners have height limits: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster 48 inches, Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror and Star Tours 40, Slinky Dog Dash and Smugglers Run 38, and Alien Swirling Saucers 32. The height checker sorts that out. And anyone visiting at a holiday, when nine days of September will not describe the queues.