A new rope drop and Early Entry procedure is now in effect at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and we made it out to the park this weekend to take a detailed look at the changes. This actually marks a pretty significant shift to how the park operations have operated post-COVID, but it remains to be seen how much it impacts your touring strategies. As always, the early bird gets the worm, and it may just be easier to get the worm with this new procedure. Let’s take a look at the new Hollywood Studios rope drop and early entry procedure!
New Hollywood Studios Rope Drop & Early Entry Procedure
The top-line news here is that all guests are now allowed to enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the same time. You no longer have to endure the terribly crowded entry plaza holding area if you are waiting for park open. Interestingly, Disney’s Hollywood Studios was the only theme park that forced guests to wait outside of the “gates” as part of their standard rope drop procedure. Now, Hollywood Studios offers more walking space than any other park for guests waiting for rope drop.
Instead of checking guests for Early Entry credentials at the gate, there are checkpoints in the park at various points before you reach many of the attractions to ensure that you have Early Entry credentials. The only checks that occur at the gate are the standard checks for admission and a Disney Park Pass reservation (if applicable to your ticket type).
We’ll go minute-by-minute and land-by-land in this photo report to give you an idea of what to expect for your vacation!
Arrival Timing (60 minutes before Early Entry)
We arrived by car, and arrival timing remains the same as has been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic. That is, you can expect that the parking lots will remain closed to guests until 60 minutes before Resort Guest Early Entry begins. Other forms of transportation such as the bus or Disney Skyliner may operate earlier than that, but we only tested arrival by car during our recent visit.
For our specific visit, Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened at 9am, with Early Entry beginning at 8:30am. That means that the parking lot opened to guest cars at 7:30am.
Waiting to Enter Hollywood Studios (60-30 minutes before Early Entry)
After a slightly leisurely stroll into the security area and a stop for bag check, we arrived inside the security bubble around 7:40am. All guests will be held outside of the gates until 30 minutes before the official start of Early Entry.
Previously, regular entry guests would be told to line up to the far right of the plaza, with an early majority of the space dedicated to Early Entry resort guests. As you’d get closer to official park opening, less time would be dedicated to Early Entry guests and more to regular guests. Here’s a look at what the crowds used to look like with a 9am opening. As you can see, guests flooded the plaza, and it could take 10-15 minutes to even enter the park once it opened due to the sheer number of guests.
Going back to our recent visit, here are some photos taken as crowds built in the entry plaza between 7:40am and 8am. Once the clock struck 8am (30 minutes before Early Entry officially began), the gates opened and all guests were let into the park.
Ok, a quick recap of the photos above before we head into the park. As you can see, crowds certainly built up a bit during the 30 minutes after bag check opened and the park opened. However, it was nowhere near the sea of guests that was common with the old park entry procedure. With no dedicated lane for Early Entry guests, and every tappoint entry staffed, the crowd that built up was rather quickly managed, even with a short technical problem that prevented most guests from entering the park.
Ok, it’s 8:07am, and here’s our view down Hollywood Blvd toward the Chinese Theater. We were not Early Entry guests during our visit, so we walked around until 9am to see where the Early Entry checkpoints were set up and how far we could walk into the park. We’ll start with Sunset Blvd.
Sunset Blvd
Guests looking to ride Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will take a right and head down Sunset Blvd. A checkpoint has been set up in front of the Majestic Theater. A number of Cast Members stand at the ready to scan your ticket and make sure that your group has Early Entry entitlements on your pass. Once scanned, you can continue on to enjoy the available attractions. Note that you’ll have to scan at each checkpoint if you go to a different part of the park.
If you’re a regular guest and want to wait for park open here, Cast Members will ask you to line up to the side of the roadway.
As we can see, there are two lines forming at the end of Sunset Blvd. This is standard Early Entry procedure. On the left, guests are lining up for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and on the right, guests are lining up for Tower of Terror.
While the pre-opening portion of this article was concerned with timing, we’ll fast-forward to 8:50am to find that the procedure has changed. We were walking around the park and missed the exact time when the procedure switched. However, when we returned, we found that lines were still forming for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, but this time for daytime guests.
The Early Entry checkpoints had moved closer to the entrance to each attraction.
Toy Story Land
Heading over to Toy Story Land now, guests are funneled through the archway at Animation Courtyard before taking a left turn toward Toy Story Land. Toy Story Land attractions open during Early Entry include Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, and Toy Story Mania.
The checkpoint is set up near the Disney Vacation Club kiosk outside of Toy Story Land. Regular guests looking to rope drop Toy Story Land will be asked to form a line from the DVC kiosk back toward the Voyage of the Little Mermaid building in Animation Courtyard.
Again, we’ll fast-forward to a little bit closer to official park open to find that the regular guest queue has started to stretch back past Walt Disney Presents. Cast Members are present to make sure that it’s abundantly clear where you should go based on your Early Entry entitlements (or lack thereof).
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
The most popular destination for guests during rope drop remains Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The themed land boasts one of the greatest attractions in Disney’s history with the Rise of the Resistance attraction, and a second attraction puts you in the cockpit of the iconic Millennium Falcon spaceship. The destination for many rope droppers is Rise of the Resistance.
The checkpoint for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is located at the tunnel entrance on Grand Avenue. It’s possible and even likely that guests who have already passed the Toy Story Land entrance checkpoint can use the connecting walkway to also enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as well.
As was the case with the other rope drop checkpoints, guests who are not able to participate in Early Entry can line up to the side of the road and wait for the 9am official opening. The waiting queue grew pretty significantly during the pre-opening period, but was more than manageable here at 8:30am.
However, by the time 9am rolled around, the line for regular guests to enter Galaxy’s Edge was substantial, stretching along Grand Avenue, making a u-turn near Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant, and continuing toward the entrance to Star Tours.
Note that you must join this line to simply enter Galaxy’s Edge. While this line ended up being a defacto line for Rise of the Resistance for 90% of guests, those who simply wanted to rope drop Ronto Roasters will also have to join the snaking queue. As always, procedures are subject to change, but this was the case when I visited.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Star Tours
There are two attractions that are not hidden behind Early Entry checkpoints, so how does Early Entry validation work for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Tours? For Runaway Railway, guests will have their Early Entry credentials validated at the entrance to the queue of the attraction. When we visited, Runaway Railway was experiencing a delayed opening, so we don’t have photos of crowds here.
Perhaps more interesting is that there was no validation at all for Star Tours. That meant that all guests, regardless of Early Entry entitlements, were able to ride Star Tours. I expect that this will change shortly if it hasn’t changed already. That said, even with Star Tours open to all guests, the wait times were minimal to non-existent as the vast majority of guests simply opted to wait for Galaxy’s Edge to open.
Closing Thoughts on New Rope Drop Procedure at Hollywood Studios
Overall, I’m absolutely for anything that avoids the sea of people waiting outside the main entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the 9am rope drop. Allowing guests into the park early has worked out well for Magic Kingdom, and it should work out well for Disney’s Hollywood Studios as well. I’d actually love to see it implemented at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and EPCOT too.
While Early Entry guests now have more foot traffic to contend with inside the park, the perk of getting onto rides early still remains. For guests who are not partaking in Early Entry, this new rope drop procedure allows them to have a less hectic start to their morning, while still allowing them a more clear choice on how they want to start their day by allowing park opening queues to form.
Beyond that, Disney should see some extra spending thanks to the early opening of select shops and the Trolley Car Cafe Starbucks location.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
