One of the best perks of staying on-site at a Walt Disney World hotel is the parks opening up half an hour early to you. Every single day, all four WDW theme parks open 30 minutes before their listed daily hours for guests to enjoy rides. We recommend utilizing these, as waiting until late morning to arrive at a park can really clog up the dreaded wait times. But we recognize that getting up with the sun isn’t for everyone, myself included. So we’ve come up with three strategies for the different groups that are planning to utilize early morning hours. In this post, we’ll break down those three strategies for Hollywood Studios.

Just in case you’re new to the whole Early Entry thing, here’s a quick rundown of what it is. As an on-site hotel benefit, guests staying at any of the hotels on this list are able to enter the four Walt Disney World theme parks half an hour before the scheduled park time. For instance, if Hollywood Studios opens at 9 then guests staying at those hotels can enter the park at 8:30. Guests staying elsewhere will be held at certain spots in the park, not being able to access rides until the opening time (9, keeping our example going).

There are a few omissions on what rides are available during Early Entry at other parks but Hollywood Studios has all of the big attractions available! That makes the strategy fairly straightforward. Obviously, it has to be straightforward if we’re giving you three strategies. We’ll just term that Wandering in Disney logic. Trademark pending.

(Tangent: My 10 year old nephew, Wyatt, loves technology and anything having to do with cell phones, websites, you name it. We recently set up a website for him and he was disappointed, and maybe slightly confused, on why we didn’t put a trademark on his website. I’m slightly concerned that me putting in a dumb ‘trademark pending’ joke in this post will lead to him actually trademarking the ‘Wandering in Disney logic’ phrase and then charging me for use of it in the future. Thanks for reading this paragraph.)

The reason for three strategies isn’t solely due to a complicated touring plan once in the park, it’s more because we know things go wrong. Sure, you and your family will make plans to be there at the Hollywood Studios gates by 8 but then the bus at All Star Movies ran out of room or there was no way you were going to function without coffee or you were just on vacation and really wanted to sleep for a few minutes longer. So, we have strategies to cover if you showed up before Early Entry starts, got to the gates right at the start of the extra half hour, or are staggering through with 15 minutes left in the window. Let’s get to the strategies!

The Early Risers

Way to go, you made it! Everything ran smoothly and you made it Hollywood Studios about half an hour (or more for the rope dropping crazies) before Early Entry begins. The strategy is simple from here – get to Slinky Dog Dash quickly. I’m not saying to run because running is against the rules. But walk quickly while still being mindful that everyone around you doesn’t want to bump into you, just like you don’t want to bump into them.

Slinky Dog Dash is kind of a pain to ride, especially during the middle of the day. It gets really hot in that queue and the lines get extremely long. If you’re within the first few hundred people riding the attraction then you’ve checked off the hardest thing to do in the park before Hollywood Studios officially opens. Good job!

If Slinky Dog Dash took the whole half hour of Early Entry then no big deal, just go along with our Hollywood Studios Itinerary minus the coaster. If not, then there’s quite a few choices. Assuming there’s a few minutes to spare before the half hour is up, I would book it over to Rise of the Resistance and get in line there. You’ll have missed the immediate surge of rope drop and beat the non Early Entry rope drop.

If you can’t make it there by then, take the short walk to Toy Story Mania and just complete Toy Story Land attractions. That will take a big load off of the rest of your day and you’ll avoid the shade-barren land before the sun gets too hot. Who am I kidding, we’re talking about Florida. If you’re not drenched in sweat rope dropping Slinky Dog Dash then did you really do it? No matter the answer, this step will lead to a laid back rest of your day with a couple of biggies checked off the list before actual opening time.

The Right On Timers

You got there at 8:30 (again, assuming Early Entry starts at 8:30). That’s when they said to be there! Now is the time to make a judgement call. If you, or anyone in your group is good at estimating how many people are in front of you then see if it’s in the hundreds or thousands. Say there’s a hundred or two hundred ahead, then Slinky Dog Dash is attainable if you don’t mind not running but sort of running pace. If it seems like more than a few hundred in front of you, or you’re just not sure, then veer to the right and start your day off with the Tower of Terror.

The reason for the sudden switch is that if you’re in the back of the initial rope drop rush, it’s just not a pleasant experience. Instead, go to one of Walt Disney World’s best rides and there will hardly be a line at all. Tower of Terror will be extremely popular later in the day but doesn’t usually get a line until the park actually opens.

Once you’re off of that attraction, you have a decision to make. Getting to Slinky Dog Dash before that second rope drop time slot is the goal. If it’s before 8:50 then you’re golden, head straight to the family coaster and wait it out. Even before 8:55 will give you a chance but you’ll really need to hustle. If it’s after 8:50 and you don’t want to risk it then take the short walk over to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and ride that before the line backs up.

Essentially, this step is replacing an extremely popular attraction for 2 popular attractions. It may seem counterintuitive but you’re basically a step ahead of the crowds with only needing to backtrack later in the day for Slinky (if you ended up at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster after Tower of Terror).

The Snoozers/Coffee Drinkers (You Did Your Best!)

I’m not a morning person and sympathize with you. Things just don’t always go according to plan! But you made it to the park before the actual opening and we’re proud of you even if the rest of the group is a little annoyed about running late while still getting up early. What should you do to salvage the time? Knock off a big headliner!

That means going to either Slinky Dog Dash or Rise of the Resistance. Look, you’re out of the running to do the 2-for-1 option that the previous step had. But you’re still able to be the group in between the Early Entry rope drop and the park opening rope drop. Chances are that the attractions have wracked up a 30-45 minute wait time (I would disregard the posted wait time at this point) and you’ll have to stand in line a little. But waiting for 40 minutes is better than waiting for 80 minutes.

I put either Slinky Dog Dash or Rise of the Resistance because those are the two biggest rides in the park. It doesn’t really make a difference what you go to with this strategy, as they’ll both accomplish roughly the same thing at that point. I might give the slight edge to Slinky Dog Dash in the morning just because that queue gets hotter later in the day. Either way, get in line for one of them before 9 AM and you still managed to utilize a bit of the Early Entry.

What is your Early Entry process at Hollywood Studios? Let us know, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! If you are planning a trip to Disney World, then check out our planning guide. This site has discount tickets to Walt Disney World. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. You can do all of that on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!