Disney Hollywood Studios Review

Posted by Jackie Hewett on Sun 9th November 2008 at 01:31 AM, Filed in USA Florida

Fairly recently re-named from ‘Disney MGM’ this is a great park, with a lot to entertain visitors of all ages.  This review is based on visits to the park in October 2008 and 2006

To my mind there are a two or three ‘Must Do’s’ which includes one of Orlando’s newest rides – ‘Toy Story Midway Mania’, the early evening show – ‘Fantasmic’ and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.
Hollywood Studios Bash Street Parade

First ‘Must Do’ – Toy Story Midway Mania Ride – as this is one of the newest rides queues are horribly long.  We visited the park on 2 days during October 2008 and the stand-by queue’s varied between 80 and 120 minutes, and on our first visit they had stopped giving out fast-passes.  If you definitely want to do this ride my recommendation is to get a fast-pass as soon as you get to the park.  To give you an indication – we got our fast-pass tickets just before noon which gave us a return time of between 6.20pm and 7.20pm.  Whilst the ride is one of my must-do’s I am not sure it is worth a two-hour wait!  The ride takes 8 people at a time in two co-joined carriages, each carriage can only seat two riders side-by side with another two back-to-back.  The carriages twirl around a bit, but nothing too much for timid visitors (it’s not as dramatic as Men-in-Black at Universal Studio’s).  The ride is quite similar to Magic Kingdom’s ‘Buzz Lightyear Spin’ – but in 3D.  Each rider has their own lazer gun and has to shoot at various 3D targets presented on a number of screens while screens in the carriages keep score. 

Second ‘Must Do’ – Fantasmic – this is on once daily at around 7.30pm.  Don’t miss it – you won’t see anything like it anywhere else.  If you haven’t seen the show before or haven’t heard anything about how it works you will be blown away, but I won’t spoil the surprise here re how it works.  The story is basic good vs evil, and you may get a little bit wet if you sit near the front and the wind is in the wrong direction – we did the first time we saw it, but don’t let that put you off.  In true Disney fashion it incorporates pyrotechnics and a few fireworks too.  Make sure you get there early to ensure you get in and a decent seat.

Third ‘Must Do’ – Lights, Motors, Action – this should be on your list especially if you have boys in your party.  There are a few shows a day and the seating area is pretty big so you are usually OK getting a place even though the park advises getting there early.  A few car chases and other stunts are carried out and ‘filmed’ while you watch them over the course of about 30 minutes, interspersed with a bit of chat by the director.  They explain how most of the stunts are achieved – and again I won’t spoil the surprises, but I certainly wouldn’t have guessed them beforehand and will never watch a car chase movie in the same way again.

A Must Do for thrill seekers – The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - I haven’t been on this ride as it’s not my bag, but my partner did a few years ago.  It made him physically sick and he wasn’t ‘right’ for an hour or two after.

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – this is great family fun.  Quite a few members of the audience are cast as extras as a few memorable scenes from the first Indie movie are acted out and again ‘filmed’.  Of course the theme tune if played at strategic music! 

The Great Movie Spectacular – this was un-expectedly good.  From the park guide I anticipated just seeing a few clips from some golden oldie movies in a movie theatre.  It is in fact a ride in two joined together large ‘cars’ through films sets with mainly anamatronic life sized figures and a couple of actors for good measure – a bit like the pirates ride at Magic Kingdom.  The sets and statues are good, and whilst the ride largely appeals to an older audience there are some pretty recent movies thrown in, and even my 6 year-old enjoyed spotting movies he recognised!  Queues when we went were barely 5 minutes so I definitely recommend it.

Studio Backlot Tour – queues for this can be pretty long and we found the ride quite disappointing – the one in LA’s Universal is better.  There are a couple of interesting bits, but the surprise is very predictable and much of the areas you are taken around aren’t anything much.  Bearing in mind the queues I’d give this one a miss.

Star Tours – really great queuing around animatronic star wars characters.  The ride is in a flight simulator that may make some feel a little queasy (for example if you can’t take looking backwards out of a car).  The whole family gave it an un-surprising thumbs up.
Muppet Vision 3D – good old fashioned fun.  It is really a bit 4D rather than just 3.  Even kids who aren’t familiar with the Muppets should get something out of it.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure – this is a play area that little kids love.  My only criticism is that there aren’t many places for adults to sit down while the kids do their thing.

Character Greetings – Power Rangers – this was an essential item for my 6 year old son.  They arrive in a power ranger vehicle several times a day but don’t stay long whilst the queues are long.  The times are advertised in the park guides and you need to get there promptly.  Generally there are 4 or 5 different power rangers and they spread out so you have to queue for each.  The adults split up into different queues to make sure our son got all the autographs and photo’s he wanted.

Bash Street Parade – this once (3pm) daily parade takes a pretty short route which makes it a bit difficult to get a good view, and unlike the other Disney parades it doesn’t continuously move, but stops at a couple of points for 2 15 minute ‘parties’ – we were advised not to stand outside the Star Tours ride as while the parade will briefly pass through there is no party there.  The entertainers really work hard on dance routines, stilts and trampolenes and try to get the crowd going – let by army drill sergeants (from Toy Story).  I have to say its my least favourite Disney parade – we saw a different one two years ago which had cars the movie characters and we all thought it was better.

Walt Disney One Man’s Dreams – good for adults.  You walk through a reasonable museum before seeing a 15 minute film about the great man.  I learnt a few facts I didn’t know before.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid – short to no queuing & I think runs every half hour.  Quite an enjoyable little show – well done with reasonable effects, but our over-riding impression is that it was too short (about 15 minutes) which meant the story was really cut off.  It really could do with being twice the length because some of the key parts of the story were completely cut out.  Little girls should love it though.

Journey into Narnia – absolutely do not bother with this!  Normally I’d say that a 15 minute queue for a Disney ride isn’t too bad – but after experiencing this attraction we all resented the time spent queuing and on the attraction itself.  It consists of snippets from the second Narnia movie (that don’t hang together well if you haven’t seen the second movie as we hadn’t, or read the book), this is interspersed with a few projected images – and you don’t even get a seat.  The attraction exits past a few props and costumes from the movie.  The only positive thing I can say is that I am guessing the movie is probably quite good / worth a watch for a kiddie movie.

Beauty and The Beast Show – we all found this show a bit dull, but then we had young boys in our party, no young girls – but even the adults were nodding off a bit!  It may be worth a try if you do have girls and they know / like the story, but otherwise I would bother – there are better things to spend your time on in this park.

Eating
ABC Comissionary – on one visit to this park (2008)we wanted a fast light meal so stopped here.  It was terrible, the worst meal we’ve had in a Disney park.  I had wanted a salad but found that the salad here consists of cabbage, lettuce and noodles with not protein of any description so I didn’t order it.  Instead I had the fish strips were in way too thick batter for my taste.  We also thought there was a funny smell in the restaurant.

The Hollywood Brown Derby – do do do eat here if you want a hearty meal and don’t mind paying a bit extra.  Its one of the few table service restaurants.  My only complaint is we were initially seated in a really tucked away position and as it was quite early for lunch the restaurant was far from full.  We complained and got moved to a better table.  We ate here in 2008.  Their famous salad arrives in a bowl and is chopped into small pieces.  My mother-in-law didn’t like it much – I think primarily because she found the gorgonzola cheese too strong for her taste and was taken aback by the presentation – but it looked nice to me.  I had noodles with clams and some of the freshest, tastiest prawns I have ever eaten and my partner had a really good steak on rocket leaves.  The desserts were all good – not too sweet as many desserts are for English palettes.
Food at the Brown Derby

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